GOFFA FROM THE BLOCK

Was predictably going to start with a "So what's the word?" type greeting but I won't be so presumptuous to assume anybody else is even going to read this. So what have been up to? Assume silence...... so I will continue. Well my big news is I'm currently struggling with a crippling back injury.  I've had it for 2 weeks, I haven't taken to my bed or anything but I am in agony.  I had a similar problem in 2009/10 where I was laid up for a year, got addicted to a prescription drug, ended up having an injection in my spine.  Was I posting then?  You've probably heard it all before so I'll leave that one there. Resolutions - I've actually read 2 books so far this year, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class    which I knocked it out in 4 days at the end of January and I followed this up with Luck which I read in 2.  Loved them both.  The demonization of the Working Class is of course a subject close to my heart and the term "C.....

Will somebody please slow down the clock.  I've been off work since 24 December and I've loved it all but time today is just going by way too fast.  I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow and tonight I feel like ........ as the title says. According to the ever insightful Daily Mail tomorrow is officially the most depressing day of the year . So the upside is get tomorrow over with and it's back onto easy street. Excuse sparse post tonight.  Off downstairs to drown my sorrows on half a bottle of wine left over from tea yesterday. I'll just say manyana then.

It's been a bit of a We Are The Boro day, well at least until I read the football score, Boro 0 - Hull City 2.  Who cares, for now at least. Mike and Lore did the  Albert Park 5K run  this morning.  My only regret is that I didn't join them.  I would have loved watching them anyway but it was all the more satisfying because both of them did really well running great times.  Lore now lives in Sheffield but is from Brussels, she seemed to really enjoy the run and that gave me a bit of a buzz on behalf of Middlesbrough. Gary has been doing the run for sometime and has suggested that I might like it and he's right.  I haven't ran 5000 metres since I did The Great North Run in 1981 and although there are logistical reasons why I won't be able to do it regularly I've got to have a go soon.  It is just a fantastic "feel good" community event. Just download your bar code, print it off and off you go.  ...

Had a busy day yesterday.  Brigitte and I went over to South Gare after dark to take some photos of our industry in full flow and then I went for a drink with Michael and his girlfriend.  Ouch!  Only 1 more night allowed in January and it's only on the 3rd of the month   South Gare was surprisingly busy with lots of cars coming and going.  To be honest we had our suspicions when 3 nearby parked cars sped off when we took our cameras out and the quickest of Google searches confirmed what was probably going on.   Excuse short-break while I delete my browsing history.   The wind was really strong and was blowing our tripods all over so our photos were generally crap but here are a few that I think are ok.      2 more sleeps and then back to work.  Bugger.  It's been some break though.

As usual my technical deficiencies meant it took me longer than it should have (the photos in the sidebar were the problem) but I'm pretty happy with the result. That'll have to be it for the night.  Will post to celebrate my 8th birthday tomorrow.

Just checked some stats.  Didn't make 100 posts this year but this makes 64 and that smashed 2012's 32. Upwards and onwards!

That's just about it for 2013.  Thinking about my resolutions for 2013 on 31 December 2012 I included the following in my post. So 2013?  Well hopefully better than 2012.  As I said my odd years tend to be better than my even years so fingers crossed.  In today's i they listed the top 10 resolutions according to a seasonal survey (which probably means they did a 5 bar gates poll around the office).  Anyway, it went as follows, 1.  Read more books 2.  Save more money 3.  Lose weight 4.  Re-decorate 5.  Take better photos 6.  I want to go travelling 7.  I want to sell old stuff I don't want on eBay 8.  Buy a tablet 9.  Organise photos - print/delete/save etc. 10.Do something for charity. not bad.  So why not?  I'll give that lot a go.  Maybe I'll even let you know how I get on. Happy New Year So as promised, 1.  No, I'm not sure I'm that bo...