de omni re scibili et quibusdam aliis

It's a big day!

2007-02-27T12:30:00.000Z

My geranium seedlings were re-potted this morning! They now reside happily in their own little green containers. I'm a little worried about the small one though, who seems to be the runt of the litter, but I think he will pull through.

I will keep you updated!

Bloc Party...........

2007-02-15T01:25:00.000Z

.........were incredible!

Awesome!

The Prayer was just absolutely amazing..........actually there wasn't a bad song all night!

Top night!

He's got the whole world in his hands,,,,,

2007-02-14T11:29:00.000Z

I stumbled across a groovy little website called Visited Countries where you tell tick the boxes for the countries you've visited and they colour the countries in on a map for you and tell you the percentage of countries you've visited.

UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Iceland, Faroe Islands

I have only visited 2% of the world, in a very concentrated zone.

Rather lame if I say so myself. Especially when you think about everything that is out there that I really want to see.

I am going to have to do something about this.....Maybe tag along with my sister when she goes on her travels in May!

Say goodnight to the Sun.

2007-02-04T02:17:00.001Z

I spent an hour or so on Newborough beach on Anglesey on Friday. It felt like a really nice summer evening. Quite a mild and the lowest tide I've seen there.

The funny thing about living somewhere as small as Bangor as you can rarely go anywhere without recognising somebody. Out of the dozen or so people I saw on the beach I knew 3 of them.

It reminded me of why I came to university here and not a grey concrete jungle, but also made me realise that I need to make the most of what is around me. I don't go into the mountains or the coast half as much as I could. Hopefully I can bring my car up next year which will give me more options to get to these places without relying on other people.

There was a fantastic sunset, possibly one of the best I have seen. I think it might have even helped to sway my favourite beach from Thurlestone to Newborough. The sunset made me think about stuff that I haven't really thought about properly, which is a good thing. Started of with a lot of deep stuff but the gist of it was good. I think I may have cleared my mind of the shit that was bothering me, but there is still one thing that I would like to sort out.

Would have been really great to share it with someone special.

Oh... Dave received the postcard, and has marked it 'return to sender' (via Alice)

Phil 1 - Dave 0

2007-01-31T16:05:00.000Z

The postcard came back to me!

So, I've put it back in the post!

Hopefully because the stamp on my side has been franked it will be sent onto Dave, who will then write 'return to sender' on both sides and pop back in the post!

Postal Tug of War

2007-01-29T13:52:00.000Z

An Experiment

Take one blank postcard, write your own address on one side with a stamp, and your friend's address on the other side with a stamp.

What do the sorting office do in this situation?! They could either

a) Send it back to me
b) Send it to Dave
c) Send it backwards and forwards, or
d) If they have a sense of humour, cut it in half with a cheese wire!

I thought that if I sent it from within my postcode area they would send it straight back to me as the nearest address. So, I popped the prepared postcard inside an envelope and sent it to a friend who lives approximately between me and Dave to send on from there.

Watch this space to find out what happens! (anyone want to place bets?)

Sending that by second class will cost 23p

2007-01-24T16:10:00.000Z

I received more exciting post this morning!
Just to piss off the post office Dave felt the urge to use 23 x 1p stamps instead of a single 2nd class stamp.

The sorting office staff must have got bored as they only used 1 postmark which only caught 8 of the stamps (at the bottom right corner). So if anybody needs and 1 penny stamps, I have plenty!

I had a similar idea to this that I was going to send to Dave, which I will putting into action soon!

He did the munch, he did the monster munch.

2007-01-24T15:57:00.000Z

Yet, more happy posting stories....

First up Dave's side of the story....

First up: Monster Munch. Buy 1 packet at bargain price from Students' Union shop; attach address label with Phil's address. Like Minstrels, they were too thick for 1st Class Letter post so I had to add up the stamps a bit, fortunately having the right combination to hand.

And straight away I ran into a problem. Stamps don't stick to Monster Munch packets. Oddly, Supaglue, which sticks enthusiastically to absolutely anything, usually one's fingers, also doesn't stick stamps to Monster Munch packets. Fortunately, our old friend Sellotape saved the day.

I stuck the label and stamp on the back, so as not to deface the carefully-crafted artwork on the front of the packet, but then it occurred to me the postman would probably pick up the packet, think it was rubbish and throw it away. So I stuck another label on the front saying "PTO".

Second problem: Monster Munch packets don't fit through normal-sized letter box slots. So I had to go to the bigger letter box outside the now-shut-down Post Office. It was touch-and-go, and at one point I thought the bag was going to burst, but after some fiddling, in they went.

Now... My side of the story.

Just in time for breakfast arrived a 'Big Eat' packet of Flamin' Hot Monster Munch, and too my surprise the packet was not burst and the contents, despite being slightly crushed, still resembled Monster Munch!

I have one or two things up my sleeve which I will put into action and forward onto Dave asap.

Weigh your 4747s

2007-01-22T18:08:00.000Z

Walking into Morrisons today the first thing I see is.......

What a great advert for how bad you are at stupid and pointless package!

Morrisons wastefulness has pissed me off since I started shopping there in my first year at uni. There really is no need to have these in plastic wrapping, they do it with everything; the peppers are all individually wrapped and priced and even the bananas are hung on plastic hangers with price labels on. This means you can't just pick off the number of bananas you want and weigh them (4011 for those of you that know what I'm talking about!) Even single bananas have price labels on them. What is the point?!

Train your monkeys on the till to weigh the items and type in the PLU codes and stop be so wasteful.

If it wasn't so close and convenient and going to Tesco didn't involve taking the car and causing more environmental damage I would probably stop using Morrisons.

Police Slow

2007-01-19T13:26:00.000Z

I was browsing through photos on the BBC News website of the damage caused by the windy weather we've been having recently.

This photo of a fallen tree in Hertfordshire made me chuckle....Is it just me that thinks this sign is a bit unnecessary?!

The lights in the house spent several hours flickering on and off last night, so I spent all night with my head torch at the ready waiting for the excitement that never came.

Ready, Steady.... Cook!

2007-01-13T22:25:00.000Z

I've been getting quite into my cooking recently, and quite enjoying it.

For christmas I got a new high sided frying pan that I've been using for practically for all my meals since I got it. I also got two cookbooks (including one of Jamie's) and spent some of my christmas money on 2 decent knives.

Ok... maybe I'm sad, but I do enjoy cooking and it makes me eat better and spend less. I've even got to the stage where I prefer to by meat from the butchers instead of scabby Morissons.
a) The meat in the butchers comes straight off the animal and isn't pissed about with.
b) Its generally cheaper.
c) You're supporting the local shops which will soon be extinct thanks to Tesco et al.
d) Bangor butchers do bloody good hot baggettes for only £2!

My menu for the past week was as follows;

Monday: Bacon and white wine Risotto.
Tuesday: Pasta with sausages, cream and peas.
Wednesday: Red Peppers stuffed with minced lamb with tomatoes.
Thursday: Chicken in a bacon jacket, on an onion and sage stuffing base.
Friday: Peppered Steak and chips (was feeling lazy and greedy)
Saturday: Pork Loin Steak with a caramalised onion sauce and egg fried rice.

Another exciting cooking fact of the week is that there are gas hobs in my new house, so there will be more controlled cooking next year guys!

The Minstrel Boy...

2007-01-09T13:57:00.000Z

9.30 this morning the postman (or woman) (but I think it's a man) surprisingly delivered my Minstrels to me. I only posted them yesterday lunchtime so was quite impressed that they arrived this morning considering they have had to be transported to Chester and back. Actually, I'm quite surprised they've arrived at all considering it was a packet of Galaxy's finest confectionery without any form of accommodation!

They arrived in pretty good condition considering the ordeal they have been through. Only a small amount of surface damage....still perfectly edible!

The question now is....... what can I post next?!

Things could grow from my procrastination.

2007-01-09T04:01:00.000Z

For christmas I recieved a 'Geranium in a tin'. (Someone got paid a lot of money for thinking of that one!)

So following the instructions I opened the coke can style ring pull at the bottom and replaced the plastic cap which acts like a saucer. Opening the (baked bean can style) top revealed the soil which resembled cat litter. I "poured water onto gently until the contents are thoroughly soaked" but despite placing the plastic cap, the water proceeded to piss out of the bottom and all over my trousers.

Anyway... I know have to position the tin with good exposure to light, which could be a challenge in Wales, and within 1-2 weeks my bulb should germinate.

(I bet it won't)

How much would it cost.....

2007-01-09T01:47:00.000Z

Whilst avoiding writing 2500 words on a critical overview of three major environmental summits I stumbled across the website 'AQA: Any Question Answered'. You can text in any question and they will send you an answer. This usually cost a quid a question but they offer you one free question on the website

Instead of asking them a question that might provide a useful answer such as,
"What where the main recommendations from the Stockholm summit in 1972"
and with the destressing thought of my Minstrels getting lost in the post still on my mind I thought I would ask them something completely pointless and stupid.....

"How much would it cost to post and Otter to Australia via airmail?"

Their reply......

"It's illegal and cruel to post and animal. Hypothetically, if an Otter weighs 1.5kg it would cost £14.42 to send him via Airmail fro the UK to Australia"

Obvioulsy I had no plan to send an animal through the post... unlike these guys who were caught out!

Stop, Wait a minute Mister Postman.....

2007-01-08T11:59:00.000Z

According to Royal Mail;

"If your mail weighs 100g or less, simply stick a First Class stamp on it"

So that's exactly what I did....... does it really need to be inside an envelope?

Weighing in at only 42g I was able to use a first class stamp but because of Royal Mails confusing 'pricing in proportion' system I had to use a 'large' stamp as I couldn't squeeze them through the 5mm hole. When I first saw these large stamps on sale I thought they were just normal stamps for visually impaired people.

There's no reason behind posting these, other than to find out if my Minstrels do get returned to me in one piece or if my postie gets peckish on their round.

I'll be watching the letterbox in at anticipation.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot...

2007-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

Its 2007 - A new year, a new blog.