Liberate Tutemae

35

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:22:00 PST

35 appears to be the age at which your coupley friends no longer want to hang out with you if you’re single and your single friends no longer want to hang out with you if you live with your parents…

New Bike

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:39:00 PDT

it’s been 2 months since my last bike was killed by a white van driver.
the other party has admitted liability and my insurer has paid me and waived my excess, but the other insurance company are delaying things their end. so currently i still have an open claim, my no claims discount has not yet been reinstated and i have no bike.

this last bit has been bugging me for a while now and finally i have given in and started looking at bikes with a view to buying one, even though at the moment it will have to sit in the garage until my no claims is restored.

over the last year i have been scrimping and saving to go on holiday and to buy things that i want, but don’t really need, so thankfully i have some money in the bank. add to this the insurance money and i have enough money to afford something pretty reasonable.

what I'm looking for;

Comfort on the motorway
better handling than my last bike
the same or more power than my last bike
it’s got to look cool

i think i might have found all that in the Suzuki SV1000

as such, i have put down a deposit on a 2007 SV1000 Classic, just like the picture above

off on Saturday for a test ride and i have a sneaky suspicion that i will be riding it home too (on 1 day insurance from www.flexirider.co.uk)

Even More T-shirts

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:51:00 PDT

i went to the British Superbikes heat at Silverstone.

there was a stunt show where i took this photo (and many more)…

thought it would be rude not to turn it into a t-shirt or two…

T-Shirts

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:43:00 PDT

been designing again

there was a promotional tie in with Cartoon Network where you could use images from Samurai Jack…

(click on the picture to view products)

off

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 09:28:00 PDT

i was knocked off my bike by a white van driver who reversed into me "sorry mate i didn't see you"
he slowed (i assumed) for the speed bump with zebra crossing on top ahead, then came to a stop (i thought he'd seen someone going to cross or something), so rather than overtake, i stopped too.
next thing i know he's put the van into reverse and floored it! there was about 3 metres between us, but the speed he moved and the fact i was stationary meant i could do nothing but sound the horn.
as soon as he hit, i jumped off and ran round to make him stop.
apparently he'd missed his turning and was reversing back to it.
he didn't use indicators to show his intention to stop, or hazards, or anything.

the bike has mostly cosmetic damage, but the right foot peg snapped off and the mud guard is smashed.
i think there's some front end damage too as the gap between front wheel and belly pan is only about 1 centimetre and the brake fluid reservoir clashes with the fairing.

we exchanged details and as it was a company van, the company want to go through insurance.
the insurance company recovered the bike to my home and now want to take the bike away for assessment.
the rep at the insurance company told me they're already considering writing the bike off as a total loss, before they've even looked at it!

more photos here (clicky)

I Kissed a Girl, and I Liked It…

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:13:00 PDT

but I'm not sure she did…

apparently letting my hair down this last weekend was exactly what the doctor ordered.

2-for-1 cocktails on Saturday night and then a staff party at my local on Sunday which saw me drinking until after 4am may sound a bit much and seeing as how my hangover lasted all of Monday, probably was a bit much, but it was worth it.

the highlight and most bizarre moment of the weekend happened on Sunday night when out of the blue one of the barmaids (who I rather like) kissed me! and not just a peck on the cheek, I'm talking full on tonsil hockey
then she cried.
then she left.

so I did what any good Christian would, I stayed at the party and got hammered!

that was the first proper kiss I've had in about 2 years and definitely the first time ever my kissing prowess has reduced a woman to tears…

yet I don’t feel bad about it. I've spoken to her since and her response was along the lines of “sorry, I do that when I'm drunk”. I'm just pleased that in the right light, with beer goggles on, an attractive girl found me attractive, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Oh yeah, I've still got it, sort of.

Respect

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:05:00 PDT

Respect is something in short supply at work, especially when it comes to management and if they don’t start showing me some pretty soon, then they’re going to have a rough ride on their hands!

in the past i have kept my head down and just done what I've been asked to do. this has included frequent last minute shift changes and even painting and decorating when I've been supposed to be taking it easy because of my bad back. it’s this last request which caused me to begin losing respect for my Station Officer (SO).

so why now have i decided to stand my ground?
the introduction of Dual ECA crews was a big issue for me, basically it means that there are 2 non-clinicians on an emergency ambulance, doing pretty much all font line ambulance work. the crux of it is that it’s ambulancing on the cheap, except that we cannot currently fill our current front line rotas, so our reliance on private ambulance providers will increase.
there are other issues here, such as clinical safety, but the essence is that it’s a bad idea and no front line staff want it.
management on the other hand want it to such an extent that that they’ve publicly threatened the jobs of any ECAs who refuse to do it and the unions supported the management. so i left Unison.
i hasten to add that whilst i (along with many others) publicly objected to the Dual ECA scheme, i at no point refused to do it.

so last week i found out that i am being moved off the rota line which i have been on for the last 2 years and moved onto the Dual ECA line. i found this out from a fellow ECA, not my station officer, not the scheduling department, one of my direct peers. i found out just 9 days before the change.

so much for Agenda for Change (the regulations by which all NHS staff work) which states in Annex G Section 2;

in line with good working practices, employers should ensure that staff are given adequate time to be made aware of their working patterns, as a guide, at least four weeks before they become operational.

to complicate matters further, my soon to be crewmate is on leave for that first week and checking the rota boards showed that week to unplanned for me.

as i was on nights, i wrote a heart felt email (actually i sent the third draft as the first two were so angry I'd probably have been sacked) to my SO and the Scheduling department asking what my shifts were for that week and explaining that for reasons of parental care, i really need to know my shifts as far in advance as possible.

the first reply came from my SO and consisted of the most patronising email i have ever read. it basically congratulated me on my promotion to Dual ECA and consisted of nothing helpful whatsoever.

the second reply came from Scheduling and just contained my logon for the new Scheduling computer system.
dutifully i logged on to the new system, only to discover that with just 7 days to go, i still had the first week unallocated!

so once again i had to ask for my shifts and finally i receive them with just 6 days to go. at the same time however, i also get a note to say that my latest request for annual leave has been rejected. that means the last 6 requests in a row have been rejected and all the dates i actually want are unavailable. so i ask Scheduling to do what they used to do and just allocate me my remaining leave (approximately 4.5 weeks worth) and in return i get a snooty email stating that it is not their responsibility and that i need to apply through the proper channels and if i didn’t i would lose my leave.

so i did. i filled in an annual leave request form for every week remaining this year, then shuffled them…

now i have to see my SO at my “earliest convenience”. that should be an interesting chat!

Toshiba Advert

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:33:00 PDT

as i suspected, the Toshiba Thrive advert I'm is indeed for the American audience and now it’s on YouTube.

can you see me?

need help?

Ride out

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:34:00 PDT

Ride out, originally uploaded by big-ashb.

Ride out

new t-shirt design

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:50:00 PDT

i scoured the internet for a decent Akira t-shirt and when i couldn’t find one, i decided to make my own… (clicky)

i also made a version where the picture is on the front and the writing on the back (clicky)
the finished product is of a higher image quality than above.
i also made a Stormtrooper design, but thanks to Lucasfilm’s overzealous copyright Nazis it got withdrawn

UPDATE - the copyright nazis got my Akira t-shirt too :(

Black Suit

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:35:00 PDT

I am a black suit, only used for weddings, funerals and christenings.

I cannot remember the last time i was invited to do something. If i go out now it is because i have organized it. Only then do i see my 'friends'.

Nearly finished

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sun, 29 May 2011 22:58:00 PDT

Nearly finished, originally uploaded by big-ashb.

Nearly finished

ET Phone home?

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:22:00 PDT

so, on the day of the the Rapture the contract on my iPhone 3Gs finally expired. i could have waited until September when the much rumoured iPhone 5 will rear it’s head, but i cannot see the iPhone 5 being more than a hardware update of the iPhone 4.

my 3Gs has served me well, but Apple’s continual refusal to embrace Flash (clicky) and the fact that i had to Jailbreak (clicky) my iPhone to get some basic functionality unlocked or to just make the phone more useable has forced my hand.

Symbian is a dead OS (shh, don’t tell Nokia) and nothing on earth short of at least 1% of Bill Gate’s personal fortune delivered to my door in a truck and unloaded by the man himself with a shovel would make me go back to Windows Phone. Blackberry is more locked down than iOS, so that just leaves Android.

I've spent a few minutes browsing the Android Marketplace and i have to say i will miss the Apple App Store. it is one area in which Apple win hands down with a slick mobile interface and twice the number of apps that Android has. Many large companies and retailers are ignoring Android for some reason, for example Tesco have apps for iOS, OVI (Nokia) and Windows Phone, but no Android app.

i am hoping that the customisability of Android will make up for the Marketplace short comings.

as for hardware, i have opted for the Samsung Galaxy S II (clicky) as this is one of the first phones for which i am yet to read a bad review (cnet review clicky).

also i managed to negotiate a reasonable tariff as an upgrade on O2 – 250 minutes, unlimited texts and 500mb data for £16.50 per month

Mitsubishi Colt

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:25:00 PDT

My Subaru Legacy is in for servicing and as usual I have a courtesy car. In the past, this garage have done themselves proud in terms of courtesy cars, I've had an Alfa Romeo 159 and a Subaru Impreza.
Today I have a 2008 Mitsubishi Colt.

So where to start?
From the outside it's a fairly uninspired wedge fronted box like many micro-MPVs. The version I have for the day is the 5 door 1.3L Equippe, so from the standard model it has a sunroof, metallic paint a badge which says 'Equippe'... Woo.

Inside it doesn't get any better, functional looking cloth seats and swathes of cheap looking plastic.

The illuminated centre console and cup holders look especially cheap and nasty. I'm sure they look nice at night when illuminated, but I only have the car during daylight when they look like pieces of dirty white plastic.

The seats are very uncomfortable, even though they do adjust for height, tilt and slide. They just don't restrain the driver at all. When cornering it's like trying to stay on a Gym Ball while someone pushes you from the side. There is no lumbar support whatsoever, so long journeys would be hard on the spine.

There is however lots of leg and head room for driver and front seat passenger and in the rear there is a reasonable amount of passenger space, for which you sacrifice boot space. The rear seats do slide, which makes the boot bigger, but then your passengers can't have legs.
The rear seats fold forwards too to make the boot even bigger, but not if the driver or passenger have their seats all the way back.

The doors close with a satisfying clunk which makes the car feel more solid than it looks.

On to driving then. The 1.3 litre petrol engine is urgent and revs freely, but the first 2 gears are desperately short. Hitting a rev limiter at 20mph in first is a new experience for me as is an almost pointless 2nd gear. The ratio in 3rd is so wide that in town you can pretty much just leave it in 3rd from 5-40mph.

To get any sort of performance from the car you really need to work the gears, which I expected, but I didn't expect a tight biting point halfway through a very long throw clutch pedal. This means that fast gear changes are clunky. The book says the vehicle is capable of a 10.8 second 0-60, but I'm at a loss as to how. Over 30mph the acceleration just drops off and the car noisily strains between 50 and 60mph. I've not tried it on the motorway, but I can't imagine it's a pleasant experience. Surely the only way to achieve it's listed top speed of 112 mph is to drop it from a plane!
It's not even particularly economical. According to the vehicle's computer I was achieving 30mpg around town and 35mpg on country roads under normal driving conditions.
The worst aspect of this car though has to be the ride. They seem to have created the opposite of the perfect suspension setup, wallowing in the bends and bone shakingly hard on the flat!

In conclusion;
Pros: legroom, headroom, solid feel
Cons: uncomfortable, noisy, thirsty, crap to drive!

Extra extra read all about it

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Mon, 16 May 2011 02:13:00 PDT

Today I are a farmer in a TV advert for Morrisons.

I finished work on the ambulance at 1am, went home, packed a bag with the clothes wardrobe asked me for, then went to bed for 2 hours. My alarm woke me at 4am and by 5.30am I was stood in line for makeup and wardrobe in a supermarket in London...

It's the usual story of hurry up and wait. Most of the day is sat doing nothing, then there will be a flurry of activity and more waiting. Often the rush is just to change the area you're waiting in...
It's only time before people fall asleep, but in this game you snooze you lose.
Occasionally someone on the production team will walk round picking people for shots. If you're asleep you don't get picked. You still get paid though!

It's weird, there's 2 types of people who are extras, those who (like me) have a main job and just do this for fun and a bit of pocket money, then there's the wannabe actor.
The 'actors' are the funny ones, constantly name dropping and discussing recent productions as though they will be expecting a nomination for 'Best Supporting Actor' any day now. Most of the discussion from them today is about their time on 'Pirates' (of the Caribbean 4) or 'Sherlock' (Holmes 2).
The best I heard was "Johnny is lovely to work with, but I was forever having to prompt him for his lines"... In reality it's unlikely this person was within 10 foot of Mr Depp, and will likely be a blurred blob in the background!

Interestingly enough, the second part of this advert is being filmed in the same studio as parts of Sherlock.

Tired now, might have a snooze...

Sectioned

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 07:36:00 PST

Someone i know tried to take their own life a couple of days ago. They were unsuccessful, but now they are being detained for observation/assessment under the mental health act.

I nearly started this post with "a friend of mine", but that would be a lie. It's someone I see and speak with regularly, but have little in common with. I know virtually nothing of their private life, but I did know they were unhappy.

So should I feel guilty that I didn't see the signs? Should I try to help now? Surely there must be people closer to them than a casual acquaintance?
Why should I care about their problems when I have problems of my own?

On a different note, I have been told that suicide takes guts and bravery... I say Bollocks! What's harder, tying a knot, downing some pills, or living knowing every day that tomorrow is going to be just as shit as yesterday?

THAT day

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:23:00 PST

The Black Dog's been stalking me today.

I think a large part of it is the impending low which is associated with THAT day. For the 34th year running I will be single on Valentines Day. It's just co-incidence that I have been single every year on February 14th and unless some miracle happens in the next 28 hours then I will be spending the evening with my parents again.

I'd like to say it's just another day, but the truth of it is that, thanks to commercialism, the significance is rubbed in your face at every turn.

The other day I even had to listen, at length to 2 people arranging a swingers party for that day. Not necessarily the most romantic event, but they will certainly be getting more action than me! He'll, most people will be getting more action than me, but that's not what bothers me.
I've said it before, companionship is more important to me than sex. I find sex with someone I don't love to be very unfulfilling.
What I want is someone special to share these special events with, even if they were invented to sell chocolates, flowers and cards...

Ikea saturday

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:12:00 PST

Oh what a mistake. Why would I think that going to Ikea on a Saturday would be ok?

Mum and dad have decided that I should have the master bedroom. Dad sleeps down stairs since his stroke and mum uses their room just for sleeping and dressing, whereas I spend at least 50% of my time in my room. Having lived away from home for several years, I accumulated a fair amount of stuff, all of which is crammed into my room. The master bedroom is about half as big again as my room, so it makes sense to swap.
That doesn't make it any less creepy though, moving into my parents room...

My mum is moving into the guest room and wants wardrobes to match the other furniture in that room which came from Ikea, so yesterday that's where we went.

After a bit of a detour (dad was insistent that we turned off the north circular after Ikea, so we had a 5 mile 'short cut') we arrived to find a full car park and half the disabled bays filled with the cars of able-bodied people.

The shop itself was rammed and everyone seemed to have at least 1 screaming child. I guess they had scared off the herds of cats which normally roam the store...

At times I still don't do well with crowds and this was one of those times. Too many people, too much noise and dad not helping by throwing tantrums.

I amused myself by imagining all the different ways to kill people with the little stubby Ikea pencils and paper tape measures. Morbid, I know, but it kept me from doing it for real... At one point a fat woman looked like a porcupine because of the number of pencils I'd stuck in her. Annoyingly she didn't seem to notice and continued waddling slowly in front of me.

It's a good job my back is pretty much better as Ikea's idea of 'self service' doesn't appear to have weight limits...

The trip was ultimately successful, but I will never go back on a weekend, if at all.

Cheap Thrills

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:31:00 PST

Life’s been somewhat routine lately. Partly because I’ve been trying to financially recover from Christmas, but also because there seem to have been little opportunity to do fun things.

Recently though i had the opportunity to be an ‘Extra’ in a Hollywood movie. Obviously i jumped at the chance! Being an Extra can be dull, but it’s easy and different way to earn a bit of cash.
Call time was 9.30am, but because of various delays we didn’t go to makeup/wardrobe until 11am. Finally we got to set for midday, but the lighting guys hadn’t finished setting up. The Assistant Director had us take our positions at about 1pm and we did a couple of rehearsals before breaking for lunch.
Extras are the bottom of the food chain, so it’s not uncommon for the caterers to have run out of the best food before the Extras get an opportunity to tuck in. What was left though was still delicious.
Back on set the scene was ‘speed dating’ in a trendy bar. I have no idea how this fits into the film and to be honest i don’t really care, but for part of it I am sat behind one of the actors, so there is a possibility of some screen time. The scene itself called for the Extras to silently pretend to talk to each other, which invariably meant fits of hysterical silent laughter...

Several different angles were shot and the scene was in the can by 7pm. I was held back to appear in the background of the 3^rd scene they planned to shoot that day, but due to delays on the 2^nd scene (which I wasn’t in) they decided to bin the 3^rd scene entirely allowing me to ‘wrap’ at 10pm. I didn’t mind though, the overtime rates aren’t bad...

Speaking to some of the other Extras, I found out that it’s best to sign up with several different agencies in order to get ‘decent’ jobs. Several of them had just come off working on Pirates of the Caribbean 4, the new X-Men film and various other big budget Hollywood films currently being shot in the UK.

One of those agencies just happened to be having a recruitment day in London a few days after, so off I went to our nation’s capital. The recruitment day included a photo shoot, which is handy as I don’t have many good photos of myself to send to other agencies. I then had some time to kill and a Travelcard, so over a bite of lunch I perused the internet to see what London had to offer that day.
The British Museum’s exhibition of The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (clicky) appealed, so off I went.

The British Museum is a gorgeous building with the most amazing ceiling and the exhibition was being held in the central reading room – basically a large circular library. Not that you could see much of the library because they had built a room within the reading room specifically for the exhibition. The walls painted black and the only illumination from the exhibit lights meant that it was very dark and the hundred or so tourists (most of whom were wearing rucksacks) meant that it was very crowded.
Hollywood has lied to us. I half expected to see a big book which had lain undiscovered for thousands of years and contained all the Ancient Egyptian secrets, or something. What I didn’t realise is that every Pharaoh, important person or even average person with a bit of money was buried with their own copy of The Book of the Dead, so there are loads of them knocking about. What makes them special though is that they were written on papyrus, then tightly rolled and bound, so that at first glance they appear to be a wooden log with the age rings you’d associate with a cross section. Over the years these books have been carefully unrolled and preserved and it’s amazing how the colours have survived. The books vary as to their quality, size and number of spells they contain based on how much the deceased’s family were willing to pay the scribes. Usually they were written in advance, then the pictures and the name of the deceased added for the particular customer. They have an example of a Book of the Dead which was buried with someone without being filled in, there are spaces for the pictures and name still to be added. The most impressive example of a complete Book of the Dead is that of a priest’s daughter. Intricate detail, clear writing and every spell in full, it comes in at a whopping 37 metres long!

For me though, the exhibition was ruined by the hand held multi media guides. I didn’t use one and I’m glad I didn’t. The earphones reduce spatial awareness meaning that everyone is bumping into each other and they cause the wearer to unnecessarily raise their voice. My main gripe though is that the presentation for each artefact is about 3-5 minutes long and the user has a tendency to stand right in front of the exhibit, blocking the view of others, even though they spend more time looking at the screen in their hand than the exhibit itself. I made do with the description cards next to each exhibit and feel that I got enough out of the exhibition for me. I also took some photos on my hone – probably not supposed to, but I don’t care and no one tried to stop me.

My Photos here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/big-ashb/sets/72157625711569781/

Life then settled down again, back into the routine of work and very little play. That was until the other day when I got a phone call from a nice lady at Subaru who asked me if I’d like to test drive the new 2011 Subaru WRX STi saloon. I explained to her that I’d bought a new car – a Subaru in fact, less than a year ago and that I’m not looking to replace it any time soon. She was most insistent that I come for a test drive anyway, so not wanting to be rude, I spent half an hour yesterday thrashing the nuts off a 300bhp 4 wheel drive saloon car. It felt rude not to drive it like I stole it and in the process break most laws of the road and even, I think, some laws of physics! It was a fantastic car to drive, but even at the ‘bargain’ price tag of £32,995 I doubt I’ll ever own one, at least not while I still need a driving license...

Christmas on the Front Line

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:03:00 PST

this was my twitter stream over December 24th, 25th, 26th. it’s in reverse chronological order, i.e. read from the bottom up.

And thus ends a typical Christmas day night shift on an NHS front line ambulance. Goodnight all. 26 December 2010 07:05:28

Job no. 10 epigastric pain with blue vomit. My best guess is appendicitis. 26 December 2010 06:28:30

Job no. 9 elderly male non-injury fall, just needed assistance to get back into bed. 26 December 2010 05:15:38

Job no. 8 child with mild croup and a chest infection. I'm noticing a theme. 3 hours to go. 26 December 2010 04:03:38

Turns out it was another chest infection. 5 minutes to top up caffeine levels, then back on the road. I'm driving this half of the shift. 26 December 2010 03:12:15

Exactly 30 minutes meal break, then off to a chest pains. 26 December 2010 02:40:20

Slight difference between unconscious and having a panic attack... Break time now :-) 26 December 2010 01:59:41

Nope, job no. 6 unconscious male. 26 December 2010 01:09:11

Bizarre first half. 5 jobs including 1 hoax, took 1 to A&E, more time spent out of area than in. 26 December 2010 01:04:16

Half way through and heading back for some grub. Wonder if we'll get there without copping another job? 1:00 AM Dec 26th

Chest pain, that'll be the chest infection you're taking antibiotics for then. 12:43 AM Dec 26th

75 year old breathing difficulties, family would rather take him to A&E themselves than let us get our mitts on him... So why call 999 then? 11:13 PM Dec 25th

No alcohol involved, just a private responder who can't tell the difference between a seizure and a "faint with muscle spasm"... 10:16 PM Dec 25th

Which turned out to be a hoax. Now we're on our way to a 30 year old who's fainted. I wonder if alcohol is involved? 8:00 PM Dec 25th

Now on the way to an assault following a home invasion... 7:49 PM Dec 25th

Following mike's example, my first job of Christmas was a diabetic having a domestic with a drunk partner. We rolled out early for that. 7:47 PM Dec 25th

12 hours, 9 jobs, 8 stand downs, 10 minutes of cover, 30 minutes of meal break, 110 miles. Merry fucking Christmas. 6:52 AM Dec 25th

Merry Saturday 12:06 AM Dec 25th

Always read the label

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:44:00 PST

My first job today was to a couple who had a suicide pact.
Not much older than myself, both suffered from physical and mental problems and had saved up pills from their prescriptions to do the deed.
Some time last night, the man apparently got tired of waiting, so he consumed the stash. All of it, both his and hers. Then he went back to bed.
The woman was woken up this morning by the unconscious man having a seizure, then after calling for an ambulance, found the stash to be missing.
She was both distraught and angry that he had attempted suicide without telling her and without leaving her the means to follow him.

The fact is though that the pills he took didn't kill him, they just put him in a coma. A coma, broken only by tonic clonic seizures, from which he may never emerge.
I have no idea how long he will remain in a vegetative state. He may die or he may recover, but if he does come out of the coma then there is a high probability he will be brain damaged and have other serious medical problems.

The woman may have been put off the idea, but I suspect she will soon attempt to shuffle off her own mortal coil. I'd be very surprised if she chooses the same method though.

With a little research on the internet or in the library they'd have known that their selected pills would not work and that this would be the outcome.

The sad thing is that they have a young teenage son.
He suggested to me that to wake his father up all I need do is tell him that his car has been stolen "cos that's the only thing he cares about".

Then he took the dog for a walk like it was just another day.

Time flies by

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:50:00 PDT

So I haven't blogged in a while. Here's what's been happening;

My back
I finally had the injections and am 80% better. The consultant is happy and says the residual pain will go as my fitness returns.

Work
After a couple of mind numbingly dull months of office work, occupational health have declared me fit for work. I'm on annual leave at the moment, but when that's over I will be back on the road properly.

Fitness
I have lost half a stone already and will continue, so long as I don't keep over doing it. I still hurt from yesterday's gym session.

Car
I crashed my car into a low wall made of flint outside my sister's house. Mum blames herself and is insisting on paying for it even though it was my own fault. It needs a new front bumper and I'm getting quotes now.

Bike
My bike is in bits, but that's a good thing. Project Wrap is about 3/4 done and I hope to finish soon and get the bike back on the road before the winter sets in.

Romance
Rejected by eHarmony again, I am perusing the ladies on Match.com with no luck so far.

Mental state
Fluctuating, but generally low. Finances, physical condition, low self esteem and living situation are the main factors.

That's about it really.

DVLA auction experience

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:07:00 PDT

Since getting my new car I have been wanting a private plate of my own, after all my father and sister both have private plates, so why not me?

scouring the internet I'm struggling to find something i like that i can afford, so i decided to look at the upcoming DVLA auction. Low and behold, just the plate for me ALL81G (ALL BIG) with a reserve of just £400…

with the DVLA Auctions (which are run by SMA) you have 4 ways to bid, all of which require prior registration for the auction;

in person on the day
on the telephone
on the internet
as an absentee/postal bid (you state your upper limit and the auctioneer bids on your behalf)

as the last time i attended an auction i was knee high to a giraffe and have no recollection of it, i decided to bid in person. the registration process is simple, just fill in a form on the internet (clicky), and give them your credit card info – a 10% deposit is taken if your bid is successful.

it is important to remember that (in 2010) the auction price is subject to 17.5%VAT, 7.5% buyer’s premium, 17.5% VAT on buyer’s premium and an £80 assignment fee. i.e. what ever you bid remember to add 25% (approximately) to reach the final cost.

you should arrive at the venue at least 30 minutes before the lot you want to bid on is due to go under the hammer, in case there is any further registration you need to complete and so they can issue you with your bidder number.

the venue varies for each auction and today it was the turn of the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, a lovely looking place with terrible acoustics. the auction room was circular with the auctioneers and telephone operators on one side, about 50 chairs in the middle and standing room at the back.
the chairs were about half full with bidders and there were about 15-20 people standing at the back who were all talking. the auctioneers take it in turns to auction lots and did a good job of talking loud and clear (except the Scottish guy who I'm sure used some obscure Glaswegian dialect), but it was still hard to concentrate with so many people talking. then about 15 minutes in 3 families with babies turned up and i started to get a headache!

in amongst all this noise an auction was taking place and with each Lot taking on average just over a minute to complete we were fast approaching Lot 48, the reason i was there.

for those of you unfamiliar with such things as i was, i will try to explain the bidding process.

the auction starts at the reserve price, then the absentee bids (if there are any) are bid against each other until there is only 1. then everyone else can bid – floor, telephone and internet, it’s kind of a free for all with a bell going off every time an internet bid is placed.
if there are no absentee bids then the lot is offered to the floor at the reserve price first to start the bidding before then accepting bids from the internet and telephones.

so to my bidding experience…

Lot 48 had a reserve of £400, but 2 absentee bids pushed it up to £500. i started the floor bidding at £550 (minimum bid increment is £50) and was quickly followed by someone directly behind me. at £750 (my limit) the bidding stopped and it looked like i was going to win it! the auctioneer started the “going once” spiel (they try to drum up more bidders throughout), then said “going twice”, my heart is pounding, I'm about to win my first live auction… But wait, the other bidder is directly behind me, i can’t see him, am i the highest bid? Did he point at me or the other guy?! Just to make sure, i flash my bidding card again. the auctioneer sees me, points at me and says “the bid is already with you, sir”… phew, I'm going to win!
But wait, the guy behind me must have been confused too, he’s bidding again!! I'm going to lose! i don’t want to lose! i bid again.
back and forth we bid up to £950, I'm over my limit, but i don’t care, I'm winning!! the other guy’s dropped out, it’s definitely me winning this time! seconds tick by which feel like hours, the auctioneer says “going once at £950”, my heart is fluttering, then “going twice at £950” sweat is beading on my brow, then just as he opens his mouth to speak – BRRRRING… it’s the sound which signal’s an internet bid coming in, then almost immediately after BRRRRING, another internet bit and another. people on the internet are now bidding against each other! I'm out. having already bid over my limit, i sensibly stay out of it and am gutted when it finally goes for £1500 (£1974.69 including tax) which is double my limit.

if i hadn’t succumbed to the confusion and shown my card again, then i would have that plate for £750, also as the auctioneers vary the speed with which they close each lot, a different auctioneer may not have given me time to doubt or time for the late internet bids to come in… either way my search continues…

in the same auction was 39ASH, but as the reserve was £1900 i didn’t bid and it ended up going for £3600.

here are some more results from the auction;

Plate	Reserve (£)	Sale (£)	Bidder	Plate	Reserve (£)	Sale (£)	Bidder
999A	2900	5000	I	3AFA	1900	1900	B
98AA	2900	5500	T	4AFP	1900	UNSOLD
AAA44A	900	3600	T	AFT4D	400	1900	I
6AAS	1900	1900	B	97AG	2800	5700	T
AAT71F	450	900	B	AGG7Y	400	400	B
800AB	2700	4600	T	100AGS	1900	4300	B
ABB13E	400	2100	B	8AHD	1900	1900	B
ABB88S	400	400	B	5AHL	1900	1900	B
ABE641L	400	400	T	AHM11R	400	1300	B
ABF8	1900	2500	B	AHM14D	400	4400	B
ABR9M	400	850	B	95AJ	2800	5100	B
ABR44R	400	4400	B	AJA2S	400	2600	B
87AC	2800	6300	T	15AJC	1900	4800	T
11ACK	1900	2800	B	13AJL	1900	UNSOLD
13ACP	1900	UNSOLD		17AJP	1900	5100	B
ACT3D	400	550	B	56AJS	1900	3200	I
90AD	2800	5600	T	59AK	2800	6900	B
14ADC	1900	2500	B	AKR777M	400	700	B
ADE14S	400	650	B	97AL	2900	5500	B
16ADJ	1900	1900	I	ALF4E	400	1800	I
ADM11N	400	1300	A	ALL81G	400	1500	I
ADR333S	400	1600	T	18ALS	1900	2400	T
ADS19	1900	4800	T	APE12	1900	UNSOLD
80AE	2700	3200	I	666AS	2700	3400	B
5AEP	1900	2500	B	39ASH	1900	3600	I
AERIC	700	800	B	ASK54M	400	1600	B
93AF	2800	3500	A	ASK805S	400	2600	B

(I = internet bid, T = Telephone bid, A = absentee bid, B = Bid in person)

Always Best To Check With The Boss...

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:39:00 PDT

Mum likes to watch the tennis and the Formula 1 and I’m getting her into Moto GP too, but there’s a problem – her eyesight. Because our old living room cathode ray tube was a poultry 28”, she was finding it hard to read the scores on the screen.

So dad and I were sent on a mission to find a new TV which was a bit bigger and off we went. There was a problem though, we were not given a budget or any guide as to size.

Deciding that anything over about 37” would be dismissed as being excessively large for our lounge, we set about comparing models. Not as easy a task as you may think. You see most of the electronics shops selling HDTVs seem to think that the best way to demonstrate their wares is to put a random assortment of Standard Definition feeds into all their sets so that the image quality just goes from bad to worse. Kudos to John Lewis though, they at least leave the remotes with the TVs so that customers can have a play - and play I did. I did the sensible thing (much to some customer’s annoyance...) and switched every TV attached to an HD source to HD – in most cases this was BBC HD showing the golf. This allowed for a direct comparison and thus we were able to make a shortlist.

At 37” around the £500 mark, there was nothing to separate the top 3 manufacturers Sony, Samsung and Panasonic. At that price, no other manufacturer could compete for image quality. As we’ve had Panasonic TVs in the past, dad decided that we should go for one again and I agreed, but which one... there are several slightly different models at slightly different prices with slightly different specifications and all by Panasonic... we need the Boss.

Once at home, the Boss was surprised to see us empty handed, but once we told her why, she reluctantly agreed to return to the shops with us the next day for the final sign off... that evening i spent a while researching Panasonic HDTVs on the internet and found out that Comet do several which, although slightly more expensive, do come with free BluRay players.

The next morning came and the 3 of us trotted off to the nearest Comet (ok, second nearest as my internet research showed that the nearest had run out of the free BluRay players). Once inside, mum quickly perused the wide selection of TV’s before returning to look at the ones dad and I had earmarked.

“I don’t like any of those, I like that one.” Says mum pointing to a near top of the range Panasonic 42” LED 1080p HDTV...

“But it’s twice the price!” says I

“I don’t care.” Says mum “that’s the one i want.”

Dad and I glance at each other for a second with grins developing on our faces...

...then as if by magic a shopkeeper appeared. Then, after I negotiated a 9% discount on the TV with a free BluRay player AND a couple of other expensive freebies AND a 20% reduction on an already reduced accessories pack which included a high end HDMI cable and a power cleaning, surge protecting, eco friendly power distribution board AND he carried the whole lot out to the car for us, he wished he hadn’t appeared as his commission had disappeared.

TX-L42D25B

7 months

noreply@blogger.com (ElPhantasmo) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:57:00 PDT

It’s now been 7 months since I did my back in and I am still getting pain. I am now pretty much used to the constant background discomfort, but when I bend too much, move suddenly or try to lift anything heavy, I get a stabbing pain. Whilst not enough to bring be to my knees, it certainly can take my breath away and for about 30 minutes to an hour afterwards I have very painful sciatica through my right buttock.

I have sacked my Physiotherapist whose manipulations have set me back a bit (I'm now pretty much back to how I was before I saw her nearly 3 weeks ago) and who lied to me about basic anatomy and physiology…

I'm still seeing my world class Osteopath once a week as she gives me back a lot of movement, but doesn't really do anything for the pain. At £45 a time it’s getting rather expensive, but it’s worth it to keep moving!

I'm now being referred to an Orthopaedic consultant to see if there’s anything they can do. I keep hearing of these miracle injections you can get into the disc. I’m willing to try anything now to get my back right.

I'm also going to the gym about 4 times a week to do low impact cardiovascular work, light high repetition weights and core muscle strengthening exercises. I was going 7 times a week, but now I'm back on light duties I am finding I have less energy.