bookmark_borderSpaghetti blognese*

Furtling around for inspiration I ran a few standard blogging fallbacks through some mental checks.

  • Too busy because – nope, did one of those recently.
  • Interesting referrers – my stats are way down as it is so I’ve been avoiding looking at my stats at all. Ohhh, actually that might be a topic I could tackle, finding out reader stats across website hits and RSS feed subscriptions… but others have done that one so.. moving on…
  • Spam comments – nope, didn’t that one recently too.
  • What do I have in draft – “How to grab TV episodes using torrents” – yeah started that one but need to be at home to finish it.

I guess all I have left is to ask for music/book recommendations, after all I have a “Dear Santa” list to fill and it’s only really got some camera stuff on it at the moment (and my groovy, self-designed Reebok trainers of course. And yes, that IS the longest URL in the world…). Suggestions welcomed..

Other than that, little of note has happened to me recently as my day is largely a set of predictable and repeated steps.

(intrepid bloggers will by now have realised that I’m falling back on the ultimate of all fall backs by posting about not being able to post and why I don’t have anything to write about, thus giving me something to write about in this post. Wise is the experienced blogger…)

Get up at 6.30am, go to work, try and not get interrupted (I’m failing at this one but that seems to be the way of things), go home, chill out for an hour or so, do stuff that needs done, then get some more work done and try to get to bed before 1am (just). Boring. Not really stuff wot people will find interesting.

(great, now this is turning into an “I’m too busy to post” post.. dammit)

Next week will be different as I’m off to exotic Warwick and will be delivering a presentation to a room full of my peers. Yes I am starting to crap myself a little but I know the topic well enough (Wikis) and will get a couple more rehearsals in before Wednesday.

Other than that, the main topic in this neck of the woods is football.

For those of you not au fait with such things if Scotland beat Italy on Saturday, we will have qualified for the European Championships. We haven’t qualified for a big tournament for 10 years so this is a very big thing especially when you consider that, really, we shouldn’t even be in with a shout of qualifying at all, having been drawn in a qualifying group with the two World Cup finalists from last year and with only two teams going through.

Two shock wins against France, and some good performances at home, have put us in this position and the nation (well the bit that cares about this stuff) is rallying. One of my co-workers has come to work in his kilt.

Which is odd as the game is tomorrow but I admire his spirit nonetheless.

We are watching the game with friends, and in my heart I hope we manage it. Our national team was a joke one year ago, and whilst I think it’s fair to say we are hitting above our weight at the moment, it’s reminiscent of the Scotland teams I grew up with.

After the game we are all off out to a highly reputed local restaurant. So if the worst happens, and we concede an injury equaliser (thus almost rendering it impossible for us to qualify (there are permutations beyond tomorrow but they involve the Faroe Islands beating current World Champions Italy… hmmm)) which given the precarious nature with which the national football team seems to operate is the most likely scenario, we will at least eat well and enjoy good company, lively banter and large amounts of alcohol.

Although part of me is wishing we hadn’t booked an Italian restaurant.

* SORRY!!

bookmark_borderTorquay

So on Friday we head for sunny Torquay, the place where the world’s most famous mystery writer, Agatha Christie, was born in 1890.

Torquay as we know it dates back to the end of the 18th Century, with the source of the name still offering some confusion. It’s either the “little harbour” (Torre Quay) or roughly signifies “Thor’s Harbor” (cognate to Tórshavn, Faroe Islands and þórshöfn, Iceland), but a more likely root is the Devonian word “Tor”, a hill or outcrop, especially common in placenames on nearby Dartmoor (thanks Wikipedia).

So what to do, what to do. There are a few well known tourist attractions which we’ll try and squeeze in alongside trips to the Quay West water park, the reading of books and the quaffing of wine – Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Cockington village, Torre Abbey, Babbacombe Model Village, and a wander round Torquay Harbour (you might even spot us on the webcam!) will all feature I’m sure.

Alas no Fawlty Towers as that wasn’t actually filmed in Torquay (bar one of the few outdoor shots of Basil outside a restaurant in Torquay), but what else is there to do? I warrant some wandering on beaches and along cliff top paths would be desired, but if anyone has been on holiday or lives in the area I’d appreciate some suggestions.