My Seaside Kingdom

This is view of Teignmouth sea front, it was taken last year when the weather was mercifully clear and in my humblest of opinions it shows the beauty of the seaside town I inhabit.

I have lived in Teignmouth since April 1991 when I moved here with my parents and my aunt.

We moved here from Bristol in order to give my father a few more years of life due to his failing health. Since then I have always considered this my home and never looked back.

The two Pictures above both show parts of the coast line facing the opposite direction to the previous picture, The second photo shows in silhouette one of Teignmouths attractions; namely the grand pier.

Here's me out on an observation platform with the main industry of Teignmouth in the background....Tourism.





Teignmouth becomes a maddening place from about April/May and doesn't calm down til September when the new school year starts.





Personally I hate that time of year, simply because it makes the town extremely crowded and means that If you want to park you gotta fight for it!

As You can see from the photos, Teignmouth has some beautiful streets and as such can be considered by many as `quaint` it may not seem like much to many but I consider it home.

A Night On The Tiles

Yes that's me smiling! I'm actually enjoying one of my rare nights out.

I'm not normally a social butterfly, in fact I only started to go out on evenings about three months ago after I enjoyed the christmas party that our work place threw back in December '06.

Being a social misfit I never realised what fun going out could actually be! but my mates Ben and Lee started this after I made a new years resolution to develop a social life and they have ensured that I keep to my promise!

Generally, we start out at one pub and all chip in a minium of £20 to a `booze kitty` that we entrust to Lee, then he gets our drinks in and the fun starts!

The first occasion I went out with them I made the mistake of trying to keep up with them and eneded up so drunk I was sick in the taxi back! (yuk!)

This time I managed to learn my lesson and in fact I insisted on havind water at least twice during our night out. (much to the disgruntlement of the others!)

Here's some shots of big Lee playing pool against my other mate Ben, as you can see Lee is quite the player and has been known to go on quite the winning streak when he gets started!

Because I don't normally drink i'm generally the last one to finish my drink and as such I earned myself the nickname `speedy` but frankly I tend to go out more for the company than the booze!

I suppose that you would like to know if I have any photos of me at the christmas party.....Well I do! and so i suppose I'd better trot those out!



You might recognise one of these ladies from my earlier posts, Yes thats right it's Carly from `me and my mates`! the young lady with her is Tasha, another of the staff at our `beloved` co-op, she is usually to be found at the kiosk and is always very friendly to all the customers and staff alike!





its a rare occasion that we can get a photo of her so I must have been very sneaky to get one here either that or she had had far too much to drink!



Aren't I the babe magnet!? Once again it took a few drinks to get this shot and it was meant as a bit of a joke! I look like I'm about to strangle poor Tash! just wanted to make sure she didn't escape ha ha!

I must admit im getting used to going out now but will be sticking to once a month for a while! I don't think my wallet could take the strain!

Changing Times

Those of you who have been following this blog (and if you haven't why not?) may notice a slight change to my appearance in these photos (no prizes for guessing what).

Before I get the inevitable comments, I will point out that I have not lost my marbles (not yet anyway) merely felt like changing my appearence and besides, I prefer the pic on the right of me without my goatee as it makes me look a few years younger.

I always get my hair cut every 6/8 weeks cos after that it starts to curl and then it really becomes a tangled mess and takes AGES to tidy up and I kind of made a promise to a very good friend that when I cut my hair this time I would shave the goatee off and see if I could live without it! So far so good but it feels strange not to have it there! and I've had to relearn how to do a complete facial shave (not easy for me to do as I have lived with a goatee since I was 17).

The only thing is that i've also had to point it out to my work mates because most of them wouldn't notice if I'd dyed my hair bright blue (!) and they've mostly liked it because of the above comment that it makes me look younger, personally it's a mixed blessing because although now I look younger it means I might get ID'ed when I go o the pub with my mates! Still a compliment is a compliment! :-)

The other thing that prompted the change was that after two years (finally!) i've managed to clear my final debt arrears and I now am completely debt free and H-A-P-P-Y! so now it's out with the old and in with the new!

My Private (K)nightmare

I'm now going to show my age!

Back in 1987 when I was the tender age of 5, (aaaaah!) i was introduced to a tv show that was to remain fixed in my head for the next 20 years and will probably remain there for many years to come.

The tv show was called Knightmare and was something of a innovation for its time.

Back then, most kids game shows were slimy to say the least (all the games had that interesting idea that the slimier the game the more the kids would like it) but this took it to a whole new level!

First it was done using computer graphics, which created entire rooms and filled them with the most unusual creatures (walking skeletons being a favourite of the designers) and then they added real life actors in order to create a realistic slant to the proceedings

Second the main character was a young child around 12 though sometimes older who was for obvious reasons blindfolded using an unusual helmet

The helmet was called the helmet of justice (justice being blind) and this made way for the others in the team, namely the advisers!

There were three advisers, usually one was designated the spellcaster, another was the navigator and the third usually advised them on what to say to the various characters that the dungeoneer would meet on their quest.

Here are a few pics taken from the fan website:

http://www.knightmare.com/

As you can see the graphics are poor compared to today's show but at least the show attempted to treat the kids as intelligent!

The series ran until 1994, when the controller of ITV decided that the show had run it's course and cancelled it!

However there is currently a campaign to re-commission the show and a all new virtual reality version in the works!

As the series progressed, new innovations were created to allow for a bigger environment, this included actual locations taken from the outside world and new and deadlier challenges

The deadliest challenge was introduced in the fourth series (1990) and was called the corridor of blades!

I should point out that the dungeoneer didn't actually die! if they failed they were simply showed at the end in one piece and sent off with a scroll for their achievements!

The entire show was considered by most people to be a hit and it would be nice if the terrestrial channels decided to reshow this program but unfortunatley it can only be seen on satellite and cable on Challenge tv! (still brings back good memories though)

Home & Away

Thought I'd I'll tell you about my trip to Brighton; that was about 5 years ago and I actually had a very good time!

Now despite what people think they know about the place it is very nice (if a little expensive) and caters for people of all preferences and tastes.
When I first went there it was just after my parents passed away and I needed to get away from it all, but being on a limited budget and wishing to see what Britain had to offer I chose Brighton and I actually began to relax.

Brighton hasn't got much of a beach although it does claim that it has a naturalist beach somewhere (although I didn't have the guts to find it!) but it does have a excellent pier and plenty of shops to enjoy. I spent a week there and enjoyed it so much that a year later I went back and tried to see all there is to see of the place, I discovered that they also have a couple of flea markets that a person could buy loads of stuff.

My most recent holiday was to a little place in Cornwall called Par, I went camping for a weekend with a mate of mine called Steven and I enjoyed it very much!

That's me sat at the table reading, the photo was taken by Steven and it was him who put the tent up too! (I admit I'm not very good at camping!)

The weather did actually hold off and we were very close to a decent beach, although sunbathing wasn't included in our plans!

We met quite a few people there who were taking advantage of the bank holiday (whitsun) and were caravaning or camping; when we arrived there were only a few tents and a scattering of caravans, by the time we left the place was thriving!

We also visited the Eden project in St. Austell, When I told people that I had always wanted to see it, people told me it would take more than one visit to experience it and I actually agree with them.

The large dome in the center is the core; here is where the cafe, visitor center and school project center are located; The main `Zones` are located either side; the dome at the back is the tropical zone and the one in the foreground is the temperate (Mediterranean) zone.

This is a shot from within the tropical zone.

There are labels everywhere that tell you where many of the things we take for granted originally come from; It's a little strange to think that the rubber and elastic from your sofa or underwear comes from a plant! or that the chocolate that we eat start off as a tiny bean!

The only problem with this zone is that the humidity is a killer! the atmosphere is oppressive, thick and very very warm!

You don't want to be wearing a lot of clothing when you go unless you plan to lose a few pounds in weight from sweating!

This from the Mediterranean zone, here it's warm but not oppressive and it contains some beautiful structures!

The plantlife here tends to come from Itlay,Greece etc. and therefore is mostly citrus fruit and tomatoes, olives etc.

One part of the tour I wouldn't recommend is the gift shop; it is way too expensive and many of the things they sell you can buy in a decent supermarket for a fraction of the price! (even the fairtrade stuff is expensive!)

Each night we would go to one of the local pubs in Par and sit and listen to the local talent!

Often we would also eat out as the facilites on the site were not up to much; We found a lovely chippie in a place called Tywardreath and we pretty much enjoyed ourselves that weekend!

Fun & Games

Welcome To My Home

As you can see, I'm an avid DVD fan and also something of a gaming freak!
I can't say I own the biggest collection of games but I will admit that it is certainly impressive!
I own the following games consoles:

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (Not connected)
Super Nintendo Enterainment System (SNES)

Nintendo 64 (N64) (Not connected)

Nintendo Gamecube

Sega Master System
Sega Mega Drive II/Mega-CD II

Sega Saturn

Sega Dreamcast

Sony Playstation (Not connected)

Sony Playstation 2

The list of games when typed out is over 17 pages long and contains some gems!

My mate Gary is also an avid games fan and tries to persuade me to buy the latest games which is not always possible due to a extremely tight budget!!

Luckily, He has a few games that I don't and we are always borrowing each other games and trying to help each other when the other gets stuck on a particular level!

I'm trying to save up enough to buy a XBox 360 but at the moment that is extremely hard, I used to own an XBox but the drawer stopped working so I've had to consign it to the space under the bed which is annoying as I have a decent collection of games and would prefer to try them on the new machine!

Still, So long as they don't all explode!

Me And My Mates

These are two of my mates, Carly & Ben. As you can see they are quite the pair or at least I should say they were as they recently split up (sniff!) but at least they remain friends.

Ben is quite a good friend although I haven't known him all that long, he is both friendly and infuriating at the same time; He is also quite the madcap as he will say one thing and then ten seconds later he will contradict himself! Still he's someone I would trust with my life! (and for me that saying something!)

Carly is a bright and bubbly girl, she is currently taking driving lessons and as a result all motorists should ensure their affairs are in order (just joking Carly !).

Generally speaking these two spend the most time with me when I'm in work and until recently I very rarely saw them outside of the workplace.


This odd-looking fellow is another of my pals; his name is Michael and he is (like me) something of a geek. He often has discussions with me about how something is done with regard to japanese animation or occasionally we talk about the legal system (He's currently studying a law degree at Plymouth University) and as such we are regarded as the two eggheads of the Co-Op where we work.


However, I must point out in all fairness he has only been there for just over a year and as such doesn't know the other there like I do, so to some he seems stuck-up whereas I think it's just his way of doing things; In some ways he reminds me of me when I first started there.


Then there's Lee:
Lee is large and definitely in charge! He is even more outrageous than Ben but he also has a sensitive side that makes him a good mate and someone I would like to have around in a pinch! He would do anything for a mate and I think that I’m lucky to count him as one of mine. Lee also has a girlfriend and a baby girl which he is fiercely proud of and personally I think he will be a wonderful father figure as she grows up. Lee also has a wicked sense of humour and when he sets his mind to something never gives up (More on that later!).

Finally there's Gary:
Gary is a few years younger than me (about 20 I think) and like me is a fan of the latest computer games and tries to persuade me to buy them even though I can’t always afford to! Gary is seeing a young lady called Danni who for the most part is very quiet and a little withdrawn (well, to me anyway) but is very devoted to Gary and a little possessive of him! Still if that’s what he wants he’s happy to have her.