<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707</id><updated>2012-02-16T13:53:03.620-08:00</updated><title type='text'>.</title><subtitle type='html'>&lt;a&gt;&lt;img src="http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/white1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>10</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-5929874528656971292</id><published>2007-01-19T12:06:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-01-19T12:43:40.820-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Ensures the prevention of puddles, leaks and mould.</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;My giddy aunt! has it really been that long since my last post?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I suppose the subject which is on most peoples lips here in the UK at the moment is (so called) &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;Celebrity Big Brother&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmvLYVBLI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Xlb9V0glolU/s1600-h/cbb5_eye_white_122.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 111px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmvLYVBLI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Xlb9V0glolU/s200/cbb5_eye_white_122.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021837651445351602" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is it racism? Bullying? Or is it just pure old good and simple &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;stupidity&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For what my two-bob opinion is worth, I think it’s all a bag o’ bollox.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEngbYVBVI/AAAAAAAAAI4/SvpgUAIb0sc/s1600-h/Scrotum.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 97px; height: 123px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEngbYVBVI/AAAAAAAAAI4/SvpgUAIb0sc/s200/Scrotum.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838497553909074" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who cares?  Why should these people take up so many column inches in the newspapers that helped to create what they are, purely to act this way…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These people are supposed to be &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-size:180%;" &gt;role models&lt;/span&gt; errr ok,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stand up role model numero uno..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnHLYVBQI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/M-KJVm1ZC_U/s1600-h/housemate_jade_185.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 87px; height: 92px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnHLYVBQI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/M-KJVm1ZC_U/s200/housemate_jade_185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838063762212098" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Jade – is now the most&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;unpopular&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Goody ever, breaking Bill Oddies 30 year reign.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnlbYVBWI/AAAAAAAAAJA/vqbqCxdS7xQ/s1600-h/SpeakOutBillOddiehead.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 84px; height: 94px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnlbYVBWI/AAAAAAAAAJA/vqbqCxdS7xQ/s200/SpeakOutBillOddiehead.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838583453255010" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Originally made famous by Big Brother, most notably for getting her love handles out, along with her giblets, and ‘talking’ into the unfortunately named &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;P.J Ellis’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; man-mic… nice!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnWLYVBTI/AAAAAAAAAIo/O0Rct3ukEI0/s1600-h/PJ.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 203px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnWLYVBTI/AAAAAAAAAIo/O0Rct3ukEI0/s200/PJ.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838321460249906" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Incidentally, this P. J Ellis is NOT me!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnArYVBPI/AAAAAAAAAII/HA-dljPwvts/s1600-h/housemate_danielle_185.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 90px; height: 94px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnArYVBPI/AAAAAAAAAII/HA-dljPwvts/s200/housemate_danielle_185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021837952093062386" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Danielle – Ok, a quick run-down for our American friends. Quite pretty, just out of her teens, disqualified after winning &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;Miss Uk or World&lt;/span&gt; or who gives a fuck -  for…. get this, dating one of the judges, the notorious womaniser Mr 40 (yes forty) Year Old Teddy Sheringham.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnrbYVBXI/AAAAAAAAAJI/YDJXb_9wtSw/s1600-h/teddy-sheringham-european-cup.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnrbYVBXI/AAAAAAAAAJI/YDJXb_9wtSw/s200/teddy-sheringham-european-cup.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838686532470130" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good old Teddy, imagine going out with someone younger than your own son - dirty ol' bastard.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnNbYVBRI/AAAAAAAAAIY/ZtmmKnbn1cY/s1600-h/housemate_jo_185.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 101px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnNbYVBRI/AAAAAAAAAIY/ZtmmKnbn1cY/s200/housemate_jo_185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838171136394514" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Jo.  Once in a very successful &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;manufactured pop group&lt;/span&gt; (S-Club 7). Now apparently in the BB house to pay the debts her shitty company has run up and to feed her&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt; slot machine addiction&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnbLYVBUI/AAAAAAAAAIw/pWTktcAYTb4/s1600-h/sclub7.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnbLYVBUI/AAAAAAAAAIw/pWTktcAYTb4/s200/sclub7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838407359595842" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;In my opinion, Jade going back into the house, this time as a celebrity was a mistake. Surely it must rank right up there, or at least &lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;on a par with God &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;(yes he made them too) placing the snake in the garden of Eden.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmqrYVBKI/AAAAAAAAAHg/LL30SP685-M/s1600-h/2003-08-23+Garden+of+Eden+sex+sin+adams+600wb.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 178px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmqrYVBKI/AAAAAAAAAHg/LL30SP685-M/s200/2003-08-23+Garden+of+Eden+sex+sin+adams+600wb.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021837574135940258" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hindsight is a wonderful thing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Basically Jade, Jo and Danielle are accused of racially abusing Shilpa (or is it Sherpa) I don't know. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEpQ7YVBZI/AAAAAAAAAJY/tZVVHZ7SwEo/s1600-h/shilpa.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEpQ7YVBZI/AAAAAAAAAJY/tZVVHZ7SwEo/s200/shilpa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021840430289192338" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One thing I do know is you don't piss off a nation that is &lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"&gt;double the size of yours&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. Personally. I dont think it's racial, it's purely three school yard bitches picking on the easy target.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enough about this…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, vast storms are raging around the UK like the proverbial fat kid in a sweetie shop. I must admit I do keep glancing out of the window to make sure the shed is still in the garden, our garden. I keep thinking about how awful it would be if for some reason the roof lifted off the shed and went crashing through next doors &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;much cherished car&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;…. Would he be insured? Would I have to pay? Would it be categorised as an ‘act of god’ and therefore not covered by insurance?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEm27YVBNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/n_-J7rrt-L4/s1600-h/dover372.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEm27YVBNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/n_-J7rrt-L4/s200/dover372.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021837784589337810" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still haven’t started my screenplay, still trying to get fit, still trying to defy age and be young.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I downloaded a song last week which really brought a massive smile to my face, go and get it – ‘Jerry Springer’ by Weird Al Yankovic. It’s a parody of the &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Bare Naked Ladies ‘One Week&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;’.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnvrYVBYI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/zM88Uocy4eU/s1600-h/weirdal.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEnvrYVBYI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/zM88Uocy4eU/s200/weirdal.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021838759546914178" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Before I go, M.E showed me a picture of her bro which had come through email, and then another straight after to see if I knew/could see what the difference was between the two, easy I said, &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;“there’s a kiddie on the sofa in the second one”&lt;/span&gt;. **wink wink**&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My final question goes to my bro-in-law ‘bro’&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So mush, was it Dolland and Aitchison?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmzLYVBMI/AAAAAAAAAHw/wtGhWPztzfg/s1600-h/dolland_aitchison_opticians.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmzLYVBMI/AAAAAAAAAHw/wtGhWPztzfg/s200/dolland_aitchison_opticians.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021837720164828354" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Final word, thank you to everyone that is currently voting on my cover art on &lt;a href="http://www.critters.org/predpoll/artist.shtml"&gt;http://www.critters.org/predpoll/artist.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A funny to end on -------&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt; It was the postman's last day on the job after 35 years of carrying          the post through all kinds of weather to the same neighborhood. &lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt;When he arrived at the first house on his route, he was greeted by the          whole family there, who congratulated him and sent him on his way with          a big gift envelope.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; At the second house, they presented him with a box of fine cigars. &lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt;The folks at the third house handed him a selection of terrific fishing          lures.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; At the fourth house, he was met at the door by a strikingly beautiful          woman in a revealing negligee. She took him by the hand, gently led him          through the door (which she closed behind him), and led him up the stairs          to the bedroom where she blew his mind with the most passionate love he          had ever experienced. &lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt;When he had had enough, they went downstairs, where she fixed him a giant          breakfast: eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and freshly squeezed orange          juice.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; When he was truly satisfied, she poured him a cup of steaming coffee.          As she was pouring, he noticed a fiver sticking out from under the cup's          bottom edge.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; "All this was just too wonderful for words," he said, "but what's the          fiver for?"&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; "Well," she said, "last night, I told my husband that today would be          your last day, and that we should do something special for you. I asked          him what to give you.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt; He said, 'Screw him, give him a fiver.'" &lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p&gt;The lady smiled and said, "The breakfast was my idea."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; Be&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;au&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-5929874528656971292?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/5929874528656971292/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=5929874528656971292' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/5929874528656971292'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/5929874528656971292'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2007/01/ensures-prevention-of-puddles-leaks-and.html' title='Ensures the prevention of puddles, leaks and mould.'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RbEmvLYVBLI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Xlb9V0glolU/s72-c/cbb5_eye_white_122.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-4760362993920972826</id><published>2007-01-17T23:16:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-01-17T23:25:33.120-08:00</updated><title type='text'>New Post on it's way.</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 204);"&gt;Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Roiittterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhh&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;New post will be forthcoming&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; (hopefully)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; within the next 48 hours, so long as I can prise M.E off the PC long enough to construct summit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" &gt;Hi to Dom on Radio 1&lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"&gt;from one baldy to another...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/Ra8fx7YVBJI/AAAAAAAAAHU/cByGLNqfMjM/s1600-h/post-11-1122920436.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/Ra8fx7YVBJI/AAAAAAAAAHU/cByGLNqfMjM/s200/post-11-1122920436.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021267052155176082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Be back in a jiffy folks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Be Be&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;au&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;ti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-4760362993920972826?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/4760362993920972826/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=4760362993920972826' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/4760362993920972826'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/4760362993920972826'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-post-on-its-way.html' title='New Post on it&apos;s way.'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/Ra8fx7YVBJI/AAAAAAAAAHU/cByGLNqfMjM/s72-c/post-11-1122920436.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-7153242695107212242</id><published>2006-12-23T06:49:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-23T07:05:33.881-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Anyone seen a jolly fat man with a white beard?</title><content type='html'>T'was the night before the night before Christmas and all that could be heard was the beating heart of a woman locked in inner turmoil with the demons from Benson and Hedges.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"&gt;Do I? don’t I?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can hear her brain thinking from across the room.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"&gt;Don’t do it! Go and have a bath, play Scrabble, or anything, just not THAT!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;- I shout from inside my head.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EfRdFVlI/AAAAAAAAAF0/S7qlaVeo1Jo/s1600-h/mainImage.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EfRdFVlI/AAAAAAAAAF0/S7qlaVeo1Jo/s200/mainImage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737264385250898" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;“Would you like a cup of tea sweetheart”&lt;/span&gt; I ask, then wait for a reply with baited breath.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once again I can hear her thoughts &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;“Go fuck yourself and your cup of fucking tea”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;“Ok that would be good ta”&lt;/span&gt; she replies through gritted teeth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;“How about something to eat? You want a chocolate or something”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EqRdFVnI/AAAAAAAAAGE/9TwLmQteJHc/s1600-h/PaletdOr-w260.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EqRdFVnI/AAAAAAAAAGE/9TwLmQteJHc/s200/PaletdOr-w260.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737453363811954" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;“Fuck you and take the fucking chocolate and shove it up your fucking fuck arse you fuck”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; – her thoughts are getting louder&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;“No thanks, tea is fine”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EYhdFVkI/AAAAAAAAAFs/ZEY0cKVHc5g/s1600-h/cup1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EYhdFVkI/AAAAAAAAAFs/ZEY0cKVHc5g/s200/cup1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737148421133890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;“Anything happening? Any exciting emails?”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; I enquire&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;“What the fuck do you care you nosey fucking twat, go fuck yourself an your sticky fuckin beak an shove it in someone else’s fucking business”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I sense from the severity of the language in her thoughts that I should leave her alone.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"&gt;“No, nothing new or exciting, how’s the tea doing?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EzxdFVpI/AAAAAAAAAGU/b_LUWhnpiBg/s1600-h/smoking.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EzxdFVpI/AAAAAAAAAGU/b_LUWhnpiBg/s200/smoking.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737616572569234" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;---------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is of course complete fiction and the last 24hours in my house have been nothing like this. Mrs cV and I are in the throws of&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"&gt; quitting the demon weed&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. I am so proud of her for not giving in and taking the easy option. &lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;I really think she can do it this time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, Christmas I really really very nearly upon us, it’s so near I can almost smell the stench of old pissed up men wearing&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt; santa hats&lt;/span&gt; and peeling sprouts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EvRdFVoI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d-ji_N89VaE/s1600-h/Santa+Claus.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EvRdFVoI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d-ji_N89VaE/s200/Santa+Claus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737539263157890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yesterday we took youngest to see Father Christmas at the garden centre. It truly was a magical experience for her, inside the grotto they even had twigs on the floor that crackled beneath your feet with lots of fairy lights and plastic&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; snow all over the walls and mirrors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once inside, little cV had an attack of the shyness and got all silly with Santa, &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;putting her hands over her mouth&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; trying to explain to Santa what a rippety dreams house is (like I’m supposed to know). Bless poor Santa, he also looked as perplexed as I felt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good job mum was on hand to jump in and usher youngest into some semblance of normality.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" &gt;“Well, I’ve heard you have been a good girl, you can choose whatever toy you want off my shelf”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ok, plenty of toys here, all pretty groovy looking, and a really cool Guess who? game.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So littlun deliberated for about 2 minutes deciding what she wanted, so trying to use the ancient methods of Jedi mind control I try to convince her to take the &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Guess who? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Game thinking of the hours of fun we could all have playing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EkBdFVmI/AAAAAAAAAF8/AFd4Co3xnFk/s1600-h/mind_control.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EkBdFVmI/AAAAAAAAAF8/AFd4Co3xnFk/s200/mind_control.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737345989629538" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1ETBdFVjI/AAAAAAAAAFk/J4K7Y9LS4hM/s1600-h/0480014fb57e_main200.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1ETBdFVjI/AAAAAAAAAFk/J4K7Y9LS4hM/s200/0480014fb57e_main200.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737053931853362" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Now, I feel I have a gift for reading minds, pre empting &amp; second guessing so I thought we’d have a chance of hitting the jackpot with the game.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As we got in into our car some 5 minutes later, I looked adoringly at my little girl clutching her &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;bloody bastard stuffed tiger&lt;/span&gt; that she chose from Santa’s grotto.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EOxdFViI/AAAAAAAAAFc/PLNOQUYcSPU/s1600-h/1d_2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EOxdFViI/AAAAAAAAAFc/PLNOQUYcSPU/s200/1d_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011736980917409314" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mind control eh, what a load of shit...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Have a good Christmas/Yuletide/Noel or whatever else it’s called.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1E_BdFVrI/AAAAAAAAAGk/totdQH3d3p8/s1600-h/Yule_tide_THIS_by_Dinosmasher.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1E_BdFVrI/AAAAAAAAAGk/totdQH3d3p8/s200/Yule_tide_THIS_by_Dinosmasher.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737809846097586" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;Hi to brother in law 'bro'&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1E4BdFVqI/AAAAAAAAAGc/lYNjc0aONfg/s1600-h/VinnieJones.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1E4BdFVqI/AAAAAAAAAGc/lYNjc0aONfg/s200/VinnieJones.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011737689587013282" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; B&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;e&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;uti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt; folks&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;c&lt;/span&gt;V&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-7153242695107212242?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/7153242695107212242/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=7153242695107212242' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/7153242695107212242'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/7153242695107212242'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/anyone-seen-jolly-fat-man-with-white.html' title='Anyone seen a jolly fat man with a white beard?'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RY1EfRdFVlI/AAAAAAAAAF0/S7qlaVeo1Jo/s72-c/mainImage.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-249390569550755441</id><published>2006-12-15T13:12:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-15T13:24:30.246-08:00</updated><title type='text'>HO HO HO</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRjRttmxI/AAAAAAAAAEg/fy26XBneSx8/s1600-h/monkey.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRjRttmxI/AAAAAAAAAEg/fy26XBneSx8/s200/monkey.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008866508314352402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;A guy walks into a bar with his &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;pet monkey&lt;/span&gt;. He orders a drink and while he's drinking, the monkey starts jumping all over the place. The monkey grabs some olives off the bar and eats them, then grabs some sliced limes and eats them, then jumps up on the pool table, grabs the cue ball, sticks it in his mouth and &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;swallows it whole&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The bartender screams at the guy, &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;"Did you see what your monkey just did?"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; The guy says, "No, what?" "He just ate the cue ball off my pool table - whole!" says the bartender. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," replies the patron. "He eats everything in sight, the little twerp. &lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;I'll pay for the cue ball and stuf&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;f&lt;/span&gt;."&lt;/span&gt; He finishes his drink, pays his bill, and leaves. Two weeks later he's in the bar again, and he has his monkey with him. He orders a drink and the monkey starts running around the bar again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While the man is drinking, the monkey finds a &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;maraschino cherry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; on the bar. He grabs it, sticks it up his butt, pulls it out, and eats it. The bartender is disgusted. "Did you see what your monkey did now?" "Now what?" asks the patron. "Well, he stuck a maraschino cherry up his butt, then pulled it out and ate it!" says the barkeeper.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," replies the patron. "He still eats everything in sight, but ever since he ate that damn cue ball &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;he measures everything first!"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;-------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No! I’m not about to &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;shove anything up my butt!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Its that time again for another thrilling instalment of the where’s and why’s.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So this week has pretty well flown by, trying to get the whole work thing finished up to date so I can take my time off without fretting about things being ballsed up. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife and family, who knows, by the end of this blog entry it could be extended…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRpBttmyI/AAAAAAAAAEo/VFuxifSjEtQ/s1600-h/christmas03.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRpBttmyI/AAAAAAAAAEo/VFuxifSjEtQ/s200/christmas03.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008866607098600226" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;So Christmas is almost upon us, I’m starting to get that &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;‘jingle bells’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; feeling at long last, it sure as hell has taken long enough to arrive this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So Christmas, St Nick and all that… What’s it all about?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From my upbringing in deepest rural Devon, Christmas was about waking early, being told to go back to bed, sitting in your room, waiting for another &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;30 minutes to pass&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, then being told to go back to bed again, finally being allowed downstairs at around 7am, not being allowed to open anything until breakfast was eaten, the washing up had been done, and mum was dressed! By this time I recall having been &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;shouted at about 10 times to calm down&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally, the unwrapping. My mum always had this trick that none of the presents had any tags, nor where they wrapped differently in his/hers paper (I have an older sister). We had to sit while a gift was handed out, we would open it, and &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;‘absorb’ it for 5 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. Fuck that man I wanted all of them right there and then, I wanted to rip that bow off with my teeth, I wanted to roll around in the crumpled wrapping paper, I wanted to pull my gift out of it’s box with wanton gay abandon (non-bent use of the word gay by the way) and shake it above my head while all the pieces showered my family like an Airfix hail storm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This particular year I’m recalling was a particularly bad one in the behaviour stakes. My sister and I were fortunate enough to have new bikes. &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;These bikes were perfect in every way&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, they looked like they had been carved from wood and blessed by Father Peter on his way to Bethlehem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRtRttmzI/AAAAAAAAAEw/3ju7wO9g-6E/s1600-h/300px-Raleigh_chopper_01.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRtRttmzI/AAAAAAAAAEw/3ju7wO9g-6E/s200/300px-Raleigh_chopper_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008866680113044274" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They were the mutts nutts. And I fucked up everything!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, in my defence you would have thought from a &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;parents perspective&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; that leaning two new bikes against a polished rosewood dining room table would be a bad idea, yeah well I would have!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRyxttm0I/AAAAAAAAAE4/TDPrwVMr5QQ/s1600-h/e811-3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRyxttm0I/AAAAAAAAAE4/TDPrwVMr5QQ/s200/e811-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008866774602324802" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I leapt on my gleaming bike at around a hundred miles an hour, and etched the deepest scratch cum trench about 10 inches in length right the way across the table, I mean, this trench was so deep you could fill it with water and use it as an&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; indoor water feature&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That was it. bike was put outside, I was sent upstairs in disgrace for the best part of the day, my sister was in tears as hers was also taken outside, my mum was bleating about the table, my dad was cussing at “Christmas being ruined by that little shit” &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(192, 192, 192);font-size:180%;" &gt;blah blah blah&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And that’s about all I remember of Christmas as a child. That one bad year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I’m sure I had plenty good ones, but that one will always be remembered.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now?&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; I don’t buy rosewood &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;that’s for sure…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;-------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;There were these two guys in a bar, which was on the 20th floor of a building. The first man said " I bet you $100 I can jump out that window and come straight back in!" The second man says "Ok, sure." and the barman holds the bet. The first man jumps out the window and disappears for a second before jumping straight back in. Disappointed about losing the $100, the second man says: "&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; I'll bet you another $100 you can't do it again&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;." So the barman holds the bet. Sure enough, the first man jumps out the window, disappears for a second, then jumps straight back in. Thinking he must have caught a freak gust of wind, the second man says "Ok, I bet you $300 I can jump out the window and come straight back in." The first man says" Ok, sure." The second man jumps out the window and falls to the footpath below. He is dead. Back up in the bar,&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; the barman says to the first man&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; " Gee, you can be a bastard when you're pissed, Superman."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMSFxttm1I/AAAAAAAAAFA/w4SqtOmbaxw/s1600-h/superman.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMSFxttm1I/AAAAAAAAAFA/w4SqtOmbaxw/s200/superman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008867101019839314" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;-------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Before I go, I just want to say merry Christmas to all our kids.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; b&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;uti&lt;/span&gt;ful fo&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;lk&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;s.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-249390569550755441?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/249390569550755441/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=249390569550755441' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/249390569550755441'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/249390569550755441'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/ho-ho-ho.html' title='HO HO HO'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RYMRjRttmxI/AAAAAAAAAEg/fy26XBneSx8/s72-c/monkey.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-2726501953315608529</id><published>2006-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-09T14:05:44.658-08:00</updated><title type='text'>TV Hell</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXszHqufSII/AAAAAAAAADw/9mzlbnZANss/s1600-h/xfactor.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXszHqufSII/AAAAAAAAADw/9mzlbnZANss/s200/xfactor.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006651617573816450" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;Heavy Bummer Man&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsv06ufR_I/AAAAAAAAACo/0Z_Z4WblLRI/s1600-h/neil2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsv06ufR_I/AAAAAAAAACo/0Z_Z4WblLRI/s200/neil2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006647996916385778" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;So the die has been cast and the final of crap factor knows its line-up.&lt;br /&gt;Poor old dirty Ben couldn’t cut the &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;old yellow stingy stuff&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; on the night – and I don’t mean a wee infection.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXswmKufSAI/AAAAAAAAACw/0s9Pd8yzaww/s1600-h/ColmanMstrdPwdrL.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXswmKufSAI/AAAAAAAAACw/0s9Pd8yzaww/s200/ColmanMstrdPwdrL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006648843024943106" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Little Eddie Munster played a blinder on national television and cried… Yup, he cried. I can hear my Mum and Grandmother all the way from Devon going “&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;awwww bless his heart&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, lets text vote and keep him in” now in normal circumstances this could be true, apart from the fact I know my mum &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;can’t even work a car stereo&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; let alone fathom out how to text from a mobile (cell phone).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXswvaufSBI/AAAAAAAAAC4/Q1P1Dl2YGBA/s1600-h/eddie_caddy.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXswvaufSBI/AAAAAAAAAC4/Q1P1Dl2YGBA/s200/eddie_caddy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006649001938733074" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for Leona, yes I know she cried too but &lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;with THAT hair&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, I think it can be forgiven.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsw26ufSCI/AAAAAAAAADA/8L1TDeFAmcM/s1600-h/leona.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsw26ufSCI/AAAAAAAAADA/8L1TDeFAmcM/s200/leona.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006649130787751970" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So Dirty Ben, leant over, and took it &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;straight up the tailpipe&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. Justified?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxSaufSEI/AAAAAAAAADQ/q_8Bue24j4I/s1600-h/D_TailpipeTrim.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxSaufSEI/AAAAAAAAADQ/q_8Bue24j4I/s200/D_TailpipeTrim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006649603234154562" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It would have been a more interesting final had he got through, but then again, who cares. The life expectancy of one of these &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;reality show winners&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; generally only ever amounts to the &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Christmas number one&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; and then a follow up single that isn’t promoted and dips in around number 15 in the charts and out again (Michelle McManus anyone?).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxLaufSDI/AAAAAAAAADI/Ks1FJ03zqeI/s1600-h/michelle_before_1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxLaufSDI/AAAAAAAAADI/Ks1FJ03zqeI/s200/michelle_before_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006649482975070258" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So who are the real winners? The &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;phone networks&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; who get around 50p every time you text a vote, which factually costs bugger all to process? The &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;ITV network&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; who’s viewing figures go through the roof on an otherwise unchallenged slot on Saturday night television, or good old &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Mr Cowell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, who probably makes ooberzillions every time a series is aired. I’ll let you decide among yourselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxaKufSFI/AAAAAAAAADY/6PEdrDGk-HI/s1600-h/derekzoolander.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxaKufSFI/AAAAAAAAADY/6PEdrDGk-HI/s200/derekzoolander.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006649736378140754" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So what now? Well, If there’s any justice, &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Ray and Leona&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; will be promoting in their respective buses up and down the country during finals week and Ray will go to the dentist to get his manky chippo toof capped and the dentist will accidentally &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 102);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;cement his gob up&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, and whilst at the hairdressers, Leona will accidentally scoff down a thickening agent instead of a coffee and weld her jaw shut.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxuaufSGI/AAAAAAAAADg/CiXB0bv69Js/s1600-h/g.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsxuaufSGI/AAAAAAAAADg/CiXB0bv69Js/s200/g.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006650084270491746" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;So now, we have Lionel Richtea biscuit on, in his rather fetching black shiny pyjamas. Can my evening get any more wired? I feel like I’m in the zone, the zone that is of complete boredom and potentially damaging to my wrists should something sharp happen to fall into my reach. Oh Jesus, now bastard Westlife are on stage with him &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsx86ufSHI/AAAAAAAAADo/ZkiCn8UfOFI/s1600-h/CraigDavidBoSelecta.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXsx86ufSHI/AAAAAAAAADo/ZkiCn8UfOFI/s200/CraigDavidBoSelecta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006650333378594930" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a more positive note, the weekly shop wasn’t half as bad as it could have been, and that’s it over for another week (I hope).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;uti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-2726501953315608529?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/2726501953315608529/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=2726501953315608529' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2726501953315608529'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2726501953315608529'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/tv-hell.html' title='TV Hell'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXszHqufSII/AAAAAAAAADw/9mzlbnZANss/s72-c/xfactor.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-457881582376275983</id><published>2006-12-07T23:18:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-07T23:29:30.069-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Beware the ides of March.</title><content type='html'>Well everyone,&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt; &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"&gt;it’s Friday&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;– my third favourite day of the week.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"&gt;Not a lot has happened this week&lt;/span&gt;, and it only feels like yesterday I posted my last entry.&lt;br /&gt;Man it was nearly a week ago, but in my defence - I do have to prise the PC away from M.E with a &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;crowbar and blowtorch&lt;/span&gt; these days.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkSC6ufR5I/AAAAAAAAABg/JyFz0xZbn6s/s1600-h/Gas_Blow_Lamp_Blowlamp__Blowtorch_.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkSC6ufR5I/AAAAAAAAABg/JyFz0xZbn6s/s200/Gas_Blow_Lamp_Blowlamp__Blowtorch_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006052302132299666" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I keep searching my brain for a solution to this problem and can only come up with a few suggestions…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1) We share the time and have ‘time slots’&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;2) I just stop whinging and snatch snippets whenever possible.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think number two is more likely right now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One thing I do want to talk about, is &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);font-size:180%;" &gt;Radio 1&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now I have never been a listener to the good old wireless until I swapped jobs just over a year ago, now it’s my salvation from intense boredom.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My favourite is ‘&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 102, 204);font-size:180%;" &gt;The Chris Moyles&lt;/span&gt;’ show from 7am to 10am Monday to Friday.&lt;br /&gt;This is backed up by the weekly podcast - &lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/"&gt;www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkSxKufR6I/AAAAAAAAABo/EQYPwZe3saw/s1600-h/banner1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 41px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkSxKufR6I/AAAAAAAAABo/EQYPwZe3saw/s200/banner1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006053096701249442" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyone who has a spare half an hour, &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;go and have a listen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, it is hilarious (sometimes).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I used to think Moyles was a jumped-up little tosser who had delusions of grandeur and no talent. Now &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;I know he’s a jumped-up little tosser with delusions of grandeur&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, but boy he’s funny. I also like to frequent his blog site in various disguises peppering it with &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;plugs for M.E’s books&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; hehe.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Saturday tomorrow&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, you know what that means… Weekly shop.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTI6ufR7I/AAAAAAAAABw/_sqIWO_wVIM/s1600-h/superman.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTI6ufR7I/AAAAAAAAABw/_sqIWO_wVIM/s200/superman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006053504723142578" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTMqufR8I/AAAAAAAAAB4/ku9yIiSYJhQ/s1600-h/Farmfoods.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTMqufR8I/AAAAAAAAAB4/ku9yIiSYJhQ/s200/Farmfoods.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006053569147652034" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Superman has Kryptonite, I have Farm Foods&lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;It’s times like these I wish my better half could drive, but then it’s also times like these that we have a half an hour drive each way to talk to each other without distractions of T.V and PC. Once there I tend to switch my brain off when we walk around pushing the trolley like the gormless chav’s that frequent the trolley park outside.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the plus side is I’ll get a mega fat bastard curry ‘&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:180%;" &gt;sting the shit outta my aerosol&lt;/span&gt;’ for dinner, negatives carrying positives again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTbqufR9I/AAAAAAAAACA/e7O7R7JTfwM/s1600-h/23036426.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkTbqufR9I/AAAAAAAAACA/e7O7R7JTfwM/s200/23036426.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006053826845689810" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I’m contemplating attempting to write a short &lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;30min screenplay&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; to submit to the beeb, I know I have the humour in me for that amount of time at least, and I’ve been talking about doing it for months, so no doubt I’ll probably put it off again and blardy blah.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The general idea revolves around a bookmakers/betting shop and features a core group of 5/6 people. My working title (if I got working on it) would be “&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Gone to the dogs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkToaufR-I/AAAAAAAAACI/qFuGXfouQxk/s1600-h/roger_hunt_bookmakers.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkToaufR-I/AAAAAAAAACI/qFuGXfouQxk/s200/roger_hunt_bookmakers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006054045889021922" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That’s enough about that – I can hear the zzzzzz’s from here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;uti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;ev&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;ery&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt;e.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-457881582376275983?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/457881582376275983/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=457881582376275983' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/457881582376275983'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/457881582376275983'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/beware-ides-of-march.html' title='Beware the ides of March.'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXkSC6ufR5I/AAAAAAAAABg/JyFz0xZbn6s/s72-c/Gas_Blow_Lamp_Blowlamp__Blowtorch_.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-2741586121528900162</id><published>2006-12-04T13:05:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-04T13:30:02.898-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Anyone for Cauliflower with a bit o' cheese?</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"&gt;The weekend once again has piddled past faster than a cat through Chinatown.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Friday afternoon was a blur of &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"&gt;Christmas paraphernalia (ho ho ho)&lt;/span&gt; at school along with the 'you pay 10p to play this game and you can win a 2p sweet' - &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;yippeeee&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know its all about the taking part and all that, but shouldn't we be &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;teaching our children&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; about economics?&lt;br /&gt;I contemplated going to the shop and &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;buying a bundle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; of 2p sweets and charging the kids 5p a go, so not only &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"&gt;do they learn&lt;/span&gt; about competitive pricing and customer loyalty, but also that some bastard can come along and &lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;rip their profitable business&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; out from underneath them in a price war. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-size:180%;" &gt;I didn't by the way!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Saturday&lt;/span&gt;, well, didn't really do an awful lot, played a few rounds of golf, about 20 to be precise, got a hole in one on the 6th at St Andrews, and &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;out-drove Tiger Woods...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Decided to try and keep a &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;semi low profile&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; as M.E seemed a bit coiled.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Which leads me nicely into Saturday evening t.v, and today's poll - who the hell is gonna win X-Factor? (chuh! like I care)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPVhf0_YI/AAAAAAAAAAM/CGOZfZc8o58/s1600-h/xfactor.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPVhf0_YI/AAAAAAAAAAM/CGOZfZc8o58/s200/xfactor.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004782685847354754" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Now, for our friends across the pond, X-Factor is a lot like American Idol (Simon Cowell is also in this- &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;the knobhead&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;!).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Will it be Ray?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPkxf0_ZI/AAAAAAAAAAU/cqPOjGJrc-M/s1600-h/eddie_caddy.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPkxf0_ZI/AAAAAAAAAAU/cqPOjGJrc-M/s200/eddie_caddy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004782947840359826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Or Leona?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPtxf0_aI/AAAAAAAAAAc/nm-EKQYl7KY/s1600-h/leona.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPtxf0_aI/AAAAAAAAAAc/nm-EKQYl7KY/s200/leona.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004783102459182498" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;Or dirty Ben?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSP2Bf0_bI/AAAAAAAAAAk/FicgcySl0bw/s1600-h/neil.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSP2Bf0_bI/AAAAAAAAAAk/FicgcySl0bw/s200/neil.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004783244193103282" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;How will Simon  shag the winner's cred up this year?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSP9Bf0_cI/AAAAAAAAAAs/InOqZLFcqUc/s1600-h/derekzoolander.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSP9Bf0_cI/AAAAAAAAAAs/InOqZLFcqUc/s200/derekzoolander.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004783364452187586" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" &gt;Will Louis (Walsh) think its "jest emerrzing" while nibbling on lecky cheerms?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSQZhf0_dI/AAAAAAAAAA0/yqjeWC4OXx4/s1600-h/roy-hudd-1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSQZhf0_dI/AAAAAAAAAA0/yqjeWC4OXx4/s200/roy-hudd-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004783854078459346" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Will Sharon (Osbourne) be able to stay awake for just a couple more shows?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSQwxf0_eI/AAAAAAAAAA8/AkKYAugFJxQ/s1600-h/betlynch.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSQwxf0_eI/AAAAAAAAAA8/AkKYAugFJxQ/s200/betlynch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004784253510417890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;You know what...&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:78%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;- I couldn't give a fiddlers f*ck.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;"&gt;Before I go, just a quick hi to my B.I.L Mick&lt;br /&gt;Well done Newcastle on not gettin beat this weekend.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; be&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;auti&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;ful &lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ev&lt;/span&gt;ery&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-2741586121528900162?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/2741586121528900162/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=2741586121528900162' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2741586121528900162'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2741586121528900162'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/anyone-for-cauliflower-with-bit-o.html' title='Anyone for Cauliflower with a bit o&apos; cheese?'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i2sdHliLBkk/RXSPVhf0_YI/AAAAAAAAAAM/CGOZfZc8o58/s72-c/xfactor.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-6462397305984559751</id><published>2006-12-02T00:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-03T10:49:08.608-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Add just a drop of vinegar…</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;Happy Christmas everyone&lt;/span&gt;, as we are now officially in December I feel it appropriate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t really have a lot to blog about today, so I am gonna cheat and use &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);font-size:130%;" &gt;M.E’s post&lt;/span&gt; from yesterday as a discussion point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just for the record, M.E’s &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;derrière&lt;/span&gt;, it ent big, I know she will disagree, so here goes…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1) Does it have a &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;strategically placed ‘H’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; in the middle for the helicopters to land?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2) Do you have a &lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;‘wide load’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; sign on your bum?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3) Do you make &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;‘beep beep beep’ &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;noises when your go backwards?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4) Could you really &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 255);"&gt;park a bus&lt;/span&gt; between your cheeks?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5) Do you honestly, in your wildest dreams think your bottom looks anything like that old cow’s at the school – the one with the kid with the &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;huge conk&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6) Do you take up &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;two seats&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; on the bus?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7) Can you still scratch it without taking a crash course in &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;contortionism&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;8) Have a &lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;family of gypo’s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; moved in on it and made a camp?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;9) Have the council marked it out into bays and allowed people to &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;park on it?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;10) Is it now on the &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 102);font-size:180%;" &gt;Ordinance Survey&lt;/span&gt; map of our town?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you have answered yes to any of these then ok you may have a point? If not, well…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nuff said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reminds me of a song by The Beautiful South “Perfect 10”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:130%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“Well 8 or 9, that’s just fine, but I wanna hold something I can see”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Billman&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Absolutely and totally true, and hilarious to listen to through the crack of the door. I was sat in the lounge, thinking “oh shit, you really don’t wanna piss her off right now” but then another part of me thought, &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;“you go for it mate, better you than me”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My prediction, British Gas will call today he he he – I may even record this on camera if they do, M.E’s head may quite possibly explode. Could get £250 for it on ‘You’ve been framed” – Well you know, &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:180%;" &gt;all negatives carry a positive an all that&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That’s it for now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;B&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt; b&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;ea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;uti&lt;/span&gt;ful&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"&gt;- like my wife&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-6462397305984559751?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/6462397305984559751/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=6462397305984559751' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/6462397305984559751'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/6462397305984559751'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/12/add-just-drop-of-vinegar.html' title='Add just a drop of vinegar…'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-2928943662154428841</id><published>2006-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-11-30T13:19:54.481-08:00</updated><title type='text'>This is in Keithley,  The dirty bas*ards.</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Not content with looking after Wild Childs &amp; Freyas cover art, I like to support my good lady wife with her one woman mission to take over WHSmith.&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Hell, if you can’t beat them – join em.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Promoting anything is hard, promoting a book must be a nightmare.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;I’m lucky to have a few associates in the celebrity world to help with this, all of which where only too happy to help, heck they even chipped in with a few words of praise.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/587364/beckham.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/689004/beckham.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Here we have the lovely David B. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:130%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“The best I’ve read since ‘War and Peace’, this is back of the net stuff”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/338589/heather.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/366073/heather.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;  &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;As for Heather Mills-McCartney.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:130%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“Divorce? That can bloopin well wait til I’ve finished chapter 5. What! it has no pictures – where’s my solicitor”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/724798/david%20gest.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/375237/david%20gest.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Big Davey G&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;“Hey y’all this is as shiny and black as ma dome, this is well safe man”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/24519/tomcruise.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/890435/tomcruise.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Wee Tommy C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:130%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“Ace man, I can gain an extra inch by standin on this, Hey Katie, pucker up for tiny T and his pocket rocket”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/689008/madonna.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/282875/madonna.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Madge and her scabby fadge&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:130%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“You gotta get into this groove guys”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/1600/133291/georgebush.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1587/135744802609235/200/329574/georgebush.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;  &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Little Georgie and his Bush&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-style: italic;"&gt;“I can smell tinkle”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Well, if it's good enough for them...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Be Beautiful evryone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;cV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-2928943662154428841?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/2928943662154428841/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=2928943662154428841' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2928943662154428841'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/2928943662154428841'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/11/this-is-in-keithley-dirty-basards.html' title='This is in Keithley,  The dirty bas*ards.'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112021422974854707.post-7582505202663009931</id><published>2006-11-29T23:14:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-11-29T23:18:34.772-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Greetings from Siberia</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Wow err I mean Hi.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This being the first blog entry I have ever done, I mean, you know, you want it to be right, at the end of the day it’s &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;first impressions that count&lt;/span&gt; - so do I go with some apocryphal tale that can drag on and on and on over several hours and hope that you guys stay awake, thus in the process make myself seem well &lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;educated and literate&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Or do I go for the witty end of the stick (so to speak) maybe tell a few jokes like “what do you get if you put ink the freezer? =[ &lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;iced ink &lt;/span&gt;]= &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;well have a bath then&lt;/span&gt;” thanks to my 4yr old for that one, you know the answer there, especially if I have to take &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;tips from an infant&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Do I go for the masculine angle and talk about nothing but sport? I’m a Plymouth Argyle fan, my golf handicap is in three figures, and &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;my highest score in darts is 17 &lt;/span&gt;- I think we can leave sport well alone.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How about the kids angle and talk about &lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" &gt;PlayStation&lt;/span&gt;? Once again, I get no joy about being rammed off the road, being beaten 7-0, or getting my arse blown off  – all this by an 8 year old. Ok so this is &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;slightly embellished&lt;/span&gt;, it was an 8, 11 and 14 year old.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cookery? Can’t cook can’t cook&lt;br /&gt;Writing? &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" &gt;Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz&lt;/span&gt; thash my limit&lt;br /&gt;Singing? Err no – even doeraymefahsolahteedoh – ends up sounding like farty dough.&lt;br /&gt;DIY? Hell no, though I do have some shelves still up that I made about five years ago.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hopefully next time I'll have found something interesting to yak about.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Until then&lt;/span&gt;, be &lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;be&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;au&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;ti&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;ful.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;cV&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1112021422974854707-7582505202663009931?l=covervanchat.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/feeds/7582505202663009931/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1112021422974854707&amp;postID=7582505202663009931' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/7582505202663009931'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1112021422974854707/posts/default/7582505202663009931'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://covervanchat.blogspot.com/2006/11/greetings-from-siberia.html' title='Greetings from Siberia'/><author><name>CoverVan</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10720632699038021464</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='31' src='http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/MichelleEEllis/blogpic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry></feed>
