Sunday, December 31, 2006

The New Year Shuffle

While this may sound like a funky new dance, it is actually the confusion surrounding our plans for New Years, which is now 12 hours away! I think the original plan to go to the Valentine pub was not really favoured by anyone, so alternatives were thought up by pretty much everyone. Yet still no plan has met with the approval of all parties. What a hoo-har! It seems a common occurrence though; leaving New Years plans to the last minute. With some venues charging the earth and travel home made difficult by cab drivers charging the earth, its no wonder New Years Eves is the hardest night to plan for. The expectations for the night to be the best ever always weighs heavy on the decision making process.

Well no matter what everyone does tonight: Have a safe evening. A fun evening, and see you all on the other side in 2007. HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (2nd of the 'Big 3'.)

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Roar!

Found this mooching around Shaggy's Myspace - Charlene's World. It was on another Myspace somehow linked to hers. It tickled me. See what you think..



all hail youtube.com

Friday, December 29, 2006

Poker? 'I certainly would!'

Last night, straight after work, I went around to an old college chum that I have not seen in at least 10 months for a little game of poker he had set up. Ironically the last time I saw said friend, Martin B, was at yet another poker night. He and his friend Arthur do likes their poker. In fact, Arthur plays online very regularly and does win himself a bit of cash on those occasions.

So I arrived, after only learning to play poker a year ago and only playing it twice since, for the game. And these boys like to play for money; no matchsticks here! You have to buy-in and pay-in to play on their table! Luckily the other players there, like me were novices, so set the price at a modest £5 = 100 chips. I got the impression that Arthur would have preferred £1 a chip!

Needless to say I got rinsed out, like a plate in a dishwasher. I won a few hands and made £8 last for 4 hours! Will definitely have to learn the rules for next time though!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Hi ho! Hi ho!

My Xmas break came to an end today with my return to work. And I had a tough ole time getting up at 7am again, I can tell you! Thankfully with the kids still off from school my journey to work was no hassle. I don't know many extra house sales my company think it will make 2 days before New Year's Eve, but open we were none the less. And it was BORING! I was playing Tekken on my PSP for most of the day! We did get to go home 2 hours early though! Same again tomorrow......

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Blog, blog, blog

Two new blogs for you to get your teeth into. First up is Greg's; aka Pimp Daddy Blanc. Fellow pimp and at the moment the Grand Master Pimp! But I'll just need to regroup and then I'll turn 2007 into 'the year of the pimp': Pimp Daddy Chocolat, that is.

You can find his blog at, The Legend's Ledger

Next up is Vicky N; aka Stix. She's been feeling guilty about being all about herself the last few months and now she's gonna give a lil piece of herself back. I recommend the writers of Eastenders stay close to this one for some future storylines (just kiddin Victoria).

Get your asses over to, Dancing Through the Fire, Just to Catch a Flame

Normal sevice is resumed

Phew. Glad that's outta the way for another year. Needless to say I was out Christmas Eve for drinking and merriment. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here they are.....





Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas Cheer

Have a very merry and safe Christmas guys and girls. (The 1st of the 'Big 3') Hope Santa's sacks were bulging for ya! Oh, and happy birthday Jesus. Mwah!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The last minute rush.

Yes, I too have fallen into the trap of last minute shopping for Christmas presents. Didn't help that I didn't have the money to spend till Friday just gone, but that's by the by. I ventured up to London fearing that the roads and local shopping mall would be packed, and I really couldn't be bothered with the crush before the crush. Thankfully the streets of London town were no busier than a regular Saturday and there were always available seats on the tube.

I successfully got 90% of what I needed and as luck would have it my best bud Gregg was also up town Christmas shopping. He was less lucky. He picked up a few ideas, but no tangible presents. We met up in the evening in Covent Garden and went for a drink and a bite to eat in the Brazilian bar/club, Guanabara. We had steak burritos washed down with Argentinian beer and was treated to some Capoeira dancers. Me and Gregg had a great time catching up and it was so gosh darn good to see the old fella again!


Today I need to get the remaining 10% of my presents. Back into the fire we go....

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Vicky's 21st


Another day another birthday. This time was the turn of Vicky M. Its actually her birthday today and she's got something arranged with her family and boyfriend, but last night was our time and we went out to 'Shout' in Ilford. Its been a long while since we went to 'Shout' for it used to be our regular Tuesday night haunt when it was karaoke night. It was lucky if 20 people turned up back then, but a obvious change of ideas and a packed bar was the result. Heavily bias hip hop, R'n'b and Ragga was the order of the day not off-key crooning of 'My Heart Will Go On'!

Just 4 of us were there; me, Lucy, birthday girl and Sarah and we drank, conversed as best we could, given the loud music, and had a little dance (well me and my sis did)! Happy Birthday for today Vicky!

Lucy and Sarah
Bro and Sis
Vicky and Lucy

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Channa's 21st


Jojo wasn't the only pretty lil lady who celebrated her birthday yesterday; the other was Channa. The evening seemed like a relatively low key affair; down the Valentine pub, on a noisy karaoke night. But there's to be a 3 day 'party' with parts 2 and 3 featuring the nightclub Faces and the pub Edwards in Romford. The birthday girl mingled like a pro, flitting back and forth as the 'Val' is like 'the local' with many, many familiar faces there week in, and week out. Sadly her boyfriend arrived too late to join the fun but at least there are 2 more chances for him to join in.

Sarah and Ashley
Danielle and Melissa
Vicky and Abdi
Cat and Channa

Post Uni meet up.

Last night I was honored with the presence of Vicky N (we all were). Me, Lucy, my sis Sarah and Vicky met up at the Fairlop Oak pub for a drink now that the 1st term is over. Lucy hasn't actually moved away but when she's not at Uni is at work or spending time with her boyfriend. It was really good to see them again especially Vicky who hadn't been back for a while now. It seems that if you wanna see her, you need to take a number; even her family! However she has certainly had an entertaining time at Uni this year!
Me!
Lucy (Eek!)
Sarah and Vicky

Vicky M was there too. She works there, so she couldn't hang. Its her birthday this Saturday.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Happy Birthday Jojo!

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The World of Ghostwriter56 and Friends

So, me ole mucker Jason finally has his blog on line. 'The world of Ghostwiter56 and Friends'. I am so glad I never went to the Christmas meals now, it seems that everyone there was subjected to some weird transmogrification. And that would of well put me off my food! Thanks for the link by the way the favour is returned.

Monday, December 18, 2006

The BIG 3!

The big 3 are coming! With exactly one week to go, the 1st of 'the big 3' will be on our doorstep. The 1st: Christmas Day. Presents, turkey, mistletoe, James Bond and 'Only Fools and Horses'. Following promptly a week later is the 2nd of our 'big 3', and that is: New Years Day. Hangover recovery, resolutions and turkey sandwiches. The 3rd in our wondrous trinity, and the most important; again one week on is: My birthday! KERPOW!! 'Big up yourself Squishmeister'. Presents, presents and more presents. Plus burfday cake! They always say 'the best things comes in threes'!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Ha ha ha!

Now my friend Steve in Australia sent me this video by email a little while back, and I also wanted to share it but I'm not an 'email' person (as I'm sure many of you have noticed). As luck would have it I just found it on a 'youtube' like site call 'ifilm'. This video is from a new bus lane bollard set up in Manchester.

New plan I think...

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Friday, December 15, 2006

Christmas Carols with the Stars.

I thought I was to be singing in a nondescript Christmas carol concert at the Royal Albert Hall, but when we passed Graham Cole; the guy who plays Pc Tony Stamp in The Bill, in the changing rooms I realized this concert was to be a bit special!

Mr Garner was kind enough to invite me once more to join the Caterham School choir for their Christmas concert, which I had to miss because it clashed with my work Xmas do Monday night. There was a 2nd concert Caterham had this season, one which they were hand picked for, along with one other school, for the aforementioned Carol with Stars concert.

The Stars were all from British tv soaps like Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Heartbeat and Bad Girls, plus an 11 strong cast appearance from The Bill. I myself don't watch the soaps so most of the actors were new to me, but the 5500 people in the audience seemed to know them all, and enjoyed the carols and Christmas themed songs they sang.

The 2 schools each done a solo piece, then, for the main part sang 7 traditional carols with the audience. There was guest announcers too like Carol Baker and a guy who has been in both The Bill and Eastenders and does voiceovers for Talk Sport radio (I don't know his name).

The concert is annual and was in association with TV Times for Leukaemia Research and raised £12,500 with just a collection during the interval! Not bad for 10 minutes.

No cock tonight!

Sorry. I couldn't resist it. Apparently the key to good blogging is in eye-catching headings. And this one I felt was eye-catching alright!

Those Squish Pages regulars will know that Wednesday night is badminton night. Now this Wednesday past we didn't play, hence, no cock. You know, shuttlecock! The collective reason; Phil has done himself an injury and has been told to take things easy for a few weeks. Jason had a very early airport run the next day and passed for that reason, Martin was feeling under the weather, and whilst initially coming, backed out last minute. Now that left just me and John. Now I had admittedly called John to say I was not up for playing singles that night (1 on 1, as it would have been just me, Mart and John), but when Martin later dropped out, I folded like a bad poker player. Poor John, he was the only one who wanted to play.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The work Xmas do!

It was a good night. Definitely much better than expected. The night was Monday, the place, Jongleurs in Bow. Now I've been to Jongleurs many times before but always the one in Camden; this became my 1st visit to the one in Bow. Jongleurs, for the uninitiated is a chain of comedy clubs. If you've ever watched the Paramount Channel late at night you might of caught a stand-up comedian filmed at one of the clubs.

Altogether there was about 35 of us from the 6 different offices in our region, including the Regional managers from the house selling and mortgage selling sides. The night started with a sit-down Christmas dinner. 3 courses. I made myself queasy on the starter which was a Stilton cheese pate!, and stayed off the alcohol for the rest of the evening!. The main was the traditional turkey with cheesecake or Christmas pudding for dessert. Next up came the comedians, 3 in all; each one funnier than the last. And I don't know if it was by design that we estate agents had the closest tables to the stage, but there we were. We took flak from each of the acts.

At 11pm the comedy was over, the tables and chairs cleared and the DJ cranked on the tunes. All the tunes were a bit 'late' i.e hits from a few years back (maybe he was gonna get 2006's songs for Xmas!), but entertaining all the same. Got home about 1.30 and had to be up bright and early for an 8.45 start the next day!

Most of these dudes you guys will never know but I'll name my office mates.

Sharon, Alan (my manager) and yours truly



Melissa and Moi

Sunny and Geeta (from the Ilford office)


Sunday, December 10, 2006

It's the party season!

Last night was the first of the festivities seasons nights out. Sadly there were a number of no shows despite the lead time given; but nether the less, six brave soldiers made it to the front line. Myself, Greg, Dave and Jack, and for the girls Kirsty and Charlene. We went to Jumpin Jaks night club in the Leisure Festival park in Basildon. With the reduced numbers it made little point ordering a cab especially as we was quoted some £18 each; so I nominated myself as designated driver. We had an absolutely blinding night. Plenty of drink flowed and with 4 cameras there, plenty of photos. The girls kinda started a game of taking close up photos of I think mainly me, ambush stylee.







Kirsty broke her little hat whilst trying to stretch it to fit her head better. Poor thing. She also got up on stage and sang a few lines of a song during a sort of full club singing contest. A bottle of bubbly was up for grabs but she didn't get one. The first part of the evening was all about drinking and the second part all about dancing. All 6 of us shook our tails up on stage until 2.30!