Street Clean Machine

Dear me, I did feel sorry for this guy this morning around 8:50 as I headed up the Donegal Road towards the M1. As I got to the junction of Sandy Row I noticed a bit of a tail back of traffic and right on the junction (traffic lights) in the right hand lane was this piece of junk, Oil running out of it. Not a good place or time to break down (I know how the driver felt, been there done it) what did make me laugh, as I maneuvered around it this smart guy in a black merc thought he would try a fly one and over take my large vehicle and he pulled right up behind the broken down vehicle (which had it's hazard lights running) eventually when the penny dropped and he realised he wasn't going anywhere he tried to change lanes yet again the other motorists were very reluctant to let him back in ..... loads of horn blowing .... I love it.

The Belfast Wheel Part 2

Got a chance to ride on the Belfast Wheel today. It filled all my expectations. I have to say it was worth the £6. The loading was quick and straight forward. The pods hold a total of six persons and there is provision for the disabled. We hadn't long to wait after boarding before we started our journey to the stars (OK, above the City Hall). As I said in an earlier blog, I expected to see the side of buildings for most of the trip and I was right. Once above the City Hall and surrounding buildings you can see a 360 of Belfast. Weather today was overcast. I would have preferred it if the wheel had went a little slower to enable the taking of more photos. There were five persons in the pod (3 Adults and 2 Young Persons) and I thought there was enough room. We got four revolutions of the wheel, it was good, but think they could have picked a better location for it.

F1 On The Run

Isn't it sad when a poor F1 nearly world champion can't go about his daily millionaire business without the media in tow. The poor guy is moving to Switzerland to avoid the camera's that appear from God knows where, wonder does he also realise he'll save on tax?

Ardoyne Riot

Went onto the world wide web this morning to get the up to date news (BBC News) One of the main stories told of a riot last night in Ardoyne, two police officers required hospital treatment and some police vehicles were damaged. What did set me wondering, every time there is trouble no mater where in this country it is the police always manage to arrest just one person!. Is it just me who thinks it's could be the same guy?
It's about time we had a spot of zero tolerance against the scum who are determined to unsettle our peace cart and wasting millions of the tax payers money to pay for it. The police are quick enough off the mark when it comes to cracking down on the motorist. (Which I have to say has my backing) but lets target all law breakers with the same vigor.
If stopped by the police while driving your car I wonder how the old "It's not my fault I broke the law, I'm from a broken home" would work when it comes to revenue collection.

Quote Of The Day

I went to Specsavers today to enquire about contact lens. The Optician who tested my eyes made what I would call a quote of the day.

"You have one dominant eye, and one non-dominant eye"

It 's good to know I have only two eyes.

The Belfast Wheel

Now we have the Big Wheel is the next step nomination for the 2016 Olympics. What a great place for the Belfast Wheel to be situated, right at the side of our Belfast City Hall. I personally can't wait to go for a spin in it. I can just imagine it, I've always wanted to see the roof of the City Hall , the Ulster Bank and I believe you can see the roof of Argos in Arthur square not to mention all the traffic that pass the City Hall. (This is after you have nearly reached the full height) I'm sure the lough, the Cave Hill, the Waterfront Hall will be easily seen from the top, I'll take my binoculars with me just to make sure. As well as the location haven't they just got the timing perfect, winter. Just think, those few and far between rainy days we get during our winter, I do hope the people pods have wiper's. At least it will be somewhere different to go to get out of the rain.

Ye Old Maiden City

How sorry I was to hear of the violence that occurred in the Maiden City, 50 to 100 people were engaged in rioting . I'll not say the name of the city as sure as I'm thin someone will moan no mater what I call it. When I started the blogging at first I made a promise to myself (which I have to break now) that I wouldn't comment on any troubled areas, but the weekend disturbances need a mention.

Yet again ye old police force of this country comes under criticism from some of ye old political parties about their heavy handedness in the handling of the situation. According to police reports, bricks, bottles and paving slabs were being thrown at police and thousands of pounds worth of damage done to property. One question is, should the police be issued with polystyrene batons in case they injure the thugs and hoodlums who are carrying out this criminal damage?. What about ye old parent's ticking off about the police hitting their children? ... The rioting happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, funny the parents didn't care that their offspring's where in a riotous area? ... but hey, what else is new.

Good news though, the police made one arrest, I was wondering if it was the guy parked on the double yellows?

Fireworks

As well as the Christmas stuff already on sale, it looks like the fireworks have also been readily available. The rockets have been going up and off in and around my area for the past week. Not quite sure if the young scientists have actually worked out that not only can you hear them, but if you wait until dark before you set them off, you can also see them. Then again they are probably at home doing their homework at night ..... so their parents would like us to believe....

iPod Sock

Ordered a leather case from eBay for my new iPod 80GB Classic. It will take about 5 to 10 days for delivery. So what am I going to do to keep it from getting damaged before the case arrives. A colleague of mine suggested I buy an iPod sock, available in most well known high street electrical stores. I had a thought, I'll use a grumpyhead sock, available from most bedside drawers in my bedroom and at no extra cost ..... it works a treat.

How Heavy Is A Box Of Crisps

The van left the big crisp castle in Trandragee early morning in time to get to the shops to catch the morning school traffic and block the footpath. I was going for the bus for another excitement fill day at work when I had to change my traditional route because this big van parked on the footy.

OK, I appreciate the old delivery van thing, get as close to the delivery shop as possible, but this is ripping the tail end out of it. How heavy can a box of cheese and onion really be. Look at the space available and this clampet decided to park on the footpath ..tut tut.

Learn Road Rage From A Pro

I'm not sure on this one, but they may be bringing in road rage training for new drivers. I was driving along Howard Street when this car (Driving instructor) forced his way out of Upper Queen Street with what can only be descried as aggressive driving. I then noticed him change lanes and then try to get in front of an Translink bus by cutting him up, unlucky though the bus wasn't for stopping. As the bus stopped at traffic lights the car then went further up and made sure he was getting in the lane with more aggressive driving by blocking the bus, as you can see by the photo his lane discipline is also lacking. I was sitting at the same traffic lights when I noticed the driver getting out of the car and shouting the odds at bus driver..... So if you want to learn the finer art of road rage that's the driving school to contact .....

Titanic key is sold for £90,000

A tiny key that might have helped prevent the Belfast-built Titanic sinking has fetched £90,000 at auction, according to the BBC News Website today. It's an interesting story, apparently the key opened the binoculars store. Some officer had left the ship with it in his pocket and the ship left Southampton without it. The crew had to rely on the naked eye for observation. I was wondering how big an ice berg has to be before it's visible to the naked eye?, something for sure though, £90.000, I bet the auctioneer didn't need binoculars to see the buyer coming...

Emergency Services

After another road rage free trip into work on the bus, I was walking up Donegal Place when I observed a fire appliance with the blues on (Flashing emergency lights) parked outside Boots the chemist. No sign of the crew apart from the driver who was sitting in the cab people watching. People were going about their everyday business, ignoring the fire engine and without a care in the world. I was wondering if it was a party wagon or perhaps Boots have a 3 for 2 offer on ..... I'll watch the news tonight.

Public Transport

It makes a nice change to leave the the old environmentally damaging car at home and get the bus to work. Sit down, put the ear phones in and watch a bit of video on my new 80Gb ipod classic (Thought I mention the ipod) I have to say it started great as the bus pulled up, doors opened and a lady driver saying good morning, what a change from the usual grunt I would normally receive from the male drivers. A nice steady drive into town, leaving any road rage that had to be had to the driver. The only downside was the ignorance of a passenger (Young adult) who just sat down and feet and backpack straight onto the seat in front. (It was raining, so his kebs were wet) I pointed out to him (in a polite manor, after I'd taken the photo for the blog) that other people had to sit down on the seat his wet feet were on. He put his feet down, got up, lifted his bag and moved to another seat ..... Result

Bike Idiot

This young biker is an accident waiting to happen. Yesterday on the Ballysillan road while we were keeping to the speed limit he decided we were not going fast enough and seeing there was approaching traffic, he undertook us on the inside. What an idiot. I did not smudge out the number plate this time, so if you know him have a quite word in his ear, and hand him a copy of the highway code.

Turning Right

I know so many people who need to be refreshed about the art of turning right at road junctions, especially when turning from the main road. The following was taken from the good old Highway Code (Remember it)

In a nutshell, move to the centre of the road at the point you intend to actually turn right. GOT IT.

Paranormal Egypt

Did anyone see "Paranormal Egypt" on one of the satellite channels last night. Starring Derek Acorah and Tessa Dunlop, what a load of camel dung it was. (In my opinion)
First of all D&T are on the outside of one of the pyramids. T asked D could he sense anything. So he put both his hands against the pyramid and he said he could feel loads of energy as if it was a site where many many men laboured 24 x 7, get away Derek, really. My old history teacher must have been physic as he told me the same thing when we were studying egyptian pyramids. They then ventured inside the pyramid (are you scared yet) and climbed to the queens chamber. D said he could detect an unknown smell before entering, the next camera shot was D actually entering the chamber from the outside. (There's your answer of the smell anyway, the cameraman) He looked around the chamber and announced he could feel the sense of Royalty, get away Derek, really in the queens chamber. Then onto the kings chamber where Derek came under some kind of trance and climbed into an empty sarcophagus. Through his trance he mentioned that some ancient Egyptian called Khufu used to reside in the sarcophagus (I thought he'd asked for coffee to be honest) All a bit scary. While all this is going on T keeps asking the question "Where's his mummy, where's his mummy" With her being blonde I wasn't quite sure if she was asking about his mummified remains or his ma .....

It's A Sin

Had cause to visit a church yard near Lisburn today. Just had to take this photo. Church members even show disregard for disabled parking, heaven help us all.

Sat Nav

As I had said in a previous post, my wife and daughter are going to a big scary castle on a ghost searching trip with the NIPS ( Northern Ireland Paranormal Society) The trip is tomorrow. I was quite taken aback when I was asked by my wife for the lone of my Garmin Street Pilot navigation system ......
I thought a spirt guide would have shown the way?

Did You Hear The One About ......

I read an article on the BBC News website, about a Northern Ireland man who got into hot water over Irish jokes?
It brings to the front the ridiculous way in which people go out of their way to be offended on behalf of others. I have to admit, I don't tell Irish jokes myself ... but did you hear the one about the two Mexicans called Paddy and Seamus ..........

Proof Of Global Warming

Someone sent me this photo of global warming, has it really gotten to this stage.
I wonder when the photo was taken? I'm sure it wasn't taken this year anyway.

Christmas Has Arrived (@ Tesco's)

Took her indoors to Tesco's at Newtownabbey. As soon as I walked inside I was met with shelves full of selection boxes, further down the store came the shelves with all the Christmas puddings stacked on them.It's now Monday the 10th September, that makes it only 105 shopping days til Christmas. Perhaps the Easter eggs will be out on display around November?

Sunday in Kent

Had a long sleep in and was awakened with the sound of Horton Kirby church bells chiming, what they were playing is anyone's guess. After a humongous full English, William and I took Tia, a beautiful springer spaniel for a walk in the nearby Westminster fields. The weather was warm and sunny. Back to the house and packed our bags. Headed back to Gatwick for our return flight home. What a fantastic weekend we had.

Admiral Duncan

Headed down into Soho to the well known bar The Admiral Duncan. It made me think of what home was like 20 years ago, as I was searched going into the place. A good night tho.

Le Gavroche

Le-Gavroche is the ultimate in dinning. I still cannot find words to describe the experience of the night. It was an incomparable experience. The finest food I've ever tasted, the staff, everything about this restaurant oozes with class. (Yes they did let me in) You must visit their website, better still visit Le-Gavroche and you will see what I mean.

(Thank you Karen)