Okay, so this is obviously done by LibDem supporters, but it is quite funny (given that it is to do with the election)

http://www.gbjab.com/

PS Picture nicked from Angus Abranson - thank you!

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 8
Conservative -51
	Liberal Democrat 78
UK Independence Party -12
	Green 46

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Ultimate Gamer!! GM says drop 2d10, aanndd... you roll 78% !

What, are you a first generation gamer? Did you own the brown box?! Whatever you do in your spare time, gaming seems to be your job. Either you looked up the answers or you're the best of the best, the type that makes other gamers strive to know more. Just don't let the knowledge overwhelm the newbies, it tends to push them from the hobby. We all bow before you. You are the living nat 20, congradulations. I'm going to flee the scene now ;)

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 70% on dice

Link: The Real Gamers use Dice Test written by luminasita on Ok Cupid

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Who wrote this quiz? - I may be 100% British, but that doesn't mean I'm English!

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Courtesy of Angus, Jess

Why does everything have to be overhyped? Deadwood was reasonable, watchable, entertaining. But it was not brilliant. Whilst it was believable in its setting, violence and language, it was not truly engaging. Maybe it will improve, and as long as I am in hotels with Sky I will continue to watch it, but it was not the event that all the hype portrayed it to be. So in some ways a perfectly okay programme was a disappointment.

Off to the theatre shortly. No idea what the play is about. Time to go.

Friday night saw us braving Carensky's Ghost Train (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,,1275330,00.html) and recovering with a top notch curry.

This weekend was www.londonopenhouse.org, so Saturday morning far too early saw Sally and I heading off to the Swiss Re building.  It would seem that we were not the only people to have had the cunning plan of being there at 10am when it opened.  The prospect of a several-hour wait sent us wandering, around the city, and we found St Botolph's-on-Aldgate, and Christ Church Spitalfields, which was particularly impressive.  We also found S&M Cafe which proved to have an excellent all-day breakfast. 

After that, it was back to building the bathroom, with a little trip down to Battersea to inspect some wooden flooring installed in the very posh (yet strangely prison like) Albion Wharf by the chap we will now probably get to do our front room.

And now it's time to watch Deadwood, see if it's as good as the hype.  Report tomorrow.

So I get my life back - for awhile at least. Go-live is pushed back a month and I get to stay in Sutton Coldfield until Christmas. At least now the controlled panic of being two weeks from go-live is over, with another 4 weeks of grace.

Burgundy was fun. Good to get away from work for a week, and the cycling was an amazing panacea. Brilliant weather as well. Somewhat too brilliant at times - trying to get up some of those hills in 32C was, how shall we put it? - quite a lot of effort. And as for Sally - the usual view of her was a small dot disappearing into the distance.

Did confirm that French wine is really rather dull compared to the Commonwealth upstarts - give me a good South-East Australian shiraz any day over a Cote du Beaune pinot noir.

One relevation - now I understand why the French are so protective of the Common Agricultural Policy. CAP has preserved a wonderful rural landscape, and I can see why they want to keep it that way.

Stopped off in Lille for an hour or so on the way back. Might go there again - Eurostar is worth travelling on now we have finally got our act together on the Channel Tunnel rail link, and what with Lille being European City of Culture at the moment, I think it would definitely re-pay a more extended visit.

This time, with the pressure off a bit at work, I am determined to keep my LJ going. But I've said that before.

Final thought. Joined-Up Government in Action: Oil prices reach record high promting the Chancellor to call on OPEC to pump more oil. Prime Minister says that Climate Change is major threat and we should all be cutting carbon dioxide emissions. Try squaring that circle.

Popped along to the National Theatre last Saturday to see Measure for Measure with Sally.  I think I got slightly more out of it than I did last time I saw - but I was probably 13 or 14 then, and given the somewhat "adult" themes of the play plus the language, that's maybe not so surprising.  It was a very good production, with it set in a quasi-current time, and nods to current events like George W and the orange Guantanamo-style suits of the prisoners.  The acting was pretty good, although I found Isabella to be not quite believable enough to carry her unintentional seduction of Angelo. 

Graeme was back over from Singapore, so I met up with him and those of the Shogun crowd (Guy and Iain) that we could round up.  Played Diplomacy - first time in years - and I am pleased to announce that I won.  Makes a change from getting slaughtered in Shogun.

Back in Sutton Coldfield all week now.  Went to the leaving do of the interim FD.  Felt somewhat out-of-place, and so left at an opportune moment.  Get to meet the next interim FD this Friday - should be interesting.

 

They get a kicking at the polls!

'Tis a pity that Tony Blair has been so seduced by power politics that he has lost touch completely with both his own roots and the mood of the country. You think even he would have noticed the largest ever demonstration in this country might be an indication that his policy was not in tune with the electorate, but there you go. And since the protest vote is not going to the Tories, it's all good!

If Blair could at least point to some concrete benefit we've gained from slavishly following the US, like getting them to sign up to the Kyoto treaty, or a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians, or even a proper attempt to rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq, then that might at least justify his realpolitik approach. But he has nothing to show but a more dangerous world and a lot of dead people.

It looks like the Tories will continue to be abject failures at opposition and we can have end up with either A) the replacement of Blair with Brown, or B) a co-alition between a chastened Labour and the ascendant LibDems, or preferably both!