test please delete

[Gonzo]

Morning Gonzo

How is life in the Midlands? I suppose you will be popping into the pub a bit later for a pint? I miss being able to walk down to a nearby pub. There are pubs here, but the chances are that you will have to drive to them, which sort of defeats the object for me.

Still, the locals are doing their best to make me feel at home. There was a high-speed armed police chase through west Auckland yesterday and an innocent man was shot dead. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10553366 The police are a bit quiet about whether it was the fugitive or them that shot him, although to be fair it is probably best for them to say nothing until the facts are ironed out. Still, in that respect it is not so different from being in London.

[NickFitz]

How is life in the Midlands? I suppose you will be popping into the pub a bit later for a pint? I miss being able to walk down to a nearby pub. There are pubs here, but the chances are that you will have to drive to them, which sort of defeats the object for me.

Yup, now that I've finally got to the black triangle stage with my HTMLTestRunner extension to PHPUnit, I think a pint or more is in order

It does seem silly having to drive to the pub - no doubt this is why Police Ten 7 seems to have so many drunk drivers on it

Thinking back, a cousin of mine in the Auckland (I think - somewhere in NZ, anyway) Fire Brigade was killed by a drunk driver whilst attending the scene of an accident involving another drunk driver, some years ago. I believe he was the first NZ fireman to be killed on duty in about thirty years - it was big news, and he got a big ceremonial funeral

They should experiment with building the pubs nearer the people.

Still, the locals are doing their best to make me feel at home. There was a high-speed armed police chase through west Auckland yesterday and an innocent man was shot dead. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10553366 The police are a bit quiet about whether it was the fugitive or them that shot him, although to be fair it is probably best for them to say nothing until the facts are ironed out. Still, in that respect it is not so different from being in London.

Sounds a bit hectic - whatever happened to drunk teenagers kicking fences? I thought that was all that ever happened over there

[Gonzo]

Sounds a bit hectic - whatever happened to drunk teenagers kicking fences? I thought that was all that ever happened over there

My Dad has just sent a message "I thought you were moving somewhere safer than London?" - my Parents have worried about me because they think that London isn't really a safe place, whereas the reality is that I know London inside out, know exactly what trouble-brewing looks like, and can avoid it. Whereas over here, it is still a bit of a mystery.

No stories of genteel drunk drivers these days - in the same paper today we have the story of a 10-year-old who drove his mum's car on a 100km joy ride and was mightily pissed off because the keys were taken off him when he stopped at a service station and the police called his mum to get him. It does sound like he was one of the better drivers over here.

[NickFitz]

My Dad has just sent a message "I thought you were moving somewhere safer than London?" - my Parents have worried about me because they think that London isn't really a safe place, whereas the reality is that I know London inside out, know exactly what trouble-brewing looks like, and can avoid it. Whereas over here, it is still a bit of a mystery.

No stories of genteel drunk drivers these days - in the same paper today we have the story of a 10-year-old who drove his mum's car on a 100km joy ride and was mightily pissed off because the keys were taken off him when he stopped at a service station and the police called his mum to get him. It does sound like he was one of the better drivers over here.

Oh dear - sounds like they're all trying to get on Police Ten 7, probably seeing that as the NZ version of Pop Idol

I had some Antipodean twonk giving me grief down the FMB bar tonight.

He was apparently an old mate of the manager who hadn't been around for some time. He was next to me at the bar and, when the manager was doing a round, persistently pulled straws out of the thing on the bar containing cocktail accoutrements and threw them at said manager's face.

Said manager took this all in good part, and clearly regarded him as an old friend. However after the manager had headed back down the bar to the people he was serving, the twonk gathered up a bunch of used straws that were lying on the bar and stuck them in amongst the clean straws contained within the plastic thing that contains resources relevant to cocktails.

Assuming that this was just a drunk bloke thinking he was helping out, I said "Oh, you shouldn't do that - those are used straws."

He turned to me saying "Yeah? Well, why don't you take them back out if it's such a problem?

"Here, how about this?"

He then took several straws out, licked the top of them, and put them back in the thing. Then he took one out, stuck it up his nose, and placed it back in the middle of the straws.

Frankly, I was getting tired of this (I'd been busy thinking about my HTML rendering extension to PHPUnit until Mr Twonk started) so I ignored him as he rambled on about "that should really annoy somebody with OCD" and suchlike.

At this point he was interrupted by one of his friends, and saying "Yeah, go on, I've finished winding him up now" he was distracted for a few moments.

However the friend then moved away, at which point he turned to me:

"Can I ask you something?"

I inclined my head towards him so as to indicate that I was listening.

"Do you value your kneecaps?"

"Why do you ask," I responded.

"Do you value your kneecaps?

"Why do you..."

Well, I'll spare you all the repetitive dialogue. He got momentarily distracted by another of his mates, and then somebody wanting to get to the bar came between us.

I then went and had a quiet word with the doormen, who went and had a stern word with him. However, though more restrained, he was still there.

So, the next time the manager was at my end of the bar, I asked him, "Is that guy a mate of yours?"

He laughed and said "Yeah!"

I gave him an executive summary. He looked a bit taken aback, said something like "He's just having a laugh" - but as soon as he'd done that round he went over to the guy and had a word.

The guy left straight away.

About five minutes later, he came back as I was chatting to the doormen.

They followed him in and, for the second time, he left straight away.

I honestly do not get these people. I know he was drunk, and that he was probably just a wind-up merchant - all mouth and trousers, as we used to say.

But what kind of state do you have to be in as a person to find pleasure in threatening and intimidating others who have done you no harm? If the only way you can enjoy a night out is by starting aggro, you ought to stay in.

I think there's a very good chance that guy would have thumped me (and more) if I'd shown any sign of backing down when he was giving me verbal and attitude.

What a w4nker

[BrilloPad]

[BrilloPad]

Population
1893 Revenues
437200 € Unemployment 1 %
Transport 99 %
Crime rate 2 %
Pollution 2 %

rank=313

[BrilloPad]

What a w4nker

Indeed. And severe personal problems I reckon.

[FiveTimes]

Population
1893 Revenues
437200 € Unemployment 1 %
Transport 99 %
Crime rate 2 %
Pollution 2 %

rank=313

24 January: The police force of TPDVille has been reinforced.

[FiveTimes]

had a great sleep in this morning, feeling good.

I can't wait to tackle the tile shops now

[BrilloPad]

24 January: The police force of TPDVille has been reinforced.