It'll ruin the view

A year and a half ago this bloke took what was probably the bravest decision of his life, and that was to fight for his Queen and Country in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Now his legs were blown off by a taliban mine and his local council have turned around the told him that he can't have his specially adapted bungalow built on his grandfathers land because it "might spoil the view".

Neighbours agreed but when it came down to the penpushers sitting round a table in the Council Chamber, his circumstances were "not considered sufficient". This is utterly ridiculous, and once again shows the lack of support we give to our troops. These men and women are risking their lives every minute they are at war for less money than most of us earn on a daily basis. It disgusts me that we can't support them when they return.

The bungalow, including a therapy room, would have been hidden from the road at Hankham, East Sussex. It would have enabled him to leave the Forces rehab centre at Headley Court, Surrey, and live independently. This kid is never ever going to have the same life he had before he entered the Marines, yet he won't be compensated for it.

I vote we force these councillers to go and fight for King and Country, and see what they say when they come back with limbs blown off. I'm sure they'd be the first to complain.

Should have smacked him harder!

It's come out in the past week that this guardsmen smacked this bloke in the back of head for mimicking his actions. Personally I think he should have hit this foreign tosser harder! It's about time we started respecting the people who enforce rules and protect this country, whether you be home grown or just visiting.

These people are the creme de la creme of our armed forces, and who spend hours upon end marching from point to point to protect our royalty putting up with endless twats like this. I have nothing but respect for all members of the British Armed Forces. And I certainly hope that this will teach this prick (who is apparently an oxford student) some respect next time!

If you want to see the video then click here

Canal, Brothel, Drugs, Canal, Brothel, Drugs, Canal.....

After sleeping for 14 hours last night/this morning, I feel it is now time to give my verdict on Amsterdam, which will shortly be followed by a brief slideshow. I know how thrilling you are all finding the experience of reading this so i'll keep it brief. Firstly I was quite impressed by the ferry across to Rotterdam, it was fairly quiet, not overly priced and very comfortable. All the staff seemed very happy and it was a very pleasant journey. The Pride of Hull, I suppose someone has to be proud of Hull. However, I would have though that a reputable company such as P&O would have employed a Sound/Lighting technician for the on board entertainment. But no, instead it was left down to a performer. I'm sure you can envisage what came next. All the shows was plagued with technical issues, every time the singer came on during the caberet her microphone wasn't live. The band were mixing from one stage, ok there's nothing wrong with doing that but it's a bit cheap and doesn't sound as good as it could.

Secondly, Amsterdam, it's exactly what you see in the photos and in the movies, no different. But, it's surprisingly small, I managed to cover the majority of the city centre in the space of 2 hours, after which I couldn't find much else to do unless you wanted to shag some old black bird for 50 euros or smoke some jamaican stuff. I visited Anne Frank's house, which was the best part of the day, everything is still the original house, and it's very very moving. I think it's been done brilliantly and it was great to see something that i've heard so much about. To relieve the boredom I went on a canal cruise in the afternoon which was very interesting and showed you lots more of Amsterdam along with telling you lots of information about the city's history.

Despite getting a little bored towards the afternoon and that it also began to quite heavily rain. It was a very good day, and an even better boat ride. I don't think i'd go there again on a tourist visit, but I would definitly go to Amsterdam for a stag do or a lads weekend, which I suppose is what most of the tourists will do.

My Cabin

The bathroom - which had the nicest shower ever, very nice after a long day in Amsterdam

It highly amused me that P&O had gaffa taped the projector (which wasn't aligned right anyway & it was shit) to the FOH lighting bar.

The main entertainment lounge and bar, too floors with an irish bar upstairs.

Coming into Rotterdam

The main square in Amsterdam, big royal palace behind me.

Let's bomb Bradford!

I shall blog more tomorrow when i'm abit more awake and have photos uploaded too.

In the meantime i've developed a theory...this is that Osama Bin Laden is in fact alive and living in Bradford. I say that we bomb the place, if he isn't there, then honestly what have we lost?

Barack Obama

Can I be the first englishman to say that I really couldn't give a flying fuck about Barack Obama or anything. So much i've turned the TV and Radio off, and put my iPod on...something i do care about, something decent to listen to.

I'll say one thing though, and if i'm wrong you can tell me a year from now. I think there will at least be an attempt, maybe successful, to assassinate Barack Obama within the next year. As much as America keeps saying "We're ready for change", whether you like it or not, to some extent Racism does exist over there, and I just don't think they're ready for a black president. Remember that only 40 years ago black people weren't allowed to mix with white people.

The deep south is still like this and there are a large number of americans who are against change, and are quite racist. Noone, not even the Americans themselves can deny this. I think Obama will hit bumpy times. I quite like the bloke and think he will be very good for the states, and I do wish him all the best. But I do think there will at least be an attempt to assassinate him which will lead to major conflicts in the United States.

We're looking at the start of World War III, but i'll talk about that in a later blog post.

Bodybuilder's are obese...

...Or at least that's what you're doctor will tell you when your BMI is calculated. BMI is calculated by taking a person's weight and dividing by their height squared. Now this is absolute bollocks if you ask me. It's been scientifically proven that muscle weighs twice as much as fat. So how can someone turn around to a body builder and say you need to lose weight because you're classed as obese. BMI is wrong, and in my opinion shouldn't be widely used by the NHS as a measurement for obesity.

You might have a body fat percentage of 8% with a lot of added muscle, and the body mass index chart will say you are obese, and could be a risk for significant health issues. On the other hand, suppose you’ve never exercised a day in your life and your body fat is 30%, but you weigh less than a fit person with an 8% level of body fat. The BMI chart might suggest your weight is right where it should be and you are at very little risk for health problems. This is where the BMI chart is misleading. Recent studies have shown a weak and inconsistent correlation between a high BMI and disease or early death.

A more accurate measurement of this is your waste to hip ratio. People who tend to gain weight on their arse rather than on their stomach are at an increased risk of heart related conditions, diabetes and high bloody pressure. Your health is not only affected by how much body fat you have, but also by where most of the fat is located on your body. People who tend to gain weight mostly in their hips and buttocks have roughly a pear body shape, while people who tend to gain weight mostly in the abdomen have more of an apple body shape.

Or one of the very best ways is how you feel and what you think when you look in the mirror. Simple as.

Eurovision

Last Year, the United Kingdom got a total of 14 points, from 2 countries (San Marino...barely even a country, and Ireland), now for what reason does Lord Lloyd Webber believe this year to be different. If bloody Elvis came back from the dead and entered the eurovision for us, we still wouldn't have a chance in hell of winning it! Because it's all political.

Greece and Cyprus, Sweden and Finland, Ukraine and Belarus! The Balkans, Baltics and Scandinavian countries all vote for each other! The BBC on the other hand have seen a brilliant opportunity to fill Saturday night TV with more utter rubbish. I'm sure Webber is getting a fair wack out of the show and similar.

I think we should enter the most unlikely and shittest act ever, just for the hell of it...oh wait, that's what we've been doing for the past 5 years. The only reason I ever watched it was for the pure comic value of Terry Wogan, and now he's gone, well what other reason is there?

Oh and i've bet my Mum tonight ALL of my money that we won't even make the top three. That's how confident I am. I sincerely hope I'm not wrong!

Admiration

Now being a geek and playing flight simulator i've often taken interested in planes and how they work. But this is something else.

When the pilot of this plane lined it up to take off at La Guardia airport in NY he'd never imagine that he'd shortly he facing a pilots worse fears, and he'd shortly be forced to make the hardest of landings ever. Hit the water with your tail too far down and you risk breaking the fuselage into pieces, hit the water with your nose too far down and you risk drowning everyone on board.

I'm sure this 57 year old former US air force pilot will be waking up today knowing that he's done his good deed of the year after saving 155 peoples lives. Well Done to him, this bloke deserves a medal!!

Welcome

I think i've lost track of how many of these things i've opened and not actually used. This time, i'm making it a new years resolution to update them. It's easier than using facebook and more versatile, so definitly worth a go!

So Welcome and I hope this blog brings you days of thoroughly enjoyable reading.