Towards the end of my last post I said that the date for everything to happen on the house seemed to be slipping. Thankfully, I was wrong and we managed to exchange and complete on the following Monday.

We’ve been in for a fortnight now and its great. We have lots of room which goes hand in hand with separate living room, kitchen and dining room.
Week 1 included some back breaking work, from which my back is yet to recover. As a result of seeing that the floorboards throughout the ground floor are in good nick, we immediately sanded the dining room, living room and hall with a view to then varnishing. The timing was right to do so – our furniture was delayed by 48 hours due to adverse weather somewhere in Wales and so we have an empty place. As with all jobs of this nature, it took us longer than expected and we have not managed to varnish both rooms.

A few nasty surprises since we’ve been in and a couple of other annoyances too.
There are no radiators in the main bedroom and we expected the general heat of house to keep it warm enough. It is freezing! So we moved into the spare room and hope to have radiators fitted and warmth delivered this Wednesday courtesy of Neil’s dad.
Additionally, the lights in the spare room (yes, the room we are using as our bedroom) are buggered. Being completely inept when it comes to electricity, I have no idea what the problem is. But it sounds expensive!
Finally, and the easiest problem to resolve, the people we bought from kindly left very full wheelie bins and about 8 black bin liners in the garden when they left. Just made the whole place look scrappy so there were multiple trips to the tip this weekend to sort that out.

Going back to good things (as they outweigh the annoyances by far), I’m trying my hand at proper DIY for the first time and so far it’s gone well. More curtains to put up when I get home tonight so that the main bedroom is ready for the warmth of the radiators on Wednesday and we can sleep in there right away. The furniture we have been given for the house is all fantastic and looks good – it’s all nice wooden stuff and that’s one of the reason for choosing to go with wooden floors – it looks right.

We’re looking at colours now as all our rooms need to be redecorated at some stage or another. Priorities are main bedroom, living room and dining room in that order with the stairs and hall carpet being replaced at some point but clearly we don’t want to be treading mess from decorating into a brand new carpet. The bedroom probably needs replastering and definitely needs decorating (the walls are basically bare plaster) and the other rooms are simply a matter of stripping wallpaper and starting again.

It’s all very exciting and I am keen to do each job one at a time and to get each one done very quickly once we have started it in order to minimise the chaos. Then have a rest and start the next one when we’re ready for it.

Right, all sorts has happened since my last post.

Where shall I start? Christmas is a good place. Christmas was good and much fun was had by all. Christmas presents were well received (especially the Sales Sharks shirts given to the twins) and Christmas day was fantastic – 10 of us for dinner for a delicious meal prepared by my brother and his wife. All the trimmings were there and some games of Articulate finished the day off very nicely.
I even managed to get a couple of evenings at my old local in Sheen which was great – I’ve not been in for a few years so it was good to be back.

One issue with Christmas was when F unwrapped her main present from me (a balance bike), I spotted that the company I had ordered from sent me the wrong size and so we we have not been able to have a go on it yet. Very frustrating and made worse by the fact that the company in question were then shut until Monday 4th Jan and so no replacement could be delivered quickly. The correct one has now arrived so F will finally be getting it tomorrow. Unfortunately, I dont think she’ll actually be able to go on it as a result of the continued bad weather and frozen world.

Talking about the weather, I love it. The snow always cheers me up and I’m as excited about it now as I was 25 years ago. Although, as the phrase goes, you should be careful what you wish for…

The house had been progressing well and all was looking good despite a last minute hitch before Christmas with HIPs etc which caused the exchange date to be delayed until Monday 4th; but that was OK as we had an exciting time planning what to buy for the house etc etc.

Monday arrived and we were full of hope. Exchanging was then delayed from Monday to Wednesday (someone on holiday), then from Wednesday to Thursday (someone had not signed the contract, apparently), and finally from Thursday to Friday (someone had still not signed the contract, apparently). No major panic here, as everyone was still happy to complete on Monday 11th.
Late on Thursday we received a call and were told that the seller did not want to exchange until the weather had cleared to ensure they cannot be sued by us for not having got out of the property in time…

Its now Friday morning and we dont know whats happening or when. “They” say that moving house is one of the most stressful things you will do in your life, “they” are not wrong.

I love Christmas; but, like a lot of adults, it’s the season as a whole that I love and not the day itself.

So, what’s your favourite bit about Christmas?
A – Church
B – Turkey
C – Pictionary
D – Gluhwein and bratwurst
E – Presents

My answer is definitely D.

For me, Christmas started on Friday 20th November and it was the day of my first visit of the season to the Christmas Market. And, to be honest, it will probably finish on approximately December 22nd when the lovely purveyors of overpriced hot wine, german lager and barbecued sausage pack their bags and head home.

Christmas Day itself, when you’re of a certain age, is just another day with a big lunch and maybe some extra bodies around the table. Like everyone, I love seeing the family and have a good old drink up. But we can do that at any time of year and it’s always good.

Presents become functional, don’t they? A new jumper because you need one; socks, again because you need them; and a DVD boxset because mum dosn’t know about downloading… it’s an old person’s thing to say, but I enjoy the excitement of finding out if presents you have bought for people will be well received as opposed to the excitement of opening gifts you are receiving.

There’s only one thing that I know will make the day itself the best bit of the festive season. Spending the day with F and seeing her face light up with delight as she opens her presents and sees her brand new dollies and other wonderments for the first day.

First things first, my most recent time for my run was 29:00 for a marginally increased distance – just an additional 500 metres or so.

5 minutes extra for only 500 metres is rubbish and hence the reason for today’s blog… my shins are hurting whilst I am running. I remember this happening when I started training for the half marathon and 10k I did earlier in the year and assumed it was because my running shoes were past their best and had lost their bounce. So I bought some new ones. My thought process has been different this time and I don’t think this is the case this time around (and assume I was wrong last time). I have decided the pain is a result of the fact that I have gone from not running at all to running approx. 5k a time, 3 times a week for the past 3 weeks.

I assume that my legs are protesting about this sudden workload being thrust upon them.

The running I have been doing has improved my fitness level as you would expect it to and I have higher energy levels and an increased ability to push myself harder at the end of my runs more recently. However, as mentioned before, I am being hampered by the pain in my shins.

I am a member of the gym and have not been for ages, so I have decided to reduce the running a little bit for the time being and concentrate on other aerobic exercise. I am continuing to make my body work, but without the impact on my legs. Last night I managed 35 minutes on the bike followed by a quick swim (just 15 lengths or so).

Bearing in mind that I am aiming at doing at 10k in just over 5 weeks, I obviously do need to carry on with some running – the plan is to use the gym in the week and then go for 1 long (and getting longer each week) run on Sunday.

I’ve started running again recently in a bid to get fit and also because I like it. I thought I’d let you know how I’m getting on every now and then so you can track my progress.

I am running a route through Manchester after work at the moment with the aim of improving my time and making it easier for myself as proof of improved fitness.
I have timed the run 3 times in the past 10 days and have improved each time – 1) 28:53 2) 26:23 3) 25:03 -so I’m improving.

I’ll also be running longer routes at the weekend to build up for doing some more 10ks next year. Also, depending on how the training goes over the next month, I might attempt a cross country 10k in Tatton Park in December. We’ll see.

Please bear in mind that there is every chance I will give up in a week but the intention is there.

As you know from one my previous blogs, I am trying to buy a house at the moment.

I have just spent 4 days dealing with an estate agent about 300 yards away from the one I moaned about previously.  The difference in terms of customer care and professionlism is huge.

Migratio have been responsive at all times and generally explained everything they have done to me.  When I was pushing for my offer to be accepted yesterday and for the property to be taken off the market, one of the company directors called me up to explain that this was not going to happen and also explained the reason for this decision.  Obviously I was disappointed, but I completely understood their reasoning and was happy to accept the decision as they had the taken the effort to explain it to me.

I have now had the offer accepted and will not get over excited because of what happened last time.  However, I have total confidence that they will look after me and everything will turn out for the best.

I decided in my previous post to not mention the name of the estate agent that was less than useful last time.  I have now changed my mind because I have seen how estate agents can treat their customers.  I would definitely recommend to people that they DO NOT USE Richard Padgett in Monton, they were rubbish.

I’ve been thinking still about tweeting (see my last blog – Why do I bother tweeting?) and blogging (obviously, seeing as I write a blog). I have also read with interest news articles and other blogs about the Internet industry and its use.

So, the big news today is Google’s enormity. We knew that already. However, to be in a position to publish record profits ($1.6 billion for Q3) in the current climate underlines Google’s dominance – the description my colleague here at UKFast used in his blog “Google goes from strength to strength” is that it is not sufficient to describe Google as an industry giant and that it must now be described as being Galaxy-sized.

Another blog tells us that spend on marketing on the Internet in general (4.5%) is increasing with a particular emphasis on Internet search (5.4%) whilst marketing spend is falling in the economy as whole (15.3% net fall).

The Internet is clearly being seen as achieving higher returns on investment for each pound of marketing spend, or the spend would not be there. Additionally, the barriers to entry are very low – bidding on a key word on Google could cost you as little as 10p a click and you are essentially only paying for worthwhile advertising (if the advertising is not worthwhile, it generally reflects a martketeers inability to pinpoint the correct terms to use (which is a whole new market in itself)). You could easily spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on more traditional advertising routes and achieve very little. There is less risk in spending on pay per clicks or per page impression because you will not pay anything if no one sees your advert.

I was watching a video of a massive fire in Manchester last night and the site I was watching it on displayed some fairly incredible stats provided by Gary Hayes Social Media Count.

In 2 minutes:
 2.8 million searches were made on Google,
 $1908 was made in advertising revenue on Facebook
 Almost 23 million SMS messages sent worldwide
 5575 tweets sent on twitter
 789 new internet users globally

Seeing these stats, it should come as no surprise that so much money is being thrown at online advertising by companies clambering over each other to impress and attract the attention of these millions and millions of readers.

What does this all mean? Well, it means good news for us Internet industry types and an even rosier outlook for decent hosting providers. As the world spends more and more of its money and time online; “etailers” must invest big in their hosting solutions to ensure they capture market share and avoid embarrassing downtime. The result is that hosting providers who have the ability to offer zero downtime solutions and networks will reap the benefits.

I understand the reason for Stephen Fry or Chris Moyles to tweet – they have hundreds of thousands of followers keen to know their every move. But why does someone like me or taffyisfat, my mate from the office, tweet?

Whilst I would love to believe that all 20 of my twitter followers are desperate to see my next update informing them that I’m watching xfactor and finding it dull; I know actually that this is not the case. Again, why do I bother tweeting?

I am interested in the concept of blogging and tweeting as a technological phenomenon. I have never kept a diary and I suppose I was intrigued to know what the all the fuss was about when I heard twitter being discussed. I signed up and I now tweet (i_am_big_g) relatively regularly. I believe the goal of tweeters is to have more followers than anyone else and I can understand this goal.

I do, however, have a big problem with this goal – whenever I am alerted to the fact that I have a new follower, my first reaction is to think that some weirdo is stalking me. I immediately find out:
A) who they are
B) whether I know them
C) if I WANT them as a follower

To be honest, the only important answer is C). I block people that I decide I don’t want to follow what I say. I won’t ever allow a follower who I don’t know and I have been known to block people I do know. This brings me full circle to my original question, why do I bother tweeting?

Money and sport is not a new subject to discuss and neither is unsustainable spending in sport. However, I haven’t spent time debating it before and the reason for that is (and you’re going to call me a glory hunter) I have supported successful teams.

Unsustainability is, as the name suggests, not sustainable. Overspending in sport is done in the belief that it will lead to success, happiness for the club’s fans and profit. When it doesn’t, it leads to bigger unhappiness. In football, Leeds United were almost there and it all came tumbling down. In rugby, Richmond and London Scottish endured the same fate.

In English rugby, we now have a salary cap that prevents unsustainability. Great plan, theoretically.

Every team in every sport ought to go into the opening game of every competition believing they will win. And every fan should go into the season in the belief that any team they support can win every competition that they enter. I support Sale Sharks, I believe this is not the case with them in this season’s Heineken Cup.

The reason? French clubs do not have salary caps in place and as a result are building teams of “galacticos”. They have no interest in sustainability, they are focussed on success. France ought to provide the team that wins the Heineken Cup as their resources allow it.

Sale have lost 6 first team regulars (including a couple of superstars) over the summer to French clubs. Am I bitter? Of course I am. The players were given the opportunity to double their wages and did. You can’t blame them. Sale cannot match those wages because of the salary cap in place in England and that makes the competition absurd.

I don’t know if I prefer salary caps or crazy spending and unsustainability. I do know that the playing field should be level and it is not.

I went to Knowsley Safari Park with F this morning and we had an awesome time.

All the usual suspects were there – lions, elephants, buffalo, emus, ostriches, kangaroos, rhinos, hogs, impala

and baboons

So, we’re driving along and there is the alternate “car-friendly” route that avoids the baboon enclosure. Where’s the fun in that? 20 seconds later they were on the bonnet, on the roof and on the spare wheel.

I was panicking and Winnie was not amused. We pulled ourselves together so we could get through.

The baboons must have some kind of database of weak spots listed by car make and model. As they jumped on, I even think I heard the big baboon on the side of the road shouting “Oi, Dave. Go for the washer squirter, they’re barely attached on Land Rovers”.

So, we were in there for about 10 minutes and they ripped off one washer squirter, removed the back windscreen wiper (and broke the other), had sex on the bonnet, and pushed the wing mirror back.

Oh, and the thing that topped it all off was he then had a poo on the bonnet!