Seeya Soon!

Bye for now

I'm off to Spain on Tuesday.

I know I know.

I realise that while I'm away - especially if your work is hard and the weather is bad - you'll come to resent me, despise me and (more probably) forget me.

When I return I know I'll have to come round to your place and ingratiate myself.
I shall write sycophantic selections from the following in your comments box.

• 'Great post'

• 'LOL that made me laugh so much I spluttered coffee all over the keyboard'

• 'I shall nominate you for Blogger of the Century award' ...or ..
  

• Your babies are so adorably cute
  

No. That last one is just too ridiculous!

Anyway I'll soon be flying off ..... and of course I'm expecting Thierry to be waiting for me at Barcelona Airport as usual.

Don't do anything I'd like while I'm gone
KAZ
XXX

5ive.

Cyberpete from Denmark has tagged me. I don't do tags - so here goes.

5 things in my BAG:
1: Prehistoric mobile as used by Barney Rubble

2: Keys

3: Credit note worth £27 to spend at NEXT.
I can't stand NEXT so I can't find anything to spend it on.

4: Reading glasses - YES it will be your turn one day.

5: This lip balm - lovely.

5 favourite things in my ROOM:

1: Bastet
The cat godess

The Jaazz fan brought it all the way back from Egypt for me. It was long after the divorce.
It weighs a ton.

2: This poster

3: Advertising sign from car boot sale (50p).


It's in Portuguese but Duckworths is/was a Manchester firm

4: My bust.

5: Large white squashy sofa where I recline
I call it a settee - what's the difference?

5 things I always wanted to do.

1: Wear a pair of new trousers without having to take them up.

2: Sing with a band in the style of Chrissie Hynde.

3: Visit Mexico

4: Visit the North East (yes I always go south)

5: Live in a luxury South facing penthouse with a balcony view of the city and the hills in the distance.

5 things I'm currently into:

1: NCIS - I'm addicted.
The women are great especially this one.


Abi is a genius punk/goth forensic expert.
She's the first person ever to make science sexy.

2: ASDA Puy Lentil and Tomato Sauce

Two for £2 Delicious.

3: Sandals
I'm still wearing Docs, but I suspect that summer may have arrived.

4: Websites - I want my own.

5: Idling (of course!)

5 Persons to TAG:
First - three people who tagged me (revenge)
Diddums
View
Nora

plus: Stitchio and sl

Remember - there's no need for pics.
Go on - it's a good one.

KAZ.

Magpies

Question 1:
Who wrote John Prescott’s recent autobiography?

Ans:
Hunter Davies.

Question 2:
Who wrote Cherie Blair’s recent autobiography?

Ans:
Cherie Blair.

Hunter Davies asked her if he could write it and she said No!

Hunter (who gave their sprog a name like that in 1936?) also wrote (or ghost wrote which amounts to the same thing) the autobiographies of Gazza and Wayne Rooney. He is most famous for writing about the Beatles.

Hunter’s wife - the famous novelist Margaret Forster - is to be pitied. She must live in a separate house to cope with Hunter’s collecting habit. He collects everything including headed notepaper, old tins and Botswana baskets (it’s true).

The main function of collections is to gather dust.

Although it’s mainly a male thing I have had my moments.

You’ve already met the Mickey Mice.

Then there were the flying ducks and the Tretchikoffs.

They’ve all gone, but the badges remain - they are just going rusty in a drawer.

I’ve no idea where the Bay City Rollers came from... honest.

click to enlarge.

Does anyone recognise BRSC?
Do you or did you ever collect anything?
KAZ

Eastern promise

My journey into town takes me through Rusholme (the Curry Mile) which is full of exciting and exotic Eastern delights.

Recently I've been fascinated by a Hookah bar called the 'Musicana Café'.

The dramatic red and black colour scheme looks very chic even though I recognised the red throws as those cheapo ones (£2.59) from IKEA - that exotic eastern souk in Ashton - under- Lyne.

I often wondered whether they were smoking illegal substances in those pipes.

They were.

It's called tobacco.

The owner has been fined after getting several warnings that the no smoking ban also applies to shisha bars.

I took this pic from the bus on Tuesday. The place seems to have lost its enticing allure as a few bored punters drink afternoon tea.

Perhaps they should try naked hookah bars

...with herbal hukka!

KAZ

Spring Fever

If you looked like this -

Would you choose to be doing this?

If you were one of these and your hormones were raging out of control and research insisted that you must think of sex at least once every 6 milliseconds.

Would this be your activity of choice?

The 'Phew wot a scorcher' headlines always coincide with exam time.

This is a photo of the students in the local park taken during this spell of good weather. Desperate for the sunshine the poor sods escape from the revision - but not from the guilt .

Year after thankless year of my adult life was spent trying to drag students through exams. I crammed their heads with masses of stuff which would probably be of little or no use to them later in life.

WHY?

Modules, retakes, finals, orals, mid semester, end of term, A levels, AS levels, external examinations, internal examinations (ouch!) .. the burden on these young people is intolerable.

Only in an exam room does anyone actually write with a real pen on lined paper for 3 hours.

It's MADNESS.

There must be a better way.

Alan Sugar didn't do A levels did he?

KAZ

Gay GORDONS

Gran

Kev: 'You know that psychopath in Chorlton?'

Kaz: ..... erm ... no.

It turned out that he'd said 'Cycle path' - not 'psychopath'.

OK - So I admit I'm a bit deaf.

I blame it on Ritchie Blackmore - we shortarses always get to stand nearest to the massive speakers.

There's a great deal of concern that many MP3 users will face hearing loss at an even earlier age.
My Grandma, along with most of her generation in Lancashire, was made deaf by the ear-splitting noise of the looms in t'mill. There she is above (before I was born) taking a photograph of her lovely Scotty called (imaginatively) Jock.

I don’t really remember her until much later with immaculate white hair decorated by a Capstan Full Strength streak on the front.

Gran was a farmer's daughter and had to plough a furrow both on t'way to t'mill in the morning and on t'way back in the evening. She was very proud of her weaving skills.

It was some consolation that they had all learned to lip read in t'mill as making yourself heard above the noise was impossible.

It skipped a generation.

Mum wasn't deaf.

She just had Dance Bands ...


.. and Comptometers.
KAZ

Time for Tea

So - KAZ is no 1 on Google for "Bullingdon club tea shirt".

The spelling suggests that the searcher wasn't a member of that exclusive educated society - unless it's referring to a special chemise worn when taking afternoon tea on the lawn.

Oh and I checked - I'm also numero uno for Bullingdon tee shirts. OK - I'm a saddo, but it is a wet bank holiday.

Don't you think it's ironic that a person from Manchester should hold this honour?

Why?

Look at this

Yes - a seat was lost to the Lib Dems (very popular in South Manchester as they're good with wheelie bins) who took it from the Greens.

But where did that C1 come from? There hasn’t been a Conservative councillor round here since 1996.

It turns out the Manchester electorate did not choose a Conservative. This guy defected from the Lib Dems earlier this year.

His seat won’t be up for re election until 2011!

Although this amused me - I also find it upsetting.

Nowadays, the Conservatives have to show respect for Equal ops - but their beliefs are not traditionally associated with championing the causes of Ethnic minorities, gays, women etc.. Remember Boris and his Picaninnies?

The original ‘Race relations’ acts were passed in 1965 and 1968 by the Wilson government. The Law of 1976 made racial discrimination unlawful in employment, training, housing, education and the provision of goods, facilities and services.

These were the guys responsible..

OK - that’s enough on politics.
My next post will be about my grandma.

KAZ

Something for the Weekend.

So - if the news or the weather is too depressing this weekend - you might find a minute to consider what's occurring with David Bowie and his chums in these photos.

After appearing with Mark and his lovely, but rather insincere smile, David decided to get his teeth done.


Lulu slipped into something sexy(ish) for the second shot - David just showed us his knees.


Is Iggy eating Fish and Chips?


Rod looks a trifle overdressed for this party - but at least he's brought a bottle of Blue Nun.

Here's David with William Burroughs who wrote 'The Naked Lunch'. It was very naughty and banned for many years.

Two other chums.

Any more thoughts on David's liaisons?

KAZ