Would you like to see some Llama's?

A trip to the Lake District at the weekend gave us the chance to stay at a farmhouse, eat lots of homely food, drink (of course) and then walk it off along the river and over fields. Saturday night was very funny, a wine and cheese quiz at the local village hall hosted by a sort of crazy hippy Richard and Judy couple. It was based around German wine and food and we didn't have a clue, but by the end of the night, I knew more about how crap German wine actually tastes. I bid £4 for some German salami in the auction. On Sunday we walked past a farmhouse and were invited in to take a look at some Llama's. What happened to the old fashioned phrase - "Would you like to see some puppies?" Anyway, they are weird looking creatures, they look like they've been glued together with body parts from a camel and a giraffe.

Nasty Pasty, Frugal Google

I've just been for a run and passed a Google car with a huge camera on top. There's been a lot of controversy about the way Google is going round the country photographing streets for its street view facility. Some people are saying it's an invasion of privacy. Imagine if you're having an affair and your wife or husband sees you with someone else! Woooo. It's supposed to blur your face, but I took a look at Newcastle quayside and spotted this fella with an un-blurred face. Classic sad photo though, the mandatory staple diet of the North East in a carrier bag! There's a link to 'report a concern' to Google. It would be interesting to report that you're concerned that people eat stuff from Greggs everyday, or that it's also a great advert for Greggs. Oh well, at least it's not a single mother with a push chair and the kid eating a sausage roll out the Greggs paper bag.

Legs n Eggs

Inbetween a few beers, a Japanese meal and an easter egg, I completed the Easter Sunday North Tyneside 10K run. A great day, glorious warm sunshine and the scenic coastal route for 2000 people. I managed to do it in 57 minutes, nowhere near the winner who did it in 31. This photo taken by my girlfriend demonstrates my ability to lift my leg at a perfect right angle.

He's not married to Sally...

This weekend it was the turn of the Live Theatre where we went to support another local comedian, Gavin Webster. We've seen him before, but this time he was much more mellow I thought. He did a lot of local gags which were very funny, including geordie roadsigns and daft short one-liner songs on his ukulele. I reckon he has spurts of genius like his panda routine where he ponders about how extinct they really are, and these are just enough to make you want more. He's done a few things on the telly in his time so watch out, he could be the next geordie voice you hear aside from Ant & Dec or the Big Brother fella.

Nodding dogs are just for the rear windscreen

If they can ban mobile phones in the car why can't they ban dogs too? I queue in the morning traffic, a delight of course, especially when you get the chance to observe other drivers. There's one bloke I see from time to time, drives a sports car, probably smells of lavender, eats quiche for lunch, you know the sort. But what distracts me is his white poodle dog which sits on his lap behind the steering wheel, it's jumping about, spinning round, licking his face, peering out the open window. Urgh, shoot it. Or better still, I'm waiting for its paw to hit the electric window button while it's peering out!

True Comic Relief

He's popular, talented, really funny, does great impressions, can sing, can dance (well a brilliant Shakin' Stevens impression at least). Yes I know, it sounds like a description of me, but it's not. It's the superb Rob Brydon who made us constantly laugh, on stage last night. His humour, quick wit and audience banter was brilliant. He's number 1 in the charts with the comic relief song, and finished the night doing this in a funny way of course. He went into the audience and tried to get his leg back onto the stage but kept falling back. A lady in the front row tried to help with a hand round his buttocks. I tried to get a photo of the cheeky incident. You can just make out Rob after being touched up at the front of the stage.

I want my £30 back...

I have an idea why Newcastle City Council has just received the worst annual review. A few weeks ago, I blogged my parking ticket incident. I appealed twice claiming that it was not marked properly as a loading bay, and because of building work going on it was not obvious to the driver. I paid for a ticket thinking it was a normal bay. Anyway, the gits at the council made me pay £30. But the sneaky council has now put a brand new LOADING BAY sign on the parking bay, taking my advice but still fining me. So I'm now trying to get my £30 back.