The industrial estate where I currently work is very dull. Unlike the last job in Central London, where I could take a stroll along the Thames as I ate my sandwiches, or visit various tourist attractions during my lunchbreak, this place has nothing that I can do or see during the prandial hour.
And so yesterday, [...]

… I’m home.
Well, a nice time was had in Ireland… by some of us.
The kids had a thoroughly enjoyable time: being somewhere different and making new friends; I had a relaxing few days, taking it easy and Mrs Masher went sick. Again. Same thing she had last month.
She saw a doctor who gave her some [...]

I took the kids swimming this morning - as I usually do at the weekend. Today, however, it didn’t cost me quite as much money as it usually does. When I enquired as to why, I was told it was something to do with the Olympics Handover Ceremony and for today only, all kids get [...]

… for jury service.
It’s at the local Coroner’s Court, so, obviously, dead people must be involved.
How exciting. Or probably not. It’s not for several months anyway, so it might get cancelled before I get my chance. Having said that, I suppose the dead people will probably still be dead, so maybe it won’t.
Either way, to [...]

In the offices where I’m currently working, there seems to have been very little interest shown in the Olympics.
The TV in the kitchen is usually tuned to it, but that’s the only one. The others - and there are quite a few dotted around the building - are either tuned to another channel or are [...]

Buoyed with the success of fixing my car radio, I decided to have a further attempt at sorting out another piece of technology in the car, that had failed on me.
The intermittent windscreen wipe function is automatically controlled by a rain sensor, attached to the windscreen behind the rear view mirror. It worked very well… [...]

My arms look like I have some sort of skin disease… or leprosy… or something. Flakes of skin fall to the ground as soon as I brush past anything.
This always happens about a week after I return from holiday: I start to peel.
The wife says it’s because I don’t moisturise.
Of course I don’t fucking moisturise!
I [...]

The radio in my car died about a year ago.
Well, it didn’t actually die, as such, but it had a stroke… or something.
We were in France at the time and whilst Mrs M popped into a chemist to get something for the weekend, I was idly fiddling with the radio, seeing what stations I could [...]

Many of you will know that I am a long time advocate of blood donations… giving on a regular basis.
And yet yesterday, I gave blood for the first time in over 20 years.
So, how’s that work?
When I first started giving, I had only donated 12 pints of whole blood before they asked if I would [...]

I managed to catch some of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony earlier.
Very impressive, indeed. A superb display of music, dancing and pyrotechnics, all representing Chinese culture.
Seb Coe and the rest of the British Olympic Committee must be feeling a tad worried having to follow that.
From what I’d heard, in a demonstration of ‘The Best of [...]

OK, that’s not strictly true, but given the choice of sitting by the pool or going on the beach, I’ll generally choose the former. Always have.
This holiday, due to all three of the pools at our hotel being seriously overcrowded, we opted to spend more time on the beach.
It was great for the kids: they [...]