Nipped into Manchester on Saturday afternoon to collect my watch. I'd had it serviced and was keen to get it back before we go to Amsterdam this weekend as it's my favourite watch to wear 'out of work'. Decided to park in the Northern Quarter so we could wander back, have a cheeky drink and take the quirky sights in with the weather being so nice. Took a few pics along the way ...

"Enrich, Not Exploit" ...



Didn't need an excuse for a beer, but this made me think of getting a drink ...



Love this pic. It's Montpelliers, one of Manchesters 'hidden bars'. The pixel man is streetart by "Manic". There are several pixel men around Manchester. 



Afflecks Palace. So much going on that people just walk past ...



As businesses close for the day they pull the shutters down and reveal all sorts ...



Could spend all day just wandering around from bar to bar taking the streetart in. 

I've been looking forward to last weekend for a while. We (Jason my brother, Mark our footy mate and myself) had tickets for the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley (United v Everton) and had arranged to stay at my nieces (Halimah) Penthouse Flat in Hackney. We always enjoy out London trips and with the training I've been doing it was a welcome break. In truth I only missed one day of training (Sunday) as I was out on the bike on Friday and Saturday was a 'rest day'.

This is the view from the flat. It's a huge three bedroom place which is evidently worth a million quid. 

 





A quirky clock in the flat. Halimahs friend Yaz spotted one at an expensive restaurant and went and bought one herself. 





Before the game we went out in Camden in a pub which seemed to be struggling with it's theme ...



I wasn't complaining that they had Moto GP on though! 



A few beers and a bit of food and we carried on to Wembley.





We got in with a few minutes to spare and the seats were pretty good. Row 15. Mind you, for £50 you hope to get a reasonable view!



We got a cracking view of the very late (and timely) winning goal and then the final whistle went ...





After the match we met Halimah in West Hamstead. Went in a nice (big) pub called The Railway, but they had shown the football and were serving drinks in plastic glasses. I don't like that at the best of time, but especially when I'm paying £5 a pint! So, we quickly moved down the road to The Gallery. Now this was my kind of pub. Smaller, cosy, quirky and it didn't have the normal generic pumps at the bar - It was guest beers, caft beers, coctails etc. Fantastic. Halimah also met some friends who had reserved a table for their celebrations ...



They didn't stay long and passed the table on to us! 

This was the view looking down at the bar from our table. Really nice place. Could have stayed longer than the few drinks we did have and would happily go back. 



We made our way back to Hackney and had a few more drinks locally, then back to the flat for a nightcap or three. Cracking weekend. The only downside is that we are now in the FA Cup Final to be played in May. We are guaranteed to get tickets (yipee), but Jason and I are in Amsterdam for a friends stag do! FFS!   So, as a thanks to Halimah we have said she can have one of the tickets and Mark is taking his son Joe - so all three tickets have good homes. 

Makes me chuckle as when the stag do was arranged, we only agreed to go as we though there was not a cat in hells chance we would get to the final the way we were playing!   Guess we will be watching the final in a bar in Amsterdam. Have to say, as compromises go that's not going to be too bad. 

Ok my techie friends, your help & advice is needed.
My PC is in the dining room and the router is the other side of the wall in the living room and suffer from loss of connection and slow speeds at times.  I recall a discussion which included possibly using homeplugs on here, Roger did you ever try them?  Next question, did they work and what ones did you get/recommend? 

So, would someone like to assist a helpless female - or even me 

I've never managed to adapt to the size of the Nexus 6 'phablet phone'. It's brilliant in the office or at home where you can really see the benefit of the excellent screen - and the size of the handset is irellevant. 

But, venture outside and it is like trying to carry a surf board around with you! 

I've struggled keeping it in jeans pockets when out. It won't fit in some jacket pockets and is the tightest squeeze ever into my wait pack for cycling/ running. 

That said, I've managed for seven months as otherwise it's a great handset and very very powerful. 

But, I dropped it last week and smashed it. I've arranged the repair - but he phone will be wiped during the process. So, it makes sense to buy a new phone if I need to set it up again. 

So, goodbye Nexus 6 - and to the Nexus range who I've stayed loyal to since the N4. 

And hello to a 64 Gig Galaxy S6 Edge. 

I looked at all of the reviews and reports and most said the only reason to go for an S7 (just released so £650 ish) was as it has expandable memory. 


What I really didn't like about the S7 is they have made it bigger - increasing screen size from 5.1" to 5.5" - so not far off the Nexus 6. 

So, a no brainer really. Save some money and get a 64 gig handset (so no storage problems as I've yet to fill 32 gig) and get the smaller handset I've missed soooooo much! 

Firs impressions are it is an amazing looking handset. Makes the Iphone look like a pig by comparison. I'm just getting it all set up as it only landed today. I'll update the thread when I've got all my apps on, my chosen launcher etc.

OK.

So, it comes in three's. 

Here are mine. All within the few days, never mind week.



1) Employee who left two weeks short of three years ago is suing us for alleged negligence causing him a workplace accident. The reason he has left it this long is you have three years to report an incident - and if you leave it the max length of time, hopefully the company you falsely accuse (with NO evidence at all) cannot prove you are lying. In these circumstances the insurance company pays out believe it or not. It is one of our 'modern day insurance scams'. 
Unfortunately for said lying fuckwit of an ex employee, I am the one paper loving bastard that has kept all the paperwork so the 'Spurious Claim' (thats both the insurance company and loss adjusters wording) will be fought. It's already cost me two days and will cost me several more in time correlating all of the evidence we have against him. 

2) Yaz came back from Singapore with flu (proper flu) on Sunday 13th (over a week ago). She is just out of bed now but still not properly better. I developed more of a manflu (not proper flu) but whatever it was it knocked the shit out of me on Thursday night so my weekend plans turned into not getting out of bed from said Thursday until Sunday afternoon. 

3) Still feeling a 'bit shit' I find out today that a father and son who work for us had a bad accident last night. Fire at home and the place is wrecked. Luckily only property and possessions and all ok. Son is back in work tomorrow, but father has decided he won't be. He is nightshift supervisor - so guess why I'm posting now! Yep. In work at 8am this morning. Came home at 3.30pm this afternoon for a couple of hours to get a brew and a bite to eat - then back in for this evenings 6pm to 6am night shift, which I'm now on for the week.    Cosmic. 

Oh, and to add insult to injury I dropped my beloved phone when feeling rough on Thursday and smashed the screen into a million pieces.   FML! 

Over the weekend I was up at ACU HQ in Rugby to change my Clerk's licence from ACU to FIM. Unlike the ACU seminar (which is one day long), the FIM seminar is 2 days worth of content and exams. It's a difficult process when compared to club level and the ACU exams (which themselves aren't overly easy when you're a beginner) but rewarding when you receive the test results on the day and find out whether you've passed or failed. I passed so I'm now an International Clerk of the Course as well as a club level ACU Clerk. Now just gotta wait for the season to start!

Marshal training and rookie school this weekend at Brands Hatch with Bemsee, if the weather is like it is in Bath right now (sunny) it'll be a good weekend.

What's everyone else got planned for the weekend, or the race season? Anyone going racing anywhere?

Was out on a fell run last Saturday. Weather was the usual mix of wind and rain so I decided to do a very local 'doorstep route'. It a nice 10 mile run which goes over Lantern Pike (Charlesworth to Hayfield), down to Rowarth and then back up and over Lantern Pike again (different climb) and back to Simmondley. I've done this route before, but never noticed an old car pushed to the side of a trail down near Rowarth ...










As you may have guessed 'Fordson' is a brand name of 'Ford', specifically for tractors and trucks: 

http://www.simoncars.co.uk/fordcv/e494c.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordson

I did try to get into it, but it was locked. Quite an interesting little find. 

On May 8th this year I am doing the Fred Whitton Challenge in the Lakes with Dave Allan (SpeedymadR6). 

It's a 112 mile event with 13,000 feet of climbing and considered the toughest one day event in the UK. Yes, clearly I am losing have lost my marbles! I'm wanting to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and try to help them raise a total of £1 million. 

I'd be very grateful if you would sponsor me and share my Justgiving Page with any friends you know who would like to support a fantastic charity. 

Many thanks - I'm off to get some more miles in on the bike in preparation for the pain!

Please don't feel obliged in anyway, but here is the link if you are able to donate any amount ...

https://www.justgiving.com/Paul-King99

Just a heads up. I recently bought some Sealskinz. Whilst not nearly as good as some people would have you believe, they are a decent enough glove and certainly worth every penny of the sale prices. 

http://www.sealskinz.com/UK/outlet?sourc...aign=22278