Surveillance Britain.

Wow, I started to research this and it's a shocker! We've 1% of the world population and 20% of the world surveillance cameras... that's 5 million which accounts for 12 for each person!

Astonishingly London has 10,000 dedicated crime cams - at a massive cost of £200 million - or nearly half a billion dollars if you're in the US.

I'm still researching, if you've any comments, please make 'em, or mail me at podcastpaul@gmail.com

Busk Aid

My old mate and blogging podcaster extraordinaire; Dean Whitbread is supporting Busk Aid, a charity aimed at teaching South African township kids street music. Check out Dean at his blog here and the rise and shine breakfast radio show here

Best of luck Dean, and to the rest of you, please nip over and support Rise and Shine and Busk Aid.

Podcastpaul forum and message board

It's here - a group chat site for anyone who listens to the show(s) and would like a place to chat or discuss matters.

The chat site can be accessed from the icon at the side bar or by clicking here
See you in there - pop in and say hello!

lunchtime blogging

I have just enjoyed some lovely fish and chips and decided to give my much missed blogging some attention during my lunchtime. Immediately I eat them, I felt lousy and know I should have stuck to my skinny food. I've lost 28 pounds (or two stone in real money) and gone down 8 belt holes - I've had to cut the end of my belt and stick three new holes in - great, apart from the fact that my clothes are beginning to get too big for me!

As usual I'm not just busy, I'm breakneck mental. I've three trials in March - one of which is the biggest of my 24 year career Monday week, an audit next week, 8 exams starting tomorrow, continuing through Monday, Wednesday and Friday and hosts of other stuff I've got to get sorted before the weekend. Shocking. I'm beginning to dread opening my eyes of a weekday.

Is it just me that is chaotically busy, or is it life in general? It really is ridiculous, I just don't seem to get a moment's peace. Can you relate to the ludicrous, immediate deadlines, hours and hour of work and other pressures? I thought law would be a nice, gentle stroll in the park, dealing with things in an ordered fashion and sorting matters out in a nice, gentile smiley way. The new solicitors on the block are vicious, vile, unrepentant animals always attempting to take a pot shot, and the regulators more bureaucratic and pointlessly jobworth.

Oh the simplicity of being a postie, milkman or bloke in a factory pressing a button. Your day would start and finish at given points in time and dealines would not pervade my dreams....



I've been getting into the office before or around 6am to cram everything in, I'm sure that if I cut out sleep for the next two or three months and hired a chauffeur to drive me around, feed me, and generally do everything including wiping my backside that I might just see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The reason I love Swaziland so much is many things, but I love their attention to family life and just not screaming around like headless chickens. I'm desperate to get back there....

Emily

A pic of Emily.. and me..

podcastpaul podcast no170 - A Californian vibe...

PodcastPaul No. 170 – download the MP3 direct from here

Ari Shine – Crank it out Meticulous Records; California

Most of the music tonight from California – all entirely by chance….

A funny old few weeks since I last spoke to you all – time whizzing by - Tilly – and Emily. Thanks so much for all your messages, calls, mails etc.

The pain of dog training.

Bob Gentry – Upside down; California

Bob and Rose Cartwright – The Outside station; the. Brilliant podcast – go and listen – great if you’re commuting. Great production qualities and really interesting.

Last week I went to the Cotswolds with Sue. I love England, I’m biased, but the beauty around us is just astounding. Ledbury – haunting pennywhistle player – Eastnor castle.

Great time in London – cheap train and hotel tickets!

3 blind mice – Kolysanka; London

Rise of the foot soldier – awful, awful, awful. Don’t watch or support this. I just don’t get it…

Shannon Hurley – We are in Love; California

New podcast forum – very good, interesting – and busy, please join in… tell ‘em I sent you! Follow me on Twitter… paulnicholls

Entice – Listen Hard; California – I think this bloke’s voice sounds like Geddy Lee – go Rush!
Send an email – podcastpaul@gmail.com

Rise ofthe foot soldier. Utter rubbish

I sat and wasted two hours of my life on the most vile, vacuous and pointless nonsense.

There's a new genre of film about gritty life on the football terraces. 'Firms' are stocked with low life vermin desperate to fight, then there's the drugs and sex.... This is a film about... well, vermin, fighting, drugs and girls. Gouging, murdering, stabbing and mugging are all dressed up as lads having a bit of a laugh.

Scumbags.

For two hours I sat through gratuitous, pointless violence that glorified the life of some prior thug called Carlton Leach. He's such a tough bloke he has his own myspace page.. with a picture of.. tremble.. a gun on it. To think this man is cashing in on a previous violent lifestyle is just breathtakingly arrogant.

Willing the film to get to the end with some sort of point to it I watched humourless portayals of drug taking bullies. There wasn't any point apart from the director wanting to take us through the eyes of the underpriviliged underclasses of London. Get a life, I grew up in a rough backwater of Birmingham where kids had absolutely nothing, yes we had to fight and yes we went without, but we don't need some handwringing liberal to make a film about it. We still dine out on the poverty of Kes, and that was shot in 1969. At least that was a classic British portrayal with a point. This was a haphazard boasting of smashing some blokes head in on the tube against Milwall. Cheers for that.

There is a point to this post:-

1. Don't waste your time or money feeding some loser credibility. This thug offers nothing and you get nothing. He deserves nothing as he did nothing. If you're taken in by the film, he didn't get caught by the police, and if you believe his mates in the film, jail seems to be a laugh with all manner of cheeky chappies who get you connected.

2. What a stupid, idiotic, puerile message to send to kids in an increasingly violent Britain. This bloke is now 48 - fancy posting a myspace page up to glorify and capture a previous violent lifestyle. I'm ashamed to think a fellow English bloke wants to send that sort of a message to kids. Unfortunately my lad (18) bought the DVD.

I hope Leach reads this and can give me some sort of explanation for his violent memoirs ... apart from the cash and pitiful glory seeking from the youngsters he courts on myspace.

podcastpaul.com pillow talk 4

Download pillowtalk4 MP3 direct from here

It's here! Te latest instalment of Pillow talk4, I'm sorry about the quality of this, it was recorded directly on the laptop using the internal microphone.

It's a good show, despite Sue's constant knocking the laptop, rustling and various other noises...

send an email to the show: podcastpaul@gmail.com

Hello Emily

As you may know, Sue and I lost our lovely 9 year old Cocker Spaniel; Tilly a week ago.

Meet Emily, our new addition, certainly not a replacement for Tills, but hopefully a new best friend.

I met her for the first time about 10 minutes ago - Sue came back from viewing her with a little bundle.

Here's Emily; 8 weeks old with me.

Random Wednesday thoughts

I'm sitting at my desk at a minute at seven in the morning, I've been in since just after quarter past five and had, so far, a very productive morning. I'm taking just 10 minutes out to console myself with a blog post as it's curiously lonely at this time of the morning. I've been working with music in the background as I find this really helps - 'everything's changing' by Keane has just faded and 'Beat Surrender' by the Jam is now filling the office.

I reckon I can do a day's work in three to four hours without interruption in the morning. By the afternoon I'm all over the place, getting a second wind late evening.

It's been a funny old week so far. I was in meetings, not arriving home until nearly 11pm on Monday, last night I was at Uni involved in mock exams, not returning home until 10.30pm. It certainly isn't happening today, I aim to get some rest. There's only so far you
can push yourself.

I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly bored with the US primaries. Honestly? I'd rather watch blindfold Latvian table tennis.

I've been fascinated by the podcasts from the BBC - particularly "from our own correspondent" and "pods and blogs". Exceptional listening.

Bob Cartwright's "The Outdoor Show" is fantastic listening if you've a long drive: http://www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk/ Bob is a great ambassador for quality. It amazes me how the poor audio early adopters started out with in late 2004 now near rivals the BBC.

On the home front, Sue is still in pieces about Tilly, she mentioned to me proudly that she hadn't cried yesterday and that she wants a dog in May. I don't know what I feel about that other than to say Tilly can never be replaced. It's incredible what an impression that lovely little dog left with us all.

Smooth operator; Sade has just started to play. I wish I was.... I wouldn't be in before dawn if I was!

Goodbye old friend.

Today was one of those days I will remember for all the wrong reasons.

Sue and I had our beautiful dog; Tilly, a lovely golden cocker spaniel from just a few weeks old. It seems like moments ago that Sue picked out the tiny little golden ball from the litter of pups from the breeder in Stoke On Trent. Those moments were in fact, nine years ago last November.

I'm not really an animal person at all, but Tilly wasn't an animal, she was a member of out family. She was so beautiful that we would be stopped by virtually anybody and everybody who would want to stroke and pet Tilly, commenting on her gorgeous curly coat, and daft mop of curly hair on the top of her head that looked like an 80s footballer's perm.

Tilly was the only other female in our house and was Sue's best friend. She loved and respected me, but doted on and snuggled up to Sue. Tilly was just always there. Everyone loved her and everyone commented on her beautiful, gentle nature. She loved Sue and the kids, and I know she loved me.

Tilly hadn't been well and the last week was particularly bad. All of her verve and life just seemed to slip away and she was so obviously uncomfortable. We knew that she wasn't well, but were totally unexpected for the unfolding events of today.

We took Tills to the vet this morning and were told to come back in the afternoon as there was a mass in her body that the vet could feel.

At around 4pm we were told that Tilly had cancer of the spleen and that it was virtually inevitable that this had spread to the liver. We were given the option of an exploratory operation, but told that it was highly likely that se wouldn't be woken again.

We were really presented with no option other than to put her to sleep today, or Monday. Tilly hadn't eaten since Tuesday and was vomiting regularly. There wasn't any way I wanted her to suffer until Monday. It just seemed cruel to prolong the agony. The worst of it was that the vets surgery would close within the hour or so.

We hot footed it across to the surgery and Sue was in bits. I did everything I could to hold it together as I drove to the vets surgery. We both knew exactly what we had to do and it seemed so awful and bizzare, yet the only option that we had.

When we saw Tilly, it was so obvious that she was so happy to see us, we held her as she slipped away, and it was just the worst, and awfully, the only thing to do. This beautiful dog, one of our best friends had been there with us through good and bad times - and in an instant she was gone. We were left alone with her, and Sue and I knew we would see her one last time, and then we would have to go.

We'll miss her terribly, Sue's eyes have been stinging from the tears and I'm doing all I can to hold it in as I write this post about her. The space in the corner of the room where Tilly always sat seems so empty, and the space by the side of the bed will be equally empty. The house was never empty when we were here on our own, Tilly would follow you around, her tail perpetually wagging and enthusiastic. She will leave a huge hole in our hearts.

Goodbye old mate. We'll miss you terribly.

podcastpaul podcast 169

Download the MP3 of podcastpaul169 right here, right now, right free of charge!

Brilliant trees - Talent

Hello to Rowland Cutler – lovely to chat to you on Skype mate – you MUST be my longest standing listener mate!

4th year of podcasting – loved ever minute of it – you’ve been a fantastic group of folks – loved meeting every one of you.

Licencing – wondering if should go down that route – some of the unsigned acts are fantastic, but quite honestly, like some of the signed acts, some of them are rubbish too!

Duran Duran – Falling down via podsafe music network

Always maintain some awesome gems – but you need to look hard – very hard – Ho;low Horse, Paul Rose, Mangomad, Simon Apple, Slashed Seat Affair. Supprt your unsigned artists, but I hanker after playing Ghost Town by the specials, Jump by Van Halen – the list goes on. Never ever understand the mentality of keeping the archived dusty stuff uncovered for us to rediscover. They’re a soundtrack to our life. Watch a film like pretty in pink if you’re late thirties / early forties and you’ll gasp at the soundtrack.

Eleanor McEvoy – Territory of Poets. Blimey! What a voice – awesome!

Jack – so proud of him. Great night last night at the gifted and talent evening at Lordsword Girls school, Birmingham.

Esteban – Santiago via the lads themselves – cheers boys!

Juan’s nan’s second funeral in Chile – yes you heard that right!

Good Lovelies – Taboo – cheers col!

Recommended listening:

From Our Own Correspondent (BBC)
Pods and Blogs (BBC)
www.darkcompass.com
This week in London - www.parkylondon.libsyn.com

Karmyn Tyler – luv me so via podsafe music netwok

send me a mail: paul (squiggly at) podcastpaul (dot) com

Pillow talk show no.3 from podcastpaul.com

Download the Mp3 direct from here

Pillowtalk no 3 is here - unfortunately it ends very abruptly due to the ipod suddenly losing battery power - fear not, we're still here!

email to podcastpaul@gmail.com

Music isn't restricted by age.

Yesterday evening Sue and I went to a George Michael tribute. It was actually really good. The ratio of women to men was about 25:1.

I couldn't get over how many folks knew every word to every song (er... me included). When you think that some of the material was 25 years old, it's incredible to think how quick time has flown by.

The amount of 40 something females shaking their thing on the dance floor, reminded me of school disco times. It was a great evening, and the bloke who sang, though vaguely looking like Mr. M and struggling with the top notes, was good value.

Attending the 'gig' last night and still recovering from the high of playing in the band at my 40th ,which was received so well, gives me even more encouragement to want to do the podcast. The fact of the matter is this: I think people my age and into their fifties love music. I always thought at the time, years ago, that music was the province of teens and twenties and less important the older you get. How wrong was I?

I was helping a few blokes clear up at a womens breakfast last week (don't ask!) and chatting to Bob, a mate of mine in his mid - late fifties. Bob was beside himself with excitement at the revival of interest in Led Zepellin. Bob talked about John Bonham, Robert Plant and a whole catalogue of albums,almost misty eyed. It was a real treat to see someone who obviously enjoyed music and that passion and knowledge of an artist really shone through.

Listen to Lynn Parsons ' Red Light Zone ' and you'll get the idea. Lynn is a former BBC presenter and one of the best podcast shows about, in my opinion.

Are you as passionate about music as the folks I've mentioned here?

Pictures from my 40th

Sue and I with Adrian and Fizz Pegg














Sue and I with Paul and Jan Parkinson














Carla - the singer with the awesome voice and Steve the Bass in the background














Although terribly unflattering, I like this action shot - Shaun in the background
















The fabulous lads (and lass) in the band - you did me proud, thanks so much! You can see Adam (one of my best mates) on the keys - Adam features on the podcast. Another old mate; Paul Obrey, Mr Guitar / Mr Birmingham Disaster complete with rolled up sleeves in the background.














The dance floor - and some of our mates.















One of my oldest and dearest mates; Martin Hunt. We've been mates since school aged 4! Thanks for all your hard work on the night and friendship that I really value old mate. Here's to (at least) the next 40 years..

New Gadgets in my ipod inventory

This is the Belkin iTrip - an essential if you have a long commute each day.

The beauty of this little darling is the fact that, unlike the old itrip, it's easy to tune 'on board'.

If you're looking at travelling more than, say 20 - 30 miles at a time, you can bet that the FM radio station you need to find on your car stereo that is noting but hiss will have some element of bleed from a nearby station or wander into a local radio, or even pirate frequency.

The ability to immediately tune to the next free station is dead easy to do and the whole thing is completely simple to use.

I do find a certain amount of sibilance (is that the correct spelling?) on quieter podcasts and some tracks, but this is a great, low cost option. I paid £20 at a local Curry's store and I'm well impressed with the unit - great value and dead easy to use.

The Tune Talk Stereo is...just awesome. At £30 the quality of the recording is just something else.

Recording in Stereo or mono WAV are your options.

I found that the stereo mic on the unit was so sensitive it picked up rumbles from the ipod that were a little intrusive. I use a £25 lavlier mic on the input and I have to say that the quality is near BBC audio.

I am SO impressed with this piece of equipment, it's easily replaced the £300 Edirol that I lost (how on earth did I do that?!) a few months ago.

If you've an Ipod classic or videoipod and want to start experimenting with recording, buy this. If you're an experienced podcaster - buy it, you won't be disappointed.

The only downside with the TuneTalk is that it doesn't work with the ipod Touch. Why?!

podcastpaul pillow talk no.2

Download Podcastpaul - pillowtalk 2 direct from here

It's here folks! Yes, another show recorded from the bed of yours truly with Sue.

We talk about daleks, John Barrowman, weight loss and more while Tilly the dog snores in the background.

2008 & stuff.

I hope it's panning out well for you all.

I'm absolutely determined to make it a really good year, whatever happens.

The one thing I'm trying to do is to prioritize my time. That doesn't mean rationing my time, it simply means getting rid of the 'stuff'. Stuff means time not spent relaxing, or, more importantly spending time at home with my family.

I'm going to keep an eye on this 'stuff' as it's quite insidious and claws away at the most precious commodity of all - time.

Rob Parsons, a charismatic author and director of 'Care for the Family' once said, walk around a graveyard. You won't find any tombstone in the place with the inscription "I wish I'd spent more time at the office"

Well, Rob, I'm with you mate.....

By the way - I'm quite into the quick posts that you can find over at www.twitter.com - find me there as paulnicholls and hit the 'follow' button.

See you there!

Podcastpaul Pillow talk no.1

Download podcastpaul - pillowtalk MP3 direct from here.

No, it's not a new show, I just thought I'd try out a slightly new format - no music, just 5 or 10 minutes of chat using the italk I've just purchased myself - all recorded directly onto an ipod - clever little things they are!

My thanks to Brian Greene from Eire for thinking of the name of the show - after all I did record it in bed!

A very Happy New Year everyone

I really mean that, an extremely good New Year to you all.

I'm not sure how 2007 fared for you. I do think it's a case of being determined to make the most of 2008 come what may. Personally I think this year may bring forth some real challenges. Life doesn't play a very fair hand sometimes, but it's how you make do with what you have that makes you a more rounded person.

I'm going to try and slow down as much as I can and think more before responding. Two big challenges. My kids are growing up quickly and I don't want to miss a moment with them. Again a big challenge,

I may try and spend less time on the pc too. I have so many DIY jobs ad maintenace on the house. Studies finish in Jume andnthe second half of my year will hopefully slow right down. February and June are busy exam peeiods. I bet they will be over in a flash too.

Looking back, I see I've been blogging and podcasting for over 3 years now. What started as something I thought would be fleeting has turned out to be part of my life. Often times I've wondered who I do this for. Honestly? Probably me. I often look back on posts or shows, and can see a journey of sorts.

Let's try and make 2008 great, no matter what.

Thanks to everyone who, for whatever reason reads the blogs, listens in or comments. A great New Year to us all.

podcast 168. The pant wettingly funny balti challenge

Download the MP3 of the show (podcastpaul) 168 here

Adam and Paul , Sue and Louise explore the best balti houses of South Birmingham.

Ordering as a french bloke, bloke with a lisp, camp bloke and Welsh chap the four balti houses are pitted against each other.

Lager thrown in, this is destined to be another podcast classic... no, really, honestly.

Actually, it is really very, very funny - especially the phone ordering.... go on, you know you want to...

bed...

It's 9am and I really don't want to get out of bed.

How weird is it that your bodyclock adjusts so quickly when you're away from work? I'd have been sat at my desk for nearly two hours by now if it were a workday.

I think I'll get up, shower, eat and then have a lazy day on the sofa. I may even go back to sleep. Great plan!

making things a bit more interactive....

I'm looking at ways to make the podcast show more interactive. I'm actually thinking about adding some software so that you can join in live, give listener comments, talk in real time as I record and adding a listeners phone in line.

I'm looking around at software and plug-ins at the moment. If you've any suggestions, please let me know, particularly with regard to the phone line. All comments are very welcome - or feel free to email me: paul@podcastpaul.com

Would anyone be interested in joining a live show as I record? You would all be very welcome...

Thoughts from bed

Don't worry, it's not a rude post. I'm just browsing the web from bed..

First off: I hope you all had a wonderful time yesterday. Christmas is, I think, a time mostly reserved for kids. I'm sure I enjoy Christmas by proxy as I love to see my kids faces light up when they open their presents. Christmas is, sadly also a time when divorce lawyers see a rise in business. Families sadly argue at Christmas - they're flung together for a week or more hurtling up and down the country seeing folks they'd rather not at a time when finances are stretched. Apparently 7th January is the most popular date when the decision to divorce is made, clients deciding to 'get Christmas over and done with first'. I love being here with Sue and the kids and not at all looking forward to going back.

I'm determined to have a great time with the kids and to make the most of this break.

As I'm browsing the web on my Touch, listening to podcasts via my sound asleep' pillow I reflected for a moment as to whether I was becoming a geek. I think the answer has to be no. I'm still a bloke that likes gadgets. I don't get obsessional about operating platforms and still don't understand much of what my contemporaries talk about. In IT terms, I have learning difficuties. Put another way, I enjoy the art of what I see and hear, I just can't get excited about why it works. It's similar to enjoying driving, but not caring less about the inner workings of the combustion engine. I just about get Twitter. I hear about Joost, Joomlah and Seesmic, but I can't seem to muster up any enthusiasm to check them out. I feel I have enough to keep me occupied, and that's the answer I think as to why podcasting has remained static. If I'm not a geek, Joe Public is positively a disinterested Luddite. I'm sure podcasting is simply seen as video taped radio. So what? Those wishing to promote podcasts need to see behind the science fiction and concentrate on the promoting the content of 'indie radio'.

I'm back off to browse now. A geek with IT learning difficulties? Good label...

I love this time of year. The office door closes at 12.30pm and doesn't open again until early January of the New Year.

I aim to spend as much time as possible with my family. They're a great bunch and I'm looking forward to spending time with them all.

Have a lovely peaceful Christmas and prosperous New Year.

God bless


Paul

podcast167 - happy christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year to you all

Download the MP3 from this link here
podcastpaul podcast 167
Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year
Porter Block - Happy Ending ; New York
The Evesham Hotel - blimey...
Paul Rose - Modern World
The Ipod touch - I'm hooked..
40th birthday bash in Bromsgrove...
Hollow Horse & Paul Rose - Sometimes things get worse before they can get better
Benjamin - Joy To the World
What was 2007 like for you? Make 2008 even better - New Years resolutions?
Ayla Brown - Know you better

More updates

Great!

I've found how to update this blog on my iPod touch. That means more updates...and probably from bed..... Shudder...

An honest review of the Ipod touch.

In a few words: it's great, even better than I imagined, but with a few more features and tweaks it could be devastatingly good and blow the market apart. So why isn't it as good as it could and should be? Let me rephrase that - it's wonderful, but it's not the counsel of perfection, and I think the decision not to make it so was deliberate.

It's not an Iphone, and I'm glad it's not. The Iphone is a tremendous and without doubt even better piece of kit, but having Apple gouge me for an extra (minimum) £35.00 / $70.00 a month, no thanks. I can't be bothered to google around to see what Apple's share of the O2 contract is, but I can guess it's a right old wedge.

Apple seem to me to have compromised the Touch to such an extent that many will shrug their shoulders and pay the extra monthly contract fees for 18 months and grab the Iphone. Having a work provided phone, that makes absolutely no sense to me, and knowing that the phone is locked to a provider makes me positively not want to purchase the phone. I hate being told what I have to do and if I am, I end to walk away. This is a real shame, as the Iphone features are amazing. That's why you have to shake your head when you look at the limited features of the Touch - even as good as it is without them.

The memory capacity isn't great - I've 16gb, and I need to be conservative with what I'm storing. My old 5th gen Ipod has 60gb. Why 16gb? That's just mean. 16gb these days is ok, but it's not great and it's certainly not big enough.

The exceptional photo viewer on the Touch is something to behold. Being able to tilt the Touch through 90 degrees and watch the picture angle change still makes me smile. Expanding the picture on screen by touch is another very cool feature. Why then hasn't the Touch got a built in camera? That's another daft obvious missing feature. I take my Touch everywhere, so why should I take pictures on my phone / camera and spend tie mucking about transferring them?

The player is great, and the ability to shift through the album art is again a great cool feature. So why no external volume button? It's on screen, sure, but that's just fiddly, especially if you're out an about or at the gym.

The browser is fabulous, but misses a march by not having a widget feature. An inabiity to download on screen to memory (unless I've missed something), or miss such obvious features as flash is also a bit of a pain.

Not being able to email is also a bit of a pain, but I've circled that square by using the webmail service.

The calendar is a real delight to - and a recent 'bug fix' to now allow you to on-screen add an event quite user friendly. Many thought the 'pre-bug fix' was yet another obvious omission to push you to buy the phone

The one sad aspect is still Itunes - yes it's a great money spinner for Apple and yes, it's superficially easy to use, but how unuser friendly can a service be like that in this day and age? The answer is easy - as unfriendly as it wants to be, as you've no real alternative choice. I abhor being tied to one pc and have suffered hugely by having my home pc hard drive crash. Thank goodness I've got my old Ipod and have been able to use Yamipod to transfer my stuff, I'd be stuffed otherwise. I purchased the music in the first place, so why should I have to muck about transferring the stuff out? Conventional cheap Mp3 players drag and drop - and I wish Itunes would follow suit. Yes, I know ou can drag and drop - but it ain't easy.

The Touch is, for all its missing features at such a high cost (£270 / $550) still something to marvel at, I love mine and it's a fantastic asset - add some more memory, sort out the flash / widgets and add a camera and it'll be an even better seller. I'm impulsive I wanted one and got one. If I were you, I'd wait just a little while and wait for the extra... er... bug fixes.

The Evesham Hotel

I had a wonderful weekend staying over at the Evesham Hotel in Evesham, Worcestershire with Sue. This beautiful old place started life in 1540, playing host to John Wesley, he of the Methodists, a few hundred years later. John Jenkinson and his staff run the place now and I'm sure John Wesley would turn in his grave.

The hotel was like nothing else I'd ever experienced. In my job, I get to travel a little and stay at some pretty nice hotels once in a while. But they're so.... corporate. You usually get a trouserpress, a TV a large bed and a bath / shower with an over priced mini bar.

At the Evesham Hotel, voted for having the best loos in Britain (!) You get a huge shovel full of eccentricity. Basil Fawlty has nothing on this place, though the owner bears some incredible similarities. The whole place is British eccentricity at its best.

I felt I was on the set of an Ealing cinema film circa 1958. If you have kids, they will absolutely love this place. Themed Alice in Wonderland bedrooms and excellent free wifi fit in alongside the telephone box (?!) that sits by the side of a lovely pool. Board games, sofas and ...stuff.... just seems be crammed into every conceivable place. The whole place seemed to have been designed by Enid Blyton, Billy Bunter and a host of public schoolboys after lashings of ginger beer and marmalade sandwiches.

The rooms are beautifully set with the most comfortable beds and well maintained two acred gardens. The whole hotel is crammed with memorabilia, mostly teddy bear themed, though you can see a magnificent array of whisky locked away in a cupboard next to a lifesized dennis the menace figure and a skeleton propped on an armchair. Your key ring is fastened to a conventionally sized teddy bear and the owner; John Jenkinson is a wonderful, eccentric lunatic.

Sue and I didn't realise that we were in for a Christmas Party for the hotel residents. In the dining room, lots of older folks were about and we sat down to enjoy a quiet evening.

At the table, we had a load of small coloured balls, party hats, long balloons with an inflater and funny glasses. Everyone started to let off the balloons around the place, and the elderly guests started throwing the coloured balls. Eh?! The frivoloty went on into the evening. It was a perfect way to spend a 40th birthday. If you're not British, and you want to see England at its most beautiful and eccentric, you absolutely must put this place ono your list as something to do before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

After pudding, cheese and biscuits and coffee we were later treated to John walking in to the dining room dressed as a fairy with a megaphone for some Christmas carols that everyone had to join in with. The food was fabulous, the wine and cider I ordered absolutely beautiful and the whole weekend just a brilliant, wonderful experience. Lunch every Sunday is a fabulous buffet at just £10 a head - Sue and I will definitely be returning.

If ever you're looking to go somewhere really special - even just to visit the nationally famed toilets then visit the Evesham Hotel - you will not be disappointed.

A short post

Hello folks - just a quick note to say hello, I'm at a hotel in the cotswolds with Sue, celebrating my 40th birthday today.

Sue bought me an Itouch - what an incredible piece of kit! I just can't work out how (or if) to download Flash so that I can make the unit more functionable. If anyone knows, please let me know!