December 2006

Saddam Hussein was hanged this morning (03:00 GMT – 06:00 Baghdad time) for crimes against humanity, following the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail. Yes, the killings will continue. Yes, the allies screwed up the occupation of Iraq. Many are warning of increasing violence in Iraq,…

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Not very exciting, but I shaved my beard off today, so now my chin is going through getting used to the cold air again. One has to ring the changes a bit when one has no hair on one’s head!

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Yay! The hot water is fixed and the house is warm again. Having seen what the plumber did, I know what to do in future, but I’m still glad we got him in. It only cost us £30 to have the work done, so that wasn’t as bad as I…

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Brrrr…. Got back home today from Grimsby to a freezing cold house. We’ve left the heating off since I went through the water pipe, as I’m not sure how the whole hot water/central heating system fits together. Boy, do you miss central heating when you haven’t got it!

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When we go to Grimsby, we always stay with Emma’s mum, Joyce, and Ron (her husband, and I suppose my step-father-in-law). We also visit my aunt, who moved to Grimsby in the early 1990s to be near my cousin Rosemary and family. Growing up, my family made the trip to…

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Had a bit of a mix-up with plumbers this morning. At 9:00, I opened the door to a plumber and greeted him with, “Hello,Craig?”. He acknowledged me and then followed me through to the utility room, examined and cut the plastic pipe and then went off to get some parts…

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I decided to put up some shelves in the utility room in our house today, for which Emma has been asking for quite some time. All went well until I drilled the last hole and hit a plastic hot-water pipe. What followed was a scene of which Michael Crawford would…

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Well, I finished work today for the year, after which we had our staff Christmas meal at The Cross in Kenilworth. The last time I went there was probably in 1992 and it has certainly changed since then. My memory of it was as a pretty dark, typical pub, with…

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I had my first classical guitar lesson today. Nothing too stressful, just fretboard familiarisation and natural note (Ionian) scale work. Younger bro’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, Peter!

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Found a clip I’ve wanted to see again for the last few years. Mike Oldfield recorded the Blue Peter theme tune in 1979 and I remember the footage of Simon Groom (one of the BP presenters) going to visit him to oversee the recording process. It’s a great little clip…

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