Thinking Back

With all the furore about Michael Jackson’s recent journey into the next world, I was looking back at his songs and realised many were full of memories in my mind about what I was doing at the time.

I am listening to “Earth Song” as I write this and remember I was living in a tiny back to back rented accommodation, Luke wasn't yet born and I used to love having parties when we got drunk with friends thinking that soon when Luke was born they would have to end but they didn't.

He has had some great anthems during my life, I loved “Will You Be There”, its still one of my favourites, they reckon that this Sunday he might occupy all the top ten positions in the chart, but I guess now with illegal downloading the charts have lost there magic, Michael Jackson was from a time when the pop charts were exciting.

Guess what tonight I have been practising bowling and despite all last weeks practise I did last week I came off with just 5 and Luke did even worse scraping another 2, anyway as ever you can read about it here.

Its been red hot here in the UK this week with temperatures up to 32 degrees Celsius, I have found it real difficult to sleep and as a result felt really tired some days, but tonight we have had a good downpour and its more like typical British weather again.

At work the winner of Junes drivers charts was

Mv	May	Jun	Driver	SumOftotal
▲	6	1	DA Greyhound	160008
>	2	2	Burty Basset	141024
▲	5	3	DA Harry Potter	140120
▼	1	4	The Crowman	137860
▲	8	5	ASH003	101700
▼	4	6	DA Stumpy	99440
▼	3	7	Orville	80908
▲	21	8	Tim Terapin	80456
▲	10	9	Obiwan	78180
▲	41	10	Alec R11AWE	54692

DA Greyhound, with the other two “DA’s” at 3 & 6.

I reckon though for us recovering alcoholics our greatest anthem should be “Man In The Mirror”, I really enjoyed this Mondays meeting, the sharer made me feel that old honeymoon magic again of early sobriety.

Anyway its late Friday night now and I am going to get some sleep.

The New Pipstar is out!

Yes the new Issue 5 of my bowling mag is out for all you millions of eager readers and if you want a change from listening to the Michael Jackson news stories go here and have a bit of peace…

BLR20FX Pip-Star Issue 5

With a week where the ladies toilets at The Monastery (sounds contradictory that doesn't it) was invaded by creepy crawlies, in fact it resembled a scene from movie King Kong as millions on ants crawled on every surface, I of course don't normally visit there!

I just went there to view the most talked about event of the week (until of course today), inside huge bugs 3 inches in length resembling giant woodlice and scorpion like creatures with huge claws, you could here all the little feet tapping on the porcelain

As I stood in the door mouth wide open a one foot long giant centipede was heading towards me, I quickly slammed the door shut and made a quick run for the safety of the office!

Also this week my manager, Bob does not believe I am from the planet Earth and requires me to produce documentation to that I am not an alien, I have only been working there 8 years!

I have got to keep reminding myself that if I don't pass for human I am not much good to my task of saving the planet much like Doctor Who, yes my cover is blown but for me it goes much deeper than flying about in a wood box.

We had a sales meeting which our ever cheerful sales guy Captain Pug wash, shouted from the corridor “better off putting signs on things that “work” rather than “don't work” while trying to grab some water, “less signs” he added, as I sat at my post on sentry duty at despatch.

On Monday Miss Bickerdyke showed me some karate moves under the watchful eye of DA Miyagi.

On Tuesday I visited the Police Station after work to collect a Luke’s Phone (which had been stolen etc – its a story in itself!) – what utter chaos!

There was someone laid on the floor drunk, a west Indian lady was in tears at the desk as she told a long story of her threatening neighbour, a guy looked like he was just going to hang himself.

It looked like I would be there all night and rather than sit in a 3D version of East enders episode I went outside to grab one of the coppers and complain that I was only here to pick up a phone for my son!

I thought of going to “Gods Eye View” mode, at first it didn't work but eventually I started to feel how the poor girls at the desk felt, it was a hot muggy day and I just wanted to get home after a real grueller at The Monastery but she was stuck there presumably until the end of her shift.

The Drivers Charts looks like this…

Mv	May	Jun	Driver	Taken
▲	6	1	DA Greyhound	139,216
▲	5	2	DA Harry Potter	132,888
▼	2	3	Burty Basset	130,628
▼	1	4	The Crowman	127,464
▲	8	5	ASH003	101,700
▲	22	6	Tim Terapin	80,456
▼	4	7	DA Stumpy	78,648
▲	10	8	Obiwan	78,180
▼	3	9	Orville	71,416
▲	41	10	Alec R11AWE	54,692
▲	20	11	HAN007	51,980
▲	28	12	Carr YJ56KLE	43,392

So “DA Greyhound” looks like he is going to win, there are only two days left in June next week but its still possible that Potter will get that important extra load.

He's a very talkative but generous guy is Greyhound, this week he brought me a ham sarnie and a trifle and today he was celebrating his 54th birthday

I have spent another week white lining it to work on Street hawk and another weekend beckons to me starting with bowling tomorrow, I have enjoyed this week but the humidity has made it hard to sleep, the nights are getting shorter now, we passed the longest day on Monday.

So am I right thinking that those in southern hemisphere of the planet will all of had there shortest day on Monday?

Life feels generally good but sometimes tiring, both me and the teacher agreed today that in our job we have to “think” the most in our job first thing Morning or last thing Friday tying up all the figures.

 

A Brief Introduction To Crown Green Bowling

I keep going on about my new hobby bowling every week without even explaining the game so here you go, you have two bowls each, I play with 2lb 12oz and so does Luke.

First one of you bowls a smaller bowl called a “Jack”, this is the person who has won the previous round, and he bowls it out on to a large square about 30m x 30m of carefully cut lawn.

Then he will follow it with his first bowl and this is repeated by alternate players until both of the opponents have bowled both there bowls, whoever is the closest to the jack wins.

This is a picture of one of Luke's spectacular ends, today though he was overwhelmed by both a very difficult green to play on and another very strong opponent and came away having scored just two, the picture above is one of them.

Despite all my hard work practising last week I had a frustrating battle to gain 9, the green was far too fast for me, it felt more like indoor bowling.

It was my fifth consecutive defeat, I even tried praying (silently) at a couple of ends, my Captain said I shouldn't get like that its “only a game”, I know now how hard it is to learn to do something with a negative attitude towards it.

Still if you don't count my early alcoholic escapades with bowling in the nineties when I was at Sellers I am just starting my second season, I managed to win just 3 of my 15 matches last year.

I felt today that all my AA knowledge went out of the window and I was going to throw a temper tantrum at my performance on the green, sorry Flindon and Syd all your teaching went out of the window I really wanted to win.

I came home and cooked another one of my “concoctions” this time everyone was treated to Spicy meatballs in pasta, maybe I could have more success as a chef than a Crown Green Bowler.

These Dreams

 

I had a vivid dream of coming off my bike on Monday morning while just entering a place Ravensthorpe on my daily commute.

In the dream I flew out of my body and up into the sky, it was Monday morning and I was thinking I can fly to work now .

Then I woke up, needless to say I have been in the car all week and it hasn't been a bad week overall, I have felt a little lethargic in places and have in fact had today off as one of my holidays.

So well tonight I have just got back from,  Luke’s mums The Ice Maiden.

I stood in the kitchen while Triple M (to use Luke's new bowling name) went to try on the suite for The Ice Maidens imminent wedding to “The Russian Spy” – who I must hasten to add is the best guy she has ever had.

But I was amazed how much her other two “babies” have grown Triple M and Lord Farquaads little brothers “Tweety” and “Mr Fibble”, Triple M also has another sister called Bobble.

I brought my mind back to when Triple M was that age and the magic he had in his eyes when we went on our walking adventures at the weekend.

Anyway he is 14 now and we were all going bowling practise at Primrose Hill, well we managed half hour of playing pairs then loads of people started turning up because, there was an official match on so we had to finish early.

Tomorrow is our fifth match at Meltham against a local team called Linthwaite I don't know yet if me and / or Luke are playing, I have suffered the team four losses and Luke is brand new but I will come along anyway and Ill do my Saturday Blog as well and tell you all how it went.

I have written my fourth bowling newsletter and it can be viewed here, this is the one about last weeks match http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1234954&da=y

Just like my life my bowling skills seem to be unpredictable, I just cant seem to focus, I read my blog friend Flindon post about The steps 6 and 7 and it made me think really deeply into the moment after looking at how I act with others.

I mean you become aware of how you act by getting a “gods eye view” of yourself which I read about in my other blog friend Syds post, for a few vital hours everything made sense, it all tied together, my mum even said I was nicer when I went shopping, I didn't look at her angrily when she was in the “whoops nearly out of date” pile like I would normally I was too busy looking for ingredients anyway in order to make today's Chilli.

I didn't get angry when my dad dropped his bowl of Chilli I had just made him, I simply shouted Miss Boley our dog (her real life name is Rosie) to go eat it while I went to get another bowl.

I think I am getting more patient has I became aware of one of my big defects “impatience”, Syd and Flindon s post this week made me realise that Steps Six and Seven are like getting a Gods eye view of yourself, and like they say its a lifetime journey and one I have only just began.

I am just listening to “Comfortably Numb” and the lyrics sound kind of feel a little autobiographical, both dogs are asleep on my bed tired out from two long walks also completed today through my sanctuary fields with the bright orange waterproofs on from what I use on my motorbike to stop getting my trousers too wet.

This Mondays meeting the standing out quote that I promised someone in Blog world I would keep my eye out for was this…

“active alcoholism gives you some slack then it draws it back in before you know it” , I should of shared straight after because I knew so well that feeling, you was drinking and you might go without any trouble for months then all of a sudden everything would fall down around you.

Tuesday was quite an entertaining day at The Monastery, I went to Sainsbury's to get a catering meal for Miss Bickerdyke who was acting as hostess for all her team.

One of the selections was a healthy options which consisted of raw cauliflower broken up into chunky pieces, raw red peppers, bits of dandelion leaves and a special dip to dump em in before you eat them, they were presented on what looked like a huge rhubarb leaf.

No body touched them at her meeting and when they were cast to the peasants even Harry Potter turned his nose up at them, I tried a bit of some exotic root and it tasted okay but I wouldn't want to live on it.

I always know when my weights getting too much because I can no longer squeeze through the narrow gap through the railings into the ICI nature reserve when I take my dogs out.

I think Miss Bickerdyke was a little upset that we kept talking about rabbits all afternoon, even the teacher joined in for a few seconds

I had to laugh again at the supermarket checkout on Thursday night when I was shopping with my mum, I always pretend to talk about something silly with my mum in front of the checkout girl, this week I was talking about how we used to go hunting in the woods and how much more fun it was catching the animals with spears when we were younger, than it is now a days with supermarkets and shops adding that my mum was about 900 years old and I was about half that.

I have started keeping a notebook with me again, to write down the stuff that I think make life worth laughing out loud at and the next thing I have written is “Fake It To Make It”.

One morning I have jotted down “The best bit of sleep is the bit between pressing the snooze button”

So I will leave you with this weeks driver top ten, this of course does not include Friday because I was unable to update Skynet because I was at home…

▼ 8 10 ASH003 41,584

▼ 4 9 DA Stumpy 47,460

▲ 39 8 Alec R11AWE 54,692

▼ 3 7 Orville 56,048

▲ 22 6 Tim Terapin 72,772

> 5 5 DA Harry Potter 76,388

▲ 11 4 Obiwan 78,180

▼ 1 3 The Crowman 80,908

▲ 6 2 DA Greyhound 82,264

▲ 2 1 Burty Basset 109,384

Debut

Luke had his opportunity to bowl his first match today, jumping in at the deep end against these experienced bowlers some who have bowled for decades is a formidable task.

Luke managed to score 5 points against his very experienced opponent and I was proud of him, he is just gone 14 the minimum age for our league and has been appointed the name “Triple M”.

I managed to scrape together ten points against another strong opponent and our team had six winners all together.

After getting back from bowling I made lasagne for everyone, all seven of us, my dad said it was better than my bowling and even the Knight Rider admitted my bowling was quite good today, but he would because I was giving him a lift.

The place, called “Jackson Bridge” near Huddersfield is a gorgeous village

 

How I would love to have a little house there and explore them hills above the bowling green, I have bowled there before but it was a distant era ago, when I was working at Sellers…

My dad enjoyed his afternoon out and of course my mum was grateful for the break, it was a gorgeous afternoon and a little cabin at the side of the green sold cans of beer, pork pies, pop and cups of tea which I enjoyed the latter.

I must admit I was proud when Luke went out to do battle and suffered 4 rounds of maximum losses against a player full of many years of wisdom, but still resolutely refused to give up and managed to score five, last year one of our team took off a opponents new player without him even scoring which I didn't want to happen to him.

So far this year I have lost all four of my matches in my second season, with scores 13,16 and then two tens and even practising every Thursday I feel I have got stuck in a plateau, I need that Eye of the Tiger Luke had today when he realised he was destined to be zeroed if he continued feeling sorry for himself.

It will be always a memorable day but I have also got bits of it on video which I will turn into a video for my next blog post, I bet you cant wait can you anyway I will leave you all with a piccy of Triple M and my mum

      

in my bedroom this morning when I was testing my camera to take bowling.

Bowling Tomorrow

I guess the real big news is its my son Luke’s debut match tomorrow and I am playing as well after losing my first three matches so far.

But we have been practising as much as we could just lately, every Thursday night we have a practise on the lovely green at Primrose Hill Bowling Club.

Tonight we had a pairs game, me and Captain Picard won Luke (bowling name Triple M) and another member of the club who reminded me a bit of George out of the TV sitcom from the 70’s George and Mildred, anyway we won 21/7 I think it was, and once we gained a four!

Our last bowling report was way back in mid May and can be found here, http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1199194&da=y

Its a great game and makes a good Saturday afternoon and a day out for my dad Davros who even ventures upstairs in our house now, its just unbelievable how well he is doing and I think its purely mind over matter, he is a wise old man, and when I was young would always give me lectures about the dangers of drink, and I reckon was bitterly disappointed when I went on to become an alcoholic.

When I was young I got dealt a very good hand with my abilities in maths and science and my stable parents but I choose such a unusual path to where I am now, working at The Monastery, still its entertaining there and I am getting to enjoy going backwards and forwards on my aging American Kawasaki GPX250R I name “Street hawk” but my old boss Dolph Lungren renamed “Sh*tehawk”.

This week has at times had that “Soap Opera” feeling to them but I am enjoying my journeys into the JDE Enterprise system, I guess my desire to want to learn stuff has never left me, when my teacher wasn't here today I felt a bit sort of lonely especially Miss Bickerdyke wasn't in the office neither and our manager had a face that could stop a clock.

In the afternoon I totally fell out with the Printer while trying to print out some stuff I had scanned for colour copies, I think I might of accidentally banged it one when it refused to print but in the end I managed to get it going again after DA Stumpy came in the office and witnessed me swearing at it and calmed me down.

Oh I better just do my drivers Top 10 for the month of June so far here we go

▼4 10 DA Stumpy 37,064

The gentleman I was just talking about, since he has become a DA and I a member of the monastery (and has a result become more sensible) we have got on much better I think, I reckon he thought I acted like a clown sometimes back at The Lost World

▼8 9 ASH003 41,584

These aren't a driver as such just a subset of our internal transport system which the driver hasn't signed, the guys with the prefix DA work for us.

▲38 8 Alec R11AWE 44,296

A massive climb for this bloke, who just recently has been coming in so often I can remember his name and haulier, I might need to give this guy a proper name soon, a memory of my past before I became “sensible”

▼3 7 Orville 45,652

A really nice guy who like the guy on the TV series “heroes”, can fly after all, the crazy man below who reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson is actually responsible for the many silly names this chap has 

▼1 6 The Crowman 49,268

And what's happened here down to number 6 after keeping the number one position since back in the early winter, last month by comparison he had shifted nearly 140,000 by this time in the month.

▲11 5 Obiwan 50,624

Now this man just reminds me of his pseudonym, Obiwan from the early Star Wars films, and he always seems so cheerful

▲6 4 DA Greyhound 56,048

A real character here, very talkative but he has a good heart, he loves bringing me back “goodies from his many adventures he has in his wagon he affectionately calls Susie

▲5 3 DA Harry Potter 57,856, so here is the top DA in Junes charts, Harry climbs further this month to 3 (so far), you see for anyone who hasn't fallen asleep and read thus far, these figures and drivers dominate my day…

▲22 2 Tim Terapin 72,772 A huge climb for Dunnets driver “Tim The Terapin” with about 7 loads in three consecutive sub million weeks

▲2 1Burty Basset 78,196 So Burty Basset takes the throne once occupied by The Crowman but I it will probably change a lot by next week indicating to me turbulent times ahead

Tonight in the field with my dogs after our bowling practise I thanked God for all the good things in my life and I felt really happy, but I can tell Luke is a little nervous of his debut match tomorrow and when I start writing what will become Issue 4 of my little bowling magazine which I think I might rename “Pip-star”, I will pop in into blog world let you know how we go on.

I am sat at my computer desk in my bedroom now listening to “Mull Of Kintyre” by Paul McCartney one of my favourite songs, Luke is in his bedroom with our secret lodger Lightbulb Head, his cousin.

I really felt like blogging tonight, it feels like sharing to me at a AA meeting but of course not as exhilarating as that feels, for me its a sign of how much I have changed, when I was young I found it difficult some times to talk to just one person let alone a a whole room full of them!

Now by escaping away to my own little fantasy world that mirrors my reality, a thing we bloggers I guess all have in common, I find a place of inner warmth.

See you tomorrow, and lets hope the force is with Luke tomorrow…     

Clove Not A Bulb

Been back at the monastery one week and I think I may have felt another quantum jump in my AA recovery, I have been reading this book called “Quarks, Chaos & Christianity” by John Polkinghorne.

The Messiah at my AA group “last of the summer winos”, gave me the book a few weeks ago and I started reading it last Sunday after I blogged here, it is a highly recommended read and the author reckons God is like a “universal mind”, its so close to my philosophy its uncanny.

The author reckons that God lives in time and not out of it, a question I have often pondered.

I have had quite a busy week, on Monday it was AA with my good friend Uncle Buck, Tuesday I took my mum shopping, my dad Davros, is almost back to his old self before his fall in February, Wednesday I visited after work The Queen of The Lost World, Alf Garnet and his lady wife Hyacinth where we enjoyed a fish and chip supper and I went on to introduce him to the joys of Microsoft Movie Maker.

Thursday, Me and Triple M went bowling practise and ended up having a match with “The Eskimo” from our bowling team, which I won 21/16/11 with Luke (Triple M) the latter figure, a good result but The Knight Rider reckons if he wants to start playing for the Pipstars he need to be able to beat his dad occasionally, which I hasten to add he cant, but I must of been playing good because The Eskimo is The king of the Rabbits (a technical term we bowlers use for rubbish player)

Our fourth match will be next week and you can read about our last match here…

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1199194&da=y

I know I posted it before in my “Why I Blog” post but I have now removed that entire post because after undergoing my quantum jump of spiritual understanding I feel the path has narrowed some more and that post felt just too revealing!

Today me and Luke went to see the film “Terminator Salvation” and enjoyed Arnies 30 second cameo appearance, the film was good in effects but I felt the story was a little flat and was probably the first part of another trilogy, it felt good to see at the cinema rather than in my bedroom on a dodgy DVD, especially where we were seated strategically by Luke for maximum audio visual effects.

The changes in my understanding of my HP have also been mirrored in my life at The Monastery which has felt infinitely more rewarding, on Tuesday I was treated to an excellent presentation on Health & Safety which I could put into practise immediately in my riding style on Sh*tehawk which for the second consecutive (- well if u pardon Spring Bank) week used for work.

I still use my hi viz sponsored Tango Suite kindly sponsored by The Ewoks and on Thursday I was visited by our purchasing systems guru, our Super-user, The Oracle, she really opened my mind to embrace the new system which is quite an adventure, I promise next time she comes I will be a pioneer, its called JDE Enterprise if anyone out there knows anything…

I feel quite good today, miss my usual weekend exercise but here in the UK its pouring with rain all weekend and I am fed up of getting wet just taking my lovely dogs Mr Bodie (2) and a Miss Boley (8) out in the sanctuary fields I so love with the crows that talk to me at least my MP shares my concerns in a tiny recess of his brain as he fights to survive in the political chaos that his happening at the moment here in the UK.

I have started a new drivers charts for the month of June, it could be a blip but for the last two consecutive weeks we have dipped below the million mark, The Spring Bank week we took out of our yard 685,000 but it was last week of the month and had the bank holiday in it, this week with it being the first week of June and a full week I expected a record however despite a good start with 1/4 of a million each day until the weather changed on Thursday and ended with just 993,000.

So its also early days with the drivers league but well here they are

Mv	Mar	Apr	Driver	SumOftotal
>	1	1	The Crowman	38872
▲	5	2	DA Harry Potter	31188
▲	20	3	HAN007	31188
▲	8	4	ASH003	31188
▲	22	5	Tim Terapin	31188
>	6	6	DA Greyhound	31188
▼	3	7	Orville	24860
▲	38	8	Alec R11AWE	21696
▲	26	9	Jon PX54BHD	20792
▲	185	10	John Agar	20792
>>	NE	11	A Coozing	15820
▼	2	12	Burty Basset	15820
▲	24	13	Deuce Bigalow	15368
▲	55	14	Mr Miyagi	15368
>>	NE	15	John Reid	12204
▲	34	16	Stevie P70COD	12204
▲	71	17	George P30COD	12204
>>	NE	18	Stuart P60COD	12204
▼	18	19	Porteous	11752
▲	35	20	Scott T500TTF	11300

The Crowman was easily the champion during the month of May with 277,528 his nearest rival, disco diva Burty Bassett with 135,136 a subject of the Crowmans arch rival Lord Archer.

This week Burty Bassett has only managed one and a half loads and falls to No12, a surprise return for my future karate teacher Mr Miyagi who promises that I will no longer be interested in bowls when he trains me, but first I need to wash his car.

Like I say its all early days and since I have discovered the meaning of life the universe and everything in this book I am reading it all seems distant anyway.

Its called “Quarks, Chaos & Christianity” and John Polkinghorne its author is a former Cambridge professor of Mathematical Physics and now a Clergyman it says on the back cover http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quarks-Chaos-Christianity-Questions-Religion/dp/0824515218 for more details.

It has left me wondering if God, this huge universal mind lives in “time” or does he live out of it, does he look over a huge myriad of worlds stretching back into the past to the big bang creation of the universe and back on to its distant Omega point whatever that may be far in the distant future?

The Author believes God lives in time with us which must follow then that he too doesn't “know” the future which took some thinking about but would then explain why there are disasters and unpredictability in the physical world.

So now its Saturday night and I cooked for my Saturday night special “Corned Beef Ash”, the recipe my own can be found below anyway I thought A Clove of garlic was a bulb but my mum said it was just one of those little segments needless to say we wont be visited by any vampires for quite a while.

Mad Mick's Corned Beef Ash

Ingredients
7 decent sized potatoes, cut into cubes but not peeled
6 tbsp olive oil
2 onion, sliced
2 garlic clove, crushed

At this point make sure you are aware that a clove is not a bulb!
1 ½ tins of 500g canned corned beef, cut into cubes
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 large pickled gherkin, chopped
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g/2oz butter

Method
1. Boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water for five minutes, then drain.
2. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic for 6-8 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned.
3. Tip the onion mixture into a bowl with the corned beef, Worcestershire sauce, chopped gherkin and mustard. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.
4. Transfer this mixture to an ovenproof dish.
5. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil with the butter in a frying pan and fry the potatoes until tender and golden-brown.
6. Preheat the oven to high (200 degrees)
7. Spoon the potatoes on top of the meat mixture in the dish, and then place under the grill for 4-6 minutes, or until crisp and golden-brown.
8. To serve, divide the corned beef hash among six serving plates. Top each a portion of gravy and processed peas