StewBlog

After retiring to bed early on Friday night I felt remarkably fresh even in the earliest of waking hours on Saturday morning and was able to leap gazelle-like from my bed to greet the day.

It was bright and sunny so I set about a job I have been meaning to do for ages: Clearing out the shed of all the junk and taking it to the recycling centre. I can now actually get into the shed and move about freely!

I'm really pleased that The Coral will be headlining on the Sunday night at our little Kent music festival, Lounge on The Farm, this year.

Had a telephone interview for a job for a large company with headquarters in Berlin earlier this morning which seemed to go okay... I will find out next Tuesday/Wednesday if they would like to take my application further which will involve flying to the German capital for a face-to-face interview.

So that's two very different job applications which I am waiting to hear back from now... Should hear back about Japan in the next few days.

Given his local legend status, I feel I should read at least one of Ian Fleming's novels. I thought I'd make a start with this one which I've ordered from play.com this afternoon...

My mother just told me she likes this advert...

1) Make pizza dough

250 grams strong bread flour
150 ml warm water
10 grams yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

2) Place in oven at 50 degrees until double in size

3) Put oiled pizza stone in oven and crank up the heat to 220 degrees

4) Prepare pizza toppings

5) Roll out dough into a large, thin disc

6) Carefully remove sizzling hot pizza stone from oven, place dough on and trim off the excess

7) Add toppings and cook for about 10 minutes

8) Va bene!

I've just realised that The Apprentice is on this evening rather than tomorrow evening due to the friendly football match between England and the USA which is being shown live on BBC One... Excellent! I wondered what I might do tonight, but now it's settled!

Just booked this fabulous looking helicopter tour for our forthcoming trip to the US. Apparently in one of these Eco Star things!

on Monday, so miserable was the weather. Instead, I resorted to the default activity for a rainy Bank Holiday Monday and carried out some DIY... Trust me, refurbishing sash windows is not easy! I'm hoping this 'before' shot will look considerably better by the time I've finished, when I can post an 'after' shot...

The Blue Legume is a little restaurant on Church Street, Stoke Newington, which serve up very nice breakfasts in their light and airy conservatory. Surely, there is no better way to spend a rainy Sunday morning...

I had a wander down to Heal's for a little look around and realised that the Championship play-off between Bristol City and Hull City was still in play, so I found a nice little pub to watch that in which was pro-Hull, thankfully. I lived in Hull for 3 years whilst I was at university so I was chuffed to see them go through although I worry how they will fare in the Premier League... Well done The Tigers anyway!

I met Annie a little later and we went for a spot of dinner at the increasingly magnificent Busaba. It is the best thai food I have ever had and comes highly recommended. The Tottenham Court Road branch is better than the Wardour Street branch in my opinion. After a lovely dinner we went down to The Garrick Theatre to see if they had any returns for Derren Brown, but no such luck. I did see Stephen Merchant in the foyer though! So, we had a few beers in The Salisbury, a wonderful pub, lined with exquisitely etched mirrors, windows and elaborate art nouveau fittings.

Then a nightcap in The Princess Louise pub, in Holborn. Another fantastically restored pub under the stewardship of the Samuel Smith Brewery.

I was up at 7:00am in order to shower, iron a shirt etc and get to the station in time for the 7:49am departure for London Victoria. I knew from the itinerary that I was sent that there was a one hour grammar test before lunch, so I'd printed off a few things on-line and was brushing up on my grammar definitions and verb tenses, something which I was never taught in English lessons at school (but which I think we should be taught)! I arrived to a bright, warm yet slightly breezy Russell Square, full of birds singing and fallen blossom. I found the Humanities building, of Birkbeck University, easily and made my way up to fourth floor and into a small room with 9 other candidates at 9:45am.

Our interviewers, Dustin and Edward, introduced themselves and presented a lengthy but informative session covering all aspects of the teaching role in Japan. After a short break we returned to the room to find answer papers on our desks with spaces for one hundred answers... The dreaded English grammar test was about to begin... Dustin informed us that we would need to obtain at least seventy correct answers in order to proceed and we were given our question papers and exactly one hour to finish.

The test was divided into approximately ten sections designed to test all round English grammar. I had a little difficulty with a paragraph with fifteen words/phrases underlined and numbered. We had to match up the numbers with a list of grammar definitions. I got about ten of these without too much trouble but struggled with the last five... It looks as if it should be easy, but it wasn't especially when you don't even know what a passive voice is!
I'm pretty sure I nailed the spelling section. For each question, you were given two spellings and had to pick the right one. There were at least fifteen of those so I was pleased with that.
There was another section which I quite liked where you were given a load of words and four definitions to choose from.

I found out after lunch that I had passed the grammar test which I was pleased about considering there is a 30% fail rate... In the afternoon, we all had to present a teaching demonstration in pairs. I did mine with a guy called John on food... It went okay, I think, considering I've not really done anything like that before.

Lastly, I had a fifteen minute interview with Dustin who asked me about preferred location, preferred class demographic, accommodation requests and the reason for me wanting to teach in Japan. I indicated a preference for a big city (Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka), a private apartment, a 50:50 split between adult/kids classes and a willingness to conduct web lessons. I should find out by the end of this week if they're going to offer me a position... Fingers crossed, I guess!

In recognition of my early start the following morning, a quiet Friday night was called for. Wagamama, Canterbury was celebrating its third birthday and had sent me some buy-one-get-one-free vouchers which was jolly decent of them, so I went with Leon, Yukari and Vicki and tucked into a sublime chicken katsu curry. It was the last day of school for many pupils taking 'A' levels in the summer so the streets and pubs were awash with young people, including MJ, I gather, eager to kill off a few brain cells prior to cramming for exams! We hung out in The Cherry Tree until midnight and I sauntered home to my bed and got very little sleep...

Leon decided to 'borrow' some of of Yukari's hair at some point in the evening.

James and Scott had arrived at The Bishop's Finger early and held a couple of seats for Dazza and I right in front of a nice big LCD to watch the game. The match was better than I thought it was going to be with chances on goal here and there. Overall Chelsea will feel a bit unlucky having hit the woodwork a few times and playing better football in the second half and throughout extra time. United rode their luck and somehow managed to lift the cup, so that's that for another year.

After the match we progressed to The Canterbury Tales and arrived at Alberrys just in time for half price cocktails and promptly ordered three jugs: Alabama Slammer, Long Island Iced Tea and Aussie Illusion

Over 30 years old, but still a lovely melancholy song by the master, Paul Simon

1) Derren Brown is completely sold out for his entire stint at the Garrick Theatre in London so that's out for Saturday night.

1a) Could always go out for beers instead!

2) The Acorn Electron that I was 'watching' on eBay went for £103 which was a bit too rich for my blood.

2a) I managed to download a very good Acorn Electron emulator on-line, however.

3) I have an interview with ECC for a teaching job in Japan, which is all-day Saturday.

3a) Bank holiday weekend means an extra day off though!

4) It is only Wednesday and I'm rather bored of this week already.

4a) Champions League final tonight which I'm really looking forward too! I'm not a fan, but surely the smart money is on United.

5) It is due to rain on Sunday.

5a) Hot and sunny on Friday though!

I'm not really into this competition, but I was a bit bored just now and read a review of our entry this year, Even If, sung by that bloke, Andy Abraham, who took part in the X-Factor a few years ago. The song is a homage to disco, not unlike the great Michael Jackson song, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. It's not a bad effort, but nobody likes the UK anymore, so I don't think we'll do that well...

They mentioned in the article I was reading that our entry in 2003, sung by Jemini, was our worst ever performance where we scored 'nul points'. After listening to it just now, I give it 'nul points' too - Awful!

Warwick Avenue was my tube stop when I Lived on Lauderdale Road in Maida Vale, so already a great (although a bit sad) song by the fabulous Duffy holds extra significance for me...

Only 21 working days left until I will be officially unemployed for the first time since I started working after graduating from university in August 1999. In fairness, it is a self-imposed bout of unemployment as I feel I need a little break from the daily hum-drum of a nine-to-five job. I just hope the weather is nice so that I can get a bit of stuff done in the garden and generally concentrate on outdoor activites. I'm not sure how long I'll rest up, but I reckon I could just about stretch to a year! I am thinking I could complete a compact bike tour of Northern Europe, maybe setting off from somewhere in Germany and winding up back in Canterbury - Not sure how far that is though... and I'm not a well-honed cyclist or anything, more of a leisurely pop-to-a-country-pub-close-by kinda cyclist...

Just had one of these bad boys from the Armadillo Candy Company and they're lovely! I wonder what their horny toads are like...?

As the website says, nutty, but nice!

This painting completed by Diego Velázquez in 1651 is probably one of his most famous works and has been hanging in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, for years now. If I remember, I'm going to make a point of seeking it out next time I'm in London and have a spare half hour... I suspect it caused quite a stir at the time, given the level of nudity! You can't help but get drawn in by the blurred face of Venus staring out at you from the mirror but no matter how hard you look you can't make out her facial expression with any certainty - she's definitely looking at you though, that's for sure!

Okay, so this was on TV last night as I flicked over from The Apprentice and after a brief conversation in my mind between the devil who was insisting that I watch it and the angel who was telling me to go to bed I caved in and settled down...

It's been many years since I saw this movie (released in 1994, I think) and apart from a few minor gripes, including the hideous airing of Wet Wet Wet's version of Love is all Around, the film remains contemporary and amusing... It encapsulates the middle-class British wedding perfectly without looking like it's trying too hard; and I have to say, Hugh Grant plays the hesitant bachelor perfectly.

My parents bought my brother and I our first shared computer circa 1986. It was a great little machine called the Acorn Electron, with a mighty 32kb of RAM There's one for sale on e-Bay (current bid: £9.99) and I'm really tempted to bid for it!

Some of my favorite games included The Last Ninja (screen shot below), Starship Command and Barbarian. wikipedia has an extensive list of many of the games released for the Acorn Electron.

The Last Ninja contains a blend of exploration, puzzle solving and combat which is the sort of game I enjoy to this day! I really like Baldur's Gate, for instance...

Up until the recent good weather and my increasing interest in bike riding further afield than the local supermarket, I had thought that GPS devices were for geeks. However, I realise now that it's quite difficult at times to cycle on unknown roads and tracks through the countryside and to have to unfold a large Ordnance Survey Map every 5 minutes to make sure you're going the right way, not least because it relies on you pinpointing your location each time before assessing your next move. I'm actually not too bad at using maps, but I thought this thing might be a bit of fun to use so I ordered one from Amazon today.

Fiona brought a load of people to The Dolphin last night a little before the quiz was due to start for a birthday meal. I was faffing around at the house but made it there in time for the start of the quiz and joined in a team with Nuala and some of Fiona's friends, who turned out to be pub quiz experts! We won another Oxfam goat and the whole pub was encouraged to sing happy birthday to Fiona.

Yep, it was scorcher on Saturday so I prized myself out of bed at 11ish and went on a last minute shop for a few barbecue essentials (briquettes, fire-lighters, quarter pounders, bratwurst sausage) after retrieving my bike from the town centre...! Leon and Vicki had already agreed the previous evening to split salad and condiment duties which was a blessing! So, the touch paper was lit, so to speak, at 2ish and the large pyramid of built charcoal gradually turned white emitting a nice even heat to cook on when spread out...

After a good few hours mucking around in the garden I had a call from Leon who was keen for a spot of dinner in The Dolphin and for the second night in a row I was faced with exactly the same meal, in the same pub, with the same beer... This can't be healthy, but it was still nice! haha! We moved on to Bramley's later where there was a big group of people from work and then onto Alberrys where I drank a not insignificant amount of Cubans... Followed by a spot of Singstar back at mine until the wee hours...

I believe this song got a drubbing! Quite fun to sing though!

Just about to book tickets to go and see Derren Brown who is resident at the Garrick Theatre, in London, throughout May. I saw one of his televised theatre performances from a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed it!

... a barbecue!

A dinner-plate sized coil of bratwurst sausage has been ordered from the Wincheap butchers in Canterbury along with some of their quarter pounders all of which will hopefully be sizzling away nicely on the barbie at around 2pm tomorrow whilst I tuck into an ice-cold beer!

I just watched the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as I've been looking forward to seeing this movie. I do like Spielberg but I think this movie might be just one too many in this franchise... Harrison Ford looks rather old and I'm afraid he's going to keep cracking gags about how his old bones aren't up to what they use to be... 'What! With my knee?' etc... I will still watch it when it comes out later this month and I'll really enjoy it!

This evening, after a fervour of activity in the garden, I joined Mum, Dad, Matt and MJ for dinner in The Dolphin in Canterbury. They have a large, well-lit beer garden out the back and the food there is great - especially their home-made burgers which we all ordered with a variety of extra toppings. I also tried a new beer this evening in keeping with my new-found penchant for real ales; it's called Doom Bar and hails from Cornwall. Matty, as is customary, ordered the chocolate fudge cake with ice-cream...

Ten muppets left now. All packed off amidst fervent glee to the haggling capital of the world, Marrakesh. Surprisingly, it was the boys and not the girls discussing what clothes to pack for their two-day trip, with Raef advising the chaps on linens and 'the African colours' - He really is a gem, isn't he? I'm so glad he's still there as he causes me no end of amusement!

Sir Alan couldn't make it in person to North Africa so they wheeled out a large TV, flanked by Nick and Margaret - both in textbook 'I'm English and I'm in Africa' attire - and this weeks task was delivered by the wonders of plasma technology... Ten items to purchase (see below), 5 square miles of souks, lowest total paid wins. Simple.

A mosque shaped alarm clock in green
A cream Berber bedspread with silver sequins
Grey slippers
Santos orange juicer
A blue cactus (specified height)
Large cowhide with tail attached
Kosher chicken
Dye
3 red Akal branded tagines
2 tennis racquets, medium strung

Jennifer 'cold as ice' Maguire was appointed team leader of Renaissance and immediately lost her cool in the Morrocan heat and set off into the maze of souks without the merest hint of a plan... Lee 'Steve' McQueen took time to formulate a grand plan before delivering his trademark "reverse pterodactyl" squawk to get Alpha on their way...

Renaissance lost after a catalogue of mistakes, including bungled haggling (Claire Young: "I'd rather buy it here, my feet are killing me"), purchasing the wrong items (Alex Wotherspoon buys the wrong tagines and Jennifer Maguire purchases the wrong colour clock) and a misunderstanding over Kosher chicken (Jenny Celerier and Michael Sophocles accept that a butcher saying 'allah' over a chicken is a suitable kosher blessing). They were all hauled over the coals back in the boardroom and these two witches got fired!

Just got back from a nice lunch in the beer garden of the Crown Inn at Finglesham, just outside Deal and a few minutes drive from work. They had a nice range of real ales so I plumped for a pint of Kentish Reserve (5.0%) brewed by the local Whitstable Brewery and it was jolly nice... Could easily have had a few more of those, but had to come back to work I also had a nice bit of sea bass in thai sweet chilli sauce which was great too! Apparently, they won CAMRA pub of the year in 2007...

At last, the sun shined all day! Matty and MJ came round to the house and we cycled along bridleways and country roads through Patrixbourne and onto Bishopsbourne for lunch at the Mermaid Inn. They have a nice little walled garden providing a perfect sun-trap and a large Jenga set... Weirdly, we happened across a Spanish fruit farm/factory called Gomez in the middle of the Kent countryside and all of the signs around there were in Spanish!

Annie and I caught the train to London with Leon and Yukari and made our way to Smiths of Smithfield for lunch with John, Chie and Gav. It was nice in Smiths as the weather was warm and they had huge glass doors which opened up onto the street. We made our way to Karaoke Box, just around the corner, and garbled songs and drank many drinks for three hours before having a cheeky few beers in a Sam Smith's pub and getting the train back to Canterbury in time for some Studio 41 action...

Annie came down to Canterbury for the evening so after meeting at the station we took a walk into town for a spot of shopping and a visit to the (fairly) new M&S Bakery - They sell the nicest apple crumble cake in there! Later on after faffing around with iPod Touches for a bit we had a walk down to the Bangkok House for some lovely Thai food - All the usual stuff really: Thai fishcakes, Pad Thai noodles, Red Thai curry, Jasmine rice, Satay chicken and beef... It was great! Later on, I introduced Annie to the funny little quiz game thing in the Two Sawyers wher you have a remote control on the table which you use to answer questions appearing on TV screens around the pub. It's nice in the Two Sawyers - Very chilled out and almost entirely lit by candle alone...

These clowns were at it again this week, coming up with ideas for a new occasion to be marked with the giving of a card. Alpha, led by Michael Sophocles, decided to go with a National Singles' Day on 13th February - Send a card to that special person the day before Valentine's day just to remind them they're single - Terrible.

Renaissance, lead by Kevin Shaw, got behind Jenny Celerier's idea of an environmental week when people are expected to send cards to each other with little sermons on how to be green inside them... Crock of shit, if you ask me. Surely, even the country's best performing imbecele would not send a card to somebody containing a naff message about trying to save the rain forests. Kevin thought it was a great idea and decided to pitch it to leading high street greetings card retailers himself. He sounded like Flash Gordon going on about saving the planet! To make matters worse, once it became clear in the boardroom that this whole idea was awful from the outset, and doomed to failure, the muppet didn't even bring the person whose idea it was back into the boardroom. Needless to say, he got his marching orders... One village has their idiot back.

I love this series by Graham Rawle - they used to be published in The Guardian and Observer but I don't think I've seen them for a while...

Here's his website anyway: http://www.grahamrawle.com/

Ten of my favorite cuisine experiences:

1) Soft boiled eggs for breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (Soho, New York)
2) Scoffing Walkers Salt and Vinegar crisps at my desk at work
3) Doughnuts in a huge stretch limo on my way to work (San Francisco)
4) Spaghetti alla pesce at the Lemon Tree (Domus de Maria, Sardinia)
5) Taiwanese chicken at Yagya (Nagoya, Japan)
6) Lamb madras, peshwari naan, pilau rice at the Kashmir (Canterbury)
7) Spice cake at Heirloom (East Village, New York) Not there any more
8) Thai style fishcakes at Lanna Thai or The Bangkok House (Canterbury)
9) Medium-rare chateaubriand steak at Chez Kiki (Meribel, France)
10) Scrambled eggs on toasted muffins with grilled mushrooms, rocket and grated parmesan in the garden on a warm summer morning

I just realised that the end of today will mark my first complete year of blogging on here as I became a member on 02-May-2007. Since then, not including the back-dated ones, I've made exactly 298 posts...

A trip has been organised for this Saturday to a nice little enclave of our fine capital known as Smithfield... Why? Because Karaoke Box just opened a fantastically swish new branch there which is utterly palatial compared to their original gaff in Frith Street. Touch screen song selection, great cocktails and a waitress call button in the room! Plus, there are lots of nice places to eat in the area, including a Japanese restaurant called Saki with an excellent range of Shochu. Perfection.