The Life and Times of Marcus P.

No post tonight, a family curry was needed at one of the best curry places I’ve enjoyed. We did enjoy Alex’s ‘duck’ or ‘swan’ or ‘Alien’ napkin….

English football.

It could possibly be a punchline to a joke as Fabio Capello has just announce he’s had enough of the FA‘s medling and has left just before the start of a major tournament. Reminds me of when Martin O’neil left Villa a few weeks before the Premiership season, we all know how that went for Villa! (If you don’t it was crap!)

Now I guess the speculation will surround Harry Redknapp, an English manager for the English National side… how novel! I feel sorry for him in some respects as he has unfinished work with Spurs for me, just as it’s all coming together for them all the speculation will begin. (Which will no doubt affect Spurs results in the coming weeks)

So, farewell Fabio, thanks for errrr… well thanks for this joke at least!

It’s Fabio Capello’s first day as England manager and he walks into the showers and sees a large poo on the floor. He goes straight to the dressing room to confront the players and asks “who’s sh*t on the floor?”
At which point Peter Crouch sticks his hand up and says “yeah, but I’m good in the air!”

Related articles

• Fabio Capello’s loose talk over John Terry’s demotion could land him in hot water with FA (telegraph.co.uk)
• Tottenham manager Redknapp cleared of tax evasion (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

This photo reminds me of my Argos rant last year when my local Argos store decided in their wisdom that every house in my street should get an Argos catalogue. It happened to be a very wet day and as a consequence my street was littered by 100′s of sodden wet Argos catalogues, of zero use to anyone. They were not even fit for recycling. I was so angered that I wrote to the Argos head office to express my annoyance and Argos total disregard for the environment.

I didn’t receive a reply.

I then vowed that if a catalogue was left on my doorstep I would wrap it, attach another letter advising them that I didn’t ask for a catalogue, and mail it back to Argos HQ (Without any postage) in a hope my act may make them stop this stupid practice of dumping these catalogues onto unsuspecting households.

Apologies in advance to the Postie that has to collect and deliver this!

Related articles

• Home Retail falls to record low as Argos profits tumble (independent.co.uk)

It’s funny that I’ve admired this picture 100′s of times, on posters and postcards in Art shops and Pound shops and yet I knew nothing about it’s history.

Do I like it?

When I first saw this picture I was drawn to it, I really liked the way it portrayed the Edwardian era and admired the thought that the couple wouldn’t let a Storm halt their desire to dance on the beach as they were so in love… (Yeah Im an old romantic at heart!)

Unfortunately the picture then kept cropping up everywhere and has become a best selling contemporary art picture, and as it did appear everywhere it lost some of it’s appeal to me.

The Singing Butler.

The original was painted in 1992 by Jack Vettriano and called ‘The Singing Butler’  It was sold into a private collection in 2004 for £744,500; the most expensive painting by a Scottish artist. It’s now in the news again as on display in the Aberdeen Art Gallery.

If your interested here’s a great Analysis of the The Singing Butler.

Related articles

• Vettriano’s Butler in rare show (bbc.co.uk)

Waiting in the lounge at George Best Belfast City Airport for my flight back home, and Im leaving with a really good impression of Northern Ireland and it’s people. At every place I found some really genuine warmth and pride. Belfast only has 300,000 inhabitants and is easy to navigate, I would recommend everyone should visit Northern Ireland, it’s a ‘grand’ place indeed.

Soon be home, looking forward to…. chilling! Louise, Wine, some nice food (I’ve missed cooking!) and a good movie I think is in order.

Related articles

• Im not a great flyer… (marcusplatt.co.uk)

I have to admit Im looking forward to the creature comforts of home, but I’ll definitely be visiting Ireland (Republic and Northern) again soon.It’s my last night in Belfast, and I’ve enjoyed a really great pub, The Crown Liquor Saloon. Recently revonavated by the National Trust, it’s a a ‘grand’ place to enjoy a Guinness or 2. I’ll post a few more pictures once I’ve sobered up!! ;)

Related articles

• Big Up Belfast | Things to do and see in a fascinating city (acraftytraveler.com)

It’s been a tiring day but I did stumble over the following video in my RSS feeds. Very clever and talented I think!

Gizmodo…

I’m a sucker for these multiple-track music videos. This guy is Nick McKaig, and he’s extremely good at reproducing songs using just his voice. Here’s the proof: the Simpsons’ theme sung a capella.

It’s sounds so good and wacky that I like it more than the original.

According to Nick, he “had to write out the entire orchestration from a recording and perform every part, which ended up being over 30! The violin runs were the most fun to record.” So good!

Im not a great flyer, in fact… Im not a flyer at all. I dislike the the whole process, having to be somewhere at a certain time, having to be there 2 hours earlier than you need to be, checking in,waiting around, getting subjected to security checks, boarding, taxi’ing to the runway…. flying…. then repeating most of it the other end, baggage collection, trying not to look guilty in customs…. give me a car, a general destination and a ‘we will get there when we get there’ attitude and Im most happy!

Haven’t had time to see much of Belfast so far, but my immediate impression is one of friendliness! Every person I’ve encountered has been so very friendly and courteous, not the fake courtesy and friendliness you encounter in shops… but a happy nice one. Im looking forward to exploring so more of Northern Ireland in the next few days.

Oh, and Guinness defiantly tastes better this side of the channel!

Well Im all packed for a week away with work, it’s funny packing without Louise! (There’s a lot less of it to pack!) But Im pleased in knowing Louise and the kids will not starve as we did a mini shop today for a few meals whilst Im away! But, Im pretty confident that the Domino’s speed dial will be used at least once! ;)

It maybe difficult to stick to my blog a day commitment…. but Im not going to let it go easily.

It’s felt like a very long week, even though in reality it was only 3 days long! So Im very relieved to have a guest chef in the kitchen tonight cooking a Chinese Crispy Beef dish which smells wonderful! Thanks Becky! :)

Becky’s signature dish used to be an Asparagus Pasta dish, which is lovely. But mainly she likes to bake, but lets not mention the Chocolate Cardamon tart….

Im looking forward to this new dish, smells great!

Edit: Wow… it was rather good!!! :)