Hands up anyone who has been in a car crash today.

Put your hand down if you were not driving a brand new ‘06 registered car.

Now put your hand down if that car was not the company car allocated to one of the directors of your company.

If anyone is left then put your hand down if you were not travelling on the A350 at about 2pm today.

Anyone left? No?

Just me then.

I took Thursday afternoon off work and drove halfway across the country to Bradford. It was a long drive but fairly easy and there wasn’t too much traffic. Where the M62 crosses the Pennines just north of Manchester you go through some very beautiful country side. The M62 is the highest point on the UK motorway network at 1442 feet above sea level.

I got to Sam’s house at around 6.20pm after having driven around Bradford city centre a number of times. It appears that a number of roundabouts have been changed or removed since the map I was using had been published. Bradford has been quite sympathetic in its architecture with modern buildings blending in with the industrial and commercial buildings of the past.

Sam lives on a lovely looking street of what I would call classic industrial town two up two down terrace housing. I failed to take a picture. I was going to but I forgot. There is a big difference in housing prices between the north and the south. Sam pays about a third of our rent per month yet lives in a larger house.

When I arrived Jamie was also there and talking on the phone to her mum in America. A little later Dave arrived, one of Sam’s friends from Leeds, and then we all went to catch a train into the centre of Bradford. We went to a bar called The Gasworks which was a bit of a culture shock for me as they were playing quite aggressive rock and metal. Sam was expecting a more punk/rock/ska night but apparently they had changed after the DJ quit. We saw two rather dire bands. The first of which, The Hit And Runs, had a lead singer who really wasn’t very good at singing. The second band, Lo-Ego, was just plain weird with the lead singer loving himself far too much and requiring, for an unknown reason, two microphones. The evening itself was fun thanks to the company even if the sound system left my ears ringing for two days! We headed back to Sam’s house at about 2am (taxis are really cheap in Bradford) and watched some Eddie Izzard on TV before going to bed. I put all my photos on my gallery.

Friday was mostly spent lazing around in Sam’s house. Jamie and Dave had to leave early, Jamie needing to catch a connection in Leeds to get back to London. Mark arrived mid-afternoon after also getting lost in Bradford. We went for a curry, my first proper curry, in the early evening. I had chicken masala with fried rice which was surprisingly good. We then went to a student pub near the university for a drink before heading back to Sam’s house. Mark spent most of the rest of the evening trying to get Sam’s computer to play sounds on YouTube videos but he didn’t have much luck in the end.

Saturday brought a relatively early start in order to get to Chester for 11am. We were due in Chester for the Queen Fan Club Workshop meeting where we were going to discuss ideas on how the fan club can be brought up to date with new technology and also how it could offer more benefits for fans. I drove in my car and Sam went with Mark. I managed to get to Chester first and parked in a long stay car park by the river (£4.50 for the whole day). I walked toward the pub we were meeting in, Ye Oldie Kings Head owned by Ken Testi, and spotted Frank and Jen Tunny walking along the high street from the opposite direction. Sam and Mark arrived about half an hour later.

When the meeting was convened we went into the dining room in the pub where we all sat down with Jacky from the fan club and her friend Matt, Frank, Jen, Jim Jenkins, Ken, Amey and her friend Sarah, Rob Dean, Julie, Vern and Wayne Plant. We spent ages discussing various ideas and what could be done with the web site and the convention. Ken kept us supplied with food and drink. The time flew past and before we knew it it was 5pm. We finished up and went downstairs to the bar where the non drivers had a few drinks. We waited around for Libby who was going to come up from Wrexham to say hello and had a drink with her while watching Doctor Who on the TV in the pub. We then set off following Jacky on a pub crawl around the city. I left at around 8.30pm as I had to drive down to my parents in Stafford.

Chester is a lovely city with lots of interesting shops and pubs. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to have a good look around but I will have to go back at some point.

The drive to Stafford was very easy and the motorway was almost deserted.

On Sunday my parents took me to lunch at The Holly Bush Inn. We all had very nice steaks and for desert I had a champagne and white chocolate tort. I got back to Bristol at 6pm.

I watched the film I, Robot last night with Becky and Rosie. We had fish ‘n’ chips from the chippy near Becky’s new flat and we also had ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. I think the film was ok but it didn’t really go anywhere. You could have probably predicted the ending. I think I would like to read the book now and find out if that was any better.

I might have accidentally had a ’99 with a flake from the ice cream van that just visited the place I work. It jingled into the car park and then accidentally sold me ice cream. Ah well, I will go geocaching at the weekend and walk it off. Possibly on the ‘Downs.

I booked tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at the Showcase Cinema in Bristol on Thursday 8th July (the day it is released)! I am going with Becky and Dave. It should be fun and popcorn filled. Swashbuckling adventures ahoy. Arrrrr. Splice the main brace!

Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything.

Last night I watched Sin City on DVD that I rented from LoveFilm.com. It was a strange film with a story line that wasn’t as predictable as the majority of films on the market at the moment. I enjoyed the converging storylines and the way it was filmed was quite different from any other film that I have seen before.

I have watched a number of Quentin Tarantino films before such as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs so I am used to his style, however I will have to add some more Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez films to my LoveFilm.com queue.

You know I set up the syndication thing the other day? Yea? Good. Well now I am here to tell you not to use it and to insted just add this LJ to your friends list. Why? Because I have worked out how to post to both my website and my LJ at the same time! It also makes comments work better. Whoo!

If you also have a Wordpress blog and a LiveJournal then you can do this too with the LiveJournal Crossposter Plugin for Wordpress.

With Becky and Dave having rented a flat in Bristol it was about time that they actually moved into it. Early on Saturday morning I drove round to Becky’s old flat to collect her and a number of boxes, including Mr Wensleydale, and then take them up to her new flat.

After doing two trips we were very tired so sat down and had a cold can of coke while waiting for James, Roz and Dave to arrive with a van load of Dave’s stuff. We unloaded the van and then went off for some lunch at Café Delight. I had a rather nice ham sandwich and a smoothie. While we were at the café Andi and Rosie arrived to lend a helping hand. Rosie had just come home after finishing university.

After lots more moving everything was finally in and we settled down to a nice chinese from New Happy Garden which we ate while watching Doctor Who.

This weekend Bristol played host to the Festival of Nature 2006. The festival included animal encounters, film screenings, boat trips, urban safaris, mini zoo, real food market and talks from leading wildlife and environmental speakers.

I went along to a number of the events including a talk by Adam Hart-Davis and a Nature Photography Walk. The food market was very good and I had an organic beef burger and also a lemon juice drink. I also saw the WEEE Man and met up with Becky for a delicious honey and ginger ice cream. Here are some of the photos that I took:

The WEEE Man

Harbour side photography

Some rusty chain

A Swan