Daniel Durrans, Web Systems Developer and Internet
Consultant
Is anyone interested in seeing the touring production of Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome in December? I am thinking the first weekend of the month, either the Friday or the Saturday.
I have been very busy over the last two weeks or so. I won’t go into detail but I would like to thank Becky and Dave for a lovely housewarming and birthday party that they had last weekend. I made my own burgers to cook on their BBQ and it was all jolly good fun. I also went to see Pirates 3 this week which I thought was very swashbuckling. It was almost as good as this video found by Colin:
Don’t let the song get stuck in your head!
I went to the Brake Road Safety Awards on Friday evening with work. The company that I work for won an award for our risk management product which I thought was pretty cool. Nothing like drinking on company expenses.
I am going to have a Pimm’s party. It is called Pimm’s in the Park and will be on Saturday 11th August at 2pm in St Andrew’s Park, Bristol. Everyone is invited, just bring along a picnic, some chums and a bottle of Pimm’s!
I sit here hot and restless. The weather is threatening and I am sure I just saw some spots of rain on the glass of the window. I feel like my life has turned into a whirlwind of busy this week yet I can’t pinpoint why. I look back to when I last blogged and realise that it was only last Friday, yet even this seams like an age ago.
I have visited my parents, met up with Lauren who is a friend from high school and now works in the same hospital as my Dad, been bowling - a sport that I definitely need more practice at, done a five mile walk over Cannock Chase, ate in multiple restaurants, been to the gym twice, wrote two Facebook applications on their new Facebook platform, washed the car, visited the Festival of Nature in Bristol and many other things besides.
Successful bowling is very much a combination of skill and luck. Dad was surprisingly good at sending the ball down the alley to remove all the pins in its path. However he did manage to slip over while showing off and cut his hand. Stuart, my sisters fiancé, had a quietly accomplished bowling technique while my aunt managed to get the ball into the gutter 99% of the time. The other 1% was when she got a strike halfway through the second game.
On Thursday I visited Casa Mexicana on Zetland Road in Bristol. A subtly themed Mexican restaurant with bored waiting staff greeted James, Jacky, Ross and myself as we chose a table by the window. Our drinks order was taken three times by three different waiters although we couldn’t complain when it arrived - the sangria that Ross had ordered certainly had a kick to it. The food was spicy and good although I think they were a bit stingy with the rice that was served with my Chimichanga.
Facebook is a social network site that began with American college students and has now rolled out across the world. Last week they released Facebook Platform, a development API allowing programmers to connect to and produce widgets for Facebook. I have created two Facebook applications this week. The first allows users of PleaseGetMe.com to display their wish lists on their Facebook profile page. The second, LifeKarma, allows you to give good or bad karma to your Facebook friends - and lets them retaliate. Your karma score is shown on your profile and you can even access a graph of your karma rating over time. If you have Facebook then please give them a try.
I have signed up to Last.fm so if anyone else is on that then add me as your friend 
Is anyone going to the QFC party in November? I was thinking of getting myself a ticket but only if others are going too.
The coming of the summer months, note how I didn’t say weather, is marked by another round of euro-ballad-pop-rock music from artists that no one has ever heard of. Eurovision has always been a night to take the mickey out of other countries as well as our own pitiful entries.
My Eurovision weekend was spent in the company of my good friends down in Exeter where Roz organised an exciting party in the house of Reagan, Dave B and Damo. I was allocated three countries that I had to support, as well as the UK, which were The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania and Belarus who did surprisingly well in the competition by coming sixth overall.
I think this year more than ever the political voting spoilt the competition. Eurovision has always been a bit susceptible to national bias with Greece and Cyprus being the main culprits over the years. However with the introduction of the Eastern Bloc and Balkan countries into the EBU it has become far more prevalent. It was laughably easily to predict the set of countries that were going to be gaining votes. I would be willing to bet that it will be these same set of countries that rank highly next year. Not that I am a sore looser or anything.
Our entry, a cross between Steps, 5ive and Eurotrash, with stunning chorography and deeply meaningful lyrics came a joint second to last with France. Not only that but it also managed to set Damo’s surround sound amplifier on fire with acrid smoke pouring out of it by the end of the performance.
Roz bought the most amazing burgers from some farm shop near her flat. They tasted gorgeous and I am very jealous that they have such a fine purveyor of burger goodness so close to them. I think at the weekend I will have to go to the delicatessen on the Gloucester road for meat treats.
It was also great to catch up with my friend John (Prom) who has been absent from my life for a good number of years now. He is coming to the end of a philosophy degree at Exeter so good luck to him in the coming months.
Oh, Serbia won Eurovision - much to Becky’s dismay as she had to drink from The Cup Of Europe (a bowl of sparkling alcoholic fruit punch) whenever they were given 12 points
Here’s to a great weekend, it was nice to catch up with everyone again.
Yesterday a total of 5,567 people turned out in London’s Trafalgar Square to take part in the world’s largest coconut orchestra - and I was there!
Led by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam the orchestra clip-clopped along to “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” and set a new world record, beating the American total of only 1,789 people.
(No Ratings Yet) 
Loading ...My friend Norman is doing a sponsored bike ride form John O’Groats to Land’s End later this year. He is trying to raise £500 for the charity Asthma UK. You can sponsor him here:
Nick stayed over at my flat on Monday night on an air-bed in the lounge. I had to leave him my keys when I went to work at the ungodly hour of 7.50 on Tuesday morning so that he could lock up before heading off to the house of Becky and Dave. On by return to Bristol I dropped Judith off on the Gloucester road before driving off to find Nick.
Nick turned out to still be at Becky and Dave’s house and I was cunningly invited to stay for dinner. Becky cooked a lovely chilli while Nick and Dave went off to Tesco to buy some sort of pie. The pie was good, it was apple pie.
At some point in the evening we came up with the Gloucester Road Pub Crawl™ which will have to be performed at some point. For the sake of reasonableness we have limited the crawl to only pubs, licenced bars and cafés between the Texaco garage opposite Sommerville Road and the point where the Gloucester Road becomes Cheltenham Road (aka The Arches). In vague order this will cover:
Rosie then arrived and we went on Secret Mission 2 (which I shall write about at some future date) before trundling off home.
Oh, and I might be off to Tunisia at the end of the month!
What a busy weekend I have had. I got to meet up with lots of people and generally have some damn good fun. It is a good thing that this week at work is only four days long.
Thursday: Drinks with Rosie at the Flyer where we discussed two secret projects that we are going to be working on.
Friday: Hit the city centre with MattyT and went to Mr Wolf’s for some noodles and then on to Timbuk2 for a drum and bass night.
Saturday: Off to my parents in Stafford, nice relaxing day and a short walk on Cannock Chase.
Sunday: Grandparents visited for lunch and then I went and met up with a friend from high school who I hadn’t seen for nine years!
Monday: Drove back to Bristol, collected Rosie and Nick from the airport, entertained Nick in the Flyer before putting him up for the night.