Mouse's Musings

Recipe: Guerilla Pizza

2012-02-16T20:30:00.000Z

This isn't really a recipe as a money saving technique. Pizzas delivered from the local takeaway take around 20 minutes and cost between £10 and £15 depending on how crazy you go on size, toppings, and extras.
To save a bit of money, we have stopped getting takeaway pizzas, and have started "topping" our own. It takes just as long as waiting for the delivery person, even less on a Friday or Saturday night!

Ingredients:

You can put just about anything on your Guerilla Pizza (although, perhaps steer clear from actual Guerillas). Below is a set of ingredients we use as standard with a variation of the odd ingredient depending on what is in the fridge.

1 Frozen pizza
1/4 Medium onion very finely chopped
1-2 Garlic cloves very finely chopped
A handful of grated cheese (because store-bought pizzas never have enough!)

Cooking:

It is important to allow for the extra ingredients when considering the cooking time and temperature, especially if you are cooking from frozen. The solution we use is to lower the temperature by 15-ish degrees celcius and cook for the allotted time on the back of the box (add 5 or so minutes to this if you don't have a fan assisted oven).
Check about 3/4 of the way through cooking, and then as the time is up.

There you have it. For about 1/3 the cost of a [Insert Pizza Company] delivered pizza you get to choose your own ingredients and have a bit left over for some extra beer!

Enjoy

Recipe: Guerilla Risotto

2012-01-19T00:15:00.000Z

I have not ever posted a recipe on this blog. Mainly for the fact that I have no real idea how to write one. It's not a great excuse, I know. So, I am sending out my opening gambit - Guerilla Risotto.

I love leftovers. I usually have them for lunch the next day, but have been known to have leftovers for breakfast, and even dinner. One of may favourite left over ingredients is rice. Leftover rice for me is a comfort food. Whatever I add to the rice it becomes a yummy unctuous mess that warms me through.

Before I begin, I must put forth a disclaimer. It is important to note that it is not recommended to re-heat rice the next day. So, follow this recipe at your own risk. For my part, I always make sure I heat the rice until it is boiling hot, and then I keep it there for as long as possible.

Ingredients:
150-200g Leftover cooked rice
Whatever other leftovers are with the rice ideally including some vegetables
50g grated cheese
20-30ml cold water
Oil for us in frying (sunflower/olive/groundnut)

Cooking:
1. Place the rice into a bowl and sprinkle over the water
2. With a fork or spoon separate the rice grains a bit to allow the water to work its way around the rest of the rice
3. Pour some oil into the frying pan and place on a medium heat
4. Add the leftovers (without rice)to the frying pan and fry until hot throughout
5. Add the rice and stir-fry until the rice is very hot
6. Empty the contents of the frying pan onto a plate.
7. Season, and stir 1/2 the cheese into the mixture.
8. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese onto the top of the 'risotto'

So there you have it. The Guerilla Risotto may not look much, but it should be hot, a bit sticky, and hit the spot. Particularly on a winter's day.

Chesham Dads and Family Stay & Play a Success

2012-01-14T22:56:00.000Z

Today saw the return of the Saturday dad's session at the Waterside Sure Start Centre in Chesham.

Late last year, many fathers in the area were saddened to lose their monthly "Dadtastic" get together. The leader of the session, Lee, recently qualified as a teacher and did not have the time to continue with them.

A few weeks back I bumped into David Rogers who mentioned that the sessions were beginning again on January 14th, and they were every week from then on. I have to say, I was a bit surprised that there was a switch to a weekly meeting. This is because Dadtastic wan't really growing, and the attendance was quite sporadic by all except a core few dads (I was a sporadic one).

Today I went to the first session of what has been billed as Dads Stay and Play, and was pleasantly surprised to see 30+ people at the centre. I think this is the most people I have ever seen there! It was fantastic! And all that despite there being very little advertising of Stay and Play outside of the regular weekday activities.

Hopefully this can be built on by the attendees today telling their friends about it, I know a couple of people I will mentioning this to. It is also worth noting that this is not just for Dads. It's for anyone. Dads are targeted as quite often they miss out on the activities due to working during the week. Having said that, in a modern society, it isn't necessarily the dad who misses out; it could be the mum, or even both.

I also hope that Sure Start and Family Lives (who were also there today) will be able to get Bucks CC to mention the session on their activities calendar.

Long may Stay and Play continue!

Further Reading

To find out more about Sure Start centres there is information on the Direct Gov site.
Click the links to find out more about the Sure Start Centres at Waterside and Newtown. This includes their timetables.
See also the Buckinghamshire Family Information Services website.

Chesham Twitterati

2012-01-13T23:00:00.000Z

As you can see from the widget at the side of the page, I am on Twitter. My handle is @SheyMouse.

One of the things I have been doing this week is adding more people from Chesham (and to a lesser extent, Amersham) who are on twitter. My reason? I want to get to know the community a bit more, as well as see what's going on in my area.

Here is my list:

https://twitter.com/#!/SheyMouse/cheshamtweeps

At the time of writing, it contains 23 people. I'm sure there are more people out there from the area who are on Twitter, but this is the list so far.

If you are from Chesham and want to hook up, just tweet me on @SheyMouse,or just follow me. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Frugal Cook: The Return of Beyond Baked Beans!

2012-01-11T21:29:00.000Z

So, a few days after Fiona Beckett mentioned on her Frugal Cook blog that Beyondbakedbeans.com was gone, I am happy to announce that Beyond Baked Beans is back up and running. It is now at a slightly different domain:

http://beyondbakedbeans.org

Fiona has put an explanation, and a plea for back links here:

http://beyondbakedbeans.org/articles/20120111

Hopefully, this BBB incarnation can regain its google ranking and therefore can be found by all the hungry students, and frugal cooks out there!

The Frugal Cook: What's happened to Beyond Baked Beans?

2012-01-09T09:26:00.000Z

I have been a fan of The Frugal Cook, and Beyond Baked Beans for a couple of years. The latter site was an excellent resource and social hub for people students looking to get their cooking skills up Beyond Baked Beans. Unfortunately, as Fiona outlines on her Frugal Cook blog, BBB is no more, for the foreseeable future:

The Frugal Cook: What's happened to Beyond Baked Beans?

I am no expert on domains, but following the who.is links from BBB to the coupons site, it looks like BBB's domain was automatically taken over by a GoDaddy company called domainsbyproxy. They have then put a redirect to the coupon site on BBB. Effectively, GoDaddy are squatting on a domain they own (whois domainsbyproxy). A little underhanded if you ask me. Most domain companies will redirect to their commercial site asking if you want to own the domain.
In the Frugal Cool article, Fiona indicates that GoDaddy have asked for a commission to "negotiate" the transfer of the domain back to her. If domainsbyproxy is a company already part of the GoDaddy stable then there shouldn't be much negotiation. A bit of a rip off really.

If I am wrong in the above, I am happy to be corrected. Otherwise, this has put me off hosting any site I have through GoDaddy. They already weren't top of my list, but they have moved further down the charts now.

I hope Fiona manages to come to a satisfactory conclusion with the BBB issue, be it only having the facebook page - Beyond Baked Beans - or something else.

Observations of a tester....: Oy you tester!

2011-11-30T15:12:00.000Z

Observations of a tester....: Oy you tester!

Testing Blog Posting From My Mobile

2010-05-04T22:52:00.003Z

Having my new fancy HTC Desire has made me think of blogging again. This has meant searching for an Android app which will upload to Blogspot. After searching around, I found Blogaway .

As with many apps, this one is in fairly early development. What drew me to Blogaway is a combination of three things:

The app upload to Blogspot - kind of essential what with me having a blog there!
It saves drafts - this is essential for when one is out and about.
Pictures and video upload - not tested this yet, but was the deal maker for a photoblogger and pub Blogger such as myself.
It is free - useful for me to get back onto blogging.

So I guess watch this space...again.

My New Favourite Website

2009-09-18T09:59:00.000Z

I have been out for a while. Not ill. Just out. I’m trying to get back into it…again.

One thing I have been keeping up with is my blog readings. It’s a great way to start the day by firing up your RSS reader, and finding out what the people you are ~~stalking~~ following are talking about.

One of my recent finds has been Blagger (www.blagger.co.uk). No, it’s not a freebees website. If you want that go to www.moneysavingexpert.com. What Blagger is is a blog about becoming self sufficient, but in a gradual easy going way. It’s not all hemp wearing, tree hugging. It more common sense and using what they have to make their lives better. I especially enjoy the many recipes and processes that are documented on the site. One of the sections I find myself browsing through is the Brewing and Winemaking section. Does what it says on the tin really.

From elderflower champagne blowing up everywhere through the odd jammy disaster and finishing with a monthly egg count this is definitely a site to get stuck into.

Let the Games Begin

2009-05-08T14:32:00.003Z

This weekend sees the start of a new part of my life. Summer club sports. For years I have been meaning to get back into playing cricket, and either couldn't be bothered, or forgot, or in one case the team never got back to me.
This summer will be different. I have joined my local club Chesham CC. Everyone has been very welcoming, even trying to teach me which end of the funny stick I need to hold to hit that funny red thing! Now I am cricket mad! I eat, sleep, drink cricket. It's like I'm 12 again, absorbing any snippet of information I can.

Tomorrow, I will be playing my first club match in 20 years (yes, you read correctly!). Chesham 4th XI are at home to NPL Teddington CC 3rd XI. We are meeting as part of the 8b league of the Morrant Thames Valley Leagues. I can't wait. Next week I will try and post about the pain I'll be in.

Watch this space!

Fivers From an ATM?

2009-02-25T22:53:00.002Z

I remember about ten years ago when you could get £20, £10, and £5 notes from an ATM. All banks eventually changed to allowing only £10 & £20 notes to be withdrawn.

Today, I went into a Barclays bank and took out £10. Imagine my surprise when I was presented with two £5 notes. It confused me so much I actually stopped for a couple of seconds to work it out!

Weird.

A Possible Fix if Your Homepage Keeps Resetting

2009-02-21T10:28:00.005Z

I was recently presented with a problem by my in-laws. Their browser's homepage kept on resetting to MSN every time they restarted. Although a reasonable homepage to have, they prefer to just have the google.co.uk front page.
The specific page that the browser would reset to was - http://uk.msn.com/?ocid=iehp. I thought the same as you, just go into options -> properties and reset the homepage. Nope. Every time the browser restarted, back to good 'ole MSN.
So what is the solution? Well, after much googling for various things, I found an obscure reference to my dilemma on a forum (can't remember which, sorry). It turns out that some spyware and antivirus programs (in this case Norton) have 'homepage protection'. This setting locks anything from hijacking your browser homepage for their own nefarious purposes. It also means that once a homepage is set, it will continue to default back to that upon a browser reload.
So there you have it. Turn off your homepage protection, and return it to the correct homepage. I don't know what happens if you switch the homepage protection back on and I don't intend to find out.

Twitter Twit

2009-02-20T13:37:00.001Z

A couple of my friends recently did a shout out asking if anyone was on Twitter. I knew a bit about Twitter, but had never really looked into it. A couple of days ago I thought I would have a look. I’m now twittering with everyone else!

For those of you who don’t know, Twitter is a sort of mass text messaging social network. You ‘follow’ someone’s updates and they and/or others follow you. It’s one of these silly-but-fun web 2.0 things.

I think the most fun thing about Twitter is that some of the geekier celebrities Twitter. So you can follow them and what they are doing. As I said silly-but-fun. Amongst some of the more frequent twitter-ers is Stephen Fry (http://twitter.com/stephenfry). He twitters three or four times per day. It’s kind of fun to know what he’s up to and comment about it.

So, go on, give it a go. I won’t say who else is on there for following, you can find out easily enough, and that is part of the fun, I think.

Back Into the Saddle

2009-02-19T16:43:00.001Z

Ok. Four months without any updates to any of my blogs is a bit pants. Last year I wanted to average one blog update per week…on all of my blogs. If you do a quick tour around, you will see that this didn’t happen. In fact, I barely made it past averaging one blog update per week on all my blogs put together.

So this year, I want to try for the full 52 on this blog. It’s going to be tough, especially since we’re nearly two months in already, but hopefully I will be able to do it.

You will have seen me say this before, but watch this space!

Books and Blogs - The Frugal Cook

2008-11-18T15:05:00.001Z

Continuing from yesterdays post about frugality, I have a recommendation, particularly with Christmas coming up.

Typically for this time of year many books are being released, particularly in the cookery section. One book you may not be aware of is The Frugal Cook by Fiona Beckett. As I said, there are other cook books out this season, one of which is Delia's reprise of her Frugal Food recipe book, and is a direct competitor for your pound this Christmas. While this is a good book, it is a re-release, and I would urge you to go for an original publishing.

The Frugal Cook is based on Fiona's blog of the same name. I love the blog. It's on my RSS feed, and I read every article with interest. Fiona's writing is well thought out, her recipes concise, and her ideas inspiring. I also like the fact that if you comment on any of Fiona's articles, she will generally answer you personally. It is this accessibility that makes me a fan, and will see me buying her book (or getting someone to give it to me as a present) this Christmas.

Whether you get the book or read the blog, enjoy. It is time well spent.

Frugally Yours

2008-11-17T15:11:00.001Z

Wow. Well, it's been quite a while since my last post. I unfortunately found that other things in my life needed to take priority above blogging, but I am going to have to get back into blogging as it was a great outlet both psychologically, and creatively.

And what better way to get back on the wagon than to tell you what I have been up to!

In the current financial climate the watchword seems to be "Frugal". Speaking personally, I am doing everything I can to lower my overall spending. One place Mrs. Mouse and I are boxing clever is with food shopping. This is an area fraught with pitfalls put there by supermarkets attempting to maximise their impact on your pocket. To counter this, we have taken a few measures which have saved us quite a bit of money.
Firstly, we do almost all of our vegetable shopping at the local market. Their prices are excellent, and we get a bit of exercise cycling to and from the market.
Secondly, we have moved down a pricing band, where possible, in our supermarket purchases. This is a common with most people - if you buy the premium brand, you move to the regular brand, etc.. The breadth of this I feel is shown by Tesco introducing a fourth tier of pricing with their "Discount Brands" which sits between regular and basics range.
Finally, we shop a bit later in the evening to get cut-price goods. This technique won't suit everyone, but it can mean you get some good breads for next to nothing, as well as cooked produce which needs to be sold that day. It does mean you have to be a bit flexible with your meal plans, but is also fun when you have an impromptu lounge picnic!

These three tips have helped us save quite a bit of money, and have fun doing it!

And I Quote...

2008-06-10T23:41:00.001Z

One thing I love is quotations. I enjoy pithy, witty, funny, and thoughtful quotations. Therefore, it is with no surprise that one of the modules I have on my iGoogle is "Quote of the Day". Quite often I have seen a quote and thought I should share it on the blog, only to forget. However, one of today's quotes just has to be posted.

This, I think sums everything up about quotes in one quotation:

Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.

- Anonymous

Profound and ironic at the same time. I love it.

Statistically Speaking...

2008-06-09T13:29:00.001Z

One of the things I put on my blogs more or less from the start was a stats tracker from StatCounter.com. This is not to track demographics for targeted advertisements, or anything like that. I have a stats tracker on my blogs so I can see if anyone comes to visit. I have had this particular blog (Mouse's Musings) running for nearly 18 months now.
Of the three blogs that I ~~keep up to date~~ post articles to, this has had the least amount of visitors. This is probably because I don't post any photos on here, that's for my Photo Blog, nor do I talk about a singular topic, that's for my Pub Run. Therefore, I am always interested how someone has come to be viewing my blog.
There seem to be only three reasons to visit my blog:

You have seen my blogger profile - I post comments on many of the blogs I read, either to add some other little titbit or to just tell them what I enjoyed about the article I've just read.
You want to know the key board shortcut for the Euro sign - This is my most popular article by far.
You want to know why your Micra won't start - I hope this article has saved people money. It certainly has for me.

So, no matter how you got here. Welcome. Please feel free to rummage around. And please feel free to visit my other blogs.

Technorati: Get Your Act Together

2008-05-28T09:10:00.001Z

I use Techonorati to keep an eye on all of my favourite blogs. Until recently I would have recommended it as a good tool to find out when your favourite blogs have been updated (I don't really to RSS feeds).

Recently, however, the Favourites section of Technorati has been down. Eventually, on the 20th of this month there was a posting on the support page just saying that Favourites/Fans Currently Down and that they are working on it.
Today, apparently Favourites/Fans (are) Back which they are, to some extent. I am able to click on the Favourites link and see my favourites area, but it is not populated by any recent posts. Clicking on the Favourite Blogs tab seems to work about 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time it tries to load and just shows their "Techonrati is Borked" page.

Come on Technorati, sort it out!

No, I'm Not Dead

2008-05-15T10:25:00.000Z

It's rather embarrassing when your own blogs are at the bottom of your 'recently updated' list of blogs on Technorati. According to that list:

Mouse's Musings was updated 41 days ago
Lifelong Pub Run was update 37 days ago
SheyMouse's Photo Blog was updated 37 days ago

This is not the longest I have gone without a post, but over a month without a post is rather slack of me. Since I have split my blog into three, I have enjoyed my writing much more, as well as found more motivation for taking more (and better) photos.

So, with the above in mind, what kept me from writing for so long? The answer is that Mrs-Mouse-To-Be has now become Mrs. Mouse. Yep, I am now married to the lady I have been in love with for nearly 10 years. We had a wonderful wedding in deepest Suffolk followed by a wonderful honeymoon in deepest Dominican Republic. Both of these have given me much material for all three blogs.

As always, watch this space...

Games, Heroin, and Teenage Pregnancies - What's the Difference?

2008-04-03T10:57:00.001Z

I have just read an article by Giles Whittell of The Times entitled Video Games: I'll never buy one. The reporter/contributor/"notebooker" describes why he will never be buying his children any games consoles. Apparently the answer is because games "suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time." What a wonderfully broad and sweeping statement. And if that is his main reason, then maybe he should stop his children from watching TV, going to the cinema, surfing the internet, or reading.
Now, I am old enough to remember getting my first games console in the mid 80's, and have had many games machines since. I do not believe I ever wasted my life. I enjoyed playing games, because of the adventures they took me on. Just like reading, and going to the cinema. I enjoyed the social aspect of them; my mother and I used to sit up late into the night playing the latest adventure game.
I do agree in a small way with Mr. Whittell in that many children seem to be so intent on finishing the next level that they barely look around sometimes. For that, I do not blame games, I blame the parents. Surely, it is the parents who should tell little Farquar and Portia to put down their Nintendo DS until after dinner, or whenever. I know it's easy to blame the parents, but in this case I truly believe I am right. My parents used to make sure I stopped playing on my games console and went outside, or stopped playing my Gameboy at the table, and so on. Don't deny your children, but educate them enough to make their own choices and govern themselves.

And equating games with heroin and teenage pregnancies ("It's because, compared with everything else on offer in a kid's life, video games and heroin and teenage pregnancy are a colossal waste of time.") is just irresponsible. Well done for inciting people to read your article Giles, but it is a low blow, and a tenuous analogy at its best.

It's Coming Home!

2008-03-20T15:07:00.001Z

Today is a joyous day. The BBC has regained the television rights for Formula 1.
I have enjoyed watching F1 since I was a little boy getting up early with my father to watch the races all the way across the world. When I moved to the UK, I enjoyed watching F1 on the BBC. A large part of this enjoyment was because I did not miss a second of the action. There are no adverts on the BBC, so every thrill and spill is there for you to watch.

Then ITV got the rights.

Being a fan, I still watched the races, but never felt quite as close to the action as the glory days of BBC coverage. We, the viewers, were often quite frustrated by missing out on an incident (be it overtaking, pit stop, or crash) because ITV were showing their adverts. This reached its height during the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix when ITV went to an advert break with three laps to go. ITV have not been that idiotic since, but the memory of it is still there.

So, now the BBC have won the television rights back after 12 years of being away. The BBC always have to be at the forefront of any media advance, technique. Therefore, I believe we can look forward to some very interesting additions to the way we view Formula 1.

Bring on the 2009 season I say.

St. Patrick's Day Musings

2008-03-17T15:22:00.001Z

You would have to be living in a box to not know that today is St. Patrick's Day. Or, you would be forgiven for thinking last weekend was it, since St. Patrick's Day is such a commercial monster nowadays.
And who am I to complain? I love Guinness, and some of my closest friends are Irish. Plus, I will use any excuse for a party. Even though I'm feeling under the weather today, nay because I am feeling under the weather, I fully intend to investigate the medicinal qualities of the world's best loved stout.
I've certainly a fair amount of Guinness this weekend. Mrs-Mouse-To-Be and I were invited to the Irish Embassy last Friday for his annual St. Patrick's Day party. Actually, I was just a tag-along, it was the future Mrs. Mouse who got the invite. I guess being director of the Liverpool Irish Festival gets one into those kind of gigs. It was an excellent evening with a lot of food, drink, and Guinness.

Incidentally, if you are ever searching for the Irish Embassy of London in google, do not click on the "ireland.embassyhomepage.com" link. This is NOT the Irish Embassy website. I believe it is one of those advertising pages. Instead look for the Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland website or click the link to go directly to the www.embassyofireland.co.uk website.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Stephen Fry Rules!

2008-03-12T14:26:00.001Z

My life is complete. I have always enjoyed watching Stephen Fry on TV. My earliest memory of him is a little hazy. I cannot remember if I first saw him in Jeeves and Wooster or A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Either way, I enjoyed watching Fry with Hugh Laurie in these shows and continued to watch them in the Blackadder series. Yes, I am aware that the Blackadder series predates Jeeves and A Bit of..., but I only started watching the series much later on. More recently, I have enjoyed watching Stephen Fry on QI (I've even been to watch the show being made).
By the way, if you haven't watched any of the above, you should either get hold of some of the shows, or shoot yourself. You don't know what you have been missing.
Anyway, as I said, my life is complete. My colleagues at work mentioned that they had heard a Stephen Fry podcast. Having piqued my interest I jumped on the internet to see if I could find it. Very quickly I found out that Fry has a website on which he keeps a blog, and more recently has been posting podcasts. Joy!

Being the fan of Fry that I have described above, you would be within your rights to wondering why I haven't found his site before. Well, I never thought to look, but now I have I cannot wait to read his next blessay, blog, or blissquisition, nor can I wait to listen to his next podgram.

If I have done anything to interest you in Stephen Fry, click on the link to his site on the right of this one.

A.R. Tym's Butcher of Liverpool

2008-03-10T12:03:00.001Z

Last weekend the Soon-to-be-Mrs-Mouse and I had a bit of a dinner party. We invited our good friend Bones over, the deal being he provide the meat, and we cook it.
Bones is the master butcher in A.R. Tym's butcher on Smithdown road in Liverpool. The meat he provided was fantastic. We sampled both fillet and rump steak that evening and the quality of the cuts were hard to beat. I highly recommend that if you are in the Liverpool area and in need of some fine cuts of meat, please go and see Bones for your supplies. You will not be disappointed.

A.R. Tym's Butcher
208 Smithdown Rd.
Liverpool,
L15 3JT
Tel: 0151 733 0114

Incorrect Use of The Rearview Mirror No. 1

2008-02-26T13:36:00.001Z

This morning on the way to work I was followed by a woman applying her makeup. Now not only was she in the driver's seat, but she was attempting to drive at the same time as using the rearview mirror to see where she was applying her makeup.
Ladies, the rearview mirror is not for makeup application, it is meant to help you see what is behind you. Also, why not get up five minutes earlier and do your makeup at home, rather than endangering yourself and other road users?

Something to Live By... Well Sort of!

2008-02-06T22:19:00.001Z

Seen in my daily quotations page:

Dance like it hurts, Love like you need money, Work when people are watching.
- Scott Adams

Euro Sign Keyboard Shortcut

2008-02-01T16:09:00.002Z

What I learned today:

If you have not Euro sign on your keyboard, it can be quickly brought up the following ways:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+E
2. Press Alt+0128

I am particularly impressed by the first one as I can never remember the 0128 of the second one.

Gecko_gr made a comment on this post a while back which I thought I should bring to the front of the entry.

For US keyboards, the following shortcut works:

Right ALT key + 5, or ALTGR +5

Thanks Gecko.

What They Do Best

2008-02-01T10:09:00.001Z

Looking outside my office window I saw this.

I am always amused by the amount of times I look at road works and either see everyone sitting around doing nothing, or seeing no-one at all.

It must be a tough life...

4x4 Rage

2008-01-18T12:17:00.001Z

I unfortunately have to travel to work most days by car. This is because it is cheaper and quicker for me to get to work this way.
My route takes me past a few schools during the school run period. Living down the road from a couple of posh schools, one of which is The Beacon School for Boys, puts me right in the path of all the 4x4 drivers. I and my friend both have a policy of not letting out 4x4 and "buses" (people carriers, SUVs, etc.). This is because it is not necessary for a 2.4 children family to drive around in a 4x4 in the misguided idea that the passengers will be safer. GET A PROPER CAR!

Anyway, for the past two days, I have been amazed at the laziness and bad driving of some of the 4x4 drivers in the area.
First, there was a woman who drove from the school to Lollards Close, a total of about 0.8 miles. This distance in any car doesn't get your engine up to optimum heat. This will wreck the car. Try walking. Both you and your child will benefit from getting out a bit.
The second example, which never ceases to amaze me, is the way 4x4 drivers shy away from puddles, usually quite close to hitting the oncoming traffic. If you drive any 4x4, chances are you are the heaviest vehicle around. Everyone else is driving through the puddle, and they're in normal cars!

In short, if you have no relevant reason to own a 4x4 take it back and buy a normal car. You might find it easier to exit driveways, and will probably find you have a bit more money due to not having to fill up at every petrol station you pass.
And don't mention safety. They aren't safer. All you are doing is putting anything you hit in more danger of being killed, especially children. Given that all most people in the London area seem to do is drive their 4x4 or SUV to school and back this has a certain irony to it.

Once again, buy a proper car.

BBC NEWS | Arrest after 32 dead horses found

2008-01-10T10:42:00.001Z

BBC NEWS | England | Arrest after 32 dead horses found

This happened from just down the road from where I live. I am appalled that someone kept animals in such atrocious conditions. Some of the comments from local websites suggest that this farm was known for its bad treatment of animals. Why wasn't anything done sooner? Horses were housed so close together that some of them were standing on other dead horses!

If you don't take care of animals in your care whose main aim in life is to please their owner/master, then you deserve to rot for your neglect.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T23:20:00.001Z

Doing the rounds on my blogs.

Since this is a blog of musings and suchlike, I give you the video below which makes Mrs-Mouse-To-Be giggle every time.

Enjoy!

Cars Stolen Because of Keys Being Left in Ignition

2007-12-19T11:18:00.001Z

Cars stolen (Buckinghamshire Advertiser)

The above link is about cars being stolen because people are leaving their engines running or keys in the ignition when putting shopping away.

You have to be seriously stupid to walk away from your car with the engine running making it even easier for anyone to steal it.

If you have had your car stolen this way, you are an idiot and deserved to have your car stolen.

From The Register: eBayer punts Wii for £1m

2007-11-22T16:16:00.001Z

eBayer punts Wii for £1m | Reg Hardware

For Christmas I really want to get a Wii. The problem is, everyone else does! Some enterprising sod has put his/her Wii up for sale on ebay with a starting price of £1 million.

I'm not that desperate! If you do buy this, please give it to me. If you are stupid enough to buy a Wii for £1,000,000 maybe you'll just give it away to someone deserving... like me!

P.S. This is also testing the Windows Live Writer "Blog This" plugin for Firefox. Get it here.

Starting a Micra on a Cold Morning

2007-11-19T10:33:00.000Z

06:30 this morning, the car wouldn't start.

We own an old Micra. It's gold, has seen better days, but gets us around, and was free. What more can I say.
Anyway, there is a problem with old Micras which is probably quite costly for Micra drivers over time; in cold weather the car won't start for love nor money. We had owned the car for only a couple of months when we first encountered this, and had to call the AA out because of it.
The problem is that the engine management system (yes, there is one in a Micra!) reads the ambient temperature incorrectly and spurts too much petrol into the engine when the ignition is turned, effectively flooding the engine. Modern engines are quite well sealed which means that the petrol doesn't evaporate quickly. Plus, the engine will continue to inject too much petrol into the engine if the temperature stays about the same.
How does one fix this problem? I have read on the odd forum that buying a new temperature detection unit (thermometer to you and me) can fix the problem, but there is no guarantee. The easiest way to get around this issue is to pull out the engine management fuse and start the engine. This burns off the excess fuel, and warms up the engine bay a bit. Switch off the engine, replace the fuse, and the engine should start as normal. It's not the most convenient solution, but will prevent people from buying an unnecessary bit of kit for an ageing model of car.

UPDATE - I have noticed quite a few hits on this article since writing it. If you find it useful (or even not) please leave a comment so others may gain from your knowledge/experiences too.
SheyMouse

The Liverpool Irish Festival

2007-10-18T15:06:00.001Z

Mrs Mouse to Be is the Director of the Liverpool Irish Festival.
The festival runs over the next few weeks and contains a wide range of artistic performances, lectures, film, exhibitions, and education activities.

If you have stumbled across this blog entry for any reason, please visit the website and check out the events.

Tell your friends.

It is an excellent line-up with something for everyone!

Thought For The Day

2007-09-19T09:04:00.000Z

One should only ever press the snooze button twice before getting up.

My First Moblog

2007-08-29T14:54:00.000Z

Welcome to my first attempt to moblog. Can't add photos yet but might work it out at some stage.

New Beginnings: Part 3

2007-08-20T15:51:00.001Z

I have just changed my profile details to Chesham, Buckinghamshire. This is because last week we moved there from Streatham.
Chesham is a lovely little market town and has some great pubs in it and in the surrounding countryside. I will have to write more about these as and when I go drinking in them.
Right now I am mostly unpacking boxes.

Boy do I hate unpacking...

Dib Dib Dib

2007-08-01T08:42:00.000Z

Today (August 1st) is the centenary of Scouting. There is a massive jamboree today at Brownsea Island just off the coast of Bournemouth. Learn more about it here.

Congratulations to the Scouts all over the world.

New Beginnings: Part 2

2007-07-18T09:24:00.000Z

Congratulations to Mrs. Mouse-to-be. She handed in her notice yesterday and is now leading up to starting a new job with the Liverpool Irish Festival.
This is a very exciting time for both of us. I'm now fully into my new job at WMS. She will be working on the LIF.

Talk about exciting!

Thought for the Day: Comic Writing

2007-07-06T20:12:00.001Z

I think there is something quite comedic about someone reading The Idiot's Guide to Comic Writing.

New Beginnings

2007-06-04T14:35:00.000Z

Right, so, nearly two months on since my last entry. It's amazing how, when life isn't just right, you can't be bothered with some things.

Well, I'm kind of back now. I have recently started a new job as a tester at WMS Gaming, and am now waiting to make my first foray into the United States to head office. I am hoping to go up the Sear's Tower and take some pictures. If I manage this, I will be posting the pics on my photo blog and flickr.

Watch this space...

World or Warcraft - part 2

2007-04-14T09:47:00.000Z

It is now 10:45 in the morning, a little while after my last blog.

I'm now downloading another patch! This one is small, just 219MB.

You would think that the patch would have been incorporated onto my disk vastly reducing the time I have to wait to play this game, and therefore increasing my chances of becoming addicted.

Right now I just feel frustrated, and can't really be bothered with the game.

I'm going out.

World or Warcraft

2007-04-14T06:58:00.000Z

I sit before you ready to embark on what my gamer mates call "crack for geeks".

This is World of Warcraft.

The Times a couple of weeks ago was giving away a free two week trial of this game. I have now installed the game and am waiting for a small patch (697MB!) to install and update.
A quick sideline on patches. I started off my career as a tester at a games publisher in London. One of the games released, Fallout Tactics, had to be patched almost immediately (not my testing, our sister company). I say "almost immediately". What I actually mean is "on the day of release" (no wonder the company is no longer around). This patch was 80MB, and made industry people nearly pass out when they heard this needed to be downloaded, or requested from customer support.
"80MB on a 56k modem, that could take days!"
If you were paying per minute for your connection, you could end up paying almost as much as the original game. Ludicrous! This wasn't that long ago either, only in 2000.

So now I am sitting here blogging waiting for 697MB of patching goodness to download in "About 2 hours". I'm going to wait for it and play the game because I am curious to see what all the craik is about (see what I did there?).
10% downloaded...
World of Warcraft stormed onto the world stage in 2004 and has since continued to grow into a community of gamers 8 million strong. That's 8 million people paying approximately £8.00 per month subscription! For more information, I recommend you read the Times article. If you choose to give the game a go like I am, you can either request a disk from The Times, or you can download it from the World of Warcraft official site.

You see, I haven't even played the game yet and I am dealing it like an addict!

24% downloaded, still "About 2 hours" to wait...
It's only a game. Plus, it's only a 2 week trial, then I can give it all up.

30% downloaded, "About 75 minutes" to wait...
Tell my mum I love her.

40% downloaded, "About 65 minutes" to wait...
Tell the future Mrs. Mouse that I will see her at the wedding.

50% downloaded, "About 51 minutes" to wait...
Why am I sitting here watching a download?

60% downloaded, "About 42 minutes" to wait...
Bored, hungry, going for breakfast.

. . .

. .

.

How Slack?

2007-04-05T13:07:00.001Z

Yep, I’ve been slack with keeping my blog. How will I ever become a famous blogger if I don’t blog? How can my friends and family ever figure out what’s going on if I don’t blog? How can I ever get into the habit of writing often (so I can potentially write a book) if I don’t blog? On a scale of 1 to 10 in slackness I go all the way to 11 (thank you Spinal Tap).

On a plus point, I am still taking photos, but they are in 35mm format and I need to take a few more photos before I can send the films off to be developed. With such a nice Easter weekend being predicted by the weathermen, I think I will have no problem taking photos.

Bring it on!

Commuting on the Tube

2007-03-07T09:59:00.000Z

I have mentioned before how good Diamond Geezer's blog is. His entry Strangers on a Staircase is no exception. It covers the thoughts of people getting off the tube in whichever rank they are. It is amazing how often one encounters the 28th and 29th people off the tube during rush hour.

Happy Birthday Future Mrs. Mouse

2007-02-26T09:48:00.000Z

The future Mrs. Mouse was born on this day a couple more than 20 years ago (it's not polite to mention a lady's age). Everyone sing in full voice now:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. MOUSE TO BE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

There were quite a few people born on this day in history:

Johnny Cash was born today in 1932. The original Man In Black was known for many hit country songs including Boy Named Sue, Ring of Fire, and I Walk the Line.

Fats Domino, also a singer was born today in 1928. He sang many songs, but the one I remember clearest was Bluberry Hill. It reached number 2 in the American charts in 1956.

Levi Strauss was also born on this day in 1829. He is famous for the Levi's brand of jeans worn by many of the gold prospectors during the California Gold Rush during the late 19th century.

So there you have it. Johnny, Fats, and Levi are definitely in illustrious company.

Happy Birthday!

Sinus Headaches are not Fun

2007-02-13T13:49:00.000Z

I have had a sinus headache for the past four days. Now, I have had the normal blocked sinus headache before. Most people experience these when they have a particularly snotty cold.
Last Friday, I woke up and headed off to work. It was only about two stops into my normal train journey when I realised that I couldn't focus on my newspaper or anything around me because the pain in my left eye and on the left side of my head was so bad.
I have spent the past four days, including Friday, leaning over a bowl of boiling water and sniffing Otrivine. I am still in pain, but not as bad as it was. At its height, I almost could not see out my left eye, and moving my head at all caused hard thudding pains down the left side of my head and neck. This is the worst headache I have had in memory.
I hope this bloody thing goes away soon so I can get back to my photography, as well as other projects I have on the go (you will hear about them at a later date).

Nannoo, Nannoo

Idiots

2007-02-05T23:06:00.000Z

As you may know, I have another blog. SheyMouse's Photoblog is where I post a lot of my photos. I know I am not the greatest photographer in the world, but I am learning and improving with every day. Therefore, if I got good enough to be exhibited in the Natural History Museum in the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition I would be very annoyed if someone came and did this:
BBC: Activists Deface Shell Exhibition
I first saw the article on Londonist. I agree with everything that the article says. Here is the link:
Londonist: Oily History Museum

If someone did that to my photo, protective glass or not, they would have to sleep with one eye open for a very long time.

The people who did this were trying to get a message across about global warming, etc. being bad. All they succeeded in doing with me is putting me off ever listining to or reading any of their material. Defacing someone elses property (particularly art) is shameful, and cowardly.

If you want to get your message across, why not make a statement that these wildlife photos may no longer be possible if the climate keeps on changing? If any of you who did the defacing read this, I hope you are ashamed of what you've done.

Muppets.

Happy Australia Day!

2007-01-26T16:32:00.000Z

Today (January 26th) is Australia Day. All over the world Aussies are going into pubs and drinking their favourite (usually overpriced) Aussie tipple (mine's a VB) and probably having a shrimp on the BBQ, or a vegemite sandwich. So, as they say in the Visit Australia ad here in the UK:

Where the bloody hell are you?!

First Snow for London

2007-01-24T16:52:00.000Z

Last night the first snows happened in London for this winter. Everywhere looked nice and white, and the wind stayed away.
Go over to my photoblog to look at some of the photos.

2012 to 2012

2007-01-23T11:15:00.000Z

Today is a momentous occasion for London (and the rest of the UK); there are now 2012 days to go before the 2012 Olympics. You would think there would be some sort of celebration to try and drum up some enthusiasm. Nothing. All we had this morning on the BBC news was Lord Coe going on about how he wants the games to be the greenest games to date. Woo hoo. That has really got me excited... Not! Where's the "Today is a great milestone in the journey to the Olympics!", message? I don't want to hear statistics on how little waste there is going to be. I want to hear about how great things are going to be! It's not even the main news item on the London 2012 website!
The Olympics is becoming so over budgeted that someone soon is going to say 'enough'. Then what will happen? Less seats in the stadia? Already there is going to be less money going to non-Olympic good causes due to the increased funding required from the National Lottery fund.
I think the British Olympic Committee (BOC) has missed a perfect occasion for positive promotion of the Olympics today. If people feel good and excited about something as big as the Olympics, then they won't focus so highly on the money aspect.
I am a big fan of the Olympics. I think that it is a good way to promote racial equality, sportsmanship, sports for health. Having never been in a country leading up to hosting the Olympics before, I am unaware of how other countries and people viewed their government's handling of money and publicity for the event. I am perhaps talking for a point of ignorance slightly, but I feel that the BOC were a bit ignorant at what the overall costs would be; you would have thought they would find out about things like VAT first! I also feel that the press are not getting enough "good news" from the BOC and therefore have to dig up dirt for their papers. The BOC needs to get their house in order and start 'attacking' the British view on the Olympics by releasing good publicity as soon as possible. After all, we all like an excuse to celebrate don't we?

Every Man Should Know His Limits

2007-01-18T09:30:00.000Z

Yesterday I mentioned how manly I feel when pressing the button of my umbrella to see it fully extended while others are still fumbling with theirs.

Today I found that it is a quick tranisiton between feeling cool and manly and looking like a complete tit while fighting with your umbrella in 60 - 80 mile an hour winds.

Sometimes you are just meant to get wet!

Every Man Should Have One

2007-01-17T11:20:00.000Z

Every Man Should Have: A Push Button Umbrella

I have a good quality compact push-button umbrella. When I press the button, it extends out instantly to cover me from the rain while people are fumbling with their old fashioned hand extended ones.

It makes me feel very manly when I have to whip out my umbrella.

Customising One's Blog Template on Blogger

2007-01-16T23:30:00.000Z

One of the features of blogger is that I can view/edit the HTML of my blog template. I have been trying to work out how to do this. I think I have finally done it. If you visit here and see everything messed up, I have pressed 'Save' rather and 'Preview' and am probably weeping in a corner.

It's not fun unless I am pulling it apart and figuring how it works.

I Need a Wii

2007-01-15T22:39:00.000Z

The trend nowadays is to drink water like there's going to be a drought tomorrow. However, water drinking was taken to extreme in the U.S. when a woman died from drinking too much water while competing in a competition to win a Nintendo Wii:

BBC News: Why is too much water dangerous?

This is an unfortunate accident where someone who dropped out of science class as soon as possible to study media studies didn't know that cells swell when given water. If given too much water, these cells will eventually burst.

So there you have it. Too much water is bad for you. Limit your intake to about 2 litres per day (including tea, fruit juice, etc.), and you should be fine.

Next they will be telling you breathing is dangerous!

What I Learnt Today

2007-01-14T23:59:00.000Z

1. If you don't do your trainers up properly, you will get a blister on your toe.

2. If you don't look where you are going, you will step in a muddy puddle.

3. If you wear predomintantly white trainers to a park after it rains, they will get dirty.

4. If you try to use Jedi mind tricks to get someone out of your photo, they will not move.

Went for another walk today. I went all the way to Streatham Common and back with a good walk around the Rookery. I will post photos on my photoblog most likely, but this photo is one I particularly like.

And rest...

2007-01-13T12:47:00.000Z

I feel great. I always feel good when I do something I said I'd do.

I have just come back from my walk. I wasn't out for the whole time since my last post, but I was out for about 3/4 of an hour. I power walked down to the library and got some recycling bags. I also got my watch fixed having broken it about five months ago while camping. All of this was done while trying to keep my heart rate up, so wherever I walked, I did it quickly.

Now I'm back home having some water, and I'm about to have something to eat. It is lunchtime after all!

Having mentioned the benefits of water in my last post, I am now going to mention a bit about the food side of exercising. If you find yourself getting more and more into exercise, you should begin thinking about what you eat and when. When you exercise, even going for a brisk walk, you burn calories, and lose moisture. When you return home from exercising, your body will tell you it needs food and now! It will also tell you that the best thing for it is yummy sugary or fatty foods. Avoid eating fatty foods and simple carbohydrate* foods (sugary foods). Instead, try and feed your body a bit of complex carbohydrate* (potato, bread, pasta) and perhaps a bit of protein (chicken, fish, lean meat). After light exercise, the best thing you can do for your body is have a tuna sandwich (easy on the mayonnaise, add lettuce if you have it), washed down with about a litre of water. Simple, easy to make, and good for you.

Now where did I put that mars bar... :-)

*The main difference between simple and complex carbohydrates is the speed they are absorbed into the body. Simple carbs (chocolate, sugary drinks) are a quick fix; you feel good quickly, but will lose that feeling equally quickly. Complex carbs (potato, pasta, bread) release their energy steadily and slowly; keeping you energised for longer and you don't have a come-down like that of simple carbs.

It's Good to Walk

2007-01-13T10:31:00.000Z

I have decided to do more exercise.

Like many people, I indulged a bit too much over the Christmas and New Year period. I've put on a few pounds (which I took off last year!), and really want to increase my fitness level.

One thing people think when they decide to start exercising is that they need to run a long way often, or lift heavy weights until it hurts. Increasing your base fitness level is not that hard. A minimum of 20 minutes exercise three times a week is all it takes. The simplest and cheapest (free!) way to exercise is go for a walk. You needn't go and buy loads of kit. Put on some comfortable shoes and trousers and go for a walk. Walk slightly faster than you normally would to increase your heart rate, and try to keep it up for 20 minutes.

Simple ways to ensure you walk for 20 minutes:
Get off the train/tube/bus a stop or two earlier.
Park your car a little bit away from your house.
Explore a part of your neighbourhood you have never been to.
Explore a part of your friends neighbourhood.
Go for a ramble.
Walk to the shops when you are off to get milk/eggs/the paper, and take a longer route.

Doing even one of those suggestions will ensure you get a bit more exercise, and boost your fitness levels.

So, now I have to put my money where my mouth is. I'm off for a walk to my local library to get some recycling bags. Boring, I know, but it gets me out, and will take about 20 minutes there and back. I feel healthy just writing about it!

Finally, and most importantly, drink water. Take some with you, or have some in the fridge for when you get back. Your body loves water, and it helps the body to flush toxins, regulate your body temperature, and lubricate your joints, muscle fibres, and arteries; and that's just a few of the things water does for you!

Londoner's Blog Worth Reading

2007-01-11T13:29:00.000Z

Having put Londonist and Random Acts of Reality into the links section, I remembered a blog I used to read, but hadn't in a while.

Diamond Geezer blogs a lot about life in London. He is witty, writes well, and writes about interesting topics. I especially likes some of the features he does like following the meridian line through London from Royal Greenwhich Observatory.

Go and have a look. You won't be disappointed.

London Bloody Transport

2007-01-11T10:25:00.000Z

How difficult is it to ensure that a commuter train is running? It's the busiest time of the day, and yet, this morning I was late for work because "The 08:07 train to London Bridge has been cancelled due to a lack of carriages."
What?!?!
If I went and asked Southern Trains why this is, they will say that due to vandalism they are short on carriages. I accept that some carriages get vandalised so badly that they need to be taken out of commission. However, I also feel that during the busiest time of the day, they should at least make an effort to field enough trains for commuters. We in the UK pay the highest prices per mile to travel compared with anywhere in Europe. Is it unreasonable for me to expect my money to go towards ensuring I can make it to work on time?

Exercise

2007-01-10T18:53:00.000Z

I just got home with every intention of going out for a walk and then decided I couldn't be bothered.

Bloody winter!

At the moment I'm too caught up with getting used to blogging, as well as playing with my photos in my photo blog and my flickr.

I'm going to have to start excercising at some point. I think I'll have to make that my priority this weekend.

Until then, back to flickr, and photoblogging!

iPhone Revealed

2007-01-10T10:21:00.000Z

As often as possible I'm going to comment on a news story I've read in the papers or online. Today's pick isn't really a revelation, but I've go to start somewhere!

So, yesterday Steve Jobs of Apple unvailed the new iPhone. Everybody is swooning over it. Jobs said in his presentation "The iPod changed everything in 2001. We're going to do it again with the iPhone in 2007." I have no doubt about this. Apple is such a strong brand that you would have to be six feet under to miss it.
Like iPods, I feel that the first generation will be good, but wait for the 2nd generation as they will have got most of the bugs out. The best thing about the iPhone, I feel, is that everyone else will be forced to raise their standards. Be on the look out for smart phones that do what the iPhone does, but cheaper and in some cases better. iPod did that for music, so why can't iPhone do that for mobile telephony?

PvP has a great little comic strip about it today. Brent is a Mac yuppy in case you are slightly confused.

Some Links to Pass the Time

2007-01-10T00:30:00.000Z

I have added some of my favourit links for you to take a look at. As I add more I will probably end up categorising them, but they will remain in list form for now.

PvP Online is a comic strip I read almost every day. It's about a gaming magazine company and all the characters which make up the staf (including a mythical troll called Skull). It is very witty and you do not really need to know about games to follow it.

Dilbert is another comic strip I read on a regular basis. It has been going for quite a while now, mainly because Scott Adams is such a fine observer of office politics.

Random Acts of Reality is a blog by Tom Reynolds covering all aspects of his life centering mainly around his work in the London Ambulance Service. The stories make for compelling reading and give one a healthy respect for all Ambulance personnelle everywhere.

My final link today is Londonist. It is a blog covering as much as possible of the goings on in the Greater London area. I usually dip into it every now and then for a mild diversion and to see if there is any cool stuff happening.

Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome

2007-01-09T22:30:00.000Z

Welcome to Mouse's Musings. This is the sister blog to SheyMouse's Photo Blog. The photo blog was started because I wanted to take more photos and see if I could capture any good ones to show off. Early days is all I have to say on that one.

I started this blog because I keep on wanting to write about what I'm thinking, observing, looking at on the web, etc., but my photobolg is not for those kind of musing. Therefore, this is where my musings will be placed. The aim is to put links and musings here whenever I get the chance.