Night Rider.....

I'm still alive, and I didn't even crash into a lamp-post, or run over any poor pedestrians!

I had another driving lesson this evening (fortunately my instructor had someone cancel the night before so I was able to get in a lesson this week). The map above shows the route I drove this time - a fair bit more than last week!! Starting from home, I drove along Evesham Road until we reached Offenham, along Boat Lane, and down Station Road, through Badsey and down Badsey Road back into Evesham. Then, after driving down Port Street, I then turned onto Waterside, along the river Avon, up Cheltenham road, turning of into Fairfield Road, along Four Pools Road (where Evesham High, the school I work at is located), down Coopers Lane, back along Waterside, up Port Street and back into Coronation Street!!!!..... (phew)

What did I learn today? How to turn at junctions.

I also was required to go into work tonight to video record the school production. This year, the production is 'Fame', and as well as having recording duties, I was also technical backup for the sound system.....

..... What would they do without me?

By the way, feel free to watch the production on the EHS website - Thursday night and Friday night between 7.o0pm and 10.00pm. However, the audio module for our network webcam is faulty, so you will only get video..... no sound I'm afraid.
http://www.eveshamhigh.worcs.sch.uk/new_site/camera1.html

So, I have hardly seen Michelle and Kieran today - except for the 10 minutes or so when I got home from work before having to rush out for my driving lesson.

I'm knackered, tired and I'm off to bed.

"we're on a road to nowhere....."

I've had my provisional driving licence now for over 2 months, but last night, at 5.00pm I had my very first driving lesson!! Yep, it was the very first time in my life that I have sat in the drivers seat of a car, and although I was nervous as hell, my instructor eased my nerves and the whole hour went smoothly.... I didn't even stall the engine!!!

Basically I was just taught the basic understandings of how a car works. Once I got to grips with the clutch and gear changing, to my surprise I was asked to drive down a couple of roads near to where I live (see map below for route). I was asked to do the route twice.

Can't wait for my next lesson in two weeks time (couldnt get one for next week unfortunatly)

Remember :----

* Start ignition
* Check gear is in neutral
* Press down on clutch all the way
* Place car in 1st gear.
* Check mirrors, and all blindspots
* Press down gently on the accelerator then bring the clutch up until you reach the biting point
* Remove handbrake

And away we go.........

Check back again soon for another exciting episode of 'Learning to drive (and trying not to crash into anything or anyone) with Stuart Wilson!!'

Remember, remember the 4th (!!!!) of November

We had Michelle's Dad pop round last night with a load of fireworks for Kieran. We wasn't sure what Kieran would think of them as this would have been his first firework display.....

He loved it!!!

Infact, the whole evening went really well, (besides one firework chasing us round the garden). I like fireworks, but I always get nervous around them, which is probably why I will always take Kieran to a proper display rather than go out and buy my own - they are just too unpredictable.

Anyway, I hope you like the picture of Kieran which I've posted here, all dressed up and ready to go out on a cold November night.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

I've seen so many kids try it at school, so I figured I'd give it a go..... If you visit www.myheritage.com, you can try out a cool little web-based program which attempts to match a photo which you send of yourself with famous people. The image above is a result.... Spookingly, it says I resemble "The Shat"!!! How about that! Is it a coincidence that I just so happen to love Star Trek?

I probably look like that picture of Theo van Gogh when I've had a few too many (if you know what I mean). It also says that I resemble super-model Valeria Mazza!!! Hmmmmmmm. So thats what I'd look like with long blonde hair, and makeup

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Bloody stupid thing - Its crap!

Actually, it may be me getting old and stupid, but besides William Shatner, I haven't the foggiest idea who the others are! I mean, I had to google Valeria just to find out she's a model!

Christmas has come early! (Part 2)

I'm well chuffed. My Stargate SG1 cast photo arrived today, personally signed by Christopher Judge (Teal'c), Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter), Micheal Shanks (Daniel Jackson), and Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O'Neill). Thats another one to add to my collection of signed autographs...

Also, I had a good day at work today.... We were all told to go home by 10.00am due to the school not having any water! Apparently a water main had been burst down the road. Worked out good as the day has been gorgeous, and with Michelle not working during the day, we went into town, spent some money and took Kieran to the park to play.

Halloween went without any problems yesterday. If you know me, then you know that I hate the whole halloween thing. We had one bunch of trick or treaters knock (we didn't answer the door) and they left without throwing any eggs of flour.

Christmas has come early!

I've been spending my money again, this time on another handheld console to add to my ever growing collection - a GP2x.

I've got its predecessor, the GP32, but this little beauty can do so much more. It can be used as a multimedia player and can play most common music file types, view pictures, watch XVID, DIVX and other movie types all on the go (useful when on those long journeys!!) Of course, the main reason I purchased one was for its ability to emulate so many old computers and consoles.

Already on my 1gb card which is installed inside it, I have the following emulators (plus countless number of games) -
Commodore 64
Commodore Plus 4
Commodore Amiga
Sega Megadrive
Atari ST
Atari 800XL
Archimedes (Yep Dan, Stunt Racer 2000 on the go!!!)
Gameboy
Gameboy Advance
MSDOS
SNES
NES
PlayStation (albeit a little sluggish, but I got Resident Evil running fairly well on it).

It can even emulate the very first computer I had - the Philips G7000!!

Specs :-

Dual-core CPU: 240MHz ARM920T host, 240MHz ARM940T NAND
Flash ROM: 64 MB
RAM: SDRAM 64 MB
Operating System: Linux-based OS
Storage: SD Card (Mine currently has a 1Gb card installed)
Connection to PC: USB 2.0 High Speed
USB Host: USB 1.1
Power: 2 × AA battery or via AC adapter
Display: 320×240 3.5 inch, 260,000 colors TFT LCD
TV output