Skip to main content

No win, no fee

Image
By
Well, I didn’t quite make it, and have come an honourable second in the North West Evening Mail’s Big Blogger competition.
There was an article in the paper yesterday (the online version is here http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/evening-mail-s-new-columnist-looks-forward-to-role-1.943128?referrerPath=news ) and I had another interview, where they tried to goad me into saying me and the winner didn’t like each other. He likes ELO, so is therefore definitely a Good Bloke.
On a decidedly positive note, whilst I didn’t win a laptop, it seems they liked me enough (or are particularly desperate) for me to be offered a weekly column in the paper too. I know! Me. Writing stuff. In a newspaper. This will end badly or, at the very least, in a custodial sentence. I’ve got to have a chat with them first to find out what they want – if it’s more of the same stuff, then great; I’m full of that! If they want an in-depth analysis of Barrow AFC’s matches, then I might have to decline.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have been so brilliantly kind as to read my blog posts, and actually keep coming back and doing the same thing, even once you’d realised how dreadful they were.
I am utterly gobsmacked by your support. Thank you so much.
I'd made up the be-crowned version of my picture just in case I won. Seems a shame to waste it... you can stop laughing at photos of me now. No, really. Stop it. NOW!
(In a shocking piece of futuristic know-how, I'm listening to They Might Be Giants' podcast 51. Go me!)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian Grand Prix - Vettel hot, but not bothered

By
Malaysia. It's always hot, and it always rains. Except the 2nd part is no longer true (unless you count the drizzly bit around lap 14). Saturday's qualifying session had highlighted the fact that Red Bull and McLaren seemed well matched on pace, but also that Ferrari were struggling. Whilst Vettel bagged another pole, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Button, Alonso was only 5th, and Massa 7th, with Nick Heidfeld an excellent 6th on the grid between the two red cars. At this point, I would like to break momentarily for a small rant: How many times do I have to say Heidfeld is good? Why wasn't he given a top drive years ago? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU BLIND!!!?? Ahem. The Hispanias somehow managed to a) turn up b) remember to bring cars c) get both of them on the track d) actually get both of them within 107%. Pretty remarkable really. Oh, and it didn't rain. Race day looked a more likely candidate for a drop of the wet stuff. The start was exciting, with...
5 comments
Read more

A fisful of change at the shops

By
A recent day out reminded me how much the retail experience has altered during my lifetime – and it’s not all good. I could stop typing this, and buy a fridge, in a matter of seconds. The shops are shut and it’s 9pm, but I could still place the order and arrange delivery. I haven’t got to wander round a white-goods retail emporium trying to work out which slightly different version of something that keeps my cider cold is better. It’ll be cheaper, too. But in amongst the convenience, endless choice and bargains, we’ve lost some of the personal, human, touches that used to make a trip to the shops something more than just a daily chore. Last weekend, we visited a local coastal town. Amongst the shops selling over-priced imported home accessories (who doesn’t need another roughly-hewn wooden heart, poorly painted and a bargain at £10?) was one that looked different. It’s window allowed you to see in, rather than being plastered with stick-on graphics and special offers calling ...
2 comments
Read more

Suffering from natural obsolescence

By
You know you’re getting old when it dawns on you that you’re outliving technological breakthroughs. You know the sort of thing – something revolutionary, that heralds a seismic shift it the way the modern world operates. Clever, time-saving, breathtaking and life-changing (and featuring a circuit board). It’s the future, baby! Until it isn’t any more. I got to pondering this when we laughed heartily in the office about someone asking if our camcorder used “tape”. Tape? Get with the times, Daddy-o! If it ain’t digital then for-get-it! I then attempted to explain to an impossibly young colleague that video tape in a camcorder was indeed once a “thing”, requiring the carrying of something the size of a briefcase around on your shoulder, containing batteries normally reserved for a bus, and a start-up time from pressing ‘Record’ so lengthy, couples were already getting divorced by the time it was ready to record them saying “I do”. After explaining what tape was, I realised I’d ...
Post a Comment
Read more