Rich is sad about the death of the great Sir Jimmy Saville. A true small screen legend to anyone who went through their childhood in the 1980s. Sadly never got a reply from ‘Jim’ll’, but do have vivid memories of being about five or six & making a fake Jim’ll Fix It medal out of string & tinfoil, and trying to fool the kids who lived up the road into thinking it was real!
Wednesday 2nd November 2011 - Rich is amused this morning by what is probably the most bizarre regional news story in quite some time. This week is apparently British Sausage Week – and today, a load of butchers from Nottingham are going head to head to head in the hope of being crowned as the city’s premier sausage maker. Best of all though, this contest is being judged by, of all people, veteran glam-rock legend Noddy Holder! Random…
Thursday 3rd November 2011 - Rich has just been through the nail-biting experience of watching his school’s footy team play a cup game that ended up going to penalties! Happily though, the boys kept their cool & won the shoot-out 4-2. Two members of the team – the striker & the left-back – were recently talent scouted by Forest! Never let it be said that Forest never sign left-backs..!
Friday 4th November 2011 - Rich went to the cinema last night to see a new film called ‘Sound It Out’ – a documentary about daily life in a small independent record shop in a provincial town in the north-east of England. Very funny – well worth seeing if you get the chance. ‘Tis sad though that independent record shops are few & far between these days in today’s increasingly bland retail world…
Saturday 5th November 2011 - Rich spent his afternoon today admiring thousands of gorgeous birds, what with him & the wife having decided to come on a visit to one of his favourite places in whole world – the National Parrot Sanctuary in Lincolnshire! Staying over tonight, having decided to make a weekend away of it, at ‘The Parrot’s Nest’ – the sanctuary’s very own B&B! Looking forward to being woken up tomorrow by what will no doubt be a rather raucous dawn chorus..!
Sunday 6th November 2011 - Rich & Em muchly enjoyed their overnight stay last night at the National Parrot Sanctuary. Now just up the road in Skegness watching a spot of stock car racing at Skegness Stadium. Great entertainment! Particularly looking forward to the grand finale – the caravan destruction derby!
Monday 7th November 2011 – Rich has just discovered that Scroobius Pip is playing a gig in Nottingham tonight – a piece of information that has reminded him of the time at Glastonbury last year when him & Emma bumped into the beardy rapper… & he ended up asking for directions to a particular stage that he was due to perform on later that day! Still worry that might have unwittingly sent him the wrong way..!
Tuesday 8th November 2011 - Rich would like to take this opportunity to hail the eclectic brilliance of the cheese counter at Morrison’s! Latest purchases from this emporium of goodness have been Sticky Toffee Apple-flavoured cheese, & a cheese called ‘Drunken Goat’ – a Spanish goat’s cheese infused with a dash of Rioja! Inspired..!
Wednesday 9th November 2011 - Rich hereby salutes the legend that is his Grandmother – who will be celebrating her 80th birthday tomorrow! The old bird has had a tough time of it in recent years, what with the loss of Grandad to cancer… & also a myriad of problems with her own health. In spite of all this though, she remains an utter inspiration on lots of levels. Happy birthday, Granny!
Thursday 10th November 2011 - Rich & Em have crossed the divide over to the dark side tonight – in so far as the fact that they are currently at a bar in Derby enjoying ‘An evening with..’ event with mincing former footballer Robbie Savage! Some great stories so far. Compere has just announced that he will be soon be taking questions from the floor – anyone got any good suggestions?
Friday 11th November 2011 - Rich is considering marking Remembrance Day tonight by watching the classic film of ‘The Dambusters’. Still find the bravery of 617 squadron absolutely astonishing, flying huge planes just 60 feet above enemy ground in order to drop the famous bouncing bombs. Sadly, 53 members of the squadron never made it home…
Saturday 12th November 2011 - Rich isn’t quite sure how he’s going to fill the massive Karl Pilkington-shaped void he now has in his life, after Sky One’s ‘An Idiot Abroad 2′ finished last night! As for an overall highlight of the series, it has to be a toss-up between either Karl travelling on the Trans-Siberian railway, or Karl staying with a jungle tribe on an island in the South Pacific who worship Prince Philip!
Sunday 13th November 2011 - Rich & the wife went to the NEC in Birmingham yesterday to see ‘Top Gear Live’. The whole thing was basically like an episode of Top Gear, only performed live in a massive indoor arena – with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond & James May pulling off a veritable smorgasbord of ridiculous car-related stunts. Very entertaining..!
Monday 14th November 2011 - Rich is well aware that he shouldn’t laugh really – but nevertheless, can’t help but be amused by the news over the weekend of the city of Derby having had its Christmas lights nicked! If any of you missed this story, you can check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/?uk-england-derbyshire-15701380w?.bbc.co.uk/news/?uk-england-derbyshire-157013807
Tuesday 15th November 2011 - Rich is looking forward to heading into downtown Nottingham this evening for a few drinks with his great friend Ed Baker! Plan for the night is to check out some musical comedy in the form of a gig by Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer – a rapper who eshews the usual guns and bling in favour of tweed & a pipe! If any of you want to check out Mr B, a video of one of his finest songs can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/?watch?v=gx9PD8cSwSU
Wednesday 16th November 2011 - Rich, culture vulture that he is, is at the theatre this evening watching his mate Jason star as Randle Patrick McMurphy in a production of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’! Surprisingly funny so far considering that it’s a play basically about a group of people who are mostly suffering from a range of mental health problems!
Thursday 17th November 2011 - Rich has just read a ridiculous article on a website about rock legend Lemmy, who is playing in Nottingham tonight with Motorhead. The article in question basically implies that Lemmy is a nazi sympathiser, seemingly on the sole basis that he collects World War Two regalia – & happens to have quite a lot of German stuff. Absolute tosh. Nevertheless, bit worried now about what people might read into the ‘Aircraft of the Luftwaffe’ tea towell that regularly gets used for drying the pots at Fisher Towers..!
Friday 18th November 2011 - Rich is looking forward to his annual shift of answering phones tonight for Children in Need. Hopefully lots of cash will be raised! Apparently the village of Oasby in Lincolnshire holds an annual ‘baboon night’ for Children in Need – which, for reasons unfathomable, involves locals throwing an effigy of a baboon over the roof of their local pub! This event last year inspired one of the greatest newspaper headlines ever in Oasby’s local rag – ‘Help toss baboon for charity’!
Saturday 19th November 2011 – Rich enjoyed an excellent evening last night answering phones for Children in Need! Randomly, the band who played at his & Emma’s wedding back in April turned up part of the way through the evening to provide a bit of live musical entertainment – ended up taking a quick break from the phones in order to join them for a impromptu rendition of ‘Ace of Spades’! Forget Wembley or Madison Square Gardens – few would-be rock stars can claim to having played at Boots The Chemists’ call centre..!
Sunday 20th November 2011 - Rich is feeling as rough as a badger’s ballbag, having been laid low for the last 24 hours by a particularly ferocious migraine – first one since July. Feel a bit gutted actually, as had decided after the last migraine to try giving up coffee in the hope that it would help prevent them… and after going four months without one, was beginning to believe that it may be just be working. Oh well – back to the drawing board..!
Monday 21st November 2011 - Rich has just read a depressing article in a newspaper predicting that Britain is about to be hit by another recession. Quoted in the article was the Governor of the Bank of England – some bloke called Mervyn King. Presumably a different Mervyn King to the professional darts player of the same name?! Though with their sharp mathematical minds, the Government could do worse than putting a load of professional darts players in charge of the country’s financial affairs…
Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Rich suspects he must have done something recently to seriously irk the migraine gods. Went to bed last night fully intending to go back to work today, having just about recovered from the migraine of the weekend – only to wake up in the early hours of this morning to the sensation of ANOTHER bloody migraine taking hold! Have since just about managed to shake off this second one. Please no more though…
Wednesday 23rd November 2011 - Rich is intrigued by the latest shenanigans of one of his favourite bands, American mentalists The Flaming Lips, who have just released a song that’s 24 hours long. Have always admired the Lips & their continual attempts to experiment & push artistic boundaries – however, didn’t Bryan Adams manage a song that was 24 hours long a good 20 years ago with ‘Everything I Do’ (I Do It For You)’?
Thursday 24th November 2011 - Rich played his weekly game five-a-side football this evening, and enjoyed hearing tall tales in the bar afterwards from one of his fellow players, Richard Crouch – who successfully completed a charity trek the other week to Mount Everest Base Camp! Left feeling somewhat lazy though in comparison to Mr Crouch, having been to Nepal in 2007 and had a gander at the Himalayas in an altogether more leisurely manner by simply taking a 30-minute scenic flight from Kathmandu Airport (with the briliantly-named domestic airline Buddha Air, no less!)
Friday 25th November 2011 - Rich is amused to be such a source of fascination to his class! Today, two of the children suddenly began giggling uncontrollably during a session in the school’s computer room – & upon investigating, it turned out that they’d decided to type ‘Mr Fisher’ into ‘Google images’… & subsequently stumbled upon a veritable treasure trove of Mr Fishers of all colours and creeds!
Saturday 26th November 2011 - Rich & the wife went out to Spondon on the outskirts of Derby last night for a pub meal at ‘The Bank’… & were amused to discover that the menu there offers the option of a 48 ounce steak! What’s more, anyone who does order this beast of a meal & actually finishes it doesn’t have to pay! Anyone think they could take on this challenge? Would’ve been well up for it, but sadly they don’t do a Quorn version of the steak..!
Sunday 27th November 2011 - Rich has been out to deepest darkest Leicestershire countryside today for a highly enjoyable visit to see his Aunt Barbara! Much fun in particular was had playing with the four-legged ball of energy that is Digby, Barbara’s giant labradoodle -including the random amusing discovery that ‘Diggers’ goes mental whenever he hears the intro to ‘Let’s Stick Together’ by Bryan Ferry!
Monday 28th November 2011 - Rich s sat watching the ‘Inside Out’ programme about Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, which is currently being shown on BBC1 – or at least the East Midlands’ version of BBC1. Prior to going into teaching, spent a couple of years working for the part of the NHS that runs Rampton – which is one of England’s three high-secure psychiatric hospitals. A morbidly fascinating place…
Tuesday 29th November 2011 - Rich has not had the best of days today, starting with this afternoon’s news that the ongoing problem with his right eye is now likely to require a cornea transplant – something that will mean having to give up playing football. “Oh well, never mind, hopefully Forest will make everything better by beating Leeds tonight,” you go away thinking. Should really know better by now than to pin any hopes on the not-so-mighty Reds..!
Wednesday 30th November2011 - Rich & the wife presented a united marital front today, by marching together through Nottingham along with thousands of others to protest against the Government’s plans to shaft the public sector workforce. At one point a group of people doing the march were shouting “What do we want? Cameron out! When do we want it? Now!” However, through the constant repetition, the ‘Cameron out’ bit of the chant started to sound more like ‘Camembert’! Very amusing..!
