Josh's Blog

Mum and Felix came to visit this weekend, which was really good fun. We went to Alnwick – I’ve been meaning to go for ages, and it’s definitely worth another visit… maybe when it’s a bit warmer!

We went around the gardens for a bit, after sneakily blagging our way in free by Felix getting his photo taken by someone from The Journal, proudly holding a lantern he made… all very interesting and modern and creative – it’s not often a garden like that even vaguely interests me, even with my NT membership! Except maybe if it contains picnic baskets…

They’re off to Dubai in the New Year, to be with my Dad who moved out there a week or two ago… that’s just how a recession effects industries linked to construction, unfortunately, so he’s had to go where the work is. It was good to see them for probably the last time before Dom graduates next summer, and I think they had good fun too.

We went to Barter Books, a great big second hand bookshop/Aladdin’s cave/British Library in the old (massively oversized) railway station. It’s the kind of place that you could spend a week in, as well as a month’s salary, quite easily. Jen’s quite jealous, so we’ll have to go back sometime… I was sorely tempted by lots of old OS maps they had, but restrained myself.

Felix has become ridiculously good at the Diabolo since I last saw him (when he was struggling to even catch it from a flick in the air – not that I can do that either!) He’s made up couple of very intricate tricks of his own… it seems like a much better playground fad than Pogs ever were!

So, here ends my last weekend off before Christmas… almost. Tis St. Andrews Day today, and even though it’s not quite Burns’ Night, Jennie and I will be celebrating with Haggis, Neaps and Tatties, and maybe some Scotch “gravy” too .

Only if she finishes her essay though *cracks whip*

Hope you’re all well and have good weeks.

This is how cool Jen and I are: aged 15 (Jen) and 17 (me), before we’d even decided to go to Durham, let alone arrived and met one another, we both bought identically coloured red guitars of one type and another. She is the acoustic to my bass . To continue the similarities, neither of us can really play them, though she can strum out a few tunes while I’m not even at that level… so, we’ve been learning… or rather I have, Jen wasn’t really in the mood after our excursion yesterday.

I’m ridiculously proud to say that I can sort-of, accurately-ish, play the bass line to Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. Go me! I know it’s ridiculously easy (clearly a song made for n00bs), but even though I’ve owned the guitar for about 6 years, I’m very proud of that *sets himself up for a mocking*

Anywho, enough of that. Last weekend was my housewarming party… only small (7 of us) but it was fantastic – it was nice to be able to be able to have a proper sit down meal with every one (mm, yummy lamb), even if a couple of us were sitting on speakers due to lack of chairs… thank you to everyone who came, it was fabulous to see you all, and my house is feeling metaphorically, if not actually, warm.

Yesterday, we made good use of our matching National Trust memberships (only £21 if you’re under 26, join up, live the dream!) to visit Housesteads Fort on Hadrian’s Wall… it was very cold, though there wasn’t any snow left, which was probably a good thing. I’d never been to the wall before, it was surprising how much was still there really. I still found it  a little difficult to imagine how big it would have been, because it doesn’t look that much more imposing than the surrounding dry stone walls, but the museum bit gave lots of information that made it pretty clear that it was a formidable structure after all – as much because of the defensive ditches and peaks on either side of the wall as of the stone structure itself. Go and see it if you get the chance – Rome’s solution to the ungovernable people!

We had a 20% off day at work recently – while these are common in some retailers, M&S doesn’t usually go in for store-wide discounting as much as the competition. The last time we had a “Spectacular Day” was four years ago, so the store was absolutely rammed with people – mostly on GM, but the deal extended to wine too which meant foods was very busy as well – to the point where ten people filling the section all day couldn’t keep it full (the maximum we could get away with without crowding out customers!) It meant a very long shift for me and the other managers, but I did enjoy it. That was my first real taste of retail at Peak, so it’s a good sign.

A number of others from my intake of grads have recently left the business, where I’m really just beginning to enjoy it properly. I think a lot of that is because I’m happier being up here, and because my competitive nature is kicking in a bit more… I’m not sure how much I need to reign it in, but I’m getting good reviews at the moment, which is nice

I watched the government’s PBR this afternoon. All very interesting, and delivered masterfully by Mr. Darling. I think Osborne came on much too strongly, especially as the Tories don’t have any suggestions for what to do, but we’ll see how the media portrays their debate in the morning.

In terms of the policy, it’s a shame that VAT is effectively being kept on fuel, although with prices dropping anyway I suppose it’s not a big problem. I like the 15% VAT policy generally, especially the speed of implementation, but I’m disappointed that the changes won’t go further in reforming the tax system overall.

That said, without winning a general election with reforms as a manifesto, we probably shouldn’t go for a wholesale overhaul of taxation, however badly it is needed. I do think, though, that the reform of taxation after 2010 is the way to pay for the immediate tax cuts: a 50-60% rate for those earning over £100k, implementing a local income tax to replace the ridiculous council tax, and a freeze or cut of the 20% standard rate. I’m not sure whether the current 40% higher rate should change, but I’m inclined to think that any movement either way should be very modest.

That’s enough for now, I think.

When I was up at Kieran and Lucy’s house in Uttoxeter last weekend (feels like much longer ago than that!!!), she invented a new form of extreme poetry – fill in the blanks between the punctuation!

Here’s the template, and my attempt is underneath

my pet fish called Boris,
was a tory! “oh no” i said
cause tories are lame jacksies;
they like cake? of course not
they take joy from nothing but denationalisation.

Kieran had a lot of input too . Have a go yourselves!

In other news, I’m now the proud owner of my very own fridge! It’s silver and Samsung and actually quite nice! I’ve just fired it up to see if it works, and it’s making encouraging noises; now we play the waiting game!