A Blog is for life, not just for October 4th

Bonjour mes amis, and welcome to installment #2 of my little blog . Well, I suppose it's #3 if you count the Fins entry. I don't and it's my blog, so #2 it is.

The gap between posts is inexcusable. I know of at least 3 people who read the last post, and they deserve more than 2 months of a zero log blog. During that time much has happened in the world. My timbers were shivered by the return of piracy to the high seas. To make ends meet next year I may dust down my old Pirate outfit, and borrow SLAM for a days buccaneering on the Solent. I think I'll target something smaller than an Oil Tanker. Maybe the Gosport - Portsmouth ferry. I could hold it to ransom till Pompey agree to swap divisions with the Saints. Probably better swap players too, while they're at it.

The Americans elected Barack Obama President. What happened there? 4 years ago they reelected Bush, a fact that should have led to the whole nation being stripped of voting rights. Allow me to remind you of some highlights from the last 8 years. There were the terrible events of 9/11, the largest ever attack on the United States, for which the US have never really got revenge. Instead they went into one unwinnable war that I think people generally agree with, and another one for which the good people of Iraq will be paying for many many generations. Ever find any WMDs, George?

As if 9/11 wasn't bad enough, Bush completely ignored the horror of Katrina hitting New Orleans. More people died in New Orleans than on 9/11, but they were not bankers or businessmen. No, they were the poor who didn't own a car to leave the city. And because they were poor and in most cases Black, they didn't count for much and were left to fend for themselves.

And then he's decimated the strongest economy of the world, bringing ours down with it. And what does he do? Absolutely sod all. The fact is, the US government pretty much shuts down when a new President has been elected. Obama is currently as powerless as you or I, and Bush's only task for the next two months is writing a list of all his mates he'll exonerate on the eve of succession. Our system of handing over the reins (or reigns, geddit?) at least gets the job done quickly.

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned Guantanamo Bay.

But that's enough ranting, I think. Onto lighter issues. One of the side effects of living with the lovely Julie is that I'm now something of an authority on X Factor, and to a lesser extent Strictly Come Dancing. But absolutely not I'm a Celebrity, the name winds me up, for the same reason that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter does.

I should point out that I haven't been sucked into the X Factor completely. I have not and will not vote, but I find it a fascinating human experiment. Anyone with an ear knows that Alexandra should and hopefully will win. The only other contestant who comes close is Ruth, but powerful and emotional as her voice is, it lacks the absolute pitch perfect delivery. Compared to those two, I'm amazed at how limp the singing of the other contestants is. Yes, it is on tune, but whenever there is any kind of backing vocal you can't hear them. It's so patently obvious. On singing talent Rachel should have stayed by an ex-drug addict isn't a great image for the show, so they worked her out by cleverly manipulating the judges comments, leaving the images they want on the show. So we're left with a poor man's barber shop quartet, and two annoying children who are surely up past their bed time. At least JLS can harmonise, but I'm very bored of the Claw and the impossible-named-one.

Anyway, now I've invalidated my masculinity on the internet it's time to close. I'll endeavour to post at least a couple of times in December, which should be achievable as I only work 10 days out of 31!

The Fins

Ok, I haven't actually got as far as turning on the TV. Instead I quickly logged onto FaceBook to do some quick self-publicity (which if anyone is reading this is almost certainly how you found me). Disgusted with myself for being so narcissistic, I decided to even up the score, by a bit of free advertising for Rauf's band, The Fins.

Second only to Radiohead in my Top 10 of Live Performances Attended, they've released a single called Adaptor, which is exceptional. Check it out for yourself: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DTkG2YBM4

If you like it, you can buy it on Amazon and iTunes (I think). I have no idea how they managed to find the funds to do this, but hopefully you'll agree it's been worth every penny. Incidentally, the video was put together by my tenant Ben Clayton, who this year also made a video for Ann Summer's. Tough job, I'm sure.

Whatever happened to alec.fitzsimmons.com?

Bonjour and welcome to my very first official blog entry. Those of you familiar with alec.fitzsimmons.com will know that the site was blog-tastic in content, but not in format. Crucially you, the reader, were unable to interact by posting your own comments. Or more accurately, post nothing. This enabled me to continue posting for a couple of years blissfully unaware that no one was interested.

But now I'm back with a real blog. The old website has sadly departed this virtual world. I'm not really sure what happened to it. The company who hosted it were taken over, and after ignoring 3 or 4 emails from them, my site suddenly disappeared. The new hosting service laughs at me with it's arrogant UNIX operating system. I ran away, but such was my need to vomit something onto the internet I found myself here among other technophobes.

My last entry on alec.fitzsimmons.com concerned, I believe, the adoption of a facial dressing. Such a cliffhanger to end on. The demise of the webshite, was tantamount to losing the final DVD in a 24 boxset. I'm sure all my anonymous readers were desperate to know how the beard panned out. Well, days after finally working out how to manage the beard I met the love of my life at the Dickie's wedding. Shan't dwell too much on this, but Julie and I are very happy. What a difference a beard makes. Of course, Julie has never seen me without it, so I guess I'll be facially hirsute for the rest of my life.

Things have indeed changed. I'm out of Twickenham and living in the leafy, hilly town of Haslemere. Sounds very nice, but I was chased by a scissor-wielding lunatic a few weeks back. At last a practical application for 5 years of run training!

I'm still fitter than your average bear. When I planned 2008, I scheduled a lot of races, focussing principally on the London Marathon and Ironman UK. However, I had to withdraw days before the Marathon due to Shin Splints. That injury and a lack of swimming mojo and cycling time, necessitated my withdrawal from IM UK. I kept fit by sporadically training for and then completing a BIG RIDE from Fleet to Fowey in Cornwall. One day: 250 miles. Now I'm back running with a far more basic plan for 2009: Sub-3 hour London Marathon, then a bit of fun.

So, what will this blog contain:
- details of how I'm planning to conquer the 3-hour marathon (I'm right on the borderline of ability for this goal, so it should be interesting)
- occasional details of who Julie is. Here's a snipet to keep you going: No she doesn't need glasses
- critical assessment of modern culture and politics from a man who really can't be arsed to read anything except Runner's World
- maybe a joke here or there. Not here though.
- brief lectures on the credit crunch. No, I don't understand it either, but that doesn't stop me from commenting.

But for now, that is all; Match of the Day is about to start. What the point is in watching it is anyone's guess, though - I know all the results, have seen most of the goals on the news, and there are only 4 matches. Rubbish.