North of the Stupid Line

Hey there.  Merry Chrimbo to all of you; hope you had a good ‘un.

As usual, family were more than generous to me and the missus this year – we had six sacks’ worth of presents between us!  Crikey. The best things I had were a remote-control Audi TT (I’m hoping to buy a real one in 2007 when I qualify) and this jacket.  We also had shitloads of chocolate – enough to last until Easter, I’m sure!

Now that Chrimbo is over, all I’m seeing on the TV is “SALE! SALE! SALE!”.  Doesn’t it annoy you?  We spend all that money at Christmas, and then the next day, the sales start, and all the things you bought for presents is now cheaper.  Also, if I see one more bloody sofa on TV …

Sorry … got distracted by the Sale on the Burton website.  Tsk.

Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome!

After spending 3.5 years in London, the Robster is now home for good.  You will have noticed from the Announcements to the right of this page that I will start a secondment from RAD at Hugh James in Cardiff from 2 January 2007, which means that I am no longer based in London.

Over the last two days, the missus and I have driven 386 miles in a hired car to and from London to move my stuff home from Laura and Oliver’s house, where I’ve lodged since June 2006.  We also threw in a West End show, Les Miserables, with Stagetext as well, and a nice meal in Chinatown.

The house is a tip now, so will be spending most of today sorting out my things.  Bloody pain!

But, at least I’m home!

I’ve visited the counties in yellow.
Which counties have you visited?

made by marnanel
map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data
by permission of the Ordnance Survey.
© Crown copyright 2001.

Doing this made me realise how bad my British geography is. I have a vague recollection of all the places I’ve been to, but strike me down with a feather if I know which counties they’re in!

… make a fool of myself! This video clip is a clip from the RAD Christmas Staff Conference on 1 December 2006, showing a group of us performing Liberty X’s ‘Just a Little’ on stage!

(L-R: Rob, Sumita, Ricky, Laura, Mangai and Daniel)

What is binge drinking? The British Medical Association describes it as:

heavy drinking over an evening or similar time span – sometimes also referred to as heavy episodic drinking. Binge drinking is often associated with drinking with the intention of becoming intoxicated and, sometimes, with drinking in large groups.

The effects of binge drinking can be as follows:

Binge drinking and severe intoxication can cause muscular incoordination, blurred vision, stupor, hypothermia, convulsions, depressed reflexes, respiratory depression, hypotension and coma. Death can occur from respiratory or circulatory failure or if binge drinkers inhale their own vomit.

It seems that having one binge drinking session in your life can do more harm than regular binge drinking sessions.

Why am I talking about this? I’m a binge drinker, and have been since my university days. However, since I started working, I don’t get the opportunity to go binge drinking as often. This means that when I do get the opportunity, the effects are greater. Take last night for example; I drank about six or seven double Barcardi and Cokes. This morning, I passed out at work for about 15 seconds. That was scary. It’s never happened before.

Note to self: do not binge drink. It’s not worth it.

I’ve decided to change my drinking habits now; I’ve learnt my lesson. I will drink in moderation from now on. It’s not really worth getting so pissed, especially as you just feel terrible the morning after.