Last night was painful. Personally, it didn’t quite top New Years Eve 2006 for the worst working night of my life but it did come pretty close. Had I been Duty Manager, then the scales would have been tipped.

The wedding breakfast went just as well as any other wedding breakfast. 45 people enjoying a three course meal with mine and champagne. The bride and groom were enjoying themselves and the day was on course. When the group disbands and leaves the room, we have a short amount of time to strip down the tables, clear whatever dirty glassware and crockery remain and prep the room for the evening reception. For us, this consists of setting up with the DJ, adjusting any table layout for the increased number of guests arriving in the evening, and preparing for the buffet.

By 7:30 there was still no sign of the DJ and all attempts at contacting had failed. Even his mum couldn’t get him on his mobile, but she told us that he was not working tonight. With the room due to open at about 7:30, time was running a bit thin. More guests were arriving but there was no entertainment to provide for them.

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In the dark, final days of World War Two, two submarines set out from Japan bearing a deadly virus destined for US cities. But neither boat was heard of again…

Present day: NUMA Special Projects Director Dirk Pitt rescues a team of scientists from a deadly cloud of poison gas in the North West Pacific. Discovering that this was no natural phenomenon, Pitt is quickly on the hunt for a pair of WWII submarines and their deadly cargo. But he soon learns that he’s not the only one searching for the virus: a sinister group of very able terrorists are aiming to relaunch the attack on the US some sixty years later. With time running out, only Dirk Pitt and the NUMA team stand between evil forces and a terrifying assault on America’s west coast…

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Clive Cussler / Dirk Pitt novels and there seems to be a mountain of them. This is the first I’ve read and although it was good, I wasn’t especially gripped by it. About two and a half months in the reading, it has taken me a considerable lot longer to finish this than either the Da Vinci Code or I am Legend, despite being a meer 70 pages longer than the prior. That fact alone is a testiment to how this story failed to reel me in.

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Who would have thought that choosing a new phone would be so damned difficult? When I bought my Sony Ericsson w810i, I went in to the Carphone Warehouse and said ooh, this looks nice! Can I have a play? The sales guy duly obliged and after offering me 8 months half price after cash back I signed up. It was so quick and simple so what has changed?

Sony Ericsson do it for me. I’ve played with my Dad’s Samsung and my Mum’s Siemens and I just don’t like how they work. For me, ease of use is key.

So I’ve been looking around on the net for various Sony Ericsson deals. It’s pretty likely that I will stay with Orange to avoid overcomplicated things – say what you will about other networks but I have never had problems with them, in fact they have always delivered to me just what I’ve asked for.

So what phone? What deal? Mobiles.co.uk has been at the top of my bookmarks for some days now, but despite a wealth of variety in phones and providers, I find myself looking at the same pages time and time again. My options are slowly narrowing but just when you think you’ve discovered the right one, there’s a drawback.

Here are some of the phones I’ve been looking at…

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Where to start? That holiday was well needed. It didn’t quite blow me away but it definitely took the edge off of what was starting to boil at work. Seven nights in Orlando without a single drop of sunscreen and I return unburned and sweetly tanned; at least on the visible parts.

It was the first time I had flown on an aeroplane since my last holiday, which was all the way back in 1998. Damn – was so close to being able to tell people that I haven’t had a holiday in 10 years. It was exactly how I remembered it – cramped and long. The flight out took off at 12:50 local time and was actually fairly comfortable. A good book and Blades of Glory kept me entertained for most of it. The food wasn’t half bad either. The dessert was a little chocolate mousse that was heaven in a pot.

The weather on arrival was dismal with thunderous showers all night but thankfully that was the worst of it. Florida showers fall hard and fast and without warning. Although they were prevalent during our stay they were few and far between and short lived.

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This holiday is very much needed. In less than twenty-four hours I should be well on my way across the Atlantic for a week of sun and thrill rides. In a way it has come at a good time, because work is becoming evermore stressful, but in another way it is most unwelcome as for the next two weeks there is an air of uncertainty over my future.

I need a promotion desperately, and am willing to take pretty much anything right now. So long as it encompasses more money and authority then it is a step forward. Right now, all the extras that I do that are above and beyond my pay grade are simply not worth my effort. I get paid the same wage as all the other food and beverage guys and yet do more work.

In the last two days I have found out that a guy in my place is being given the position as assistant food and beverage supervisor, or something like that. The question begs – assistant to who? It’s certainly not me. I don’t think it would be the General Manager either because he doesn’t spend any time in our department to oversee anything. The only other possibility is assistant to a new Operations Manager, who I have heard rumours of. There was even a mention of a new one being in place by the time I got back from holiday, and any ops manager who comes along will surely be putting in a significant presence in our department in our very heavily food and beverage orientated hotel.

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The disciplinary action facing myself and two of my work friends has been formally dropped. Thank heavens for that. The General Manager who was calling for it has now left to be replaced by a new guy, who felt that it wasn’t necessary given that we are fully aware of the severity of the incident, and it would also be a rather crappy start to our working relationships.

With a new manager comes more change. My good friend and former Operations Manager has now moved on to bigger better things leaving my department with a somewhat fragmented managerial structure. Officially, we have no bar or restaurant managers or supervisors. This could pose some kind of problems from ordering napkins to getting our collective shit together when all hell is descending upon us. It does so frequently.

As of writing this, no formal title has been handed to me. I am still a food and beverage assistant. This will not do.

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Who would have ever, ever put money on Jose Mourinho to be the first premiership manager to face the axe this season? They say he left Chelsea by ‘mutual consent’ but I don’t believe it for a second.

“The decision comes after the club held a crisis meeting to discuss the indifferent start to the new season.”

It’s been no secret that there has been some tension, shall we say, between the Abramovich, the boardroom and the big man himself but Jose is not the kind of manager to just up and leave in such a sudden and frankly shocking way. He always declared his love for Chelsea and desire to see out his contract which ended in 2010, and with the most loyal team of players behind him it would have had to have taken a serious bust-up to force him out the door.

Abramovich has always had a few screws loose when it comes to football. No other club has had so much money to throw around and it’s fantastic for building a world beating squad but letting this Russian look at the players market is like taking my Nan to Halfords. You end up spending £70 on a wiper blade that doesn’t even fit. Shevchenko and Ballack are great players; don’t get me wrong, but in football you build your team around the system and not the other way around. Tactically Mourinho is sound. It may not be fascinatingly entertaining but his system works. Two Premiership titles prove that. Bring in these multi-million pound stars (OK, Ballack was on a free transfer but at £130,000 a week he is also the most highly paid footballer in the UK) and you’ve got players who look great on posters but shocking on the pitch.

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I was very eager to see this sequel after I had much praise for 28 Days Later. Although Danny Boyle was not to direct this one, he was still a very influential member of the production team. I was also not surprised at all to see that, to much criticism, that the style of the film was completely different.

Whereas 28 Days Later was subtle, slow, deep and portrayed realistically, 28 Weeks Later is much more sensational. Films that have a heavy family element can be great. I have nothing against child actors. I do however have a lot against child characters - especially the kind in this film. They are stupid. The boy has no emotions. The girl looks twice her supposed age.

The plot also has a lot more holes. The situation that allowed the outbreak of re-infection is just totally outragous and demonstrates the complete ineptitude of the United States Armed Forces. How the infection was allowed to spread to the civilian population without being exterminated by a soldier with a big gun is also beyond me, but then I guess we’d have no movie.

Once the outbreak took over, I was pleased with the accelerated pace of the movie, and it took on much of the traits that made the first one so good. A group of people trying desperately to escape and survive total chaos brought on, this time not only by the infected but by the intervention of rapid military response.

It would have been so easy for Hollywood to destroy this. In truth, they didn’t do it many favours either, but the film is still enjoyable - at least the first time you see it. 28 Weeks Later is good for entertainment value but don’t count on any awards being handed out.

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I really liked this movie for some reason. It’s quite slow to start with and much of the story that occurred within the previous 28 days later is left to speculation and imagination. Whereas a lot of reviewers of this film ramble on about how the terrifying concept delivers and terrifying film, I was more absorbed by intrigue.

The idea of a virus that requires the most minimal of exposure from an infected sample of blood or saliva that could turn any person in to an outraged and demonic being hell-bent on attacking anyone who doesn’t share that same virus is totally out of the world of reality, but forgetting the science behind it, this movie makes it seem like a real possibility and genuinely gets you thinking about how fucked up it would be should it actually happen - and what would you do?. This is what I loved about this film.

As you’ll see if you watch the sequel, the absence of Hollywood in the production of this flick makes takes all the sensationalised crap you get from guys in camouflage with big guns blowing the heads off of people and focuses on a small group of young people simply trying to survive. This is much more in touch with the average person and it’s a nice change.

The acting, script and screenplay are all very good. 28 Days Later does suffer from the token love element and there are a few issues that always bugged me. I can’t believe that the central character Jim was able to walk around London, the most heavily and densely populated city in the UK, in broad daylight, for some several hours before encountering an infected. We can however, overlook this because it is this scene alone that sets the opening for the surreal tale of a bleak, empty, futureless Britain.

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They are way more complicated than they need to be. A certain Mr H.F. Phillips came up with this great invention for a screw head that is extremely easy to use and allows a certain flexibility when deciding what size screwdriver is required to get one of the things in or out? So why do a lot of manufacturers still insist on using screws that require the most precise of tools to use them. Perhaps it’s a safeguard against tampering hands like my own.

My Sony Ericsson w810i has taken some beatings over the past 16 months, not least the screen. It works as well as the day it came out of the box but on Friday night I must have dropped it six too many times because the plastic covering that protects the glass plate above the LCD has enough scuffs and scratches to make using the phone a real headache.

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Tags: Toys. 2 Comments »