You are allowed to enjoy this…

It’s Easter.

With my new click and pop free recording system, I have been making more abysmal noises. The first demo presented here is the result of me listening to too much Krautrock in the form of Neu! (thanks eMusic).

Direct download: CLICK HERE
The second is my standard guitar noodling mode. I am trying to record a jolly tune to cheer myself up:

Direct download: CLICK HERE
Both of these are embryonic tracks which may or may not be developed further. I don’t know. I like the second, the first needs a lot of work and I am not too imaginative with the old keyboard these days.
Meanwhile, I have won the lottery. Hurrah! (No, it was yet another lottery scam for you Googlers to discover on your travels).
WINNERS AWARD CONTACT YOUR AGENT.
FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS
MANAGER,INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD DEPARTMENT NATIONAL LOTTERY,
AMSTERDAM THE NEDERLANDS
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED!!!
(Customer Services)
*****************************
Reference Number: LR/19-CH/4310
Batch: LR/05/0018
*****************************
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final
draws of the DE LOTERIE ROMANDE Program. De Loterie Romande draws was conducted
from an exclusive list of 25,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer ballot search from
the internet as part of our international promotions program which we conduct
every year. No tickets were sold.
After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address attached to serial
number 25-6565 drew the lucky numbers 6-13-18-24-33-39 which consequently
emerged you as one of first fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.You
have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of (1,000,000.00 (One
Million Dollars) in cash credited to file LR/19-CH/4310. This is from a total
cash prize of (50,000,000 (Fifty Million) Dollars shared amongst the first
fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.
This year Lottery Program Jackpot is the largest ever for De Loterie Romande.The
estimated 50 million jackpot would be the sixth-biggest in Europe history.The
biggest was the 363 million jackpot that went to two winners in a Febuary
2000 drawing of The Big Game Mega Millions’predecessor.Your fund is now deposited
in an offshore bank with a hardcover insurance. Due to the mix up of some
numbers and names, we advice that you keep this award from public notice
until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to you as this
is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unwarranted
taking advantage of this program by the general public.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet
representative office in UK/NETHERLANDS. In view of this, your (1,000,000.00
(One Million Dollars) would be released to you by our affiliate bank in Europe.Our
agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of
your funds to you as soon as you make contact with him.
To begin your claim please contact your claims agent:
Mr.Robin Van Gogh
Foreign Services Manager,
Information and Payment Bureau.
Netherlands Representative Office.
Tell: +31-619-076-037
Fax: +31-847-473-118
Email: infoclaimslotto@netscape.net
Your claims agent will assist you in the processing and remittance of your
prize funds into your designated bank account.Note that all prize funds must
be claimed not later than One month. After this date all funds will be returned
to the LOTTERY TREASURY as unclaimed. In order to avoid unnecessary delays
and complications, please endeavor to quote your Reference (LR/19-CH/4310)
and Batch numbers (LR/05/0018) in every correspondence with your agent.
Furthermore, should there be any change in your address,do inform your claims
agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once again from all members of our staff and thanks for being
part of our program.
Yours faithfully,
Serena Van Vlutglaan
AFRO-ASIAN Zonal Cordinator.
Bigtime Lotto International
Wow, that lottery win couldn’t have come at a better time. At Chez Lock, we are officially “up shit creek without a paddle” – don’t worry, that’s just a financial term. I am owed money on a couple of writing jobs and the other day the remittance form turned up without any cheques inside. Great! This cockup means that payment will be delayed for another couple of weeks as the company involved gets another cheque run in business. Meanwhile, the bank account is perilously low to “can’t pay mortgages” level. Hmmm…scary.
So if anyone out there wants to offer yours truly some regular work with regular cash, please drop me a line. I’ve been working in the media industry since 1994, have loads of editorial and journalistic experience, years of newsgathering behind me and loads of writing for consumer and business magazines as well as web experience. I am house trained and a non-smoker. Skills include PC and web knowledge, digital video and music editing, as well as digital photography and desktop design (QUARK Xpress). A full CV is available on application.
Of course, loads of Darren’s possessions are on eBay in a desperate attempt to get some cash in my hand, so clicky the linky to the righty and give generously, dear reader. 😉

So for the past six or seven weeks, I’ve been having problems with my PC and specifically my home recording rig. Random clicks and pops appeared in everything I tried to record. I’ve tried everything. I repartitioned my drive and installed a clean version of WinXP + recording software. The clicks and pops continued. I did some research and found that there might be an issue with Radeon 9250 video cards and Sonar recording software. I replaced my video card. Still the pops continued. So today, I sat down and thought hard about what had changed over the last couple of months and then it struck me that I had added a wireless networking card to my system. I removed the D-Link DWL-G520 card and lo-and-behold, the pops and crackles appear to have disappeared. Fingers crossed, I hope that this has solved the problem. If you are having similar troubles with Sonar, try dumping your wireless network card.
So this has got me thinking about technology at the moment. I am supposed to be with it and be one of those types who has to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to computing and other forms of electronica. As I have got older, this ardour has faded. As time goes by, I question just how much “stuff” you need. At the moment, there’s a lot being written about HDTV and how all us consumers are going to have to upgrade. This got me thinking about starting a new campaign: Just Say No.
Just say no to HD TV. Why do you need to see every blade of grass or every hair on an actor’s head? Will this actually improve the viewing experience. Will this turn a shite film into a work of brilliance? No.
Just say no to HD-DVD & Blu-ray. You can walk into Woolworths and buy a Hollywood blockbuster for as little as a fiver. It has digital picture quality, surround sound and all the extras you would expect. But the Hollywood film industry wants you to stop. They want you to throw away your £99.99 DVD recorder that you use to store episodes of your favourite shows. They want you to invest £500 on a player that doesn’t record, but will enable them to control how you view their products. Yes, you’ll see every hair on the actor’s head and every open pore and blackhead, but is this worth the investment when you can get 5 DVD films for £20 at HMV?
Just say no to the PS3 and Xbox 360. I’ve already experienced the dullness of the Xbox 360. Microsoft released the console too soon and perhaps in another 18 months there might be some software available that will take advantage of the beefed up technology. In the meantime, you might as well just keep playing your Xbox or PS2. Now my big beef with the PS3 is that it is probably going take a small mortgage to buy one and Sony are misguided to think that Blu-ray is going to be a successful future format. Bill Gates already showed to be wary of HD-DVD and Blu-ray by deciding to equip the Xbox 360 with a boring old DVD drive. That says a lot really.
Now consumer electronics has seen a number of leaps forward. They’ve been necessary. The timeline of entertainment technology goes something like this:
Long Wave Radio > Medium Wave Radio > FM Radio > DAB Radio
Now that transition has taken about a seventy years. It’s a nice slow development and the likes of you and me can upgrade our gear at a nice pace. Radio is probably the best example of an entertainment format progressing without pulling the rug out from under late adopters. Even though DAB’s been around for a while, FM and MW broadcasting faces no threat of being turned off.
With TV, the transition from black and white broadcasting to colour was like sending a man on the moon. However, I don’t see HDTV as being comparable. It just doesn’t have the same impact. OK – the pictures are nice, but if your eyesight is a bit iffy in the first place, you aren’t going to garner much from it.
Now with home entertainment, the history is a bit smaller. VHS only really took hold in the early 1980s with a format battle between VHS and Betamax. Consumers used VHS (and still do) for nearly 20 years before DVD came along and it was a natural progression: improve picture, improved sound, more features. Now with Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies about to hit the shelves, there’s no such improvement of economy. All you get is improved picture quality and the studios get a format that can’t be copied or exploited for the foreseeable future. Plus, you go back to paying full price for your movies until the next big thing comes along.
So do what I am doing and say “No!”. I don’t want it and I don’t need it and only those blokes with small testicles and a big wallet will fall for the hype. Blu-ray and HD-DVD will prove to be the first format battle in 20 years and the funny thing is that both will probably end up being the loser. Why upgrade when DVD does the job perfectly?
Now, I don’t want you to think I am a complete negative Nelly. One entertainment format I will espouse is that of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) or DVB-T. You can go out to Asda or Tesco and for £30 buy a box that will give you access to further digital TV channels. For those of us who pay a TV licence, if you don’t have one of these boxes, get one so you can get the full bang for your buck. But kick SKY to the curb unless you are a chav and like having the same programmes repeated at you every six months or so. 😉
Meanwhile, another job rejection from Future Publishing. I’ve applied to these guys so many times it’s not funny. Maybe I should take the hint? I didn’t really want to be news editor of the T3 website anyway.

My various anti-spam emails are always popular, so I thought I’d mention the following email I received the other day. Basically, this is a pyramid scheme and the great thing about pyramid schemes is that the only people who get the money are those who start the buggering things, so don’t be fooled. Here’s the email for those of you who are googling this way:
Dear EBAY MEMBER,
I am sending you this email as you are a past contact of mine on ebay,
through Paypal.
Please do not delete this before reading it in full – it is not a scam
and is not junk mail! – It actually works. You will note from my feedback,
that I am a genuine user of ebay and PAYPAL.
We are all ebay users to make money or save money and I feel sure that
we can both benefit financially from the following plan.
Yes, you like myself have no doubt had this idea put forward before, but not
in connection with 71 million Paypal accounts. Paypal have also admitted
that this is legal.
The person who sent me the email has already started benefiting from the
plan.
All it involves is a one off payment of £3.00 and approximately 15 to 20
minutes of your time. These are some of the e-mails and proof that I
came across which finally made me decide that I wanted to try this.
“What an amazing plan. I followed the instructions just 3 weeks ago, and
although I haven’t made 10 grand yet, I am already up to £6,135. I am
absolutely gob smacked” – Alan Humphries, Leicester
“Well what can I say? I sent out 40 e-mails like the plan said then I
just forgot about the whole thing. To be honest, I didn’t really think
anything would come of it, but I checked my Paypal account a week later and
there was over £3000.00 in it!!! After 30 days I now have over £11,000 to
spend” – Lisa McDonald, Northampton
“I was shocked when I saw how much money came flooding into my Paypal
account. Within 3 weeks my account balance has ballooned to £7,449. At
first I thought there had been some kind of error!” – Richard Barrie,
Cirencester
“I was very skeptical when I first read this e-mail, nearly deleted it
but then I thought about it & decided to give it a go! I spend more than £3
per week on the lottery, so what’s a one-off payment of £3 going to
matter?!! I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll have some extra spending
money in my paypal account, by the time I go away in July!” – Dawn Brown,
Leicestershire. (PS. Wishing good luck & fortune to you all!)
If you are eager like I am by this stage, then read the instructions
outlined below that are from the original e-mail. It is really so easy
to do – then you can just sit back and wait for those payments to go
into your paypal account.
If you are offended in any way by this email then please accept my
apologies, I will only be trying this once.
INSTRUCTIONS
The first thing you need to do is send a £3.00 payment from your Paypal
account to the FIRST email address in the list below, along with a note
saying “PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR LIST”. Instructions on how to send a payment
are under “SEND MONEY” at the Paypal site. It is very easy.
The current list is:
1 ebay@cwsmusicdept.wanadoo.co.uk
2 henrietta.page@btinternet.com
2 alexlyn@msn.com
4 the-challengers@supanet.com
5 a.weathers@btinternet.com
Copy and paste this page (and make any necessary changes) Remove the
email address that you have paid from the number 1 spot, move all the
others up a space, and insert your own email address in the number 5 spot.
Then send the page to as many people as you can.
A good way is to send it to all the people in your paypal history. (GO
TO HISTORY TAB AND THEN DOWNLOAD COMPLETE LIST OF PEOPLE YOU HAVE TRADED
WITH )
ALL I WOULD LIKE TO DO NOW IS WISH YOU GOOD LUCK. IF YOU ARE STILL
UNSURE OR EVEN IF YOU WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW HOW THIS WORKS PLEASE READ ON
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
When you send out your email, your email address will initially be at No 5
on the list. That is the best position that you can be in if you want to
earn serious money. The response rate for this program is much higher than
any typical email marketing campaign for a number of reasons, which are
explained later on. As long as you send out your emails to people whom are
likely to be interested in this program, then on average you can expect a
response of around 25%. But let’s be extremely conservative and assume that
the average response rate is 12.5%! If you send out your 40 emails I HAVE
JUST SENT THIS TO 2513 PEOPLE!, you can expect at least 5 of those people to
do exactly what you did (12.5% of 40 = 5 people). By the time your email
address will have moved up to No 4 in the list, and this list will now have
reached around 200 people (5 people x 40 emails = 200 people).
Out of those 200 people, you can expect at least 25 of them to participate
(12.5% of 200 = 25 people) so you are now reaching around
1000 people (25 people x 40 emails = 1000) and you are now at No 3 on the
list.
Out of those 1000 people, you can expect at least 125 of them to
participate (12.5% of 1000 = 125 people) so you are now reaching around 5000
people (125 people x 40 emails = 5000) and you are now at No 2 on the list.
Out of those 5000 people, you can expect at least 625 of them to
participate (12.5% of 5000 = 625 people) so you are now reaching around
25000 people
(625 people x 40 emails = 25000) and you are now at No 1 on the list.
Out of 25000 people, you can expect at least 3125 of them to participate
(12.5% of 25000 = 3125 people) so since you are at the No 1 spot you can
expect to receive around about £9,375 (3125 people x £3.00 = £9,375)
So when your name hit’s the No 1 spot, it will be YOUR turn to collect
the money.
Over the course of 30 days, this money will be sent to you by a few
thousand people just like yourself, who are willing to invest £3.00 and 20
minutes of their time to receive around £10,000 or more in cash. The first
payments will arrive within a few days and then they will continue at the
rate of about 100 payments per day for about 30 days
(obviously this will depend on how quickly you act and how quickly people
take you up on this offer and then pass it on). After that time,
the volume of payments begins to taper off as your email is removed from the
No 1 position.
That’s all you need to do! There will be around £10,000 in £3.00 payments
waiting for you in your Paypal account within the next few weeks. £10,000
for just 20 minutes work! This is real money that you can spend on anything
you wish! Just deposit it to your own bank account or spend it directly from
your Paypal account!!!
It’s just that easy!!! I think it’s WORTH IT, don’t you? Remember, the
12.5% example above is assuming that 35 out of the 40 people you send your
email to will do absolutely nothing except delete your email. However, if
you follow the plan correctly and send your emails only to people who are
likely to want to participate, you can expect a typical response-rate of
around 25%. Hence, the 12.5% example is only given as a worst-case scenario.
Additionally, the above example assumes that each participant will only
send out 40 emails. Imagine what would happen if each participant sent out
1,000 emails instead of just 40! Believe me, many people will do this and
much more! I HAVE JUST SENT THIS MANY MORE PEOPLE!
Unlike many other MLM programs, this 5-LEVEL PROGRAM costs you only £3.00
which is much more realistic and provides much, much faster results. Only
the first person on the list gets your £3.00 gift, but everyone in the list
will rise to that Number 1 position as thousands of emails are being sent
out. No cheating can occur (don’t be fooled by claims that this system can
be cheated) as Paypal only allows one account per person. Because it is so
easy, the response rate is VERY HIGH and VERY FAST – Internet email FAST,
and you will start seeing dramatic results in less than one week! JUST IN
TIME FOR NEXT MONTHS BILLS!
Thank you for your time, and good luck.
Ps. You can download your paypal history as a MS Excel file, this is a
great way to quickly access all your stored email address’s from your
paypal transactions, to send this email on to another (don’t forget to
remove the ukebay fees email address if that appears). Once you’ve
downloaded the history, locate the 2 columns that contain the email
addresses you have sent to or received paypal funds from. Then just cut and
paste these into your “Send to” list on your email
It’s a scam, so avoid it. I did report it to PayPal, but they weren’t interested even though this is probably a breach of its terms and conditions.
In the post: two tickets to David Gilmour at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 May 2006. Unfortunately, the Missus is away on business then (I ordered these in December before we knew she was going to be away) and I don’t have any friends. So with great dismay, I guess I’ll just have to flog them on eBay. No, I am not a ticket tout. I just can’t be arsed shlepping down to Exhibition Road on me tod with a spare ticket. 🙁

Yesterday, we attended the baptism of our niece. She the child of my brother-in-law. It was a fair trek across to Hemel Hempstead and it didn’t help matters that we were running late and forgot the baby’s 1st birthday presents. Luckily, we made it in time and I found myself having front row seats right in front of the Vic. The usual Christian mumbo-jumbo was said and I pleased myself by remembering the Lord’s Prayer by heart – a throwback to being a good Christian during my schooldays. The child was very well-behaved during the ceremony and screaming was kept to a minimum. Hurrah!
Afterwards, there was a reception/birthday party in the church hall. I am terrified by social situations like this but you are obligated, aren’t you? I put on my best face and was non-commital throughout, ensuring that I didn’t annoy anyone that I spoke to. Well done, Darren. Another family disaster averted by your contrary views. You kept your mouth buttoned up tight, an admirable feat of almost tantric self-control. Bridges were built and we were actually invited to a family BBQ in the summer. Normally, we are NOT invited to these things, so my new strategy of not talking is paying off. Just agree with everyone, it is safer. Agree and nod your head and laugh and do all the gestures that infer that you are enjoying yourself. In the past I would have said: “I disagree with XYZ – even though what those people were saying was complete BS” but that gets you into trouble. Just shut up. Shut up and agree with everyone. Tell them what they want to hear, rather than what you want to say. It worked. I am a social success.
The only thing more terrifying than strangers in a social situation for me is children running loose. People are unpredictable and children doubly so. Everyone who met us said: “So when are you going to be next?” implying that we are going to start dropping sprogs at the first opportunity. Of course, we prefer practising rather than doing the practical exam. I kept telling the Missus: “Just tell them that I am clinically sterile after a bout of childhood mumps. That will shut them up.” But she never did and so we went along with it and laughed about it and all the while I keep thinking to myself why are people so obsessed with our fertility (or lack of it)? Throughout my life, I’ve had various people and strangers ask varieties of the old “When are you…?” question.
“When are you going to get your hair cut?”
“When are you going to get a job?”
“When are you going to leave home?”
“When are you going to get married?”
“When are you going to have kids?”
“When are you going to get divorced?”
Et cetera to the point of absolute tedium.
God, I must sound like a grouch, but despite my recent whinging yesterday did have a positive effect. It was nice to get out and socialise. I enjoyed the baptism and reception a lot – it was good fun. As I have very little social interaction with anyone other than The Missus and my mother, it is good to meet other people and say to yourself: “Well I might be a complete dick, but at least I’m not like him” remembering the pent-up aggressive salesman type who promised us in conversation that one day the pressure of the world would get so much for all us men that we would run amok and slaughter our families. Of course, I agreed, because that’s what I do now. I agree. Ain’t I a clever boy?
Before we went to this baptism, I said to The Missus that I had worked out that last year I had actually spoken (in a coversational sense) to less than 15 people. This makes me sound like a crank, but I live a very secluded life. It is self-imposed, I guess. But what do you do when all your friends at school go off and do other things while you go to University? How do you make friends at university when all your peers are of a different social standing and look down on you? Making friends at work is also an equally pointless exercise as you invariably lose touch or, as I have found, that there was never any real friendship there in the first place. You hang around together out of desperation because there’s no one else to go to the pub with. The problem with people is that I am a bit of a mug and I always end up getting taken advantage of, so I avoid them. Plus I am shy. And I’m lazy too. So this combination hardly makes me eligible for best friend material!
Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking for sympathy, I am just thinking aloud and providing some kind of narrative to my life. Being an only child, I have never had any problem being by myself. I am a creative sort who is happy when left alone, but the Missus thinks it is a bit unhealthy. I guess it can be, you just need to keep a grip on reality. (Where did that pink elephant come from?) Whenever I think of this topic of being sociable and having friends, I always think back to my dear old dad.
I remember, I couldn’t have been five or six when he took me to one side and told me that no-one liked me and I’d never have any friends. He was a good bloke was my old dad (sarcasm). As you can imagine, this fried my mind for a while and I spent the next couple of weeks asking everyone if they liked me, causing my nan to get very worried about me. I never did tell my mother or my nan what this was about, but I am telling you now. Ain’t the Internet weird? As I have got older, I realise that what my father was telling me wasn’t a statement of fact, but a curse. I believe I am cursed.
Either that or I really am barking mad…
Today, Operation Colonic Irrigation continues and I am having another clear-out. More DVDs on eBay, more CDs too – a lot of stuff is going because a boy needs to grow up into a man. If you hold onto this stuff, there’s just more fuel to the fire when the house burns down, no?

Having no credit card means that I can no longer place bets with online bookies such as Victor Chandler. This meant that today’s Grand National had to be gambled on using the traditional betting slip. It had been a good few years since I remembered how to fill one out, but we got along fine. In an afternoon’s gambling, two of my horses came last and my Grand National Nag fell over somewhere on the course. Remember kids, gambling only pays when you are winning.
Still royally pissed off. I ran through a long list of things that I am annoyed at with the Missus. She asked if I felt better, but my belly-aching didn’t particularly improve my general mood. My annoyance is like a loose tooth that wants to be pulled. I need a spiritual kick up the bum. I am tired of being me. Me is a miserable git and he is getting on my nerves. Roll on the warmer weather, eh?

Today, in the post, a letter from Barclaycard telling me that they believe my card is being used fraudulently. In the letter, details of further purchases totalling £250+. Looks like I managed to nip the spending spree in the bud. I call Barclaycard again to clarfiy the situation and run through what’s my purchases (new filter for fishtank and £10 spent playing poker at Ladbrokes – my only vice other than drinking and the ol’ in-and-out with The Missus). The rest are purchases use for AlphaTelecom.
Yesterday, I used 192.com to do a registry check on who lived at the address where the fraud was carried out. A Nigerian surname came right back at me. Looks like those wily Nigerians have got me in their trap. But how? The credit card I use never leaves the house and is predominantly for web use. I only use it on “decent” websites such as Amazon and places that have automated purchasing systems. How did they get my card? I’ve scanned and examined my PC for viruses and spyware and keyloggers. It’s bugging me.
You can hit me in the head and call me names, but when it comes to money worries they really get to me. It’s my weakness. I leave the Missus to deal with money because she’s good at it. Reading these letters and dealing with this fraud makes me feel sick to the stomach, even though I’ve stopped them early. I know it is stupid, but that’s how I feel.
The past couple of weeks are really grinding me down…but despite all this, I know that out there somewhere there’s someone else having a worse time and I should be grateful that I am who I am. Even so, I can’t seem to shift this dark cloud.
Off too look at my new fish in my tank…more about those tomorrow…

So it started like a regular day with Alex waking me up at 6am so I could hoist him up onto the bed. Ever since the dog attack, I’ve relented on my “no bed” policy and now Alex wakes me at the same time every morning, so he can curl up next to me on the bed. He’s a good lad and doesn’t wriggle and when it is cold, keeps me warm.

After breakfast, I took Alex to the newsagents to get the daily comic and the local newspaper, latest headline “Sam Stays In For Another Week” – referring to The Apprentice – oh how wrong you are. I was feeling pleased with myself as I remarked last night how the local paper will cock it up and would stake money on it. Right again!

I go home, have a coffee, read through the papers. Then the post arrives – Alex alerts me and I open the solitary letter. It is a receipt from Comet – the electronics retailer – telling me that I’ve recently purchased a laptop, except I haven’t and the adrenalin kicks in. A call to Coment prevents the laptop being delivered. At this point, I think that it has just been a mistake. I call Barclaycard and they inform me that £616 has been taken from my account and given to Comet. My card is blocked and a new one issued. Another phone call to Comet and I explain that it is definately a fraud case and they agree to credit my card. The sale was made over the telephone by someone with all my details.

I have the fraudsters details for anyone Googling credit card fraud comet manchester Mr Show <--- That's for the Googlebot and feel free to drop me a line if you have been a victim of this person (I am especially looking forward to the Manchester Police Fraud Squad). This is the third time I've been a victim of fraud. The first time was many years ago when a restaurant in Nottingham kept charging my card for meals. The second was that florist in Canada who I used to order flowers for MalcX. They charged me double and I still worry that the flowers never turned up and Barclaycard never did managed to credit my card. At least this time I got the first punch in. So we've had two misdemenours in the last fortnight, in my book we are expecting one more. I reckon that a car window might get smashed in the up and coming weeks. Talking of misdemeanours, it has been reported to me that the Mastiff Man of Colebrook Lane was recently responsible for an attack on a doberman dog in which its throat was ripped. How long before a dog dies because of this moron and his mastiff?