Bring on the week in Novermber which I just so happen to have booked off work ready hahahahaha

Call of Duty: Black Ops (also known as simply Black Ops) is the seventh main installment of the Call of Duty series and is currently being developed by Treyarch.^[2] The confirmation of the game’s development was leaked by David Kim, a senior animator at Treyarch, in May 2009. Black Ops is said to be set in various locations, including Vietnam and Cuba, ^[3] and judging from weaponry and dates given in the trailer, it is set between 1960 and 2010. It is planned to be released on November 9, 2010.^[4] Treyarch has stated that Black Ops will be much grittier than Modern Warfare 2 and that the differences between World at War and Black Ops will be as significant as the differences between Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.^[5] The trailer released on May 18, 2010 indicated that the game will be significantly more story-oriented and will focus on military cover-ups during the Cold War. Treyarch has also said that Black Ops will feature considerably more stealth than any previous entries in the Call of Duty series.

From HERE

The other day I was asked into the gaffers office, and having heard him mention something to someone else, I had an inkling about what it was about.  Turned out he had wanted me to leave my house about 11pm that night, and head down to Folkestone, where he was booking me on the 3.30am tunnel crossing over into France, and for me to head just South of Rotterdam!! I was very cautious accepting at first, even with the offer of cash, given I’d never driven abroad and the thought of being on the “wrong” side of the road had worried me a little, that plus the fact Newcastle were on telly that night, and I’d wanted to watch them which meant I wouldn’t be getting any sleep from 7am Wed morning till atleast when I got back on Thursday afternoon/evening sometime.  Was always nice to see the Toon overcome a potential bananaskin, and I tried to nod off for an hour but it was not happening, as I found my mind switched on in fear of missing the alarm.

The journey

Set off from my house bout 11pm and headed to fill up the Land Rover.  It’s the nicest car I’ve had the pleasure of driving (well apart from the Lambo, Ferarri, Aston Martin and Porsche that day)  Was soon on my way tho.  I was loving driving down the M1 with no real cares in the world (apart from where the next decent nights sleep was coming from) and the fact that it was raining pretty much for the whole trip.  Soon I hit the 50mph speed restrictions around Luton and this hit my eta at the Channel Tunnel.  Once past there I cuold get back upto around 75mph and then sit qith Cruise Control on, just aiming the car where it needed to go Then more roadworks this time on the bloody M25.  By the time I’d gotten to the Tunnel I was about 3 minutes away from missing my check-in time for the Train   Meant one thing tho… I wasn’t waiting round for very long to jump aboard and chill for the 35 minute crossing, all the time the thought of driving on the “wrong” side of the road going through my mind.  It’s amazing that I didn’t really feel tired by this point, given it was around 5pm French time when I popped up in Calais. Quick top up in the Land Rover (well about half a tank) meant that I should have gotten to my destination near Rotterdam and pretty much back to Calais before needing any more Diesel, then the mini-panic that was getting onto the French roads.  It was really easy in hindsight and the arrow pointing to the right at the first roundabout I came to helped alot   From then on it was just a case of listening to the Sat Nav and being as polite as possible regarding road ettiquette i.e. Staying on the right unless over-taking, and trying not to bring any unwanted attention to myself from the French, Belgian or Dutch Police.  Was amusing seeing all the English cars drive past, or going past the UK plated cars, but they soon thinned out once I hit Belgium.  Quick stop and I was soon on my way again, arriving on the doorstep of the Dutch people around 8:45am Dutch time.

There was no rest for the wicked tho, as I headed back continually getting confused by the fact my phone had updated it’s self to the new forgeign time zone, as had part of Marks car, but the Sat Nav and everything were still working in UK time so I had no idea when I’d arrive at Calais for my car ride home.  Got to the check-in early, and it said I could jump on an earlier train across so rather than sit and wait till 13:30 I could jump across at 12:50 so I took that option and went to find the security bit.  It was soo bloody easy to get out of the country, but they make it so long winded trying to get back in.  Maybe its cos I’m a young looking lad (Stop laughing back there) driving a pimped out Land Rover with blacked out windows and that or maybe they’re like this with everyone who knows!

“Where you been?”

“Near Rotterdam”

“What was the nature of your visit there?”

“To drop off some marquees for work”

“When did you get there?”

“Well I left last night from Mansfield and drove to Rotterdam this morning, and I’m now on the return trip to get home”

“Are you alone?”

“Yeah last time I checked!”

They sit mulling over my answers before getting a security guard to give the car a quick once over before letting me through security.

I still insist they thought I was on a drugs run or something, but they didn’t find anything, meanwhile a lad 2 vehicles in front has to pretty much empty his van there and then so customs could check if he was trying to smuggle someone in like this clip on youtube from Only Fools and Horses

Was soon back in the UK and a little confused at first as to how to drive on the left again, before I soon hit the Motorway on the M20 and was on my way home.  Sat Nav said I’d be home for around 3pm so I was happy.  Get back, quick nap before going to watch Claire play in her first game of the season away at Long Eaton. That was easier said than done tho, as I hadn’t added into the equation the bloody roadworks scattered around the M25, or the long delays around the M25/M1 junction, so I decided to get Sat Nav to give me a little detour, which helped alittle (apart from 50% of road users Sat Navs had the same idea grrrr)  Finally got back to the gaffers house around 5:45, so it was a case of swap his car for the Warrior, quick bite to eat or something, change and then out to watch Mansfield Town Ladies.  It wasn’t till I got to the ground that I realised that I’d eaten nothing since around 9pm the previous evening, and had managed to do the 900 mile round trip with 2 cans of Monster Ripper and a large bottle of Lucozade

The least said about that game the better, as the girls just didn’t turn up and it was so frustrating on a wet and cold night seeing a team that had played so well in their friendlies just fall apart at the seams like that, and the 7-0 score-line was a hard one to take for all the girls and Dean, who has mentioned that he sat up till 2am the next morning just wondering what the hell he did wrong, and coming to the conclusion that he didn’t it was just a case of the girls not turning up.  First game of the season nerves???

They faired a whole lot better on Sunday just gone, getting their goal-difference back upto 0 with an 8-1 demolition of Sandiacre Ladies.  The whole team played so much better and it was great to see them playing with a smile on their face.  Maybe the first game against Long Eaton was the kick up the back side they needed.  Hopefully they can go on to better things from now.

Latest updated map of Wiggys UK tour

• Yellow – Following Mansfield Town Ladies FC
• Pink – Holidays or trips out
• Blue – Hire jobs / Work

Their latest mid-week fixture (They seem to be playing 6 games in 18 days at the start of the season) took them to Gedling Town Ladies on a Wednesday night match.  Would have kicked off at the alloted 7:30pm had the women from Gedling not been busy making packed lunches and remembering to bring the bloody keys to let everyone in.  After helping warm Emma the goalkeeper up on Sunday, I again took her into the goals and got her warmed up throwing and kicking balls at her, as it must be easier as a goalkeeper to stretch for shots rather than warming up with the rest of the team, so I’d like to see myself in a new role as goalkeeper warmer-upper AS WELL AS waterboy!  The Stags were playing some good stuff, but it just appeared that final ball was not quite there.  There seems to be times when their decision making just wanders a little and they shoot when they could have threaded a pass through or vica versa, but they’re slowly getting there After going 1-0 down it was very much against the run of play, and a goal from Stacey just before half-time gave them that confidence boost, and 2 further goals in the 2nd half game them a well-deserved 3-1 win.  6 points from their opening 3 games isn’t too bad.  Trip to Loughbrough Foxes this Sunday and hopefully another hard-earned 3 points to carry on the start to the season (They do play a home game soon, cos I’ve seen the fixtures   )

Hopefully it’ll be a different story on thursday when Mansfield Town Ladies kick off their season away at Long Eaton United Ladies.  Hoping for a good game and start to the season, and I’m sure if the girls play like they did in some of the pre-season friendlies I’ve watched then they’ll have a decent chance at 3 points

After the game I sat with Psycho and some of her team mates having a laugh and integrating myself into part of the team, whilst watching the Liverpool vs Arsenal game on the Telly.  Then it was hinted about going to Foxglove pub near my house as another of the team-mates was working, so in the end about 9 of us headed over waiting for Luce to start working, but hunger got the better of us so we ordered before she’d started.  Was great just sitting back and having a laugh with Psycho and her girlies (and gaffer and coach)  Got hit from both sides when we were discussing Alan being the Ref, and how he had a bit of banter with the women.  If I had 22 women shouting abuse at me I think I’d have to turn around and just shout at the top of my voice “GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN” That comment certainly wasn’t taken well by the girls at the table, but their gaffer Dean thought it was quite funny

So Newcastle’s season kicks off tonight at Old Trafford.  Given some of the results this weekend, including local lad Alex Baptiste getting a goal on his Premier League debut, I think I’d be happy with a 2-0 defeat.  As long as it’s nothing like the 6-0 thrashing dealt out to fellow new-boys West Brom I’ll be quite happy, altho the number of Man Utd fans I have to deal with I’m praying for an Andy Carroll last minute winner!!!

Went to watch Mansfield Town Ladies play football yesterday, and it wasn’t too bad a game despite it being a mixture of First Team and Reserves, with Burrows being one of only 2 first-teamers in the side that started, also the fact she was Captain, as no-one else wanted it.  Didn’t think she played too bad at CB, but you could tell 2nd half after alot of substitutions that she enjoyed playing at right-back more.  Gonna be an interesting season now I’ve decided to hang uip my boots and travel the many womens football ground watching her and the girls   It’ll look even better when I update the map in the coming weeks

Red Rose 2010 will be an action packed International Camp held in the stunning Lake District National Park.  It will be a complete international experience filled with adventure, high energy, challenge, fun and most importantly a chance to build new and lasting international friendships.  It’s quite simply an international camp for the Scouts and Guides of the 21st Century.

We got 1 free cup of coffee/tea out of it so it wasn’t all bad    The drive back was more tedious than on the way, and I found myself checking how long was left on the journey both time and distance wise on the Sat Nav.  A few days earlier I’d got a message on Facebook from my Friend Nic saying she was organising a surprise BBQ for Lee’s impending 30th birthday, so even tho the pair of us were on our last legs once we walked through the front door, we we’re soon showered and on our way.  By the time we’d gotten there John & Caz, Will & Nic, Wills Mum and Dad, Meaty Meaty Meatball and Nics sister Emma were all there and laughing.  Was great to just sit and chill out with them lot, even tho we were waiting for the fireworks from the Ashfield Show to find that they’d gone off about 8pm (when it was still light as hell)

Updated Map, with Pink showing Personal Trips and Blue = Hire jobs

Sunday was gonna be a day of rest, but that was thrown out by having Maddsy moan about having to carry a marquee down a few steps, basically giving me a sob story till I agreed to go and help him take it down.  My body felt like I’d been 15 rounds with Rocky, and the tops of my shoulders were givingn me so much pain I just wanted to curl up in a nice hot bath and chill the hell out.  The pair of us both decided, after much whinging and managing to drag my aching body upto ASDA, to have the first ever proper Sunday Roast, since I’d moved into the house with my ex.  For some reason Sunday dinners always used to be at the parents house, but this time we decided to do something ourselves, and it’s safe to say that even now on the Tuesday after I’m feeling great    Well the body aint feeling all that but the stomach is, and Claire gave me the thumbs up on monday morning too HAHA

John was a little cold so borrowed one of Lee's tops

Nothing better than kicking back with your friends

Lee with the Awesome Cake made by Nic

I’ve been having a bit of trouble lately with my right wrist.  I think I may have slightly pulled it whilst out on a hire job a few weeks ago,and then thought nothing of it, but this last week it’s started to get sorer and sorer.  Lets see how I fair when I’m up near Lake Windermere taking down 11 of our marquees with Claire on Saturday.  If it’s still sore on Monday morning I feel I’m gonna have to head to the doctors and get it checked out, as there is a lighist coloured bruise around the wrist bone   Tomorrow is gonna be a long ass day, as I’ve told Claire if we can we’ll stop off in Liverpool so we can get her the new Liverpool home shirt printed and everything (It’s only fair as I’ll be getting a new Newcastle one in October when we’re up there for one of her football mates birthdays) hehe

The month of August is going incredibly slowly due to the fact that on the 24th August I am able to upgrade my phone.  My Samsuing Pixon decided to die about a month ago, and so I’ve had to revert back to my Samsung G600 with the battery held in by blue electricians tape! It looks so sexy I can tell you

I can’t shake this song out of my head at the minute, and I think it’s fricking AWESOME

Also I’m a massive fan of films like Step Up, Step Up 2 et al and so I would love to go watch this new Step Up 3D!

The Teresa Herrera Trophy

Pretty decent size I’m sure you’ll agree.  Wasn’t the best game attacking wise for us, with our inability to play the ball along the floor being highlighted with needless chips up to Andy Carroll and Leon Best, but on the other hand the defence looked good and were not afraid to pass it about (sometimes a little too much) and Perch looked a decent prospect, Given all the Forest fans “He can’t even make the first team when everyones fit” Maybe it’s their way of getting over losing a decent player by belittling him who knows.

"How we gonna get this home then lads?"

If ever there is a decent time to play Man Utd @ home I reckon it’ll be the first game of the season, ala last time we were in the top flight and we managed to get a 1-1 draw.  As long as it’s not 3/4/5-0 I’ll take that as we look to push on from there

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Hope you had a great day father

Also belated happy birthday to CarolAnne.  Hope you had a great week away with the family

Claire and mother

Claire, Best mate Dan, tutor and another fellow student

Claire after her proud moment

The Graduation Ceremony it’s self was not as “boring” as I thought.  I was kinda shocked at how many people had got their degree yet didn’t turn up for the ceremony.  Yeah holidays may already have been booked and things, but there were loads MIA.  I know if I’d spent 3/4/5 years to get a degree then I would wanna make sure I went (and got everyone in the concert hall clapping when they heard my name haha! How narcissistic/egotistical of me)  I felt a deep sense of pride when I heard Claire’s name and saw her getting up on stage.  Jackie was elated to see her daugther getting up on the stage.  After all the students had been up it was time for Sir David Attenborough to receive his honourary Doctor of Science degree, and I must admit to being spell-bound listening to him talking about rituals like the graduation, and how he’d been to other places deep within jungles where they have rituals etc.  Just something about his voice that just gets my attention straight away.  Mingled with the higher echelons of society for a bit, drinking champagne and orange juices whilst tucking into some nicely presented cakes/strawberries (I just had the orange juice and a cake honest)

Got back to Claires house and decided to see wether or not I could pull of the academic look by trying on her gown, and I have to say I looked quite dashing, and having been sat in the ceremony I felt that one niggling regret coming back.  The regret of course was not working harder when I after my GCSE’s and heading to Uni.  I have no idea what I’d have done or if I’d have even passed my degree but it’s one of the only regrets I have so far

How clever am I!!

Cue standard pose

Was an earlyish night that night, as we were both knackered from what turned out to be quite a surreal day thats for sure, and also due to being up early to head out for a hire job with some of the lads Sat morning.

Subject: Nice one, who says sporting gestures are a thing of the past?

The Nigerian goalkeeper has offered to refund the travel costs of all the disappointed UK fans who went to South Africa.

All he needs are your bank account details, password and mother’s maiden name.

Can’t be a scam surely?

Got there around half 3ish as directed and pulled up the same time as my Grandad and his sister, and we walked through to see the Birthday girl.  Was nice to see my cousin Jemma too after her being unable to attend the last two weddings.  The beer was soon flowing (quicker for my Great Uncle Rob than most tho ) and after we’d all had some bbq food, Rob began playing games.  First throwing a ball at unsuspecitng people to catch, then he decided to up the level a little and wanted an egg.  Ended up with a Lemon with the rules being “Drop it, you take a bite” This didn’t really bother Richard tho, who does quite enjoy Lemons as he told us on 3 or 4 occassions during the game.

Rob "Mid-game"

Another of our Robs drinking games

Sunday we did very little in the morning, apart from me being ordered to MacDonalds for some breakfast, before heading over to Ikea and Decathlon, which led to the purchase of some new cushions and a throw for the settee, and also a quick trip to Pets at home for 3 new fish Before heading to Caroline’s again to take down the marquee where I ended up with a case of Carlsberg that had gone undrunk. Result

Rocking that look

The best thing of all was going to the 20:45 showing which meant that all the kids had gone to bed and there were only really about 5 couples in their. One couple had two teenagers with them, but it was great.  Next up is Toy Story 3.  There seems to be a few films coming out which I can’t wait to see!! Toy Story 3, The Karate Kid, The A-Team and being a bit of a dance film geek I really can’t wait to watch Step Up 3D, having seen the trailer for it I was like WOW!

A drunk man who climbed into a crocodile enclosure in Australia and attempted to ride a 5m (16ft) long crocodile has survived his encounter.

The crocodile, called Fatso, bit the 36-year-old man’s leg, tearing chunks of flesh from him as he straddled the reptile.

He received surgery to serious wounds to his leg and is recovering in hospital, police say.

He had been chucked out of a pub in the town of Broome for being too drunk.

The man, who was not named by the police, climbed over a fence and tried to sit on the 800kg (1,800lb) saltwater crocodile.

More on this crazy story from the BBC website

Friday was some sort of day from hell! Me, Maddsy and Danny were rocking out in the van of death, doing what on paper looked like a few easy hire jobs around Derby.  What should have been a simple 14 minute drive from the first job to the second covering just 7 miles turned into 2 hours of aimless driving with 1 very irate driver and a laughing Wiggy and Danny.  Could we hell find our way into the park.  At one point I even had Wendy on the phone as we drove round trying to find our entrance into the bloody park.

Aston on Trent to Derby City Centre

Example of our route!

Eventually I spoke to the bloke organising “Derby Pride” and he told me how to get in to the park, via the smallest almost hidden entrance   “When you get close you should see the sign for Derby Gay Pride” he said.  Low and behld we saw it after going past it 5 times, as it was right at the foot of a lamp-post.  How we missed it before is beyond me   2 hours after we’d set off we had finally arrived.  An hour later we’d set up both marquees and were on our way back to work.  Not that we were at work for long.  We got loaded up for a Saturday morning job, and then I was off out giving someone a lift home

Follow the red line to get in!

It was certainly an experience we won’t forget for a few reasons haha!  Friday night Claire was out with her footballing girlies as it was their presentation and I’d agreed to give her a lift home, so I sat at home watching Sky News for most of the night, in complete shock when I heard that Gazza had turned up to a stand-off between Raoul Moat and armed police, with the following items:

• A Dressing Gown
• Some Bread
• Some Chicken
• a 6 pack of Beer, of which it’s alleged only 1 remained
• a Fishing Rod.  Yes thats right a fishing rod, as he’d heard he was down by the river and thought the police may left them fish together as Gazza tried to talk him round

Anyway the whole ordeal seemed to come to an end with shots fired just as I got the phone call to go and pick her up, and she couldn’t believe what had happened when I told her and her mate Paige who had also jumped in the car   She hadn’t looked too bad before she got in the car, but as she was tucking into her chips, cheese, beans and ketchup she began to look very much worse for wear (no where near as bad as me after Johns birthday night out tho )  For some reason Sat morning I was awake early, and took a phone call to go and swap 2 of the work vehicles with Mark and by the time I’d gotten back we were both wide awake.  Very little else was done during the day apart from a bit of shopping and nipping to Rainworth to drop Emma’s trophies and seeing my mum, who just so happened to be out.  Very typical.

Sat night we got ready and headed over to Derby to take down the marquees for Derby Pride, and it was rammed with folk, and you could tell some of them were smashed and could smell the alcohol in the air.  My shirt ended up stuck to me as it was soo bloody muggy and humid at that moment, and the fact we wanted to be out of there and home for as soon as possible.  The only strenuous thing I did on sunday was a little tidying up and walking to the shop whilst Mansfield Ladies travelled upto Sheffield to take on Sheffield Wednesday Ladies.  Someone was a little grumpy when she got back as they’d lost and having no assistant-ref’s meant 3 of the “goals” were offside, but in typical “bring your own ref” games he allowed them to stand

Congrats must go out to Bangladesh who won their first limited overs game of cricket against England this weekend with a 5 run win, and also to Spain who won their first ever World Cup, and with that leapfrog England as they’re the current holders of the European Championships also.  Things can only get better for the Spanish it seems, altho the Dutch tried their hardest to kick their way to the trophy, with 2 or 3 players lucky not to be sent off by the first English ref in a World Cup final since Jack Taylor in the 1974 final.  Some of the players really let themselves down on the big stage, with Van Bommel very lucky to have stayed on the pitch with foul after foul on the Spanish players, and then the cheek to say Howard Webb ruined the final.  Not quite sure how that works.

I think next pay day is gonna be a good one.  Never mind the starter motor for my car, I think I’m gonna be buying this.  Season 6 of NCIS!! Since they have been showing it on FIVE on Wednesday nights, I tended to watch the Champions League games, thus missing most of the season.  Before you say Claire, I know you’ve seen the last episode in Season 7 and I’m very happy for you (I’ve seen it too tho haha) Can’t wait to kick back during a coming weekend and watching the whole of season 6.  Also it helps complete my current NCIS collection which so far spans across the other 5 seasons

and also… we love nothing more than watching comical own goals (so long as our teams are never involved) so here’s one from Ireland…

Did a bit of shopping to get stuff for the house (I’m becoming far too housey for my own good at the minute ) on the saturday and what I thought would be a small total ended up to be about double what I thought.  Sure someone was chucking things into my trolley when I had my back turned Hmmmmmm!   Finally remembered to give my father his fathers day gift I brought him as we were away that weekend in Filey.  I was so tempted to eat the fudge myself, but thought I showed great restraint in not doing so.  I’m feeling quite out of shape at the minute, so once I can get through this month, its gonna be tmie to try and get the old Integra sorted and sold, mainly so I can afford to go to the bloody gym with John again

Yesterday was quite a hair-raising experience! Me and Maddsy went for a road trip in the “Van of Death” It has the turning circle and stopping ability of the QE2 and the acceleration of a Hippo knee-deep in water.  It made it to 70 mph on the motorway, but would it fuck go any faster when you were on anything more of an incline of 2% uphill.  Also the wheel bearings were shot in one wheel that meant when you tried to turn the wheel a fraction to the right you heard a sound you don’t really wanna hear when driving We still rocked the shit out of the van thanks to Radio 1 haha!  Took roughly 1hr 45 mins to get there, 45 minutes to take down our marquees and 1hr 40 to get back (I drive faster than Maddsy hahahaha) Not too bad a trip out, altho there were loads of them little bastard bugs, as the marquee was erected next to a lake, and so you can imagine the trip home.  One of us starts to scratch and that starts  the other off.  Then before you know it we’re both like a pair of dogs with fleas   You all know the sort of bugs too.  The ones that were attrached to our Yellow Ratchet Straps like a moth to a flame.  You can’t go outside in White or Yellow for fear of being covered in the little blighters

The villages of Glees and Wassenach, in western Germany, have had a long-running spat over which is better – at everything from ploughing the straightest lines to making the biggest sausages.

Now the dispute has moved into the relatively obscure field of downhill wheelie bin racing – in which competitors speed down a hill clinging to the back of their council-provided waste receptacles.

But officials have discovered that some contestants have already been resorting to nefarious means to gain an advantage.

‘They are supposed to be exactly as the council provided them, but we have found one or two trying to improve their chances with unapproved adaptations like skateboard wheels,’ commented one official.

Impressively, the results of the race will be screened nationwide on a cable and satellite channel.

LINK to the story on metro.co.uk

I wonder if it’ll be available on any websites! Fingers crossed it’ll appear on youtube for us all to see