Purple Palace

We've just had an "away weekend'. Part of this involved being away. At the weekend.

We stayed at the Purple Hotel in Tewksbury. I'm new to Purple hotels. They are springing up around the country (there is even one in Doncaster). They are actually quite nice. Very good prices and a little more too them that places like Travelodges. Breakfast on Sunday was particularly nice. And everyone on the staff seemed keen to make sure that our stay was as pleasant as possible. Recommended.

Olympic Secret

I was watching the Olympic opening ceremony last week when I believe I uncovered a great truth. If I suddenly vanish after this post, and it is mysteriously erased (well, you won't be able to read it, but anyway) then you will know that I have uncovered one of the greatest secrets of the age.

I think the Olympics is actually secretly run by the Walt Disney corporation. Consider the facts:

Olympic rings, or Mickey Mouse Ears?

Similar handwriting, eh?

Just think of it. All that TV time, advertising, merchandising, how can they not be doing it. I think the whole thing is actually being filmed in a big warehouse in Florida, with Pixar doing the animation for the outside shots. Every night a team of crack scriptwriters gets together and decides who wins each medal. It makes perfect sense. I just hope they are going to use the same approach for 2012.

Moving On

Number one son has left home. He's done it before, during his university career, but each time it was with the expectation that he would come back.

Not so this time.

He has gainful employment, a new place to live and lots of good times to come.

Good luck son, it will not be the same at home without you.

The Dark Knight

We went to see the Dark Knight last night. And it was dark. What are the chances eh?

We were lucky enough to see it at IMAX in Bradford, on the huuuuuge screen. And it was great. A bit bleak perhaps, although there were some points where the finer aspects of human nature rose to the fore they tended to be slapped down again by the generally better organised forces of evil. They seemed to have unlimited supplies of barrels full of explosive that they could move around Gotham city and wire up at will.

Batman as a character doesn't really get the chance to do much but those around him more than make up for this, with a truly astounding  performance by Heath Ledger who doesn't much seem to perform the role of the joker as inhabit it. 

They seemed determined to give good value to the cinema goer, with set piece after set piece and some really cracking scenes. This perhaps made the film a little overlong, but the pace never lets up. And the sound is worthy of special mention, with very impressive bangs and crashes that really packed a punch.

It is very violent, particularly given the 12A rating, but you really should see it.

Temptation, thy name is....

Update on Friday, August 8, 2008 at 09:10PM by Rob

Actually, it turns out that this is not actually very good strawberry flavoured milk. The absolute best is from Marks and Spencers ("Not just strawberry flavoured milk.....") with second place going to Sainsburys. 

I was wondering about setting up a Strawberry Flavoured Milk group on Facebook. We could exchange tips (two for two pounds at Sainsburys) and recipes (Strawberry milk marshmallow surprise) and experiments (I wonder what happens if you make Yorkshire pudding with strawberry flavoured milk?). Then again, there might already be one...