Mike Martin

My Face

2006-09-03T01:40:00.000+01:00

Seeings as its far more useful and popular, i've physically moved myself to www.myspace.com/bashmike so go have a look!

Wallyball

2006-07-24T12:07:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening was another fun one in the up-and-coming village of Chinnor! Paul's back off to Texas in a week so we commemorated this with some amusing activities, many involving water balloons.

A version of volleyball, played 2 vs 2 across a makeshift net (chairs and a plank of wood). Each team has a tea-towel, and both players have to keep hold of it the whole time. The first team then launches a water balloon across the net, attempting to land it on the opposing team's side of the net and therefore score a point. The other team obviously would love to catch the balloon in their tea-towel - thus avoiding the shame of conceding a point, and getting soaked! We did find that the best tactic was to launch the balloon sideways across the net at high speed... Paul's sister bravely absorbed the full force (and contents) of that water balloon. The game continued after we'd all picked ourselves up off the floor and regained breath from a good few minutes of solid laughing!!!

Other games included catch with water balloons, and also a form of baseball using a plank of wood to smack the balloon - generally soaking yourself and whoever was backstop. Good clean fun :)

The evening rounded off with a good old fire-in-a-dustbin in the garden. Amazing how much stuff you can condense into a pile of ash in a bin! Fuel included: an old fence, planks of wood, tree/hedge cuttings, ARGOS catalogue, plastic bottles, jeans, and Pooh Bear.

On a related point - while searching for pictures of water balloons i found this thing, called a "Single Person Launcher Kit" - Sounds like a bit of a cruel thing to do really...

Where did YOU sleep last night?

2006-07-21T14:35:00.000+01:00

So I was sitting in the garden last night and it was great, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to try out the tent I bought last week! Taking on board Mum's warnings of being attacked by foxes who "might think the tent is a bin liner and rip it apart..." I bravely set out to the end of the garden (which is about 5 metres away) and put up the tent!

It was actually brilliant to lie out in the peace and quiet, looking up at the stars and having time to think. Dad was taken in to hospital yesterday with chest pains, and kept in overnight for tests. Hopefully its nothing serious, but its a bit frustrating sitting about waiting to hear if everything's ok. I spent some time praying and read Psalm 91 last night while I was out in the tent, and funnily enough, verse 9 and 10 goes like this:

"If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

NAILED!!! Take that foxes!

And it was right, I'm pretty sure no disaster came near my tent. If it did, then it was good enough not to wake me up anyway :)

This week I 'ave mostly been...

2006-07-16T23:25:00.000+01:00

Playing minesweeper with Paul! And watching films: Crash, We Were Soldiers, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Instinct. And working in the extreme English heat in hot marquees serving food to "elderly" people... and eating lots of leftovers! The exercise front is going well, still keeping to my 2 cycle rides a week resolution - last week I even cycled 10 miles to Rickmansworth, spent the day stripping (paint) at my grandparents, and cycled home again :) At least we don't live up a stupidly steep hill... oh that's right, we do. And somehow I STILL weigh 12 1/2 stone... must be almost solid muscle by now...???

Currently listening to: Ronan Keating - 10 Years of Hits...

The Chinnorian Bees of Death

2006-07-08T02:35:00.000+01:00

Today, went cycling in Chinnor with Paul and Jake. It was hard work, as they've both been doing some kind of exercise over the past year, so I was playing catchup most of the way! It was good fun tho, until we got a bit lost and then tried to cut across some fields...

We rounded a corner, and Paul and Jake were in front. I heard them shouting AAAAAAAAAHHHH, but didn't really make the connection with the fact that we were suddenly cycling right past a line of about 6 bee hives! Just as I realised (too late) what the cloud in front of me was, and why the guys were shouting in pain, I shut my mouth tight and ploughed straight through a swarm of bees!

To be fair, we came off pretty well considering how many hundreds of bees there were! Paul got stung in the head, Jake on the arm and leg, and I got one right on my butt!

In hindsight, maybe we did seem a bit threatening to the bees, as we effectively came flying through their front garden shouting AAAAAAAAHHHHHH, so fair play that they attacked us i suppose!

Here's a tip: NEVER DO THAT!!! And if you see your friends cycling through a swarm of bees, shouting in pain... DON'T FOLLOW THEM!

Over-confident chicken loses in violent brawl with small girl

2006-07-06T15:40:00.000+01:00

Approach #4: Clock Radio

2006-07-05T00:25:00.000+01:00

On my quest to find the right device to wake me up in the morning, i'm trying a clock radio at the moment (only £3.49 from ARGOS!). The problem with my initial alarm clock with snooze is that i kept snoozing again and again... until i finally thought "now i'm awake" and turned it off, only to fall completely asleep for another half hour!

Next was the mobile phone alarm. The absence of a snooze feature meant i could set all 3 alarms on it but HAD to get up on the 3rd one. This worked ok except on those days when i was so tired that i either lost count as to whether the alarm going off was the GET UP NOW one, or simply turned it straight off and went back to sleep.

Thirdly, i bought an old-stylie clockwork alarm clock. Advantage being that it had a flipping loud bell for an alarm that would make anybody leap out of bed and either run out the front door shouting FIRE, or grab the nearest makeshift weapon (pillows are less effective than bedside lamps) to defend yourself from seemingly imminent danger. Although, after realising i was neither on fire or under attack, i had a tendency to leap back into bed, whereupon the lack of a snooze feature was again my downfall!

So... here i am at a clock radio. The genius of it all being that the radio comes on, and it stays on! There's no snoozing, or switching off alarms, or even leaping out of bed scared out of my face. Brilliant. The only thing is, radio 4 comes on and i become completely engrossed in what they're talking about and therefore forget to get up, or (more frequently) my mind goes numb and spend the next hour drifting in and out of consciousness, having bizarre dreams which ironically feature similar themes to the radio programme!

Well, the summer holidays must be the best time to experiment as there is considerably less urgency to get up! Hopefully i'll find the best solution by the time uni starts again in October!

Something on your head?

2006-07-02T17:45:00.000+01:00

Just found I've got quite a few pictures of people with things on their heads... here's a selection:

"I've got a pan on my head"

"Well I've got a sheep on mine"

"AAAHHH my hands are stuck to mine!"

"At least you don't have bananas stuck to yours..."

"I always wanted to be a woman"

"Anybody else's hair look this bad when they wake up?"

"YESSSSSS i unstuck them!"

"WAHEY me too!"

"I use Head and Shoulders..."

"Is that a box on your head?" Yeah.

"CRAP they're stuck again!!!"

"Haha, well my head's stuck to the ceiling"

"What on earth is that mop on my head???"

...and then I put my foot through the ceiling

2006-07-02T00:20:00.000+01:00

Or at least very almost all the way through! I was carrying some boxes in the loft yesterday and failed to see the gap between 2 planks on the floor - big oops! The ceiling in the room downstairs now looks in need of some repairs to the resulting bulge and cracks (see picture!). I think my parents are still glad to have me home...?? hehehe :)

Happy 15th Birthday to lil sis for yesterday. We had a BBQ in the garden which i deftly tended, bravely battling against the ferocious heat and smoke screens... or something. Good fun tho!

Currently listening to: Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me

P.S. at least we didn't get knocked out of the World Cup... again

Indian Woman

2006-06-29T15:11:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Imogen Heap

Well somebody stole my girlfriend and took her to India... apparently she'll be returned in good condition in 6 weeks time! (Amy if you read this - hello how are you how are you??) Everybody seems to be vacating the local area - cousin Dom is off to America for a month this evening and school mates are all working elsewhere! What's wrong with England??? Where do we start...

Today I began my hardcore exercise routine resolution, realising that my 12.5 stone is not entirely solid muscle as I had previously thought! I began with 50 painful sit-ups and then dusting all the cobwebs off my bike and pumping up the tyres (which was hard work in itself!). Long-distance cycle ride no.1 was all the way to Dom's house... about 4mins away! It could take a while to get back into all this! Ah well its not like i'm lacking in time to do it :)

Work was really good last night - go and work in catering! We got to do standard jobs like carry things, clean things and serve food, and BUT THEN got to eat SO MUCH FOOD as well! And take loads home - it appears to be quiche for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days... Got to work with lovely people and its amazing how many people you can make happy by giving them some food! AND we got paid!!! Brilliant.

Greenthings, Earthlings... Chesham

2006-06-28T16:06:00.000+01:00

So...

Summer holidays brings lots of free time, so we'll see how long this lasts! I'm back in Chesham (which IS the centre of the universe for those yet to figure this out). Other than being the centre of the universe, Chesham is a fairly average town with not a great deal of distinguishing features.

You can find Chesham by:

Taking an underground map (that's a map of the london underground, not any old non-mainstream map, or not even a map you may dig up.)
Find the top left corner
THERE IT IS!!! at the end of the Metropolitan Line

So thats Chesham. I'll be spending most of the summer here. Its been good to spend some proper time at home with my family as i've been a way a fair bit over the past couple of years. A few weddings to go to, including my sister's which should be big fun!

This evening I've got my first shift at work, which i'm actually looking forward to! I get to work with my sisters doing catering for various events... more weddings i guess!

Finally, vote on what you'd rather be over there ------>