I had meant to post a long message today but as usually happens time ran away from me. We are heading down to Gotenberg to marias sister for the weekend. Have a great weekend whatever you are up to.

That will do nicely thank you...

They have given me a pay rise. I didn’t like to mention that I would be happy to work for less just as long as they kept the work coming. I would like to think I was given the rise due to them recognising my natural talent and dedication. Maria shot that thought down in flames however saying it was just because I have been there a year now. With a years experience I have moved up a payment band, so I expect I am now receiving the minimum wage in a new band. I prefer my reasoning but what the heck I will just take my extra 16.6 pence an hour and run.

Public health warning for those reading this on a laptop...

DOCTORS are warning that laptop computers may inflict a burn even through clothed skin, after the bizarre case of a Swedish scientist who scorched his penis and testicles while writing a report in his armchair. The unnamed 50-year-old father of two had balanced the computer on his lap while he wrote the report at home, taking about an hour to do it, according to a letter published in the next issue of the British medical weekly The Lancet.

The following day, he started to develop painful blisters on his foreskin and scrotum, which became infected but eventually cleared up without the need for antibiotics. Laptop manuals usually advise users not to use the computer while its base is resting directly on exposed skin, as heat can build up if the device is left on for a long time. In this case, however, the patient had been wearing trousers and underpants.

You would have thought that he would have noticed things were starting to get a little warm before any damage was done.

Weekly Marathon Update #2

The cold that was keeping me down last week has now packed its bags so I should be able to start some light training this week. At the moment I am not following and structured training plan as such. With the state of the trials deteriorating with the onset of winter I will be running on an ad hoc basis with additional indoor strength training.

My fundraising pack has arrived from the nice people at concern. I can now confirm that any sponsorship raised will support concerns work with landmine victims in Cambodia. “Helping them to rebuild their lives so that they can once again become active members of the community. Through skills training, employment projects and credit and savings schemes, landmine injured people can gain back their independence and, just as importantly, their self-esteem.

Hopefully Karen doesn’t mind she seemed quite pleased with where we thought the money might have been going in the first place. “I must admit that I liked the idea of buying a couple of latrines, nice to think that you are making that much of a difference!!”

I am having a bit of a bad cook day. I am generally hopeless in the kicten at the best of time. I can manage the basics and I have a few set meals that I can usually pull of with a bit of luck but not all the time it would seem. Last Christmas in a desperate measure to save Marias sanaty my mum purcahsed a cook book for me called "Cokking for blokes". A simple cook book which gets down right down to the basics to the point where it is more or less insulting. Several of the so called recipes have lists of ingredents that include ready meals in them for heavens sake. Surely I must be able to produce a meal with an idiots guide like this ? Well not today it would seem. My rice has turned into a rice pudding, the sauce refuses to shed its lumps and I am not to sure about the chcken either. Anyone fancy a takeaway ?

Ever wondered how the post office transport the mail around the country ? You could of course ask Paul and I am sure the would let us all know. But why would you want to when you can learn by playing. Follow the link and then click on the logo like the one below. Its in swedish but I am sure you can work out what needs to be done. Just click on the truck and away you go

I don’t usually mention TV shows on here for two reasons. Either they are Swedish and most of you wouldn’t have a clue what I was on about. Or if they are on BBC World or Prime they are least a year old and that hardy makes for topical conversation.

However after laying down this rule for myself I will now proceed to break it. Flying double decker buses are just too good a chance to miss. Jumping a motorbike over 14 double decker buses was all very exciting for its day, but times they are a changing. With this in mind Top Gear indulged in a little role reversal, a double decker bus jumping over 14 motorbikes.

For this stunt they used an old Ipswich Buses double decker bus called Mags. Don’t ask me why but in a Thomas the Tank Engine kind of way all of Ipswich’s green buses are named. Sadly as some of the fleet is getting on a bit they also beech out as much emissions as Thomas himself.

Bu t I digress. The ramp was raised; the bikes parallel parked and the ducks chased away. The engine was revved and the bus made its charge for the bikes. Of course it landed on top of all but three of the bikes, but why should that matter to a silly story…

Christmas is making its way to Sweden. The decorations went up at the end of the week and very nice they are going as well. A simple string of white bulbs across the street with two stars made of green fern tinsel and more plain white bulbs. Maybe not as colour as the decorations back in my old home town but I think they look much more stylish. With Christmas also come the special drinks of the time. Jul musk is everywhere at the moment. Sweden’s liquid marmite. I think Maria has been getting her own back on me for finishing off the glasses of Pepsi she has left for a while. They have now been replaced by the odd glass of this ghastly drink The equivalent of the cheese in a trap to a mouse, the only difference being I get to repeat the same mistake over and over again.

Wikipeda the free encyclopedia has this to say about the drink...

Julmust is a soft drink that is drunk mainly in Sweden at Christmastime. During the rest of the year it is sold under the name must. At Eastertime the name is Påskmust. (jul=christmas, påsk=easter). The content is the same no matter the marketing name, however must is closely associated with Christmas and somewhat less with easter. It is often hard to find the drink in off-season.

Must was created by Harry Roberts in the early 1900s. Must is made of carbonated water, sugar, hops extract, malt extract, spices, colouring (E150), citric acid, and preservatives. The hops and malt extracts give the must a somewhat beerlike taste, but must is not fermented and contains no alcohol. Must can be aged provided it is stored in a glass bottle. Some people buy must in December only to store it a year before drinking it.

Julmust might be the source of some annoyance at Coca-cola in Sweden, since Sweden is the only country where the consumption of Coca-Cola drops during Christmas. Many Swedes drink julmust instead.

So what can we say about this drink. It is clearly so bad that Swedes themselves decide that its best to be left at the back of a cupboard and left alone for a year. I think it can only be sentimental attachment with keeping everything the way it used to be with Christmas. The same Christmas cartoon compilation has been running for over 40 years, and you thought English television was full of repeats. They tried to remove one of the older cartoons from this show one year and there was uproar.

If you want a drink that tastes like beer, stick to beer. It may just be me but I think there might just be a reason why it is hard to find this drink outside of the Christmas celebrations.

Weekly Tuesday Charity Marathon Update

A big thank you to Maria, Karen, Lynn, Paul, and David for their sponsorship and pledges. The grand total at the moment stands at £53.50 with gift aid included. Thank you also to those who have recently linked back to this site, the more people who find their way here the better! The button kindly made by Lynn is still available but please upload the image onto your own server if possible.



The challenge has slowed in pace this last week or so due to the dreaded lergy taking a hold. Its nothing to bad, I am healthy enough to go to work but left with little energy to do much else after that. Training at the moment is out of the question and would only make things worse. Patience has to be the name of the game. I am stocking up on the vitamin c and hoping I will be back to good health in the near future.

Up until now I have yet to commit myself to any targets for any of the runs, its about time I changed that. As an opening aim for the Stockholm half marathon I have decided to try and complete the course in 2 hours. Yes I know that’s a very round figure and looks like I have just plucked it out of the air without much thinking but trust me there is some thought behind this time, honest! Using the “Race time predictor chart” from runners world my current 5km and 10km times produce an estimated time of 2 hours and 3 minutes for a half marathon. Now its out in the open I had better make sure I reach my target.

I have added some extra details in the running madness section. The basic frequently asked questions have been listed but I am sure there must be more questions lurking out there, so feel free to get in touch. I have been in contact with Kate from concern and she will be sending me some extra details about which projects any sponsorship raised will be going towards. Hopefully I will have more to report after thee weekend. Justgivings site has had an overhaul and after a few teething problems no seems to be working fine again.

I have a few other projects on the go but I will keep you in suspense about those for the time being. Its more exciting that way and also if it doesn’t work out I can conveniently forget I ever said anything.

Romamania's ARO Campulung car company is deep in debt, 20 million euros down that murky creek, but they have a solution. "we have found a solution that even the best economists have never thought of" said Ion Cotescu. Low wages ? Nah the debts to large for that to work. Staff layoffs ? But they would only want redundancy payments. What if the staff were to sell their semen ? Now your just taking the ... No hang on a moment that might just work. I cant help but wonder what 20 million euros worth of semen would look like. Interviews and staff apprasals could be interesting to see. Could you get sacked for using "company" assets in your free time ? And if there is such a demand why dont the workers forget the car company and start working freelance. This small quotes in Time magazine leave me with far more questions than answers.

Extra Extra, read all about it, exclusive first pictures of Postman Paul
Picture provided by the upstanding member of the paparazzi Divine Tigs

Sorry but I am going to have to lower myself to toilet humour.

While visiting the toilets at MacDonalds in Arvika, Sweden, a man noticed that all the toilet seats had been removed. When he asked staff about the missing seats, he was told an employee had taken them out of a dishwasher where they had been cleaned together with trays and kitchen utensils. The employee tried to reassure the customer by saying that the freshly washed toilet seat would be warm and pleasant to sit on. A senior representative of the restaurant chain said the incident was a mistake and not standard company procedure. Arvika's environmental and health inspector later visited the restaurant.

Other bits and bobs.

First the good news, work has phoned and as someone has phoned in sick I will have work all of next week. The bad news is that I am starting to feel sick myself. At this point I will have to break of from my tale to reassure my mum that its just a little flu. When I first moved over here I managed to get myself pretty sick by not dressing up warm enough for the swedish winter. Thats not the case anymore as I dress up like the Michelin man and have just bought a pair of gloves that look like something they might wear on an apollo mission. But isnt it just typical, i get work as sickness cover and then go get myself sick. Ho hum.

Defenceless monkey

Cruel but fun how hard can you slap this little fella? Found via Kezza.

We are moving ! We went to see an appartment yesterday and liked what we saw, so we bit their hands off and grabed it. Maria has drawn a plan and has a link to some photos if you are interested in having a peek. At the moment we are renting an appartment with one large room, kitchen and bathroom. What we having just agreed is what is known as a "bostadsrätt" that means we purchase a percentage of an appartment block and then pay a monthly fee to a fund for repairs, maintenance electricity etc. We will not only finally have a proper bedroom instead of having our bed in the middle of our living room but 2 of them ! And if that wasnt enough sleeping space if Maria really gets fed up with me I can always sleep on the balcony. How soon we can move depends on the new tenant of our current appartment but at the moment we have the 1st of March penciled in. Is it too soon to start packing yet ?

If you can say it rains cats and downs, then I would be right in saying it is snowing rhinos outside at the moment. It started falling lightly last night until we were at the point English papers would be full of headlines shouting "its snow go on british roads". Then at 10 this morning snowballs started falling.

I have finally found myself a course to apply to. The one I had in mind started to spiral in costs and I thought I would have to start banging my head against the wall again looking for another one I could take. Luckly I fell upon the course I wanted quite quickly and have applied today so hopefully I can start with that soon. Work has dried up at the moment but you never know when someone will be sick and I will be called in.

Winter has well and truly arrived. The small snow flurries we had a couple of days back are still with us, and with the hard frost have turned into a slippery nightmare. The challenges I have set myself for my running might seem a little tough, but the real challenge will be to see if I can manage to go though the whole winter without falling over. I can see myself crossing the finish line in Stockholm but I can’t see myself with a bruise or two come March.

Maybe I am just clumsy but last year I managed to fall down the stairs once (snow and not drink induced may I add) and found myself sitting on my backside in the snow and ice countless times. I did believe I had the problem sorted with removable spikes that could be added to the soles of my shoes. They did seem to be helping, but I think the benefits were more in my mind than anything else. They seemed to work just as well when I put them on upside down by mistake once.

Its not that I dislike the snow, it makes quite a difference around here. The extra light it brings can really cheer up the long dark winter nights. There is also something about the crunching sound beneath your feet that has a wonderful appeal. Snow can be a lot of fun. We just have some issues to sort out, mainly its desire to place me on my backside and its tendency to outstay its welcome.

A little red circle has appeared on the running picture post of a few days ago. The circle actually appear yesterday but no one seemed to notice...

With apologies to Bugs Bunny, The Teletubbies, and even Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck has a fine tradition of scoring high in Swedish national elections, among voters who favor the joke vote. In fact, over the last 20 years, the Donald Duck Party has scored enough write-in votes at points to theoretically be country's ninth most popular political organization. That's quackers! The Donald Duck Party — better known in Sweden as Kalle Anka — dukes it out with the Tax Evader's National Party, the Beer Party and the Professional Bachelors Party for seats in the Riksdag, Sweden's 349-member parliament.

Nonexistent Candidates Disappear

About one in 20 Swedish voters cast their ballots for unofficial, write-in candidates. That's about 26,000 votes. Donald's best showing in recent years came in 1985, when he took 291 votes. Perhaps in a country of nine million, that's not that impressive. But let's remember — he's a cartoon duck and he frequently gets more votes than living, breathing politicians. Sadly for Donald, the joke won't go on forever. Swedish politicians are changing election rules. By 2006, voters will be prohibited from choosing nonexistent candidates, eliminating the potential embarrassment of leaders having to open an embassy in Tomorrowland. I think Donalds got the politicains worried.

Okay thats it, I here by promise* that I will not change my template again. I was forced to change the last one as it took too long to load for some people. I wouldnt have been able to afford to pay Pauls invoice if he decided to charge me for the 30 seconds stolen from him each time he decided to look on here. Mind you he thinks I look like the front end of a bus so what should I care !

Spot James or wheres wally?

No prizes, just for fun, usual competition rules apply, ie you cant guess mum/maria/david

I havent disappeared I am just sleeping. The joys of the night shift and the the onset of winter. It was minus 15 when i biked back this morning brrrrr. I did get to see my first snowman of the year earlier this week. Okay so it was just the size of a garden gnome, but it was a snowman all the same. I also sorted this photo while trying to change my template.Go against the flow I like this template but with a blogspot home and being heavy on graphics means it just has to go.

Following Paul’s advice I thought it would be worth pointing out that if you are donating and you are a uk tax payer justgiving can reclaim the tax on your donation. 28% extra donated to Concern just for clicking on a box.

I have been asked why I am using justgiving, instead of collecting sponsorship with something like Paypal. The main reason is that I don’t want to get my hands dirty handling your cash. Like most of you I have heard stories of people online claiming to be something that they are not. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I was doing the same. If I were to use paypal they would always be doubts about if I were actually handing over all the sponsorship I collect over to Concern. With just giving, I personally never see any donations, any sponsorship given goes direct from justgiving to concern.

On a totally different note I have added another site to my blog reads Depressed Cow has a nice design even if the cow does keep on mooing ! And if you have some time to waste why not see if you can get to the bottom of the sea.

Thank you all for your support. I will be uploading a few more pages in the next week or so to provide more details. However it will probably take longer for me to edit my link buttons. So for a while clicking on my clicks will be like looking under stones, you are never quite sure what you will find. Big thanks go out to Lynn for making me a button, please feel free to add it to any page you so wish ! I am also trying to put together a faq page but I need to have some questions asked frequently first, so please feel free to leave a mark in my comments box.

Those of you that had a peak at my Wish list are probably thinking that I am mad. The truth is that I probably am. Running the Stockholm half marathon followed by the London marathon and possibly completing the ensemble with the Stockholm marathon will not come easy. Other the course of the next year or so I will most likely curse this decision countless times, but I wont truly mean it. How many times in life do you have the chance fulfil a life’s ambition and met your hero at the same time.

The sound of Ron Goodwin’s theme song to ”The Trap”, the music the bbc use as their signatory to the London Marathon is enough to get me dreaming. The sight of the sea of people bobbing over Tower Bridge makes me want to be there. The picky ones amongst you may point out that I have been there and done it before and so the ”life’s ambition” part is an oversell. Well maybe it is, but the truth, and Maria will probably get all worked up when I say this, I cant be 100 percent proud of my achievements that day. Maria will counter attack with ”you managed to complete 26 miles that’s more than most people would be able to manage” For a while I will forget myself and remind her its 26.2 miles but while it was a great day and really I am proud of finishing, it wasn’t in the style I would have wished. Ever since I have wanted to go back and compete in style.

But what about the hero part? I hear those of you who having dozed off already cry. Well I have chosen to run for the charity Concern, an organisation devoted to the relief, assistance and advancement of people in need in less developed areas of the world. Each year they enter a team of about 30 runners into the race with the team captain of Chris Moon.

Chris has a truly unbelievable attitude to life and if Hollywood were to make a film about him it would probably be panned as being totally unbelievable. As if being one of the few people to survive kidnap by the Khmer Rouge wasn’t enough Chris has completed more than 15 marathons, including the Marathon des Sables, a 137 mile race across the Sahara. A remarking achievement in itself but extraordinary so considering that this was done after losing his lower right leg and right arm while supervising land mine clearance.

So I may be mad but I don’t care ! If you wish to sponsor me you can do so here If you wish to link back to this site please send me a quick email and I will add you to the roll of honour.