Just A Little Something

Once again my mind has gone blank, and I have nothing interesting to write about. I'm not at home just now because I'm going to Alton Towers tomorrow with my Dad and we're staying at a hotel called "European Inn" in Derby. It’s ok but nothing special really, just a standard 3 star hotel. Probably the best thing is the fact that each room comes with free Wi-Fi and a 32" Samsung TV with full freeview.

We left on Thursday during the day and stopped in at Newcastle because my Dad had to see people for work purposes. The hotel there was ok; it was an Innkeeper's Lodge so again nothing special. The food at the place next to the hotel was brilliant, very good for pub food.

Today the drive down was terrible, there were a lot of traffic jams and the bad weather didn't help, but eventually we got here. After bringing our cases etc. we realized we were quite hungry and went to look at some restaurants in the area, eventually choosing an Indian restaurant called Visceroy.

I’m not going to go on about this meal because that would just take too much time, but here is a short summary.

The restaurant looked wonderful; it was very modern but still managed to retain the culture of a traditional Indian restaurant. We went for a 4 course early dinner special which meant we got a Pickle Tray (papadums with sauces), starter, main course, rice and Naan Bread for under £15 each. The presentation of the food was phenomenal; imagine the kind of food you would see in an expensive London restaurant and you aren’t even halfway there. The quality of the food was astounding and for the price it felt like a steal. The restaurant is very deceiving from the outside, it doesn’t look like much but when you step inside it feels like a different town altogether.

So that brings me to my evening, which has consisted of typing this blog, chatting to friends on MSN and watching QI on the TV that’s right above me. When I say watching, I mean listening to it at odd points which can lead to some awkward thoughts, e.g. I just found out that a Sperm Whale has a bone in its penis. Lovely thought.

Well as I have said, I am going to Alton Towers tomorrow. I might send a few updates to my twitter which can be found here, although I can’t promise much. I’ll write about it tomorrow, hopefully it shall be a fun day and the weather stays nice, but after today I’m not hoping for much.

Night (:

Global Warming and Stuff

Please don't let the title throw you off, this isn't some rant about how we should all tackle global warming by using energy saving light bulbs and walking everywhere or just staying at home rather than flying all over the world and spitting some nasty planet killing carbon emissions into the air. It’s just a post about my thoughts on the situation.

People all over the world are basically dictating to us how we should live our lives, telling us to do more to save the planet and stop climate change. But let’s stop and think about this question I have: Is changing our lifestyles to be more eco-friendly going to be enough to stop the planet from "dying”?

First of all I would like to say that we are not actually “killing” the planet. All we are doing is speeding up a cycle which Earth has been going through since its existence. Let me break it down for you; make it easier for the simple kids to understand. ;)

Earth’s Life Cycle

Normal > Warm > Hot > Freezing > Cold > Warmer > Normal etc.

Now I ain’t gonna lie to you here people; this cycle is going to happen forever, or at least as long as Earth exists.

BUT! Don’t go getting yourselves worked up yet and thinking “OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO FREEZE OVER SOON!!!!!!!!!!!” because that’s not going to happen. This process takes a long time, and by long time I mean hundreds / thousands of years. We are currently between the Normal and Warm stages, but it has only been in recent years that we have noticed the changes.

Secondly, I would like to point out that the planet is eventually going to die some day; everything in the universe will come to an end. The death of the Earth will not be caused by our “bad” lifestyles but will most likely be caused by the death of an important star – the Sun.

The sun is going to run out of energy and one day will shut down, meaning there is no light and no heat to keep us alive. The world as we know it will disappear and instead will be left as a large frozen wasteland, similar to planets further away from the sun.

So, it seems, that the answer to my question no, by changing our lifestyles we cannot save the planet.

Perhaps I am not asking the correct question. Or perhaps these “climate change experts” are looking at things the wrong way and are making us believe a load of lies. If this is the case then we should look at things from a different perspective.

I believe it’s good that people are willing to change to help save the planet but I fell that they are only doing it because they feel obliged to due to the massive amount of pressure from society. And that means they are doing it just for the sake of it, to shut people up and not have to listen to environmentalists’ rants. I think that if you want to change and help the planet, you should do so because you want to, not because some tree hugging member of the Green Party wants you to.

I’m not trying to preach my views on anyone, I try not to do that and if that’s the way it comes across you are looking at things the wrong way, I’m just trying to point out a simple fact that the world won’t die just because that light bulb in your lamp isn’t a funny shape or just because your car is an old model which pumps out a 1000000g/km of Co2.

I understand some people may think I’m wrong about this but oh well; the world is full of things which are wrong. I’m sure you will live. Unless you get hit by a car. Or lorry. Or something horrible happens and you die. If anything does happen, I take no responsibility.

Sunday's Dinner/Lunch

On Sunday I went out for lunch / dinner with my family. The occasion was my Gran's birthday; my brother suggested that we should take her out somewhere since we couldn't do so on the day of her birthday because my Mum and Dad were on holiday.

After driving around for a while and struggling to choose where to eat my Dad pulled in at a place called "Beefeater". Its one of those places that pitches up next to a service station hotel - in this case it was next to a Premier Inn - so I wasn't expecting much from it, just traditional pub food that wouldn't be of any amazing standard.

When we first walked in things didn't seem too amazing, the decoration was ok and we were seated quickly. The waitress seemed friendly and took our drink orders after giving us the menus. She was quick to point out that two options from the menu would be unavailable - Rack of Lamb and Chicken Breast wrapped with Bacon - which I was impressed with because the service in these places isn't usually very great.

For a starter I decided I would have Garlic and Herb Breaded Mushrooms; my brother chose the same, my parents got a Combo Platter type thing and my Gran didn't have anything. We had to wait longer than you usually would for the food to arrive but the quality was actually better than I expected.

Since it was a Sunday I opted to go for the Roast Lamb, with my brother once again choosing the same. My Dad chose Roast Beef, my mum chose Sausage and Mash and my Gran chose Fish and Chips.

Between courses we ordered two more drinks but the waitress forgot and we had to wait about 10 minutes until they arrived. Very poor.

Again the food took a while however this time the quality was not great. My Yorkshire puddings were undercooked as were the Roast Potatoes. The meat was ok but was nothing special; as for the veg, well, it was just veg.

After we had finished our food my Gran complained that her fish wasn’t cooked properly and you could see just by looking at it that it wasn’t. The waitress agreed and quite kindly took the fish off the bill.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with meal, it was ok but I have had much better food. The service was ok; I think if it wasn’t for the friendly waitress I would say it was terrible. The food was less than average but what can you expect from these kinds of establishments? Although there is one exception to these places and that was a Premier Inn restaurant I ate in with my Dad a few years ago. For the price, I was blown away by the quality of the place, food, service etc. I actually felt like I was eating in a proper restaurant rather than one in a Premier Inn.

I would also like to apologise for the poor quality of this post. It’s half 1 in the morning and I can’t really sleep so I’m on this. I will try to write something a bit more interesting later on. Goodnight all x

What's on my iPod?

I haven’t had a new post in a few days, either because I’ve been too busy to come on the family laptop and post, or I have had no clue what to write about but the last problem has been solved because of an idea which occurred to me while I was in the shower yesterday. I have decided to put my iTunes on shuffle and list the first 5 songs which play, regardless of how embarrassing they are. I will then write a little bit about the song and will also explain why I have the song. The idea is not mine; I have taken it from a weekly feature on the Roadrunner Records website where a band member from one of their artists has to put their iPod on shuffle and explain the first 5 songs to play. Here it goes.

1. Song – Magnificent

Artist – U2

I bought this song on iTunes when U2 released their new album, No Line on the Horizon. I listened to the previews of most of the songs and was not majorly impressed with any. There were a few ok songs but as a whole the album was not anything special, but when I listened to the preview of Magnificent I thought “this sounds like something the ‘old’ U2 would write,” and I quite like the ‘old’ U2.

2. Song – Lifestyle

Artist – Joe Satriani

This song is from the “Is There Love in Space” album which Satch released in 2004. The track is one of the few songs by Satriani to feature vocals. I have the song because I bought the album a few months ago in HMV Glasgow along with “Surfing With the Alien”. I can’t say much about this track as I haven’t listened to it much.

3. Song – Sidecar - On The Rail Bridge

Artist – Harry Gregson-Williams

This song is from the “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack” which I got a few months ago. I have been a fan of the Metal Gear Solid series for a long time now, I think since my brother got the second game in the series. The soundtracks have always appealed to me since I heard the main them so I decided to add them to my iTunes library. I think this particular song is from the part of the game where Snake and Eva are escaping from the Shagohod, although I can’t really remember as it has been a while since I played the game.

4. Song – The Saints Are Coming

Artist – U2 & Green Day

This song was originally released as a single and was later released as part of the “U218 Singles” compilation album released in 2006. The song was recorded after the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The song was released as a single and all profits raised from the track were donated to a charity which works to help musicians in New Orleans. I have the song because I bought the compilation album in 2006.

5. Song – Break The Silence

Artist – Killswitch Engage

This song is from the band’s 4^th album “As Daylight Dies” which I borrowed from a friend last year. The song is one of my favourite songs by Killswitch Engage. I can’t really think of much to write about this song, apologies.