49 Today

Here's store keeper and all round nice guy Phil Joce. Today Phil is celebrating his 49th birthday and I would like to wish him the very best. His 40th birthday only feels like yesterday and it's a pity that I won't be around at Instanta when he celebrates his 50th next year as the 40th was a very good do. Phil hails from Ilfracombe in Devon but his accent has mellowed now and you would no longer take him for an extra from Larkrise to Candleford and would see him as a local (honest). Married to Pat, Phil is a big film fan although he prefers watching on the small screen rather than the big screen as he has a second job. Along with his duties at Instanta, Phil works another thirty five hours a week (at least) as devoted baby sitter to grandson Lewis. I mentioned on the blog on his birthday last year that Phil joined Instanta over 20 years ago and has been a model employee since then. His punctuality and sickness records over the last twenty one years are still such that there is just one entry from over 13 years ago. All our punctuality and sickness records are pretty good but Phil's is outstanding. Married for 26 years to Pat, Phil is the proud father to Calvin, Nichola and Kirsty. Have a great day Phil.



When we were away at the weekend I saw that in the pond at the hotel there was one of those duck houses beloved by the Tories.



And then I saw this one too and wondered if this was a Labour one.



The excitement is growing in our household as the launch of Paul's new show "A League Of Their Own" launches on Sky1 (and Sky1 HD) tomorrow night at 9pm. Marion is preparing a small themed dinner party for some friends and the house is awash with red and blue balloons and blown up copies of adverts for the show. The programme was originally scheduled for 8pm but, having gone to the recordings of a couple of shows, I wondered if the humour and language might be a bit strong for pre-watershed. I hope that the editing went well as we (and the rest of the audience) certainly had a tremendously entertaining time. You won't see Paul's name on the credits but he has been heavily involved in the development of this fun new panel game from the outset.

If you can't wait until tomorrow Sky have got a page devoted to the show and there are quite a few clips to watch. You can view them by clicking here