Year End Beckons

Here are Phil (left) and Tony from our stores who, against all odds, have managed to prepare for the annual stock take in record time. Circumstances this week have resulted in the stores being a couple of men down but Phil and Tony have pulled out all the stops and done a great job and must be congratulated. Thanks also go to Gavin for giving them a hand. The accountant arrives tomorrow and, as long as the quantities agree with the books, we'll be ready for the audit very soon.



I promise to stop banging on about my novel after today.When I first uploaded the blog yesterday I erroneously stated that my book was at number 103 (a typo honest). I later corrected it to 1034 (a bit of a difference!). Today it's inside the 1000 mark. I had a brilliant bit of advice from one of the best writers on the site (no it wasn't "Give up")and, as a result, I may well take it down from Authonomy and do a rewrite. Although criticism is sometimes hard to take, there's a lot of truth in the old saying that "you have to be cruel to be kind".



You really have to hand it to the Guardian. They have some incredible writers. I read a review of the X Factor written by Anna Pickard who is not their regular TV reviewer. She summed the show up with this brilliant line on the contestants "When they were good they were very very good. And when they were bad they were televised". Perfect.



Orange Wednesday last night was packed for "Inglourious Basterds". We could not even get into the car park. As for the film. Not as bad as the critics said but not great. A typical mixture of Tarantino violence and black humour with a spaghetti western like score. The cinematography was superb.




Did you read about the punishment planned for people who illegally download files? We all know some don't we? (They will remain nameless here)It seems that they are going to have it cut off. The Broadband that is.

A Great Christmas Stocking Filler

Our "The Colour of Money" board game arrived yesterday and ,although you might think us biased (as the TV programme was son Paul's concept),it's really impressive. I haven't seen it in the shops yet but it's available on Amazon. Give it a try. It will make a change from Monopoly.



Natalie brought little Olivia in to see us this morning. She's growing isn't she?



And Nat had some more good news with her engagement to boyfriend Dave. Here's her ring. She tells us that she is going to get married in 2011 in Mauritius and, while she's on honeymoon, Olivia is having a break in the Seychelles. Nat is going to New York in November and South Africa and Corfu next year and is one reason why British Airways are still in business.



Orange Wednesday tonight and we're off to see Inglourious Basterds. The reviews have been awful so we are going to reinforce ourselves by a visit to the Warehouse for a meal beforehand so the evening won't be a total flop. I loved Kill Bill so maybe we'll enjoy this.



I've had over twenty comments on my novel on authonomy so far. It's been on the site for a few days and has risen over 3000 places in the charts to reach number 1034.It's quite nerve wracking every time a comment arrives but so far they have all been helpful and the criticism has been constructive. The consensus seems to be that the book will have to increase in size but I have a few ideas to help me achieve this. If you want to support me you can do by joining authonomy and clicking on my book here
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Sorry to see the trouble at West Ham last night. I thought this sort of thing was history.