The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Whenever I look at the strip of land adjoining our factory I feel like bursting into a chorus of "Wimaway" as it would be no surprise if there were a whole jungle full of wildlife living in it. Problem is that it's also a magnet for litter and God knows what else. The idea of the strip is to act as a buffer between industrial factory premises and residential property. Since Sefton council sold off all the industrial estates last year we have been trying to establish the ownership with all parties denying it was theirs. After paying for a Land Registry search we have now proved beyond reasonable doubt that it still the council's property so they are coming to talk to us today. We are prepared to take on the tidying of the plot if they are prepared to give it to us (there is no commercial value as it has a gas pipeline running through it) but we doubt that they will do this so they will waste ratepayers money tidying it (or not as has been the case for the past five years).



If you were running a business and almost everyone on your board jumped ship it would be a pretty sure sign that the company was in big trouble and administration was just around the corner. In these circumstances the only real option open to you would be to resign. When the same happens in the government what happens? Gordon Brown simply carries on regardless. I can see him holding cabinet meetings on his own soon.



It's the Instanta annual golf day next week and Craig Buckley is busy arranging the transport to the Duxbury golf club. When he discovered that the travel company had a fire engine amongst it's options, Craig was quite excited and keen to make the booking. Can you imagine the look on the golf club members faces if the Instanta golfers turned up in that with everyone squabbling over turns to ring the bell?



And so to today's offer in our month long series of daily deals. Today the price on our super WA5 wall mounted boiler reverts to its 2008 price of £399. This price will be valid for all orders placed before 11am on Thursday 4th June 2009(I am a bit late this morning so I have added an extra hour). To qualify, all orders must quote the reference blog offer 030609



I was delighted to read the news that Gareth Barry has gone to Man City. Nobody on the Kop could understand why anybody would want to sell Xavi Alonso in order to replace him with Barry (unless of course it was the difference in the price tags with Alonso worth £22m and Barry worth £12m). Not that any footballer is worth that much. But on the subject of millions and football, the Guardian has an incredible feature in today's edition which highlights the debts of the current Premiership teams. It makes very scary reading for any football fans.Some of the scariest figures were Stoke City's who had a wage bill of £11.9m and a turnover of £11.2m. Sound accounting? To read more of the figures and the accompanying article click here.

Instead of the fire engine for the golf, how about a dumper truck or a school bus? Which is better? There's only one way to find out.

The Future's Bright. The Future's 3D

With a deluge of biblical proportions going on yesterday we weren't able to do any of the gardening we had planned for the holiday so we went to Vue at Bolton as it is probably the nearest cinema that shows the 3D versions of the latest animated films. Coraline was a fantastic stop motion animation that would have been brilliant in 2D but the 3D really did add an extra dimension and all seven of the people in the cinema were totally blown away. Let's hope that Southport's Vue gets the necessary technology to show future 3D offerings as the trailer for "Up" was shown in 3D and looked amazing.



From our holiday bolt hole in the attic I realised that I soon won't be able to see our factory landmark the famous gas tower. The demolition is continuing and the first level has almost gone.



Freddie the garden contractor proved himself a pretty good antique restorer as the headless lady returned to the pond yesterday while we were out. She'll never be the same but nobody will be examining her closely on the rockery.



I read yesterday that ailing firms have started carrying out drug testing their workers and these tests have increased over fivefold in the last 12 months. The reason? To give them an excuse to sack workers without paying redundancy. How could they stoop that low? Which reminds me that those breathalisers we bought are getting past their sell by date.



Another bad weather forecast means that we are off to the Tate in Liverpool this morning to see the colours exhibition and then to the arthouse cinema FACT to see "In the Loop". More culture tomorrow with Brenda Bletyhn at the Manchester Royal Exchange. I'm sure things will be running well at Instanta. I got a message from Jenny last night saying that orders were good and the overdraft was still within the limit.

I'm completely out of this year's Guardian Pick the Score which looks to be going to Tony Lowe. Nick, who led the field for most of the season has faded badly and may struggle to hold on to third place. Meanwhile, 2-0 up with a few minutes to go, it's good to see that my team were still passionate about keeping a clean sheet.

Who Needs McV's When We've Got Max V's

Max Vidal proved to be more than a first class Service Manager yesterday when he turned up with his own home baked cookies to go with our afternoon cuppas. The hand crafted oat, toffee and apple confections proved a huge hit and had everyone looking for more and asking Max for recipe hints and tips. Even Lauren, who can rustle up smiley faces with chicken nuggets that would put Jamie Oliver to shame, was impressed. She has promised to make us all one of her speciality burgers next week.



Yesterday's slightly political slant on the blog raised a few comments and I was accused of historical inaccuracy when I stated that we were a nation of immigrants. But Britain's earliest political leaflet which was unearthed recently by archivists at the Bodleian Library proves my point. It was written in Olde English but Marion, who studied the language at university and still uses it today with a smattering of Anglo Saxon, has translated it for me. Here are a few excerpts. "The Romano British National Party calls upon all citizens to vote RBNP in next month's election. Lets put an end to Angle immigration. Fed up with Saxons taking your jobs (and torching your hovels)? Sick of all that Viking raping and pillaging. Any time you feel the pain hey Jutes refrain and Vote RBNP and together will make Britain great again like it was before we were taken over by the er Romans."



Did you see Barack Obama's stand up speech at the White House Press Correspondents dinner? A great and very funny turn from Mr President but the best lines of the night came from Wanda Sykes (above)."This is amazing, you're the first black president. I'm proud to be able to say. But that's unless you screw up. And then it's going to be, 'What's up with that half-white guy? Who voted for the mulatto? "

After bouncing into Graceland recently, Gav's mum Margaret Quinn seems to have been bouncing off a chair, landing on a shoe and ending up in A & E with a severely bruised leg. Sorry to hear about it Margaret. Gavin suggests that you were dancing on a table with your toy boy at yet another Elvis do but I'm sure that your explanation is far more plausible.



I am indebted to our local ace photographer Peter Raymond who kindly commented on the photos on my eBay sales listings and showed me how I had got the colour balance wrong. Thanks Peter. You are spot on. Lets hope that none of the buyers send the stuff back because they were expecting it to be yellow.



We're all Arsenal supporters for ninety minutes tomorrow. It would be absolutely brilliant if Liverpool could start the final game of the season next week knowing that a Premier League Championship was still a mathematical possibility. Before that can happen Arsenal have to beat Man United at Old Trafford. So no pressure there then Arsenal. I'll end the week with a footballer who doesn't respond well to pressure. And don't forget Eurovision tomorrow night. Jade's a brilliant singer but I'm pretty sure it won't be "Her Time" with a Lloyd Webber dirge like that.