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March, 2005

  1. Will Hopkins, this is for you…

    March 14, 2005 by dafyd

    Nottingham, the city of the Robin Hood legend that became a textiles powerbase during the Industrial Revolution, now struggles with a reputation for drugs killings and teeming with binge drinkers on lawless Saturday nights.

    (BBC News)

    For the record, I have lived in Nottingham for 18 years, and have never once been the victim of any sort of crime in the City Centre. My old school is bang in the middle of the “dodgy” areas (St Ann’s, Hyson Green, etc), and the only real trouble they have experienced is have iMacs nicked repeatedly (although I would argue that it was the school’s fault – placing them in front of an unreinforced, unalarmed ground-floor window…).

    That said, I would definitely not be comfortable alone in Nottingham on a Friday night. But then again, I never feel particularly safe walking on my own through Durham at night…


  2. Daffy Duck

    March 13, 2005 by dafyd

    Daffy Duck:

    Daffy Duck

    Yours truly: (an old and particularly bad photo…)

    Me

    I think you’ll agree that there is not much resemblance…

    However, it can’t be denied that Dafyd can easily be shortened to Daf … which can then be easily lengthened to Daffy Duck.

    I blame the parents.

    I have had 9 months (if you take the end of my time at Nottingham High School as the end of June – which I do) of not having my name abbreviated to Daf and then elongated to Daffy Duck. However, during the run of the Birthday Party, the director, Jonny, picked up (admittedly by accident) that my name could easily be turned into this cartoon character, and now it is starting to stick…

    Don’t even get me started on Little Britain


  3. Busy busy busy

    March 9, 2005 by dafyd

    Hourglass photoThat’s right, I’ve got a lot going on at the moment.

    I’m doing the lighting and sound for the Castle Theatre Company’s production of Pinter’s The Birthday Party – which started with the tech rehearsal on Tuesday evening, the opening performance tonight just finished, and the run ends on Saturday evening. It is a fantastic production, in the Castle’s Norman Chapel – so you’re very much in the middle of the action with an audience of only 50-ish. If you’re in Durham, do try and get a ticket – there should still be some left, although I know that Saturday is sold out.

    However, I’m not doing the performances on Friday or Saturday, because I’m going home (yay!). We’re going to a quiz at Nottingham High School on Friday evening and one in Cropwell Butler on Saturday evening.

    All good practice for the Castle University Challenge team, of which I am a member (I got the second highest score in Castle on the selection quiz – mwah hah hah). We are going to compete against the other colleges, and the best players (not team) will go forward to represent Durham in front of Jeremy Paxman.

    This afternoon, I had to prepare a presentation for tomorrow with a friend, and then at 4 o’clock I had a choice of three commitments. Wow. I usually don’t do anything on a Wednesday afternoon. So, JCR web committee, looking at houses, or University Challenge team meeting? I chose the latter, if only because I was warned about it first… Obviously, there were also a few technical problems with the play to sort out before dinner.

    On Friday afternoon I have a summative French translation test, which I have to pass to pass the year (well, almost – but it’s too complicated to explain here). That’s from 1.45 to 3.15, and then I’m catching the train home at 4 o’clock.

    Add to all that the two essays that I have to write before the end of term – next Friday – and you’ll see why I might not be on MSN or blogging as much as usual over the next ten days or so.

    Wish me luck!


  4. I see skies of blue…

    March 8, 2005 by dafyd

    Yay! The sky is back:

    The sky from my window

    And isn’t that a lovely roof, too… perfect place for a barbecue in the summer, I think.


  5. Formula 1

    March 6, 2005 by dafyd

    Murray Walker: LegendApparently, the Formula 1 season has started again. Fortunately, I’m not home at the moment, so I don’t have to hear JJ whittering on about it all the time. Unfortunately, I will be home in a fortnight (woohoo!), just in time for the next Grand Prix.

    Anyway, I’m told that a certain Canadian chap didn’t do too well today (started in 4th, finished in 13th).

    Formula 1 just isn’t the same since Murray Walker stopped commentating. So for a bit of nostalgia, I thought I would reproduce some classic Walker-isms…

    (more…)


  6. Nice and New

    March 5, 2005 by dafyd

    So… you might have spotted some changes around here.

    This post is my 200th entry in this blog, so I thought I’d have a tidy up and a slight reshuffle.

    I’ve implemented most of the things that I wanted to do, without the major makeover to which David was so opposed

    I hope you like it!

    I think that a major difference is that it is easier to read. The font size has been increased ever so slightly, and the layout should be a bit clearer. Some people can’t see as well as they used to… so this should make it easier for them. I’ve also made the links a bit clearer, with the dotted underline.

    I’ve added support for gravatars to the comments – if you have a look at a post with comments, you’ll see big squares next to each comment. That is a space for a picture of you! Head over to gravatar.com and get yourself one. It’s free, secure, and loads of blogs use them. (You might like to read the Gravatar FAQ – with more examples.) Make your comment stand out – otherwise, I’ll just ignore it…

    In the top right-hand corner you’ll find a little box that lets you subscribe to the blog, and be informed whenever I post a new entry. Of course, there are still the newsfeeds – I’ve made it easier to add these to popular feedreaders.

    The blogroll has been massively overhauled, with a few changes still to come. It still looks a bit messy at the moment – I’m doing my best to sort that out. Some of you (but not others) will be pleased to note that the button links to certain sites have returned. I realise that I’m running the risk of “having my neck wrung” – but I like them.

    Behind the scenes, I’ve slightly changed the link to access each entry – which makes it easier for Google to index the site. It shouldn’t change the way you use the site – and all the old links will still work.

    Finally, the linkdump: I’m still working on integrating it properly into the blog (à la this design). In the meantime, the complete linkdump, which I am adding to all the time, is at dafyd.me.uk/blog/linkdump/. Hopefully I’ll have it sorted soon.

    Let me know what you think. I’m not going to change anything, but I might “hmm” appropriately in an MSN conversation… (Claire knows what I mean).


  7. The Shat

    March 3, 2005 by dafyd

    Star trekking, across the universe...

    Bill Shatner: from career low (or try this one, if you really want a laugh) to career high (ish)* – écoutez bien, people, for I will destroy the MP3s** shortly…

    You know, he won a Golden Globe in January for his new series, Boston Legal.

    I’m not really sure where this comes into the whole low-high thing…

    *Watch out all you slow connection people – the MP3s are a couple of megabytes each…
    **And the CDs… and any other trace of them. I mean, just listen to him trying to do Hamlet!


  8. Ramblings around the web

    March 2, 2005 by dafyd

    If only:

    Hardy - First Draft

    A Making-Of trailer for the new Wallace and Gromit film – coming out in October 2005… can’t wait!

    Heh – lip-synching chubby American. Always good for a laugh. Obviously 2005′s Star Wars Kid

    And finally for today – a Flash presentation examining Italy’s relationship with the EU. Absolutely incredibly brilliant!


  9. Hitch

    March 1, 2005 by dafyd

    Hiking. Not usually recommended. Can be unsafe.

    But.

    There is a new trailer out for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – which looks, frankly, rather good.

    Alan Rickman sounds brilliant as Marvin.

    And Stephen Fry’s voice of the book ain’t bad. I keep expecting him to say “Mr and Mrs Dursley of 4 Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much”*. Could be a problem.

    April 29th, though. That’s the date to be looking forward to.

    *I typed that from memory. How sad am I? I can do it in French and German too, if you want…