Rob's Ego Trip!

From Yahoo!'s news page:

Celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver has delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for better food standards in schools.His Feed Me Better internet petition has been signed by 271,677 people. It comes as Education Secretary Ruth Kelly prepares to unveil a ?280 million funding package to improve the quality of school meals.

But the Government says the timing is a pure co-incidence.

Yeah right!

There's a top rated program on TV showing the country how bad school dinners are which is pointing out that we spend 37 pence per child on the food and that it's all reconstituted rubbish. Then all of sudden the Government announced more funding for school dinners in particular and there's an election next month...

Good for you Jamie for making the politicians notice.

Copyright on the Internet is a thorny issue at the moment. I agree with Dave Wiener's thoughts on the EFF. Pragmatism is what's needed in copyright law, not extremes from either side!

We went to the Cotswold Farm Park today. Jon loved it and oscillated between excitement when feeding the animals and being scared of them! He also got to hold a chick that was only a few days old.

The highlight of the day for him was playing in the sandpit though...

Police in Kent will no longer be allowed to use sirens or blue flashing lights and must obey the speed limit at all times according to this news story in the Telegraph.

Clearly the place to commit steal a car or make a getaway from a crime is Kent...

Tech link coming up: http://www.gnome.org/~seth/blog//xshots

Reading the BBC's Budget 2005 key points, these are the main things that affect us:

• My personal tax allowance rises in line with inflation
• Insurance tax freeze is a good though tiny thing
• Alcohol is dearer by 1p on a pint :(
• Child tax credit rise is inline with earnings rather than inflation. This is good. I think this means about ?65 per year
• Child benefit has risen by 50p for Jon and 11pence for Ben! Woohoo!
  

Well... I don't know about you, but that doesn't make me want to vote Labour! Nice to see an extra 400m for defense when our local secondary school is achieving 23% pass rates too...

According to the analysis, this budget is to wow couples with children... clearly the child tax credit is going to have a bigger effect than I think or I've missed something!

We have plaster on walls in the study! The patio door is out too, so it feels like the study is part of the house! The kitchen/diner has been boarded and is awaiting skimming tomorrow. Hopefully the plumber will be here tomorrow too, to sort out the flue.

Very exciting!

I received this from my uncle Harry. The comment that came with it: "I think..is it a joke or is it real?...hard to decide the way our country and all is going.." really sums it up!

It's obviously American, but could easily be applied to the UK with the way Blair is going.

Home owner just wants to watch a ball game and eat a pizza in the days of Homeland Security now:

Operator: Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I have your national ID number?

Customer: Hi, I'd like to place an order.

Operator: I must have your NIDN first, sir.

Customer: My National ID Number, yeah, hold on, eh, it's 6102049998-45-54610.

Operator: Thank you Mr. Sheehan. I see you live at 1742 Meadowland Drive, and the phone number is 494-2366. Your office number over at Lincoln Insurance is 745-2302 and your cell number is 266-2566. Email address is Mshem@nohome.net

Which number are you calling from sir?

Customer: Huh? I'm at home. Where'd you get all this information?

Operator: We're wired into the HSS, sir.

Customer: The HSS, what is that?

Operator: We're wired into the Homeland Security System, sir. This will add only 15 seconds to your ordering time.

Customer: (sighs) Oh well, I'd like to order a couple of your All-Meat Special pizzas.

Operator: I don't think that's a good idea, sir.

Customer: Whaddya mean?

Operator: Sir, your medical records and commode sensors indicate that you've got very high blood pressure and extremely high cholesterol. Your National Health Care provider won't allow such an unhealthy choice .

Customer: What?!?! What do you recommend, then?

Operator: You might try our low-fat Soybean Pizza. I'm sure you'll like it.

Customer: What makes you think I'd like something like that?

Operator: Well, you checked out 'Gourmet Soybean Recipes' from your local library last week, sir. That's why I made the suggestion.

Customer: All right, all right. Give me two family-sized ones, then

Operator: That should be plenty for you, your wife and your four kids. Your 2 dogs can finish the crusts, sir. Your total is $49.99.

Customer: Lemme give you my credit card number.

Operator: I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to pay in cash. Your credit card balance is over its limit.

Customer: I'll run over to the ATM and get some cash before your driver gets here.

Operator: That won't work either, sir. Your checking account is overdrawn also.

Customer: Never mind! Just send the pizzas. I'll have the cash ready. How
long will it take?

Operator: We're running a little behind, sir. It'll be about 45 minutes, sir. If you're in a hurry you might want to pick'em up while you're out getting the cash, but then, carrying pizzas on a motorcycle can be a little awkward.

Customer: Wait! How do you know I ride a scooter?

Operator: It says here you're in arrears on your car payments, so your car got repo'ed. But your Harley's paid for and you just filled the tank yesterday.

Customer: Well, I'll be a #%#^^&$%^$@#

Operator: I'd advise watching your language, sir. You've already got a July 4, 2003, conviction for cussing out a cop and another one I see here in September for contempt at your hearing for cussing at a judge Oh yes, I see here that you just got out from a 90 day stay in the State Correctional Facility. Is this your first pizza since your return to society?

Customer: (speechless)

Operator: Will there be anything else, sir?

Customer: Yes, I have a coupon for a free 2 liter of Coke.

Operator: I'm sorry sir, but our ad's exclusionary clause prevents us from offering free soda to diabetics. The New Constitution prohibits this. Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. Have a nice day.

I've been neglecting my blog I see. I have no excuse.

This week has been fairly eventful in that Georgina has been ill all week with tonsillitis and Ben has a ear infection to go along with his eye infection and a cold! Poor mite. Georgina's just about over her illness fortunately, but Ben's just gone onto anti-biotics and will be seeing the doctor again tomorrow.

Other than that, we have a new kitchen door in our extension and the floors have been screeded. Also the kitchen arrived and is in our garage. All very exciting. Pictures on my Fotothing as usual.

It's been all quiet here in terms of building for the last three or four days. The main reason has been that the earliest that the electrician could get here to work was today. Some roof tiles were delivered a couple of days ago, and that was about it.

Today, it looks like it is all go though. The electrician is here for his bit and the chippy is back to do the final bits of hte roof. I also see that the builder himself is here, but I'm not sure yet what he's up to :)