Ten months after closing down the company I ran for nearly 6 years, I have finally come to an arrangement with the last of the company's creditors! It's really extraordinary how disorganised and inefficient the big companies can be.

Now that worry is out of the way I can begin my plans with more certainty. I had already decided to sell my TVR at the start of the year. Clearing up my company's debts has not changed my mind. The car has to go. Having sorted out the problems it had when I bought it, I will be sad to see it go, but the money will be put to good use.

Firstly, since starting my new job almost a year ago, I have not been making any pension contributions. Selling the car will free up an estimated 100.GBP per month in running costs which will instead go into my pension.

Secondly, I want to pay for two family holidays. A summer holiday this year and a very expensive skiing holiday in 2007. Why will these holidays cost so much? Well, when you're a family of five, there's just no such thing as a cheap holiday anymore. Being mostly restricted to school holidays doesn't help.

But the skiing holiday will be ferociously expensive because neither D, nor any of my children have ever been before. D is deeply sceptical about the joys of skiing, especially as she's not the sporty type. So we will have to be in a chalet for maximum esthetic effect, it will have to be fully catered so that D doesn't have to do any cooking. We have no equipment for the children, so just about everything will have to be bought or hired.

It will be very upsetting if, having sacrificed my car, there is no snow, or someone breaks a leg on the first day. Best not to think of all te things that could go wrong, because if it goes right, the memory of that holiday will live on in my family's memories for many more years than the car could last.

So if you've got some cash that needs spending, see http://sleeper.blog.co.uk/index.php/sleeper/2005/09/14/the_beast~180366 and get in touch with me to buy yourself a rocket!

Picture may be copyright protected!

Whatever happened to the Return to the Forbidden Planet stage musical? It was FAB! I went twice back in the early '90s. I want to go again. Luckily, look what I just found...

http://www.rttfp.com/tour_dates.php

and

http://www.haymarket.org.uk/autumn_2005/whats_on_forbidden_planet.htm

Did anyone else see this delightful show when it was on? It's a spoof musical version of the 1950's 'B' movie starring George Peppard which was based on the Shakespear play 'The Tempest'. It's a big, colourful, audience participation thing with sing-along to music from the 60's that we all know. Everyone has to help reverse the polarity on the Klystron generator to avoid meltdown and if you're the kind of person who dresses up to do the Rocky Horror show, you'll go to this thing in a clingy, Star-Trek style uniform with a hairdryer-cum-laser weapon tucked into your waistband.

Can't wait!

I've had Tinnitus for 10 months now. A high-pitched noise in my left ear. I'm resigned to the fact that I will probably have to live with it for the rest of my life.

It's a bit of a nuisance.

It's been another one of those weeks! Full-on and in-my-face and breathless, and there's no-one to blame but myself.

Last weekend I was busy building a fitted wardrobe into our son's bedroom. On Monday I was up to Leeds again for work and I had the beginnings of a cold that D kindly passed on to me. On Tuesday morning I dragged my corpse out of bed and did the commute thing. I felt so rough that I cancelled the meeting I had with clients, tidied up some loose ends and finally bowed to pressure from colleagues to get the f**k home so they didn't catch my cold! Wednesday felt like three days, suffering at home and blowing my nose like a foghorn every 3 minutes.

I really didn't feel a whole lot better on Thursday morning, but as I was due to chair a meeting that couldn't really be postponed, there was little choice. I drugged myself to the eyeballs and reflected morosely on my poor prospects of being able to go out on the evening. For a while, I had been planning to go out as Penny again, and this was supposed to have been it.

Fortunately, I did improve as the day went on and by the evening, the euphoria of a night out in Brighton kicked in and did more for me than a whole pharmacy of drugs.

I got the children bathed and into their PJs, said goodnight and left to go and meet A.HH. I had to change at her place in 1 hour and 15 minutes, even managing to stick some nails on, something I've never tried before.

We went to the "Candy Bar" in Brighton which has a women-only night for lesbians on Thursdays. Thankfully they don't seem to be too fussy about the kind of ladies they admit, so I wasn't excluded. It was a good night! Rebecca was running a pole-dancing exhibition "by women, for women" by her students. Amazingly, the raw, unprofessional feel to the event, and the small, friendly size of the club meant that the girls were given a very warm reception. This place is worth a visit if you're in the area.

Friday I worked at home, and in the evening drove to Hampshire for a lads night out! Beer and curry with a group of (just about) my oldest and best friends. Sadly the curry was poor, but the company was fantastic and more than made up for it. I haven't laughed so much for a long time. Stayed overnight with R and family who are lovely. While I showered in the morning, R had to walk through the shower room to get the potty for his son. If he noticed my shaved legs he made no comment. These friends don't know about Penny yet.

Drove back home on Saturday in the TVR. The sun was shining, so I put the top down. Ahhh...magical. It's a shame I've got to sell it really!

More wardrobe making (the doors that afternoon), then a lovely dinner in HH with D's parents. Today (Sunday) I finished the wardrobe, just in time for little T's birthday party! My youngest daughter will be 4 on Tuesday. 4!!! It hardly seems possible. The whole thing went pretty well. As usual, D prepares the food, and I run the party games. Teamwork!

All three children are in bed now. I can put my feet up for 45 minutes and read before the next crazy week begins!

"Once more unto the breach dear friends!"

Shortly before Christmas I put operation Getaway into effect. D and I celebrate out 13th anniversary on May the 8th this year. I'm so stunned and delighted that she still wants to be with me, I've booked us both a romantic, long weekend away. I'd love to tell you where to, but D might be reading this blog and it's a secret so she mustn't know!

So far I have booked flights and hotel and I have begun to muster grandparents into action to stand in for us over 4 days. D does know it involves a flight, but I hope she will only find out the detail when we get to the departure lounge! Tee-hee. Of course she's trying to trick me into giving the game away.

"You have to tell me what to pack!" D says petulantly.
"Sure. It's going to be really, really cold," I volunteer cheerfully.
"No really," she pleads. "What do I need to take?"
"No, you're right. What was I saying? You need to pack bikinis 'cos it's going to be roasting."
"PAH!" D scoffs, "You know I don't wear bikinis!"
"OK, whatever," I shrug.

As you can see I held out there, but she's sly and I've got to be on my guard. Hell hath no fury as a woman left out of a secret. He-he-he!

This is an official complaint to the people that run the blog.co.uk site! The system used to order the list and photos of blog friends is wrong.

The people that should appear at the top of my list of blog friends is those people who have posted the most comments in the last (say) month, not the people who joined most recently. That doen't mean to say that I don't value the people who just became my friends...just that the people who put the most in deserve a higher profile.

I need your help to get the people that run this site to make the necessary changes. Post your angry support for me here and let's get this campaign off the ground!

Also, click here http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/company/bd_company.php?p=contact to send them an e-mail.

I had a real skinful last-night! So much so that I slept on the train thoroughly missing my stop. Well...it was bound to happen sooner or later and I'm sure it won't be the last time.

So I found myself in Preston Park way past midnight with no more trains in the return direction. I considered catching a taxi home and even hailed one...that didn't stop. Then I saw a hotel and decided it wouldn't be that much more expensive than a cab, and I'd get more sleep.

On my way in this morning, I reached London Bridge just in time to catch a snap of this humongous tidal-wave sweeping towards Tower Bridge!

Well OK, that's what it looked like to me. I was almost certainly still very, very drunk.

Before we leave 2005 too far behind, I want to draw your mind back to an event that happened in the last days before Christmas. In December 2005, Britain's parliament passed a law allowing same-sex marriage. It was an event celebrated by many, while many others poured vitriol and hate over the proceedings.

By my estimation, it all blew over rather too easily, because here was categorical proof, that in spite of the outspoken and antagonistic nature of the rising tide of bigotry and narrow-mindedness in the world, common sense can prevail! I don’t want to be coy, so I’ll say that this was a truly momentous occasion!

Those of you who have followed my blog since August will be aware that from a sexual point of view, I could not be considered as “straight down the middle”. It will be a very long time before men who enjoy dressing like women, even infrequently, are deemed normal! It’s a common misconception that cross-dressers and transvestites are gay. Some are, but apparently the majority, like me, are heterosexual. Don’t get me wrong here! I’m not trying to distance myself from gay people. It’s just important that you understand that my complete joy at the news that gays and lesbians are now allowed to lawfully wed stems from my belief in tolerance and a spirit of live-and-let-live.

Sadly, the spirit of live-and-let-live is almost absent from the world’s faiths. Last night I watched a program in which a man, a man who was obviously possessed of a high IQ effectively stated that it was evil to allow women to chose what they wear, but all right to kill people! I am still in shock at the utter bankruptcy of common-sense this man displayed. The conservative right-wing in the USA is equally idiotic, taking the word of a book written, not by any superior being, but my mortals, fallible, gullible mortals just like you and me. “This book is the truth!” they claim. Again, many of these people are demonstrably “clever” and yet manage to demonstrate wilful blindness to the fact that not only was the book written by mortals, but the version they are using has been translated by mortals from one language to another, sometimes more than once.

There may well be a Maker. If there is, I’m certain he’s looking down on this world and shaking his head in sadness and wondering how he can encourage peace and harmony. Perhaps he’s already planning his next attempt at creating a world and trying to figure out how he can prevent people from inventing religions and using them as an excuse to hate and kill each other.

It’s difficult for me to be an Atheist and fight my corner, because a large part of my Creed (although I’m sure that’s the wrong word) is that I should allow others to believe in what they choose, as long as they don’t hurt others. It’s a depressing fact that many of those who have been indoctrinated have no qualms in oppressing me and people like me who want nothing more than to embrace people of every race, colour and Creed and say to them “Life’s tough for all of us. I wish you well in your struggle to carve an existence out for yourself!”

Happy (not so) New Year everyone. First of all I'd like to apologise to my regular readers for leaving it so long since the last post. The truth is I've been rather enjoying my holiday from blogging and I'm not sure whether I'm going to put much effort in this year. Last year I felt a bit like a newspaper columnist, charged with delivering so many column inches of article per week! It never seemed like a big deal, but now I'm reluctant to get drawn back in.

One truly great thing happened over Christmas. If you cast your mind back to last year, ( see http://sleeper.blog.co.uk/index.php/sleeper/2005/11/25/title~336645 ) you may recall my wish to take the children tobogganing. Well...even though we spent the Christmas break in Eastbourne, we awaoke on the morning of the 27th to a thin covering of snow. Grandma and I whisked the kids up to Beachy Head with an old wooden toboggan and everyone got a couple of trips down the hill - not towards the cliffs of course! Fantastic!

Of course, for those of you who live North of London, all this fuss about snow is probably puzzling. We're just a bit deprived of it down here.

Good wishes to all of you and I hope 2006 is off to a rip-roaring start. I'm determined that 2006 is going to be the best yet! I have plans for the family, plans for D and me and plans for me too. Action is required and changes need to be made, but it should result in good news for everyone.

Hei-hei, as the Finnish say!