Anyway, a week later (today) I had a blonde lady in a ford focus pull up and post the invite to the wedding. It was all nicely wrapped in cellophane and smelled like posh air freshner inside. Me and the old dear had been invited to the wedding ceremony but the reception part had been scribbled out.

What did this mean? Was there a reception? Why not invite us? Are we too old (34)??

It's no big deal but it's yet another series of events that leads me to suspect that facebook is actually a complete waste of time. In this example, I should really be able to say what I would to a someone I actually had a relationship with: 'Why no reception invite mate? And I won't be at the ceremony.. oh and I don't do formalities… etc.. etc..' but I realised I don't actually know her – she has no idea of my informal nature or extreme sense of humour. Facebook has not benefitted us at all. 

I'm busy on the day anyway, but that's beside the point. I have people on facebook that I would never say hello to if I saw them on the street. I have people who know people who have added me for whatever reason – people that I have never and will never meet. In fact, all my real friends email me or tweet.

The conclusion is dawning on me that facebook is just a voyeuristic pleasure-dome of freakishly weird relatives and friends that have nothing better to do except look at whatever everyone else is doing and not actually talk to them.

And the all blow-job comments on the pages of too-young-for-that-shit cousins are also a little disturbing.

Roll on tomorrow – I will send a last status update and jump back into the cloud…

While preparing for our yearly Christmas party, my wife was telling me about the ridiculous environment of "fear of religious offense" being haboured at her workplace.

They are a large blue chip company and are changing they’re christmas party name to "The end of year" party.

Ok. I had to say my piece on our party invite:

.First things first – Christmas is NOT Christian.

1."Christmas" trees are a pagan tradition from ancient times, from BEFORE Christ – brought over by Queen Vic’s German hubby.

2. Mistletoe is a Druidic tradition

3. The Valhallan god Odin (white beard and hood) rides through the air on an 8-legged horse at Yuletide and fills stockings and shoes hung out by kids.

4. St. Nic was a Turkish Bishop. Turkish. Somehow he got merged with the pagan Odin and became Santa.

I’m sure Odin was around before Big J.C so let’s drop the "I’m not christian so I’m not celebrating" crap.

Let’s just get together and celebrate it all – both Atheists and Delusionists, Welcome!

(Big sigh). That’s better.

Apart from that I’ve been busy rebuilding my office after my RAID collapsed. Got lots more weddings to shoot this month and next. Will update when I can. constantly editing at the moment.

I’ll leave you for now with this cheesy picture of me and some lovely Chav bags. Sorry, Hand bags. My mistake! Apologies apologies.

At around 1.20am Sky News reported a measurement of 4.7 by the United States Geographical Society.

The Who? I’ve found the US Geological Survey who have also measured the earthquake at 4.7 but I can’t find this geographic society that measures earthquakes. Why is a geographical society measuring earthquakes? Shouldn’t they be making maps or something?

I filled in the "Report it" form on the USGS website about the quake. You have to fill in a multiple choice form. One of the questions is Did furniture or appliances slide, tip over, or become displaced? and the first possible answer is "No Furniture". !!?! Who has no furniture?

Just for the record, here are the facts:

Earthquake Details

 The British Geological Survey disagree and feel it was a magnitude 5.2:

PRESS RELEASE

27 February 2008

England hit by Earthquake

The British Geological Survey (BGS) recorded an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 (ML) on the Richter scale near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire at 00:56 GMT. The BGS has been inundated with calls from the public, media and emergency services throughout England.

Summary:

DATE : 27 February 2008

ORIGIN TIME : 00:56 GMT

LAT/LONG : 53.42 ° North / 0.35 ° West

GRID REF : 509.4 kmE / 392.7 kmN

DEPTH : 5.0 km MAGNITUDE : 5.2 Richter Scale (ML)

LOCALITY : Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

The epicentre is approximately 4 km north of Market Rasen and reports suggest that the earthquake has been felt widely across England, with reports of damage to chimneys in the epicentral area. Earthquakes of this size occur in the mainland UK roughly every 30 years, although are more common in offshore areas. This is the largest earthquake in the UK since the magnitude 5.4 ML Lleyn Peninsula earthquake in 1984, which was widely felt across England and Wales.

Seismologist Dr Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey said:

"The is a significant earthquake for the UK and will have been widely felt across England and Wales".

The BGS records approximately 200 earthquakes in the UK each year on its monitoring stations. Approximately 25 earthquakes in the UK are felt by people each year.

This is a private video on Youtube.com. If you are family and want to view it then add me to your youtube account [my account is called senin75] and email me. This will unlock the video for you.

THIS IS A PRIVATE BLOG ENTRY – IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ANY SENSE

Alternative package:

7 days Sunscape package:

http://www.caribbeanwarehouse.co.uk/Sunscape_The_Beach.php

£609 7 days package

7 days Grand Flamenco

[$58×7 = $406 = $203 pp +
£25 1 week exchange split]

Total:

£203
£25
£609

= £837

Sunset Fishermen 5 Sep

Sunset Fisherman Spa Resort

This one is NOT in Cancun but it seems nice and it’s cheaper. (Cancun Flights are EXPENSIVE).

$49 pp/pd All in (!)

$49×14 = $686 = £343 pp

Total:

1. £450 Flight
2. £50 exchange split
3. £343 Fishyman All in Supp

= £798 Plus Transfers (from Cancun)

Dominican Republic

These are Gold Crown AND All Inclusive: 30 Aug

This place is limited to the local town’s activites – few excursions – it’s mainly just a paradise with lots of scenery!

Of the Options below Paradise Punta Cana is really the best. It has more pools, more facilities and more space. Melia Caribe and Grand Flamenco are about the same, with GF just winning it with a massive pool area and evening activites.

Occidental Grand Flamenco

Occidental Grand Flamenco [Punta Cana]
(cancel the print on this link)
$58 pp/pd All in

$58×14 = $812 = £406 pp
[$58×7 = $406 = $203 pp +
£25 1 week exchange split]

Paradisus Punta Cana

http://www.paradisuspuntacana.travel/
$75 pp/pd All in

$75×14 = $1050 = £525 pp

A Review of Paradisus:
http://www.debbiesdominicantravel.com/paradisus.html

Melia Caribe Tropical

http://www.meliacaribetropical.com/
$53!! pp/pd All in

$53×14 = $742 = £371 pp

Opodo has Flights (With 1 stop) for only £450ish pp—that’s like 100 to 150 cheaper than mexico!

exchange is an average of around £150

£150 / 6 = £25 each per week => £50

Total Possible [Melia Caribe Tropical]:

1. £450 Flight
2. £50 exchange split
3. £371 All inclusive supplement

= £871 !! – That’s 14 night Gold Crown All Inclusive

OR

1. £450 Flight
2. £50 exchange split
3. £525 Paradisus PC All in Supp

= £1025 For 5* equivalent

New York Anyone?

Alternative Flights:

Anji has found:
American Airlines, via New York (yeah I know… )
£340 ish – but no taxes so price might be the same

Stop Over:

The interesting thing is that it’s the same price if we take the connecting flight a week later, so another idea is to find a Gold Crown in New York and chill for a week, enjoying the city, shopping, eating, clubbing – then go Paradisus 5* for a week only!

Ok! £460 is the stopover total flight price – not bad at all.

Dual Resort – Try it all!

Stay at 2 Resorts on the same Holiday! 30 Aug

Ok so we are in Dominican, right? Why not stay at Melia Caribe Tropical for the first week and Paradisus for the second week?

Then we get the best of both choices, restaurants, beaches and services!

pricing:

1. £262.50 paradisus supplement
2. £185.50 melia supplement
3. £450 flight
4. £50 exchange split

= £950 – only £100 more pp (£200 per couple) to add variety and experience a whole other resort!

Cruise?

I quite fancy this one:

Day 1 (Saturday) Southampton
Day 2 At sea
Day 3 At sea
Day 4 Gibraltar, Spain
Day 5 Barcelona, Spain
Day 6 Barcelona, Spain
Day 7 Nice (Villefranche), France
Day 8 Pisa/Florence (Livorno), Italy
Day 9 Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Day 10 At Sea
Day 11 Malaga, Spain
Day 12 Lisbon, Portugal
Day 13 Vigo, Spain
Day 14 At sea
Day 15 (Saturday) Southampton

£899 pp!

Another cruise 4 Sep

bit crowded

celebrity century

VIDEO TOUR of the Century

Costa Rica

Costa is known for conservation and luxury holidays!!

This one has scuba and horse riding! Hmm… I like.

http://www.paradisusplayaconchal.travel/
$85 pp/pd

$85×14 = $1190 => £595

1. 406 Flight !!
2. 50 exchange split
3. 595 Supplement

= £1051 – Also Gold Crown.

Watching the MOBO’s in BBC 3 was supposed to be a ‘keeping in touch with my youth’ experience. No such luck. As N-Dubz went up to collect their award for Best UK Newcomer I caught myself watching their entrance with a semi-retarded expression of confusion.

But then I immediately burst out laughing because I realised the problem. ‘Today’s a momentous day’ I said to my wife. We are old.

‘Speak for yourself’ I know she must have been thinking…