Decided to retire from weddings.

I've decided it's time for me to retire from weddings.  The fact is I'm getting older, and my health is failing, and truth be told the last wedding I did (for a friend) I simply didn't enjoy.  It's the first one I've ever done I didn't enjoy, all the others I've had a ball, but the last one, no buzz and I'm sitting there in the reception and I reaslised I really didn't want to be there.  Time to quit I thought.
Will I miss them.... No I probably wont, I wont miss loading the car up, I wont miss watching the weather and hoping for a bright overcast day with no rain, and we get a lot of rain here in Wales. 
I won't miss the brides either, frankly I'm sick and tired of fat....  no obese bright orange women in dresses 14 sizes too small, I won't miss pissed grooms either.  The last wedding I did the groom was hammered 2 hours before the wedding, they actually had to wake him up for the men getting ready photos (at 3 in the afternoon).  He was practily comatose by the service. 
I won't miss the clusters of smokers blocking the bloody doors, even on lovely warm sunny days, stand outside properly you morons!
But the thing I'll miss least is kilts, yes kilts, why so many gooms think it's clever to wear them I don't know, most have no idea of the history, and the idiots only want to so they can flash their arses at the guests all the time, very bloody mature.

Now you see me (film review)

The story is simple, 4 magicians are staging robberies while on stage, the polt is far from simple, with twists and turns everywhere and enough magic to keep you watching it's an exiciting movie.
With the FBI and Interpol in pursuit, not to mention a magic de-bunker, will the escape or get caught??

The film is an enjoyable watch, I wasn't bored and even better it wasn't all filmed in the dark so you could actually see what was happening.  There were a few plot holes, the car crash for example, and there are a few sort of flashbacks, the last of which didn't make sense to me.


Waynes rating  7/10  worth a watch

Porth-yr-ogof cave

This place has some bad memories for me.  When I visited it before when I was about 7 years old, I saw a man die here.  The chap had apparently fallen and hit his head, then drowned, this was in the late 'fifties' or early 'sixties'  People came running to our big posh car thinking my father was the doctor, we went to help (I don't know why I was allowed to watch) they tried to resuscitate the chap using whats now know as the holger neilson method, sort of working the arms back and fro.  They sort of got him back a bit but the ambulance took hours to arrive, and had no oxygen, we were told later the man was dead on arrival.
With today's better cpr and modern fast well equipped ambulances the outcome might have been much different.
Anyway I went back this week (first time I think) the came is huge, the entrance is about 15 meters across and the system runs over 2 kilometers.

Here we go again!!!

Well it's Syria's turn to be invaded now, it's been on the cards for ages, the US= world police are working their way across the oil rich middle east.  All they have wanted was an excuse, now it seems chemical weapons have been used that's good enough for the US and UK.  Now nobody seems very bothered who has actually used the chemical weapons, or where they came from.  It seems odd that the Syrian government as the winning side would use them, much more lightly the the rebel side would use them as an excuse to bring in the west on their side, an even better question is who supplied the weapons in the first place, a good check of the components might prove interesting, my guess is the west supplied them somewhere along the line.
Next on the list is Iran (it has been for years, lots of lovely oil as well.   I wonder when we'll get around to Saudi and Israel?

The Lone Ranger (film review)

I wasn't sure what to expect with this film, it's had somewhat mixed reviews in the press.

The story is told by Tonto in flashback, of how the Lone Ranger and Tonto meet and their first adventure. Set in stunning locations in Utah, with great visual effects.  The film is fast paced with just the right balance of action and humour, Jonny Depp is at his best with the dry wit we're used to from films like Pirates of the Caribbean, While Armie Hammer plays the straight man and unwitting hero pushed into trying to right wrongs and fight crime.

Waynes rating 9/10     I had a great evening watching the film, one to buy on dvd when it comes out.

A fantastic fear of everything (film review)

I know it's been out a while but I only saw this today.

'IMDb  Jack is a children's author turned crime novelist whose detailed research into the lives of Victorian serial killers has turned him into a paranoid wreck, persecuted by the irrational fear of being murdered. When Jack is thrown a life-line by his long-suffering agent and a mysterious Hollywood executive takes a sudden and inexplicable interest in his script, what should be his big break rapidly turns into his big breakdown, as Jack is forced to confront his worst demons; among them his love life, his laundry and the origin of all fear.'

Well what can I say, not Simon Peggs greatest film. very slow and frankly boring, by halfway through I knew who the killer was.
To be honest a silly film shot mostly in gloom vision, skip the first hour and watch the best bit (best being compared to the rest of the film)

Wayne rating3/10   watch if your a huge Simon Pegg fan, but prepare to be dissapointed, doesn't even come close to films like hot fuzz, or shaun of the dead.

Getting old

Well there's no getting away from the fact I'm getting older.  Today I hit 60, and I don't feel a day older than 59.
The fact is I never expected to live past 45, I don't know why that number but thats the age I always thought I'd never make it past.  The trouble is in my mind I'm still about 30 something, but sadly my body thinks otherwise, taking the beach pics I posted earlier was truth be told, hard work.  Scrabling over even the low rocks and uneven surfaces was a struggle for me.
It seems only a few months back I was doing the three peaks challenge, but when I check it was many many years ago, now I couldn't run for a bus.
As I get older and my health gets worse (it's not great now sadly) things like these simple pleasures of a short walk taking pics will become impossible for me.  I suppose the only good thing is I have lots of pictures and memories to look back on.

A few beach pics

Heres a few recent beach photos.

Topaz restyle

The people at topaz have just released restyle, this photoshop plug-in has the similar interface to their other programs.  
Now I have a few topaz programs, but, this one isn't one of the best I'm afraid.  Its very instgram styled, lots of freaky colours etc, not one for me really.

A couple of butterflies

Spotted these today and supprisingly they stayed still long enough for me to get a few shots.

Architects, whey can't they design a house properly!

I've lived in a number of houses in my life, they all shared one thing in common, they were designed by morons.
My first house where I grew up for example.  Built into the side of a steep hill, the back garden was level with the roof, going out the garden to play was like scaling the north face of the Eiger.  Well what else could they do I hear people say?  Easy build the bloody thing on flat ground for a start, there was no real shortage of it in my part of Wales, yes we do have a lot of hills but there's plenty of flat ground too.
Then my next home was built of a reclaimed bog, again 1000's of acres of good land all around it so they built of the cheap crap bit.
The next place I lived was on an island, no really a traffic  island surrounded by a road, why build there for heavens sake? the poor old dears had to dice with death just to get to the shops, and there was nowhere to park either, great thinking lads.
Then we get to the insides, the kitchens are always too small (obviously designed by someone who doesn't know how to cook) with daft things like you have to close the kitchen door to open the fridge etc.  The attic trapdoors are always at the top of the stairs, why? it's easily the most dangerous place to put it, one slip and you fall two floors instead of one, bloody silly idea.
The light fittings, now this really should be easy, just bung it in the middle.... so why don't they, in most houses I've been the fittings are well off centre, this means you often have to faff about with extra lights to light the room properly, and while were on the subject, why wire all the lights together in one light, a junction box would be far easier and it means a celing fitting can be easily changed.
Not where I live it can't, we took down the bedroom fitting to have it replaced only to find about 20 wires inside it, there wasn't enough room in the new fitting for all the wires, and having it all rewired was too expensive, so I'm stuck with the old fitting.

Mary Beard twitter and facebook

A lady called Mary Beard (who I've never met) is suffering a lot of abuse on twitter, the poor woman has received rape and death threats among other things.  Now nobody should have to put up with this, but it seems the Internet is left open for people to abuse each other with little recourse.
Frankly I don't do twitter, I did set up an account, I even made two posts... the first was something like 'this is my first post'  the second was 'I'm making a cup of tea'  Then I sat down and realised what a load of crap that was and why in the world would anyone want to bother reading it?
Face book I did for longer, I could sort of see the point, you could tell your mates you'd be down the pub at 8 o clock, or whatever (it also tell the buglers your out) post your pics for your mates or family to see etc etc.  But and it's a big but, the big problem with both twitter and face book is that other people can write on your page, this leaves it open to abuse.
Now I had something of a face book expert set mine up, so all the privacy setting were just right, but I still had people turn up as friends I'd never heard of and not accepted, but they got past the so called privacy settings, the same with total strangers writing on my wall.  It was a farce, there was bugger all private about it either, I only wanted my friends to see what I was posting but it seems anybody with a computer can see whats happening.  I gave up and closed it down,  I feel for poor Mary, she's trying to share with her friends and getting the moron trolls as well.