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A little something I’ve collected together on Youtube:

A collection of Weird Al videos

Well today was an unwinding lazy day. We had a lovely Indian meal last night, a traditional Isle of Wight speciality. Took a lot out of us, so we took it nice and easy.

We had a wander over to East Cowes, which doesn’t have that much to it. However, if you walk through it, you get to a gorgeous walk along the seafront. It was really warm and breezy, and we managed a good couple of miles, just ambling and talking, and I occasionally annoyed mrsfb by stopping to take lots of photographs of random sea things.

We walked back, and had a larger than expected pub lunch, which was followed for some inexplicable reason by a massive nap. Great.

So, last night we went and experienced the delights of Cowes’ pubs. Very chilled in fact, quiet pints in a couple of places, the latter of which had an online jukebox with two million tracks to chose from. Which leads me to make a public apology to anyone in that last pub for anyone there who had to listen to mrsfb’s choices of the Backstreet Boys and Blazin’ Squad.

Today we decided to go off and explore the island a bit further, so we got a bus into Newport, then another into Shanklin. The bus service is frequent and exceptionally fast, as we discovered at the front of the top deck of a double-decker bus, racing over the hills to Shanklin. Best of all was when the driver speed up for a hump back bridge.

Once there, we had quite a decent walk from the town own to the seafront. Nice views around there, but it was already shutting down for winter in the main. We did manage to find a hotel bar that was serving cream teas (and playing early rock n roll hits just that bit too loud for comfort). Then onto the arcade to play a selection of very good machines. I think the river-rafting game was the most fun, as we both sat together to control the paddle. I was also beaten on the mini-bowling alley by mrsfb. No excuses, she played well. And a mountain-biking game, that was a bit of a mistake for us both to play just before we had to walk back up the cliffs into town.

So we’re both a bit tired now, and are back at the house supping tea, and considering what we may eat tonight (fish restaurant is favourite, if it is open).

So we’ve made it to Cowes. Nice straightforward journey, apart from our ferry nearly crashing into a boat. It was sounding off the horns, and we thought at first it was the very large yellow boat that did appear to be heading right for us which was the problem. In fact it was a small yacht that we couldn’t see, and given the size of the ferry we were on, we wouldn’t have felt it either had we hit it.

The house we are renting for the week is fantastic. We knew it was bigger than we needed, but it was still a decent price. We didn’t realise though that it had four bedrooms and was on three storeys. We are rattling about in it a little, but we do have a fair old bit of space in which to relax, so we will manage.

We’ve ended up just off the main street in Cowes, up quite a steep hill. Not too far up, thankfully. I think we are about 3 minutes from the nearest pub, so it suits us. However, bar a nearby annoyingly loud dog, the place is utterly tranquil. I am sat here on my own whilst mrsfb has a little nap, and I can only hear my pen (no laptop with me), the clock and the wind outside. Today is quite breezy, we’ve had a couple of spectacular little showers, but it has also been quite warm.

Last night we explored Cowes a bit, went to a pub, helped a local figure out his data-transfer issues between a dvd/hard disk recorder and his laptop (busman’s holiday for me), and then took home fish and chips for a quiet night in.

Today we’ve wandered through Cowes, tested a couple of pubs for suitability, had a good long walk out of town along the quayside, then stopped off in the Octopuses Garden for tea. Actually, tell a lie, it was coffee. It is a Beatles-themed cafe, filled with memorabilia, which plays nothing but Beatles records all day. I imagine there is the potential for losing long-term staff to mental illness due to that last feature. For a quick coffee mind, it was great.

In a bit I will cook some nice pork chops, then I think we may wander out for the evening. Ow my hand hurts, I’m so not used to writing these days!

Well, I’ve shaken off my blogging apathy a bit, so here I am. No real reason, just not a lot to say for a bit.

I’ve made an important, life-changing decision. The first next-gen console I am going to buy is an Xbox 360. I’ve thought long and hard about it, really am drawn towards the Wii, but the fact that Phantasy Star Universe is coming for the 360 has swung it, I just can’t imagine not playing that as soon as possible. So I shall count my pennies, consider what I can trade in towards it (almost certainly the majority of my xbox kit, bar the odd game that works on the 360 that I like) and take it from there.

full of snot and apathy at the moment. Annoyed by it now.

Get the impression my iPod is thinking about dying on me, the battery is playing up somewhat, and it is a swine to update at times. Think I may get a new battery put in when I get the chance. I wonder if I can take it to an Apple store and get it done on the spot or something? Really wish to avoid getting a new one if at all possible, not at least until they make the new ones touchscreen.

Speaking of which, loads of new Apple stuff announced yesterday, new iPods mainly with little upgrades, new version of iTunes with a wad of new features including coverart, and also the ability to sync it with two machines, which I may try and report back on shortly, as I am very keen to see how this works. Would suit how I use mine, as I use the iPod a lot at work. Also is a set-top box currently named iTV, which for £300 looks like it could be a very interesting entry point into Apple

Never suggest in a blog posting you are going to post more frequently. You might get a cold or flu or something and spend a few days in bed. Better now, mind.

I’m trying out something new here, a program called reBlog. Basically it is a combination of an RSS feed reader (feeds of blog posts and the like) and a republisher, that pushes posts through to a blog. It is all quite new and shiny, and took a bit of setting up, but it may just encourage me to post a little more frequently.