I managed to drag myself out of my warm bed at 2.40am this morning to catch a glimpse of the Lunar Eclipse.

It was a clear night when I went to bed some 3 hours earlier, but it had started to cloud over by the time of the eclipse, but I did manage to take a few blurry pictures as I stood outside for half an hour watching one of natures most beautiful spectacles.

I was also fortunate enough to be working in Dorchester, Dorset when the 1999 total eclipse of the Sun passed along the south coast of England. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, but it was an eerie experience when all the birds stopped singing and every car in the street stopped to take a look.

The list that came back was interesting as it appears to show an all to sorry story of what the internet is most commonly used for…

Out of the list of 100 or so results I looked at – that’s the search results I looked at, not the actual PDFs the following subjects and titles appeared the most:

• Sex as in Playboy Magazines, Massage Secrets, How to get beautiful women and the Karma Sutra.
• Conspiracy this, that and the other, 50 things you’re not supposed to know, Secret Societies, Free energy and who killed Elvis, Kennedy etc…
• Health and Fitness, Body building Secrets, Lose weight fast, be Big and Strong, 101 workouts and my favourite, 100 Deadliest Karate Moves (looks like a great book!!!)

Some of the more sensible topics were: Learning a language, to cook or play a musical interment – i.e. speak Japanese, play the Piano and Cooking with Jamie Oliver for some weird reason?

Then followed the usual Windows this, that and the other for Dummies, How to crack this, that and the other application, network or firewall, and even more dummy guides for dummies!

There were some interesting results, but apart from the cooking and learning a new skill, most of them were for topics that generally give the internet a bad name. Why?

Still each to their own I guess – we do live in a free world after all… don’t we?

When summer is over, we seem to barely have time for All Hallows Eve and Guido Fawkes Night these days before the big bloke in the red suite is thrust down our throats 24/7.

I guess it can still be a little bit fun, meeting friends and family that we haven’t seen for a while, even some we haven’t seem since last Christmas (must make an effort to see them more!).

But it does depress me when I think just how much effort goes into it all for just one day – especially when everything has SALE slapped over it the day after!

Anyway, what every you thoughts, views or ideas – I wish you all some Festive Fun… hic!

… and  several of my friends as well. Scary!

Well, I’m back! Miss me? Don’t answer that… It was fantastic weather in Wales (see above). And the break from the computer gave me some much needed time to think about some projects I have had in the back of my mind since I went travelling in Europe earlier this year. I also finished one book and started another that I had been carrying around for several weeks – so a good rest and catch up.

Right, notes, research and more notes… and strong coffee!!!

But before I go, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has shown interest in my first free Wordpress theme called Tumbled. It was downloaded over 40 times in the first day, and as many again after I released the update yesterday evening. Amazing!

Right, the camper van is loaded up, so it is time to hit the road… now where is that nice sunny weather we were supposed to be having today?

Sucker for punishment? Why yes — but heck it is better than fishing?

While enjoying a cold barbecue with friends on Friday we started talking about books and how we hadn’t seen any second hand copies by our favourites authors of late. Granted, the odd one or two turns up every now and then, but they are usually books we already own, or in such bad condition that they are only fit for reading in the bath!

Then on Saturday while hunting for bits and bobs for an adventure I am planning (more on this soon), I happened to stumble upon a book by Mick Farren, which as you can guess, is one of my favourite authors! The book in question turns out to be Gene Vincent, a book I had been looking for for a while, so not only had I proved our BBQ conversation wrong, I had also found a little gem.

The book is currently on back-order on Amazon, but the synopsis is spot on:

There’s one in every town: Gene Vincent was the original and legendary black-leather bad-boy of rock ‘n’ roll. His records were banned and censored, his live shows incited riots, he wrecked hotel rooms while Keith Moon was still a schoolboy, his private life was a combat zone of booze, pills, guns, and women, and he ultimately died for the bluejean bop. Without him there would have been no Jim Morrison, no Sid, no Marilyn Manson, and even Elvis would have struggled. And that’s why Gene Vincent is still remembered and celebrated thirty years after he should have been dead and gone.