27/09/2007 by Paul D.

Two thoughts came into my head this morning (amongst others, obviously….) on my way to work.

One of them was of a very rare occurrence, the other was of something I’ve never ever seen or heard of before.

Both of them happened this morning, shortly after me thinking about them…

Based on the premise that ‘these things happen in threes’, I shall today be buying a EuroMillions ticket.

And having owned these shoes for several months and being constantly irritated by a loud and annoying squeek from the right heel at every step, (very embarrassing whilst cruising down the office) they have this morning, fell silent…..

A strange day indeed, and it’s only 9am.

P.

Posted in Weird | 5 Comments »

24/09/2007 by Neil.

Well lets start my first blog with one of those strange holiday stories.

As you all know we had a small trip to sunnier climes recently, a chance to top up on my sunburn, mosquito bites and liver deterioration. Jen had a relaxing time too.

We arrived to be greated by an Indian version of David Bedford. “got your number” we said to ourselves. (although I thought he looked a bit more like the Harry Enfield Scouser characters). Anyway, we had a little chuckle about this whilst filling in our registration card, which we then handed over to get our room key.

We were in room 118.

Oh boy here we go. And when we got to room, there laid out on the bed were our numbered beach towels, so we just couldn’t resist a photo opportunity. The moustashes are real by the way. Well it was a long journey and no opportunity to shave.

But to continue….. we unpacked and got the valuables put into the safe. One of those digital ones, where you set up your own code number, which we usually set to the first 4 digits of our phone number, which are………..

0118

Note, any potential thieves out there, who are planning to follow us on next hol’, and try to break into the safe using the above numbers, we will of course not use them again. we will use the last four instead.

So where else could those numbers crop up.

Palm trees.

Basically, every palm tree on the island is numbered (a way of keeping track of the coconut cropping we think). So on our first night, we go to dinner and we get allocated a table for the week. Ours was by the wall, where we could look out and see………….. a certain palm tree. I wont bother to tell you the number painted on it, but a photo is supplied.

I think we will be taking the hint and get some lottery tickets. How many derivertives of 118 can be used?

1, 8, 11 & 18 to start. 9, 10, 19 perhaps?……..

The rest of the holiday went as normal as a Maldivian holiday can go. Plenty of book reading, snorkeling, and attempting to work our way through the cocktail list. Of the 59 we got through 26 of them. Not bad for just a week. Many of the remainder were just the boring ones, Screwdriver, Bloody mary etc. They hardly count. Besides, the beer was ice cold, and more my cup of tea, or cup of beer…. Mind you drinking too many, can make you wear silly shirts. Look what I ended up in after a few dozen jars !

Should have stuck with the cocktails………..

Well thats it for now. I’m off to scratch and pick at my mosquito bites (well over 60 of them…….nice) usually, they always go for Di, but she not there !!! I was a suitable substitute it seems.

laters

neil

Posted in Holiday | 6 Comments »

24/09/2007 by Paul D.

I thought I’d try and post a pic for my first  contribution and this is the best I could find at short notice…..

}¬)

Mad woman attempts to ‘eat camera’.

Handy hints:

Click this thumbnail for a bigger image. (Are you SURE you want to?)

And hit BACK from that to get back here. Don’t hit X to close.

P.

Posted in Beer | 3 Comments »

24/09/2007 by Steve.

Bumping into an old aquaintance is one of those little moments in life which could be considered priceless. Such an event can never be planned so the surprise itself is significant. However the ripples from such a meeting could extend far beyond the moment itself.

This thought is on my mind because on Saturday I met an old colleague from my very first job. I probably haven’t seen him for 20 years or more. He recognised me through a shop window. At first I just saw some strange old bloke waving at me from the outside (my mind was elsewhere, lusting after an array of unaffordable equipment in the music shop). My first thought was ‘Who’s that nutter?’. But then that wave of recognition crashed over me and he no longer looked old - he looked exactly the same as I remembered him when we were both 20.

I went outside, we greeted each other and quickly talked through old and current times.
‘I saw Dave from ‘Security’ at a reunion 10 years ago’, he said.
‘I still see Jerry about twice a year’, I added.
Etc etc.

We compared family - mine was actually there, complete - the second-wife and two semi grown-up kids (we couldn’t have imagined a posse like that back then!) His wife is the same girl who I had known as just his girlfriend - they have been married now for 21 years! And they have two kids of the same age as our two….

A similar event occurred a couple of weeks ago when Vanessa met an old colleague in a shop. He came rushing round the end of an aisle and they both immediately recognised each other. Same old Michael, he was, always a story to tell, camp as ever and resisting 40 with a vengeance. It was like they had been working together just last week.

And after your chance meeting? You swap numbers and emails. You even get in touch and go out for a drink. But where does it go from there? Maybe it depends on who you meet, and when…

I think most people would enjoy bumping into an old flame. The spotty-faced youth that she remembers will have turned into a successful and wordly adult- a potential chance to impress not to be missed. Unless you are out with your wife at the time, of course!

Conversely, if you are unfortunate enough to have a ‘previous’ spouse out there somewhere, what would you do if their face presented itself to you out of the blue? It would be embarrassing enough if you were on your own but imagine if your current wife was with you!!! Would Wife 1 still pass as good-looking enough for your current standards? Has she aged well? And while Wife 2 might like to get to know Wife 1 better (for the purposes of comparison on ALL levels) you would probably rather curl up and die.

And finally, some people meet accidentally under some very unlikely circumstances. You occasionally hear stories of people walking down a street on the other side of the world and recognising an old neighbour. Given the billions of people in the world and the miles between them, it’s amazing that it happens at all!

Posted in General | 1 Comment »

23/09/2007 by Rob.

Hello! Rob the Guinea Pig here. I shall start off my first entry to this blog by sharing with you lovely people a few exciting days from last week.

Thursday 13th Sept - up at 4am to get to Pinewood Studios in pitch darkness for 6am (joy!). (Got stopped by the police at 5.20am for weaving my way through the scene of a traffic accident, rather than turn back to find another route. I’d had four hours sleep - so sue me!)

I’m playing a ferry passenger in the new Batman movie, and am told to bring clothes that ‘a refugee would grab had they had to flee Gotham City in a hurry’ (does anybody actually flee slowly from anywhere?) - so I basically wore what I usually wear - black jeans and patterned t-shirt. Had to swap the t-shirt at Costume for a denim shirt instead, as that was said to be more American-looking (they found one that just about fitted my ample frame).

I then spent eight hours sitting on a baking-hot bus waiting to be called to the set, during which time I: (a) ate a cooked breakfast and dinner, (b) chatted to a few ‘femme fatales’, (c) snoozed a little, (d) read a few pages of my book (THE TERROR by Dan Simmons - excellent so far), (e) texted a teacher friend (Jeremy), and (f) visited the toilet portacabin twice.

It’s a life of glamour making films, I tell you.

Then at 3.15pm we got the official summons to Stage ‘S’, where the ferry set is in position. Can’t tell you anything about the scene, I’m afraid (owing to a confidentiality agreement we’re all obliged to sign), but one of the villains can be heard over a loudspeaker. Sadly, I doubt if you’ll see me in the finished movie, as I was right at the back of the room throughout filming.

We eventually wrapped at 6pm - a twelve-hour day. Still…beats nine-to-five in an office somewhere…

Friday 14th - interview with RES Ltd, who provide stewarding at Wembley Arena amongst other places. Given my current employment with CES at Wembley Stadium and QPR, I was accepted without qualm. I have an induction on Oct 3rd, and presumably will start work asap afterwards. I’d hoped to start work with them back in July, but they’ve been a little tardy with their recruitment programme. Still…some excellent shows coming up (Rush, Police, Bill Bailey, Hard-Fi) - don’t know yet how I go about registering for them. Should be good.

Sat 15th - rehearsal for OUTSIDE EDGE, the play I’m doing with Proscenium in Nov. I’m playing Dennis, the cad - interesting part, as I’ve never played a cad before. Am summoning up all my memories of Terry-Thomas as I go through the lines.

Eve - games evening at Chrissie and Nick’s. Played Scattergories, and had great fun winding up Nick. Under ‘Famous Duos’ and the letter ‘O’, he had ‘Orville’. We discounted it, as he hadn’t written down ‘…and Keith Harris’, thereby nullifying the answer. He wouldn’t have it. ‘Who else would it be??’

‘Could be Wilbur Wright,’ his mate Steve replied, ‘but you haven’t written that down either. We’re not mind-readers!’

Suffice to say, he added a point to his score, and we all took it off at the end….

Sun 16th - took advantage of the London Open House Weekend and went down to Rotherhithe. Had a tour of the Sands Film Studios and the Brunel Museum, with an eye to organising an outing with the Arts & Heritage Club next year. Very good - will definitely suggest it to Head Office.

Also visited Soseki Museum in Clapham, after reading about it in The Book of Lists - London under ‘8 Unusual Museums’. Maintained in tribute to Natsume Soseki, one of Japan’s most famous writers, who live opposite the museum from 1900-1902 (the museum founders tried to buy the actual location, but as the owners wanted £5m for it, they thought again!). Most of the visitors are Japanese, but there were one or two Europeans dotted throughout the Visitors Book. A shame that he’s virtually unknown over here. The museum is actually a converted two-room flat - a little strange from the outside, but it works after a fashion. I doubt if anyone would be aware of it if you either (a) weren’t Japanese, or (b) hadn’t read The Book of Lists - London.

Mon 17th - another day’s filming, this time at Kempton Park racecourse for a Morrisons commercial, with Alan Hansen. Unusually, we were called at 10am for breakfast, didn’t start filming till midday, and then wrapped at 3pm, followed by a roast beef lunch. I was playing a punter comparing the odds in front of a line of tic-tac men, deciding which horse to back. I was in the foreground for this one, so may appear on-camera. All in all, very satisfying.

Tues 18th - stewarding at Loftus Rd for QPR. A little nippy, but a couple of free hot pies went down well. Moved to Directors Box for a change, instead of standing at the bottom of a draughty stairwell - much better!

Wed 19th - day off. Bliss!

And that’s it! Ciao for now!

R.

Posted in Work | 1 Comment »

19/09/2007 by admin.

Hi everyone! Yes this is the first entry in what could become a regular online chat corner for the Usual’s and all of their readers! Yes it is what is called a Blog and at last, instead of just reading about them, you can actually contribute to one and become part of the 21st century.

Now the Usual Suspects have been good friends for a long time, but they have wide and varied interests outside of the group and work in many different industries and environments. So there is plenty to share - write what you like and let the other Usuals comment or add their own blog entry. And expect comments from those unfortunate individuals that we call friends but who are not part of the Usual Suspects - they’re welcome to comment too of course.

So….intro over. I now hand it over to you to see what you’ve got to say!!

Posted in General | 2 Comments »