Canada Bob

Clacher... if you go, {to Blackpool} then yer digs are on me, I'll sort a night out for you and up to 3 of yer mates... Just the digs though, no the ale... Canada Bob.

Right ! yer on my ground now, or close enough... Other than the football there's nowt to see in Burnley and environs, unless yer looking for a Mosque... But, just down the road, less than an hour away is Blackpool, need I say more... You can't go wrong there, long as you know what to expect in the digs, it's not all down to "you get what you pay for" some high priced places are shyte, yet some costing a good bit less are top nottch. Add to that it depends if yer going with the lads and looking for a heavy night, or taking the Mrs and want somewhere a bit less noisy... As far as eating when yer down there, be sure to hop on a tram {get the day pass} and nip up to Cleveleys, a couple of miles north of Blackpool, ask 'em to drop you off in the centre of town and then walk west, towards the sea front {on the main street} and look for Cleveleys Cafe or the Rembrandt, {facing each other}, they are the same place really as they are owned by the same folks, so you can't go wrong eating there, the fish are above a foot long, and the steak puddings are as big as a babbies heed ! there's nae bad grub in there places, and the prices aren't bad either... Other than the man sized food there, {the steak puddin ain the only thing worth eating} be sure to check out the Polish lassies who work there, they can make yer eyes roll back in yer heed... http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/80878/4d5a6/2/ If yer down there with the Mrs think of staying at Euston North Hotel in Fleetwood {the end of the line for the tram}, an old Victorian Hotel with a great bar, and very classy rooms and restaurants, you'll not be disappointed there... http://cgi.www.4hotels.co.uk/cgi-bin/www.4...how.pl?r=111893 As for a night on the town, you HAVE TO go to Funny Girls, best night out in the North West, but get there early as it gets PACKED ! http://www.funnygirlsshowbar.co.uk/ Although the blokes who put the show on are "different" believe me it's not a gay bar, but you will see more than the odd lesbian in there, as women think that most regular blokes won't go there, so the place can be a bit crowded with women kidding each other, thankfully I've never seen any of the bloke indulging in such. Forget the "undertones" though the Show is Brilliant, as good as any show in London, it's a great night out... Other than that, look the "Alabama" it's a hotel {never stayed there though} but the hotel has one of the best nightclubs in Blackpool, a lot of fun, but again get there early as this place gets packed too... http://www.thealabama.co.uk/ The Compare {aka the fat little ba stard} is a knock out, again one of the best shows in the NW. If it's a higher end place yer looking for, in the centre of Blackpool then the Hilton is modern, clean, and almost centrally loaceted, but the food has always been shyte there, they can't even do a decent breakfast, so if you stay there book just for the room and the sea view... http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/BLKB...-hotel/index.do If yer on a budget then at the South end of Blackpool {Squires Gate} there's Pontins, if yer not takin' a lassie with you, they're on tap there, the digs are clean, and the food is better than a lot of places. Squires Gate is the other end of the tram tracks from Fleetwood... http://www.pontins-blackpool.com/ If you let me know what you can afford then I can point you in the right direction, lots of decent B&B's there, {and the Wigin Mafia know them all}, but there's also lots of shyte too, you just can't go off the prices... Canada Bob.

Here's what I've been told... The horse is sound, will love the going, and gets on real well with the jockey, in fact when they team up they've never been beat... The jockey is a 3lb claimer and this takes Lethems weight down to 10st 3lbs, and in a 3 mile race every pound counts... To repeat the phone call that I've had, "Lethem is expected to win at a reasonable price, by a comfortable distance"... But as in owt else, it's "make yer own mind up" horses aren't machines, and owt can go wrong in a race, but I'll be on it {metaphorically speaking}, all 14 st of me, and a fair bit of me wallet too, EW of course, too many runners for straight win bet... Canada Bob.

JUST had a call from Thirish Lad, he tells me that Lethem Present is flying at home, and will run on Sunday @ Hexam, can't remember what time he said the race was, but look out for it !!! Canada Bob.

That's a hard one to answer... IF you can find a decent place to live that isn't knee deep in social upheaval, and IF you can find a place where the craic is still there, then Scotland would be {this Wiginers} choice, mainly because I like the robustness of a good pub atmosphere, IF you can find a good pub that is. If there's a downside to Canada it's that folks aren't as quick witted as you MIGHT find in Scotland or the Untidy Kingdom in general, try telling a joke over here and you die a death, they hear the punch line and still don't recognise that it's a joke, in general they take things way too literally. Mind you, things have changed for the worse "back home" in the last 30 years, folks seem to have lost the ability to socialise they way they used to. Although Canadains aren't as raucous as I'd like them to be, it's hard to fault them in any other way, they are easy to make friends with, most of them will go out of their way to help you, and you don't feel that there's the stress in society here that you can see in the UK. Taking people/society/jobs/ taxes/opportunity to gain a better life/standard of living etc {which to me are all better/higher over here} out of the equation it would be down to a comparison of geography, and seeing as how Nova Scotia {aka New Scotland} is actually part of Old Scotland {it broke off a while back and drifted across the Atlantic}. you'd be hard pressed to know which country you were in. We have the Highlands, the salmon rivers {where you can fish to your hearts content, no "Private Stretches here", add to that there are more Pipe Bands here in Nova Scotia than in Scotland, we have the gathering of the Clans every year. Nova Scotia has it's own tartan, not to mention our own Highand Games and so on... Anyone from Scotland who values their heritage yet seeks the proverbial "better life" wouldn't feel any loss at all over here, fair enough football is yet to get established, but the sacrifice of 90 minutes a week for a better life is well worth it... It's not that Nova Scotia is a mirror image of all the good things of Scotland, it's not a sham imitation, the place is knee deep in folks from Scotland, there's a Million people here, and 80% of them are within 3-4 generations of being Scottish... Bottom line is, if society wasn't as stressed out as it seems to be in Scotland, if the cost of living was cheaper there than here, if prospects for getting on in life were better there than here, if the working man had the same respect there as he has here, if you didn't have to carry the scroungers etc, then Scotland would be a great place to live... Until those things turn around, say 50 years from now, {if ever} then Nova Scotia or Canada in general is a better place to be... This ain't "some foreign field" this place was settled by Scots, and won by their kilted legions under General Wolfe @ Quebec, so you're heritage is alive and well here, if that means anything to you, there's nae problem integrating into society ore here... Canada Bob.

A quick one about the telly Scotty... No need to miss the UK programming, you can watch all the Freeview stuff ore here, even SKY etc if you have a Slingbox set up "back home", works a treat for me, I watch that linked up via a laptop straight into a 52" TV, the picture is good {not Hi Def or owt due to the available bandwidth} but still better than watching a lot of the shyte that comes down the cables ore here, to me it's program content rather than how good the definition of the picture is... pity we can't yet have both... Other than that, I watch "MYP2P" a lot, still not sure if what they broadcast is fully legit, especially the live soccer games, but they carry quite a bit of UK live broadcast stuff, not to mention a lot of live broadcasts from around the world... You might want to take a look at that, see what you think, my guess is that much of it is legal rebroadcast, but some of the content may well be regarded as pirate, but that arguement still goes on in the forums... An alternative would be the live webcasts that ITV and CH4 {not sure about the BBC} put out, but they are blocked if your IP address comes up as outside the UK... Add to that, Betfair now carry live horse racing, every race, every day {almost}, they also carry a lot of soccer games live too, it's not PPV but you need to have bet at least 2 quid on the game, a safe bet if yer a Rangers fan hey, grin... I recall Rod {aka the Scarlet Pimple, out there in the wilds of BC} sent me a sort of Pay Per View site {that must have been legit ?} where you could watch a lot of UK games, and the costs wasn't bad, neither was the picture quality... Canada Bob.

For Gawds Sake !!! hard to believe the prices in Babylon the Great, that's what Nova Scotians call Ontario, grin... If I wanted to rough it I'd live in this, asking price ?180,000... http://www.capebretonestates.com/property_baddeckbb.html Nice area too, seemingly favoured by Scots, Alexander Bell spent much of his life in Baddeck, and no just for the salmon fishing either... Mind you, if yer money is a bit tight, then this for ?150,000 is a reasonable "fixer upper"... http://www.capebretonestates.com/property_pleasant_bay.html Here's another that looks OK {ish} from the outside, but then when you look at the interior photo's you'll see why the asking price is ?85,000... http://www.capebretonestates.com/property_...at_seaside.html Or... you could take over this run down B&B for around ?135,00... as you can see, it needs work though... http://www.capebretonestates.com/property_...ourg_manse.html Folks think that life is easy for us immigrants to Canada, until they see how we live... Canada Bob.

Just in case any of you might consider buying a house in Nova Scotia, I've got one for you... Check out the link below to see what 250,000 quid would buy you over here... The house was built a few years ago by a Captain of a fishing boat from the Faroe Islands, he used to drop his catch off here in Nova Scotia, and liked the place so much that he designed and built his own house here, and what a house it is. The guy is retired now and is going back home to the Faroe's, that's why the house is up for sale. I don't know what 250,000 quid buys in Inverness, but it don't buy much in Wigin... http://www.capebretonestates.com/property_mulgrave.html If any of you are up for this kind of lifestyle one thing you might want to know, you don't need to be a Canadian to hold property over here, and you don't need to be a Landed Immigrant to live here for 6 months at a time, add to that I believe that there's a reciprocal agreement between the NHS and the Health Care system here in Canada, so unlike the US you don't need to take out health insurance... I'd like to know what this place would be worth in Wigan !!! it's no just the house, I believe there's 30 acres that goes with it !!! Bob.

If yer inta fishin' this is a decent web site... http://www.liveangler.com/ Canada Bob.

After Inked is selling like hot cakes right now, with even more "celebreties" using it and promoting it... Take a look at this lot in the link below, I {still} don't know who they are, but if you put your cursor over each photo their names will come up, trouble is, I still don't know WTF they are, sigh... http://www.afterinked.com:80/about/news.asp Canada Bob.

Never mind going to West Africe, you should have been round to BetFair today, on Lethem Present the horse that we tipped up in here last 3 times, it went in at 8/1 SP but I got 10/1 @ Betfair !!! Canada Bob.

Lethem Present flew home again today, paid 8/1 @ SP and 10/1 on Betfair... I hope it wasn't just me and Reef on it ? Canada Bob.

Get back up yer ladder Rod, yerv missed a bit in that corner :004: Canada Bob.

I know that Connie, I was just attempting to vent my spleen about the movie, worst I've seen in a long time, only that crap that Sting did years ago about some bleedin worm in the desert got me on my feet faster asking for a refund, and I did, and I got it. I've tolerated some shyte movies in me time, but this one insults the intellect of the cinema goers... No offence taken Connie, and none meant, text don't always carry the sentiment that we intend... Canada {yet still Wigin} Bob. PS... by the way, did you put yer name down to for Naps Comp ? there's 3,500 quid up for grabs this time around...

Aye, if only it was as simple as that Connie, as a Wiginer I wasnae impressed either, add to that the following folks {from around the world} had much the same thing to say... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...s-premiere.html http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/05/29/181454.php http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4559357a19798.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...12a-835776.html http://desicritics.org/2008/05/28/103719.php http://www.9news.com/life/entertainment/to...x?storyid=92331 http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2008/05...ving-in-indy-4/ http://www.parsonssun.com/pages/full_story...&open=& My guess is, if yer 8 years old, still in short pants, and have nae yet learned how to play with yer willy, you'll find this movie utterly breath taking... Canada {for that read Wigin too} Bob.

Went to the Pictures last night to watch the latest Indiana Jones thing, Crystal Skull or something, a better title would have been "The Temple of Shyte", sigh... Started of with the usual flashes and bangs, but it was slapstick more than even remotely believeable, well if you've not in short pants that is :017: Included in the initial scene was how Indian Jones saved himself from an Atomic blast {at the other end of the street} by hiding in a {lead lined} fridge !!! who the **** makes lead lined fridges :017: and how do you get them home ? one the bus ? I've seen some shyte on the telly and in some movies, but the crap in this movie takes beggars even an 8 year olds belief, part of that being Gold coins whizzing through the air to some giant magnet thing, seems that the movie was half way through filming when someone must have pointed out that gold aint magnetic, ffs... After the bangs and flashes of the first 10 minutes the next scene {that seems to go on forever} seems totally unrelated to the opening scene, where the actors just talk to one another, possibly waiting for the writers strike to end, so that the clueless b*ggars {by this time that includes the audience} is wondering what the plot is going to be... 45 minutes into the saga we get the poor mans version of Michael Jacksons Thriller scenes, by now I'm not on me own thinking that the projectionist has put the wrong friggin reel on... An hour into it, and folks are starting to ask each other "what's it all about" :017: I can't figure it, the plot is infantile, the movie is disjointed, I've finished me malteesers and I'm wondering why the **** I'm not already on me way home... At that point I got up and walked out, mind you we weren't the first, as we left you could hear folks groaning in disbelief at the slapstick events... Gotta be the worst Big Ticket movie I've seen in the last 10 years, first time I've walked out on a movie that's for sure, it's one of those movies that's not even worth downloading... If you're thinking of going, stay home, the money is better in your pocket than Harrison Ford's or Spielbergs pocket, hard to believe they'd put their names to this crock of shyte, mind you, money compensates for embarrassment don't it... Canada Bob.

Thank fek they dint say it was Invented by an Artist :004: At least I'm gerrin paid by these folks, the royalties from the folks in the US are starting to pay for the ale, and {tonight} the snow crab legs... when in Rome and all that, it'd be puddin' chips an' mushy peas, if I were back in Wigin, mind you, that goes down just as well... Canada Bob.

Right !!! I have heard it, so he is a famous bloke then ? not in the same league as say Joseph Locke, but seems like Rickey can punch a song out... Thanks for the nod on that Don, I'd never heard of the bloke before, but I've sure heard this song, he's no bad is he, he could get a booking in Wigin !!! Canada Bob.

Yea, it's a derivative of Ultra Shave, and it looks like this pony could run into some Place money. The best thing is, I dint even know I'd "invented" it !!! some bloke in California who uses Ultra Shave had a huge tattoo done, and the pain from having it done was giving him some grief, so wanting to sort of cool it down, he rubs on the only cream that he has in the house, {guess what that was}... It took away the burning sensation {wish I'd know that when I was courting} anyway {afore I digress}, the pain went away,and the scabbing that usually follows from having the tattoo done healed in a couple of days, rather than a couple of weeks !!! So off this bloke goes, back to the tattoo artist {Twig Sparks} to tell him what he'd done, and Twig was amazed to see the tattoo heal so quickly. It wasn't just that though, it seems that the scabbing pulls some of the ink out of the skin, so you finish up with a less bright/colourful tattoo, so cutting back on the scabbing gets you a better/brighter tattoo ! and they just love that !!! nest thing you know I'll be the Patron Saint of the **** Angels {mind you, that could come in useful}... Have a look at the link below, seems some fairly well known folks are giving it rave review... http://www.afterinked.com/about/testimonials.asp After Inked costs twice the price of Ultra Shave :014: mind you, the label is a lot fancier :rolleyes02: Canada Bob.

Wost make o' this ! A band I've never heard of, prancing about with "After Inked" on their T shirts... Other than that, here's the site for "After Inked"... http://www.afterinked.com/ Odd old world, aint it... Canada Bob.

Ran 2nd @12/1 paid ?3.90 on the Tote for a place... They say it would have won if the jockey had made more use of it, he held it up this time, last time they lead all the way, so the owner wasnae impressed... Canada Bob.

Hello Rod, JJB hey, {don't mention the name to me}, hard to believe how far that name has come, it started off with JJ Broughton a retired Rugby player then later, oddly enough sold on to JJ Bradock who in turn later sold it {incredibly enough} to JJ Bradburn, how ODD is that, for the shop to go from one JJ to another, I don't even know any JJ's must be hellish odds for that to have happened, strangle place this Universe aint it... What's the odds on a triple JJ ? I'd have to say there's less than one JJ per 1,000 blokes, so 1,000 x 1,000 {that's already a Million} x 1,000 brings it to a Billion to 1 !!! you'd have been well in with the first 2 legs of that in wunt you ! and to add to the peculiarity Dave Whelan {an egotist if ever there was one, and it takes one to know one} carried the name into the 21st Century, {rather than use his own}, very odd that is. Anyway, the first I remember of JJB's was buying a Diana .177 slug gun from there {for 30/-} in the late 50's, it took me 12 weeks of delivering papers {for half a crown a week} to buy the gun, it was a pistol, I'd have liked a rifle, but me mother dint know what I was up to, and wunt have let me have an air gun {at 11 year old} so me dad said best to get a gun that I/we could hide from her... Dint help buying a pistol, me mother knew within the hour, it was one of them where you had to press the barrel on a cobble stone to tension the spring, I managed to do that alright, but the first "shot" I had from it went clean through me shoe and into me foot, me dad was horrified, not at the injury, but at the thought of having to explain it to me mother... I remember passing out at the sight of the blood coming from me shoe, next thing I know me dad is running with me in his arms {no cars in them days} to Wigin Infirmary, less than a mile away. I finished up with 2 stitches in me foot, since then I've never fired a shot in anger or anything else, worst part was, me mother took the pistol back to JJB's and that was the last I saw of it, and the 30 bob come to think of it, got me a week off school though, as I c*nt wear me shoes, that dint help in the scheme of things either, lost the paper round 'cause I c*nt walk, and if that wasn't bad enough, {I don't know if it was the lead from the pellet, well, that's my excuse} but 2 weeks later I failed me 11 plus, often wonder how these events changed the course of my life, if I'd passed me 11 plus I might have finished up working in a Bank or something, grin... Strangely enough, the next time I set foot in JJB's was 20 years later, by this time Whelan {who used to work Wigin Market, and I knew him from that, decent bloke, in them days}, well he had just bought JJB's and from that they became the first shop in the world to sell me golf practice net, I remeber getting paid part money, part fireworks one time, and staggering onto the Wigin bus with 5ft tall "exhibition" rockets, if it wernt for the driver knowing me they'd never have let me on with them, grin... Anyway, digressing a bit, if not a lot, have a look at this link, I've no idea who the bloke is, but it seems that "After Inked" the derivative of me shaving cream is catching on in some weird and wonderful places, folks are even wearing T shirts with it on now, what next... I hear that Linard Skinard {whoever he is} is also "up to his neck in After Inked" odd old world aint it... Canada Bob.

Lethem Present is out again Saturday, I think the lad said in the 7 o'clock race at Cartmel, don't know if I should stiffen it or what, sigh... Canada Bob.

Thanks for the write up, sounds like you had a great night, glad to hear it... Canada Bob.

I've had fun with a few things, the latest one being "After Inked" a spin off from Ultra Shave, it's selling like hot cakes in the US, supported by the link below... http://afterinked.com Then there was the little wire basket that let folks heat their homes for next to nowt, that did well, at least I got paid the royalties off that... http://www.thepelleteer.com/ http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?...&RS=Norburn I sold the above Patent Rights to these guys... http://www.energex.com/common/index2.php?mkt=english Neat little thing the Prometheus {as they called it}, burns sawdust pellets {a by product} and gives around 60,000 BTU per hour for about half a crown an hour, clean burning stuff too... http://www.allbasics.com/promet8a.jpg But the first one was fun too... a golf practice net that actually caught and held the ball, even at speeds of 200 ft / second, used for golf at first, so that the golfer could see how good a pattern he was getting, like a dart thrower, he could see every ball held/trapped in the net. Invented that in 1978, and it's still being made, used for all kinds of sports now, including soccer, baseball, cricket, ice hockey, tennis {Arthur Ashe bought 6 of them from me, 28 years ago}, here's a short video on how it works, and how many different sports you can use it for... http://video.aol.com/video-detail/original...tcher/655422087 So over the years {30 of them now of inventing stuff} I've had a lot of fun and it's kept the wolves from the door, add to that, it can turn into a lucrative hobby, long as folks pay you that is... Canada Bob.