Proud To Be British

Having recently finished reading 'The Heart Of The Dales' by Gervase Phinn i was empty, i needed a book to fill the hole that had been left, so i picked up 'I Know You Got Soul' by Jeremy Clarkson, and what an interesting book it is!

So far i have read about the AK47, The Graf Zeppelin, Concorde and many other great and sometimes deadly machines that Jeremy Clarkson believes are more then just the work of some engineers.

One story that fully captivated me was the building and creation of the SS Great Britain, but more importantly the story of its creator...Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Brunel was born in Portsmouth on the 9th of April 1806 to Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Kingdom, as you can see his parents where original types so used there names for there son that would become one of the greatest engineers of all time and a man who was voted as the second greatest Britain in the BBC's public poll in 2002.

Brunel at the age of 20 was appointed chief assistant engineer of his fathers great project, The Themes Tunnel, which would go on and become the first tunnel to be built under water. Brunel's father had created a system for tunnels that is still used to day, most notably the Channel Tunnel.

Not only this, Isambard engineerd the Clifton Suspension Bridge, The Royal Albert Bridge, The Great Western Railway (GWR) and also spent a hell of alot of time and effort (ultimately unsuccessful) in the creation of the 'Atmospheric Railway' a idea that used vacuums and leather pulleys to power the trains.

However perhaps his most advanced creation was the SS Great Britain. The SS a unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. The SS was the first ocean going ship to combine the being built in Iron and using a screw propeller. When launched in 1843, she was the largest ocean going ship at the time, and perhaps also one of the most flawed.

It was not the quickest, the most comfortable or financially viable ship ever built. One ship that was built managed the journey from the UK to New York in an incredible 15 days, for me and for that time i find that amazing! But sadly the SS didn't manage as quickly.

After the SS had ended life as a ocean going ship, it was used between 1855 and 1858 as a troopship during the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. Sadly during its next use as a cargo ship for coal it was damaged almost beyond repair after a fire whipped through the ship. It was bought by the Falklands Island Company and used as a coal bunker until 1937, when it was towed to Sparrow Cove and left to rot.

Thankfully after many years of Restoration it is open to visitors down in the docks in Bristol, and visitors can marvel at the plain amazingness of a ship built by one of the greatest Britain's to have lived and a ship that was so many years ahead of its time!

If you ever thought history was boring...then think, how did we get to where we are today?

Chandler's Britain

With the country i love in a shocking state, the current generation showing no respect to our monarchy and the increasing influx of really, really, really awful Asia made cars (Protons, Nissan's etc) i have decided to plan ahead so that if i ever come in to power i can make a difference!

Law 1 - Reality TV shows such as Britain's Got Talent, X Factor and Big Brother would be outlawed, presenter Divina Mccall would be forced to wear a dunce hat and Simon Cowell would be forced to sit through 100 hours of Motley Crue, Poison and Cinderella concerts.

Law 2 - The mood 'Stress' would be illegal if the person in question was found to be stressed for unlawful reasons such as being stressed because the word 'exam' was mentioned and being stressed just because your friends are stressed

Law 3 - In no way are people allowed to drive the Nissan Cube, the Nissan Denke Cube or its fellow associates.

Law 4 - The added test of doing Motorway driving would have to be undertaken before you can legally be allowed to drive, the point that learning to drive is stressful (see Law 2) and that motorway driving is also stressful leads me to two points...one get it over with in one go and secondly get over it!

Law 5 - Hillsong will be re-named Billsong and all bills and all expenses shall be sent to Billsong London, Sydney, Kiev etc, as they seem to have lots of money and it would be a great way to serve the country.

I'm sure there will be many other laws but for the moment take these in, and once again if you have any objections to these please, please, please, please, please keep them to yourself!

God The Bless The Queen!

Today is the 56th anniversary of our present Queen's coronation.

This is one of the reason's im so proud to be British!

God Bless The Queen!

Why Dont We Just Talk?

Why Don't We Just Talk? Deep isn't it? And i seriously mean why don't we? Everything now is "I will Facebook you" or "We will arrange it through Facebook", Me and my friends are trying to organise a holiday in the summer (I say try...a group of Chimpanzee's could do a Hell of a lot better) and instead of phoning around people are desperatly trying to get people to reply to there message as if its the only way Human Beings can communicate now!

I fully appreciate and support the fact that things like Facebook are great for keeping in touch but does it really replace what is commonly known as a friendship? The answer to that my friends (is not blowing in the wind) but a big fat NO!

If you try to arrange something at short notice on Facebook, as sometimes happens...it is more then possible that one or two persons (one being more often then not me!) will not get the message or invite until after the event of the forseable future has happened...thus making the person (me again...hello!) extremely annoyed!

The spoken word is a powerfull thing, so why do we not embrace this gift?

We really should!

Return Of The Rantman!

And i make my long awaited return...i know its been far too long for the two avid readers of this blog and i apologize!

So this will be one of those amazing events that happen usually only twice in your life...think of it like buying your first car and then also dancing the night away at your own wedding, this my friends is a MEGA-blog!

I spent the weekend with my friend at his uni (which happens to be Downing College...yes that is part of the University of Cambridge) and as well as having a good time, enjoying the nice weather and realising that i have become ridiculously vain was left thinking what gets you to Cambridge? Now i have been twice before and have just thought that its because you are amazingly clever...now this may be the case on the outside but on the inside it becomes less transparent. I mean is it the type of person you are? or maybe just how hard you work?

There isn't a typical Cambridge person, there isn't a typical Oxford, or Bath or Cardiff person its the person you are that gets you to Cambridge. As well as being very clever, you have to put the work in at school to get the grades and if you find that easy well two finger salute to you but i don't think its fair to say that only Private school Men and Women get there, during my time i have spent there i have seen what is classed i think as labeling, what i mean is emo's, goths, indie, punk, normal, posh and girls. Now you may think this is irrelevant but there is not a Cambridge person...there is variety and i think that is fantastic!

Moving on from that rant/social review a CD review!

A bit back i talked about how my eyes had been opened to the genre of music called R&B, thanks to the work of Timbaland with ex Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell and having constantly used Youtube to listen to some of his songs i dug deep into my pocket and spent however much it was to buy Chris Cornell's latest album 'Scream'

For Soundgarden and Audioslave fans it was heresy that Chris Cornell would even speak to Timbaland but i honestly feel that Chris Cornell has made the right move! Music should not be genre orientated but dictated by the mood the singer/band is in.

Cornell wanted to try something different and the album cover shows this is no uncertain terms. Cornell jumping and smashing a guitar...he wants to try something different!

The album is defiantly a album by one of the main movers from the 90's Grunge scene, dark lyrics and his almost hypnotic vocals make the album a mash of Grunge, Pop, R&B and Psychedelic. Highlights include the dance floor groove of 'Part Of Me' with its brilliant chorus "that bitch ain't a part of me", the gentle ballad 'Long Gone' and the funky 'Ground Zero'. For me this is a highlight in a year that has disappointed on the music front.

Thanks for reading my MEGA-blog...im off to rest my fingers!

Back in the darkest depths of the end of 2008, things were looking very bad for Spurs and this post is aimed at all of you who found it funny that Spurs were bottom of the league and for those who said Spurs would be relegated...

Let me just refresh your memories to my response then

"This goes out to everyone who thinks it is funny that Tottenham Hotspur are bottom of the league...WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE RELEGATED!!!"

I know the season is yet to finnish...but i have this to say...I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Technology

PS3's, X-Box 360, I-Phones, Apple Macs...all the latest in a world were technology has taken over, and has created a world that when technology doesn't work we either fall to pieces or just get plain stressed...i fall in to the second category!

Now i don't have a PS3 or a I-Phone but what i (as a family) have is a computer, to be precise a Sony and Samsung thing...no idea what it is to be honest. Pupils of St Georges School know all about stupidly slow computers but will not have experienced the enigma that is the Chandler family computer.

One trick it loves to play is a little game called 'How quickly can we make Andrew scream and shout' every time it wins the battle between Man and Machine and creates a less green version of the Incredible Hulk! It is just so damn slow, and now has decided that for some reason will turn off occasionally without any reason or preparation...basically if your working on something and you don't saved you are S.C.R.E.W.E.D, and can be found running around the Hertfordshire country side looking for a ring that can become your precious.

I thought Technology was supposed to make our lives better, well the TV in the kitchen is dying, our Telephone set i think has died and our computer I'm sure is possessed by a Demon (just like all Dogs are!).