Feeling a bit better today and typing this at work.

As I was going home yesterday I saw a grown man dressed in a Superman outfit in a telephone box and it led me to think about missing photo opportunities. How I wished I had my camera with me to record the event. So today's seven are based on missing photo ops that I recall from the last months. I love my photography and I am always 'seeing' photos wherever I go. Shame I haven't always got my camera with me.

1. The guy in the Superman outfit phoning Krypton or Lois Lane.

2. A group of policemen outside the County Court laughing and were armed to the teeth.

3. Two men on harnesses cleaning the windows where I work and dangling just above me.

4. The tabby cat who was asleep inside a car on the dashboard. The dashboard was covered in hairs so i assume this was/is a regular kipping spot.

5.The Jack Russell dog who was looking like a nodding dog on the back shelf of another car.

6.The bicycle accident on the wet streets of Bordeaux. I got there as the male rider was getting up and helping the young woman who he had knocked down. Actually looked quite painful being hit by a skidding mountain bike. Ouch.

7. The three nuns in Bordeaux in white garb coming towards me. Foolishly I asked permission to take a photo. I should have just taken it because they voted a unified "Non"

That's all folks. Phil

Hi folks, feelin' pretty yuck today. Didn't sleep at all last night and I have dragged myself into work this morning to see how it goes. Don't like feeling ill and my legs feel like they realy belong to a dead person. Nothing witty to say today I'm afraid. Not sad just v tired. Phil xx

The main seven people I dread sitting next to me on the bus.

1. The happy clappy christian who treats me like a long lost buddy and asks me if I have found Jesus today (actually he asks everyone on the bus). I once replied "Not in my Cornflakes" which threw him for a demi second before he returned to rainbow land and wished everyone individually a "wonderously happy and gloriously God filled day".

2. The squeeky child who is delighted to shriek out his daily observations to the bus load. "Cat!" "Lorry!" " Look mummy, diggerrrrrrr!" "Happy clappy Christian man mummy!"

3. The young adult who likes to phone a friend loudly and the friend is sitting at the back of the same bus.

4. The enormous fat guy with nose clenchingly bad BO and very cheesy feet.

5. The very old frail lady who insists that I am her long lost son and smells of wee, very stale wee.

6. The dog owner whose small itching dog sniffs at my ankles and shoes and emits low threatening growls.

7. Anyone wearing a hoodie and jerking about to their c/rap 'taste' in music regardless of anyone else's sensibilites.

Tonight I have had a very relaxed and fun evening with my ex wife. We met at my house and went around to to local bar in the village and had a laugh about life and her brave attempts at dating.

A very pleasant evening and good to see how far we have both come that she would consider discussing these things with me. She is an excellent friend and someone I care very deeply about and will do always. Phil xxx

I have used 'AltaVista babel fish' to translate this bit of nonsense. Just see what it does with the languages.

This is a piece of writing that I want to translate for the reading pleasure of my goldfish. He is ten thousand years old and likes to wear a snorkle on his day off.

translation/traduction.
C'est un morceau d'écriture que je veux traduire pour le plaisir de lecture de mon goldfish. Il a dix mille ans et aime porter un snorkle son jour au loin.

now translated back into English from the French.This is has part of writing that I want to relocates for the reading pleasure of my goldfish. He is ten thousand years old and likes to wear off has snorkle one his day.

I saw this guy on a rain soaked street in Bordeaux!

Competition time. No prizes just for fun.

1. Name the cat.

2. Does he really dance?

3. If not, what does he do best?

4. Name the man.

5. In your opinion is this job a good career move?

6. What are the benefits?

7. What are the negatives?

You do not need to answer all these questions but please number the answers appropriately.

Have fun. Winners get to stroke the virtual cat.

Wooof, I am quite knackered today. Yesterday i spent a fair amount of time in the garden picking the last of my green beans and baking a loaf of bread and writing up my journal from my holiday in Bordeaux.

So far today I have done some more journal writing and started in earnest to learn my lines for The Diary of Ann Frank. I forgot to take my script with me on holiday and really need to catch up otherwise I will feel like I have let the side down.

My mate Liam was round this morning and we had a good laugh about life and some of my photographs including one that I will be posting next on this site. Phil

I was just thinking that two weeks away today I was all excited about going away on holiday and now I am back at work again. Where did that time go?

In celebration of my holiday I am going to give you al a treat with another seven things today. These are seven things associated with my hotel bedroom experiences.

1. The toilet seat fell off when I first lifted it within minutes of being in the room.

2. The maid wouldn't knock on the door and would burst in the morning at random times and take over my space by frantically stripping the bed! Thankfully I was always dressed, but only just in some cases.

3. The maid burst in one morning when I was sitting on the loo. The door was shut but I had to make loud singing noises to make sure she didn't smash the bathroom door down in her crazed enthusiasm for cleaning.

4. The French maid wasn't even pretty!

5. On the last full day there builders erected scaffolding in front of my window so I couldn't see out properly.

6. I didn't sleep for two days. No idea why.

7. The bathroom shower was vicious and temprementally swapped from hot to icy cold in mid shower with no notice.

todays's seven are:

1. A uneaten fresh looking banana laying the street.

2. An unused tampon on the street. Didn't look to closely into this one.

3. A squashed can of lager with a cigarette butt on top.

4. A McDonalds package. Well there's a suprise.

5. A purple hair band.

6. A new looking bike tethered to the fence by the tram stop.

7. An empty pot of jam (?)

Today's sexy seven observations are as follows:

1.It is cold here, back in Nottingham, sunny yet a chill in the air.

2.I am listening to a great French album by a singer called Arthur H. See website http://www.arthurh.net/. The smoky voiced song "Adieu tristesse" won't go out of my head.

3. I have taken all 11 of my films to Boots for developing and have resisted the urge to get them all done in an hour purely for economics sake. It is half the price if I leave them a week.

4. I start back to work tomorrow. Vive le weekend!

5. I must hang out my washing later on.

6. There is something reassuring about being back in a country where I fully understand the language. I loved being in France but it was only when I rang around my friends and family last night that I appreciated the joy of proper communication.

7. All the best to the beautiful twins from Kenya I met on the plane coming home. You may never read this but enjoy your time at The University of Warwick Julie and Cody.

Sob, sob, I have to go home to the UK soon.

I have had a great time and have spoken much more French than I thought I knew and I am pleased that I came here. So, today's seven are random observations sitting here in FNAC again in the 'rent a computer' internet café.

1. The french keyboard is very different from that used in the UK; it is not qwerty based. The letters are as follows;azertyuiop qsdfghjklm wxcvbn and there are seperate keys for letters with accents. The delete button has 'suppr' on it qnd the enter key says 'entrée'.

2. French blisters are as painful as English blisters.

3. The French supermarkets have a vastly different selection to those in the UK. I could spend a fortune there.

4. I have used up ten films and counting whilst on my holiday; that's pretty good going even for me! It will take me forever to upload them on to my internet site.

5. My favourite cinema in the world is still Café Utopia.

6. My bum is aching from sitting here.

7. I need a coffee and I am going to be very brave and give my email address to the lovely young French woman sitting beside me.

Ah ah, you thought had escaped me , non!

I am on the internet at FNAC, the French media store in Bordeaux. It is taking me some time to get my head around the French keyboard.

I am limited with the time so a quick 7 for today.

Seven things that have happened so far on my holiday.

1. Seven days have nearly passed. Where have they gone?
2. The sun has shone most of the time. I have ze tan.
3. The French women have not lost any of their charms and I have not lost any time in admiring them. Ooooh la la!
4. I have managed to get blisters once again.
5. I have been to Bergerac and Angeloume on le train.
6. I have already got through nine films. Later on I will blog a link to my website so you all can view them. May take a while.
7. I have made friends with a charming French lady here in Bordeaux.

Seven reasons for getting the heck out of Great(?) Britain for a holiday.

I. The litter that the UK streets are covered with. What a dump.
2. Chavs and Chavettes.
3. The curse of the loud and drunk.
4. To escape from Big Brother (not that I have ever watched it.)
5. Shell suited families in shopping centres screeching at each other.
6. Dumb faced hoodies.
7. Because sometimes we appear as a nation of slobs.

As a special treat today I will add on 7 things I actually like about my country and the British.

1. Our fantastic sense of humour and some great national eccentrics.
2. Our coast and my hero Rick Stein.
3. Our sense of the ridiculous.
4. The variety and depth and possibilities of expression in our language.
5. The variety of cultures we host and embrace.
6. The fact that most people are kind to foreigners.
7. Our stubborness to preserve our heritage and history.

And now I am off on holiday. If I can, I will blog from a cybercafe in Bordeaux. Phil

Ahead of myself I thought I would strike while the creative iron was hot and create tomorrow's 7.

Seven inanimate things we talk to.

1. In Shirley Valentine the main character talks to the wall.
2. I often talk to a toy monkey called Monka. He is a good listener.
3. A neighbour confessed she talks to a cloth dog every day for company.
4. People in general talk to cash machines. Example: "Come on,come on, I haven't got all bloody day!"
5. Actors often talk to the mirror.
6. Religious people talk to representations of their idol or God.
7. Bloggers talk to their computers, don't they? Yes they do.

Seven things you could say on a French telephone

1.Bonjour! c’est Phil à l’appareil. Hello, it’s Phil speaking.
2. C’est moi. Speaking
3.Qui est a l’appareil? Who is speaking?
4.C’est de la part de qui? Who shall I say is calling?
5.La ligne est très mauvaise. This line is bad.
6.Je suis désolé, jai dû faire un faux numéro. I’m sorry I’ve dialed the wrong number.
7. Hallo? Merde il va. Hello? Shit, they’ve gone.

I had a brain wave last night that it would be fun to put on my blog (every day I hope) a series of 7 things connected with a theme. Today the theme is feet

Feet
1.The French for blisters is ampoules.
2.Women love shoes.
3.Women spend whole days in shoe shops and then need to buy a handbag to match just as the shops are closing. There is often no consoling them.
4.The habit of forcing a partner to smell stinky socks is not an aphrodisiac.
5.Someone massaging your feet is much better than trying to do your own.
6.Athletes foot is not exclusive to athletes.
7.In reflexology, gently massaging the toes can help with sinus problems.

Any sugestions for future themes?

Feeling tired tonight so think may take an early night. Probably drag Amelie Nothomb to bed with me. Nothing racey (more's the pity) but another book of hers I can't put down. This time I'm reading The Character of Rain about her perceptions of childhood and the Japanese notion as child as God.

A few things going around my little head at the moment and so in no particular order: some news I heard last night at rehearsals which may involve a lot more work for me on The Diary of Anne Frank production and may which be a pure safety net; secondly a very nice discovery about some recent comments from women about my attractiveness as a man which give me hope for a future relationship after nearly three years of sepration and divorce; and thirdly my forthcoming holiday in France which starts this Sunday.

Not quite sure what I shall be doing in Bordeaux as yet but I do have a rendez-vous with a french lady for some beers. She seems nice and we have never met before although we are familiar with each other's photography from the Flickr site. Could be fun as I speak a bit of french and she says she doesn't speak English. The rest of the 10 days I intend to chill and drink wine, have a few nights in the French cinemas, walk about and admire the French way of life and do a bit of inexpensive travelling about. Oh and I have plenty of film to indulge in my photographic hobby. Might even read a bit and write up a journal and some poetry. Who knows.

If I can find a Cyber cafe I might keep up my blogging.

This heading is not a description of British rail on a Sunday!

Today I was supposed to meet my German pen friend Birgitta and her family in the city of Lincoln at 1 o'clock. I was quite prepared to put up with a 3 hour journey from Nottingham on the hot and smelly train including a diversion by bus between Bottesford and Grantham to see them outside the Cathedral at 1 o'clock. I have not seen them for years so I was looking forward to our brief reunion. Consider my delight when I got to the Nottingham railway station this morning to find that the 'only' train going in that direction this morning had been cancelled! I have just spent the entire Sunday morning in Nottingham city centre trying to find alternative methods of getting there to discover a very hit and miss alternative via three buses across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire with a strong possibilty of being stranded. Another alternative would be to pay sixty quid on a taxi. No fear. As I don't drive this is why public transport and its delights are methods I am forced to use. British rail wouldn't even consider forking out for a taxi.

God bless a young woman called Vicky at the Lincolnshire tourist office who, through a begging phone call from me was quite happy to pop out at 1 o'clock to tell my German friends that I would not be meeting them. There is a God.

Went to see a very funny Spanish film called Torremolinos 73 last night. It was based on real events and about an encyclopedia salesman in the waning years of Franco who discovers his career prospects equally fading. That is, until the publishing company goes into a new line of educational films aimed at the Scandinavian market and Alfredo finds he has the makings of a succesful porn director!

Very funny and looked very seventies in the brown and orange clothes and decor.

Recommendacion para mi.

Phil

It's catch up time.

Last night I led a workshop with the local theatre group in the city which proved more successful than I could have imagined. I did quite a lot of work over the weekend swotting up on the difference betweeen the German language and the Dutch language. This is something that is important in our forthcoming production of The Diary of Anne Frank.

I asked a group of the adult actors to listen to a language CD by the acclaimed language tutor Michel Thomas and we went through the speech rythmns for an Anglo Saxon based language pertaining to Holland and Germany. After this we read through a list I had compiled (and which took ages to do) of English/German/Dutch words and spoke them out loud. These words were deliberately chosen from the DOAF text so they had an immeadiacy and appropriateness to the cast. Then we took various sections of the script and tried out certain key words within the body of the text and added emphasis on those for dramatic and linguistic effect. It was agreed we didn't want to sound like something from 'Allo Allo' in our Germanic acting.

I was dead chuffed with the discussions we had and how the cast responded to my directions as language coach. Cool. On top of this the director had just come back from Amsterdamn and was enthusing about the Anne Frank House.

Personally I am looking forward to my holiday in bordeaux and quite excited about a first time meeting with a French lady who shares my passion for photography. We have never met face to face and she has kindly invited me round to her house for a drink on my first night there. Bit nervous and brushing up on my French but I think it should be fun.

Work has been a bit hectic this week and I am looking forward to a break.

Had a look at my blog stats and am impressed that my blog has been viewed so many times and I have made a few new blogging friends. According to Blog Explosion my site has scored 98% for being inspirational and interesting! Wow!

In my previous blogging experiences I never knew if anyone was reading my stuff and that wasn't very rewarding, so good to know I have an audience and that I form a part of others audiences too. Lol Phil xxxx