A week or two ago, I posted about my favourite Quality Street options when presented with a tin of the delicacies. I had a few messages suggesting that Quality Streets were an unknown, but Roses were more popular. For example, Amy said: I have no idea what Quality Street is but I know what Roses are and I know what Cadbury Favourites are so I’m assuming they’re along the same …

Finally, the second series of The Killing has begun airing on BBC4. I say finally, but as I watched the last series so recently, it doesn't seem all that long ago that I was cheering on Sarah Lund and friends to find the murderer. At the end of the first series, Lund walked out of the police station and into the sunshine - presumably to a happier and better life. …

When I visited Edinburgh for my Alphabet Adventure, I very much liked it. Which is lucky, because the zoo have recently taken ownership of two pandas - on loan from China. I remember the Park & Ride bus stopping at the zoo on the way back, and I considered getting off but it didn't look all that impressive from the outside. Now, it is one of my top destinations! I …

This week, I caught sight of a public spat between Paul Irish and Jeffrey Zeldman - two heavyweights in web standards evangelism. I know of them both from a vague distance and I follow some of their work but I can't pretend to know anything about web standards. I'm not even 100% sure what the argument is about and I certainly don't know what a blue beanie is. My opinion …

A few days ago, Amazon announced two brand new stores for Kindle, bringing the total up to six individual destinations now. The two new countries added are Italy and Spain, via Amazon.it and Amazon.es. All three of my books are currently available in both, with any searches bringing up the results with Euro currency. Christine Blachford on the Italian store Christine Blachford on the Spanish store The two news stores …

It seems to be a time for history to start catching up with the villagers in Ambridge this month, with all kinds of long-lost relatives being unearthed and rediscovered. First up in the main show, it's all about Pat, Tony, Helen, Tom and what could be their new grandson/nephew. After Kylie appeared at the funeral for Ivy, she started talking about a brother and Pat got very suspicious. I don't …

It's starting to get quite tricky, and motivation to go out is hard. I gave it some thought and decided that the couple of weeks when I first stopped running quite so regularly were good because my body was like: "Oh, cool, I'm nice and rested, I'll go faster." Then, give it a few more weeks, and my body is now: "Oh, wait, you want me to go out? But …

After my posts just over a month ago, wherein I decided to give my Android phone one last chance to convince me to replace it with another similar model, I had some fantastic suggestions of apps to use. Dolphin Browser and Fast Reboot were a revelation to me, and made for some more interesting minutes spent browsing. However, the irritations are still there, and after six weeks, I finally made …

It is that time of year again, the one where the seasonal aisle in the supermarket becomes full to bursting with sweet treats - chocolate and Christmas puddings galore. In honour of the occasion, and because wherever I turn there appears to be a new tin of Quality Street, Roses or those Miniature Hero things, here are my favourite five Quality Street sweets. Fudge. Clearly, because it is just like …

After the body-swapping of the first DT episode proper, we know are faced with the Doctor swapping his accent - for Tennant's native Scotland. It filters in and out, is startlingly out of place to begin with but soon feels very natural so that I didn't notice he'd stopped, even though Queen Victoria did. It's always a risk for Doctor Who to take on historical figures, sometimes it works very …

To celebrate 1000 episodes of F1Minute, I baked a cake and iced it. It was my first attempt at icing, and the whole concept is quite new to me. I was inspired by a colleague at work who makes some pretty outstanding baked goods, and is the go-to person when it comes to celebration cakes. I think at the moment she has orders from at least three people for at …

The BBC have introduced a new trailer for their Christmas output - well, it's more like one of those feel-good ones that has no specific content and just a lot of famous faces beckoning you to stay with the Beeb over the festive season. Works for me! I can only say that seeing The Doctor playing Twister with a Cyberman may be the best three seconds of TV that I've …

As their Book of the Week recently, the iBookstore featured the new Michael Crichton novel called Micro. Except, it's not really a fully baked Crichton book. I'm a massive Michael fan, Timeline is one of my favourite books of all time. Some of his later works turned out to be a bit hard work, but Jurassic Park, Congo and Sphere are all great pieces. I was very sad when he …

This week, Jeffrey Tschiltsch posted a fabulous update on Google+ that pondered the concept of stories within racing games, particularly the new Formula 1 epic from Codemasters. Here's a sample of Jeffrey's thoughts: So after finishing +Christine Blachford's Between the Lines (Formula Primo Confidential) last night I suddenly realized what Codemasters' F1 2011 is missing in its career mode: a compelling story line. The generic emails, state-the-obvious "headlines" and contract …

I think the Beeb would say the halfway point was a week or so ago, but I'm working on the fact that 14 dancers started the competition and only seven remain. Several will make it into the final, but here's my thoughts on the dancing so far. Those that have been knocked out Edwina Currie I sort of missed her big outburst during the show itself, but wasn't particularly sad …

It's been a pretty tiring week and I wasn't really in the mood to go running today, but I pulled on my trainers anyway. Nice and foggy outside to really lift the spirits, but once I started it wasn't too bad. It's also been something of a frustrating week, so getting out there and clearing my head was kinda good. I wasn't particularly fast, but I also wasn't expecting my …

Today I was supposed to go to the next destination for my A-Z Alphabet Adventure. I have reached the letter O, and I had intended to visit Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. My adventures had come to something of a standstill until recently, as it's been a busy and thrifty latter half of the year. However, I was aware that Osborne House closed over winter, and that if …

In Time This concept seems very intriguing - not quite the time travel that I love so much, but using time as a unit of currency instead. I've never quite been convinced of Justin Timberlake in the lead role, but he was good in the Social Network, so I can't hold his Michael Jackson dance moves against him. The three women of different generations all looking the same freaks me …

After last week's experiment/disaster, I was back on my home turf this weekend. I didn't manage to run at all during the week like I had hoped. It was a week full of sleepless nights and so early mornings were something of a no-no. I find myself sitting at work and dreaming of how good it will feel to have done a workout for the day. The reality is something …

The Red Arrows have had a terrible year. I had never heard of a Red Arrows pilot dying before, and now we have seen two fatalities in the space of four months. Although there may be slight consolation in the fact they "died doing what they loved", there's no escaping the fact that it's a tragedy. It's made worse by the fact that the Red Arrows is a display of …

I go through earphones at a rate of knots. Sometimes they lose the sound in one ear, occasionally I leave them places, often one end of the cable breaks and becomes unusable. Considering the amount I use them, I'm okay with that really. They have become more of a consumable than anything else. I've tried expensive ones, I've tried cheap ones, and in the end, I just go with whatever …

365 F1 Stories chronicles a tale from Formula One's vast history for every single day of the year, with a variety of different topics on offer. From driver birthdays, to important races, to those little moments you might have missed, there's plenty on offer in the books. If you're not completely convinced, or have bought the books but haven't read through them all, there's a quick way of getting a …

It's been a while since Baby Panda Thursday ceased to be updated on a regular basis, but that doesn't mean that I've stopped looking at all things cute and panda shaped. Lots of people tweet me panda related items and I love it! I also particularly love apps and games that involve pandas. If your app has a cute panda as the icon, then you're very likely to make a …

Back in August, I wrote about my new enthusiasm for being a football fan, after my first visit to a match earlier in the year. At the end of summer, I was all excited about following along at home - checking in with the app, catching up with Match of the Day, and trying to keep up with the scores. I figured now was as good a time as any …

After my successes in the last two weeks, I thought I'd treat myself with a visit to the countryside. Rather than pounding the pavements and wondering whether people are looking out their windows and laughing at me, I decided to head towards the trees. This meant getting in my car, and for a while I worried that having to drive to a destination would lessen my enthusiasm - there's something …

Over the past few years, I've had my own personal campaigns against some of the major national holiday celebrations. I've vented my distaste over Valentine's Day, birthdays, and of course, Christmas. Ultimately, my aim has always been to get people to accept the fact that I don't like these things even though they do. It's a personal choice, and they're free to get on with their celebrations, leaving me not …

The big news this month in Ambridge is that Clive Horrobin is back. He's getting much more attention in Ambridge Extra which returned in October (more on that later), but his appearance is reverberating around the whole village, in the main show as well. I am aware of Clive's work, but haven't actually heard him in the show before, and he seems like a nasty chap even when he's supposedly …

A while back, I discussed the new Sims Social game - a Facebook only game that was clearly developed to generate cash whilst fostering relationships at the same time. I wasn't sure about it at all back then, but was willing to give it a few more days. I have played it quite a lot since then, for a week or so I was checking in every day. It is …

Two weeks into my new and sparse running routine, and somehow I am managing to run better than ever. I cannot explain this. Last week, I was desperate to go out, I was feeling all cooped up and ready to run. I wasn't 100% sure how far I was going to go when I first headed out, because it was the first run I'd done for a while, but eventually …

In my school days, one of my very best friends introduced me to two important things. First, Doritos and dip. Mmm. That's a staple of our Film Watch evenings these days, so if it wasn't for that early introduction, I don't know what we'd be munching on. The second thing was Tomb Raider. We used to wrap blankets around us, sit on the living room floor, and pass a laptop …

When Amazon announced their new line of products - ereaders and tablets all - we decided it was about time we became a Kindle-owning household. I've never really been fussed about the Kindle really, settling for the gazillion apps I have spread around the office. There's never a time I'm very far from a book these days. Still, the new range of products made them more enticing, and as a …

I've been using the RunKeeper app for a while now, and aside from the odd GPS related issue (mostly to do with my phone), it's been a dream. Not content with providing me with statistics, maps, graphs and plenty of motivation, RunKeeper went one step further and gave me a platform to share my story. The RK blog features the inspirational tales from their so-called Fitness Freaks. There have been …

The conversation that kicked off after my post earlier today made me even more sure that I've not been trying hard enough with Android. I can't really stress how much I want to stay on the Android platform, but equally I know for a fact I'd get more use out of the iPhone. Either way, I'm not going to be splashing out on either for a month or two yet, …

For the last eighteen months, I've been using the HTC Desire as my mobile method of contacting the outside world, but my contract is due to expire soon and that leaves me with something of a dilemma. These mobile phone contracts are so long that choosing the next device is quite an important decision. At the moment, it leaves me scratching my head. Just a hunch The iPhone has never …

Mmm, I love sandwiches. They're one of my favourite foods, although it probably doesn't count as just one given the number of fillings you can have. That, in fact, is what this post is all about - my five favourite sandwich fillings at the moment. My tastes seem to change all the time at the moment. I used to love prawn sandwiches but have gone off them quite a lot …

With this episode, the Tenth Doctor gets his reign underway proper, after spending most of the last episode in his pyjamas. No more of that - he's got a suit, he's got a TARDIS, and he's got places to be. New New Earth for a New New Doctor. The first few scenes really cement the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. He's brand new, but she's willing to stick with …

This evening, I came home from work and went for a run. It was a bit chilly out there, and getting dark, and it's very clear that there won't be many running hours left after work for much longer. Even with the impending time change. Mmm, GMT. This was my first run for twelve days, which seems like forever. Did I say I wanted to run more times than ever …

Google have confirmed that they're axing a few more of their side projects, including the terrible Buzz and the less terrible Jaiku. I was a big fan of Jaiku in its days pre-Google, using it as an alternative to Twitter. As Mr C commandeered the @sidepodcast Twitter account, I was looking for another way to represent Sidepodcast in social networks. I headed straight towards Jaiku, and was impressed with what …

My first week at my new job has been and gone, and it was mostly alright. I mean there was this, of course: ...and that did go on for a couple of days, but I am not really complaining. It's all good. On my first day, I was pondering some of the things that could really make a difference to your experience at an (office) job, but things you don't …

Before Strictly Come Dancing began proper, I chose my picks for good times ahead. That was before we had seen anyone dance, of course, although I had been to the Beeb's website and seen some of their "web exclusive" training diaries. Well, we're two shows in now. We've seen the contestants dance not once, but twice, and we've finally voted someone off. It may just be me, but it seems …

Amazon have launched a French Kindle store to go alongside their US, UK and German destinations. The new store allows Kindle users in France to purchase books from a dedicated .fr domain, rather than being redirected to their nearest store and purchasing in differing currencies. Along with the store, Amazon also launched a French-language Kindle, so that users can buy and read books in either language. You can find my …

I'm really loving some of the features Wordpress are bringing out. I can't remember if I already mentioned the Copy a Post feature before - but even if I have it bears repeating. I don't quite know how I ever managed to live without it. For anyone who is not in the know, you simply find a post you want to replicate, click a button, and it brings up that …

Way back in February, I left the comfort of a good job with a vague idea of changing careers. It felt like the right time to do it and I knew I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to leave one job with time to look for another one - the right one - to come along. I went for a couple of interviews here and there, but was …

Yesterday, we watched Finding Nemo, partly as a way to make Mr C feel a bit better after his short but nasty bug, and partly as it seemed fitting after the sad death of Steve Jobs this week. When the news broke that he'd passed away, I wasn't surprised to find my Twitter stream and RSS reader filled with posts about the man, but there were occasional crossover posts that …

With Leo being something of a podcasting hero of ours, we always like to see what's going on behind the scenes in TWiT land. Given how much of the day is spent live streaming, it's not hard to see behind each of the shows, but Leo and team have taken it one step further. On the Inside TWiT blog, they've posted an hour long chat with Leo and CEO Lisa …

Or, Why I Want My Leopard Back When Apple released the latest edition of their operating software, Mr C declared we needed a beta tester. Seeing as he was working on some quite finicky pieces of software, and I was more into browsers and word processors, the honour fell to me. I wrote a post about my initial thoughts moving from Snow Leopard to Lion, and now I'm updating that …

It's been a bit of a downer month in Ambridge really, starting with Phoebe finally making her way out of Borsetshire and heading towards her extended family in South Africa. I thought the departure was really well done. Lots of nitpicking over clothes and packing, trying to brave, and in the end, it was Roy who started with the tears first. Bless. After two kids fleeing the nest, Jennifer finds …

For those who prefer their eBooks on the iPod/iPhone/iPad, Formula Primo Confidential has now made its debut on the iBookstore. The first in the series, Between the Lines, is now available in six countries, with more than twenty coming shortly. The iBookstore version offers full colour graphics, table of contents, and advanced formatting. Visit Between the Lines on the iBookstore and get your free sample now!

"I hope you don't think I'm rude..." she said, pushing into the queue in front of me, "but I've got three kids in the car." I would have made a fuss - there is nothing like riling up some queue etiquette anger - but I was hot and tired, and I really wasn't in that much of a rush anyway. Even so, the brief sentence made me think a lot, …

As mentioned last week, I was somewhat worried about this series finale. The fifth series ended spectacularly, and I loved practically all of the final two episodes. I have faith in Steven Moffat but after seeing the start of this series, my belief system was shaken a little bit. It really shouldn't have been. The Doctor has been wending his way towards his death, and we were treated to him …