The final stop on my Alphabet mini-tour (way back in May, how did that happen?) was the National Space Centre, just outside of Leicester. I'm developing an interest in all things space travel, and I was surprised that we have a space centre, given that we have very little in the way of a space programme. The website makes it clear that this is a destination designed for kids. At …

Last time we saw The Doctor, he was saving the world, keeping Rose from imploding and taking one for the team, by forcing a regeneration. David Tennant had just a moment to say Barcelona before the episode ended. Thus, his first full length episode is this Christmas Special. Although, he isn't really in it for a lot of the action, so perhaps it's harsh to call this his first episode. …

A great set of baby panda photos by jsteph on Flickr. Credit: jsteph/Flickr

This month has been dominated by two main stories - the scarecrow rivalry, and the E.Coli outbreak at Pat and Tony's. Firstly, the scarecrow battle. It was interesting to see how all the parties reacted to the efforts to make a bigger and better scarecrow. It seems Will has forgiven Emma for everything that has gone before, whilst his hatred for Ed just keeps on getting bigger. Both parties were …

Mr C has instructed me to make a note of this conversation. Me: "I don't know why it's so hot." Mr C: "It's summer." "I want winter back." "No you don't." "I'll never complain about being cold again. Next time I complain about it being cold, punch me in the face and remind me of this moment." "Blog it, and I can link you back to it later." I guess …

What I love about the repeats of Top of the Pops on BBC Four is seeing the 1970s for all the good and bad of music, fashion, and taste. Rather than the golden era montages, where the best and the iconic are selected for a rose-tinted package, this is full repeats of TOTP programmes that were running in 1976. It's incredible. Noel Edmonds pretends to be a cameraman! There are …

Again, I didn't manage to run over the weekend which has put me rather behind schedule. Also, for this first one, I was slightly hampered by new-shoe-related injuries. Thing about taking some time off work is you forget how to wear posh shoes. Anyway, on with the running. Week 3, Day 15 Tricky run. My feet weren't actually that much of a problem in the end, but I did find …

I actually had this post in mind yesterday, when I realised I'd spent quite a lot of time watching the action from the Swimming World Championships in China, and was loving it. Today, it seems to have taken on a different significance, given the news that F1 will be moving to Sky next year. However, these aren't F1 replacements, just sports I'm starting to get more fond of, and want …

Oh, how I have so loved having Back to the Future back in my life. Not that it ever went anywhere, but fresh material, and most importantly good fresh material has been brilliant. I have already blogged every episode of the TellTale Game revival, and whilst I do not have much more to add now I have completed episode five, it seemed only fair to have a farewell post to …

The new Apple operating system, Lion, was released last week and I volunteered to be the test pilot for our house. At first, I wasn't that fussed about it but gradually, the more I use it, the more I notice, and there are some bits and bobs that have caught my attention. Here are five of them: Natural scrolling. I turned off the natural scrolling straight away. They can call …

One of Mr C's biggest complaints with the iPod and iPad stems from the idea of touching the screen and your big thumbs getting in the way. Particularly when you are playing games, controlling whatever is on screen with your not-particularly-see-through-hands can be tricky. It's a valid complaint, although I always argue that the ease of the iPad far outweighs a technical little issue like that. We were perusing some …

Whilst watching Wimbledon this year, Mr C questioned what those tennis players were consuming when they squeezed little gel packets into their mouths. I assumed they were some kind of gel thing for top sportspeople, but then I realised they sell them in the supermarket. We decided to try some. Eww. I mean, I wasn't expecting a sweet treat or anything but this was not good. It tasted like medicine, …

Had to delay the long run until after the weekend, as I wasn't feeling too good. That might also explain why it was a tricky one! Week 2, Day 8 Felt good to start with, but gradually got more and more tired. It's quite weird having to run to a programme set in miles when I'm so used to working in kilometres, but it doesn't make a difference either way …

A while back I discussed the concept of degrees via the Open University, and whilst I move more and more away from the concept of degrees and suchlike, the very open format and wide variety of courses on the OU still intrigues me. I just discovered the LearningSpace with tons of free modules - usually bits and bobs taken from now defunct courses - and there are some interesting things …

I've just started playing Monopoly on the iPad and I'm enjoying it. Actually that's not true, I'm hating it because I've played twice - both on the easy setting - and I've lost both times. I swear the AI is cheating. However, if you ignore my uselessness at Monopoly, the app is really cool. There are animations that make the dice rolling and piece moving fun, but you can fast …

The second book of the 365 F1 Stories series was published over the weekend, and you can find more about it on the books page. It's been quite the process getting these two books into being, and it's not over yet. There are more things to do with those two, and more ideas in my head for further exploration. I hope to blog more about the process when I am …

I've been catching up with some episodes of The 404 and they mentioned this relatively new website that lets you create a social environment for listening to music. Outloud.fm allows you to create a chatroom with the added bonus of anyone invited able to upload music to a collaborative playlist. The queue of music then plays out for everyone at the same time. I love this concept. I'm no music …

Here we go then, the first week of a new Runkeeper Class, and all fingers crossed that it's going to be more successful than the last one. Just two runs to break into the first week gently. Week 1, Day 3 First workout was four minutes running, one walk, and repeat x3. You can see the bumps that are the walks, but overall it was a lot faster than any …

I've mentioned before, many times, how I love Maggie's outlook on life. She inspired me to create my own Life List and that has been something magical for me. This time the message is - when life is getting you down, turn it around and do something fun for thirty days. Fabulous. The thirty day idea is such a good one. Who knows where it first came from, but breaking …

Whilst on my trip around the Merrivale Model Village, I spotted the zoo with added baby pandas! Fantastic! There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of bamboo for so many pandas living in one space, and I'm surprised they are housed between the monkeys and the llamas.

I've wanted to see a model village for a long time, and although I'm not sure there's anything special about this one, it coincided with my trip to Great Yarmouth. When I told people that I was visiting a model village for the letter M, they assumed that was because M stands for Model. I went one step further and found a model village that begins with M as well. …

Here's a revelation. Trying to come up with your own running schedule, and more importantly sticking to it, is pretty darn tough. Today I said to Mr C: "I've been thinking about signing up for another Runkeeper Class, because it's not working so well doing it by myself." He replied: "I don't remember the last time you went out!" Well, it was a few days ago, and the time before …

With ITV finally bringing out their app for iDevices, we know have all channels from 1 through to 4 covered. The BBC iPlayer has been doing it's iPad business for a while now, Channel 4 had their On Demand app out relatively recently, and ITV have now joined the gang. The ITV app is not a bad one but the choice is limited, considering how many channels ITV have. There …

It's about time I posted another update of innovations in the world of the mug. I have posted a couple of mug selections before, but now I am drinking more tea than ever, so finally, I can envisage actually using them rather than just looking at them. In this world of ever-shrinking attention spans, it seems even a tea break needs to have some kind of entertainment involved. The concept …

With thanks to Martí, who pointed me in the right direction.

I thought that now the 30 day music challenge is complete, it would be worth rounding up the highs and lows of what we've seen over the past month with a list of links. It will also be helpful when in future, any videos that I've linked or embedded may disappear (not the most reliable of formats, is it?) so it'll be good to have the definitive list all in …

This month in Ambridge seems to have been another where the storylines tick along nicely, but there were no major outbursts to dominate. There were a few talking points, though, so let's see what's been happening. Just tripping Adam and Brian agreed to take over Farm Sunday to take some of the weight off David. It was a nice gesture from them, although clearly they were all quite competitive about …

I ran this final run of the 10K class before finally admitting defeat. Week 5. Day 29. The long run of the week, and I felt good going out there. I'd lost my TuneBelt armband and was all ready to use that as an excuse not to go. But then I changed my mind and went anyway, and I'm glad I did. I thought I might be able to get …

I have a lot of favourite songs. Picking one should be hard, but I kept coming back to this, and really... there can be only one. It reminds me of lots of things. The many times I've seen We Will Rock You. The first time I saw and loved Highlander. (Not so much now.) My brothers. The awesomeness of Queen. The awesomeness of life, however fleeting it may be.

I went back to good old Abduzeedo for this one, the tutorial for Abstract Wallpaper. I tweaked the colours a little and made it my own, following the tutorial exactly made it too dark for my tastes. As ever, I have used Anivers for the font, as it matches the text on the blog. You'll notice that there is no month in the header this time out. I've been quite …

I'm aware that content on this here blog has been a bit thin on the ground recently. Thank goodness for the music challenge for being something of a stopgap. I'm burrowed under calendar dates and F1 facts, getting towards the end of the second part of 365 F1 Stories. The finish line is close now and it's hard to think of anything else. I'm pushing myself too hard, but it's …

Just two more to go, and the challenge is at an end. It's been an interesting run through the highs and lows of my musical taste. I've discovered songs I thought I'd forgotten and I've managed to expand my knowledge at the same time. Good stuff. My least favourite song could be one of a few, but there's only one that springs to mind at the moment. I had this …

Unlike the last subject, where there are few songs that really make me sad, there are plenty of songs that make me happy. Narrowing it down to one is kinda hard, but I'll go with this one for now. They're specifically generating the music to make you feel better. I hadn't seen the video before today. Not so keen on the clown thing.

There aren't a lot of songs that make me sad, although I did already mention that if I'm in a particularly melancholy mood, the song that reminds me of a certain event might do it. The only songs that are particularly emotional for me are all of those on the first Coldplay album. Those teenage years were tricky, and unfortunately for Coldplay, they were the ones who helped me wallow …

So, after my mini breakdown at the end of Week 3, I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew I wasn't about to give up, and I sort of knew that Gavin was right when he said that I shouldn't force myself to stick to this Runkeeper schedule when I clearly can't do it. Remember we are all different shapes and sizes and you will get to 10k – …

This song reminds me of my mum, because we used to have this exact concert on, well, VHS probably, and we'd watch it over and over. The mullets, the high pitched voices, and the guy's weird eye movements. What's not to like? I don't know if it's just me, but the video goes out of sync halfway through which is a shame, but you get the general idea. Every part …

I love sandwiches. They are one of my favourite foods. I love perusing the new and exciting fillings that shops and bakeries come out with. I'm not all that adventurous though. I tend to stick to chicken, tuna or cheese, with the odd extra ingredient here or there to make a change. As it is Wimbledon week, Tesco came out with a celebratory Strawberries and Cream sandwich. Amy pointed it …

This song reminds me so much of my ill-fated attempts to go to the gym. I stuck at it for a while, but the gym was never a particularly comfortable place for me. Just hearing the beginning of this, and particularly seeing the video - which was often played on those weirdly silent TV screens - puts me right back to that place. I can even smell the odd gym …

Does an entire year count as an event? When I saw this was one of the criteria for the thirty days, I immediately thought of Welcome to the Black Parade. F1 fans will know that it was used in the ITV video montage they played on their final race before coverage moved to the Beeb. It was the last race of 2008 and it was brilliant. The months leading up …

I'm afraid there's going to be two Will Smith songs in a row. I'm terrible with lyrics. I always think I know all the words, and then only find out halfway through that I don't. For some reason, I genuinely do know all the words to this, and I have no idea why.

I'm not that interested in Glastonbury, really, except for the bits and pieces I get to see on TV, and the excellent Big Picture features that appear afterwards. Live music is not really my thing, and when you throw in massive crowds, mud and camping, you can count me out. However, it's hard to ignore the headlines when they scream that the Wombles are going to appear on stage at …

It can only be this. It is physically impossible for me to sit still to this. Impossible! "Will, we loved your last hit."

I've just finished watching this video (via Kottke) of a photographer who collects the best moments of sporting events and collates them all into one image. That's oversimplifying it somewhat, why not take a look? I love the concept. A picture captures a snapshot in time, but why not extend that idea to bring in lots of singular moments into the one image. It also reminds me very much of …

Recently, I have talked a lot about writing. I talked about the process of doing it: I’m quite lucky in that what I’m doing has specific sections so I know how far I am through it. Seeing the percentage creep up each day is really motivating, although the days when it stays the same is less so. It’s also good to say, when I get to this percentage then I …

If I'd actually given this any thought, I would have planned it better so that I could have posted the Backstreet Boys video today, my birthday. But I didn't, so never mind, we shall move straight on to the land of nod. I can't really listen to music to fall asleep, although I know I used to when I was much younger. These days it's all about the podcasts. Nevertheless, …

This week, I got my update from the WWF about their work with pandas. When I first sponsored a panda, they sent over information about Zhu Xiong, suggesting this was the specific panda that my money was going towards. I doubted that very much, but either way, that has come to an end anyway. From the newsletter: ...it's been a while since our team in China have spotted her. We …

The Backstreet Boys, obviously. I can't help it, those years as an obsessed teenager are pretty hard to break. This is an album track, pretty popular in live shows, but not yet a single. Silly boys. I even chose this one for my blog version of Desert Island Discs a while back. And hey, if you don't like the song, there are bonus subtitles to learn a foreign language with. …

This evening, I finished watching the second part of a two-part Queen documentary called: Queen - Days of Our Lives. I'm slightly late to this, as I missed it first time round. I captured it to watch, as something of a Queen fan, but Mr C and I started to view it and realised it would require a lot more of our attention than we had to give it. It …

There's no one I really hate, but there are people that make me roll my eyes when I hear them on the radio or see them on TV. This category seems odd, because if I hate them, why would I want to embed a video of theirs in my site? Oh well. This isn't a band, just one person. I can just about put up with this video because it …

A recent post on Kottke linked to the first part of a four-part video series on Vimeo called Everything's a Remix. It is amazing. There are only two parts so far, one covering music and one covering films. Mr C and I watched them together and it's fair to say that both of the videos blew our minds just a little bit. I've never actually seen Star Wars, but nevertheless, …