Friday Frolics

I had a rare day off on Friday :)

I met Ryan in Manchester and we came back to Wigan. He had never seen the town centre properly so we had a ride out, and went to meet another of my friends - Craig, from Norley Hall.

On the way from Manchester, we called at the place where Bryan, and Paul are working, so that they could meet Ryan.

For once they were hard at work lol.

Was a really nice day that i will never forget- say no more!

thanks to everyone who has read this blog...let me know what you think!

is it summer yet? are you sure?

Hello everyone,

i had a surprise today! I received a picture postcard from Lynette all the way from Taiwan. I have been invited to go out there, and i only wish i could do as it looks a really nice, friendly place.
Ive not had much work at the BBC so i have been concentrating on building the shop stock up, and it seems to be paying off. I think i have sold more brollys this summer than the whole of last year! i wonder why.
Talia is working at BBC Radio solent now, and she is enjoying it very much. i hope she does well. Sandra has been on one of her many holidays, and poor Katie has had a fall, and isnt very well.
Pauline is due to go on her World Cruise soon too! whoo hoo! and Miss Lancaster is busy arranging for her big move down south. As for Sarah Wadd, well she is just as cheeky as ever.

bye bye UK hello Taiwan

Hello everyone, no im not going anywhere before you ask! Lynette has been doing voluntary work in Blackburn for quite a few months now, but its time for her to go back home! She visited the bbc open centre almost every day and we all got to know her very well. Lynette's stint has now come to an end in the UK, but she is going to keep in touch via email whenever she can.

I just wanted to thank her for her friendship and wish her all the very best. I bet she cant wait to get home to her family and friends, and i bet its not raining there!

Surprise, surprise!

I was awoken this morning at 5 am with a text. Wondered who it was from and didnt know if i could be bothered looking at it at that un-earthly hour. But you know, being nosey i couldnt resist having a look.

It was from Ryan! he asked me to guess were he was, and couldnt believe he had made the journey overnight from Glasgow to see little me.

It was a pity he didnt know beforehand as i could have had a days holiday, but anyway i got ready quickly and collected him from ndar Granada studios and he came up to work me. I was still early so i took him round the building and into see Joe Wilson. In spite of that he decided to stay a bit longer!

He was really tired so after a while he decided to get the train back to Manchester so he could spend the rest of the day with his Mum, and catch up on his missed nights sleep.

Its been one of the nicest days ive ever had today, in spite of having to put up with the famous miss waddicor all day hehehe.

Thanks to everyone for reading this, i will be doing another couple in a day or two, as i have been a bit slow in writing any new ones lately.

Football....turns into Cricket

Oh well my team Preston didnt make it to the play offs this year. Looking back we had a good season though. Its just maddening to think we missed by one point! I guess it will be David Nugent's last game for Preston too, he is very likely going to be sold during the summer months, and my guess is that he will go to Everton, with the deal including a possible player exchange. I just hope we dont let him go for peanuts. I reckon around seven million would be a decent price, considering he is an England player.

Anyway the cricket season can now swing into action for the summer months, and yes you got it! its raining! and the forecast is for rain all week- typical. Good luck to England (they need it), and lets hope Lancashire can win something this time.

Its a rainy Bank Holiday, and im listening to the best stand -in. Joe Wilson! surely he cant have his woolly hat and scarf on today, its May for heavens sake.

Thanks to everyone for reading this, and have a nice May.

Friday- at least its not the 13th

Hello everyone!

Friday again, and its not been a bad week. the shop has been fairly busy, and its looking good at last. I got a call off Ben to work yesterday at the BBC so that was good, and im working tomorrow Saturday as usual, and 3 days next week. I am disappointed as Ryan was meant to be coming home for 4 days this weekend, but his boss has decided he cant lend the lads the van, so they would have to pay for the train which they have decided not to bother doing. So thats our weekend plans gone to the dogs:( we were going to go round Manchester and treat ourselves to a hotel. never mind...

At work i have been recording more "Guides" which are being broadcast from today for 6 days, in the north, and east of Lancashire. its all Sandra's fault for getting me into this lol. its all good fun though.

Paul and Dawn are going to Paul's Mums with baby Amy this afternoon, and Bryan and Nichola have finally got the keys to their new house, and should be moving in over the weekend. No doubt i will get roped in for ferrying stuff!

I treat myself over Easter to a digi camcorder. woohooo! but im still reading the millions of instructions. im sure they make things too complicated. i just want to switch it on, point it, and record! the one ive got has its own 30 gig hard drive, very swish, im not telling how much it cost me.
thats all for today - no pictures! take care everyone, and more to come very soon.

Introducing Ryan :)

I have known Ryan for about a year now, but only as a friend online, but today i met him in Manchester. He lives in a small suberb called Burnage.

He has been working down in Bournemouth, and is home for the weekend, but it could be longer as on Friday he dropped a lump of metal on his ankle and badly bruised it. What some people will do to get off work eh?!!! Hes got a good job as an engineer, and tool maker, and has promised to make me a hammer with my name engraved on it! how good is that?

He gave me a conducted tour of Manchester, and as he is a mad Manchester City fan, we had to go and look at the City of Manchester stadium. Its actually very nice, and the area surrounding it is still being developed.

Hes a bit camera shy as you can see;) but we are hoping to meet again soon, and have decided to have a holiday together in the summer.

Time goes by

Well, its quite a while since i wrote anything on here, almost as long as Joe Wilson's holiday entitlement.

I have been quite busy actually, and determined to learn a few new things this year. Ive been having training on how to use our brand new radio van, and how to record, and edit stuff at the bbc. Im a bit proud of myself actually, and i dont see why age should barr me from learning new skills.

Part of my time has been keeping miss waddicor in order of course and im going to put her latest picture next to mine.

She pursuaded me to start a "my space" profile, which i have done, and ive found quite a lot of my friends, and work mates have them, such as Graham the old tart Liver, and Phil Trow.

I am hoping to get to the warehouses in Manchester this week, to stock up my shop again, its actually not doing too badly just now, and with the warmer weather just round the corner, its looking good. The "hour" goes on this weekend, so lighter nights as well.

Bryan, and Nichola, his partner, are having to find a new house to rent, as the one they are in now is going to be sold, so hes busy looking around. I have been able to give him a lift, as wigan is quite a big area, and they could soon be finding something suitable lets hope.

Paul, Dawn & baby Amy are all doing fine. She is almost seven weeks old now - awwwwww.

Dale is having problems with his knee again, and it looks like an operation is going to be the only answer.

Its not been a good winter for me, illness wise, i have had five lots of viruses or sickness. Im hoping i might be able to stay relatively free from them for a few months now, as i hate being ill.

I treated mywelf to a hands free kit for the car, its so dangerous using a mobile whilst driving, and now the penalties are quite high. It was 50 quid but i think very worth while, and seems to work very well.

Well thats all for now, thanks to all those who read this, and take care all of you.

Tone.

Not a good week

Hello everyone. hope you are well.

Its been a horrid week, Sandra from work and I have both had awful weeks, and have supported each other so much. I wont go into detail...just hoping next week proves to be better.

Some nice things have happened though. On Tuesday me and Sandra were due to go out with Talia for our lunch...she couldnt make it though, so we invited Gilly (or should i say he invited himself!)

We went to the Coffee Exchange as it is just round the corner from the BBC, and you are almost guaranteed a nice meal.

On Wednesday, Talia did come and see us and she looked very nice, and it was so good to see her again. we once again went to the Exchange and enjoyed it very much.

Another good thing was that i received a 6 months contract extension, which i was hoping for.

Went to Southport shopping with Dale on Friday night, but really tired tonight (saturday) the oil filled radiator blew up! have to get a new one tomorrow in preston.

Bye bye everyone and take care. If you read it, let me know!!!!

tony xxx

It's a Girl!

Amy Leigh Winrow was born at Wigan Infirmary on Monday 5 February 2007 at 15.37. she is 6lbs 12 oz. Mother & Baby doing just fine, and back home. Father is resting lol !!!!!

A Saturday off work!

Hello to everyone reading this.

Its quite unusual for me to have a Saturday off work, but i had some holidays left so i thought i would take today off.

We have been quite lazy, as we only got up at 10 am, it was so nice and cosy under the new duvet, and we didnt want to budge really. It was a very cold night...about -5C i believe and it was still quite misty when Dale drew the curtains back.

I had been told there was a parcel for me in the back of the car, but that i couldnt bring it in and open it until Saturday...no idea why like. Anway Paul said he would come with us, so first of all we set off to Bolton and PC World as i need a few things from there. After that we went to the Reebok, and to JJB Sports, as Dale wanted something or other there. It urned out that they didnt have what he wanted, so we decided to head for the coast, and to Southport.

By this time the mist was almost fog in some places, but as it was still light it wasnt too bad. We had a look round the shops, and Dale got what he wanted from the JJB there, then we went to this nice chippy right in the centre of the town. It was time for the football to start, and i insisted that we listen to the commentary of the Sheffield Wednesday vs Preston game. The decision went down fairly well actually, and at least it got that awful dance music off for a while.

Anyway we managed to win 3 - 1 so i was smiling about that. By this time it was getting quite dark, and we decided to head for Wigan again, as Paul was going to his girlfriends to stay over night, as tomorow Sunday Dawn was about to have things done to her, to induce the baby. More of that when the time comes!

Anyway i got the parcel at last, and to my surprise it was an electric steamer that i always wanted. We like fresh vegetables a lot, but its not always easy to make them in the flat as we only have 2 rings on the cooker, so this will be excellent and i cant wait to try it out.

As i type this, it is feeling very cold again, and i have turned the heating up more than usual.

Thanks for reading this, and hope to give you news of the impending baby soon!!

lots of love from tony, and dale, and everyone else.

Try Podcasting - its great!

Hello folks, how are you today?

Did you know that if you have the internet, which you do have because you are reading this...you can talk on the phone to anyone, anywhere in the world for free, providing they have the internet too. You have probably heard of SKYPE. Its a great free programme.

You can also make conventional phone calls from it too, and its much cheaper than BT to landlines or to mobiles. The quality is great too, just about as good as you can get.

Now to Podcasting, and no i dont have shares in Skype!!!! its just so good, and passes time on these dark nights too.

You choose a subject, anything at all, from sports, to cookery recipes, travel, holidays, just anything you like. Then you choose what time you want it to start and how long it will last for.

Its like having a party at your house! but everyone is on the phone, and you never know who will join you! and best of all it costs you nothing, and you can make friends for life.

Another good feature of Skype is that you can use a webcam if you own one, and have full screen video, which i dont believe any other programme uses.

If you want any further information, all you have to do is ask! you know where to find me.

Well thats all the technical stuff for today, hope you all have a wonderful weekend- dozens of people are now regular readers of my blog! A big thank you to everyone, ad if you would like to have a special mention, let me know.

Sandra Sets Sail

Sandra is one of our lovely Receptionists at the bbc in Blackburn. She and her Partner, Paul, set off last week on a holiday of a lifetime, firstly to America, and then on a cruise to the Caribbean! how good is that?

While i was at work i received a text from her saying she was in Miami and that it was very hot there, and they were about to board their ship! Her actual words were "its a bloody big ship"

I know she will enjoy herself thoroughly, and she deserves a nice break away from her Cheshire second home, by the river Dane (a caravan but hey its in Cheshire!)

She works very hard at the bbc (so she tells me-but i have no hard evidence of this)

I am posting a second picture of Sandra, this time being serenaded by world famous American country musician, Billy Yates, on one of his visits to the bbc, on the Joe Fish show. He is loved by his many fans in this Country, and one little known fact is that i have slept in his bed once!!! i hasten to add not while he was occupying it! (more details on request!)

If you would like to serenade Sandra, or Cassandra as she would like to be known as, drop me an email, and i will arrange it for you.

One Day in History

hello everyone...i was told that Saddam was about to be put to death today, but when i switched the big screens on at work i immediately saw a video of part of it, repeated and repeated, but they stopped short of actually showing the act. I didnt know how to react really. i felt sick inside me, i dont know why as this man has killed so many people, but strangely i felt some kind of sympathy for him, almost putting myself in his place, and wondering how i would feel if it was me standing there waiting for the rope around my neck. then i felt guilty for standing there ogling the screen, should they be showing this on the bbc i asked myself? i must be mad wanting to see a man being put to death, but i kept on watching, rooted to the spot.
No doubt within a day or two the whole event will be on the internet, but i just cant help feeling uneasy about the whole thing, or is it me being paranoid?
one thing is for sure, this Saturday 30 December 2006 will be remembered as the day Saddam was hanged.

Tony.

Stuffed again

Hi everyone, and its now back to work time, for some people anyway. We had a wonderful dinner on Christmas day. Expensive though, at £40 per person. Its a great place though to go to...Bonds of Elswick...its in the middle of nowhere really, not far from Kirkham, and on the road to Fleetwood and Cleveleys. We had to book way back in the Spring to get a place. Normally it would only cost about £12 for a brilliant 3 course dinner. Im actually feeling quite hungry thinking about it.
I got some lovely things as pressies, and gave some nice ones too. Paul loved his new phone, and i got Dale a Sony stereo, with a big bass box. He got me a ring, which was something i always wanted, and Paul and Dawn bought me some FCUK shower gell and deoderant.
Me and me Mum bought my Brother, John, one of the brand new Dyson car hoover thingies- its well nice.
Anyway like i said it was back to work today, but not many people working, and with the schools being on holiday, i got to work in record time, and coming back it only took me 35 mins, instead of the normal 55 minutes. Cant believe its Friday tomorrow though.
My fridge has been on the blink for a few weeks now, so it looks like i will be getting a new one over the weekend. Monday sounds good, as we are all off with being New Years day.
Thats all for today folks, more to come later, with a special page for Sandra our lovely receptionist (she will love that bit)

take care from tony and the gang

Joe in the Open Centre

How does this man have so much energy? Joe Wilson did a programme yesterday, from 6.30 am until 2pm. This is a picture of him sat in the window of the Open Centre. We had lots of visitors, and gave them free brews and mince pies- how good is that? It was a big day for football too, and Joe was pleased that his team- Bolton won, and so did mine- Preston. Arsenal (Dales team) had an excellent win over Blackburn 6 - 2. So now we are looking forward to Boxing day and another very full programme of games.

Christmas Eve 2006

Hello and Merry Christmas!

We had a long lie in today. omg i cant believe we were so lazy. Its very cold today, but at least its not snowing or windy, or raining.
Pauls girlfriend, Dawn came up, and at about 3 pm we decided to go out for a nice meal. We ended up in Apply Bridge, at the Star Inn. Its the first time i have been there,and its a really nice place. We had a couple of drinks (coke for me) and then some games of pool while we decided what to have to eat.
Dawn, Paul, and myself decided on the special christmas menu of turkey, etc, and Dale had some Wild Mushroomy thing. It was excellent, but we shouldnt have had the soup as it was more like a meal than a starter. Talk about being full!

After leaving the Star Inn we went up to Dale's parents and then back home. After much persuading i let Paul open one of his Christmas pressies- his new phone, and im writing this as he tries to get it set up.

Dale and myself are going to wait until Boxing day and go to the shops and find something nice for each other as we really havent had the time to go trapsing around this week, as i have either been feeling ill or been working till quite late.

Wow today has really flown by. In the morning i am setting off early to my Mums in Longridge as we are going out for our Christmas lunch, with my Brother, and two of our friends.


Thanks again for reading my blog, and have a lovely time everyone xxx

tony & friends

Its a bit parky outside

Greetings everyone,

I have not been well since Sunday night, and had no option but to have
Monday off work. I really love my work, and i was so disappointed when i couldnt make it in. I had emails from all the receptionists asking how i was, and today i decided i must make a special effort and go on, which i did, and now im back safe and sound, and i feel about 90% OK. Good job i have an understanding boss in Ben Thomson. *gets up of his knees again*
Gilly our afternoon drive time Presenter was concerned about me, and made several visits to see if i was still alive hehe. Hes a top man, and is judging the Christmas lights in Galgate, near Lancaster tonight! (adds a pic of Gilly)
Hes very big in the north of the County so he keeps telling me! He was even Scally of the week on the Ulverstanrant website!!!

Soooo now i have two days off, before work on Friday and Saturday. One thing i must do is get to Morrys tomorrow as our fridge has only butter, milk and one egg in it! The shop will be open tomorrow too, so i will see if i can make a quid or two in there. To get sprouts or not to get sprouts- that is the question, think i will go for carrots.

How many days to Christmas now? well anyway i got Paul a mobby which he asks me for every day, and so far, despite lots of good reasons to do so, i have resisted giving him yet. Dale has got an xbox game and a few bits, but he will get more after christmas when there is more time to look for bargains. Mum is getting two top quality bath towels, and a face cloth with Tony Livesey's face on it- so that wont get used hehehe. Judith another bath towel, and our John is getting one of the new car hoover things from Dyson which cost 100 quid. Little Sarah is being taken out for lunch as a pressie as she has everything lol.
Right thats me out of here, you lot take care and another blog before long i hope.
tony xxx

Friday night frolics (i wish)

Hello people, end of the week for some hmmm, but im working tomorrow as usual. I took Dale to work this morning at 5.30am but i went back to bed when i got home, and had another 2 hours kip. Its been a good week, but very busy indeed. Today we fitted some carpets at Clarrington House, which is a sheltered accommodation unit near where my shop is. The lady we fitted for is wheelchair bound and we agreed to move all the furniture, and dispose of all the rubbish and the existing carpets as well. It took quite a while, and 3 trips to the tip! Bryan and Paul did most of the work, but then Dale and myself lent a hand, after Dale got home from work at 11 am.

Garry from work wanted me to go in today but unfortunately we were just too busy. The shop has been doing quite well lately, and we have a few enquiries for after xmas too.

Just had a thought! Bradleys are doing turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce butties now, its worth going to Blackburn just for that!

thanks for reading my latest blog, take care xxx tones

who the heck is Miss Lancaster?

Miss Lancaster is one of our team of Receptionists at the BBC in Blackburn, and she will kill me for calling her that! but i dont care! Sarah, has had a rough time lately, with "Lancaster" but has come sailing through it now, and you will go from strength to strength my love. In fact 2007 will be your year. Go out and enjoy yourself.

We have an Open Centre Rich List, and at the moment, Sarah is just above Katie, but of course Pauline is the top! (lend us a fiver will ya)..so its Pauline, followed by Sarah, then Katie, and Sandra is next, and right at the bottom is little me.