A book store coffee

Yesterday I went for a little wander up to the other side of town, well OK, I crossed the Stein, which is something us Kepmtowner's don't tend to do all that often! Some say it's because Kemptwon area of Brighton is like it's only little village within the city, but I rather think it's because we're lazy! Anyway I popped up to Borders the book store on the edge of Churchill Square and met up with David. We had a Starbucks, yes there is one in Boarders, a small one, and it was rather nice, we chewed the fat and nattered away. It was almost like a setting the world to rights over a coffee. We both told how sick to death we are of hearing about those awful McCanns and how we are some what vindicated in our early views that they had something to do with their missing daughter!

We talked about music and the MTV video awards and Britney's performance, or should I say lack if it, well when I say we talked, I do of course mean we bitched! But hey, we are a couple of gay guys, sitting in a Starbucks inside a book store in the camp town of Brighton, what did you expect we'd be doing!

Anyway, after a while and I purchased two new tomes from Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees, 'The Three Day Rule' and 'The Seven Year Itch' which I've been promising myself to buy for ages, just never getting round to it, well you know what I'm like! There's always tomorrow, which in fact is technically true, however, with the rapid approach of a milestone age, may not be true for much longer! God, I need a holiday! Anyway, I'll fill you in on the books at a later date, when I've read them of course, because until then, all I can really tell you is they have nice covered and whatever blurb the publishers have put on the back!

So after the stores David and I took a little stroll along the front and watched the world go by for a wee while. I can hardly believe it, but it's the only time that David and I have been out, on days off without having a drop or ten of alcohol! Strange, but true, but then again, poor David is getting over some flu like symptoms, so maybe it's just as well!

I came home and watched something on telly, which I have no idea what it was, it just floated passed my eyes in a blur of pixelated dots! I came on the computer and logged in and had a long chat with an old friend on MSN. It's so nice, sometimes to have an MSN chat, you can say so much more than you can in texts and do it faster. It's like being on the phone, but without having to worry about a little bit of silence and you can do other things at the same time. Always a bonus, but I basically spent a large part of the day surfing, chatting and doing very little. However, I did have a look at the first re-written chapter of my book that I'm struggling to write. I've had it on the back burner for a while, hoping the a rested and fresh set of eyes and mind power will enable me to get back in the swing of writing, after all that is the one thing in life that I love and hasn't let me down! Well at least not yet!

This morning I woke with the sun on my face, burning through the open window and the breeze gently flapping the curtains. So I jumped out of bed and took a walk along Upper St James Street and all the way towards the marina end. Then I crossed down and walked back along the prom. It's so nice when the weather is kind, I never tire of looking at the sea, something of a bonus living in Brighton. I'm thinking of doing an special set of photos, taking one a day of the say spot, so you too can see the weather change, the differences in the light and how it changes the whole view. Oh god, am I going into an arty stage again!

It's 9-11, as the Americans say, and it would be a little remiss of me, not to give a little mention to all the victims of the terrorist acts in New York six years ago. It's hard to believe it has been six years since that awful day of terror, but yes, six years have come and gone and what's changed?

Victory for England! European Union commissioners have ruled that Britain can carry on using imperial measurements such as pints, pounds and miles. Europe's Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugenas said: "There is not now and never will be any requirement to drop imperial measurements." The decision will not affect current law on metric measurements, but means imperial equivalents can be used too. It follows years of wrangling between London and Brussels over metrication. Most importantly for me, it means the great British Pint is saved! The commission has kept extending the deadline for the UK to complete the full transition to the metric system, with the most recent deadline being 2010. This would have meant setting a deadline for ending the traditional delivery of pints of milk and the sale of pints of beer in the UK's pubs, but now we can keep our pint! Yippeee!!!

There is apparently a new series of Hell's Kitchen been going on which has pretty much escaped me, largely because motor-potty-mouth Gordon Ramsey is not the lead chef, Marco Pierre White is, whose about as charming and as French as my little tow. Anyway, there's been a bunch of has been's and x list celebs in the kitchen trying to impress a room full of free loaders! The only reason I'm commenting about it, that today it was on the news because ex-bankrupt and ex-alchy Jim Davidson has been sacked from it because of gay remarks! Yep, comedian (are you sure!) Jim Davidson has left ITV1's Hell's Kitchen after making, what the ITV called "unacceptable remarks" after he called gay people 'Shirt-lifters'. This upset fellow contestant Brian Dowling and some viewers of the show. An ITV spokeswoman said producers had asked him to leave the show. "ITV does not condone comments which could cause offence," she continued. Jim Davidson - offensive, well there's a surprise! Reach out and cut my sarcasm with a knife!

Oh, do you remember, a little while ago I told you that I posted off a letter to Stephen Fry, that king of the business they call show? Well, I did and yesterday, the postie plonked a letter on my mat from the very man. I hadn't really expected a reply, it wasn't a fan letter, more a thank-you for the entertainment kind of thing. But, respond he did, "Your charming and gratifying letter cheered me enormously" he wrote, proving beyond doubt, if ever there was any, that he is a thoroughly decent chap!