Author: graybo

So it’s started – with the forthcoming launch of the .biz top level domains, web hosting companies are clamouring for my business, by phone, letter, email, spam. They all want me to launch croftway.biz because it’ll make my website “much easier to find”. Bollocks. I chose a .co.uk address deliberately for work (and for this site too) because I wanted to highlight the fact that we are a British company, mainly serving customers in the UK. We don’t supply plants to customers outside the EU (due to plant health restrictions) – I didn’t want a .com address because it would lead to too many enquiries from American and other customers who we would not be able to serve. The same holds true for .biz. What’s more, customers search for our site by looking on search engines for our name or our products. And it is the body of the URL that points up your business – would bbc.com work any better than bbc.co.uk? Doubt it.

Beer tonight with Paul F, Paul S (ever so briefly), Phil, Gary, Joel, Claudette, Sal and Ginny, who was working her very last night behind the bar in W2 – we’ll miss her. Good luck with your new job!

Well, I certainly have packed a lot into my day off so far, and I have yet to get as far as the pub. Here is the day so far in bullet-points:

• Got up late, but not too late (good)
• Tidied all the papers that were strewn across the floor of my bedroom and actually filed them instead of pushing them into a pile in the corner (very good)
• …but it took much longer than anticipated (bad)
• Went to the bank and took steps to sort out my ailing finances (good)
• Then went and bought some clothes in Next (oh dear)
• …some bedlinen in Army and Navy (very bad)
• ….and a new saucepan (siiigh)
• …and a CD in MVC (very very bad)
• Went shopping in Waitrose for food and provisions (good)
• Bought lunch (necessary)
• Bumped into Alison (always a pleasure)
• Tidied the living room (good)
• Did some laundry (fluffy warm towels – hurrah!)
• Cleaned the windows (blimey! daylight!)
• Renewed my membership of the CIM (evil marketer alert! evil marketer alert! beyoop! beyoop!)
• Ordered two text books for next term’s course (using £50 voucher I won ages ago – two books for £7 inc postage – cool!)
• And finished the day off by ordering a new sexy black shit-hot frisbee (oh dear oh dear oh dear)

There was plenty more that I wanted to get done, but didn’t, but I reckon that is a pretty good show for one day.

I’m in a very good mood this evening. So good that I’m going to stay in and go to bed early. I’ve the day off tomorrow, and my good mood means that I’ll spend it cleaning the flat and doing laundry. I may even go and buy some groceries.

Following on from this post, I’ve been pondering the idea of a BlogParade – ukbloggers on flatbed trucks with PCs drive through the centre of London to an all-night blog session in Hyde Park. Mo would have a stealth truck so that nobody could guess his true identity. Cal would conduct a poll to see which was the best float. Nick would take pictures of everything.
What would the other floats look like?

and the not-so-great bloggers.

And on the subject of MPs, I’m sure that lots of Tory MPs read this site daily. Well, to you I say – make Ken your leader! If you want to get back in to power, and be respected by the public, do NOT elect the greasy slimeball or the bald oddity. People like fat blokes who drink whisky and smoke cigars. Whilst not everyone will agree with what Ken Clarke says, they will respect his conviction, his honesty and his straight talking.

Sometimes, having parents is like being an MP – I’ve just being given an envelope full of cash from my dad. Not quite sure what I’ve done to deserve it, but it is appreciated.

Plans seem to be well advanced for the UKBloggers Party in the Park this Saturday. Mo has irresponsibly suggested that those people who would have gone to the cancelled Love Parade should turn up at the PITP instead. Thankfully, I think we can rest assured in the knowledge that whilst 250,000 people might travel to Newcastle to see the UK’s finest DJs, I think I’d be impressed if 2 people turned up in Hyde Park to see the UK’s worst bloggers.
Anyway, I’ll be there. I’m currently working on a plan to have lunch with my lovely cousin Gemma beforehand, giving the opportunity to catch up on gossip about our lovelives (hers seems sorted at the moment, mine is just a source of amusement!).

Is notsosoft turning soft?