Catching up with the past.... any photos?...

Well this last weekend was a weird but good one.... I did a bit of time traveling... back to 1999... and partied like it was....1999,

back to near the pub (below) where I used to work behind the bar for 3 years...

It now lies derelict, unloved and unused ... a tragic victim of the smoking ban and cost of alcohol....

I remember going in through the doors many a time, to be warmly greeted by punters and friends alike even a good year after leaving its smoke filled rooms....

But that all changed, the last night I was in there was the best part of 11 years ago, at halloween.

How do I remember ... well I lent someone my previous halloween costume... that of a zombie, basically a raggy suit.. and dirty shirt...

I lent it to one of the current members of staff, (after a quick trip home as petrol was cheaper back then)... said my goodbyes at the end of the evening as normal, attended one of my colleagues wedding... and then disappeared into the ether... I seemed to have just cut them off... they still had my number.. but none called...

They weren't the only one's.. another part of the same group... I attended an after Ann Summers party... stayed till the following Sunday morning... and then vanished...

I often wondered what was going on in this friendly group I seemed to have so readily left... one of close friendships and a fun times guaranteed... but each of them would have involved drinking heavily no doubt at some stage, (which I wasn't that great at, but was quite good).... and also maybe it was me that had to change and get out of this routine...

I went back after an invite from an old friend W.

I've known W since I was 17, him being 21, both of us worked in the same factory in my native town. I'd come from a training scheme just up the road and joined this draconian workplace. Clocking in each morning, and repeating the same routine for the best part of 4 years, until the day someone said.. "If I could draw like that, I'd not be here"... so 6 months later... I wasn't.

There was a load of good times, the camaraderie that this factory contained, has never been equaled. Fridays would roll around and we'd all head into town to and go out for the evening, doing a 6pm till 2am, as this was the time that clubs shut, then onto the all night snooker rooms, followed by the sobering walk home (which were an adventure of their own)... Sometimes though a trip elsewhere came about, Blackpool, Alton Towers or horse racing....

But with it being the early 90's having a camera was a rare or a girls thing...so there are very few pictures (mostly odd angles)... but if you was lucky enough, there was the odd few on pub wall montages, including ones of family.... but as with many of these times, they are not physically recorded for posterity, they are simply remembered by the grey matter in my head, all be it a little foggy at times...

We had many nights of the same old thing of doing the pub run into town at least 3, just into town... 4 or so in the town centre, eventually ending up in this ruff biker pub.... upstairs, before we proceeded off to our 2 night clubs....

Also in the past on a night out, I had to dress more conservative, sometimes in a full suit, as it was the policy of nearly all the nightclubs not to let you wearing anything but shirt pants and shoes.... so as said before many of these times are not recorded....

So this was my life for a few years, (that many of my current friends know nothing about)....... even when I returned from college, with too much hair, (W used to grumble), I'd do an odd stint behind the bar... before getting invited round to W's new years parties... Then once in a while ending up on the floor a little worse for wear...

But then come, the dawn of the new century all this changed, I too them just disappeared one day... not to be heard of till bookface rejoined us together.... which I'm so glad it did...

So after this reunited time at W's 40th doo, falling off the wagon of my self imposed exile on booze, getting to walk through the door and immediately getting recognised as if I'd not been away for a decade.. seeing some familiar faces I'd missed.. some not having changed... it was great and a fantastic evening followed...

But it did make me realise some of the best bits I did walk away from, even W came out with somethings we used to do..... in the end it showed what it really matters some true friendships that will always be there, easy to be rekindled by a simple appearance...

I'm still on their kitchen wall montage..

And as a final note... I did forget my camera.... damm it...!

A trip to Alton Towers, Wet and Fun... One Eye, L, W and Me about 1995

the sobering walk....

For some reason I've always felt the need to walk after a night out on the tiles or painting the town red....

From my early days of enjoying the bright lights, to the more recent ventures into the world... I still have this inherent need to walk.. and be in my own bed, with familiar surroundings... maybe it's a Caveman instinct, to be safe in your own cave... it also where I first perfected my disappearing act... and started my Homing pigeon instinct....

It first began back when I was just 17.. nearly 18... I'd just my first works Christmas doo, many of my pals knew I'd never really taken a liking to the booze, so they had planned my evenings drinking menu...

I turned up with £20 in my pocket, which back in 1991 was enough... 1 pint of Guiness, 2 lagers and a vodka with orange plus a chance find of £5 on the floor.. my night was done.. and I now had £25.... so after quick goodbye's.. off I toddled... home a short while later.... 2.3 miles.. slightly damp and a grin on my face greeted by my parents.... this was the first time of many...

So this was the start of something...

There was a few ways to get home, various distances, including the scenic one along the side of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, but this only could be done in the day time... it was stumbled in the summer of 96 after the end of college and a few New-key Browns, it was slightly longer than all other options but like I said it was scenic.....

Eventually I extended my walk from the centre of town after the clubs... Peppermint Place, Mr G's and Manhattan Heights, Northern Lights... still most were uneventful as I always had rules of which to follow:

1. Always walk or stagger as fast as possible...

2. Always have the other person, stranger walking home on the opposite side of the road..

3. Don't look drunk.....

but there was a few incidents that I'm going to mention....

First memorable time was just after a riot in the town. We'd been to far to many clubs, saying goodbye to our swedish colleague as he was going home.... once the clubs had shut it was off to the all night snooker club... My cue control was non existent ... but a couple of hours later off I went home....

Now the riots had been going from town to town in the Northwest, some quite serious... so it was a little risky to be on my own and white.... but it was 5am and was getting light, (even rioters had to sleep)..... and looking around I seemed to be the only hint of life (be it staggering like a zombie) in a empty town for quite a while... no cars, trucks...

Until one police car came down the road.. and pulled up at the side of me....

Policeman: Hello.. where have you been?

Me: Drinking, Pub.. (no doubt with breath that could have peeled paint, I could only say single words and hoped they'd form a sentence).

Policeman: Till this time!...

Me: no sorry, been playing snooker...

Policeman: ...right....What's your name?...(his colleague smirking in the background of my foggy vision)

(here I had to chance to be named anything I wished.. but opted for the truth, just in case)

Policeman: No we're not looking for you.. bye...

They were very polite.. but they could have given me a lift.. I was freezing...

All this being a fairly boring first incident....

Things soon progressed and my distance increased once again... but the saviour on this occasion, what late night food, be it a kebab or in this case a large garlic bread (yes it is the future we've seen it).

This time I had accompanied a friend back to their house, but then I had to get home... all be it happy with my garlic bread...

So I exited the estate.. but in doing so passed a few people.. and one getting questioned by two young boys... about if he had seen their dog...

Now 2 things automatically went through my brain... first why were these kids where up at this time... but secondary and most importantly.. I knew I was going to meet this dog and from the description, it was fairly big....

So I quickened my pace, which was a mistake.. rather than get me away quicker... it just meant I met the dog sooner.... so the next thing I know is there is a growling behind me... and it's nothing to do with bodily functions.....

What does one do in this situation?... it's dark, the dog has already taken an offence to meeting me... so much to my dismay I dropped some of my garlic bread....

Now the area I was in I'd have been surprised if this dog had seen such a bountiful meal presented to him...and so proceeded to eat away... but apart from the helpful quickening of my pace... this lead to me gaining a new friend...

So again a growling came from behind.... so being a bit of a mouse rather than a man (remember it was a large dog) I took one last bite and closed the rest in the box... and dropped it.. before the wet nose could get any closer to my behind.

The last noise I heard was the dog trying to get in the box and I ran off...

The third incident well the walk was not as long... but what happened was a very close call...

In the picture below near the trees on the left used to be a phone box..

I'd got this far, again in the company of a friend, but on this evening it was a cold and foggy and not too late, so thankfully I could still ring my mother, who had already said she'd pick me up.

Now this was a badly lit area.. and the phone box had no door (which thinking of what happened could have lead to something worst...)

So 10p in the slot.. it was just before I had a mobile.. and a quick conversation.. I was done...

Now since my early outings to the bright lights I've developed tinitus and on this night I had been yet again in a rather loud pub...

As I turned round to exit the box... there was a squel of tyres... then a rush of movement... but along with this was a reflection of my face....

'A reflection of his face?'...

What had happened was a car had come to the junction down the hill at some pace... flying through the lights and mounted the pavement, so as I turned round in the box the car missed me by a few inches... allowing me to see my shocked expression in it's windows.

But rather than stop it drove off, still at some pace in the direction of town... I stood there for longer than a moment .. shocked at my possible demise and also my lucky escape... and as I mentioned before, would it have been different if the box had a door?

I did not see the car as it had disappeared into the fog, one thing was for sure it wasn't my mother trying to get rid of me..

she turned up a few minutes later...

Tiles, the ceramic story makers...

Tiles.... their random patterns cover many a bathroom or kitchen wall across the land.. their random patterns hide face's, animals and many more semi recognizable shapes.... that the human brian pulls out from the surface.

Take the one above... it glorified my childhood home for years... not in this colour but a avacado green... to match the suite...(it seems it came in 3 different colours)....

Each tile was the same... random pattern apon it's ceramic surface... so like their plain cousins, there was an order on which they should be placed on the wall... the only thing random was which was to be the bottom edge...

So what did I see... well I saw a squirrel running up a tree after escaping from a fox....

Now this squirrel ran away from the fox for years... my eyes would only follow a few tiles ... but as the years went by I'd explore the whole adventure that spread all around the bathroom... from wall to ceiling.... more of the small seemingly unending adventure unfolding before my eyes.. and in my head...... slowly though I began spotting the flaws within the fitters tiling, which only added to the story... the odd one here and there making it look like the squirrel was racing to it's fate of getting eaten... or a quick change of direction.. looping back on itself and back down the tree....... and as I said seemingly unending...

But the squirrel did end it's long escape..... the bathroom got redecorated... along with many others....

(This was only one of the stories which I saw within this tile)

But every now and again another random tile would offer up another mysterious, simple... or what ever I wished story.... to be made up there and then or over time.... from it's patterns.. be it floor or wall....

What do you see?.... I see a crowd of people...

Oh Boris NOOOOOOO! the Humanity!

Cereal Fans, tragedy has struck my humble existent...

What a month it has been, me and my cereal gang have been living it large all this month!

Concert's, Opera, Eating out, Bungee Jumping... Rollercoasters, you name it we've done it, apart from anything involving water and milk, as we are all soluble....

But all is not well... maybe this was a pre-cursor that we had to enjoy life.

For what happened is shocking....

It all began with big hand having a few bad weeks and rushed off his rather large feet, but he doesn't know if he started the tragic events, as the wind has been picking up outside. and rushing around the building, it being old and falling apart. I mean would I have been given a chance at life in a well run building...I think not...

What tragic thing has happened to my beloved Bubbles (My nickname for my beloved Susie), in all her sugary puffy goodness (which may have lead to her downfall) has been kidnapped by our new resident Boris!

Big hand noticed the misfortune of my beloved on Tuesday, and was himself filled with grief at the very mishap unfolded before his eyes....

And he was just going to rescue her from the predicament, when Boris popped out, slow and sluggish, but keeping guard.... what to do OH what to do!

Big hand thinks that a gush of wind from the nearby kitchen door, or all the swish swash of people going by has lead to the 'light' Bubbles being blown onto Boris' web.

But for the moment he can't do anything.. Boris is very attentive, in fact he thinks that Bubbles maybe falling victim to Stockholm syndrome just like Patty Hearst, I've seen her stroking Boris's eight legs and going on about rights for spiders to live in any gap they find... and I think she is knitting a woolen spider-suit to 'Fit in'

OH what should a Cheerio Do?, I mean look at what I've had to lose..... she had a great bottom.

the solution was fast and quick from big hand, a lovely picture of Kelly Brook, who is single and top of the fit list at the moment and is appearing on everything at the minute, but can you blame her.. WOOF WOOF!.

So here I leave this cliff hanger... Does Bubbles return? Will Den raise from the grave and become a flesh eating Zombie.... along with Ethel... and Arthur..

Bring back rolly.. and wellhard.... and will Ian Beale ever leave the square?

DUM DUM DUMM DUMM DUM.....

Anyone can fall in love
That's the easy part you must keep it going
Anyone can fall in love
Over the years it has to keep growing
Sun and rain
Joy and pain
There's highs - there's lows
We've no way of knowing.

I'm here!.... and we've gone multi cereal...

Hiya fellow cereal lovers, it's me Chaz... I'm back. I have good news, bad news and some truly sad news.

Well I'm still in the same spot, with Suzy, who is still the sugary puffy goodness in my crispy heart, but there has been some developments... we've gone multi-cereal with our new neighbour Brenda the Bran Flake. With the help of our new neighbour we go to know our crunchy nut neighbour he's called Nigel, a bit strange but seems nice enough, we've all been out for a drink, trying to get to know each other, so far all went well so we'll see what the future holds....

Brenda said was deposited here by the "large hand", whose large foot gave us a scare when it came down close to us. But all it did was aggravate my back.

I've had trouble lately when trying to sleep, as living in the big outdoors is a little strange to a cheerio, usually we hide away in dark corners scraping lichen off pipes for food.

You see in the past we were very different, not the round crunchy full multi grain cereal that you have come to love. Our now habit was dark damp corners and bogs, methane enriched environments.

It all chanced when Mr Nestle cam along with his machines, you see one of our natural cycles is to cocoon ourselves every three months or so, but in a oxygen rich atmosphere we do it as a defensive tact to survive.

Mr Nestle hit on a plan to trap us in this state as our outer shell of the cocoon is really tasty.

He came up with a plan involved painting the inside of a box black and leaving them in areas we used to inhabit. Next he'd collect the boxes and lift them into the air, making us automatically cocoon ourselves. Then we got bagged up and sold in all supermarkets around the world.

So remember next time you crunch that's actually bones.

But anyway I went and had an X-ray to find the root of the problem. Well the problem ended up being a free floating vertebrae.

The doctor said this has happened because of my constant state of being in a cocoon. He said he sees it quite a lot really, the procedures quite quick and he pushed it back within an hour.

So all is well and good with me now, but on to the sad news.

Misty the cat is sadly no more, she was an inspiration for me starting to blog. As ever I was the last to know, so we arranged a memorial service for this legendary cat.

We hope the miceys are nice where she is now, so bless that cat. That's all for now I'm on my way to recover so me and the gang will be back shortly.

Cheerio 2 the return of Chaz.... the ongoing cereal

Hello again, it's Chaz.

I'm still resting here along with my sugar puff girlfriend Suzy, say hello Suzy...

"hello"

The mice and rats now seem to have given us a wide berth and we exist for another month.

This month me and Suzy have decided to have a laugh with body alterations.

I grew a full on tramp beard, but had to get rid of it.. due to it tickling and dipping in my soup.

I then had some tattoos done.. I think I look really cool, Ice Cool

Susy on the other hand had her breasts done and started going to the gym, she looks great (but she had a killer body before all that).

But it has cause some unwelcome attention from our new neighbour, a Crunchy Nut Flake, that has just been deposited and I'm not liking the stares he/she keeps giving Suzy. It came to a head the other day while she was painting.

They've not talk to us just yet and seem a little strange... I've already seem them dancing in the moonlight, howling...I think they are nuts...

But some tragic news to report, Charlotte our spider neighbour, has unfortunately died while trying to expand her home, The police said they think she choked on a bit of fly.

It seems a bit strange as she was in good health last time she came by.

I have my doubts about the cause of death, it was on the same day our new

neighbour moved in... There will be no funeral unfortunately, she'll just desiccate further and be a constant reminded that life is hard and cruel at times.

We did have a close call the other day, Henry the resident hoover came sniffing around.

Fortunately he had a cold and was not up to his best sucking ability, so as usual me and Suzy made up for this close call, we stayed in bed all day Sunday.

Monday was strange as I went to clean the windows and noticed nut smears on them and a sweet golden liquid.

I'm at a loss at what has cause the smears and marks...

I've also been concerned about this mad man running around with a sawn off loaded spoon. I'm sure I saw him the other day.

Well that's all till next time.... I hope I'm still here and not have a cereal killer camping out on the stairs below us....

Sleep tight and don't have nightmares...

The free contemplating Cheerio.

So who am I? I'm one of the bunch or I was until about 6 months or so ago, when I was released from my bowl prison... my fate to be eaten and turned into energy and poo narrowly averted.

My name's Chaz the lone Cheerio (a name of a cereal that's really saying goodbye and full of oooo's)... I'm currently lying on the wooden floor in an old embroidery factory all on my own, I fell out of the bowl on the way back to the human office... soaked in milk, my escape was heard.. but not seen.

It's quite a miracle to have been here so long, considering the rats and mice that infest this place... so what's my fate to be now?, will I end up in a rodent stomach? or can I continue my thoughts on life, the mysteries of the universe and love, till I turn into dust.

I think my life would be radically different if my original fate had come true... parts of me now would be far and wide combined with different things... including other food stuffs.. or I'd be floating free in a large body of water, or buried in the dark soil..... the possibilities are endless..

I can though now recite Pi or π to it's three thousand decimal point.... forwards and backwards (I'm sure my mobile number is in there somewhere)...

Pi to 3000dp PI 3. 141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944 592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647 093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559 644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165 271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273 724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360 011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953 092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724 891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737 190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132 000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901 224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960 864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951 059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035 261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303 598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532 171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863 278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891 249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855 889075098381754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012 858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837449448255379 774726847104047534646208046684259069491293313677028989152104 752162056966024058038150193511253382430035587640247496473263 914199272604269922796782354781636009341721641219924586315030 286182974555706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302955 321165344987202755960236480665499119881834797753566369807426 542527862551818417574672890977772793800081647060016145249192 173217214772350141441973568548161361157352552133475741849468 438523323907394143334547762416862518983569485562099219222184 272550254256887671790494601653466804988627232791786085784383 827967976681454100953883786360950680064225125205117392984896 084128488626945604241965285022210661186306744278622039194945 047123713786960956364371917287467764657573962413890865832645 995813390478027590099465764078951269468398352595709825822620 522489407726719478268482601476990902640136394437455305068203 496252451749399651431429809190659250937221696461515709858387 410597885959772975498930161753928468138268683868942774155991 855925245953959431049972524680845987273644695848653836736222 626099124608051243884390451244136549762780797715691435997700 129616089441694868555848406353422072225828488648158456028506 016842739452267467678895252138522549954666727823986456596116 354886230577456498035593634568174324112515076069479451096596 094025228879710893145669136867228748940560101503308617928680 920874760917824938589009714909675985261365549781893129784821 682998948722658804857564014270477555132379641451523746234364 542858444795265867821051141354735739523113427166102135969536 231442952484937187110145765403590279934403742007310578539062 198387447808478489683321445713868751943506430218453191048481 005370614680674919278191197939952061419663428754440643745123 718192179998391015919561814675142691239748940907186494231961 567945208095146550225231603881930142093762137855956638937787

I've helped construct a spider village for "Seven" the spider disability charity, for the unfortunate spiders who through one reason or more only have 7 or less legs...

We constructed a feeding station for Currant, the paraplegic, he recently lost all his legs in a recent child leg pulling incident, the poor chap is still tramatised and has to have all his food pre-digested.

In my spare time I've have become a fairly decent artist, trying various styles of old masters....

I recently had a show entitled "Homage", the turn out was quite low, Dusty the dust bunny turned up, the humans who past by, including the guy who was going to eat me ignored the free show, but what pleased me best of all the mites had a coach trip to the show and I managed to sell 3 of them.

In June I threw a fancy dress party, where everyone had to come as a superhero, what a night lots of drink and fun, but the following morning, I woke up with Suzi the sugar puff who had been eyeing me up all night, her wonderwoman outfit had my eyes distracted all night, the way it showed off her curves ....mmmmmm

Well we're going steady now... until she's either eaten or brushed away... I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store for me... the free cheerio!