Simon T

I went to Belgium this weekend and got chatting to a lovely fella who told me that over there they give all the presents on Christmas Eve and Father Christmas (or St Nicholas) comes into town on 6th Dec riding a white horse I'm curious to know if anyone knows of any other interesting Christmas celebrations or traditions from overseas that we might not know about it

I loved it, thought they were on great form. Disco 2000 was my highlight! Must admit wasn't sure about those early arty films at the start though!

Ha busted I'm not at that stage just yet

You know those houses that really go for it at Christmas with all the inflatables, flashing lights etc etc ? Where are they all?? I used to be snobbish and think they were tacky but now that I am determined to embrace the joy of it all, I cant find any:help:

Ok looks I got lucky thanks guys Really need to start learning about cars!

Idiot that I am I managed to top my car up with unleaded petrol yesterday and it is a diesel car. I realised my mistake after 2 litres and quickly stopped! Obvioulsy I started panicking that I had ruined the engine and this would cost me an arm and a leg but another customer in the petrol station said that I would be alright as long as I filled up right to the top with diesel. So that's what I did and so far it's been alright. He said that if you put diesel in an unleaded car, that's when you are totally screwed! I think i'vegot lucky but am seeking reassurance, am I in the clear? Has anyone else done this?

Did anyone see the Telegraph article which reported that the number of people getting on buses in Sheffield had risen by 17% from April to September Anecdotally all i hear are people moaning about the buses but maybe the costs and services are better than I thought Or are we just getting lazier?

Oh god you're probably right. He played us like a goodan probs I might try it myself next course, err 'Big T' please

I went on a 1 day course this week and the trainer asked us to write our names for the certificate and whatever we wanted to be called for the day on our name badge sticker. The bloke next to me was called Colin, he wrote that for the certificate but on the name badge he wrote 'cocoa'!! I must admit he did not look like a cocoa but that is what we called him that day. Not sure if anyone else ever has but just wondered what nickname you wish you had?

Today I smashed up a bed with a sledge hammer in the street. It was the single most chavvy yet manly thing I have ever done! Grrrrrr Lads - can you top that? Ps I was trying to break it up to take to the skip. Im not just some nutter:)

Now I don't mean lions or anything too massive obviously but I spent the week working in Birmingham and the whole building i was working in used to feed one confident squirrel. The cocky little thing used to come into the reception area and hop on the desk whilst the receptionists fed it!! I found the whole thing a bit weird but maybe thats just me. Anyone else had a similar experience with other animals?

I would love to say that I'm going to get inspired and pick up a new sport and stuff but really I'll probably just finally get round to watching that Borgen DVD:) Been bloody brilliant though!

I don't even know what I'd call soft core garage. Completely ignorant. Apparently dynamitee e was more dubstep or something - c'mon grandad!

Last weekend during Miss Dynamitee e I doscovered that my wife used to be a hardcore garage fan. She spent her whole 6th form in dodgy garage clubs but this never came out until she showed me the moves at tramlines. It was quite the revelation! Just wondered, have you recently uncovered something funny/interesting about your partners past?

Now I have a fine sense of cynicism but even I ...etc etc

My twitter feed seems to be filled with people expressing their sudden love for Andy Murray now that he cried. I actually always quite liked him so this doesn't really apply to me but; Is there anybody that you've dramatically changed your opinion of? I could say Jamie Oliver because I always thought he was a complete pr**k but now I think he's sort of alright

He was the other singer, tall and skinny with curly hair. Sings Whippin Picadilly

Does anyone remember gomez? No? Well they are an British indie band most famous in the late 90's. My mate Jon is mates with their league singer Ian. I was always a massive Gomez fan so I was quite giddy when I went round to watch the footy with Jon the other day and Ian from Gomez was there too I may be wrong but I suspect someone out there can probably beat that though. Does anybody have any impressive celeb mates?? (more impressive than 90's indie stars)

Just got back from a holiday in Rhodes where at the hotel the entertainment team organised daily pool side competitions. I beat 2 Germans and 1 Bulgarian to take the table tennis title I was pathetically proud:) Anyone got any proud holiday tournament wins? Ideally the smaller more trivial the better

So the privately educated, LSE graduate named Trenton (for christ sake) fancied himself as a class warrior and disrupted the boat race yesterday. Which made me wonder, what is the lamest protest you've ever been a part of or witnessed? My ten cents worth - my friend Brooke at Uni tried to chain himself to the McDonalds entrance in Cardiff to protest against their unethical meat production. The chain turned out not to be long enough - it was a bit embarassing?

This is inspired by Russell Brand apparently meeting girls at yoga class. I'm sure it helps if you are Russell Brand but just wondered where is the strangest most random place that you have met a future partner? I'm thinking prison, at the supermarket, on the bus etc

I know, I think I wanted to be posher than I really was

Did you ever tell an outrageous random lie when you were a kid? When I was about 12 I told a few of my friends that I had a maid. I've no idea why? Whenever they came round i had to say it was her day off. It was a bit pathetic really. I thought about this recently because a lady at my work said that she used to play football for the England Womens team. In the days of google it isn't really that hard to find out whether things are true or not and as it happens it was not true. She may have a condition I don't know but I can't remember any other obvious pork pies she has told. Just wondered what the biggest and silliest lie was you have ever told? Who knows, maybe you have never come clean before

I love a good 'the trouble with this country' post ha and you managed to insult my work too so that is good going. Thanks friend

I'm sorry to hear that. Does indeed sound awkward. Do you find yourself overkissing too then?