Gary Lynch's Blog @ www.garyLynch.net

No sooner had I said that this blog was going to get updated more often then Google went and put a bloody spanner in the works. You see, I use Google's Blogger platform to maintain this blog but then publish it to my own web server rather than have Google host it for me. Doing it this way allows me to customise it in ways that I couldn't if Google hosted for me. But now Google have decided to stop supporting the publishing to other servers and from the end of March all Blogger blogs will have to be hosted on Google's servers. This blog will not work on Google's servers because there is just too much server-side scripting embedded in it.

So I am left with a few choices, either ditch Blogger in favour of some other blogging platform, recreate the site in such a way that it will work with Blogger or do it all manually. Whichever option I choose it is going to cause me a tremendous amount of work to get it fully working. Damn you Google.

Anyway I think I've decided to stick with Blogger, there are some advantages to doing so, it does mean though that over the coming weeks this blog may be offline or not quite working as it should but hopefully in the end it'll be all the better for it.

Update
This blog has now been almost completely moved over to a Blogger hosted solution. There are still a few issues I need to sort out but at least I'm back in business.

If you want to eat out in Caerphilly there isn't a great choice in restaurants, there's the usual pub chains offering run of the mill pub-grub and one or two other establishments that whilst they might satisfy your hunger they won't satisfy your soul. So it wasn't with a great deal of expectation that we visited a new all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant that's recently opened just a little bit on the wrong side of town. My expectations were lowered even further when the taxi driver who, without being disrespectful to him, probably wasn't much of a connoisseur was surprised that we'd want to go there. We thought we'd give it a go anyway, time was getting on and we were getting hungry. And besides, 'good' Chinese food is very much a personal opinion, not everyone likes the same styles etc.

So the taxi driver dropped us off and his parting words were "If I get to pick you up again let me know if it's any better in there." I did wonder if he meant on the off-chance that he'd pick us up again or if we ever made it out of there alive again. The restaurant itself is in a building that used to be a pub and for whatever reason the pub never had many windows and the few it did have you couldn't really see in through and so from the outside there's no way of telling what's on the inside before you enter. Which is a shame as if it had, we'd have told the taxi to turn around and take us elsewhere.

Despite my expectations being rock bottom, I couldn't have imagined anything worse than the sight that greeted us. It wasn't so much a restaurant but a greasy spoon cafe with a twist. The room had brilliant-white painted walls, the wallpaper on which it was painted was probably a good 30 years old. The lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling were just that - lightbulbs - no shades or anything. The dining tables were the cheapest brilliant-white plastic coated tables I've ever seen, completely bare except for a small drinks menu. The carpet was probably the same carpet that was down when the building was still a pub and as everyone know's, carpets don't work in pubs - just too much spillage. There was nothing immediately obvious that told you this was a Chinese restaurant other than the staff who quickly sat us down whilst we were still taking in the ambience (if that's the right word to use) and before we could turn around to leg it.

But what really set the place apart was actually the other 'diners'. I'm not one to dress up that much when going out but I am at least clean, tidy and presentable. Well I don't think there's ever been a time before this where I felt a bit like a fish out of water by being overly dressed as apposed to under dressed! As I mentioned the restaurant is just that little bit the wrong side of town, in fact it's opposite the Landsbury Park estate which rightly or wrongly has a bed reputation. Google 'landsbury park caerphilly' and the top result links to wikimapia.org and this is what is says "Whilst travelling through the area, keep all windows closed, ensure all expensive items in the car are hidden from view and do not make eye contact with any chavs on the side of the road smoking crack. Well known locally for fatalities, heroin addiction and paedophilia, Lansbury is not somewhere to drop in when visiting Caerphilly." The other diners were clearly more local than I and were there taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet as a pay day treat, and wow did could they take advantage!

Well anyway, we were there, we were hungry and so we stayed to eat. The food itself, what was left of it, wasn't too bad. It was edible but had you got it from one of the many local takeaways I think it probably wouldn't be your first choice of takeaway, there are much better takeaways to be had but to be fair there are are also loads that are lots worse. At the time I actually quite liked some if it but when you go to places like this I suppose you never really know what you're eating and wow did my bowels know about it afterwards! I cannot tell you what happened, it's just to embarrassing to mention.

So if you're ever in Caerphilly, I don't recommend you go to the Mandarin City, go to the Green Cottage at the top end of town instead - they're a 7 out of 10 as apposed to a 2 out of 10.

About a year ago I wrote that this blog didn't get updated enough and and in future I'd make an effort to write more often. Well that turned out to be bollocks didn't it? To be honest 2009 was a strange year for me and not very conducive to keeping this blog updated. After 16 years of being together, Emma and I split up and I wasn't in the best frame of mind to contribute to this frivolity. Anyways, that was then and this is now so I think it's time I started things back up again. Having said that I've actually got bugger all to say at the moment other than 'watch this space.'

Some photos from a weekend at Paul's place near Agay in the South of France. I neglected to take my camera so these were kindly donated by Llinos & Mike (albiet with a bit of editing on my part!)

It was a good weekend, lot's of eating and drinking and a nice boat trip to Pampelonne beach for lunch.

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Someone rang me in work today, the conversation went like this:

Idiot: The number 9 key isn't working on my keyboard.

Me: The one on the numeric keypad or the one above the letters.

Idiot: The one on the numeric keypad.

Me: OK, can you just use the key above the letters for now and someone will bring you a new keyboard.

Idiot: Oh, that 9 key isn't working either.

Idiot: Oh, none other the number keys are working either.

Idiot: Oh, actually none of the letter keys are working either.

Me: So the keyboard isn't working at all?

Idiot: No, none of the keys are working.

Idiot: Oh, hang on, I know what's wrong now.

Me: Oh, what?

Idiot: There's no space left in the field I'm typing in.

Some photos from the CLSC Easter Weekend at Pembrey.

Who is Singapore Gary? It's not me! I wrote in a past blog post about the amount of traffic that ends up here as the result of people searching for the other GLs out there and the incredulity that some people even have to ask if I'm the GL they're looking for. I like to keep tabs on what search terms drive people to this site and often find their queries quite amusing and sometimes downright bizarre. Of course it doesn't help having things like Hotdoll - the sex toy for dogs! mentioned but in the past 24 hours there has been a rush of people from all over Malaysia and Singapore landing on this site after searching for 'Singapore Gary Blog' or 'Singapore Gary Sex Video'. So who is Singapore Gary and what has he done to become an overnight celebrity in Malaysia and Singapore? Maybe I shouldn't ask!

Update
I now know who Singapore Gary is click here.

Being such a lovely sunny day today we went for a walk up Caerphilly Mountain and not one to ever miss an opportunity to geek things up a bit I decided we should combine the walk with a bit of geocaching, which is something I hadn't done before. For those who don't know, geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. (www.geocaching.com) There are currently around 750,000 active geocaches around the world so no matter where you are you are probably not very far away from one. The geocaches themselves tend to be waterproofed tupperware containers that contain a log book to record your visit and a number of other little trinkets, the idea being you can take something from it and leave something else behind. Some of these trinkets have serial numbers and are known as travel bugs, you take a travel bug out of one geocache and then place it in another and record it's new location online so it's movements can be tracked. Some have been known to travel tens of thousands of miles a few times around the world.

So off we set with a pack lunch and my iPhone with which I'd already pin-pointed the location of the geocache in its Google Maps application and it navigated us there perfectly. The geocache itself was quite easy to find hidden behind some rocks in the hollow at the base of a large tree though if you hadn't known it was there you really wouldn't have been any the wiser. It was quite exciting finding and opening it to see what was inside, it contained a log book, other peoples calling cards and a number of other little knick-knacks. We didn't take or leave anything, being geocaching virgins we weren't really prepared and had nothing to leave, so we repacked it all and hid it again.

It all sounds a bit anorakish but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

I am on a train and the strangest thing just happened. A homeless man boarded the train in Hereford, it was quite a sight. He was dragging behind him two old-lady shopping trolleys stuffed to bursting with plastic carrier bags filled with all his worldly possessions. It took him a few trips back and forth to get these bags on the train as things kept falling out of them much to the amusement of everyone sat watching. He was wearing a woolly hat, scarf, long scruffy Carlsberg branded anorak and to complete the image a pair of Ugg boots about 5 sizes too small so the heals were half way down his feet. He left his bags in the open space in front of where I'm sat and then disappeared down the carriage. When the train pulled into Shrewsbury I looked up to see a smartly dressed man in black suit, shirt and tie grab the bags and proceed with them off the train. A bit concerned I looked around for the homeless man in the carriage behind me but couldn't see him. When I turned back the suited man was already off the train and walking down the platform, to accompany his suit he was wearing Ugg boots 5 sizes too small for him!

I think there's a lesson to learned here in human dignity. I don't know where the man must have been going to warrant this change of clothes into his charity shop suit but just imagine the pain and embarrassment he must have been feeling inside at having to spoil the whole transformation by not having any proper shoes.

That's my thought for the day.