pluk

Pretty amazing stuff! I imagine at least one of those songs is written about you then, I wonder which?!

So, following a written test and an assessment of my driving today (which included a couple of really sweet satisfying overtakes) I've passed the first part of the driving course. Yay! It's already made me a much smoother, more observant and safer driver, even though we are going some incredible speeds at times. Everyone should learn this stuff, the roads would be much safer. 2 more weeks to go, still loving every minute.

I think it is not for Thorpe to decide. It will sure be included as part of some development plan or planning application which the council agree to, in principle at least, before it could be seriously considered. And the council would not agree to anything like that without public consultation, which we would obviously be aware of if it happened. So whoever has said it has likely made it up entirely, or knows of some sort of application ready to be submitted. Either way I'd say it is a long way from being confirmed.

I had to sit through a half day presentation on a serious matter (including real life/death stuff) last week, all in comic sans. I could have killed someone. Also on being careful with your fonts... They really do make cards for everyone now, huh.

Little interview on Theme Park Tourist, which contains nothing I've not heard before from JW to be honest... http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20131121/15110/interview-john-wardley-rides-were-never-built Seems to be giving stock answers to questions he's been asked 1000 times. Someone needs to think of something new to ask him!

I'm not sure I know of an 'off the shelf' or 'standard model' of anything that isn't flat, ie installable on a level surface. Anything designed around topographical features / toilet blocks is custom for a reason and unlikely to be cloned.

5 points to anyone who manages to get them to hint at a topspin...

MarkC... I'm your worst nightmare. Stop being a sex pest. I don't think I've ever been aware I'm dreaming as such, more that I'm aware I am asleep and want to be awake, but can't wake. Which in some ways is a dream in itself I suppose? Gah, I don't know, it's confusing. I'd say the things I had were definatley sleep paralysis though, and it is something I really do not want again! How would you go about training yourself in lucid dreaming? I can't see how you'd start without it happening naturally in the first instance. Also, if you are concious enough to know you are dreaming, to make decisions in that dream and remember what has happened, are you really truly asleep?

I can't even see the yellow, all I can see is LAP BARS.

That is excellent. My Dad suffers with this, he had a load of sunbed type treatments which seemed to solve it completely but since that course ended it has been creeping back. I know he's tried loads but probably not everything, would you mind saying what creams it is that have worked for you?

So it's Running Man for kids?

I've always been a bit sceptical of placing meanings on dreams, I think a lot of what goes through your mind is pure randomness that is just based on previous experiences, but sometimes they will directly relate to what is going on in your concious world in an obvious way. My wife has a ridiculous book full of nonsense which tells you dreaming of one object or situation signifies this or that which appears entirely unrelated. Sounds like rubbish to me. A few times a while back I had a weird thing happen which having just looked it up might have been somewhere around lucid dreaming / sleep paralysis, I'd never heard of either before. I'd be asleep and become aware that I was asleep and want to wake myself up, but would be unable to wake myself. Sometimes I would dream that I had woken up but couldn't move, before waking up for real. This then went on to sometimes loop, where I'd be continuously dreaming of trying to wake myself, dreaming that I had woken myself but couldn't move, deciding I was still asleep and trying to wake myself again, which went on and on without me waking. Until eventually I did obviously! I still don't really know if I was sometimes actually awake and 'paralysed' or had remained asleep through it. To be honest it freaked me the hell out. When I did eventually wake for real I'd have to get up for a while and would not look forward to going to sleep again. It normally happened not long after I'd gone to bed. Not had it happen for ages now, a couple of years probably.

What a find, nice one! I'm certain I've ever seen that before. That company looks pretty amazing really. I wonder if they and others are still considered for new projects or if they try and keep it completely in house with Merlin Studios, who seem to make a fairly successful line in things that don't work often or for long.

I've got no idea what hunger games even is, but if it can be used as an excuse for a decent dark ride I'd be happy. Could it fit a Spiderman type affair? That technology should be getting more and more affordable all the time.

Is a pity, seeing as I follow the project on facebook and subscribe to their email it is a shame nothing from them alerted me to it, maybe I've had my eyes closed. Pleased it was well attended though. I'm not surprised the railway has rotted, would be nice if someone with the expertise of PBBP help with the restoration, I imagine it would be easy to mess it up. Can't wait to see how they present these classic rides. Wonder how much effort will go in to retro-restoration, as some had some fairly modern (and ugly (yes you, Millennium Bug)) jobs done on them. Hope to see them back in their full glory. Would be great to see something like the amount of love and care that goes into the Carters Steam Fair being applied here, it would be very easy to have this place looking cheap and tacky if they don't have the resources to do it properly. An adult Whip is an awesome thing, that's probably what I'm looking forward to as much as anything.

Love it. Amazing how dilapidated it can look after just a few years, let me at the place with a pressure washer.

Scenic Railway, sponsored by Kumbak. Shivers. Were there any visible plans for future attractions and the like? Did you get to see what sort of state the railway is really in? Wish I had known about this in advance.

I never did frightnights this year so didn't see this in person. BWP seemed to get a bad rep but watching that video it was pretty much what I was expecting in that it was going for a different sort of scare to the others, one based on isolation and anticipation with fewer actual jumps. If they could run it as a scare zone (ie free flowing without a queue) I think it would be much better received, with the hefty queue it got people are going to be expecting a maze type experience which it clearly isn't. But then it really wouldn't work if too many people were there at a time (it looked to be pushing the limits as it was in this vid). With those opposing factors I don't really know how they can make it work properly.

In a word, no. Roughly when was this and how long did it last?

Dreamland makes its first tentative steps at re opening today with a few hours open to the public to see the site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-24962388 Still over a year until the planned reopening, shame it is taking quite so long and they couldn't do it in stages to get something open for next year.

A waltzer in the dark is an amazing thing. They used to be relatively common with this one at Drayton, one at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and at least two of the Butlins sites having them (called 'night rider') It is a shame these old funfair style rides keep disappearing, just because they have been around a long time doesn't make them any less fun to ride. Same goes for breakdance, tri-stars, dodgems and many others. Yet the ever dull Enterprises resist the cull even though travelling fairs gave up on them years ago.

There doesn't seem to be any positive equivalent of the ever popular rant thread. What a miserable bunch. I'll start... Right now I am on a month long driving course at work where I get to spend all day every day driving a variety of fairly high performance vehicles very very fast. Learning to do it safely of course, and the concentration required is very draining, but I don't know how it would not be possible to not love every minute of it. Three weeks still to go, big grin on my face at the thought of going back to 'work' on Monday.

REVIVE!!! Oh, sweet thing Zion doesn't love you And Babylon don't love you But you love everything Oh, you saint America don't love you So I could never love you In spite of everything In the dark of this place There's the glow of your face There's the dust on the screen Of this broken machine And I can't help but feel That I've made some mistake But I let it go Ya Hey Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Only "I am that I am" But who could ever live that way? Ut Deo, Ya Hey Ut Deo, Deo Oh, the motherland don't love you The fatherland don't love you So why love anything? Oh, good God The faithless they don't love you The zealous hearts don't love you And that's not gonna change All the cameras and files All the paranoid styles All the tension and fear Of a secret career And I can't help but think That you've seen the mistake But you let it go Ya Hey Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name You say "I am what I am" But who could ever live that way? Ut Deo, Ya Hey Ut Deo, Deo Outside the tents, on the festival grounds As the air began to cool, and the sun went down My soul swooned, as I faintly heard the sound Of you spinning "Israelites" Into "19th Nervous Breakdown" Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Only "I am what I am" But who could ever live that way? Ut Deo, Ya Hey Ut Deo, Deo Through the fire and through the flames You won't even say your name Only "I am that I am" But who could ever live that way? (Ya Hey) Ut Deo, Ya Hey Ut Deo, Deo I am little obsessed with all things Vampire Weekend right now, this one especially. At first glance it reads like a load of gibberish, but there is a lot of meaning in there that taken together question the validity of God and religion and seem pretty in line with my own views. Look out for the cleverly mispronounced Latin.

I had a dream last night that I was back at my old place of work, but all the people working there were the people I work with now. Not very interesting but I rarely remember any dreams. Wonder if it supposed to mean anything?