summer time and the living is easy

all is well, sat at home looking at the internet, had a look at johnny's blog and he'd written a few posts which shamed me into writing this ad-hoc offering, had an ok weekend, woke up on saturday and decided randomly to go to the cricket, i thought we're pretty good at the moment so i should see maybe the best england team of my lifetime while we are at the top of our game

i say "we" i'm not really in the team, but i am part of the country so i feel I've done my bit, arguably I've contributed more than kevin pietersen who isn't even really english

anyway, i set off down to the oval with the hope of buying a ticket off a tout, i've never done that before and didn't really have much idea how much it would cost, a bloke outside the station asked me if i wanted a ticket, i said "yes", he said "walk with me", i said "ok", he said "we'll have to do this quickly like, the old bill are trying to drive us out of business" I said "how much?" he said "80 quid to you, squire" I said ok and we did a quick swap, money and tickets at the same time.

so i went into the ground, i was a bit nervous going in as i thought it might have turned out to be a dodgy ticket, it was fine, i went to my seat and the seat was fantastic, £80 for a £75 ticket, i thought that's fantastic value, the sun was shining, ian bell was on about 210, i had a book and spare money for beer and snacks, hooray.

I watched an entertaining couple of hours of english batting, bell was out, bopara battled against his notgoodness, prior hit fours, all was well. the time came for lunch and almost simultaneously it started raining, i thought "where has that come from, it was sunny and bright but five minutes ago, no matter, I'm sure the sun will come back soon" the sun didn't come back and it quickly became apparent it wouldn't in the immediate future.

i decided to leave the ground in search of sustinance and football results, i went to borough market and bought bread, butter, tomatoes, cheese and assorted hams, then i went to the pub and watched the exciting end of the liverpool arsenal game, liverpool look ok, arsenal don't, blackburn aren't even on the same planet as ok.

i looked outside and lo and behold, the sun was out again, i got back on the tube, went back to the oval, back on the ground, got myself a pint, ate some bread and butter and cheese and ham, thought "bloody hell it's warm now", got myself an england top, england declared and then came out and exhibited an amazingly disciplined display of seam and spin bowling, i was gobsmacked, we are actually really good at the moment, hooray for cricket, it almost made me forget how shit blackburn rovers are

afterwards, flushed with the warm feeling of a satisfying day, i made my way home where i finished off my bread and butter and cheese and ham

THE END

i am happy

i am happy, i am a happy man, i have my own place to live which must be the first time in forever.......... it actually is, i've never lived alone, i feel like a true grown up, never mind that i'm 33 years old and should be a grown up already, this is a new chapter in the history of sam douglas

with my new found positivity, i've decided to start blogging again as it's much easier to do if you're in a cheery frame of mind, i will put pictures on but i have a slight problem with chargers and suchlike going missing..... like a true douglas, i have a problem taking pictures, with me at least it is partially down to my inherent ugliness (i take a shocking picture, i feel i'm the most unphotogenic person in the world but then maybe most people think that about themselves) anyway, i digress, we douglasses lack the discipline and order to take cameras anywhere and take photos when it matters. my dad is great at lugging a big camera round the alps and taking pictures and videos of plants and mountains but where is he when you need a photo of someone blowing the candles out on a cake (playing darts normally) anyway, at least i've recognised my faults (well, one of them) and i'll try to do better

working a lot at the moment, my job is not always fun but i'm trying to be better at it so at least i can take some pride in my work, i don't want to write about work too much as i'll bore myself and while i can be fairly honest about most things it's not always a good idea to write about your thoughts about your place of work on the internet as somebody might actually read it, i think my mum has decided not to read my blog as she is afraid it will upset her (this may have happened after reading one of my particularly dark posts written whilst intoxicated)

days off this week should include a trip to see a friends band in hoxton (cash for cars) fortunately it's the kind of music i like (power rock) so i dont really have to pretend to like them, week after may be a trip to germany to see luke (celines birthday) then dinkling green is looming large, i may have to try out some cake recipes and do some art research, and johnny we'll have to arrange for me to visit ireland

so i know it's been a while but i promise to write again soon, peace out, come round for dinner, i even have a spare bedroom, wow

i had such high hopes for tonight (i didn't really)

so this is me blogging, i'm actually writing something. i'm at home i've been out drinking, i won't write quite as much bollocks as i did last time...............i have garlic bread in the oven, i've put some pasta sauce and ham on top, i'm sure twill taste delicious..............been to o'neills, drinking snakebite, is a good drink, when you get home, watching come diine with me is a bad thing.............. went to chowpatty beach on the south bank the other day, very good cocktails, had rum in a coconut, good drink..............have to wake up at 6am on the 24th to get olympics tickets, how does that work?...............i need to find somewhere to live, i'd like somewhere central, not too expensive, with cool bars............. i will write something else....... i promise

hello,is it me you're looking foo-ho-hooor

i can see it in your smile..... i can see it in your ki-hi-hisss, you're all i ever wanted, I've got the words quite wrong.................... any you know just what I'll do............ me and the motley crue... and i want to tell you so much........................doo-biddeee-dooo

sometimes, i think i'm quite funny when i'm pissed but i've come to realise i'm not really..... as evidenced by (i'm not sure, perhaps the rambling nonsense that started my post) ............anyway, how are you, i'm sorry i've not written owt (owt?) recently, i've been suffering from bloggers malaise (malaise?)

i'll carry on..................... i went to belfast, or nearby this weekend, the fact that i turned up at the wrong airport has been widely documented, i won't go into it, i'll only say that i did give actual consideration to the fact that i may be mentally ill.

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i've just read this back,,,,,, sorry it's a little shit

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had a bloody great time in ireland, it's ace to go on a stag do where you're not in a city centre and feeling that someone will do something stupid to get you twatted.... we were in the middle of nowhere and everyone was dead sound (manchester) met good people, which is good

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((( i felt a little silly as i've not been invited to the wedding but I got invited to the stag do so thought i'd turn up, hope the weddding goes well, matt and catrina are ace)))

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i'm a little sad as my shifts are changing at work, i'll miss a couple of my regular drinking people but i'm happy to be seeing more of a couple of old friends again, swings and roundabouts i suppose

%

bollocks, i wish i was writing more interesting things... it's 2.37... i'm pissed,.... i persuaded dan to write a blog and his is bloody AMAZING.. you see how i wrote that in capital letters.. i never write anything in capitals (even things that really should be)

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so, it's emma's 30th at the weekend, twill be nice to see her and andy again

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eating pasta and curry sauce... some people think i can cook.... fools

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on my days off, i'm going to join the gym in preparation to look better and find my wife to be who will be in a rush to bear my children

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too confessional???

!

fuck it, i;m pissed, may be too old to live in camden, might move somewhere more middle aged, but with dancing

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DON'T EAT PASTA WITH CURRY SAUCE, IT'S BAAAD

Another day

Sometimes nothing happens in a day.... what do I write about. I have decided that I should get fitter, I think I may run the London marathon, is that a silly idea? I think I could battle through the pain, how hard can it be, right, i'm definitely going to do it, I should probably give up smoking, that might start tomorrow.

Went to the southampton arms the other day with johnny and Julia and some of julias friends, was good, the beer was ace, they didn't take cards which made me look a bit poverty stricken because I couldn't be arsed to walk half a mile to get cash out.

Good (warm) Friday

I know it's been ages since I wrote anything on this, I'm a bad person, I'm disappointed in myself. The problem with leaving it a while is that now I've got too much to write about. The family douglas came down to visit last week, was really good, went to Hawksmoor for steak and cocktails, next day we went to Dinner by Heston which may have been the best meal I've ever had. I had cod cheeks and porridge followed by pork chop and taffety tart, food was awesome.... I'm happy it was a good idea (it was my idea) We also went to see Les Mis, was very good (although my enjoyment of the first half was somewhat hampered by how much I needed a piss)

No man is and island, except me...... I'm an island

So me and Sam broke up, that still sounds wierd (having the same name), perhaps we broke up because we have the same name............... No we didn't, we broke up because I'm a shit boyfriend, I don't call or text, I'm always in the pub, I value my independence and I have a new job which seems to be slowly turning me into a bit of a dick.

I'm writing this on a train up to Preston, I love being on trains, I'm a lot more productive as it's dead time so I feel the need to fill it with reading or blogging or watching a film. I suppose I have the same opportunity to do those things at home but I don't.. I lozzock about.

Tommorrow is Aintree, first day of the Grand National meeting. I'm sure I'll lose all my money, I think I'm addicted to spending money in all forms.. gambling, strippers, food, booze. All fun things but can all rather expensive, (I'm not really addicted to strippers, I have to clarify that)

Friday is Jimmy's wedding, should be good, I've left all the information in London, I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on.

Why won't jamelia marry me?

Maybe because I have to crawl out of bed at 4am to catch the night bus to leicester square, haven't done this for a.while, forgot how horrid it is, Ahh well, fuck jamelia she doesn't know what she's missing.

I'm listening to epic by faith no more, should white men rap? Is that racist? I'll have to ask daz sampson.

Not sure many of my multitudinous blog followers will have picked up on my previous eurovision song contest reference....... anyway I shouldn't have to explain myself, i'll preach to the educated

What the hello am I going on about? This question and more will be answered on the next episode of BATFINK

Ooooooo arrrrgh me hearties

Stag do, Manchester, barges, booze

Chelters

Went, gambled, lost, drunk, made some daft comment about the worthington cup final

The IC1s

Went to see johnnys mates band, they would've been ace but the lead singer was arguably a little too pissed, they're still good and a country mile better than the second band who were truly cack.

That's what happens

Three pounds and ninety nine pee at 1am, not good for me.

A L'imperial

I spend half of my life and mote than half of my personal fortune in this pub.

Teriyaki beef for my tea

Good win for England in the six nations today while I was asleep, looking forward to the north this weekend, not much to write, should I stop taking pictures of my food, I often write this blog whilst sat in the restaurant at work and i'm not allowed to take pictures inside the casino so my options are limited.

I hate it when I reread what I've written and its a sack of shit, johnny says writing a blog makes you do more stuff but it also makes me sad when I've nut done anything.

I've been working, that's my excuse.

Sat in work

Sat in work on a Saturday night, a full casino with lots of people enjoying their nights out, I need more good nights out, need to make that happen.

Anyway tomorrow is Sunday and then I'm on the downward slope to stag do debauchery, will be good for me,

Sam is mad at me as i'm not the most punctual person when it comes to returning texts and phonecalls, I think that may just be the way i'm made, ask anyone.

Sat in the restaurant at work waiting for my pork belly, the footy was good today, arsenal play good football but lack cutting edge. This was clinically exposed by united.

princess Louise is a good pub, with cider

I like to drink booze with London friends.

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busy doing nothing

so I've had a couple of days off now, not done very much but I think that's exactly what I needed. did very little yesterday but went and met johnny, tom and andy in the princess louise for a few beers.

when i'm typing i rarely use capital letters

spent today mainly doing washing and tidying my room, i hate doing shit like that but I do feel like i have more order in my life which has to be a good thing

i have many things that i've done recently which i could blog about but haven't got round to (purl, hawksmoor, howard and cathy's party) I'll try and write more, I honestly will.

got a week of work then cheltenham festival and a trip up north for james' stag do.

i'll let you know what happens........

I'm on the night bus, you can't catch me, i'm fuckin innocent...

Hello, what is it like waking up at half three to go to work in London's biggest casino, I'll tell you what its like, it's fucking shit. Thought I'd go for a few pints after work last night, had a sensible night, about 4 pints, not a bit drunk, having said that, got home at about 11 so got about 4 hours sleep and now have a tongue like a carpet that's been soaking in babycham.
I'm writing this on the nightbus which is pleasantly quiet but I'm struggling to type on my phone's keyboard as I keep jiggling about, going to see Sam (not me) in st albans tomorrow and having steak and cocktails on Thursday. Got paid now my name is no longer poverty Sam.
By the way, what a marvellous weekend of sport, cricket, rugby, calling cup... only downside was rovers getting dicked on.

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big burger

I've been promising myself I'd go and try the burger at hawksmoor for a while, went the other day. The meat and bun were great but the extra bits were a bit strong so it was a bit of an undertaking.

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Chinatown.

This year is the year of the rabbit you know. I have a lucky badge which I pinned to the lapel of my suit, it made a mess of my suit so I cannot now take the badge off. I don't feel that lucky. Fucking rabbits.

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Sam's TV and film review corner

Have been watching TV and film tonight, started with masterchef, lots of people cried and said how much it mattered to them, they had 20 contestants which they had to whittle down to 12. Everyone had to cook something with egg in it..... I don't like eggs

At the moment I'm watching Blades of Glory which is a film with Will Ferrell, it seems to be a remake of the finest skating films of all time.. The Cutting Edge. Both are films about improbable skating partnerships who come together to skate in a major tournament and culminate in a dangerous and taboo final skating move... For the record, The Cutting Edge is the better film.

And that is Sam's gay skating film recommendation of the week.

PS, the video for Robbie Williams' song She's The One also followed a similar plot.

absence makes the heart grow fonder

been busy at work so not been blogging, had a hard week, think you feel less like sharing what's going on when one is feeling a bit down in the dumps.

someone threw a drink over me at work the other day, it was a bit of a drama.

made piri piri chicken whilst watching heston then skins then indoor athletics tonight, not really sure if the flavour's right, tastes heavily of smoked paprika

i can already feel that this may be my worst blog yet, I apologise

I've sit up now rather than lozzocking on the couch, this is so I can put a more concerted effort into what I'm writing as I can feel the standard slipping....Lost too much money playing internet blackjack when i was pissed the other night, i think this might be a symptom of my general malaise... currently watching indoor athletics (I know I've already mentioned that) I've been thinking about the olympics A LOT recently as the schedule has been released and you can apply for tickets in a couple of weeks, I'll tell you what I can't bloody wait, London will be so ace next year, I want to see everything, all the really random shit, I fucking love the olympics

Have been designing T-shirts on the internet, made one with PR3 on the front as I was having home nostalgia, couldn't order it due to my disastrous gambling but get paid on monday so not long to wait.

time for bed

I'm noticing that a large portion of my posts seem to be taken up by descriptions of my varying levels of tiredness, I feel fine at the moment, having a lovely evening at the moment, enjoying a beer and watching the BAFTA awards on TV. Unfortunately, I have to be up for my graveyard shift at half three in the AM which is, at the last count, about five and a half hours away.

The BAFTAs seem to be quite good but The Kings Speech is winning everything which kind of takes the excitement out of it, it is a good film though.

My internet is still broken which is quite upsetting but I've managed to make my phone magically beam out a wi-fi signal to my laptop so I don't feel quite so lost (and I can keep track of my Xpert 11 team, I lost my last match. Damn)

Anyway, I'm not pissed or tired so I'm not very interesting this evening, I'd love to tell a tale of times gone by or let you know of my many plans for the future but I'm lacking inspiration at the moment, London is good, happy days

does anyone really read this

I have many things to write and say but some of those nay be deemed too controversial for the hoi polloi or the fat cats in their ivory towers. One day the truth will come out and one day my Fucking microwave curry will be finished. By the way my blogs are shit because my internet doesn't work.......and I'm pissed.

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Blogging for blogging's sake

So it's just past 4 in the morning, because I stayed up too long yesterday (till 7 in the evening) I ended up waking back up and watching TV. This had the knock on effect of me only waking up at three in the afternoon, meaning that I've had a less than productive day. I lounged about watching TV, there was nothing much on, watched skins, the new series is quite good, then went to sainsburys to buy things to cook with, made chicken satay which was essentially done by whizzing up peanut butter with chilli, garlic, ginger and coriander. I put too much coriander in so it was a bit of a funny green colour.

After my short flirtation with cookery, I watched some more TV, there was not much choice as I no longer have the luxury of sky TV, I ended up with the choice of 2 films - road trip or brokeback mountain. I opted for the more masculine choice of road trip. I don't think it'll go down as an all time classic but I'm a big fan of amy smart, the breakout star of the film - she went on to make such modern day classics as CRANK and CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE. I look forward to her future work.

I read timeout today and there's a list of the top 50 restaurants in london, I'd been to 8 of them, i might go for all 50 as a bit of a challenge - that's if I every get round to leaving my flat on my days off. really should've gone and visited someone today, make a bit of use of my free time.

tomorrow going to see the other sam, she lives in st albans but that doesnt take as long to get there as it sounds, i may have been supposed to book us a meal for tomorrow but I've not got round to it, lethargy has been setting in, I may join the gym tomorrow, i think I've said that before.

Been playing on the new google music editing software thingy tonight, quite easy to use, i may write a hit record, not sure if you can put vocals on it, if you can my career as a UK rapper may finally take off.

EDIT: I've just reread this blog to correct any spelling mistakes and noticed that I'm a bit of an ideas man. Unfortunately my ideas never come to fruition. I may write a book of all my ideas so someone else can follow up on them.

EDIT: That was another idea wasn't it.

what am I doing

I'm sat in the fox club playing poker in a thirty pounds competition. I'm absolutely knackered as I started work at 5am and woke up at about half three, i'm sleep deprived and a little delerious, this is not helping my poker, I started with 5000 chips, I now have about 3000, I might go all on the next hand (i didn't, I had K8) next plan is get a brew and a fag and not play a hand, that sounds better.

I'm listening to the final countdown, great synths, I remember when Blackburn used to make their entrance to this song in out halcyon days, got a feeling that wasn't spelt right as my phone didn't know the word.

Ordered my brew, hopefully it'll arrive soon as I need caffeine, there seems to be lots of chips in the pot, the man next to me won them with a pair of jacks, fuck I'm tired.

Work is hard, everyone seems to want something from me and I barely have time to think, just lost another 400 chips, what happened to not playing another hand, dickhead.

Breaktime, I've got a horrid strong cup of coffee with 3 sugars in, got 2300 chips, might go all in soon, i'm shit at poker when I'm tired, might as well have given thirty notes to a tramp.

Gloria estefan is on now, did she get hit by a motorboat?

Why do I not raise when I have a good hand, what's wrong with me?

They've moved me to another table, maybe my luck'll change, at least I don't have to pay my blinds for a while, had a great cup of hot chocolate

So....... it's now about 2 hours after I got knocked out of the poker which was about 5 minutes after I wrote the last comment. After I got knocked out I stupidly thought it'd be a good idea to put the twenty quid in my pocket into the fruit machine, that twenty lead to another and another until I'd put an embarrassingly large amount in, I won't say how much, a lot.

Anyway was about to go home when I won a bit, then a bit more, then a lot more till I was about 200 quid up, happy days but I still feel a bit foolish.

So I thought I'd take myself off somewhere to eat, i'm in koya in soho where they apparently do amazing noodles.

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getting home from work at 5am

Had a hard Chinese new year Friday night at work, got home at 5am, played poker on the internet till 9am, won 300 dollars, now I have another night of work ahead of me and i'm a little tired.

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the kings speech

The above picture is the Afro hairdressers at the top of my road, there seems to be many shops named after me in camden, went to see the kings speech with the other Sam last night, the film was REALLY good, particularly the end bit which brought a tear to my eye in a proud to be British kind of way, got to work at ten tonight which will be hard as it's Chinese new year so we should be very busy. Rovers lost to spurs last night but it sounds like we were a little unlucky, I really should join the gym, I might start recording my weight on my blog so I can see if it's having any effect, having said that, I suppose the first step is actually joining.

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pasta his best

I'm playing with the blogging app and accidentally put a picture of some pasta that I made the other night, I can't work how to get rid of the picture so I thought I'd write a little blog to go with it. The pasta was the swirly one with homemade pesto and cured meat. It was ok but a bit too wet as I put a bit of the pasta water in with it because Jamie says to do so.
It's about three o'clock in the morning at the moment and I've spent the night watching rather shit telly. TV is just not good anymore, shit, I'm getting old.

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The day after deadline day

these are the thing's i.ve bought today, cured meat, sausages, smoked paprika and a filter thingy to make coffee. Deadline day was yesterday - Rovers bought a player called FORMICA which Dan says is sure to turn us into TABLE TOPPERS, I'm a bit upset that I didn't think of that. Everyone else did bad business - Torres £50 mill? Carroll £35 mill? The world's gone mad. Still, I'm optimistic for the future, we seem to be buying dribbly quick players, they're my favourite kind.

Johnson fell of his bike

Johnson ran into the back of a car on his way home last night, hope he's ok and not too upset about his impending scarification.

so I promised Johhny that I would blog, luckily i already had one set up that I recorded some random musings from the 2008 WSOPE, seems like such a long time ago

yesterday i went to the ICE (international casino exhibition) it wasn't too interesting although there was free beer, above is a picture of Scooby with some stormtroopers, I did get a free ticket for a party at stringfellows, so it wasn't a complete dead loss.

afterwards went for a beer at the imperial with the people that are doing the pai gow training school, had a nice drink then on to stringfellows, arrived there and we got in free, it then transpired that the beer was free aswell so i felt a little silly for not going earlier, due to all the freeness i didn't feel to bad about paying for a dance, it was £20 which seems a bit steep to see some boobs, nice as they were.

got the nightbus home, fell asleep, woke up in seven sisters, had to get a bus all the way back to central london and then back to camden. on the bright side I didn't get robbed so i don't feel too bad about the whole ordeal.

andy gray has been sacked, as many people have pointed out, people say sexist things on TV all the time without being sacked (loose women) but having watched the footage they do both come off as proper bellends so maybe they deserve it - also andy gray is suing the news of the world so what does he expect, don't sue your boss, they don't like it.

family are coming down in april, i've booked us in at 'dinner by heston blumenthal' should be exciting

that is all for my first post for 2 and a half years, i wonder how long i'll keep it up for this time, i've just had a sausage sandwich, maybe i should've blogged it, i may start taking pictures of my food, i need to get my camera back from andy's house this is just me talking to myself now so i'll STOP.