Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

A little while ago I read about an idea about placing an "icon" on top of the hill as you head down Swanscombe Cutting entitled "Angel of the South". Today, my fears which were highlighted at the time became reality as the five shortlisted designs where revealed. It is quite clear that the whole pretentious idea is flawed, and that none of the designs, which I have listed below are in fitting with the local community, not on any level; culturally , aesthetically , historically, artfully - the list is endless. Am I being a little harsh? Judge for yourself. 1) Christopher Le Brun This design from Christopher Le Brun looks like a huge satellite dish which has been crashed into by a huge bird, which is stuck with it's arse hanging out of the ground! 2) Daniel Buren The Far East or Gravesend , where would this look more appropriate? I cannot see it remaining shiny contemporary white for too long. Some lad from Swanscombe with a spray can will see to that! 3) Mar...

The current football season is drawing to a close with the lucky supporters of those teams in the playoffs anticipation promotion glory, or in the case of Manchester United, Chelsea, Portsmouth and Cardiff City the chance to see their teams winning some silverware. Unfortunately, for us Gillingham fans we have a long three months ahead of us as we deal with the ignominy of relegation back to the 'basement' division of League Two. The commercial people within the FA may have rebranded the names of the leagues in an attempt to make them sound more appealing, but as supporters there is no fooling us as we look forward to playing the likes of Morecombe , Accrington Stanley, Macclesfield Town and Grimsby . When Paul Scally took over the club back in the spring of 1995 nobody would have predicted the wonderful journey and realms of success that we would be given over the next ten years. An immediate promotion to League One (although it wasn't called that then), glorious cu...

Stephanie, Oliver and I would like to offer our heartfelt best wishes to Will and Olivia, whom celebrate their marriage on Saturday at Christchurch, followed by a reception at Turkey Mill, Maidstone . I mentioned previously in a blog posting when Will and Olivia got engaged that these two people had a certain destiny together and that their marriage was long ago conceived to be part of a life long journey between them. Like Stephanie and I, Will and Olivia met at a young age. In fact, they were both younger than ourselves, and so the formative experiences that Stephanie and I have experienced are certain to have been felt by them. What sets Will and Olivia apart, however, is not only there continued devotion to their relationship but the way in which they have handled and managed their individual aspirations. For many, and I would probably include myself in this had I followed the same path, leaving home and going off to university is not only an educational experience, but a social ex...

Walt Disney had a vision, a place for people to spend with their children, a land of make believe, a place where dreams came true. On Wednesday 16th April 2008, I asked Stephanie to marry me at Disneyland Paris, not quite the conclusion of a new Disney production, but a highlight in the road of our own personal story. A highlight in which Stephanie had her own dreams come true. Like all good stories, this one contains a beginning, a middle and an end. Although we are still only really at the beginning, there have been plenty of plot twists and sub plots which would make Walt Disney himself proud. Back in December of 2007, I realised that with the sale of the house and debts paid off now would be as good a time as any to finally get engaged. I decided that I would need to get permission from Steph's Dad in order to proceed, but straight from the off Steph made my task more difficult than it should have been. Very rarely have Colin and I been around The Boat for a beer on a Sunday af...

Having missed out last year on Mark's Stag do, I was more excited than most when Reaso and Foordy declared that we would be going to Krakow to celebrate Will's last weekend of freedom before heading off into life as a married man. However, despite Reaso and Foordy's best laid plans, the cat somehow escaped the bag and Will discovered the destination! Krakow was swiftly discarded and plan B put into place, we would now be going to Tallinn, Estonia instead! I am not too sure how the change of location was not fully communicated, but sitting on board the Easy Jet flight to the Estonian capital, Tommy asked, almost knowing the answer "so we are not going to Poland then?" He had, only the day previously taken a visit to Lunn Poly or somewhere and exchanged some of his well earned English Pounds into Polish zł oty rather than the required Estonian Kroon ! How we laughed! Although, by this stage of the day, I was I must admit, in a mood for laughing at pretty much ...

On March 24 th 1998 I was in Amadeus, celebrating my friends birthday when halfway through the evening and most probably very drunk I had a life-changing conversation with a girl called Stephanie Wenham . I had know Stephanie through Safeway, where I had worked for the past year or so. She had, by this time left Safeway, but a few weeks preceding the 24 th of March saw our paths cross, again drunkenly, this time within the Station Inn (now Bar 24) back garden. After a brief flirtatious conversation and a sloppy kiss a seemingly new relationship was born. Who knows whether the events of just five minutes later defined the immediate course of things to come, but it was alleged that whilst walking through the pub I had myself another sloppy kiss with an unknown female, whilst holding onto Stephanie's hand! Now normally, I would have expected a slap or something similar, but it seemed that I had somehow made an impression upon Stephanie, as through a mutual friend it was explained ...

I haven't written a football related blog for a while and with the events of the past weekend I felt now was as good a time as any. Life as a Gillingham fan has never been easy, but this season has been hardest by far. Results and performances have coincided with a time in my life where football has very much become a secondary factor. No longer does my life revolve around the buzz of a Saturday, the smell of hotdogs , cheap watered down beer and endless journeys up and down the M1 in search of three points. Instead, Fridays are spent with a dying anticipation of spending time with Oliver, time which is scarce during the week where work commitments mean I am home just in time to say goodnight to Oliver and catch him at his most lethargic. Expensive ticket prices, astronomic travel expenditures, whether it be fuel or train tickets mean that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to justify the outlay required to be fully fledged supporter, especially now that Stephanie and I ...

One of my very first blog postings back in 2006 was a book review , about a novel called "One Big Damn Puzzler". Since then, I have read on average a book a week since and engrossed myself an hour a day in the wonderful world of fiction during my commute home. I am not a reviewer of books purposely in that a book is a personal journey, I can tell you about it, recommend it and advise you to read it, but ultimately your enjoyment, or lack of is entirely of your own making. However, on an occasion, such as my discovery of "One Big Damn Puzzler" I will feel that need to spread the word and make a sincere personal recommendation. During the course of this blog, I hope to not encourage a relationship with a single novel, but with an author whose back catalogue has enchanted me and compelled me to purchase not one, but ALL of his novels all in one go! My purchase history via Waterstones , or Amazon when I know what I am looking for is to the norm, fairly boring. I have be...

Following on from mums shocking blast from the archive here is Paris wearing the same spectacles!

Mum had the pictures out seeing if Oliver looked like me! She doesn't think so but Paris is a bit freaky!

How refreshing was it this morning reading about the new regime Fabio Capello is structuring within the England Squad? -Lateness will not be tolerated, room service is banned and mobiles can only be used in bedrooms. - Players must eat together in smart dress and must wear team blazers when in public and at matches. - Players will be called by their surnames. - No WAGS, relatives or agents are allowed to visit. No longer will we have to cringe listening to the England manager calling players by their nicknames such as "Stevie G", or "Wazza". Prima Donna footballers, particularly those adorning the three lions have a lot to make up to the general public after their poor showing in the European Qualifers, and Mr Capello's sweeping broom approach is a step in the right direction. Whilst at work I have to, and most people will also have to abide by rules and regulations. It keeps people on an even keel and adds an important heirachy in terms of respect. If my mana...

In the middle of last year, sometime before the football season started I wrote about how Gravesend and Northfleet had changed there name to Ebbsfleet United and how wrong I believed it to be. Well according to the BBC in this article , they were actually paid by the developers of Ebbsfleet to undertake this bastardisation of their name and confirms my feelings of distaste about what my home town club has become. However, this blog posting, rather than rant on again about those so called "future-thinkers" from Stonebridge Road is regarding the main focus of the above BBC article. Five artists have been asked to design a sculpture measuring 50 metres (165 ft) that will be visible from road, rail and air. An estimated 40 million people a year will ride past it on trains and in cars, and the landmark must create a sense of pride and belonging for the planned new town of Ebbsfleet . Ten thousand homes are being built in the next 20 years as part of a huge regeneration projec...

The iPhone, must have gadget for boys who like their toys (and Pastors apparently). Having watched the full hour long podcast direct from Apple HQ back at the beginning of 2007 I was rather enthused and said "I must get me one one of those!". However, with the price and restrictions in contract with O2 and what not it seems that I will be waiting for just a little while longer. However, this post is not all about the iPhone and its negativities, nor indeed the many highlights. Although it does have a damn fine camera, which brings me to my point. I have taken just shy of 233,784 photos of Oliver since he has born, and not one of them matches the quality of the images which arrived in Stephs inbox last night. Oliver had been staying with Steph's friend Cheryl, and apparently her iPhone owning boyfriend had taken some snaps. After a swift navigation through Hotmail Live's endless security protocols we were finally able to see the images Paul had sent. When Steph said th...

Here is a short video of oliver having his own party at his nan's house!

I wrote at the beginning of 2007 a reflective blog looking back at the year 2006, and in an attempt to keep consistent I will attempt to take a similar look back at 2007. At the end of 2006 Oliver joined Stephanie and I into our world, and so 2007 was about nurturing, discovery and growth. It was also a year in which marriages took place, and a year in which Stephanie and I were given an opportunity to settle down our own roots. It wasn't long after the arrival of Oliver that I had to go back to work, only having two weeks paternity leave entitled to me. Being a male, work felt more important after Oliver's arrival and gave me an extra sense of responsibility. Coming home to Stephanie and Oliver in the beginning was a real blessing each day and I was often left jealous of Stephanie's stories as she enthusiastically explained Oliver's latest new things to me. That excitement was unfortunately shorted lived, as Stephanie herself ran out of maternity day's and was ba...