Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

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...

On Friday you will be celebrating your very first birthday, and Mummy and Daddy thought that it would be a really good idea to write and let you know all about your first year as we didn't think that you would remember much about it when you grew up! You certainly have had an eventful first year! More weddings than a "Hello" magazine, exotic travels to the tropics, a visit to the hospital, a visit to the London to see where Princess Diana lived and more falls than your average circus clown. Not only have you been here, there and everywhere, you even moved house when you were eleven months old! You used to live in a flat on the Overcliffe by the escalator at Asda , but Nanny and Bampy said that they didn't like there house anymore and wanted to move so they said we could live there instead! Seeing you grow up over your first twelve months was really exciting for Mummy and Daddy and we would often tell each other stories of things that you have done. When you first ...

I hadn't realised it had been so long, but my last blog was on the 21st November, when I wrote about preparations for the move. It now seems so long ago! Having now been in the house for the past three weeks, we appear to be settled and overly familiar with our new( ish ) surroundings. The move, despite a microwave falling from the van and rolling halfway to Woodlands Park went without hitch. Such was the efficiency of the whole operation we were in the British Legion Club in Gillingham for 1.30 in time for a couple of very well earned pints. By the time I had got home after the game, the boxes had all been unpacked, furniture placed and as a visitor you would never have known we had just moved in. All that remained was the discovery of Oliver eating the fake coal from the new fireplace which was also all around his face and newly washed pyjamas! With the move coming so close to Christmas and Oliver's birthday plans we haven't really managed to find time for a house warmin...

It has been a while coming, but this weekend will see us finally moving home. When we spoke about the possibility of moving back to my parents house back in May or June of this year it was something that came about out of the blue and caught Stephanie and I by surprise. At first it seemed like a brilliant idea, and having talked it through we decided that it was the best and most logical way forward for us. More than anything, it was an opportunity we couldn't turn down. We started the Tower Homes selling process just prior to going to Mexico, around the same time that Mum and Dad moved to their new home. Selling through Tower, although great if they can find you a buyer is a frustrating time if they can't, which unfortunately was the case for us. From the end of September, beginning of October we have been working at the new house in order to get things ready for us when we finally get there. In converting Craig's old room into a nursery and adding some colour to to the wa...

I am a Gillingham Fan, first and foremost. But I am a massive follower of football, and so take note of all the goings on around the footballing globe, from non-league to more recently MSL (and yes, because of Mr Beckham's influence). I had therefore, obviously heard about the idea of a group of people putting a website together and coming up with the idea of getting enough "supporters" together to buy a club and run it. Being a web thing, you would have thought that would have been right up my street being a bit of a geek (according to most). However, reading various articles around the footballing blogosphere , it became clearer in my own mind what a crazy idea this really was. I shall not go into depth here, but you can read more from the horses mouth by visiting myfootballclub.co.uk However crazy I thought the idea was, I was never for it, or particularly against it, as it was always in my mind that some random team would be the eventual guineas pigs and I could...

Today me and my cousin Indigo went shopping with Nanny Tracey! Here is a photo of us!

Another collection of Gillingham related YouTube Videos for you to enjoy! Firstly, the season when we went from really, really rubbish to record breakingly good! Then, a few years later, after the heartbreak of Manchester City, we finally did it - made it to the Championship! Two years prior to being really, really bad, we were much worse. In fact, we nearly went out of the league full stop. Here is the match that saved us - which is the first time I have seen this, being in Spain at the time! I remember listening to the world service for the results - our lives before the web! This was, my all time favourite Gillingham game prior to our playoff exploits! Was the whole reason I got my Harvey Lim online moniker! Before my time the Sunderland playoff exploits, but again YouTube has helped fill some Gillingham related gaps! The Rainham End looks mental when the goals go in! After all the highlight, why am I including last season? Well we actually scored some pretty good goals! Spot the be...

DIY in the Bird family, as a rule does not come naturally. I remember my Gramps decorating more than one room for us when were kids, if not it was his friend ' Simo '. Dad's philosophy was always to get somebody in, whilst my Mum would always go ahead and do it anyway as it was always too expensive to get someone in professionally. When we painted the flat it was always a simple affair as the walls were brand new and so along with the ceilings and woodwork required no attention. All was required was for either Stephanie or I to paint! Painting is fairly simple as far as DIY goes, and we didn't come across too many problems. I did attempt to put up some shelving prior to Oliver's room becoming the nursery and as a result drilled into possibly the only place in the whole flat that was undrillable due to some kryptonite , or equally Impenetrable material being placed behind the plasterboard. Decorating the new house therefore is a somewhat higher level of DIY ...

It has been a long time since 24 season 6 finished, and I still haven't had the boxset yet, instead deciding to wait until Christmas. However, on one of my recent web treks I come across the countdown for season 7 trailer, which will be released in a week's (from now) time! Click here for the link! What makes this link even more interesting is that it gives you a very sneak synopsis of series 7 - CTU disbanded, set in Washington and the biggest shock for Jack is the return of an old friend whom he thought was dead.... If it is who I am 99% certain it is, then season 7 cannot come quick enough!!!!

Gillingham face a long trip north this Saturday as they head to Carlisle, where last season they fell to a 5-0 defeat. It has not always been an unhappy hunting ground, as this video from the YouTube archives shows! *Note, that the first goal, is a typical Gillingham effort, which is one of the main reasons Priestfield attracts such numbers on a bi-weekly basis. If your reading this from Facebook, you can click here instead to watch this clip.

A lot of talk around the blogosphere over the past few days has been about Rugby vs Football and the merits of either/or. Being a massive football fan and not that interested in Rugby you would have thought that I would have stuck my flag firmly onto the football side of the argument. The English Rugby team deserve all the plaudits that they are getting at the moment and in doing so highlight everything that is good about Rugby and everything that is bad about football. This video from YouTube sums it up perfectly. Based on such overwhelming evidence us football fans can hardly disagree that there are some fundamental flaws with the current state of the game. However, here is another video, courtesy of YouTube to remind us why we fell in love with the beautiful game in the first place.

I have been without an internet connection at home now for nearly a week, and it really feels as if I am missing something vital from my life - it is a really sad state of affairs, but what would we do without the internet on a permanent basis? For those waiting for Oliver's Year in the Life photographs they will be uploaded just as soon as Sky deliver me my new router, which we are unlikely to be able to pick up until Saturday! In the meantime I can still blog from work, which is a little bit of a relief seeing as the new house has started to take vital importance in our lives right now. Having been empty now for six weeks, and with our holiday and other things cropping up we haven't been able to get as 'involved' as we would like. There has also been a little bit of breathing space required to let Tower Homes market the property and let them find us a buyer, which in all honesty has been a complete disaster. Considering that three properties have been sold over the p...

On October 1st 2006, a little (and slightly venomous ) old lady reversed into the front of my car whilst coming out of her drive. Despite the fact that I had seen her coming and stopped to let her see me! Not particularly terrible in terms of damage or personal injury, but it was just so avoidable which makes it so damn annoying! We are still awaiting the final outcome between the two insurance companies, so I probably cannot say too much, and I certain will refrain for expressing some of my more colorful views about this particular lady on the web! However, fast forward exactly one year to October 1st 2007 and low and behold, Stephanie, sitting in traffic, hearing a horrible screeching of tyres whilst sitting in traffic on the Wainscott Bypass looks in her rear view mirror and sees a white van heading straight towards her. Knowing that impact is imminent she braces herself and grabs hold of the steering wheel. The van swerves but still hits, quite hard, sending her forward into the...