Hey everyone, it's a PLOG!

Hello all. That's right, we have another CATCOUK original this week. In an attempt to ever stretch the bounds of what is possible with a blog, this week's post is a PLOG! For the uninformed, blog is short for Web Log, and so a plog is short for Picture Log! Yay! You saw it here first. Basically, if I haven't got a photo of it, I'm not mentioning it. So I won't be talking about Siobhan's camouflaged doorbell, you won't hear me speak of a car review of Louise's Skoda (exceptionally heavy clutch - maybe out of a lorry?), and you certainly can't hear about in this week's Year 4 meeting...

We start this week's plog, with pretty much the first thing that I did on Monday morning. Well at work anyway. The school where I work is about to change it's database software, and so they were carrying out a quick check of all our details. First of all, it was bizarre how much they knew about me, that I don't remember telling them. But what they didn't seem to know, was that my car is very old. According to their records, my registration plate begins with an X (meaning that it is just a spritely 7 years old from 2000). Of course, regular readers know that I actually drive a classic 1986 C Reg Ford Escort Estate 1.4 GL in Champagne Gold (they had the colour wrong too...). I must say it was nice though. The reg almost matched my car's exceptionally low mileage of only 1500...

Now, to try and catch the random ramblings of my dull head, I was forced to take some cadid camera shots. After all, it does make you sound a little weird constantly asking 'Excuse me old chap, would you mind awefully if I took your photo?'. So this is our first candid photo. Let me explain the background: it is Tuesday, and in Year 4 it is Saxon Day. All that are working in year 4 (and all the kids) have come dressed as Saxon people. Fortunatly I don't work Year 4 on Tuesday, but my younger colleague and friend (maybe not after this photo) does work in Year 4. Look at the photo again, and judge how much effort Joe managed to make on his Anglo Saxon constume. That's right, he came as the little known Saxon Top Shop till operator (with pashmina...).

Also on Tuesday, a colleague (Linda) and I helped another colleague get her car out of the car park, by playing one giant game of Car Park Shuffle! The photo represents Linda trying to reverse the desired car out of the space, whilst I had removed two cars (out of the way. One being the black Ford in the foreground, and the other a very nice Silver Vauxhall Astra. Both manuals, and both very nice to drive around a small car park. The Focus had very poor visibility though. And that's this post's episode of Top Gear over...

Lastly on Tuesday (I must have been very snap happy), I did my usual towing off TS Sturdy's box trailer. The trailer doesn't have a fancy way of attaching my number plate, so I use the good old trust worthy answer all problems tool: Gaffa Tape (or duct tape to any of my American friends reading). As we all know, if Gaffa tape doesn't fix the problem, use more Gaffa Tape! Unfortunatly, this Tuesday was an exceptionally damp day, where the entire contents of a small ocean fell on the country. Because of this, the trailer was slightly damp, and the Gaffa Tape didn't stick properly. So what did I do - that's right boys and girls - use MORE Gaffa Tape. With the reg plate almost hanging off the back, I limped my way to the trailer's home. And yes, the plate stayed on the trailer. Just.

Thursday saw another school trip, and yet again with Year 5. Not particularly exciting, as it was visiting two churches, and I'm not exactly religious. One of the churches though, had a replica of the Sistine Chapel painting on it's roof. Unfortunatly, no cameras or taking of photos is allowed...

And on to Thursday evening, and I had to drive to Shoreham to teach my Adult Education class in basic IT. Normally parking isn't a problem, but there was some parents/open evening on. Parking became a problem. Now I am quite proud of the places that I can park my car. Not only am I very good with close quarters manoeuvres, but I can pretty much slip my car in anywhere (an no that's not some raunchy double meaning). On this particular night, I parked in half a space between the end of a parking row, and the bins. Not that I wish to discourage comments, but I am already anticipating people saying the my car was parked where it belongs - with the rubbish... My car is a classic alright. And of you just watched tonight's episode of Top Gear, you'll know just how good classic cars can be...

One of the marvellous things about a plog, is that I can slip in completely random photos from the week. Here is a photo of my dear old Mum with some horrible disease. Forget bird flu - my mum's growing cat ears!

This weekend was the annual NTC West Sussex South Regional sleepover. This year, the regional sleepover was attended by no one else in the region other than my unit, the mighty TS Intrepid. Unfortunatly, this meant that I was not joined by my friends and fellow officers from the regions for some intelligent conversation. This meant I only had three of my 'senior' cadets for company once the majority of the cadets were in bed. And I think this photo sums up how exciting that was nicely...

We hold the above mentioned sleepover, in preparation for the NTC West Sussex South Region Rifle Shooting Competition. This (thankfully) was slightly better attended, as we were joined by TS Sturdy, and eventually TS Implacable. Our cadets did very well, winning a few trophies. But I wuld like to say this was all due to my inspiring leadership, as I brought home the overall best score of the day for the officers with a woefully low 136 out of 150 (I remember when you had to score over 140 to be in with a chance...). Our officers team also blitzed the competition, beating both TS Sturdy's team, and the combined team of TS Implaca-urdy. Hence the above photo with the group medal, and my trophy! About time I won that again...

And that was my week in pictures. Sorry you haven't seen the video of last week's Ice Skating yet, but my laptop doesn't want to play ball. As a picture is worth a 1000 words, the word count for this post is around 10 000! Remember, you read it here first - the brand bew concept. Get yourself a PLOG today!

If you hate the idea of a plog, and you think I am just taking the micky out of blogs, why not leave a message saying that you saw past my sarcastic attempt to revolutionise the internet.

If you like the idea of a plog, why not get one today, after leaving a comment, and checking your MySpace, and checking your Bebo, and checking your FaceBook, and checking your...

Quote of the Week: 'Charge!' Althought not a great quote, I had to include this as a story, and although I have no photo of it, it does make a beautiful mind's image. In my finest moment of glory as an Activities Officer in the Nautical Training Corps, I had the cadets lined up at the top of a hill, in the dark, pretending to be covert marines. When I shouted charge, all 15 cadets charged down the hill with me, in a glorious moment of cadet life. But why only a moment I hear you cry? I take about 5 paces at a run, before loosing my leg down a HUGE great hole the size of a small child. As I fall (now in slow motion), and turn, I see that there is just a line (almost a ditch) of deep holes, all across the course of the cadets now charging down the hill. I try and shout STOP! but it's too late. Like a horrible scene from Saving Private Ryan, and still in slow motion, a charging heard of children steer head long into the holes, slowly falling over and into the deep gorges of the Earth... How no one was injured, I do not know.