No.65 Of Playing Silly Games & Principals

I hurtled back from Dublin yesterday to get well settled for The Apprentice with a nice bite to eat, glass of red and good company all provided courtesy of a neighbour only for the evening to end in bitter disappointment as Ben was promptly dispatched. Ben, you showed great humility in the programme afterwards. "Noren Iron" is proud of you, finally.

Travelling back from Dublin over several hours with dodgy radio reception and just one tape cassette of Van the Man's Greatest Hits prompted me to play a variation of "Goodies and Baddies" -something I last played in a car with my sister probably as many as 35 years ago (yikes..). That's when you count something to relieve the boredom. Anything. It may be the strangers who wave to you when you wave first. It may be the numbers on motorway lamp posts. Yesterday, for me it was the number of people driving whilst talking on a handheld mobile. The final tally was 27. Does this mean we need better enforcement of laws or just that we should scrap those that everyone ignores?

Had a great meeting today devising a new legal programme for the education sector at O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors with a bunch of solicitors and School Heads. There's something about being in the company of School Principals. They bring a certain gravitas to a meeting and for some reason made me terribly conscious about the importance of proper use of English, diction and grammar.

I'm just off the phone to my Mum making arrangements for my visit to Devon for my nephew's 18th (yikes more milestones that make me feel old). It seems like only yesterday that he was standing in his cot making a hash of my name and I've been Uncle Baggie ever since...

Mum's partner Alan informed me that the MGB covertible he has purchased on my behalf at knock down rates is on further reflection too good for me. He's convinced I'm going to ruin it. It's the real deal he assures me. It's twim cam, unleaded head, bionic suspension and best of all sticks to the road like "S..t to the soldier's blanket". Alan you always had a way with words. I'm sure your School Principal would not have approved.....