Liam Neeson seems to be morphing into a bad ass in his movies, but he pulls it off and I like it. ‘The Grey‘ – I didn’t know what to expect from this movie apart from the screen shots of him readying for a fight. The premise is not new. X number of people hunted by a deadly foe. It’s the same formula you’ve seen in a dozen other movies at least. But Liam brings just an awesome presence. The direction and look and feel of the film give it a hard, cold edge which also just adds to it. I really enjoyed it.

“You could go and get the papers” said MBH hopefully.

“Fuck that it’s freezing and it would require far more energy than I’m willing to spend right now”

My first job was a paper round. It was practically medieval back then. I remember it took three loads of the bag to get all the papers delivered. That bloody nylon strap cutting into my shoulder. Lashing rain or blizzards and two foot of snow didn’t stop the papers being delivered either (I caught Bronchitis from the two foot of snow scenario). But it was glorious to work hard for your own money £5 a week plus £1 bonus if I didn’t screw it up. At that age it was an absolute fortune. Definitely not the major leagues of child labour though. That crown sat with the ‘Milk Lads’. They’d hang off the back of the Milkmans truck and jump off to leave bottles of milk on the doorstep. Remember when milk was delivered? Rumours flew about that they got at least £15 a week. They did have to be up at around 05:00 though. It was a closed shop however, you only got the job by knowing somebody who was already doing it and if a spot opened up. Very union-esque.

None of that now though. The mere thought of it would probably give some EU busybody coniption fits.

Anyhoo, so I’m lay in bed this morning wishing somebody would deliver my paper. I’d already gone through Twitter and my RSS feeds. But I still like reading the papers. Hate the bloody Independent, want it banned from the house as it’s just utter shite. I do like the Times though. I know it’s part of the Murdoch Group but all reporters and columnists aren’t all bad. I decided I’d give the Sunday Times app a go for the iPad.

Surprisingly it’s not too bad. Everything is there as it is in the paper – some of these apps have edited and selected content. I enjoyed it so much I decided to subscribe. So for around €10 a month I get access to the Times, Sunday Times and wedbsite all automagically on my iPad. That makes me happy.

My virtual paperboy.

Bittersweet really. Smiling at remembering all the faces and occasions, but probably never going to catch up with those folk again.

Valentines Day and MBH’s Birthday are coming up next week (just awesome timing). She loves cards herself and spends ages picking the right one. This means that there’s always a huge pressure on me to at least get a card – no matter if there isn’t a present with it, the card is very important. I forget the card about 70% of the time. I’m an arse that way.

Greetings cards leave me amazingly nonplussed. Never mind all the made up ‘occasions’ whose sole purpose is to sell more cards. I think it’s amazingly lazy. An off the shelf verse and a bit of art that you scribble your name on.

But she loves getting them.

So I decided to do something different this year. Use some of my collection of good writing paper and write her little notes/letters for Valentines and her Birthday. I’m an old romantic at heart and she bloody deserves some effort. Problem is I’m romantically illiterate as well.

Thank God for the Internet seeing as I don’t have an extensive library of works from history’s greatest poets and writers. I actually found something I sort of liked from my mate Yeats. I’ll let you know how it goes down on Tuesday:

Wine comes in at the mouth,

And love comes in at the eye,

That’s all we shall know for truth,

Before we grow old and die,

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you and I sigh.

Pretty fucking suitable me to you sort of thing if you know me, hehehe.

It’s going to be fun.