albriggs.com » trivia http://albriggs.com thoughts from al..... Tue, 15 May 2012 16:25:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Gaylord the Dog!http://albriggs.com/blog/2008/03/08/gaylord-the-dog/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2008/03/08/gaylord-the-dog/#comments Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:27:40 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/gaylord-the-dog I have been looking for this since hearing it on the Scott Mills show – absolutely brilliant – I can watch it so many times and still laugh!

The best bit is when Gaylord fetches his bone :-D

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2008/03/08/gaylord-the-dog/feed/ 0 Decluttering our liveshttp://albriggs.com/blog/2008/01/14/decluttering-our-lives/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2008/01/14/decluttering-our-lives/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:50:24 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/leaving-uk/decluttering-our-lives [...]]]> One of our aims in moving to Valencia is that we are much more flexible in being able to move the next time we want to move. We have managed to amass so much stuff so far in our lives and we want to get rid of a load of the clutter and just be able to fit our lives into a set of cardboard boxes – load up the van and move on.

In total time it will probably take about 8 weeks for us to have sorted though all of our stuff in the UK and box it up, redecorate our house and buy a van to travel in. When we are in Valencia we would love to just be able to decide to move onto somewhere else and know that all we have to do is hand our notice on a flat in and then pack up and move on!

We started the process of decluttering our lives this weekend by sorting out the loft. The loft has just had stuff added to it since I moved into the house in 2002 and then when I went away in 2003 I moved everything up there and only took out the stuff I really needed when I came back in 2004. In 2004 we also added a load of stuff from Nicole’s parents house and in 2006 my mum gave me a load of stuff that had been sitting up in her loft.

So this weekend was spent going through all of this and categorising this as either going with us, going up into my mum’s new loft, going to a charity shop or going to the tip. This took a very long time and has made our house a complete tip. Luckily at lunchtime today we got rid of the last of the stuff for charity shops (4 different charity shop visits with a full car!). We have visited the tip three times with a full car and tonight we will drive over to my mum’s and load up her loft with all the stuff we just couldn’t chuck out!

The spare room at the moment is our store room for the stuff we want to take with us – it just feels great to be able to look in there and see how little stuff we have got our lives down to .

I think over the next 6 weeks we will probably decide to get rid of some more stuff especially as we cope with the reality of the size of the van we are getting and realise we are going to have to take even less than we thought.

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2008/01/14/decluttering-our-lives/feed/ 0 Duckies in a teacup – how British!http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/08/01/duckies-in-a-teacup-how-british/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/08/01/duckies-in-a-teacup-how-british/#comments Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:21:22 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/duckies-in-a-teacup-how-british How more British can you get – two abandonded ducks that were found swimming out at sea – have a new (slightly smaller) home in a tea cup!

This is only temporary as far as I can gather.

The abandoned ducklings raised in a teacup | the Daily Mail

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/08/01/duckies-in-a-teacup-how-british/feed/ 0 Loudest clap in the world in China?http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/20/loudest-clap-in-the-world-in-china/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/20/loudest-clap-in-the-world-in-china/#comments Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:37:30 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/loudest-clap-in-the-world-in-china [...]]]> I am normally quite proud of what I consider to be quite a load clap – great for making people jump! :-)

There is a man in china though who can clap as loud as a helicopter!

I am not sure if this sort of thunderous clap counts as a god-like power – be I wonder if he could turn this super-power to better purposes? Is this what the world needs now? Clap-Man?

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/20/loudest-clap-in-the-world-in-china/feed/ 0 The Giant duck is cominghttp://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/11/the-giant-duck-is-coming/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/11/the-giant-duck-is-coming/#comments Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:17:58 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/the-giant-duck-is-coming [...]]]> If you are on the French coast that is!

After bring you news of the little white duckies that have taken 8 years to travel through ice to land on British shores, I thought I must point out the 105 foot rubber duck that has be set adrift from the French coast:

SFGate: World Views : Why a giant duck? This summer, why not?

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/11/the-giant-duck-is-coming/feed/ 0 A democratic 7 wonders of the worldhttp://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/09/a-democratic-7-wonders-of-the-world/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/09/a-democratic-7-wonders-of-the-world/#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:29:54 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/a-democratic-7-wonders-of-the-world [...]]]> Ever wondered how the seven wonders of the world were chosen? I know that there are at least 3 sets of 7 wonders – the Ancient set, the modern set and the set that I can’t remember the name for. It has often perplexed me how they were chosen though – who can decide what is a wonder.  One mans wonder maybe another man carbuncle.

Now at least technology and eDemocracy have allowed some people to vote for a new 7 wonders of the world (n7w: 07.07.07) – apparently people have been voting for a set of wonders via text message and on-line.

The only annoying thing – how come I’ve only found out afterwards!!!

Anyway I am sure that this will get updated each year and so it should – wonderment changes as we discover new and interesting things – will the pyramids ever stop being a wonder? Thank god the Hoover dam had left the list!

]]> http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/07/09/a-democratic-7-wonders-of-the-world/feed/ 0 The Plastic White Ducks are coming!!http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/06/29/the-plastic-white-ducks-are-coming/ http://albriggs.com/blog/2007/06/29/the-plastic-white-ducks-are-coming/#comments Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:00:57 +0000 Al Briggs http://albriggs.com/blog/trivia/the-plastic-white-ducks-are-coming [...]]]> I’d not heard of this story before but apparently 40,000 small rubber ducks were accidentally dropped into the Pacific Ocean 15 years ago, during a storm. The ducks have taken an epic voyage both north and south from the original location and some ended up invading Australia and the South Pacific.

The set that went north got stuck in ice packs and have been slowly moving north of Russia at the rate of a mile a day in the ice and after 8 years are now coming out of the ice and into the north sea.

They have been bleached by the sea and ice and are now white duckies not yellow ones – but after all of that they are on their way to the UK and Ireland – even better if you find one there is a £50 reward from the manufacturer or even better a £250 auction price on eBay.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Times Article | Wikipedia – Friendly Floatees

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