Jon Dean – Deano's World

Manchester took a step in the right direction today when it chose to say no to the congestion charge.  The early stats say that of all the people eligible to vote 53% returned their ballot papers, with a whopping 78% of them voting ‘No’.

Although my fellow Mancs said no (as did I) I think we can all agree that there is still a problem and it is only going to get worse.

Now I was all for the plans for the public transport proposals tabled for this referendum, I was just against paying for it via another tax on motorists which I believe unfair.

Although representatives from the ‘Yes’ campaign say that this was the only option, and now that Manchester has decided on a ‘No’ vote then the plans for an overhaul for public transport infrastructure is dead, I have to disagree.

You see I think there is a way to raise the money.

I think that as a region we should whack up speed cameras on 75% of our major roads and motorways in Greater Manchester.

Now don’t shout, bear with me and hear me out!

Many anti-speed camera campaigners have said for a long time that these things don’t act as a deterrent to speeding and that they don’t always have an effect on road safety.  Well that’s fine, because what they have proved to do for as long as they’ve been in existence is provide a steady stream of income for the Government,and not chump change but multi-millions.

So, if we put speed cameras on 75% of the GM roads then the revenue stream from this would go a very long way towards fulfilling the requirements of the proposed public transport plans.

This way only people breaking the law (ie speeding) will be paying for the benefit of all, and not just another tax on already hard-hit-in-the-pocket motorists.

Now I’m pretty sure AGMA don’t read this blog (does anyone?!), but surely the brightest minds in the UK can come up with a way to save the public transport plan without taxing all the motorists of Manchester on a daily basis.

Think outside the box people and do the jobs we voted you into office to do!

OK, that’s my two-penneth, you can leave yours in the comments section.

I’m not really all that Christmassy to be honest.  In fact to be totally up-front about it, I’ve gone and broken one of my own rules.

You see, I’m firmly of the belief that you really shouldn’t put your tree and decorations up until the weekend before Christmas.  Any time before then and it’s all a bit commercial in my book.

I’m very against the way it’s all gone a bit too over the top with the shops, where you go into a supermarket on 6th September and there’s a whole aisle devoted to figgy puddings and crackers (actually it was 4th September this year, I made a mental note).

Don’t get me wrong, I do like the holiday period so don’t think I’m all Mr Scrooge about the silly season because I’m not.  It’s just that I want this time of year to be a special time which I can spend with my close friends and family, and if it starts in September and lasts through to January then it doesn’t become special, it becomes diluted.

So, why did I decide to put the tree up now instead of 2 weeks time?  Simple answer is because of Jake and Lily.  Last year they were both a bit too young to behold that magic of Christmas, but this year they’re really getting excited about it, so in the big mushy way I am I buckled and got the decorations out of the loft.

I suppose it’s not too bad, before you know it the 6th January will be here and I’ll be putting all the boxes back in the loft again for another 11 months.

The worse thing is that I know for a fact that by the second week of January there will be a whole aisle in the supermarket stacked with Easter eggs…

Update: Spotted Cadbury’s Creme Eggs and Mini-Eggs on New Years day in Tesco… Shame on you!

I spotted this cool little widget add-on on Mashable the other day and have only just got round to testing it out.

It’s basically a text-to-speech button to make your blog posts an instant podcast which can be played on-screen or downloaded to your iTunes, save as an mp3 file and a few other options.

What’s really good about this is that it opens your blog (or any web-site for that matter) to people who have accessibility issues instantly.  Really helpful for people who are interested in you and your topic, but have problems reading that tiny text you’ve chosen as part of your theme (I know I’m a bugger for doing that!).

All you need to do is download it, ftp to your widgets admin then activate it.  Voila, instant podcast!

If you click on the “Listen Now” button below the blog title you get the listening options and you’re good to go.

I particularly like the Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights type use of the glockenspiel at the start.

Oh and did I mention that it’s FREE…

You can check it out here at Odiogo’s website.

I was 35 on Friday last week and I don’t feel any older, I certainly don’t look any older, but there has been a noticeable change.

You see, I find myself liking the new Take That song (something about worlds, hold on, hold on),  I simply can’t get it out of my head.

I keep telling myself that it’s OK, I wasn’t a Take That fan when I was younger (although I did like Back for Good - as a one off pop song), I’ve always been into my guitar tunes and this new track does sound very much like something Snow Patrol would do, so that’s OK then.

But then I realise that it’s more than just the Take That track… I actually like that WIll Young track (is it called Grace?) as well. Although I’m really loving that Guru Josh Project track Infinity 2008, I then realise it’s because I loved the original released in 1989… nearly 20 years ago…

Oh no.. I’ve also got Smooth FM tuned in on the car stereo.

How can this have happened in the space of a week?  One of my favourite tracks of the past year was Pendulum’s Propane Nightmares and now I’m hankering after sodding Will Young’s album.

Is this how it’s going to be from now on, a steady stream of easy listening until I finally seccumb to a 2-seater red sports car and start tucking my t-shirts into my jeans, the ones with a crease ironed in them?

I wont let it happen I tells ya!

I make this solemn vow:

I will never buy a 2-seater red sports car or tuck any t-shirt into any trousers with creases in.  If I do, you have the legal right to punch me in the nose – no, you have a duty to punch me in the nose.

The only caveat to the last statement is if I happen to win the lottery and make a rash purchase of an Aston Martin – but that’s got nothing to do with middle age hankering after lost youth and everything to do with a 7 year old boy watching Goldfinger with Sean Connery for the first time.

So it’s here again, another birthday. 35 years young and still going strong!

People quite often say that kids keep you young, but if I’m honest my 4 year old son Jake and my 2 year old daughter Lily just keep me knackered most of the time!  Don’t get me wrong, I love them more than the planet we walk on, but some days I just need a lie in, know what I mean?!

Lucky for me Auntie Helen is taking the little cherubs tomorrow and they’re gonna have a great time with their cousins and the 2 dogs, and the bonus for me and the wifey is that we get some good adult time to go the movies and see that James Bond flick instead of watching Peppa Pig or Dora the Explorer.

More importantly we actually get a lie in on Sunday – Woo Hoo!

As far as another year wiser… Well in the past year I’ve learned that:

• No matter how hard you try some people will never be satisfied, you’ve just gotta move on
• Some things just aren’t worth getting stressed over, the world still turns
• You will get knocked down, you’ve just gotta get back up and fight back
• Apple Macs are the future, even though I type this on an Acer Notebook
• Coffee is as important as the air I breath
• I know I can rely on people as they can rely on me, we just need to realise that trust is harder to earn and easily lost
• My wife Ann and my 2 kids Jake & Lily are the only thing that really matters, as long as we’re healthy and happy we have everything we ever need

I saw somebody’s favourite quote the other day on their Facebook profile, it was one from Dr Seuss and I couldn’t agree more…

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

Here’s to the next year – Love, Life, Lust – Long May it Reign!

OK, so I love TV shows. I’ve got a Sky+ box which is almost full with entire series.  My bug bear is there’s loads of shows which never made it past the first series, they got cancelled for whatever reason.

The free idea?

I will gladly pay a subscription of $15 – $20 per month to a site which gets these series commissioned for a second season. I don’t want to build or run the site, but if you wanna do it then I will pay my dues towards it.

My 3 shows on the wish list: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Threshold and The Nine.

Leave a comment with yours.

Those who know me know that I love the music.  I’ve always got a set of headphones stuck in my ears, or the radio on, or the ‘puter belting out iTunes on party shuffle.

When I’m online I’ve always tended to use Pandora Radio, Deezer or Last.fm (more recently using the FireFM plugin for Firefox), and I love these ‘cos they play random tunes by similar artists and I get to hear tracks I’ve not heard in ages or ones I’ve never heard before.

But sometimes you just want to listen to a specific track, and you can’t easily do that… until now… The grand-daddy of all music has arrived and put their entire music video library online.  You can even embed their videos into your own site (I’ve put one of my faves below). Check it out by clicking here.

How freakin cool is that!

OK, so Shannon Cole sends a tweet and I’m giggling like a school child all day long.

Something very childish and funny, and it tickled me.

Click Here to see what made me giggle

Cheers Shannon!