tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51070912012-01-12T22:20:16.113ZTravel and life blog of Ben Turner, the big ginger terror of old London townBen Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.comBlogger2021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-25790388086134127812010-03-20T09:44:00.005Z2010-03-22T20:54:01.873Z

Dear all,I am moving ! Virtually, that is. My blog has now moved to Wordpress (another blogging service) and can be accessed via the normal URL of http://www.benturner.org - if you already had this web address bookmarked, then you shouldn't have come here at all :)People coming here via RSS will need to update their feeds to http://turnerstyle.wordpress.com/feed/Might be a while before I move all

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-44002057149700857102010-03-15T17:15:00.001Z2010-03-15T17:15:22.291Z

Maybe I've learnt to look on the bright side of illness, but after a long running cold, during which I ate nothing but simple foods and generally tried to "starve" it off, along with a rather nasty bought of food poisoning, I noted my weight had dropped somewhat.So I've been trying to keep up the healthier eating, keeping clear of the pints, and refusing all but the best snacks at work (my line

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-30822514869277155772010-02-26T14:45:00.001Z2010-02-26T14:45:58.956Z

I realised recently I had almost moved onto Facebook updates over actual blogging. Partly this was due to work restricting access to my blogging site (so much for lunchtime blogging). I was then reminded by an article (http://ping.fm/FXjts) that blogging is actually a much more enriching experience and communication medium, and so I think I'll try and blog more and facebook less. Not sure it's

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-49513868632613441442010-01-24T16:08:00.002Z2010-01-24T16:16:41.538Z

Made it snowboarding in the end, 4 great days on the snow ! Exhausted afterwards though, especially due to having to get coaches instead of trains to and from the airport.Now the new year beckons, and planning - birthday party, Australia visa, moving countries and a wedding all to sort out. Put together a long list of things to do, which means I feel comforted that I've captured all the tasks, so

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28250081305583055892010-01-07T21:19:00.002Z2010-01-07T21:22:44.245Z

So the plan was to board a plane tomorrow morning (~6am), jet to Geneva, and spend 3.5 days in the snow with my trusty snowboard.The train to Luton airport is not runnning, so I have a more expensive coach / taxi operation sorted out. I had to buy an extra coach ticket just now when I read snowboards were not allowed in the hold luggage (bet they are when I get there, but for a £10 it wasn't

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-9771623875594428972009-12-23T22:24:00.011Z2009-12-23T23:09:35.801Z

Having been flooded by xmas cards this year, I am very touched. And frankly surprised so many of you have my address. I'm afraid no such offering from us, but instead an eco-friendly xmas mail to say Merry Christmas to everyone and best wishes for the new year ahead. And for those who I've not kept in regular contact with / don't read the blog / spam filter my mails on purpose, I've written a

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28944663477528452102009-11-18T17:46:00.001Z2009-11-18T17:46:34.827Z

Okay it looks like the dial2do service is very good with translating words. But only gives you 30 seconds to make a blog post. So whilst the service is quite impressive I think only short comments will ever get safe on it. Powered by Dial2Do. Mp3

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-55775656504219777922009-11-18T14:35:00.001Z2009-11-18T14:35:48.311Z

Okay looks like work smashed and blocked any access to Blogger which is fair enough. So I'm gonna try and record this post using my fantastic voice to text translaty thing off the internet. Let's see how many words it spells wrong. Just wanted to do a quick blog post to say. Powered by Dial2Do. Mp3

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-4171142862948274682009-11-08T12:21:00.003Z2009-11-08T12:33:54.341Z

Last night marked a point of awesomeness. Long booked in my calendar as a mystery night out, it turned out to be a nice dinner followed by a surprise party at a local pub.As I type this with a slightly fuzzy head, I want to thank everyone who came down, esp. those from such far climbs as Swindon, Sheffield and Amsterdam :) It was really nice to see so many people, drink so many beers and not only

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-17275511257259730482009-10-20T20:42:00.003Z2009-10-20T20:47:10.192Z

Photos of our australia trip now on my smugmug site including my favourite shot of me...

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-42272775588681935302009-10-12T11:33:00.004Z2009-10-12T11:40:30.895Z

Treatment is over ! Had final scans (all clear) and told to go out and enjoy life. So not much more coming from me about the treatment now - there will be follow up scans every 4 months for a year, every 6 months in the following year, and then annually for another 8 years. But these are merely precautionary, so it's time to get back to...Health ! I was doing pretty well, pulling my weight down

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-47395028335672297052009-09-26T02:37:00.002Z2009-09-26T03:09:57.850Z

Last month, I had a colonoscopy to check all was well in the bowels. I got to see were the section of bowel was removed - there were still staples inside by bowels ! Otherwise everything looked good, except for a small polyp which they burnt of and removed. It was confirmed as non-threatening just as I was boarding my plan for holidays, which was good news to start on ! Alas I did not manage to

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28929581599034708662009-08-13T09:32:00.002Z2009-08-13T10:00:01.290Z

A year ago today, someone put a camera somewhere one never expects a camera to go, and I saw my tumour for the first (and last) time; a week after that it was gone.Now I am going through the final steps of recovery - the spots are still hanging around, esp. on my neck, but they are simply a small nuisance now. I had my portacath removed, so have a sore shoulder for a couple of weeks while that

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-71791759909166528662009-07-19T10:00:00.002Z2009-08-13T10:01:53.842Z

After spending a lot of time around the house healing from my liver operation, I finally resumed chemo for the last two cycles. I really couldn't stand being back on the drugs - same horrid steroids to counter the horrid Oxaliplatin, but still being lreft with constant horrid nausea. Problem now being my body knew what was coming, so I was getting nauseous before I'd even had the drugs,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-14637230749807962012009-07-09T16:00:00.001Z2009-07-09T16:01:39.460Z

Forgive the stupid title, but I an pleased to announce that I am due no more injections !! The chemo process is only 5 days (and 40 pink pills) from being fully over.This leaves just a couple of tidy up tasks; removing my portacath and a post-operative scan. After this I'm into the longer term monitoring phase, with occasional scans and blood tests, and perhaps a colonoscopy every few years.For

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-58233926098723890142009-07-05T09:22:00.001Z2009-07-05T09:22:35.298Z

Feeling a little better - the sickness is starting to wear off and things getting back toward normal. Probably another week or so until I feel I'm over the final "big" injection.What a shame there are still one or two Cetuximab injections on the horizon - they don't come with too many nasty side-effects, but I'm just keen for it all to be "over" now.

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-7614991778684806722009-06-30T08:14:00.001Z2009-06-30T08:14:37.594Z

Ok, seems my diary was a little out yesterday. TODAY marks my finalinjection day, it turns out ! Another 24 hours has me more preparedmentally anyway, so small mercies :)-- Sent from my mobile device

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-43294563757599316072009-06-26T16:25:00.001Z2009-06-28T19:31:14.246Z

Been a little quite blog-wise of late. June saw a return to the chemo and all the unpleasantries that accompany that - nausea, tingling hands and feet, distaste for cold food and drink (hard, as I need to drink LOTS of water), steroids perventing sleep, chronic acne and generally being super-tired. Yeah, not fun basically.So much not fun that rather than do the last two cycles back-to-back, I

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-66018589272123064912009-05-12T08:44:00.003Z2009-05-12T08:52:12.501Z

This should be the king of micro-posts. Just wanted to check in and say everything is healing well, I'm back on my feet and walking around, have even been to the pub a couple of times !So what next ? Seeing the oncologist next week to discuss getting back onto the chemo, after that back to part-time work, hopefully finish the chemo (6 weeks worth) by mid-July - ready for my sponsored run ! Then a

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-50916050047820569462009-04-22T10:01:00.004Z2009-04-22T11:00:03.928Z

Last Tuesday, I checked into the specialist liver unit of the Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital. They prepped me for the operation, warning me that they expected to remove around 60% of my liver, which would be survivable but might require months of careful eating and drinking as it regenerates.Fortunately my surgeon, Mr Myrddin Rees, came around later in the evening, and confirmed that we

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-52999530333426363712009-04-12T07:33:00.002Z2009-04-12T08:07:08.335Z

One more quick blog post from me before I head in. To revive the past spirit of this blog, I'm going to talk about my weight again ! Since stopping the chemo drugs and continuing my sedantary lifestyle, I've managed to slowly gain a stone in weight, putting me back to where I'd reached after the running. Seemed that those drugs were using up a lot of stored energy to stop me actually gaining

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-25311637163890872452009-04-06T10:40:00.002Z2009-04-06T10:54:12.964Z

So I come into the last week before surgery starts... and what a week it is ! Cinema, dinner, karaoke, gaming, seeing friends and family - everything a perfect week should have :)A few people mentioned visiting, so I thought I'd put some details here. I am going into the Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital on Tuesday for surgery on Wednesday morning. After that I expect to stay in for 6 more

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-56688751596472708522009-03-24T11:54:00.003Z2009-03-25T09:27:37.668Z

So I saw the specialist just over a week ago, and surgery is confirmed for the morning of Wednesday, 15th April at Basingstoke District Hospital. The operation will be a "wedge resection", which is essentially removing a wedge of liver from one lobe, to take out the largest and only 100% confirmed lesion. The operation won't be keyhole, but this will give the surgeon a chance to examine the other

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-34381805631649494662009-03-04T13:06:00.002Z2009-03-04T15:49:08.953Z

The sixth cycle comes to an end. My spots are flaring up again - but they come and go, so hopefully will not be too painful for too long. Two more cycles to go now, next one should be starting this Monday. But it's not.Mimi and I took a couple of days out in the country, staying in the Cotswolds. This was a much needed break, one we would of perhaps liked to have lasted a little longer, but we

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-70919136205479524142009-02-16T11:19:00.002Z2009-02-16T11:27:50.318Z

It's been a while since I blogged - partly as lots of things have happened, and partly as nothing has changed.It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I had a really good party with lots of mates (only a small handful who I managed to actually talk to) and got lots of love sent my way. This was awesome, and really helped pick up my spirits.My spirits were down at that point as the spots were

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-31560396813842658002009-01-20T13:53:00.005Z2009-01-20T14:09:59.326Z

Yesterday involved a long day at the hospital giving swabs, bloods and generally preparing for the main show - surgery !... hold on, I wasn't having surgery, was I ?...Well, I'm still not having liver surgery, and instead I am resuming chemotherapy starting this coming Monday. But the pain the drugs were putting my arms through was getting highly unpleasant, so my oncologist and I agreed that a

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-21616205423986048212009-01-13T16:11:00.002Z2009-01-13T16:19:30.643Z

Took a long lazy day today just relaxing and getting my thoughts together. One of these thoughts, around 4pm, was that I'd left my phone in the other room, and when I went to fetch it I realised I had missed a call from my liver surgeon relating to yesterday's scan !The message was that there was nothing distinctive on the CT scan to operate on - the lesions or "metastasis" on the liver were

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-24059022789197425432009-01-12T16:24:00.000Z2009-01-12T16:32:59.412Z

One month out of Chemotherapy and I'm ready for surgery. Except I'm not sure I'm getting any...It has been nice to be off the drugs. I have been a little bit more able and awake - certainly energetic enough to get some good snowboard time on my recent 4 day trip to Austria. There was a plague of spots from the Cetuximab over xmas, which was very unpleasant esp. where they caused my scalp to itch

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-51327913869607614912008-12-21T16:06:00.002Z2008-12-21T16:11:03.218Z

Brief update.I found a working MRI machine and got another good scan back; everything has shrunk a little more and is responding well.I also have some dates set for the new year now. I will see my surgeon on the 9th to review what is to be done regarding surgery, and then will be going for the surgery in the following week (12-16th January). All a little quicker than expected.More than likely,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-56206722577265222982008-12-15T15:35:00.002Z2008-12-15T15:42:46.600Z

So today I had my last injection, and tonight I am due to swallow the last of the Cepecitabine tablets. My right arm still hurts a little from a fortnight, my scalp is dry as heck and a couple of my fingers are starting to get quite painful around the nails... but I'm still in one piece !This morning's MRI scan was delayed due to a broken MRI machine, so I am due to return to their other clinic

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-42593570286847577932008-12-02T15:48:00.002Z2008-12-02T15:55:07.722Z

Yesterday's injection was much-dreaded. A long seven hour session at the clinic, as it was a Cetuximab AND Oxaliplatin session, and also because we slowed the Oxaliplatin down to take three hours instead of two.This may of helped reduce the reaction, which was still painful like last time. Pins and needles up and down my arm (right arm, this time) and lots of stiffness and soreness. But I'm

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-15769108152358476092008-11-28T19:44:00.002Z2008-11-28T19:49:38.854Z

Regarding my previous post - I just spoke to my Oncologist (who had e-mailed with my Liver surgeon) and it seems we had got numbers mixed up - when he spoke about 6 cycles, he had assumed I was on 2 week cycles (probably because of the Cetuximab, which IS a 2 week cycle). But my main chemo is given on a 3 week cycle - hence when he talked about 6 cycles, he meant 12 weeks (e.g. 4 of my cycles)All

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-36245213359785550192008-11-28T15:00:00.002Z2008-11-28T15:15:57.104Z

So I had my (somewhat brief) meeting with the liver specialist. Was a little annoyed he had not seen my latest scans - so what were his current decisions based on ? - but was partially to blame as I had been advised to bring the copy I had along with me, and had forgotten to do so.In any case, he said that as I was responding to the Chemotherapy, I should continue with it for a little longer to

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28809119584546498232008-11-21T12:34:00.003Z2008-11-21T16:51:32.585Z

Yesterday I had two scans taken - a CT and an MRI scan - the check the progress of the chemotherapy I have been taking now for almost 2 months.The CT scan showed that there were no other "mystery spots" other than what was on my liver, pretty much as expected. The MRI scan then offered better imagery on the lesions on my liver and was compared to the previous scan I had the day before going in

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-56309021169918113762008-11-15T01:15:00.003Z2008-11-15T01:25:54.020Z

Still battling through first week of cycle three. It's not been pleasant - my arm still hurts, although somewhat less than Tuesday, but the drugs are pushing me on edge as always. With the addition of the Oxytetracyclene (to reduce the acne side-effect of Cetuximab - which it is finally starting to do) I am on about 16 pills a day, most of which get my system pretty wired. And with a little

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-60662566853932357962008-11-11T11:11:00.003Z2008-11-11T11:17:35.657Z

Fine - so it's cycle three.Went to the clinic yesterday, go the Oxaliplatin in my arm - the second dose that has gone into the left arm. And f**k me it hurts - not just the usual deep pain in the vein, but most of the arm has gone numb and tingles, like a permanent pins and needles in the muscles. Really not a happy camper at all - had lots of trouble sleeping and pain-killers don't really do

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-10736613897666448002008-11-05T11:04:00.003Z2008-11-05T12:04:26.512Z

Today is a good day.I picked up a winter cold at the weekend, and after a good couple of days rest, it's finally starting to shift, I feel. It also seems my face, covered in tiny yellow spots for the last couple of weeks, has now started to react to the Ocytetracycline a litte now, and most of the spots have retreated, just leaving some red dots (which blend slightly with the freckles :).

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-79817439250503357472008-10-24T15:23:00.003Z2008-11-11T11:19:17.044Z

Well, 6 days into the new cycle, and I'm only really just finding the time and energy to blog about it. It's been a bit of a "ton of bricks" week - have been feeling really tired and low on energy - as well as combating the nausea and cold sensitive arm pain that comes with the first half of each cycle.Fortunately, I did see this coming somewhat, and had arranged with work to NOT come in for the

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-80863196295251230182008-10-15T08:52:00.008Z2008-11-11T11:18:07.029Z

Ok.Just a little pinprick. Therell be no more "aaaaaahhhhh!"But you may feel a little sick.Can you stand up? I do believe its working. good.Thatll keep you going for the show.Come on its time to go.[Pink Floyd - comfortably numb]So I am coming to the end of my first 3 week cycle of chemotherapy (only 7 more to go !) Overall, I am relieved that the side effects did not overwhelm me, nor did I

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-57473384234539993212008-10-06T23:00:00.003Z2008-11-11T11:18:37.619Z

Every third Monday is now my treatment day, when I get to go receive another dose of Oxaliplatin, and pick up more pills for the coming weeks. Whilst comfortable in my fancy Kubrick-esque pseudo-2001 space odyssey environment (see previous post for photo), the actual injection leaves the vein quite tender, so with a somewhat tenuous nod to the the blog title, these days may not be "Happy Mondays"

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-5283531261341458902008-09-29T20:23:00.004Z2008-10-01T15:05:32.664Z

Ten days in Portugal amongst my family, including my two little nieces, was spent profitably reading some books, relaxing and eating seafood. After this, I feel much better and ready to begin my chemotherapy course. Some preliminary meetings and a PET scan later revealed little new information, other than to the best of medical knowledge right now, we must assume the liver spots are secondaries,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-24129914094183412532008-09-04T21:56:00.008Z2008-09-04T22:33:40.573Z

I saw my Oncologist (cancer specialist) today for an update on treatment going forward. So far no-one has been able to determine exactly what was on my liver, but the evidence points strongly towards cancer secondaries, and I expect my liver specialist / surgeon to confirm that in the next week. I am also down to have a PET scan to add to the MRI and CT scan and to confirm the spots on my liver

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-4084508166893567542008-09-02T09:36:00.003Z2008-09-02T11:09:34.610Z

Today is staple removing day - finally the metal clips that have held my belly in check are leaving. Probably about time too, as it seems that my body is trying to get rid of them anyway - my dreams of being a cyborg have been cruelly shattered as it seems the bosy is smart enough to spot lumps of metal and tries to grow them out.(one staple-removing appointment later...)Ok, that was almost

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-65830734654833319392008-08-30T16:01:00.003Z2008-08-30T16:14:24.831Z

Have now been home for almost a week and so far recovery from the operation has gone well. I am eating most foods again, having cautiously avoided hard to process foods for a few days, and even treated myself to a small glass of wine last night - gosh. Digestion is almost back to normal too.Mimi is still looking after me quite a bit - too much moving around gets my back muscles quite tired as

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-23052698495079176292008-08-26T21:29:00.000Z2008-08-26T22:31:51.971Z

This is mostly copied from mails sent out in recent days, to update blog readers on my recent health news.Two weeks ago was examination time, and after 2 days fasting and drinking a special drink, I was truly empty and ready to see what be lurking within me, causing this discomfort. In a fit of bravery / stupidity, I refused the sedation offered for this examination (involving a tube, a camera,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-65050238600456024272008-08-01T14:11:00.002Z2008-08-01T14:12:51.099Z

Long time readers might recall a post over a year ago proclaiming Spoon one of the most awesomest bands ever. Well, nothings changed. The last album was released around a year ago, and is still one of my favorite listens. All the tracks are also still available to listen to free of charge on there "jukebox" website as well. Plus they are Adam Buxton's favorite band too !My belly (another great

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-55536709419280729732008-07-29T14:43:00.002Z2008-08-01T14:13:10.926Z

It's been one of those big "blog pauses", which often follow in step with one of those big "life pauses". Not to say I've not been up to much - in fact it's the amount of things going on with weekends away in the country, meeting family and a driving holiday around the UK that has kept me away from following my goals.... oh god - he's going to make a goal list again... Not so :)The main thing

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-42711689302273385392008-06-02T10:30:00.005Z2008-06-02T10:36:06.692Z

Last weekend, whilst stretching my back out to try and ready myself for the 10K run and looking at the weather forecast of heavy rain, I had a lot of mixed feelings about the run itself. But rather than just focus on the negative, I had a rather fun BBQ and Eurovision night on Saturday - I tell ya, those Latvian singing pirates shoulda won - and a great family get together where aunts, cousins

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-52964763934887595202008-05-20T16:01:00.003Z2008-06-02T10:31:25.289Z

After a little scare last weekend with some pretty sharp belly pain, which pretty much has kept me off training for the last two weeks, I am pleased to say that I am feeling a little better and should still be on for the BUPA 10K run, which is this coming bank holiday Monday.Thanks again for everyone who sponsored me for this - it really added a lot of weight and encouragement to getting back

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-53177622796273100742008-04-22T10:02:00.007Z2008-04-22T10:15:57.188Z

Thanks lots of those who have sponsored me so far - I am currently just over halfway toward my target and looking for other ways I can try and make the full amount.So I sent my details off to Diabetes UK, who kindly sent me back a pack of information and fund raising ideas for me to read through (most of them mentioning "the London Marathon" - I think they had a few packs to get rid of !). But

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-17212926168656543272008-04-14T13:24:00.004Z2008-04-14T13:29:18.254Z

Most blog readers will probably have already seen via other channels that I have decided to run the BUPA London 10,000 road race on behalf of Diabetes UK. I settled upon this charity as it's currently a condition my father lives with, and it was his encouragement that got me started on my current route to better fitness.The run takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 26th. If you would like to

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-89291467956683053402008-04-07T09:23:00.002Z2008-04-07T09:29:36.912Z

Another grand national and once again the turkey I picked in the work sweepstakes fell at an early fence, all it's legs fell off and then it burst into flames... or something slightly less horrific - but equally as useless as a "race winning maneuver" in any case.This year I also put a "real" bet on - this time using Betfair. I signed up, put 10 pounds down (and then another 2 pounds down on a

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1245507552004685552008-04-01T09:50:00.002Z2008-04-01T09:52:30.881Z

Seven days in the alps a couple of weeks ago were fantastic for my new board and awful for any concept of weight loss I may of been entertaining ! Cheese and beer a plenty kept me fueled for days of piste carving and nights of liver pickling, along with lots of other food things in the category of "not vegetable". Actually the dinners weren't too bad, our catered chalet had some good balanced

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-27087437468101392802008-03-05T16:29:00.006Z2008-03-05T16:39:48.634Z

I blame today's sick day from work for me missing this news from yesterday until, well, just now.Gary Gygax, father of dungeons and dragons and all things dice / geek related has passed away.Pretty much most of the gaming and geekery I'm into is somehow tied to this man, so it felt wrong not to mark his passing away with a brief post, and a quote from the man himself: "I would like the world to

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-34547521132611199852008-03-01T11:17:00.003Z2008-03-03T12:12:53.179Z

Alas on my last holiday, my beloved Fat Bob passed away. Fat bob was, of course, the snowboard I picked up in 2002. Manufactured by K2, he had to endure my full bulk for six years, going from novice to advanced-intermediate, carving terrible turns to popping terrible jumps, and generally taking a nasty beating off several rocks and snow park features.All of this finally cracked the metal edge

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-24392343625502645052008-02-25T07:31:00.006Z2008-03-04T12:06:18.469Z

At the weekend, Mimi and I headed into hospital to see my brothers new born baby girls. Two of 'em ! And they look identical ! Mind you, to me all babies do look identical, but I'm assured this will continue for quite some time to come.As with most identical twins, they babies were born prematurely, before they got too big and caused problems. But this means they are currently living in the

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-21167681826904282502008-02-21T10:55:00.002Z2008-02-21T10:58:37.739Z

As a man who frequently dreams of reinvention, but rarely comes close to doing much about it, I think it might be time to abuse my blog to help reaffirm my goals. Things have slipped a little admittedly part due to my glut of holidays this winter season, one snowboard trip to Les Arcs during which my beloved snowboard, Fat Bob, gave up on being trodden on and busted, making me realise how hard it

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-32196249292979201862008-02-05T09:58:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:22:59.181Z

Once again I have registered for the legendary festival of Glastonbury - last year saw 3 tired, frustrated hours refreshing browser pages and speed redialling phone lines before admitting defeat in April, but strangely I feel compelled to pre-register so I can try again come April 6th !Anyone out there fancy joining me in this endeavour ? Get your pre-registration in by March 14th and together we

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-75272908614345146752008-01-23T16:16:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:23:26.780Z

The world of the internet has opened up may newer resources for discovering bands. Simply google a few of your favourites and following links can often lead to new band ideas (not via the amazon.co.uk recommendations though, which whilst interesting to one or two degrees generally ends up recommending everyone would like "the killers" and whatever is in the charts that week).But now I've followed

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28130220132004880162008-01-21T14:55:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:22:34.586Z

Xmas comes but one a year... unless you bugger off around the planet for that special day, and come back a few days afterwards. In which case you get... Second Xmas !!! This joyous occasion was special for Mimi and I as we got to show off our little flat to my family as well as exchange presents for a second time of the year. And of course it's all about what we got other people or what they got

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-17383034275459629832008-01-14T15:45:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:24:02.511Z

I'm back from Australia, but must admit the "wonderment" of being on the other side of the world didn't come through as it did with the round the world travels. Mostly this is probably due to us not actually leaving the city of Melbourne - most of the trip was devoted to seeing friends and Mimi's family, and where it wasn't, it was devoted to sitting about doing blissful, sweet nothing (well,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-73245574235046456792007-12-12T16:17:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:24:54.474Z

Frost made it's unwelcome appearance this morning. I should have known - squirrels were all in hiding, lucky beggars, and the icy blasts of wind have been trying to assail me as I desperately cling to my cycle to work exercise plan. As I left the flat this morning, thefirst thing I noticed was that it's no longer cycle shorts weather and the wind was freezing me from the legs up. B*stard !

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-70695121090742816512007-11-28T12:07:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:27:47.733Z

Sometimes the internet can make you feel empowered, giving you insight, information and a voice in an overcrowded world. Other times it can make it all seem pointless when you realise just how many opinions, fools and unheard petitions there seem to be.I find myself often jaded to signing online petitions, wondering how much it really changes things. Even voting can feel that way, esp. when in a

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-5347142354935671542007-11-15T16:09:00.002Z2008-02-28T16:28:17.276Z

Last weekend was the first time Mimi and I got away from London, just the two of us, and went somewhere new together. Well, somewhere new for her, as we headed to Amsterdam, which I have visited a few times before. This time was different for me though, as I was able to take in more of the culture and feel of the city with new travel-widened eyes, as well as using the time to wind down, relax and

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-87134687408093363762007-11-09T12:07:00.001Z2008-02-28T16:28:40.116Z

New house has been a source of stress - hot water, plumbing, boiler, washing machine, broadband internet, dishwasher, windows, window blinds, TV aerial and shower head have been broken, busted or sub-optimal. About half of them are fixed now, but the response of our agents has felt slow and painful.In better news, my Mo is growing well. Check out the fancyness on http://www.movember.com/uk/popups

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-83994368143261699142007-10-31T12:32:00.001Z2008-02-28T16:28:56.845Z

Forget October - it's over - welcome to Movember.As part of a charity drive to raise's Male Health awareness, and partly as a team bonding exercise at work, it is time to grow my "Mo". During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo (slang for Moustache). That's right I'm bringing the Mo back to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity because... Prostate cancer is

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-35864122003639031942007-10-23T14:22:00.004Z2008-03-03T16:24:15.923Z

Coming up with the pun-a-rific title here was no trouble at all - a few words around the work office has unleashed a deluge of unsympathetic (and rightfully so) puns at my expense. But puns about what you may ask ?...Saturday night was a beery old night (and a beery old night was he... I'll stop there). But only slightly into my second drink, a couple of uni mates, free of the drinking shackles

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-81579508354949267592007-10-15T13:22:00.002Z2008-03-03T16:25:05.932Z

Mini-Hobby update - my boardgaming quest for the perfect boardgame may soon come to an end...Over time I've picked up a number of games which on a high-level can be split into Eurogames (limited randomness, quite simple rules, quite deep tactics - e.g. Chess, Settlers of Catan, Gin Rummy, Ticket to Ride) and Ameritrash Games (greater randomness, lots of cool looking bits and normally strongly

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-66231222363504461092007-10-09T10:20:00.004Z2008-03-03T16:33:35.658Z

Ok, three people commented on the lack of posts here - which is a lot in the micro-world of blogging. Besides, one of them was my mother, so what kind of son would I be to ignore my own mother ;)I am assisted with getting today's blog going with the handy firefox plugin ScribeFire, which offers you a little pop-up writing panel, which allows you to quickly start typing when the mood strikes, as

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-37346052592724108152007-08-30T10:21:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:29:08.438Z

Ok - diet plan is on for a good start. I got some scales, which kindly placed me much closer to 19 stone than 20, and then got a little more serious on exercise. Three to five times a week is the plan, with cycling into work and the gym offering the best chances for exercise.So far I am hovering just under 19 stone, but hoping to see that continue to drop slowly. It's easy to get disheartened -

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-66339019758900523472007-07-18T14:18:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:30:21.371Z

My name is Ben, I am 30 years old and I live in London near Tower Bridge and work for UBS investment bank in the IT section. I take these facts pretty much for granted, although a 20 year old me would of been fascinated to hear them.Today I am sick. Which means in between the napping, I have a day off. Not a "day off" like the weekend where I can go out and do stuff, but a day out of the often

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-83268250425078947792007-07-04T13:22:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:30:50.583Z

Joyful is I, for today my pre-ordered Spoon album entitled "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" arrived. For those unacquainted with them, Spoon are a superb band, probably one of my favourite of any genre. Catchy chords and tunes, a great singer (Britt Daniels), many different sounds in each album - like the Eels or Blur perhaps - and solid song writing skills add up to a several superb albums, the latest of which

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-28143309548879642842007-06-26T14:16:00.002Z2008-03-03T16:31:09.891Z

Feel like a lot of change and projects are flowing around in my life at the moment, and wanted to take a few minutes to capture where I am at with each. And also mark any progress on them, once I can stop spending ALL my spare time on facebook - if your not signed up then your rapidly becoming part of the minority, as even technophobic friends appear there every day. It's becoming big. It may

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-74607848700585226122007-06-11T21:07:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:31:47.967Z

Having gotten home at 4:40pm after a financial derivatives training course, I really thought I was going to make good headway on virtual vampire. It's now 10:15pm and I've just cleared my plate !Eating up that time in fairness was cooking a nice dinner, doing the homework for the course and a big gym session. I am trying to get fit for a number of reasons - firstly there is a 5.8km run coming up

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-80676998402065707832007-05-28T16:39:00.002Z2008-03-03T16:32:25.342Z

Recently I have been unsettled in my work and much of this was due to not having indulged in some good quality coding for quite a while. So I am intending to join the open source on line community with my own application - virtual vampire !This tool will be primarily an exercise in building a complete system, with a decent front end and expandable modules, for running one of the sides in a board

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-9284740230374960232007-05-14T21:55:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:32:46.679Z

Given my usual boredom with much of TV today, I was surprised to find something on tonight that made my blood boil. It was the 30 minute Panorama episode on Scientology, which attempts to offer an insight into this "secretive" religion, but instead can only showcase summaries of interviews that have been withdrawn due to legal pressure and hostile verbal assaults from leading figures of the cult.

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-66855170365656977952007-04-26T16:34:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:33:17.354Z

Today heralded a trip to the dentist, but not for any old routine check up. I had a check up just over 6 months ago back when I was living in West Hampstead where I was told I was fine and did not need to come back for a couple of years. However the other night I broke a little bit of my molar tooth biting down on some shell in a seafood mix from Tesco, and whilst it was in little pain, it seem

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-38933708581614479462007-04-12T09:04:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:34:11.139Z

After straining my wrist quite badly on a London bus, I am on the road to recovery, having taken full advantage of my private-health care through work. God bless free Health and the NHS, but if your a neurotic accident-prone giant then I can heartily recommend Private Cover for getting your bits and pieces fixed up :) How quickly the city can turn a boy away from his hippy communist roots...

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-13328492312795946442007-03-28T16:11:00.001Z2008-03-03T16:34:28.400Z

Whilst I regard myself as quite technical and internet focused, I have allowed myself to "slip behind" the curve a little recently. I think GMail was the last thing I was up to speed with, after that it all went a little soft. Certainly in recent times I forced myself into using RSS, which I now cannot live without - imagine having to revisit news pages and rescan them looking for any new

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-83533736051320298772007-03-21T12:56:00.000Z2007-03-27T15:23:04.305Z

Recently I have been trying to scratch a recurring itch of mine, board gaming. I flippin' love boardgaming. And we're not talking Cluedo, Trivial Pursuits or, dear god help me, Monopoly (gawd, Monopoly sucks). We are talking real tactical thinking boardgames, each seasoned with enough luck to suit the occasion.They are a happy compromise between mindless dice-roller family games and chess to me.

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-64814575073857745452007-03-12T09:47:00.000Z2007-03-12T11:26:47.516Z

My new ventures into modern communications has reached another stumbling block... seems Twitter is another of the modern web sites blocked by our companies Internet policy ! I think opinion of Twitter is somewhat divided, but to me it seemed the halfway house between blogging and having regular face to face contact with people - a way of keeping up with people's everyday smaller thoughts and

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-12336972666548559762007-03-07T10:44:00.000Z2007-03-07T13:24:05.397Z

Life emergency !Actually nothing to worry too much about - if you gaze down previous posts you may notice I have these as regularly as other people have pizza, but this one is given extra life-crisis validity by being close to my 30th birthday !Therefore I am following it through more than other panics - hey, I've even updated and cleaned up my blog this time ! Now if I only I can get round to

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-76593665467925740022006-12-07T18:00:00.000Z2006-12-07T18:05:11.591Z

Still here ? Gosh, I still have an audience !Consider this fine video of my ninja rap skills as some form of loyalty reward :)In other news, I'm still in the UK working in IT banking again. Kind of back to where I started before the trip ! But it pays the cash to buy new gadgets, toys and premium beers. All of which I have absolutely no spare time to enjoy :(It's that darned job, maybe it's time

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1146672133324150262006-05-03T15:55:00.000Z2006-05-03T16:02:13.340Z

If your reading this, you are probably suprised to see a new entry - not as suprised as I am to be writing one ! Four months of silence is probably enough to discourage even the keenest friend living far away, but if you are here, then I guess I am quite flattered you've made the effort !Let me reward that effort with some brief life news - in March, the company I was working for lost a lot of

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1135177835556015772005-12-21T15:08:00.000Z2005-12-21T15:10:35.556Z

To all readers of "Exit Turner" - HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !I shall be enjoying the fine powdery snow of both Europe and Canada over the next month, and I must say I'm rather excited ! Hope you all have a great 2006,Turner

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1134560034400204052005-12-14T11:15:00.000Z2005-12-21T15:08:40.170Z

It's been a whole year since I got home. And a few weeks - I've been a slack blogger these last few months. This slackness is partly due to being busy, but equally in being busy it's a reflection of how little time I put aside to consider where I am in life and where I'm going.It has been psychologically interesting to consider the change of tone of my blog posts over the last few years. First I

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1130752414572136542005-10-31T09:53:00.000Z2005-11-09T11:38:18.866Z

Weekends have been a rare commodity recently. Much of the excitement was caused by the marriage of two very dear friends of mine, Julie and Alan. We kicked off with the Hen Night, which in accordance with modern ways was attended by a few boys as well. It was an 80's themed romp around Reading's Rephlex "premier 80's venue" nightclub. The main bridal party got their superhero themed costumes on,

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1129645001482014992005-10-18T13:53:00.000Z2005-10-18T14:18:39.763Z

I've let this story drag out too long, so to conclude we reached Valencia, sat in the Cathedral Plaza and had some cervezas. Valencia had a little more going on, we spent time at the aquarium, where we accidently ordered the uber-meat platter and then bloated on that we sat and gazed at our intellectual superiors performing tricks for fishbits. We also got some better food in again, now we were

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1128688977464301492005-10-07T12:15:00.000Z2005-10-07T12:42:57.470Z

Having qiuckly grown tired of barcelona, we hired a car from AVIS at some extortionate rate, and then ended up being charged about 30% more (some unquoted tax) than they quoted us later on upon returning the car. Damn AVIS. We then drove along the coast down to the town of Tarragona, which appeared to be famous for people standing in big towers, although never found out why exactly. We wondered

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1128430585530253172005-10-04T12:38:00.000Z2005-10-04T12:56:25.536Z

The first day of my trip out to Spain started on a cold wet English morning - the perfect time to head off to foreign climates ! But the day did not go too well all in all. Firstly my brother had overslept, which meant I boarded our flight alone, made more frustrating then by a 2 hour delay to our takeoff. A choppy landing into Barcelona gave way to grey skys and solid rain all day.But I went out

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1127590063472078042005-09-24T19:22:00.000Z2005-09-28T12:32:37.246Z

My holiday plans finally got nailed down over the last few stressful weeks, and I booked myself a flight out to Barcelona, returning home from Valencia, which would give me a long week to see the sights of those two cities and a few places in between.During the planning for this great trip, I managed to go out on a few other trips. I firstly took some weekends out of London (very nice) to see

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1123859136413697192005-08-12T14:52:00.000Z2005-08-12T15:05:57.050Z

Summer's here already ? It's kinda snuck up and feels like it's soon going to be over ! With no summer music festivals to mark the start of summer (Glastonbury) or the end of Summer (Reading) my internal summer calendar is completley shot it seems.Why have I not been attending my usual music pilgrimages, enjoying the all the pleasures of the outdoors (trees, grass, loud rock music and beers) ? No

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1120748535165778042005-07-07T14:43:00.000Z2005-07-07T15:02:15.173Z

Today was a hell of a day for Londoners and Englanders all round. Today, for anyone living in a media blackout, London was attacked by terrorist bomb attacks.I was fortunatley far from the attacked areas, and therefore just caught a hint of tube delays as I entered work. But over the next two hours, I discovered that these slight delays turned out to be casued by the four explosions over the rush

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1115906214892270642005-06-13T13:56:00.000Z2005-06-13T16:42:43.166Z

My current conerm is the blog, like my life, may become a bit stale from general busyness and neglect. Work 9-5 is heading more like 9-6:30 as I try and get some good code into my first release at the end of June, meaning home time is "do the basics" of cooking, cleaning and another level of the Gamecube "Jeu du mois". Then blow off steam and booze away the weekend, pausing only to nurse sore

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1115635182716616802005-05-09T10:00:00.000Z2005-05-09T10:39:42.763Z

The sun has finally come to England, and things are looking much nicer - of course this is all part of nature's ruse... but I feeling a happier bunny either way.Getting out into the sunshine has not been so easy though - my ankle, which I broke and got pinned at university, has been getting stiff and sore recently. Not sure why, but thank god for our free health service that I can get it checked.

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1113389396900043482005-04-13T10:31:00.000Z2005-04-13T10:49:56.903Z

Late March took me off to the slopes for the third time this season - pretty decadant stuff ! This time the snow was not a lot better than previous holidays, but the hotter sun meant there were less patches of icy death. So with greater confidence, and some really sh*t hot boarding buddies to chase down the slopes, led to a 72.6% increase of narly-ness, and by the end of the week I had glided

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1110992696535275122005-03-16T16:55:00.000Z2005-03-16T17:04:56.536Z

Gosh, New job, moving house and no money. It's all a bit sressful truth be told ! Still, today was the first proper sunny day in England, so it's offcially Spring here I guess. Took it's bloody time...Breaking down the trinity of stress, new job is actually fine. I am working on fixing my first bug today, after finally getting a groudning in what the project is, where I fit in and what toys I get

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1108645651212473672005-02-17T12:59:00.000Z2005-02-17T13:07:31.213Z

After a month of interviews, stress attacks and sofa hopping in London I have finally got a job. In the end, no less than six offers came through (blimey) and the task of whittling them down was tricky. But eventually, I decided to go with a gut feeling as well as sidestep the finacially based jobs to take up a software development role with a small company (20 people) called Propero who are

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1107969674608343372005-02-09T17:07:00.000Z2005-02-09T17:21:14.606Z

Today, whilst boarding, I took a wrong turn. Then another wrong turn. Like Alice down the rabbit hole, I carried on off piste following some snowboard tracks and footprints. Then both sets of tracks stopped, where I realised the boarding tracks went DOWN, but the footprints were going UP. I had followed the tracks of another guy who realised he was miles off course, and unlike him could not

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107091.post-1107366122074875802005-02-02T17:32:00.000Z2005-02-09T17:07:01.926Z

Hurray ! I'm older ! 28 today... And for my birthday, after three long stress filled weeks of commuting and interviews I have finally been given not one but FIVE job offers. Hopefully some of them kept the receipts so I can take them back for a refund... They are all permanent positions in London, which means I am UK based once again, for better or for worse. Next week I shall be relaxing in

Ben Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01889838040524599770noreply@blogger.com0