Tag Archives: O2

May Be Getting Better

May 8, 2021 Neil

We are just over two weeks away from the next potential easing of restrictions; I have still only taken a slight advantage of the previous relaxation of the rules so far. I am perfectly happy to slowly return to doing things when they become more accessible and less controlled. The situation in the United Kingdom appears to be improving nicely as all the key numbers have dropped significantly during this latest lockdown. The vaccination programme so far seems to be delivering excellent results in our fight against this horrible virus.

It is impressive how many people have received the injection. Both my sister and girlfriend have now had their first jab, which is great. I am expecting my second one by the end of this month. The big test will be of course when we all start mixing inside once again. There have been some test events to decide the best way of achieving this and work out the risks. If everybody is honest and considerate with each other by isolating with any symptoms then taking a test when it is required, we can keep it under control, which has always been the aim of the game.

I am optimistic that we can still have a great summer within Britain. Personally I am looking forward to a lot of barbeques to see family and friends. The situation in some other countries is still a little bit of a concern as regards to new variants appearing, which could hinder the progress that we have made. That will make travel overseas a potential risk but if people are careful and follow any quarantine rules, hopefully it will all be fine. Meaning we can look ahead to a more normal winter this year. I still think the key is to concentrate on what we can do rather on what we cannot.

I must confess just for ease I have been avoiding shops for most of the last twelve months and buying pretty much everything online. The other week I just needed a couple of extra things for the Bank Holiday Weekend so I ventured out to one of my local Supermarkets. I only needed four items so I grabbed them very quickly. There were only two tills open and I always pick the wrong one, which was the case once again.

One of the cashiers had a problem with her till and the manager was there looking at it, so I joined the other queue behind a gentlemen who was doing his weekly shop and had a trolley full. I was minding my own business while socially distanced from him patiently waiting for him to finish. Then all of a sudden I got splashed in the face and head with something. I looked up to see the cashier had dropped a can of lager and it had exploded everywhere! I laughed and shook my head then realised she was completely soaked.

Therefore she had to mop herself up then wipe down every single item he had bought which had also been covered. The till next door had been fixed and two more customers served before it was at last my turn to pay. To add insult to injury from this issue the lager was not even gluten free so I could not even lick my lips. Mind you luckily for me when it landed on me I had my mouth shut for a change!

I have just got a new mobile phone this week. I have been with O2 for over twenty years mainly because it feels like it would be a pain to change provider and they have never done anything to annoy me. Out of the blue I got a call from a member of their loyalty team who said they were rewarding me for my long term commitment to them with a special deal on a new phone and contract. Owing to last year’s iPad incident where I accidentally cancelled my phone contract and had to buy a sim only deal to get myself back in the telephone game, I thought I would just buy my next phone outright.

I was thinking about looking for a new phone when the guy rang me, how do they do these things, have they got a sixth sense, or am I that predictable? Anyway he was really nice, helpful and friendly. I had a very long chat with him. In the end he did offer me a decent deal on a new mobile contract which included a brand new phone with a very reasonable discount on it. It was the first time as a loyal customer of that company that they had ever called with such an offer. Therefore I took the deal and the new handset arrived a few days later. As I use the brand of phone that pretty much self-destructs after two years, I did need to get a new one!

My girlfriend and I had a couple of nights away just prior to the last Bank Holiday Weekend. We booked an Airbnb Shepherds Hut just outside Trowbridge. It was a very cosy straightforward little place. That was basically situated at the bottom of a vegetable garden at the back of a row of cottages. It was nicely furnished and heated by a log burner. I was briefly in the Cubs but never became a Scout. I put myself in charge of keeping the fire burning. You would not believe the pride and satisfaction I felt when I managed to get it going from scratch on day two. I just sat there staring at the flame smiling at my excellent work.

There was one other thing that attracted us to this place for a little two night break and that was it came with a log fired hot tub. The hosts were great and very kindly made sure it was heated up so we could use it both the days we were there. We did not get there until after seven on the first night, so by the time we had eaten we did not venture outside to the hot tub until after nine. It was nicely lit and so peaceful. It was a bit chilly getting in and out of it at that time but we offset that issue by enjoying a couple of glasses of Champagne while we were in there.

We then enjoyed another outside soak the following afternoon once again accompanied by some fizz. It is so relaxing and invigorating to be at one with nature, while in the bath. The Rumple Hut to give it its rightful name also had a projector. On our final evening we set it up and using my girlfriend’s lap top we watched Star Wars “The Rise of Skywalker”, the final instalment in the epic series of movies. I am a huge fan of the franchise, so had already seen it the day that it came out in the cinema. She had only seen the first three original films but agreed to give the last one a go.

We set it up on one of the big white walls of the hut and I must say it looked and sounded really good. I enjoyed seeing the movie again. I do not watch that many films but I can happily watch any of the Star Wars films over and over again. There are some nice twists and turns as it wraps things up and tries to answer all the outstanding issues from the whole of the story, which is no mean feat. Plus it is great albeit very briefly to see nearly all of the main original characters make at least a small appearance in it. It was a cool way to spend our final night in the Wiltshire countryside before we headed home.

It was of course May the Fourth Star Wars Day in the week. As a fan I do always celebrate and mark this occasion. I currently own a Star Wars T-shirt and a child’s Lightsaber. I used to have a big box of the original Star Wars figures and toys including the Millennium Falcon. I sold it all at a car boot sale about a year before they made the first of the final three films, which I will admit with hindsight, was very bad timing. I went to a Star Wars Exhibition at the O2 Arena about five years ago, which was brilliant. May the force be with you!

I had a great Bank Holiday Weekend relaxing while having a few drinks and enjoying some delicious gluten free food. As ever I was spoilt. We had two nights of steak firstly with potato salad then with pesto pasta the next night. A lovely prawn risotto dish with a bit of a homemade Chinese feast to round things off on the Sunday. All of this food was of course made by Lynda, who is an excellent cook. But I did contribute towards the pudding. I made a banana with whipped cream topped with hundreds and thousands. Do not knock it until you have tried it, tasted great I will have you know.

We also watched the most recent Russell Howard Netflix special called Recalibrate. I really like him and have seen him live quite a few times. In fact I saw him do a very early small work in progress gig for this very show at the brilliant Bill Murray Pub in Islington. From that I could tell that this was a much more angry and frustrated Russell than normal. That was clearly how he needed to pitch this show to make it work. The finished performance was hilarious there is one bit where he talks about what his Nan said at his Grandads funeral that made me cry with laughter. Well worth seeing if you simply need a good old fashioned laugh and we all need that sometimes.

I have just about recovered from the disappointment of Spurs losing the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley to Manchester City. They are a brilliant side, but I do not think we really went for it enough, we sat back a lot, when I would have liked to see us attack a bit more. That said it is no disgrace to lose to them. Since that defeat we bounced back beating Sheffield United four nil with Gareth Bale scoring a hat-trick. We started that game with the closest to the team I would like to have seen start for the last four months.

We still have no idea who our manager will be next season. All of the ones I really want already have jobs that I suspect they will not be leaving to come to us. Ryan Mason is doing a great job under the circumstances. We have just four games remaining starting with a trip to Leeds United today. Even if we win all of these matches there is only a very slim chance that we will qualify for the Champions League. If we fail to achieve that then it will be harder to attract new players and tougher to keep the players we have. I think depending on how the season pans out there could be quite a lot of changes at the club during the summer.

My weekly Pop Quiz has celebrated its first birthday. I marked the big occasion by presenting a special hour long version of it. I just added a few extra rounds some of which were there when it all began during lockdown one last April. I have had a lot of fun doing the quiz and trying to keep people entertained and amused when they were unable to leave their house or socialise with other people.

It has given me chance to chat and catch up with a few people which has been great. I have decided though as things will open up further in a few weeks I am going to do the final one of Tuesday 18th May. That means there are just two weeks left for you to get involved. Here is a link to the anniversary edition of “Quigger’s Play Pop” in case you missed it. https://www.facebook.com/796795590/videos/10164966924145591/

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Use The Force

November 25, 2016 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a really good couple of week’s. Mine have been busy with lots of fun things going on. The other week I found myself back in a very fancy bar in London. That I had not been in for a while. I popped in to Sushi Samba to have a few cocktails and enjoy the amazing views.

It is a pretty cool venue not far from Liverpool Street Underground Station in the Heron Tower. It is on the thirty-eighth floor and you get up to it by using these glass elevators. That reminded me of the ones’ at the end of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. They are so quick, it seems that you travel from the ground floor to the bar level in under twenty seconds.

So once you have arrived at the correct floor. Obviously the first thing you need is a nice tasty cocktail to settle your stomach. The selection is excellent and the staff are all fully trained in the art of flaring. I tried a mango one and also a strawberry one, while I was there. They both tasted sensational but very dangerous. As you could not tell that they contained any alcohol, at all. You could only really taste the fruits. But I can confirm that when I got up to leave. I did notice it then.

The views from there are spectacular. They have an outside roof bar. Plus huge windows that look out of every side. You can pretty much pick out any London landmark that you wish to. You get an instant feel how high up you are, when you realise you are towering right above The Gherkin.

It is a really good place to visit every now and again. I always really enjoy it in there. Afterwards me and the people I was with headed off just down the road to find somewhere to grab a bit of food. I had never been to a Turkish Restaurant before. And to be clear we are not counting Kebab Shops we are talking serious proper eateries only. So we thought we would try the Turkish place called Haz.

We had the selection share platter option. The food was very nice but heavily bread and hummus based. Which was perfectly fine with me, as I like both of them a lot. It was all washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine. Which possibly helped my enjoyment of it even further.

I am a massive Star Wars fan. So I was very excited when I found out that there was going to be a massive Star Wars Exhibition taking place at the O2 in London. I was even more excited when I manged to get a ticket to go along to the preview day a few Monday’s ago. So I could have a look around it before it officially opened to the general public. When I arrived there on the day. I could not work out why there were so many people already there.

It then dawned on me that the ATP Tennis Finals were taking place there. And that Andy Murray was due on court in the next hour. The whole place was absolutely heaving. Well done to him on becoming the number one tennis player in the world. That is a fantastic achievement. It is great that he is of course British to. Well at least until he slips down to number two anyway.

Right so back to Star Wars then. I have to confess that on the way there I was way to excited for a man of my age going to such an event. The actual full name of the attraction is “Star Wars Identities”. So as well as lots of amazing items, memorabilia and costumes from the actual films.

It also looks in to the individual make up of each of the character’s. And gives you chance to discover your own Star Wars Identity. This part of it is really tailored to the children. And is actually very cleverly done, I think. But everybody who goes round gets the chance to do it.

When you arrive you get issued with an earpiece. So you can hear the audio from all the screens you see and also for extra audio information about the items on display. You also get an interactive wristband. Which is what you use, as you go round to create your own personalised Star Wars Identity.

You are then shown to the starting point. Which is a cool welcome video to watch. When that has finished you can just take yourself round the place at your own pace.

The first actual items you see from the films are several different Storm Trouper costumes. Followed by the actual C3PO and R2-D2 used by Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker respectively. Which nearly blew my mind. Then you get to see the carbon cask that held Hans Solo and Princess Leia’s gold bikini from Return Of The Jedi. Before Yoda, Jabba The Huts actual eyes and one of Peter Mayhew’s actual Chewbacca outfits.

Not to mention other costumes worn by Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Queen Amidala. Plus some of the members of the Dark side of the force including The Emperor, Darth Maul and of course the man played by the Green Cross Code man Darth Vader.

As well as taking lots of pictures as I went round. I was also using my wristband at the various sections to build and find out my own personal identity. It was a nice fun added thing to do. The way it was explained and linked back to the development of human beings. I think would be very educational and interesting for children. At the end they show you a picture of what the Star Wars you, looks like.

And you can sign up to have them email you the whole back story of your character. Just in case there was any doubt. I can confirm that I was a high ranking Jedi. As a massive fan of the whole thing. I really enjoyed the exhibition. And I would recommend checking it out if you are a Star Wars fan.

I went with my dad to Wembley Stadium to see England play Spain the other week. It had been planned for a while. In fact when we got our tickets for it. Sam Allardyce was still the manager. It was a classic Quigley visit to the home of football. We got there early had a drink before we went in. Then we had a bit of Pizza pre-match inside the ground and settled down in our seats in time to watch the players warm up. We did get a free commemorative t-shirt each as well, which was nice. A freebie is a freebie. I am not proud.

The game itself was alright. If I am honest we had hoped to see more of Spain’s star players on show and being Spurs fans it may have been nice to see more of our players out there. The game started well with England getting an early penalty. Which was won by Vardy and then confidently put away by Lallana.

Then early in the second half Vardy scored with a diving header. Then completely confused me with his Mannequin Challenge. As I could not work out why he stopped mid celebration. I thought the goal had been ruled out at first. Before I finally realised what they were doing.

It was all going so well. Until the last five minutes when England suddenly decided to throw away. What would have been a nice morale boosting two nil win albeit against an under strength Spanish team. To finish with, let us say a respectable draw. The more changes they made the better they got and the more substitutes we made the worse we seemed to get.

After the game we went and had a beer. While we waited for the queues at Wembley Stadium Station to go. It was an enjoyable night. And only a friendly, so the result did not really matter. But how the game ended however was a little bit frustrating.

Now I do not want to shatter any illusions here and ruin the magic of television. But sometimes even for charity shows people may not be available on the night due to other commitments but still want to be involved. This means that occasionally they will pre-record bits in the studio to be inserted in to the live show.

So the day before Children in Need this year I was at the BBC Elstree Studios to see some performances being filmed in advance. It is always fun being there. It is where they film Eastenders. And it is also the studio complex where the original Muppet Show was made to.

The first thing I got to see was a comedy sketch featuring the comedian Russell Kane and the sitcom character Mr Khan with their “families”. For a fun dance off to settle a quiz at a church hall. It was very cleverly done and well choreographed.

Plus if you saw it, you will know that it featured some very fancy moves from the Grannies of the families’. Thanks to some clever camera work and two amazing stand in body double dancers. Who were totally brilliant and came in and did their bit in only one take.

I was so pleased and surprised by what came next. I got to witness three numbers by the cast of the new big West End production of Aladdin. It was a massive hit on Broadway in America and has recently transferred to England. It is something that has been on my radar to go to. But I have not quite got round to it yet. Anyway they were all totally brilliant specially the Genie Trevor Dion Nicholas. Who so looks and sounds the part.

It was also good to see the beautiful Jade Ewen performing. She is playing Princess Jasmine. And did a fantastic version of A Whole New World with Aladdin himself Dean John -Wilson. I was so pleased to see this. Now I really cannot wait to go and see the full show.

The final insert that was recorded the day before, while I was there. Was a performance from real life great mates Shane Richie and Tony Hadley. The Spandau Ballet front man was the first radio interview I ever did. He is a top bloke and good fun. He told me back then that he does sometimes have a few problems remembering lyrics. So it was not a surprise to me when he pulled out a piece of paper with the words on to check them again before the song started. He lives near me nowadays, so I do occasionally see him out and about at various places. They performed “Do It For Love” which is off of Shane’s latest album.

They both have great voices and it sounded brilliant. Plus they were both a lot of fun before and after the song. With Shane offering to take us all for a quick pint in the Queen Vic. It was another fun day at Elstree seeing some great stuff. It was all very well done.

I bet if you watched Children in Need on the Friday night. You would have had no idea that any of those things that I have mentioned had been recorded the day before. And were not being performed live on the night. Congratulations to everyone involved in the show. Which this year raised a record breaking £46 Million pounds. Just on the night alone itself.

So in my working life recently. I got to watch a radio interview with the brilliant Laura Mvula taking place. I shared a lift with Gabby Logan. Each of the lifts at the BBC have different radio stations playing in them. We were both in the Radio 1xtra lift.

And I have also have seen Ian Wright around quite a bit recently. He is just one huge bundle of energy that fella.

Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.

Neil Quigley

Tag Archives: O2

May Be Getting Better

Use The Force

Neil Quigley Presenter