Ginger DJ Rob

Bought an I pod car adaptor for Kerry's birthday and found the operation instructions a bit confusing especially point 4:- 1. Insert some cigarette ends of ipod Auto Kit in some cigarette devices of automobile of yours, and adjust the suitable angle, so that your convenient operation I Pod. 2. Draw back both arms, put your Ipod into and equal to the urgent both arms , let your protection firmly of I Pod among them. 3. Will charge the plug and connect it on the base interface of ipod, in this way you can charge while listening to the music. 4. Choose the transmission frequency of this equipment according to the local frequency situation of radio station, the switch is presetted frequency to stir the frequency band , try one's best to avoid the frequency of the local strong radio station , then open wave band , FM of auto radio , of you, is it search set let auto radio of you receive frequency that you preset automatically to choose, in this way you can listen to iPod st...

More f*cking rain in big dollops. Another museum, this time the American Natural History . Pain in the arse to find a subway station for the right line but at least it was straight there. First rock of the day was the museum's meteorite which was so heavy (100 tonnes) it needed its own deep foundations for support. Other big stuff was a huge real scale model of a blue whale , an Easter Island head plus lots of great tribal masks and interesting animal scenes. The weather had finally lifted with some clear skies so we ventured back to the top of 5th Avenue . More Tiffany shopping for Kerry and I managed to get my sky high view fix on top of another rock - Top of the Rock - the Rockafeller building. As well as the views, a Perspex lift roof added to the fun. Arrived at the airport to find the same Swindon couple we'd met originally who had the very same flight as us so we swopped stories whilst waiting for the delayed flight.

ESB very early in morning - in queue for 7:45am - lashing down with rain and cold with it! Met an Irish family who thought I was from NZ or Oz! Outside of the 86th floor was even colder, wetter and windier. The views were ok but I was kicking myself for missing the fine weather. I'd paid another $12 to see the 102nd floor. There was an old fashioned manual lift driven by the most New York bloke yet quoting 'How you doin?' and 'Let me tell you somethin' all with a friendly attitude but also with an edge (you cross wit' me I take you out! Capiche?). The persisting rain made us change to Plan B for the Metropolitan Art museum. We were really impressed by the Egyptian temple reconstructed the ancient Asian art and the modern art pieces resulting in the best value for money yet. Our feet and legs gave in to the luxury of a taxi for temporary stop at the hotel but were subjected to a whinging cab driver named Abdul about his stress and blood/sugar levels. After...

Weather was treating us good with bright warm sun. After another fatboy breakfast we headed straight over for our helicopter tour. Before we boarded we had to be cleared by the security guard who high-5'ed everyone. The flight was good but spoilt by our Grand Canyon tour we did 3 years ago. No commentary or cool soundtrack, just a quick buzz down over the Statue of Liberty then back up the Hudson to look at Central Park and back home in 12 minutes. Kerry didn't feel too good so I took the photos. Walked down to the World Trade Centre site. Found the best deli ever called Amish with the best sandwich and piggy-sized cookies. Site was crowded and gave a strange, spooky feeling. Although we were effectively looking at a building site you couldn't help think of that fateful day. One of the buildings next door was being dismantled from the inside brick by brick because everyone objected to hearing an explosion from demolition. Next to the site was the most over-rated shop ...

Nice leisurely getting up and breakfast then headed down to the Empire State Building . By the time we'd got organised it was about 12:15pm and queues seemed long. Kerry couldn't do the heights so went to Bloomingdales whilst I waited in the company of ticket selling pests looking to sell dual ESB and Sky Ride tickets. 10 minutes later I thought the 90 minute warnings were estimated too high looking forward to seeing the sights in no time. However after the security scan, a mass of people snaked their way through a huge room and the 90 minutes looked like hours. By 2:10pm I was at the head of the queue though conscious I had to meet Kerry for her birthday treat of the Sex and the City tour for 2:45pm. 10-15 minutes would be all I needed up there but after turning the corner to expect the lifts was another queue with an expected 30 minute wait again! Luckily the ticket could be used on another day so ran back to the pre-arranged meeting place. The S and TC tour was okay thou...

We had a false start down in Greenwich Village trying to find the cool shops. When we did they were shut until 12:30pm (lazy buggers) so wandered into the Washington Square where that mini-Arch de Triumph is from Friends. Back down to the subway then upto Central Park for a row boat hire - never done this so was a bit confusing with directions. Sun was reaching its peak of hotness so my forehead got a right grilling. Saw the Ghostbusters apartment then onto Tiffany's for Kerry shopping served by 1.5 armed man plus looked at the freaky dolls, oversized stuffed animals and walk-on piano in FAO Swartz. Avenue Q was a little bit disappointing - jokes had been done before or were aimed at easy-to-please Americans who laughed at anything. There were a few kids in the audience who kept looking up to their parents whenever the actors swore or the puppets had sex which was quite funny. On the whole I doubt it would work well in the UK. Proper look at Times Square - huge billboards an...

Saw Will Young with a female friend at Heathrow. Flight was packed with French exchange students and the leg/seat room ridiculous - entertianment crap compared to the Virgin flights we'd taken before. Approaching NY was great with clear skies showing Long Island 's long white beaches plus Manhattan looking like a model with spikes of rusty and glass for the skyscrappers. Our connecting bus had a couple from Swindon who did English civil war reinactments. Saw the flying saucers 2-towers monument and steel globe in Queens that was in Men in Black . Over the rickety steel bridge where Taxi credits are filmed then into neck creaking Manhattan. Hotel was a shiny mirror 'n' marbel affair with over-friendly staff. Receptionist summoned the porter using a 4 bar xylophone like Hi-De-Hi which cracked me up. Grand Central station was busy with wildlife sounds and grand ceiling. Went into the Chrysler building reception for the art-deco (not allowed elsewhere). UN building lo...

Whilst Kerry had her monthly mop chop I decided to view the Brazilian art exhibition, Tropicalia at the Barbican . This was the first time I'd ever been to the Barbican and the building site entrance and dull concrete didn't impress at first. After the confusing entry, more disappointment came with no photography being allowed so have used their website graphic above. However, this exact graphic had nothing to do with the art inside which was slightly disappointing. Instead the majority of the art displayed were old 70's experimental concept art to test other senses. With no photos allowed I tried to take notes along the way. First up were some welder-like goggles with circular-mirrors attached to the front then another pair of goggles on the opposite side. Next a tray of sports related balls, tennis, ping-pong etc. Random or what. Further on a TV screen showed a film of a moustached man laying a see-through sheet of plastic over a woman and touching her through it. My ...

Last night I was a victim of two crimes. Cycling over to the local Sainsbury’s I parked up, locked the bike and did some shopping. As I was paying at the till I noticed a band of chavs near my bike through the shop window. A little apprehensive at this point I went back to my bike with the hoodies walking away. When I got to my bike I found not only my lock still there but another - the f*ckers had locked my bike! (Crime 1) Dismayed at not being able to steal my bike in the first place the Shirley Tower scumbags decided to clamp my bike hoping to come back later and nick it for parts. Crime 2: My instant reaction was to call the authorities and 999 was dialled. Another phone number was requested to be called as my life was not in danger (okay, I'm still calm) repeating it to myself in case I forgot. Another call centre person advised me I had come though to a different number but this time transferred. About a minute later of ring tone I eventually got through to an old soundi...

Today I was kicked by a tramp Originally uploaded by robmanuel . More decorating over the weekend with a couple of rentals to amuse us. Buzz, the general knowledge version was ok. Also rented Steamboy , an anime directed by Katsuhiro Otomo , the same guy who did Akira . Started off great with a clever and detailed spin on Victorian life in England bolting on a manga story. England was the Japan of 19th century with steam engines the cutting edge of technology and a family of inventors creating the next new power source. Enter mysterious agents who want to steal the new engine, Robert Stevenson acting on behalf of the government and some spoilt brat girl for love interest. Sadly the characters' relationships didn't justify the story's direction and drama turning the film into a multi-action set-piece. Captain Picard keeps popping up on these voice-overs getting tarred with the X-men, sci-fi brush though a little thought went into the rest of the voices using Northern accen...

Madonna concert tickets eh? Thought this might end up like Glastonbury but after some tears and trauma more dates were announced, and Kerry's day was saved. Even I was able to buy some and make some money with the outrageous prices already on ebay - spotted a pair at over £1000! Otherwise a very ordinary day. Spotted this news story on bbc.co.uk for Banksy 's latest art which is pictured above.

If anyone regular is reading this expecting something exciting or remotely insightful, you'll be asking for your money back. But as this is a free service - tough! Last night after work I went to the doctor for my arm injury from that karate tournament. Although I was glad to show off my bruise to impress the ladies, the nagging pain was making me wake up from sleep and painful whenever I stretched it. Not sure what the doc's name was but it sounded like Dr Umbongo who grabbed my arm and forced his fingers into my arm muscle. What didn't hurt as much before certainly did after and concluded it was a 'tennis elbow' injury. He recommended no fighting and after asking if I could still do the exercises in Karate he cut over me saying NO FIGHTING. Just spent over a fiver on some Ibu-profen gel which isn't doing much for me. With no karate that night I needed cheering up so Kerry drove me down to Hythe where the chippy is legendary. Shame it was closed so went to Hy...

The weekend was a return to the 'folk. Friday's journey up there was quite good apart from a 40mph average speed restriction on the M11. There were about 4 cameras along the stretch so every time I sped up over 40mph I had to decrease the difference and go about 30mph in some places. Listened to Pete Tong 's Radio 1 show for most of the journey and couldn't believe how many re-hashed old tunes are being pumped out. If I was to judge the dance scene on that show no more proof would be needed to say that dance music was on its last legs due to self cannibalisation. Saturday started very early with bright sunshine burning through the wafer-thin curtains. Even the t-shirt wrapped round my head couldn't stop the light. First stop was a catch-up with my mum who welcomed us with a present. It was a stuffed toy of a black panther. Speaking of black cats, my old cat, Sasha tugged at the heart-strings as he recognised me when I stroked him, purring like he was asthmatic. H...