A good blog post…
By penfold | May 10, 2008
…is it a rambling footpath through the inner workings of somebody’s warped and troubled mind (possibly mine)?
…or is it short incisive comment on the state of the tiny corner of the universe that we live in - appalling in content but leaving us with hope and a small feeling of pride in humanity?
…maybe it has a title that promises large perky breasts and buns you could bounce quarters off but just delivers a feeling like a slightly used kleenex?
…or perhaps a photograph of Daddy P in his youth with ‘art college hair’ and all his own teeth (mostly)?
There is the possibilty that a short list of random questions is the answer I’m looking for - but I doubt it…
I didn’t surf today.
Topics: blogs | 22 Comments »
A little blue…
By penfold | May 7, 2008
… sometimes when you’ve been away for a while things just don’t seem to fit for a few days.
You get that feeling that some tiny core element within you has been changed forever and your home environment is tragically unaware of it. You wander through the day with an air of displacement and surreal loss - going through the motions yet knowing that something essential is missing or an element is out of place (a little like Daddy P at a writing convention or a humour award ceremony…)
Of course this feeling soon dissloves and daily life slowly regains its vibrancy and depth enhanced eventually by the memories of an amazing journey …
It won’t stop me missing Tango for the next few weeks (did I mention that I’m going to Canadialand?) but it will make the time flow a little easier.
I didn’t surf today (maybe tomorrow).
Topics: on my mind | 17 Comments »
If it doesn’t fit…
By penfold | May 5, 2008
…don’t force it.
Japanese watermelon manufacturers have developed a way of fitting a round peg into a square hole - making refrigerator use just a little more efficient.
Personally I feel if an orifice is the wrong shape then no amount of genetically enhanced lubrification will ease a peg’s passage…
I didn’t surf today.
Topics: on my mind | 12 Comments »
A few days ago…
By penfold | May 2, 2008
…I was here.
My life was all about surfing in board shorts and factor 50 sun block - Tango in bikinis (grrr) and Huwj in a hammock - banana pancakes and seer fish curry - crazy tuk-tuk rides and endless military checkpoints…
Crows, chipmunks, elephants and peacocks. Banana trees, banyans, palms and papayas. Corrugated iron, mouldy concrete, dirt roads and mobile phone billboards. Poverty, destruction and the biggest smiles on the planet.
A month of sensory overload now dissipating in the decompression chamber of my parents apartment in Eastbourne. One minute I’m in the pearl of the Indian Ocean next I’m getting insulted by Daddy P - it’s a strange life…
I didn’t surf today but I did manage to find a decent cup of tea for a change…
(Loads more photos at flickr)
Topics: surfing | 9 Comments »
I’ve surfed twice today already….
By penfold | April 8, 2008
… so I may have to go in again later. Times are hard…
I surfed today. Warm water, palm trees and Tango waiting for me on the veranda. Yay.
(photo is a local kid at Hikkaduwa ripping it up in the shorebreak - very nice…)
Topics: surfing | 21 Comments »
There comes a time…
By penfold | March 27, 2008
… in every mans life when he has to leave the shelter of his parents wing and fly into the wilderness to find his own worms. Over the last few years I’ve been camping in my parents house in the hills in Portugal - acting as part time janitor, surly estate agent and general loitering squatter.
So a few weeks before my 40th birthday I figured the day has finally come to cast aside my mothers apron strings and let go of my fathers nurturing (yet protective and quite manly) hands - so I grabbed my pair of bags (luckily I hadn’t ever really unpacked) drove the 3 minutes down the hill to my new house where my new caravan (that’s trailer to all you people west of the Azores) is nestled between some olive trees on my lower terrace. All I can hear at the moment are birds singing and the constant rush of the river at the bottom of the field below.
They say that moving is one of the most traumatic expereinces in your life (along with death and divorce or should that be life and marriage?) but the whole 2 hour experience has been very mellow and I now have a strange feeling of calm and serenity. Of course tomorrow I set off on my epic voyage to Asia with the loverly Tango (woman of my dreams) so hectic will soon be upon me again…
I didn’t surf today. Did I mention that we’re going to Sri Lanka?
Topics: on my mind | 15 Comments »
What are the chances…
By penfold | March 24, 2008
…of meeting the ‘woman of your dreams’ in the blogiverse?
An interesting and challenging question to which there is no simple answer - but if a mathematical solution was attempted by my calculations it would go something like this…..
If x is the possibility then x=1x(fmb section rating)x(average technorati authority)x(average daily new visitors)/(number of blogs in existence)x(Daddy Papersurfer factor)…
So according to todays ratings and stats we show an answer of x=5×41x56/72.82millionx(DP)
Which is more or less 1 chance in 6,343 DP’s (where DP is anywhere from 1 to several million depending on how annoying he is that day and how likely having a father like that is to put off a potential girlfriend).
Do you want mp3 music download for ipod mp3 player, You need download mp3 music on perssonal computer
So to summarise - it is exceedingly bleedin’ unlikely to meet the woman of your dreams in the blogiverse. Which makes me very lucky indeed…
I didn’t surf today. But I am going away (with the woman of my dreams) at the weekend…
(my apologies for sporadicity of posting and commenting - exceedingly busy right now)
Topics: Uncategorized, on my mind | 8 Comments »
Portuguese highway code - lesson 1
By penfold | March 19, 2008
Lesson 1 - Indicators
These should generally be used with hesitancy and caution usually to display a recent action (ie to be used just after making a turn or overtaking another vehicle).
They can also be used to indicate a state of impatience and frustration on motorways - normally associated with large imported German cars driven by men of a diminuitive nature (physical stature and genital dimensions).
Finally the ‘Red Herring’ - a basic decoy manouevre. Simply indicate in one direction (ie right) and then turn in exactly the opposite direction (ie left) preferably cutting up cars coming in both directions causing increased heart rates and stress related symptoms for all drivers involved thereby making the roads just a little bit more exciting for all concerned.
Thank you - you’ve all been loverly students - now go and play nicely with the traffic…
I didn’t surf today.
Topics: portugaliness | 9 Comments »
It’s either really close…
By penfold | March 15, 2008
…or really really big.
For those of you who frequent my flickr pages you’ll probably know that I have a fascination with wind turbines. The windmills on the ridge of hills above my house are a recent addition to the landscape and as far as I am concerned are extremely welcome…
These however are the most mahoosive ones that I have ever seen. Too gargantuan to capture properly in a photograph but this one gives a fair impression. I can thoroughly recommend standing beneath one of these electromagnetic behemoths - a thrilling and awe inspiring experience - the fearsome roar as the blades slice through the ice cold air (they are standing at nearly 3000ft above sea level) and the vertigo inducing height as they tower over you…
Quite frankly they are more daunting than seeing Daddy P in his undercrackers on a Sunday morning…
I didn’t surf today.
Topics: portugaliness | 7 Comments »
Snogging all over the world…
By penfold | March 13, 2008
…not content with bold and fearless *PDAs across continental Europe the fabulous blogging duo Penfold and Tango have decided to wrangle the Tamil Tigers and canoodle their way across Ceylon. Armed only with a small china teacup and a slightly dented blue surfboard they plan to loaf, lounge and lay about in various hammocks across the southern reaches of the Sri Lankan coast brazenly touching lips in the world-wide symbol of smitten-ness known as ‘the snog’.
Although this may be seen as others as an open act of smushiness and a declaration of intent to ‘get busy’ - quite frankly we don’t care…
I didn’t surf today. Back to plumbing again…. hurumph….
*Public display of affection
Topics: on my mind | 14 Comments »
When 2 blogs become one…
By penfold | March 10, 2008
…penfold and Tango. To be continued…
Topics: on my mind | 23 Comments »
Can you guess what it is competition…?
By penfold | March 10, 2008
…please send your answers to thisisthehubofawindmillpropeller@annoydaddypapersurfer.com
I didn’t surf today. Still snogging…
Topics: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Stranger than fiction…
By penfold | March 7, 2008
…it’s been a strange week - I’ve eaten a Francesinha in a cobbled side street in Lisbon, I’ve drank Irish cider and listened to lilting Gaelic strings in the bustling bars of Dublin and I’ve walked beneath the rugged red cliffs of the Algarve next to the sparkling blue water of the Atlantic. Now I’m back home in the Serra de Lousa surrounded by trees and hills and rivers.
I’ve also kissed a Canadian in all of those places. I’m going to kiss her again later - if she lets me and I think she will…
I didn’t surf today. Not that I care …
Topics: on my mind | 12 Comments »
Cute enough for you…?
By penfold | February 26, 2008
…so Kevin and Sylvie are running a cute kids competition on fmb’s very own our blog.
This is not an entry into that competition as the prize (offered by The cute kid) seems to be a huge 16″x20″ family portrait, printed on canvas - and quite frankly I’d rather have some week old roadkill stapled to my wall than see Daddy P leering over me whilst trying to eat my cornflakes in the morning…
But I did find a few old photos of Dylan when he was all small, pudgy and cuddly - before he became all lanky, scrawny and cuddly. He’s well gorgeous aint he…?
I didn’t surf today. I do seem to be going on a trip tomorrow though… 
Topics: Uncategorized | 15 Comments »
Sk8r Boyz…
By penfold | February 23, 2008
…look out Portugal - cos there’s a new breed of rail-grinding, kick-flippin’, oh so stylin’ it crew hitting your concrete.
This is the new school coming through and they’re taking names. Okay so there’s a couple of old duffers in there too who should be tucked up in a rocking chair reading Saga magazine and sipping on some Ovaltine but we’re refusing to go down easy.
So let the new roll with the classic (more here) and may my arse not hurt quite so much in the morning…
I didn’t surf today. Quite frankly I wish I had (it hurts less).
Topics: Uncategorized | 11 Comments »