Well this post is likely to get me into trouble one day but in the absence of anything else in my life at the moment the challenge was worth a go.  I have been on My Single Friend the dating site from her with the big tits off the Property Ladder; having been introduced to the site through a friend at work and after few random dates and conversations I have discovered that much of the Accenture team at work is dating through this site.  Considering they never go home this is likely the only source of amusement except for some late night finger hand action.  Bankers, teachers and lawyers need also apply.

Anyway, I digress, the challenge came about through Helen, a fellow MSF friend and Accenture fiend who I got chatting to over a few wines one evening, actually worse the pirate Accenture messenger system at Sainsbury's, came up with a challenge.  The challenge was to chat to and date the many random people who came up on MSF and emailed you, who you wouldn't normally consider because they broke the MSF rules of engagement. These are many but include No picture, only one picture likely to mean it was taken several years ago when they looked good, they come from Hitchin and have been inbred there for several generations, or, had no depth in their opening mail, 'hello, how are you?' does not wash these days for conversation.

Ok, so to date this bet has involved cake in a random tea shop in Hitchin, a very long drink in a pub in London before dashing off to meet my brother 300 miles away in Dorset and one person who refused to smile and possibly never had.  Now the question is how long does the bet stand - until we meet our dating stalker and die, before I run out of money?  She will win there as can date investment wankers till she dies. 

I have not given up though, if the right person turns up and several have been and gone from the Japanese loving girl to the Kiwi girl then I will be there and i think that is the win.

The years have passed since the cassette player was banished from my household to be replaced by round shiney discs.  The days gone of coming home from school turning on the evening session and taping the latest new release by Suede or Ride and playing it over and over. 

However it is the art of the mix tape that has been lost forever or so I thought until I blipped  This art would require great skill and planning in putting together a set of tunes that came to 45 minutes or maybe utilise those few additional unknown seconds before the tape flipped and the song was lost.  Then there was the hours of decision of which tune would open the tape and which would close it, would it be released to a friend or loved one and what would the reaction would be; like opening night at the theatre, would the show succeed, would they be playing that tape until it died? 

There are some classic moments that have come in my life through being given a tape to discover classics such as Pavement, Spiritualized and even Ratcat!  Now that blipping is here, surely a term for the dictionary within a few years, the late night mixing is truely saved!  God save the mix!