Thunderbozz

This is the sign in the window of Zavvi, Sheffield, this weekend. The store has finally closed it's doors after collapsing into administration late last year. It's a shame to see it go, even if it had lost the history associated with Our Price and Virgin Megastores, but it was also inevitable. Video killed the radio star; iTunes killed the record store. In Sheffield, there's a "masterplan" to expand the city centre with a brand new retail quarter. Construction - or rather, demolition to clear the site - began in the economic boom of 2008. Sadly, with so many shops closing, it looks like a rather silly idea today, and work has been put on indefinite hiatus. USC has closed; The Link shut down; Zavvi is no more; Woolworths kicked the bucket; Barclays have downsized from three branches to just one; the days of seeing Lloyds TSB and Halifax branches side-by-side are surely numbered. The High Street is literally shrinking, because these stores will not be replaced...

I've seen some boring football matches in my time. I've been to games with very little atmosphere. I've been to see games on playing fields and in horrible stadiums. But I've never seen a game quite as bad as Rotherham vs Macclesfield Town at the Don Valley Stadium (last month). It was dire . No soul, no excitement, not even any good football. And it cost me £20 to get in, too. ◊ Last month was a really busy time at work, so I managed to build up quite a bit of flexitime, even after a couple of afternoons off to see the dentist. Unfortunately, it's been all but wiped-out by the snow; it's taken longer to get into the office, and we usually closed earlier than usual during the worst of the wintry snap in the first week of February. C'est la vie. ◊ Dartford have had a few games postponed due to the weather, but we've been unbeaten in the last seven we've managed to play, which has shot us into sixth place in the league. It's a fantastic ru...

Warning You are about to be asked if you would like to read this blog post. Alert Would you like to read the following blog post? Yes/No Notification You are about to read this blog post. This is what Windows Vista feels like. Last weekend I finally got fed up of not having a working computer, so I decided to pop down to Currys and see if I could grab a bargain. Not really wanting to spend more than £300, I was expecting to be faced with the choice of a feature-light netbook (impossible to type on) or a low-spec tiny-screen laptop. As it happens, I was plesantly suprised, and managed to pick up an 15-inch widescreen Advent with Dual Core processor, a good-sized hard drive and decent features for my money. Unfortunately, it also comes with Windows Vista. I'd heard horror stories about Vista, but never actually seen or used it until now. Sadly, this was also the point at which the pleasant suprises stopped. There are countless things I don't like about it, man...