Observation: I noticed yesterday whilst buying a Valentine’s card for my bird, that it’s now possible to get “Happy Valentine’s Day Mummy (Daddy, Grandma, Grandad etc.)” cards. Call me an old cynic if ya like, but isn’t this blatant commercialism taking the piss a bit? What next? “Happy Easter, Rover”.

Rant: I’m not a fan of legislation which restricts basic individual freedoms. I believe that we as a society should be capable of restraint, that we should have a social conscience, that we shouldn’t piss our neighbours off, that we shouldn’t let off fireworks at eight pm on a Sunday night when that nice Steve Rose has just spent two hours getting his son off to sleep.

I used to love fireworks until the novelty was ruined by world war three breaking out every night for the slightest reason. “Hey, it’s the cat’s birthday , we’re pissed, let’s wake the whole street up with some fireworks!”

So, against my better judgement I support Bill Tynon’s private members bill to impose another restriction on individual freedom.

I am soooo glad that I don’t care about football (soccer), particularly as I know several Aussies who will be crowing fit to burst today.

War: 12 million reasons not to go ahead with a war against Iraq. Why don’t we use our vast resources to work with the relief agencies to bombard them with food, medicine, supplies and expertise? If we help to feed their kids instead of murdering them we might start to win enough hearts and minds in the middle east to start turning this no win situation around.

Happy Birthday to my best mate Dave Dawes, the old git ! He's 41 today but don't tell anyone, especially him, he thinks that he's still 18.

Motorcycling: Here we go again. More speed cameras, more opportunities for revenue raising which will no doubt be spent on more speed cameras which can then raise more revenue and actually do bugger all for road safety.

I have no problem with enforcing speed limits provided that they’re appropriate. By appropriate I mean that some are too high, some are too low and some should be variable dependent upon the conditions.I believe that it should be done by policemen and women not machines, they have the ability to make informed decisions, machines do not.

Shouldn’t we start looking at other dangerous, stupid, selfish or just plain dumb driving behavour as well. There are plenty of for instances (aggressive driving, mobile phones, tailgating, jumping red lights, dawdling, throwing fag ends at me, etc. etc.).

I’m not being biased against car drivers here, most motorcycling knobheads have packed it in for the winter, rest assured that they will be dusting off their R1s and Gixers ready for their annual 3,000 miles at 125mph on sunny afternoons around Boxhill. The diehard winter riders are busy trying to stay on two wheels and keep warm.

I’ve said it before, the key to improving road safety is education and training, everyone thinks that he or she is a better driver than everyone else.

Except me, I know that I can always improve.

Not News: Does anyone want to buy any exclusive pictures of the Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones (pwoaaar!) privacy case ? See who feels violated then. Isn’t this a stupid waste of everyone’s time? Not the court case, that’s a great little earner for everyone, but the fact that it takes up a slot on the main news of the day.

So, Jude Law sent a £700.00 pair of shoes and a note saying “I love you” to Nicole Kidman. They were delivered to his wife Sadie Frost by mistake, DOH! I’m going to try that on Valentine’s Day, “I sent you some very expensive lingerie and a dozen red roses dear but they seem to have been delivered to Nicole Kidman by mistake.”

Is anyone else tired of this endless celebrity drivel? Perhaps we could dress them all up like Iraqis and let the Americans bomb them. That would get the war out of their systems without the need to murder endless innocent peasants! I’d pay good money to smart bomb the smug grin off of Jude Law’s boat race!

Motorcycling: Another nice morning, almost dry roads, almost new tyres, almost awake. My route to work takes me west along the A272 between Petersfield and Winchester which is known to many bikers in the South of England as a great biking road. Just before Winchester there’s a great view of beautiful rolling countryside as the road goes over Cheesefoot Head. I spotted a local council employee in a dayglo jacket picking up litter from the side of the road. I was saddened by the vast amount of litter at the side of a road throught such a beautiful area. I bet none of it was dropped by motorcyclists, or walkers (one of my other favourite pass times).

Nerd: I think I might be turning nerd. I registered a domain www.neveratoss.co.uk at the weekend so that I can publish my blog without adverts, just waiting for the registration process to complete and it will be all systems go. Then I thought that I may as well set up a website, so I dug out my idiots guide to HTML, decided that it was too much like hard work and downloaded a free copy of CityDesk from Fog Creek software. I might go out at lunchtime and buy a Star Trek desk calendar or a Klingon dictionary pehaps. I suppose that if I were a real nerd I’d order it online !