Why did you stop playing Farmerama ?

Just lately I’ve noticed a lot of my Farmerama neighbours have stopped playing the game, even some of the older, really keen players.
I know there may be a zillion reasons for this but it seems to happen in batches; I get a nice settled bunch of neighbours and then about a quarter of them will stop playing all at around the same time.
If you’re an ex-Farmerama player I’d be interested to know what prompted you to leave.
Thanks.

200 Levels completed on Farmerama

8 + 63 + 64 + 65 = 200 !

Actually it’s 204 because there’s the island as well (Bahamarama), but I’m not really into that, mainly because I think it should have its own market and be totally separate from the mainland farms.

Now Tara, my daughter, wants me to take over one of her farms for her for a couple of weeks while she moves house… I’m not looking forward to that. 😦

Must dash… have crops waiting…

Time to come clean about “Angry Poo”

(It will be interesting to see which search engine terms feed into a blog post with that as a title) 😉

Yes, it’s time to come clean about why I haven’t been blogging much lately.  Blame Amanda. (!)

I used to watch from a distance as colleagues at work messed around during their lunch breaks carefully tending their Facebook Farms. Occasionally I would enquire, “How’s your Coo’s ?”, but given my total dislike of Facebook that’s about as far as it went… until Amanda revealed the amount of time she spent playing with the farming game on QQ, which is like a Chinese version of Facebook. (Yuk !!!)

However, with her spending so much time on it I thought to myself, “I might take a look and see if there’s another free, non-Facebook, English language farming game that I like the look of, just to see what the fascination is.”

Mistake.

Big mistake !

Farmerama Logo

I have now been farming for two and a half months.  I have three farms on Farmerama (all at around level 50), have spreadsheets tabulating information about crops, trees, animals and their relative benefits with regard to cash and experience points, neighbours and their complete gift histories, etc., etc..  If you want to know which is the best crop to plant at any particular time of the day (or night) in order to take best advantage of the various challenges that might be on offer, just give me a call !

And, I’ve been given control of one of Amanda’s QQ farms (with its associated restaurant, crops and animals) along with monitoring her and her nephew’s similar “businesses”.

Help !!!

It certainly helps to pass the time, that’s for sure.  Constant calls of “Go to John’s animals…”, “You have angry customers…”, “You can take my Rice in ten minutes…”, interspersed with “Haha… I got your Sheep…”, “I can’t, I’m in the middle of something….”, “Oh, I can’t bash any more mozzies today 😦 “, and so on, and so forth.

Well, what’s life for if you can’t have fun together, eh ? 🙄

I’m seriously considering starting a new blog with some “Tips for beginners” for Farmerama-ers, along with pointing out some of the high (and low) lights of it, showing some of my favourite graphics (very often the best part of the game), and such like.

Oh yes… and the “Angry Poo”… ?

Well that’s on QQ, appears in the animal field, and you get a bonus for shovelling it up…

Angry Poo

Ain’t it cute ? 😉

Must dash, have two fields full of strawberries to harvest….

Truth or Fiction (2)

As part of the deal for accepting the “Kreativ Blogger” award from Kelly in the previous post I have to tell you seven things about myself.

What better way than to have another game of Truth or Fiction ?

One of the following statements about me is untrue. All you have to do is spot which one, and tell me why you think that’s bullsh1t !

1 ) For his 89th birthday I gave my Dad… a flying lesson !

2 ) When unemployed once I kept myself afloat by making and selling candles.

3 ) On the wall behind my computer desk is a large collage of pictures celebrating when Reading Football Club won promotion to the Premiership.

4 ) When at home I drink my tea from a pint sized mug.

5 ) I drive a 13 year old Peugeot diesel estate.

6) My feet are size 11. (UK sizing)

7 ) I used to be a football referee. (soccer)

8 ) My favourite joke is:

• There are 10 types of people: those who understand Binary, and those who don’t.

Good luck ! Answers will probably be posted early next week.

Truth or Fiction – Answers

Not a massive response to my little quiz. 🙄 Unfortunately I know of some people who saw it but were too scared to have a go. They will be spoken to….

Anyway, the answers are:

1. Amanda is my third wife. This is true, although I am hardly one to give up on things easily. I was first married in 1973 and very quickly the fruit of my loins, Tara, came along. Divorced after 13 years I then married again in 1986, surviving 8 years. (I’m pleased to say that Tara is in closer contact with my second wife than she is with her own mother.) I then entered into a 12 year relationship a woman who turned out to be a mad as a box of frogs, and I only just escaped with any sanity left, and very little self-esteem. I met Amanda on the internet at the start of 2008 and we were married in Nanning in January of this year. Third time lucky… very lucky ! 😀

2. I was once about 3 metres from Elton John as he was being rushed out of Gatwick airport by his entourage. This is true. I was there waiting to meet a friend who was due to arrive and you know how it is, there are always some people waiting to greet passengers who stand right in the middle and block the exit lane. I became aware that a tight group of people were trying to squeeze their way out and as I looked to my left to see what was going on realised that “tight group” consisted of Elton John, a large pile of suitcases, and a group of minders who were surrounding him and ushering people out of the way. Good old “Reg”, being vertically challenged as he is, couldn’t actually see past the suitcases and just had to trust that the gang were pushing him in the right direction. I also brushed past Ruud Gullit (one of the world’s greatest soccer players) at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam when he was flying out to start his playing career with Milan. Have always wished I’d reacted quick enough to wish him luck. Great player.

3. I used to show Dobermann’s at dog shows. This is true. I have travelled the length and breadth of Britain going to dog shows with the mad woman and the gorgeous Dobes and, on occasions, actually used to handle the dogs in the ring. Notice I didn’t use the word “successfully” there….. 😦

4. Tinnitus is a curse, and I should know ! You bet your sweet ass ! There is no such thing as silence any more. 😦 It’s been coming on for over ten years now and I think I’ve identified thirteen slightly different, concurrent pitches to it so far…. and counting….

5. The toe next to the big toe on my right foot points downwards. This is true. The end knuckle, if that what it’s called when talking about toes, is permanently bent so the end part and the nail point downwards. My oldest friend from way back in my school days had exactly the same thing, with exactly the same toe. Apparently it’s not that uncommon.

6. Playing darts, I have hit “180” on three different boards in three different pubs in the same evening. This is true. I used to play in pub dart teams up to five nights a week and even made Super League for a while. One evening I went down the Star for a bit of early practice by myself and hit 180, went up the Rose and Crown for a match and hit 180, then back to my local (the Black Horse) and hit 180. I have played for teams at all those, and some other, pubs in Thetford during my time there.

7. My Dad and I both owned Volkwagen Beetles at the same time. Sad, but true. For Dad it was the only car he ever bought brand new. His was already about 12 years old when I got mine, a used semi-automatic version. I still think they looked cool sat on the drive together. 😉

8. I have five grandchildren. This is false. Ok, Kelly, you got me ! It’s only four (I hope). The eldest is now at college while the youngest is about 3, I think. (I’ve always been terrible about their ages. 😕 ). So that is definitely enough… isn’t it Tara ?!

9. I once wrote a piece of software to update an IBM package because IBM didn’t know how to fix the problem. This is true. Back in the good old days of the System/34 the engineering company that I worked for as a programmer wanted to run multiple versions of IBM’s MAAPICS package independently on the same machine. “Oh, sure !” said IBM, and promptly send us two floppy disks which they said would set it up for us, but which gloriously failed to do anything of the sort. When IBM finally admitted they didn’t think it could be done I was given the job of making sure it would be done, and five months later our company was selling the software I had written to other companies, getting our sales leads from… IBM. 🙂

10. I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark on Concorde the first time Concorde ever went there, and had won the ticket in a raffle. This is true. My first wife and I had gone into a shop in town to hire a carpet shampooing machine and on the counter were some charity raffle tickets for sale, for which the prize was flights for two on Concorde. Handing over my 50p I filled in our details on the stub and took the ticket, noticing at the time that the ticket number (B2212) offered numerous mathematical possibilities for playing around with my lucky number 3. “That has to be lucky”, I thought… and it was. Not only that, but the person who was sponsoring the prize for the charity told the organisers that if the winners were available, with passports, the Saturday after the draw was done then he would pay the extra for us to go on that inaugural flight to Copenhagen. You have never seen two people get passports so quickly and, for her, it was the first time she had ever flown !

So there it is… Potted Tom, version 1. Well done Kelly. 😀

I’m already working on ideas for the next one when, hopefully, more people will be prepared to have a go.  But that will have to wait until the new year as later on today I’m off to China to be with Amanda for a few weeks so I’ll be out of circulation as far as WordPress is concerned.

Have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas and a Happy New Year, but most importantly…. stay safe !

Truth or Fiction – a game for Bloggers

I picked up the idea for this from my blogging friend Kelly on her post Truth or Fiction?.

Good, clean fun for those who have a few spare minutes, but no prizes offered… definitely no prizes offered !

Here is a list of ten statements about me.  Nine are true and one is false.  See if you can spot the “odd one out”.

I will try to remember to post the answer before I head off to China on 16th December, but if I forget you will have to wait until January as WordPress is barred in China.

1. Amanda is my third wife.
2. I was once about 3 metres from Elton John as he was being rushed out of Gatwick airport by his entourage.
3. I used to show Dobermann’s at dog shows.
4. Tinnitus is a curse, and I should know !
5. The toe next to the big toe on my right foot points downwards.
6. Playing darts, I have hit “180” on three different boards in three different pubs in the same evening.
7. My Dad and I both owned Volkwagen Beetles at the same time.
8. I have five grandchildren.
9. I once wrote a piece of software to update an IBM package because IBM didn’t know how to fix the problem.
10. I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark on Concorde the first time Concorde ever went there, and had won the ticket in a raffle.

If you “know” the answer, please don’t say “I know”… just phrase it as a guess so as not to ruin the game for others.

Have fun !

The Late Humphrey Lyttleton

It is with great sadness that I heard the news of the passing of Humphrey Lyttleton.

Although Jazz has never really been my kind of music, ( all the right notes, but played in the wrong order ), I came to love him as the compere of BBC Radio 4’s “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue”.

The game of Mornington Crescent which I initiated in my last post as a “Get Well Soon” message now becomes a tribute to this immensely funny character.

Any passing bloggers are welcome to join in, even if you don’t understand the rules, and I may initiate a “Tribute Tournament” if enough interest is shown.

R.I.P. Humph, and thank you for all the tears of laughter.

Blogging for amateurs

Isn’t it marvellous ?!

You scribble away about things that seem important to you, and what sort of response do you get ?…. nothing.

Put up one post about GTA4 ( that’s Grand Theft Auto IV) and, all of a sudden, hitsville !!! 🙂

What IS the world made of ?… Ha Ha….

Enjoy.

GTA4 is almost upon us, lovers

Grand Theft Auto IV is nearly, very nearly with us.

Well with you, actually, because I don’t have a games console.  I can’t justify the expense of something which would keep me glued to a screen all day, I have much too much to do on the computer ! So I’ll have to wait another few years, probably, before I get the chance to indulge myself, by which time it will be too late because I’m sure Amanda is not into gratuitous violence. 😦 (See earlier post)

Now you have to be the sort of person who is very “over 18” to be able to play any of the GTA series, and having a particular affinity with wanton violence and blood-letting is a perceived bonus but, that said, some of the humour is just soooo off-the-wall….

As a taster for GTA4, Rockstar Games have released some “previews” based on it, one of which is the Love-Meet.net dating website.  Try it for yourself in a new window here, take the Personality Quiz, and then decide for yourself how many years they should lock you up for ! 🙂

Now who do I know who has a Playstation 3 or an X-Box 360 ?……