It was Matthew's 12th birthday this week - where has the time gone ! It only seems like 5 minutes ago he was starting school, and he's already into secondary school. We treated him to a family meal at What's Cooking in the Albert Dock, which I can highly recommend by the way. As you can imagine, I couldn't resist the toffee ice-cream with fudge pieces, toffee sauce, and whipped cream - hence the photo.

Speaking of spending money, we had to buy Heather a new mattress this week. Her old one came with her bed when we bought it, but it has quickly deteriorated, and you could easily feel the springs through the mattress. So, a new one was purchased and I picked it up today.

That left me with the problem of getting rid of the old one, so I bundled it into the back of Joanne's car and took it to the tip. You can imagine my surprise when somebody there asked me "Is your name Sime by any chance ?".
When I said it was, he explained that his name was Sime as well, and that he recognised me from my website ! It took over 7 years, but I'm finally famous ;-)

So...hello fellow Sime people - why not leave a comment and say Hi. Perhaps you're related to myself and/or the famous jockey Joe Sime (my Dad's uncle).

Who would have thought way back in 2001 that I would still have this website, along with it's throng of dedicated visitors. Well, OK, maybe not the visitors, but at least the website is still here.

I mainly keep the domain for the e-mail addresses that go with it to be honest, but I associate SimeWorld with simpler times and a lot of happy memories, so I can't imagine ever letting it disappear.

In these days of free content management systems like the one provided by WordPress, my manual method of posting to SimeWorld seems very dated now - I have to manually code the HTML to cater for formatting for instance. The thing is though, I made SimeWorld - coded by hand. It's nothing fantastic, but I was very proud of it at the time, and I still am to some extent.

Will SimeWorld be here 8 years from now ?
Seems unlikely - 8 years is a long time - but who knows. Watch this space to find out. I might even get round to a complete facelift one day :-)

Happy 8th Birthday SimeWorld !

Well SimeWorld is pretty much abandoned as a website now, but I thought I might as well drop a quick update on, just in case anybody stopped by !

Matthew is now 11 and has started secondary school. We managed to avoid the local rubbish feeder school, and managed to get him into a much better one - the one we adored when we attended the open night. Heather is now 7 and full of energy, cheekiness, and cuddles. They're both getting bigger and older by the day, and we try and treasure our time with them whilst they're still young.

I'm still working as an IT Manager, and Joanne is still working with children who have hearing impairments, to help them integrate into mainstream schools. I don't think such a public forum is the right place to discuss details, but suffice to say that due to some work-related financial issues, we're going to sharing a single cracker at Christmas - but at least we'll all be together :-)

Finally, an update after such a long absence wouldn't be worthwhile if it didn't contain some useless links. So, here you go...

- Gravity Hook : A simple and addictive game

- A free online alternative to Photoshop

- It's like an interactive kaleidoscope on acid !

- All you have to do is click the ball…

- Destroy the Boobteds with your balls

- Smokin Barrels : How quick on the draw are YOU ?

- Draw your way through the levels

- Crush the Catle by flinging rocks

- It's like billiards meets Tron

- Draw and interact in 3D, using Red/Blue glasses

Take care of your loved ones, do something each day that scares you, and be happy.

And so another New Year dawns, and once again I forgot the FTP login details for SimeWorld ! It took me half the morning to change the logo (and background) and upload it, which is ironically about how long I've spent on the entire site in the last 3 months :-)

Anyway, may 2009 bring you everything you wish for, and more. Life's not a rehearsal folks, and time is whizzing past, so live your life to the full and enjoy every moment.

P.S. Here's that ball game again ;-)

I was very saddened to hear that Oliver Postgate has passed away today at the age of 83. Oliver brought many things to the world, my personal favourite being Bagpuss. His voice had a wonderful quality, and I could listen to it all day.

Thank you Oliver for so many happy childhood memories. Rest In Peace.

Bagpuss gave a big yawn, and settled down to sleep
And of course when Bagpuss goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep too
The mice were ornaments on the mouse-organ
Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls
And Professor Yaffle was a carved wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker
Even Bagpuss himself once he was asleep was just an old, saggy cloth cat
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams
But Emily loved him

...to SimeWorld !
I imagine the party is going to be a fairly low-key affair - possibly just me with a party hat and blower - but nevertheless I thought I would mark the occassion in a small way !

Here's to the next 7 years !

My great uncle, on my Dad's side, was a man called Joe Sime. He was a jockey in the 50s and 60s, but I hadn't realised just how good he actualy was.

There is some footage here of him winning a race, and I have quoted below some more information I was able to find.

Joe Sime Memorial Handicap, Doncaster
Traditionally run over one mile and six furlongs at Doncaster's May Bank Holiday meeting, the Joe Sime Memorial Handicap is staged this season on 1 May at Windsor, while Town Moor is undergoing major refurbishment. Last year the race was won by Mark Johnston's Hiddensee, ridden by Kevin Darley.

In his day, Joe Sime was one of the leading Flat jockeys in the north. Born in Liverpool in 1923, he was apprenticed to Dawson Waugh and rode his first winner on Firle at Newmarket in 1941. He was champion apprentice in 1943, '44 and '46, when his 40 winners included the Portland Handicap on The Shah.

Sime was always able to ride at around 7st 8lb and was noted as an excellent judge of pace. He became something of a big handicap specialist, teaming up on many occasions with Sam Hall, Yorkshire's shrewdest trainer of good handicappers.

For Hall, he won the 1950 Manchester November Handicap on Coltbridge, the 1957 Ebor Handicap and the following year's Cesarewitch Handicap on Morecambe, and the 1960 Wokingham Stakes aboard Silver King.

He also landed the Ebor on Procne (1947), Donino (1948) and Partholon (1963), the Wokingham on Light Harvest (1956) and the Cesarewitch on both Utrillo (1963) and Mintmaster (1965). He won three Lincolns and a Royal Hunt Cup, but his career highlight came with success in the 1964 Great Metropolitan Handicap, aboard Her Majesty The Queen's Gold Aura.

One of the few jockeys to smoke a pipe, the highly popular Sime enjoyed his best season when registering a total of 108 winners. He retired at the end of the 1968 campaign and the first running of the race that honours him took place in May 1999.