Another one gone

Christmas came and went pretty quickly, didn't it? So, what happened?

Saturday was spent doing lots of housework, shopping etc. At about 4.30pm I had just settled down for a well-deserved G&T when my mobile rang. It was work. The main server had failed. Basically, this meant everything had stopped. Pretty serious for, say, a Monday or something. But no, this just happened to be the busiest day of the whole campaign and as it was a Saturday, no-one was about.
I put down my gin and shot off in to work. I'll spare you all the details, but I got away for the final time at about 11.45pm. The phonecalls carried on going for another hour or so.
Onto Christmas Eve. Picked up the turkey and the pork. A final bit of shopping and we were sorted. An evening at our friends, Kev & Sal, was good fun and a nice relaxing evening before the big day.
CHristmas to be spent alone. Bliss. First we popped some presents round to H's mum and called off for a drink on the way back. A great atmosphere in the pub and free drinks to boot. I did the final bit of dinner prep and we dived into our presents. Oooo, I've just remembered that I've got some photos to show. Don't go away!

Here we are, a couple of our lounge all decorated up...




And this is the present haul. I'm not going to list what they are, if you want to know, you'll have to ask.



Boxing Day was spent at H's sister. A nice relaxing time there too.
Back to work on Wednesday and yesterday and I've had today off.
This evening we've got Tim & Bobbie coming up to stay, but they're heading back tomorrow evening. Then it'll be New Year's Eve! We're going round to another friend's for a Murder Mystery evening. I'm both apprehensive and thinking it may be fun, both at the same time.
If I get chance I'll post again before the end of Sunday. If not, see you in 2007.

Home Alone

It's Thursday already, blimey!

Tuesday and Wednesday disappeared fairly quickly, just like this...
Tuesday morning, up at 04:30. Walk Jack, have some breakfast etc. Drive down to meet MC at his place about 34 miles away. No great problem? Well in temperatures of -5° and patchy fog, it wasn't so much fun. Good job I had my Sat Nav to guide me through it, eh?
So, from Newmarket we head down to Folkestone and the weather doesn't improve so much.
I've never been on the Chunnel before. Easy, innit?
So much easier than flying or a ferry. I was most impressed. Quick too. I'll certainly consider it for the future.

Right, once the other side, we head North following the E40. Again, a pretty straight forward journey on much quieter roads than in the UK. We called off for a bite to eat just into Belgium. What did we have? Full English breakfast! Very nice too.
Onwards and upwards in the Netherlands. Our printed instructions did us very well until the last 10Km or so and then we got completely lost and had to ask for help a couple times.
Arriving at our destination we had a meeting for about an hour and a half and then headed South again.
Getting a bit late in the day now so we had decided to head into Brugge to stay overnight. Again, this is somewhere that I have never been before. I'm steadily ticking off the European countries. Not many to go now.
We stopped at the first (half decent) hotel we found within the city and booked in.
Half an hours wash and brush up, and we met up in the bar. Here I made my first mistake. I asked for some nuts. Now, this barman was a little weird. He gave me a look and said "No nuts. Do you know that nuts are the least healthy snacks." We then got a (very) lengthy description into how blokes grab some nuts out of a bowl and then go for a pee, not washing their hands afterwards and then grabbing more nuts (no, not those ones!). At the end of the evening, the remaining nuts get chucked back in the main bowl/bag ready for re-use. What you end up with is a huge mound of contaminated nuts. Now, I would debate a lot of what he was saying, but I really couldn't be bothered. It wasn't that I especially wanted nuts, I just wanted something to snack on. This I got, in the form of small chunks of cheese. These were served in a small bowl. He got the chunks from a much larger bowl using his bare hands. Yes, you're way ahead of me here aren't you?
Okay. Time to head out into the town (city?). Very pretty place. I do like going round European cities when it's lovely and cold and crisp. This was no exception. Behold, photos...





DInner beckons. Really nice and very reasonably priced at about €60 for the two of us including drinks etc.
Back to the hotel and we made sure not to mention the barman's nuts, as it were.

The morning came soon enough and we headed South back towards Calais. MC knew of a few places to head for shopping. First stop a wine warehouse. I never intended to really buy much, but here I am, 18 bottles of wine and one crate of lager. How did that happen?
Popped to a supermarket too. Gin, cheese, paté, dijon mayonnaise, cakes - not in any particular order. French food is the best though, eh?
Then, to cut a long story short, back home by about 3pm. Two hours at home catching up on a few things (business & pleasure) before going out on duty for 4 hours.

So onto this evening. A very unusual time for me indeed. I'm here all alone and will be for the whole night. I think this has possibly happened just the once before in (almost exactly) nine years. Normally it's me that's away, but tonight it's H's Christmas do at work. For those of you who know it, it's at the Haycock at Peterborough. A nice spot indeed.
She's staying over and sharing a room with a work colleague (female, I hasten to add). So what to do? Well, I've already made a batch of rum truffles and tidied the kitchen & lounge. What else can I do? Oh now there's a thought, I could update my blog!

Just started to re-read this to check for typos etc, but no. Do I really need to? If there are any, you wont mind, will you?

A Dream Come True

Well here's a story from yesterday. I've already posted it elsewhere so I'm going to shamelessly cut & paste...

H used to work with a chap called Granville. His son bought this car about 5 years ago. I was insanely jealous at the time as these were my dream cars for a long time.
We still keep in touch with Granville and went there today for lunch. Guess what? Bill (the son) keeps the car at Granville's. I drooled over it for about half an hour.

Anyway, after lunch, the three of us were sat down having coffee and who should turn up?
We talk a little about the car and he says that he came across to take it out for a spin (he doesn't use it much). Did I fancy going with him.

Here are the details...

It's a TVR Cerbera.
This one's a 4.2 litre that's been tweeked to give about 480bhp.
0-60 = 3.9 secs
Top end = 180+ mph

He starts it up and all of the local house's windows begin to shake from the noise.
I crawl into the passenger seat - there's no easy way to get in and out.
As we get out of the village he opens it up. OH MY GOD! The acceleration is unreal.
We blast around for a while and then we're back on a main road and have just overtaken a couple of cars. There's a stream of traffic heading the other way and one of them flashes us, so Bill lifts off.
Sure enough, about half a mile ahead, we spot it. A police car in a layby about half a mile away. As we approach, plod gets out and waves us in. Oooops!
Bill gets me to drop the front numberplate into the front of the screen (it only fell off recently, honest!). The conversation that I hear...

"Do you mind telling me what speed you were doing?"
"Erm, I'm not really sure"
"Well, if you are unable to tell me, I'll do you for driving without due care and attention"
"Erm, about 70 I think"
"Nowhere close son, nowhere close"
Bill gets invited to take a seat in the car.

I'm starting to feel a bit guilty 'cos if it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have been going that quick....... probably.

After what seems an age, Bill returns. I just look at him. He says that plod timed him between two lamposts and as he knows the distance between them is able to work out the speed. Bearing in mind he was braking heavily due to the flash from the other car. His average speed was 125mph!

Bill turns to me and says that he must be the luckiest man alive! That sort of speed calculation is insubmissable. Plod doesn't have any speeding device in the car. He was told that he must attend a speeding seminar. That's it!

We go home a different way.
On the way he pulls over and asks me if I'm fully comp insurance.
Three seconds later I'm in the drivers seat. The view is surprisingly good, I can't see any of the bonnet though.
I set off at a steady pace, but can't resist flooring it a few times.
At one point, I'm in third and think that I may be straying above the speed limit. I lift off and a couple of seconds later look down at the speedo. It's 90!!!

I did stall it at a T-junction though . Bill says it took him about a year to get totally used to driving it.

What an incredible experience. It's not often you get a chance like that.

Title goes here!

Morning all.

Look at this, I'm really making an effort to post!
What news?
I don't think I mentioned Jack's leg did I?
While we were at H's dad's place, he went out for a bit of a run on the Sunday morning. It was still dark and Robbie heard him yelp, so went to see him and he was all collapsed in a heap. He carried him back to the house. By the time we got up, he was not putting it down. I had a good look at it but could see nothing. The strange thing was that he didn't seem to mind you touching it anywhere.
Anyway, no change after a couple of days so I had him to the vet. Me touching it was fine, but Jack's not a big vet fan! It was a bit of a puzzle for the vet, but after quite a bit of prodding and such like he concluded that he'd pulled his sciatic nerve. The equivalent to us knocking our funny bone, but much more long lasting. Ouch!
Should improve over a week or so. The vet did offer pain killers, but Jack's as hard as nails so we declined. That said, it should have been me with the pain killers after a bill for £25! He was right though, it is improving and he was almost back to normal this morning.

It's still very mild, isn't it? Quite a nice morning and was very bright whilst I was out, but it's just not right for December!

Last night we went out to the local Thai restaurant. We haven't been for ages and were looking forward to it. I was a little worried, as it's approaching Christmas and I thought it may be full. It was empty! Anyway, G&T in hand we chose. Starters were tempura for H and Beef Delight for me (Bits of beef grilled on a skewer and served with satay). Very nice. The wine was good to. Main course duly arrived. H went for chicken with mushrooms & ginger. Myself, stir fried duck with cashews. Both very tasty and the quantity was huge. One thing though. All the way through both of us were thinking. Why are we paying for this? It's not that special. I could have made it at home. Kinda took the edge of it.
There was loads left and we cartoned it up and I had it for brunch this morning!

Right, I'll leave it there. Another tipped hat to Last FM with a bit of code to show my last 10 tracks...

Today's The Day

I seem to do nothing but apologise on here for not posting. I think I'm going to stop apologising. I'm a busy person. Those people who post on their blog everyday. Where do they find the time?

Anyway, today's a good a day as any to post again I suppose. Thanks for the cards - those that have sent them. I don't know who has as I haven't opened any yet. That'll come later.

Still don't really know what we're doing yet. I think we'll probably go out for a nice Thai meal tomorrow night, but don't know about tonight yet. Maybe get a bottle of fizzy stuff on the way home and have a quiet night in.

However mild is it at the moment. Driving into work the other day and it was 12°. That's pretty warm. I don't mind it so much though. What would be pretty good if this continues for a bit and then it goes really cold. I'm a bit of a fan of extreme weather conditions. I would much prefer us to have it really cold than for it to be miserable with wind and rain.

Ah! I know what I've got to rant about. My Wii. Or rather lack of it. This is supposed to be a great gaming experience. When I found out a bit about them, I decided to kick the X-Box into touch and get one. I've had one pre-ordered since September. The release day was last Friday and I haven't got one yet. Bloody annoying. The place where I'm getting it from is fairly confident that I'll get one before Christmas, but it would have been nice to have it a bit sooner.

Bah humbug.

Navigating around

Been flying around the country this last couple of weeks. I've been busy carrying out some Health & Safety audits at the other sites. It's something that I quite enjoy, but it is a bit tiring.

Anyway, we were due to go and see H's dad at the weekend and I tried to tie this in with a visit to one of our sites across there. Also, as you've probably read on here, our good friends Tim & Bobbie have had their second - a fantastic little boy called Zach. Both of us wanted to go and see him, so we thought we could possibly tie that in too.
This meant driving across from ours to near Kidderminster, me dropping H off and then driving North for about an hour to work. Spend Friday night with H's dad, heading off to Worcester Christmas Market on the Saturday. After breakfast on Sunday, drive down to NW London, then back home again Sunday afternoon.
Last Wednesday I printed out a few route plans. After a while of staring at them, I thought - sod this, why don't we get a Sat Nav???
It's something that I've been toying with for a few months and this was an ideal excuse. I scoured a few websites for the best option and settled on the Tomtom One Regional. Bought online but picked up from PC World the very same day. £195 including a decent carrycase.
An evening of checking how it all worked and I gave it a trial on Thursday - work & back.
Friday morning and I typed in the destination postcode. Confident in it's ability, I left the road atlas in the back of the car. It didn't disappoint.
I cannot sing the praises of these things enough. I'm very, very pleased with it. It's very accurate, it's routes are good, it's clear and easy to use.
A real test for it came after I dropped H off. The trip from H's dad's place to the factory across there is one that I don't know at all. It took me through some twisty, turny backroads and at one point I came across a "road closed" sign. I just turned off down a different lane and within seconds, it had recalculated where to take me. Most impressive.
The journey down to London was just as good. Built into the thing is blue tooth communication with your mobile phone. It uses this to find out traffic problems. Sure enough, it sussed this and took us around the snarl-up.
I think one of the major benefits of using it is down to a totally stress free journey. Even on routes that you know, it takes all the hassle out of it. You don't have to keep an eye on road signs for your turning or anything. It gives you a distance countdown to your next exit/junction.
I'm so impressed, we're even thinking about getting H one as well. She would be able to use it when she goes places with work, but also it will make life so much easier whenever her route home has problems (which can be quite frequent)

That's got to be the longest post from me for a while. I do have other stuff I can say, but I'll save it for a day or two. If you're anything like me, in blogs and the like, if you see a large chunk of text, you tend to switch off!

Nice day for it...

It's been one of those days today when it's been blue skies, bright sunshine and just nice to be out.
I took the camera with me when I walked Jack this morning and just shot a few things. A picture speaks a thousand words and all that, so here they are...

Back to two

Yes, it's true, we are now back to being a two car family.
After getting the Mini sorted. We arranged to get the Ka a good valet ready for selling. The guy who did it is a friend of a friend. Word has it he's a bit pricey, but does a very good job. I dropped the keys in at his place and he came and picked it up last Thursday (9th). When I went to pay him, we got chatting and I mentioned that we were doing it up to sell. He asked how much we were looking for. I was going to advertise it for £1400, so told him so. He sucked his teeth a little (as they do) and said that would be how much he would want to sell it for. Anyway, he said he'd ask around.
Well, the weekend came and I paid to put it in the paper. On Wednesday, I got a call from the valeter. Did we still have it, as he had himself a buyer. Would we take a grand? Me & H had already decided that we would. It's got nearly a years tax on it, so I said I wanted the disc, but he had himself a deal. Everyone happy. He makes a few bob on the car. We get a quick sale without having to go through all the hassle of timewasters.

Brass Monkeys

Apologies in advance for any typos in this post. The weather has taken a turn for the worse and it's a bit chilly in here, subsequently my fingers are not working fully! Radiator now on though, situation being resolved.

Talking of heat. There I was on the way home, I actually bought a sack of wood. The guys were supposed to be at our place adding the flue pipe to our wood burner. Unfortunately, they got tied up on another job so can't now make it until Thursday. Damn shame that, I was looking forward to giving it a go. Something about men and fires!

A week since the last post. That's not so good is it? The rest of last week was pretty uneventful, as was the weekend.... apart from... the great news down South that Tim & Bobbie have had their second child. Zachary Mathew Graveney, born at 6.15pm on Friday.

H was trying to persuade me to go the the local fireworks display on Saturday, but I thought we'd have our own. I set a couple of rockets off on Saturday evening much to the delight of Jack. It's not that he's scared of them. He just gets very, very excited and runs round like a mad thing. I swear that he'd try and eat one if he could get to it.
I saved the rest for Sunday evening and it was all quite good (with Jack locked away in the car at the front of the house).

We also went for a good walk at Shouldham Warren
. The weather was lovely and a lot of other folk were doing the same.

Finally on Sunday, I attempted making risotto for the first time. H has been pestering me to make it for ages. For some reason I've been resisting. Anyway, on Saturday, I went to the fish stall in town and bought some great big crab claws. These formed the main ingredient along with spring onions, peas , garlic and a chilli. I've got to say it was bloody nice! I'm sure it will become a regular feature on the Brown menu.

More Car Drama

Two blogs in two days!

Well, last Monday I phoned our insurance broker and sorted out the insurance for the Mini. Bit more pricey than the Ka, but only to be expected.
The documentation came through on Wednesday. I gave it the once over and the fools had got the registration details wrong! They had put a 'P' instead of an 'A'. I phoned them on Thursday (the day we picked it up) and they said, "no problems, we'll amend it and it'll be okay". Saturday comes round and I open the post to discover a new cover note. There was a covering letter saying that the detail had been amended. I check the cover note and still see a 'P' where the 'A' should be!!! Arggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!
A rather sharp phonecall (from my side) and some apologies (from their side). "We'll send you out some new documentation, sir."
So tax due today and I leave work early to get home, get the post and pop to the Post Office............ what no insurance docs!!!
Another phone call finds that yes, they've got the right registration, but the cover note is only in the post today.
"I need tax today!"
"Well, I'm really sorry. Do you want to pick it up?"
"I think that Downham Market to Bourne and back is pushing it a little, don't you?"

What to do?

I must now point out that the following DID NOT occur and was purely in my mind

So, I know that we're insured correctly (i.e. correct registration) it's just that I don't have the cover note in my position.
Without tax, H isn't insured. How does she get to work? She could use the BM and I could get a lift? Mmmmmmm.
I look at the 'wrong' cover note. My, my a capital 'P' looks similar to a capital 'A' if you put a little stick on the side. I search for a black biro and the deed is done (in my mind only, remember!)
So off I shoot to the Post Office. Hand everything over. I'm sure I wince as the lady behind the counter checks the cover note. She starts to pass it back........ Phew! She pauses...... Gulp! "That 'A' looks like it's been altered". Big, big gulp!!!
After a few nervous moments, she says she'll do it, but to check with the insurance company that they've got it right.

We now have tax............. well we would have if the above had occurred. I don't need a lift into work.

New Wheels

After the week's earlier doubts, we picked the car up on Thursday.
H drove it all the way home and then we both took it out for a quick spin round town. First impressions were favourable.
Peterborough and back for H on Friday. It got quite a bit of attention at her work. When she got home on Friday, she had a fairly large grin on her face. I think that the verdict is a massive "brilliant".
I haven't driven it much, but we had to pop into King's Lynn yesterday, so I took the opportunity. The handling is absolutely superb. It's very solidly built and everything feels chunky and solid. Anyone wanna buy a Ka?
We didn't really get chance to set it up for photos, but here are a couple of snaps in the meantime...

What else we been doing?
H was in King's Lynn on Saturday lunchtime for a couple of hours doing a street collection for The Samaritans. She enjoyed it and they got quite a bit of money.
On her return, we both took a deep breath and then drove down to Lakeside to Ikea. We've been meaning to do this for a couple of months, but never got round to it.
Ikea is pretty good for what it is. My main gripe with it (as with most shopping) is the people. With it being a Saturday, it was pretty busy. Full of Essex-types!
Anyway, an hour or two and the ordeal was over. We got plenty of stuff including a couple of nice bar stools for the kitchen. £400 lighter we made the journey home.
A clock change overnight Saturday meant that we were up and about it good time. We've been after a new mirror for the bathroom for a while. The ones we've seen are a bit pricey (especially in Homebase where we saw them first - £195!) We've since searched them out on t'interweb for about half that. Someone tipped off H that they had them in Argos too, so we had a quick scan on their website. Sure enough, for £49!!! We had a quick look and they had one in stock in King's Lynn. Good excuse to take the Mini for a spin too.
We dived there and then called off at Homebase on the way home and got some salt for the water softener, to get that going too.
So the next couple of hours was spent putting things together and fixing things to walls etc.
I was most nervous about the bathroom mirror. When we spent so much on tiles, I was dreading drilling them! Not a problem in the end (with a bit of care and patience).
All in all a good day's work.
We polished the day off with a lovely roast lamb dinner.
That was the weekend!!!

The News Is Good!

Just a quick update on the car situation.
First thing this morning I gave DVLA a call. They were able to confirm that the Mini is indeed on their database. They didn't know why it wasn't online though.
I then called the insurance company and they had it on their database too.
Always good to be cautious, but in this case everything was okay.

So, I've transferred the balance of money across and we've got insurance sorted. With a bit of luck we'll be able to pick it up on Thursday evening. Pics to follow!

Buying Cars!!!

As mentioned previously, we're now in the market for a new car for H. During the week, we've been sussing out the main Mini dealers as well as Auto Trader.
Yesterday we decided to embark on a dealer trip. I was busy until about midday....... oh hang on, I'm gonna have to go off topic for a while. One of our lorry drivers at work has been raving about this mobile snack bar just off Hardwick roundabout (King's Lynn). He's been recommending the bacon rolls. So, as I was busy in Lynn until about 11.30 and knew we were going out, I suggested to H that I call in for one of the aforementioned snacks. This I did. Bloody lovely!!! Basically, it's half a french stick (but soft, not crispy) stuffed full of bacon. I got some brown sauce added, cut in half, wrapped in foil and then brought it home. Totally and utterly delicious!
Right, where was I? Oh yes, car shopping. After our refreshments, we headed out to Peterborough. To the Mini/BMW dealer - Sycamores.
Now, car salesman have a certain place in society. We all know that they are not to be trusted and will sell their blind grandmother for tuppence. This one was no exception. About 20 years old in a sharp suit and designer stubble. That said, he's only trying to make himself a living and wasn't soooooooo bad.
The model we actually were interested in was in the workshop being 'made to look nice'. We took another one out for a test drive and were quite impressed to be honest.
So we were interested and bring on the tough talking.
This is what frustrates H (and I'm sure 80% of the population) why do we have to bloody haggle??? Why can't they they put their price on and we pay it (like in a high street shop). But, that's not how it works. No matter what I do, they're gonna play the game, forcing me into likewise. I don't mind negotiating.
Lots of talk and the little boy running to see his Sales Manager result in him coming back with a final offer of £1300 for our car/discount. So we're talking £9695. We're reasonably okay with this, but H wants the additional driving lights and put this to him. "Oh but that costs over £400!" Absolute rubbish and I tell him so. Eventually, he admits it will cost them about £150. He still declines, so we walk.

So to Bury St Edmunds. This is worse. They don't even have a car we're interested in. The ones that they do have seem over-priced. They are the same spec and same price, but twice the mileage. What gives? The sharp suited kid tells me that they can command that price because of the location. Thisa makes no sense to me as we've just travelled an hour to maybe buy a better car.

So, we're done. It's 4.30pm and no time to get to another dealer before closing time. On the way home, we get looking at the print out from Auto Trader. There's a private car only 15 miles away. Up to now, we've ignored private deals. Well, might be worth a look.
We get home and I give the guy a call. Can we pop round now? Of course. We transfer to the BM and shove Jack in the back. A brief stop at Tesco and we're there within 30 mins.
Straight away, I can tell H is wary. She doesn't like the bloke. He's middle aged, wearing quite a bit of bling and is slightly rude. They've obviously got money and it's a nice bungalow. All of that said, this is a bargain of a car. It's got less than 17K on the clock and is advertised for £9.4K, loaded with extras!
After some small talk, we head out for a test drive. Nothing wrong. Back to their place and me & H have a chat. It seems an absolute bargain and I tell H so. She's still not comfortable though. She's a such a great judge of character and doesn't like this guy. Reason to walk away? No.
So we talk to him, He tells us that the local BM dealer has dealer has offered him £8750 px. So it's up for £9400. Where do I pitch? I go in at a straight £9K and he shakes my hand! I'm a bit surprised and H looks even more suspicious!
Anyway, we head inside to sort things out. His wife appears and H has a good chat with her. Things seem a little more comfortable. I leave him a cheque deposit and we drive away with a plan to pick up the car on Friday.
As it stands, we've got a car that is very slightly older than what we wanted, it'd got very low mileage and loaded with extras. H still feels wary. Why did he agree so readily to my £9K offer? Why is it such a good price? etc
This morning, I get on to the DVLA website to check it out. Ouch. They do not have a record of this registration plate! I do various checks and find the same. I phone the guy to confirm the number, it's correct. Now I'M concerned. He did tell me that they're getting it serviced at the BMW garage in Cambridge on Monday (same place as I got my car from). We walk Jack and think lots. Back home by 10.30 and we're trawling for alternatives, planning trips out to Norwich etc. I then get in touch with said garage at Cambridge. The salesman is able to give me a complete history of the car from when it was first bought.
Why no DVLA record. This I do not know.

Bang up to date then. We've got a bargain of a car in front of us. The guy seems a bit of a prat, but his wife is lovely (like so many couples???). BMW are able to give us a complete history which makes me feel better. What is one to do?
Watch this space. I'll be in touch with the DVLA tomorrow. I've not cancelled my cheque yet!

The Camb

The weekend started with another early morning phone call to me from work who were struggling. I tried to sort it, but to no avail so had to go in. A few hours later and things were sorted. Pretty much spoilt my lay in though! The rest of the day flew by and before we knew it, it was Sunday and Cambridge. I had us tickets to go and see Level 42.

We have decided to get H a new car so, we set off in good time to go and have a look at some at a garage near Cambridge. That done we headed back into the city. Cambridge really is a lovely place and the sun was shining and a good temperature. After a bit of a wander around, it was soon time for some food.
There's quite a famous restaurant there called "Browns", so this would be quite an apt place to eat. I'd been looking at the menu online a few days previously and seemed to remember it being on Regent Street. A quick scan at a map and we set off walking.... and walked some more....... and some more. We must have gone a mile down this road before turning round. I admitted defeat and called 118. Fortunately the operator told me it was on Trumpington Street without connecting me, so I saved a few pennies there. Where's Trumpington Street? Best head back to the map then.
After a while, it did cross my mind that it might actually not be that far away and what a waste to walk all the way to the map only to come back....again! So I gave them a call.
It turned out that Trumpington Street was actually parallel to Regent Street, so we cut down a small road and were there within about 5 mins.

Here is a link to the website. It's a really nice place, originally being part of Addenbrookes hospital.
For starter, we shared a baked Camembert with crusty bread to dip. That was as lovely as it sounds. Better than the main courses that we had (Fish & Chips and Steak & Guinness Pie).
A gentle stroll back into town and we were still a little early for the gig so headed to Starbucks and had an enormous coffee each.

We got to the Corn Exchange just as the doors were opening and popped to the side bar for a quick drink. After about ten minutes we were allowed into the main auditorium.
I'd got us front row seats and this mean being with touching distance of the stage. We met up with a few friends from the digest and had a bit of a chin wag.
The support came on soon afterwards. Anyone remember Kenny Thomas? He was brilliant and has still got his great soulful voice.
Then the main event. This will be about the seventh time that we've seen them and possibly the best. We were stood up dancing and singing for the whole gig and it was a superb atmosphere.
I've "pinched" a couple of pics from a friend's website as mine didn't come out very well...







The guy who took the photos (Glynn) was sat next to us so you can probably see how close we were to the band.
Being close to Cambridge meant that we were home by about 11:15 which rounded off a good day.

Rest

Last weekend brought a nice welcome rest for the two of us.
At last, the whole weekend to ourselves - a real treat.

Saturday didn't start with the best thing though. A phonecall from work at 7.10 am. A few problems that they couldn't sort themselves, so I had to pop in and sort it. Home again by about 11.15 though, so not too bad.
Saturday afternoon was spent doing a few jobs and popping to Tesco. On the way home, H commented that she really fancied a Pizza Hut. I had to agree! We dropped off the shopping and drove up to King's Lynn.
We ordered a starter and a side salad. For the main course we got a large Edge with extra spicey beef and extra cheese. After our starter, the waitress turned up with our pizza, but there was a problem. They had made the pizza with only the extras. However, they were making another one for us to the correct spec.
It all turned out to be a bargain really. We ate about 2/3 of the mistake pizza, the rest we got boxed up along with ALL of the proper pizza. Gave us (and Jack) supper for the evening.

Sunday wasn't so good for H. I think a week of hard work had caught up with her and she still felt shattered, so spent most of the day in bed.
I took advantage of the good weather though and took Jack out for about 6.5 miles. Very pleasant.
On return I made a stonkingly good roast chicken dinner.

Hopefully this weekend will be nice and relaxing too.
I've got to go into King's Lynn for a few hours on Saturday, the evening is our own.
Sunday, we're going to see Level 42 in Cambridge (front row seats!) so we'll probably head off there early-ish and grab a bite to eat first.

Piccies

Okay, here are the photos relating to the previous message...

At Last

H said to me last night "You haven't done a blog entry for a while". My reply was that I only remember about it when I don't have time to do one!
It seems that thought must have stuck with me. I find myself with a spare five minutes and here we are.
There is one problem though. A lot of what we've been doing has photos to illustrate. All the photos are on the machine at home.
I guess I'll just have to add them later.

A few things have been happening. Following on from the visit by the guys on OOS, Reg visited again (we did't put her off the first time!). She was also joined by Kerynn. She's also from OOS and was visiting England all the way from Australia. A good couple of days involving lots of laughing!

I guess that the most recent weekend has been the busiest for us though. This has been planned in for a while. We were to be invaded by H's housemates from university days. The difference being that the housemates have turned into families!
The events started with a flying visit to H's sister. It was little Cerys's 1st birthday. Lorraine (H's sister) had made a really fab cake in the shape of a toadstool with accessories (it was a fairy party).
So back home just in time for the first arrivals. Clare & Mo along with their two sons Kieran and Adam, 4 and 2 respectively. We learnt two things... firstly that our house is not toddler proof, secondly that Jack does not take kindly to being followed about by little people. The two boys did a fantastic job of keeping us all entertained!
Sunday morning saw the arrival of others. Firstly Tim & Bobbie with Nicole, then Lorraine & Norm with Cerys. Unforunately, Clare & John couldn't make it.
So plenty of folks around and a great time had by all. As I said, photos to follow. Now need to do some work.

Visits

As mentioned yesterday, we've had loads of visits lately.
I guess that this is due to us pretty much getting the house done. In the interim period, it's been difficult for us to have visitors, so we've been "saving them up". Also, folks are keen to come and see it.

So, bank holiday weekend saw Tim, Bobbie & Nicole here.



As mentioned previously, we went to a farm not far from here. Very busy and loads of families enjoying themselves. Some great stuff for kids to do. Myself and Tim were most jealous.

The following Friday (1st Sep). We had a visit from Reg (Rachel). She's an online friend who we've never met before. Lots of things in common with Reg. For starters, she lives in Lincoln and went to the same school that myself (and siblings) did. She lived in France for a while (her mum still does), not far from where Ma & Pa have retired to.
We had a bite to eat on the Friday and then headed out to the Livvy where a local band were playing. H was taught how to throw the horns. She still has to count her fingers to get it right!



The following day saw some more online friends visiting. Darren & Laura and Colin & Helen.
Much laughs over a few beers in the pub, then back for some Raclettey goodness. Darren even made the effort to dress for dinner...


Later that evening saw us playing guitar hero. New to us, but it's a Playstation 2 thing. You use a big plastic guitar and play along with stuff on the screen. Sounds simple, but is pretty difficult!
Here it is being demonstrated by Laura...



So that was the last few weeks. Today we have Jo & Ian coming round for dinner. Next weekend it's Kerynn (all the way from Australia!) along with Reg again. The week after it's Nutty Cow. The week after that it's the Uni friends etc etc etc

A Taster

I have much to post, but not a great deal of time!

1. Visits from various people
2. Forum wranglings
3. House stuff
4. Work stuff

Just thought I'd keep you interested.
Will try and post at least one of the above tomorrow!

Funny way to encourage recycling

I'm really sick of our local tip!

Over the last year, I've visited it on quite a few occasions and it's bloody hard work.
When we ripped out the kitchen, I painstakingly took the units apart. They were all loaded into the back of the car and despatched to said tip.

On arrival, I headed for the wood skip. But no, that was wrong. These were chipboard so need to go in the non-recyclable. Last time I looked, chipboard was wood! Never mind, I started chucking them in. I was stopped after a few minutes.

"How many units have you got love?", said the attendant woman.
"Well, there's about 5 in total", says I.
I then got given a 'look'. "We're only supposed to take two at a time"
Where is the logic in this? How many people replace a kitchen and only have two units to scrap?

On another occasion, me and H had ripped up the parquet floor in the old lounge. Again duly loaded into bags and carted off. This was wood. Proper wood.

"Sorry love, that doesn't go in there"
WHAT? It's proper wood.
Still, I shrug my shoulders and head over the the non-recyclables. Again I'm told that I've got more than my allowance.
I really don't understand what I'm supposed to do. Hang on to it and take it in 2 bags every fortnight? I'll be taking the same amount!
It almost encourages people to fly-tip.

Yesterday we cleared out one of the sheds. Filled a couple of bags with genuine junk. Of course we then had the usual collection of half empty paint tins. At the tip we got rid of the other stuff and I asked the attendant if they had a special skip for paint.

"Sorry mate, we can't take it. It's classed as hazardous waste"
"Erm, how do I get rid of it then?"
"Well we have a paint amnesty once a year"
"Ah, okay. When is that then?"
"About two months ago"

Great! The guy can tell I'm at a loss and offers this gem.

"What you want to do is empty all of the paint into one tin. We'll happily take all the empty tins. The full one just gets stuck in your wheelie bin under some other stuff. They wont check it."

Seriously.

Oh Deer

Just a quick couple of pics to post up.

As most of you know, we've got some greenland towards the rear of our garden. It's pretty much surrounded by domestic gardens. I've no idea how acres work, so gonna stick with saying just over a hectare. That said, I've just done a quick calculation and for those of you still using old money, it's about 3-4 acres.

Anyway, there is much wildlife in this area, squirrels, pigeons, crows not to mention the owls. We have seen a deer a couple of times. If you went in there to look for it, you'd never find it I'm sure, but he does like to show himself every so often.
Earlier today, I was in our bedroom and noticed him in the distance. Me & H watched for a bit, and then I went to get my camera.
Being as quiet as I could I crept out to the back fence. Peering over, he was looking straight at me even though I thought I hadn't made a sound. He seemed perfectly happy though, so I took a couple of shots.
The quality isn't brilliant, but here they are...

The first one is at the maximum optical zoom for the camera (3x)


This second is using the digital zoom up to 11x, so the quality suffers a little


So there you have the reason for the awfully cheesy post title!

The hardest part of a blog entry is choosing a suitable title!

Well, now that is over (the title), we can get down to business.

I've hard great week off work, most relaxing. Followed a similar routine for all week really, see H off (well, wave at her from bed), get up 8.30-ish, couple of cups of coffee & breakfast whilst watching trash TV. Get dressed and then take the beast for a bit of a run. Back home and crack on with whatever jobs need to doing. Have a bite to eat then off to the gym for about an hour. Back home and by this time it's about 4.30, so disappear down to the Livvy for a couple of Magners! Glorious.

Now it's Saturday. Myself and H are having a bit of a blitz on the house today. We've got Tim, Bobs & Nicole coming later. Should be good fun. I don't think that Nicole will know much about it until tomorrow though as they're not getting here until about 7.30. Tomorrow we're going to Stow Bardolph Farms (LINK!).

Bank Holiday weekend, of course. Nothing really planned for Monday, but it'll be nice having all of next week off together.

Oh, just remembered. Note the chart to the left hand side here? That's a feed from www.last.fm Basically, you install a little plug-in to your computer, it then monitors whatever you listen to and logs it. Charts are then compiled as to your top artist, most listened to tunes etc etc. Give it a look - easiest way is to just click on my chart and goto the home page.

More later.

So little to do...... so much time

Here we are, second day of first week off. Pretty damn happy.

J&D came on Saturday. Good to see them after ages. We took advantage of a sale at the local Indian restaurant. Yep! A restaurant having a sale, good eh? Absolute bargain price of £32 for a lovely takeaway for four. Really tastey too.
Saturday evening was spent having a good old chinwag.

Sunday, I banged a joint of pork in to slow roast at 8am. There is a story to be told here though. I went to the local butchers on Friday to get a nice shoulder. It was only a young girl who served me. I said I wanted a decent shoulder of pork and she picked two from the window. I picked the largest. Just over 2.2Kg for about £10.
So in it went to the oven. It was only when we got it out to carve that we realised it was actually lamb!!! Bad news - no mint sauce!. Good news - it was lovely all the same.

A nice chilling Sunday. Yesterday was pretty good too although I'm not sure where the morning went.

A few jobs to do today, so best crack on.

Why Blog?

Someone that I know on another website has asked if any of the other members on there have a blog, as he's thinking about starting one.
His subject matter is to be all the wildlife that he sees on a daily basis, within a certain area. I think that this would make a great blog.
It does beg the question though as to why people do this?

This is only my take on it, but I'm sure there are plenty of others!

1. Some may do it to get an audience. Almost like preaching. "I've got something to say and now I've got an audience". Of course this relies on people actually being aware of the blog and then to carry on reading it.

2. Some may do it as a personal record, almost like a diary. Diaries are often thought of as personal things. This can still be the case. Just keep your blog secret and/or put a password on it.
But, you may not mind people seeing your ramblings of course.

3. I know of a group of women who have all recently given birth (or are pregnant). They all keep in touch with each other via their blogs. They compare notes, offer support and tell nice little stories about what their little ones have been up to.

4. Similar to the example above, some may see it as a way of keeping people informed of what you're doing.

Where does mine sit? If I had to pigeon-hole it, I guess it's a combination of 2 & 4. I originally started it to keep family and friends informed of how our house project was going. Now that the house is all but finished though, it will probably trundle along with my ramblings and a bit of news of what we're up to.

So, talking of which, what are we up to?

Well it starts off with us both having a day off tomorrow, so that's a good start.
At the weekend, J&D are visiting. First time they'll have been in absolutely ages, so should be good fun.
After that, I've got a fortnight off and H joins me for the second week. Really looking forward to it and got quite a few bits and bobs going on then too. Maybe I'll leave talking about them until nearer the time.

It's Back!

Here we are again!

After a long lay off, I've decide to revisit my blog and this site!

Why come back here? A couple of reasons. Firstly, this site is very easy to use. It's made for blogging, so ideal. Secondly, I don't pay for any webspace here, so I can post pictures etc here without the worry of seeing my webspace decrease!

So where did we get to?

House

Things are just about finished. I've just been writing up the final snagging list. The kitchen floor was the last major item that needed doing and that was completed last week. Unfortunately in the course of finishing it, they thought it might be a good idea to crack the cistern in the downstairs toilet. Don't ask me how! We're now without a downstairs loo, but coping.
Once the snagging is complete, we just need to finish decorating (do you ever finish decorating?)
H is busy organising the dining room as I type this. That room is really coming together too.
The bedrooms are well on the way. We have friends coming to stay towards the end of this month, so need to get this available to sleep in. Shouldn't take much doing.
So there we are. All that pain and effort has been worth it.

Other Stuff

Workwise both of us are both still doing the same things and both pretty damn happy!
I'm coming up to a busy period now though. With two weeks holiday at the end of August (2nd week both of us) that should be okay.

Talking of holiday, we had a week in July with the old folks out in France. Most enjoyable. I'll maybe say more and post some pics later.

Right. That'll do for now. I've never been good at writing loads in any single entry and I'm not gonna change now!

Until the next time....

The End

This may well be my final posting on here.

Not because I'm giving up, but because I've finally sussed this web authoring business and my Blog will now be linked to our home page......

http://www.jack-attack.co.uk

See you there!

Progress

Well after the totally dead period over Christmas, a few things have been happening.

Firstly, the electricians have been back and started fitting some of the new lights. We used to have very old fashioned eye-bulb type spots in the kitchen landing room and our bedroom. The new ones are the small halogen type things. They do look pretty damn cool. Don't have any photos of them yet, so that'll have to wait.

Today we paid a visit to the building merchants and sorted out all of the bathroom gear. We've got a three week lead time on that.

We've cracked into painting today. Initially a sealing coat on the plaster. Today we managed to do the day room and part of the new lounge. I did the new bedroom before Christmas, so well over half of it already.

I guess the most exciting thing for us today though was the installation of the granite work surface in the kitchen. It looks fantastic. This photo doesn't do it justice. Tiles still to be fitted in there which will finish it off nicely. Then the floor will be the last thing.

Anyway, here's the photo.......

Update

Ooops. Missed a few days haven't I?

Update coming this weekend, promise!