All My Friends

So another year at Center Parcs.
Somehow, I think that it might be our last, for a while at least.

It seems that the policy of the place seems to have shifted. When I first started going, it was a place that gave good quality service, a high standard of food and had a sporty feel to it.
Unfortunately, I now feel that economics is becoming too much of a driver. That's not such a bad thing if it's sustainable and has long term benefits. Now, it seems that they are milking every single last drop of cash out of you that they possibly can.
It's understaffed, over-priced and the quality is poor.

Let me give you an example or two. The first main activity that H & Bobs did was on Tuesday morning. It's called an Arial Adventure. It consists of steadily making your way up tree mounted obstacles e.g. swinging platforms, until you reach quite a high platform where you then take to a zip-wire and slide all the way down. For those familiar, it's quite a lot like Go Ape, only a lot, lot smaller. The session took less than 30 minutes.
It's generally carried out in groups of 6-8. Their group was only the two of them, but that's because this was a very quiet week.
So what's the cost? £21........ each! Eight people at £21 = £168, potentially every half hour! Go Ape is at least £5 less than that and it lasts 2.5-3.5 hours.
The service in the restaurants can be used as another example. You arrive and it would be nice to be served straight away. I would say that it took on average 15 minutes before anyone came and saw us. The usual practice in restaurants is to get your drinks, then get your food order taken, right? Not here, you get the lot arriving at once after a major delay! We made the mistake in one place of asking for a pudding and a glass of water. The pudding took over 20 minutes, the glass of water required prompting. It was pretty damn abysmal.
Drinks prices? Well, bottled cider if fairly popular at the moment, isn't it? A bottle of Magners in the Livvy is £2.95. There, it was £3.95. A pint of Kronenburg and a G&T cost me £7.10!

Anyway, enough moaning. Like I said, we wont be going there next year for sure.
All that said, we still had quite a good time.
Here's a few pics as tasters. The rest can be seen HERE

Kandi Disco

Good morning!

Right, a quick ant update. As mentioned previously, we are once more "with ants". This lot are far more organised. I think the last lot must have been lazy, fat American ants or something. My new, all-improved ones are much more active. AND......... they've been burrowing! This is what we want.

Behold......



The big bit is one that I partially created for the original ones, but you can see the new bit that they've dug themselves. Good work my little beauties!

At the minute, they're still a little camera shy. This is the best that I could do with them so far. Needles to say, as soon as I put the camera away, they all come scurrying out.

A Samba In The Snowy Rain

I have proof! Yes indeed. Proof that there are people out there who read this. Either that or they're just looking for reasons to find embarassing photos of me!

Still, that inspires me somewhat to update this a little more frequently.

Coming in this issue - Titles, Myspace, Ants, Content, Music. Best get started then!

1. Titles
I thought I had responded to this somewhere in the past, but maybe not so here we go. If there's one thing that pains me, it's trying to think of titles for here and subjects in PMs etc.
Easy solution to this one. I'm nearly always listening to something when I type this up, so the title will simply become the title of the track that I'm listening to at the time. In the case it's by The Guillemots. More of them in the music section a bit later.

2. Myspace
Well this is still going strong. If you haven't had a look already, feel free to do so, the link is on the left hand side of this blog. If you're signed up too, feel free to add me.
I'm reasonably happy with it still and seem to be avoiding the chavspeak crap that first put me off it. Well, that is until I pay a visit to B2's site and see some of the comments on there ;o)
There is one thing that winds me up very slightly. That is the bloody stupid "about me" questionairre things that people seem intent on distributing. The occasional one is fine (so long as it's not too long), but some folk (looking at you, Chubbs! ;o)) send them out way too much. Normally they end with some bollocks about if you don't send it on, you will have seven years of bad luck or some such.
There is also a blog facility on there, but I think I'll stick with this format for now. Maybe add a link on there to here for now.

3. Ants
Well, summer is on it's way. I noticed some ants on the patio at the weekend, so I grabbed the antfarm and scooped them into it. I wasn't able to get that many, only about 6-7. I may try and get some more from the same place. Unfortunately, if they're not from the same next, they will kill each other though.
They are quite a bit smaller than the last lot, so I've had to seal the two air holes. Don't worry though, ants don't really need that much air, and I take the lid off daily. These seem very active too. They're running all over the place. They do keep stopping an having meetings. I'm not sure what about, but I'm preparing for an attack!

4. Content
I guess that this blog started off as the house project. It's progressed into general ramblings, but these are pretty much based around stuff that is actually going on. I was thinking about maybe moving into the genre of observation! What do you think?

5. Music
Ah yes, a subject very near to my heart.
I'm very pleased to say that over the past few months my music tastes have been broadened by chatting to people who have slightly different tastes to me (specifically Mazz & Razz). Some of you will know who I'm talking about.
I've still retained my previous taste, it's just expanded somewhat. So of late I have been listening to...
The Rakes
The Killers
The Kaiser Chiefs
Maximo Park
The Guillemots
Bright Eyes
And a very special mention goes to Kings Of Leon. This is a band who I never thought I would like. But they are now nudging at the best albums that I own!
Currently listening to The Holloways, who I saw as a support to The Rakes. They're very good too. They remind me lots of The Fratellis.

Right, that's your lot for now. Maybe more later!

Flathead

This morning saw us head across beyond Swaffham for a gentle stroll.

This was the route...


Really great weather for walking. Blue skies, bright sunshine and about 15ºC.
Anyway, here's a few that I took on the way round...







It was about 6 miles with a guide time of 2.5 hours. We did it without rushing too much in exactly 1hr 45mins.

This Is Not America

Good morning.

So the explanation for the previous pics was that the olds came over from France and were at ours for the weekend. Introduced the old man to the delights of Wii. B2 gave him a bit of a thrashing at most things, but he showed his skillz at 10 pin bowling.

Now for the beauty that is Wii boxing though.
The seriousness and concentration on his face is a sight to behold!



This is the same man who came from a caring profession! Scarey!

Onto yesterday...

We decided to have a day in the smoke visiting a few museums.
There was a Kylie exhibition on at the V&A, so I booked us some tickets for that. Unfortunately we missed the earlier train and didn't get there in time for our slot. We spent about 10 minutes in the V&A before heading for the Science Museum.
That's a very good fun place to visit. The most annoying thing is all the bloody little kids running around pressing buttons on things without even bothering to read what it was about. I did take some satisfaction in one particular area though. There was a big steel pole with signs saying "don't touch". Of course this was a pure invite for the little darling to do just that, after which they received a mild electric shock. Unfortunately, it wasn't powerful enough to make any of them cry, but it pleased me all the same!
We popped into one of those motion simulator things where it's a fully enclosed capsule that projects an image onto a screen up front whilst the whole thing moves about on hydraulic cylinders. This was one time when I was quite pleased to have some kids in there rather then adults trying to to pretend they weren't scared. H spent most of her time trying to stay on her seat. I think she fell of about four times in total.
Later on in the day we booked in to see a shark film at the iMax cinema. This is a huge screen, certainly the largest that I've been to. It's also 3D. When we entered, we were given special 3D glasses. We then proceeded to take the piss out of everyone else trying them on. In particular, there was one old chap, of a certain age, who donned his as soon as they were given to him. The comedy value of him stumbling about trying to find a seat with these stupid things on his head was a sight to behold.
So, just how ridiculous does one look in them?



Indeed!

After the Science, it was still early enough to quickly dive into the Natural History museum, but we immediately regretted it. Absolutely rammed does not do it justice. After 15 minutes we made our escape.
Still being a lovely day, we decided to walk quite a bit of the way - from South Kensington, to Knightsbridge, up The Mall and then cutting through to Picadilly Circus. Fantastic people watching to be done.

We Might As Well Be Strangers

Gonna post some quick photos because someone else wants access to them...

Wii antics with a couple of generations





This one, though, is one that I took a few days ago early in the morning. I like it and haven't posted it anywhere before...

Pump It Up

Yesterday, I spent a few hours at Heathrow airport. I was taking a very special friend there to catch a flight (really? fancy that).

The journey down was so typical. The first bit travelling a few back roads of Norfolk/Camb was easy and pleasant. The second sector was okay, drop onto the A14, then A11, then M11. All dualled and flowing freely. Hit the cruise button and chill.
Then comes the M25. The first couple of miles were fine. We hit traffic at one of those "2 miles to roadworks" signs. We then crawled for 90 minutes. I say crawled, but it wasn't even like that. It would be preferable to travel at a constant 10 mph, but no. That would be way to easy. We have to sit for 2 mins, then engage 1st and travel for 10 yards before doign the same again, over and over and over and over. So depressing. I am so glad I don't do a job where I have to do that every day.

Eventually we clear the jam. Whay it is that you all of a sudden start moving again without anythign to indicate actually why there was the holdup???
20 miles or so and we got to Heathrow. Very busy. Fortunately it's all well signed and clear, so we were in the car park pretty smartish.
I like airports, but I've been spoilt somewhat by travelling from Stansted quite a bit. Heathrow is like Stansted except it's all squashed up with lower ceilings and less to do. Rubbish!

After an hour or so we had to say goodbye and it's homeward bound again. I know I haven't mentioned who I was dropping off, but I will at some point, and it's linked in with the August holiday, so keep guessing for now.

I get back on the M4 and look out for services signs. On the way in, my tank had got fairly low and it was telling me I had about 29 miles to go until I needed to fill up.. I saw a sign. 25 miles to the services. So this was going to be close. I know that manufacturers play it safe, and I probably had 40 miles or so in the tank. However, I did not relish the idea of running out and being stuck on the hard shoulder. So I bottled it.
Yet again, I'm going to sing the praises of Satnav once again. As far as I was aware, the nearest services were 25 miles away, right? Well, I hit the "Points Of Interest" button on the Tom Tom and pressed "Petrol Stations". It instantly showed up one about 3 miles away. Selecting it, I came off the motorway and after going off down some strange backroads, I was there within 5 minutes. How great is that? A road atlas can't do that for you!
Dialling in home again, it took me straight back to the M25 and onwards. Interestingly though, it came off before the M11 and went up the A1. I didn't mind this as I didn't really want to be stuck in traffic again (although it would have been considerably lighter at 21:00)
Flying along nicely, I was back in Camb with half an hour to go and then I noticed cars turning round in front of me. Bloody road closed due to an accident. This is the only route home I know! It's dark and I'm tired. Satnav to the rescue again! I hit "Find Alternative" and it takes me round the accident. Brilliant!

Get One!!!!

Dark & Long (Dark Train)

I'm going to talk holidays to you now.
This year is the year of holidays for me, for sure.

First up we have a week in Center Parcs. This is becoming pretty much an annual event. This will be the third year in a row that we've gone with the wonderful Tim & Bobs. Another recruit will be with us this year in the shape of Zak. By rights he was with us last year too, but being encased by Bobs, if you'll excuse the expression.
This time we're going for a mid-week break which gives us an extra day there. We're also upgrading to one of the luxury cabins. With a bit of luck this will result in an outdoor jacuzzi!
A special note for Tim should he choose to read this... Pool Competition - NO!

Next we're heading up North to Edinburgh. I've never been, but is somewhere that I've always fancied going. A lovely couple (Di & Gordon) live there and so we will be making use of the their hospitality for a lot of it. Poshing it up a bit in the Hilton (Tesco vouchers come in handy!)

On to July next with the usual trip to France with the Olds. We're thinking that driving may be the answer this year though. Also we shall be taking Nat and her mate Fox (that might have an extra 'x')

I do have another trip planned in August, but maybe more of that another time - I like to keep you guessing.

What else?

Oh Myspace. This "concept" is one that I've steered clear of for a while. The first time I sort of had a look at it, it seemed to be full of txt-spk kids, garish colour and shite music. In fact, I was one of it's biggest critics.
However, times move on and I believe that Myspace has matured somewhat. My own place on there has been further developed. I have a growing number of "friends". So far only had to turn down two friend requests. My standard on this is that only people that I actually know (plus bands) will have the great fortune to be considered a friend of mine. Oh yes!

Tomorrow sees a venture to Norwich with the amazing persona know as the razz. We're gonna see The Rakes at the UEA. Should be most entertaining and tiring!

Umm. That's do for now.

Chasing Cars

I thought I'd share with you an attempt of mine at stop motion filming.
The subject is to do with the OOS forum and a celebration of 12,000 posts. Yes, I know the film only has 11,000! Don't ask!

Anyway, have a gander at 30-odd jelly beans and 2 hours of patience...

Ain't Nobody....... Loves Me Better

The ants are no more.
They have shifted off this mortal coil.
They are gone.
Every each last one of them perished.
Dead.
Goners.
Deceased.
Belly up.
Past away.
No longer of this Earth.

That is all.

A sad day.

Homage To Patagonia

We're gonna party like it's her birthday.

Yup, it's H's birthday today. She's hitting the late thirties now that she's 32. I will also get a kick for that one, I'm sure.
Are we gonna party though? No. I very much doubt it. As she's getting a 6am train for London tomorrow, I would think it will be an early night, not a party.

What's been going on?

A good weekend for starters. As part of H's present, we went to see Phantom Of The Opera. As previously mentioned, we're both fans of shows and really wish we could see more of them. We have decided to make the effort to do so in future.
Very easy to get there. Train from Downham and within 90 minutes we're walking the City. It's never going to be the cheapest way of doing things, but it's not a great deal more expensive than driving once you take everything into consideration.
So. What of the show? Very, very good. It's amazing to think that these guys are doing that twice a day, every day. They do make it seem as though it's a one-off special performance. An interesting fact for you. The show has been running in London for over twenty years. In that time, the show has never failed to sell a seat for every single performance. That's pretty impressive.
After the show we met up with some of the great guys on OOS. Good to see them, expecially Sandra & Adam, Chris and Ginger-Tom, who we've never met before.

Ants? Pah! Don't talk to me about ants. I'm left without about three now. They still don't really understand the concept of tunneling. I tried to help them out a bit, but the hollow that I've created, they seem to treat as a liitle next.
Roll on summer when I can get some new ones!

Was that winter?

The whole country got a little excited on Wednesday. Yes indeed, tonight we're going to have more snow than ever before! Talk about over-selling and under-delivering. It arrived in East Anglia at about 7am. It then continued snowing through until midday. Not bad, I hear you say. But no, it was fine powdery snow (the sort that soaks you through?!?). It did settle, but never really got beyond an inch or two. After it stopped snowing, it got mild rather quickly. Subsequently, it had pretty much gone by late afternoon.
I really hope that's not it for this winter. I really like extremes of weather and if that is all the snow that we are going to get, I want my money back please.

Ants are a big dissappointment. At last count, there were twelve. Talk about lethargic! I thought I had a breakthrough on Monday. Before I left for work, I dipped a cocktail stick in sugar and dropped it in for them. When I got home, they seemed all active - although still not discovered the art of tunneling.
It didn't take them long to revert back to their lazy ways though.
I guess I'm resigned to leaving them to it. Either they get off their fat arses and do something or come the warm weather, they'll be evicted in favour of better miners. It's harsh, but fair.

A decent title coming here soon!

Lovely weekend, wasn't it?

Saturday started with me and Jack going out for a good run. A bit of Wii playing followed. B2 was with us, so she was determined to beat up a few folk in the boxing ring.

In the afternoon, we chose to head out on the bikes. Nice and crisp, very little wind and bright sunshine. Ideal, and the first one of the year. a very leisurely 7 miles which was really pleasant indeed.

The evening had us a nice chinese at the restaurant down the road, commonly known as the "Sexual Inn" (I've known better nicknames!)

Yesterday I was involved in a selection day with Sams. Up again at 7am. That's really not so good for a weekend. A succesful day though with four prospective volunteers going forward for training.

When I got home, H had taken B2 back home, so I decided to catch the second half of the United game at the pub. Four pints later I headed home. I was looking forward to watching Top Gear, but the next thing I knew, I was waking up to see the programme that came on at 9pm! That's the price I pay for getting up early. Gonna have to watch the repeat now. Bugger.

Ants - still no tunneling.

Men!

I remembered, so here it is...



Quite amusing, and I'm sure most of you can relate.

As regards the ants, two words - Lazy Buggers.
No tunneling, so pointless posting any pics up. Two more have died, so that leaves me 13 left. They tend to stand around a bit, not doing an awful lot. I've tried to help them by enlarging one of the holes, but so far not so good.
Patience is a virtue.

Quick Pic

Just a swift posting to share a photo with you.

I discovered this a while ago, but only thought to post it on here a minute or two ago.
Some of you will have seen it, but I'm sure others wont and will appreciate it.



If I remember, later I will also post H's favourite Youtube clip!

Operation "Remove Grit"

Well, as you saw on the previous pics, there is still the packaging grit in with the ants. I needed to remove this as it looked unsightly. One problem - the second that they sense the lid is being removed, they all rush to the lid and try to get out. Call me a wuss, but a few of these are soldiers and would give a nasty bite. I just wouldn't be able to contain them.
So a plan was hatched.
I quickly tipped the whole lot into a glass container and lidded it with clingfilm. This gave me the chance to clean up the tank.
Now, how to get them back in. By this time, a lot of them were up on the clingfilm trying to get out (and who can blame them). Well, I made a little hole in the clingfilm and got a small wooden skewer. Great, I could get one at a time and drop them into the tank. Ahhh, easy with the first, but then I would have to remove the tank lid to get the second one in and the first would make a bid for freedom. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
Right, get the test tube thing they came in. They can't climb up that. I would deposit them one at a time into that and then tip the whole lot into the tank. Sorted.
So, I got it all ready and got the first one out and into the tube. Then it happened.......... click........... powercut!
AAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh
I had 20 ants in a container all heading for the hole in the clingfilm. I had one ant in a tube in my hand. Pitch dark.
I used a bit of spare film and managed to seal the hole. Fortunately the lights came back on after a few minutes.
This plan worked well and I succeeded in getting all the live ants back into the clean tank.
So we have 15 in total. Just need to get them burrowing now.

Here they are in their cleaner home...

Names

Forgot to mention that I've named some of them already...

Anty Val
Anty Gill
Anty Julia

One of the ones that I unfortunately squished was...

Anty Disestablishmentarianism

I'll miss that one.

More names to follow.

Antworks

So begins a new era in this blog, ANTS!

Don't know if I mentioned this previously, but H got me an Antworks for Christmas. A what? Well, it's a little container filled with blue gel. It was developed by NASA to take ants into space, in an environment that they could survive in. Basically, it's a gel that thy tunnel into. It feeds them and allows them to live freely.
You have the option of collecting your own ants, but with it being winter, there aren't that many about so I sent off for some. They arrived yesterday and were duly installed into their new home.
Unfortunately a few died in the post, but I had to chuck the whole lot in as they're pretty active buggers and were escaping all over the place. Last night I went to take out their test tube (that they were delivered in) and they all made a run for it. Despite me being careful, I still managed to squish two when putting the lid back on. This does not make me very happy.

Anyway, I will chart their progress on here from now on.
Here are the first shots...

Klink

Sunday was an odd day. I spent four hours of it inside a high security prison.
Let me explain.
I was going to have a look round as part of another thing that I'm involved in. There were five of us in total. The prison was Whitemoor. It's one of eight high security prisons in the UK and is situated about half an hour away.
So I'll give you a brief run down on the visit.

Getting in was the first thing. We had to provide quite a few details a while ago for checking. On the day two forms of ID, one of which had to be photo ID. We were then signed in and had to go through security i.e. metal detectors, X-ray machines for jackets, full frisk. Then get photo badges made.
The duty Governor then came down to meet us and take us up to a meeting room. At this point the hairs start to stand up on the back of your neck. The first few doors were electric, sliding ones. As you get further in, starts the constant locking and unlocking of gates. We must have gone through a dozen just to get to this meeting room, and that was still in the office block.
After a chat about the whole place, he then took us on a tour. We didn't have the full clearance for meeting prisoners, so were took on a tour at lunchtime when they are all locked up for about 80 minutes.
It was a very strange feeling and there's no way that I can describe it in words. On the way into the wings, we passed a big notice board with lots of photos of the prisoners on it. One particular section was labelled "Known Hostage Takers" i.e. very dangerous.
We first went to the segregation block and it was really quite bizarre. I could see maybe 20 cell doors, all locked. Knowing that behind each one was someone who had done something to warrant a sentence of possibly in excess of 30 years (the minimum sentence at Whitemoor is 4 years). We looked at various areas throughout the tour including a visit to C-Wing where they are mostly Cat A prisoners and are typically sex offenders, informers and other sorts of prisoners who other prisoners hate. Again, they were all locked away. The security was very, very tight. CCTV cameras everywhere and many of the doors not only had to be unlocked by the Governor, but also were linked back to the Control Room and so required an electronic unlocking with mini cameras to see who was there.
I could go into much more detail, but I guess you've got the idea now.
All in all a very, very interesting visit. It may be something that I get more involved in.

Soon be Christmas

Two things to talk about.
Firstly 12" mixes. The reason being that I got my hands on nine discs worth and am currently wading through them. They're from the 80s, which is of course the best decade that there has been for music ever. I guess that is when 12" mixes were at their peak too, come the 90s and CDs were taking over.
I used to have quite a few 12" records. If I like a particular track, I'd buy it on 12". Some used to be very good, but some were not even remixes at all which is a bit of a con really. Not like the music business to cheat the public out of money is it?

Also, we are now the proud parents of a Wii! Having had it on pre-order since 16th September, it arrived on Friday. It was supposed to be an early birthday present arriving on 8th December. Unfortunately I was not one of the lucky ones to get one on time. Worth the wait? You bet.
Set it up on Friday after work and had quite a play that evening. As a result I now have somewhat sore biceps from boxing way too hard.

What?

29th December?!?!

I haven't blogged once in 2007!
Bah.
H will confirm this, but I mentioned to her that Tim had it easy doing Zach's blog, 'cos he only has to do one entry a week. She turned round to me and says that's pretty much all I do anyway. I just wanted to prove her right or something.

Incidentally, I know I sing the praises of Macs as it is, but I've discovered that OSX has a built in spell checker that works on everything you type, not just in Word or something. I need never have to proof read this blog looking for typos!

Right, what can I tell you about? New Year's Eve? That was pretty good fun actually. I'm not going to go into details, but we were invited round to some friends for a murder, mystery evening. Now, we were just a little apprehensive about something like that and had a bit of a moan about it all week. But we made the effort and got dressed up and stuff. It was actually pretty good fun and I'll let you in on a secret - Ian did it!

Nat's been since then as well, should've got her to do a guest entry really.

I've made a good start to getting back into the fitness routine. We started out on New Year's Day by going out for a nice run. Since then, I've pretty much been going every couple of days. This afternoon being no exception. I actually left work early to ensure that I had time to go before heading out this evening. Jack's mighty appreciative as I took him too.

Oh I know. Have any of you done any grocery shopping from home? We thought we'd give it a go. Mighty impressed we are too. The beauty of it is that you start off with you list as soon as you realise you need something. You then add to it up until the time that you want it delivering. I did wonder initially that we might miss out on the offers etc, but it's even easier to get them online than in store. We've also been given the website of a place that gives out vouchers, so we can get the delivery free too.

Right. That'll do, apart from one thing... Now I don't normally tell H when I've updated this, she just finds out similar to you folk. So this message is just to tell her that she is quite simply the most amazing person that I've ever met. I am incredibly lucky being married to such a wonderful woman.

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!