The day after boxing day

Susan at work again - I have spent some time in my shed come workshop, trying to make a tool cupboard; I need to practice different joints and stuff before emabarking on the dining room re-model and hall table... made a couple of cockups but then that's the point... got the top. bottom and two sides all ready all I now need to do is joint them all together...

Well was that it????

Boxing day - susan back at work, babies don't seem to know it's Christmas, perhaps we could stop people having sex nine months before the Christmas holidays so that Midwives can have the time off as well, it's an idea.

So Christmas is over, was that it?

A nice day

After drinking rather to much last night - not so much that i couldn't get home, but enough to give me a headache in the morning - I gave my friend Bas a call - to see if he was up for a visit; he's been a bit under the weather recently - nice understatement... but we don't need to big up serious illnesses...

Had a laugh and a chat - a man on morphine can be very witty... also went in Bas' loft and got out his Christmas decorations... this must be the tidiest loft I have ever seen; some shelves and 'rent a crates' (I am sure you are supposed to return rented crates...) everything tidied away - took a bit of time to find the fairy, but then doesn't it always... (that sounded so much more funnier in my head - thought I would leave it in; after all it's a lame attempt at humour it really is not funny)

Went to Susan's church cell social this evening - lots of laughter and fun had by all. Santa sat on my knee, and I thought I know that who this is - don't ask how.

Got to go to bed now - up at 8am to help set up the PA at Church in the morning, and that Nick is a hard task master...

What a evening

For those who don't know - Susan (wife) has been studying to become a midwife, she passed last year and got a job at St Heiller... during her studies she decided in the final year to study at the higer degree level. This evening she found out that she not only passed but got a 1st as well....

I always new she was smart - now she has a piece of paper as well...

We had guests for the weekend

We had my nieces around this weekend; went to the fireworks and generally had a good time - we only had two out of three (the middle one found somewhere more exciting than ours to go to) The eldest announced that she now has a boyfriend - she is 12 !!!


As a caring uncle I thought the best thing was to discourage this sort of thing - so when I saw his picture I pointed out one or two flaws... this really didn't go down to well.

The really downside of the weekend was that for some strange reason I completely forgot to drop round on my nephew and give him his birthday present - so not a great uncle after all; still made up for it this evening by popping into GAME on the way home and picking up two cool games, in addition to the voucher I had already bought...

So two things I have discovered this weekend....
12 year old girls have no sense of humour and
Presents bought when feeling guilty tend to be the best ones...

will blog again as soon as something happens...

On a thames taxi

Pro Drive --- RX8

The pro-Drive Circuit - where I took my RX8 for a day out... The highlights must be;
The High-Speed Circuit - the two straights are very fast, got to over 100mph on the Main Straight (according to my son who was in the back) If you can get the "FAST" corner right!

The Handling Circuit was excellent - 22 corners / bends in just over a mile! by the end had the tyres squeeling as I pushed the handling; learnt a lot about the importance of braking to move the weight of the car - and not just to "slow" down.

Then on the ABS test area - there were a lot of cones to salom in and out of plus "garages" to drive into and reverse out of... this was a compitition for all the people on the day and my son and I came third...

And I was thinking of selling my car....

You can see more comments here http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17684

including links to YOU-TUBE videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pwbjVBtlTI&feature=user

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB-qp5SAoTo&feature=related

Been busy

Time 4 a take away coffee took the time out from the office to visit the local Starbucks; been a really busy couple of weeks - starting with taking the car out on the Pro-Drive circuit - fantastic, then a long week at work, followed by an even longer weekend whilst one of the main computer rooms was closed down for essential electrical works, looking forward to this coming weekend where I think I won't get up to midday on Saturday....

Nephew

My nephew's birthday he is 10 today

No pictures

Friday night was great - spent the evening in Brighton, generally walking around and wasting time while our daughter was at a concert; went for a reasonable meal in the lanes, wasted some money on the peir, coffee in a hotel and then hang about for the girl.... the bars and clubs were packed, all the pubs had people outside enjoying the mild night air (not sad o's smoking :-) )

Saturday Night Carshalton firewaorks (their 50th) excellent as ever...


all in all a very good weekend

Friday night

Friday night in brighton its 9pm and we are sitting on the beech its so mild we hardly need our coats

M.O.T Failure

My Mazda RX8 failed it's MOT yesterday - broken link (see picture) got the parts today; goes back for repair on Monday; should only be an hours work... so £82 for parts £50 labour + £52 for the MOT makes this an expensive weekend. A bit of a pain - lets hope the rest of the weekend is better - England beat the South African's in rugby and Lewis H becomes the first every rookie to win at F1...

Waiting

Waiting for my son out side his college. Car going in for mot later should be ok.

Good grief

Daughter gets hold of phone again this picture captures her sense of fun :-D

Battersea

Surely its about time someone did something about Battersea after all it has been empty for years. Or is this am example of if left long enough it will get developed into luxury homes prime water front and all.

Is this a sign of having to much time on your hands

What can I say this chap manages to skip a stone 51 times - that is impressive, the amount of TV air time and news paper inches has been huge.

To quote the Metro
Stone me! A man has manged to 'skim' a stone across water 51 times, shattering the old world record of 40.
Russell Byars' managed to get the pebble to travel 250 feet (76 meters).
Before declaring him a record holder, Guinness World Records experts analyzed film of Byars' toss, checking the concentric circles in the water by each skip.
"I actually threw 40 stones that day, but that was the first skip that I threw," Byars told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper, which confirmed the record with Guinness officials.
The old record was set in 2002.

See a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwS0vkdDes


But the question is - is this someone with to much time on his hands or someone simply enjoying life and using his free time to do what he wants?

Signs of getting old

Going to a friends 50th birthday party. Good fun though.
Being told 'i was still at school' when talking about old times.

Last cut of the summer

What a great day one of those fantastic late summer days lovely sunny and warm. Cut the lawn and cleared the garden and shed;)

Home already

The best thing about flexi time is getting home early on a friday

Nothing new to add - still recovering from the weekend and there have been some late evenings at work. Just been thinking about blogs and what should I be doing with this; some people seem to put a lot of effort into these things - I am sure that I won't have the time or the imagination... Think I will continue with my ad-hoc posting of the occasional picture and comments.

Is there anyone other than me looking at this blog?

What do you think of it? any recommendations regarding improvements etc....

My car

Thought I might put some pictures of my car up on the site. The trip back from Land's End at the weekend just proved to me what a great car this is...

and to finish the day....

And to finsh the day God arranges a sunset - guess if you live buy the sea you see these all the time, but for me I can never get over the surprise of how beautiful a sunset is.

'

'

I am told that sunrises are equally as good, but it's very unlikely I will see one of them :-)

.....

I don't know why - but I like this picture

I pushed the button by accident - but I like the picture - after all it's only my foot in a cheap trainer!

Obvious sign

The obvious sign - what else would you expect on the edge of a cliff.....

Good grief

One more view then no more... promise

The hotel room

Views from the window

What a couple of.....

Here we are - just had an ice cream (I had rum & Raisin) and taking our own photo's with my phone....

and finally

Eventually the lifeguard - the guy on the surfboard, got everyone out of the water and the dolphin went out to sea...

More surprise guest video

Got a bit closer with this one.

A surprise guest

A surprise guest - a dolphin swims in and haves fun with the humans - all video was taken on the K800i so forgive the quality

More wedding pictures

Susan - looking fantastic as always.

At the Weeding - a sandy cove near Land's End

Nearly got the panaramic function of the phone working, but it was a very bright day so couldn't quite get the different images lined up - but it was a fantastic setting. The weather was fantastic and the wedding very special

Our hotel room

Very nice. A romantic 4 poster bed

Click on the picture and go to the hotel's web site

At Land's End

Here for a beach wedding - but on sign of a beach

Arrived

Here are at Land's End

Travelling

The difference between getting the 15:00 train and the 17.30 train there are not this many empty seats on the 17:30 train :-)

Time 4 bed

It's only Tuesday but feels like a long week already

Evening out

Got home decided to go out for a pub dinner

There goes my resolve

So much 4 no booze in september

Wife

Common view of my wife

Just waiting

I like this new phone a lot its a pity it didnt come with a memory card as i have already filled the internal memory with photos and music!

The family

This picture was taken on our 2007 summer holiday

The Girl

Taking pictures of her self again

The boy with tea