Websites, Work, Weddings, Welton and Wimbledon...

I was sad to read that Palace Fan is bringing his blog to an end after 5 years. He's had a good innings in the blogosphere and I'm sure he will start up a new one as he's moving with his family to Oz in the next couple of weeks. To be honest, it's touch and go if this blog will continue for much longer as neither of us seem to have the time to write even a few lines these days , let alone a whole post. We've both been that busy, which I'll come on to in a minute, and don't seem to get a minute spare these days. But we'll soldier on for a bit longer if that's ok with you!

So, the title of the post says it all really, and I'll go through them in order!

Websites; you probably know that since last August time I have been "experimenting" (that's probably the most apt description) with building websites for various different projects. I've put a lot of work into them and some of them have been quite rewarding financially, but for the most part it was my interest in IT, ecommerce and generally messing about with computers that kept me going. Well I'm glad to say that I've stepped away from 2 of these sites for one reason or another, and I'm now not stressing out trying to do a day job AND manage multiple websites.

When I started on these things were a bit up in the air (at Comet - and by the sound of it they still are up in the air!) and so I was just trying to have a backup plan in case I was handed a "thanks for all your hard work but we don't need you anymore" letter. Things didn't come to that luckily, which was a relief, but I carried on with the sites anyway.

In the end an argument over money (things usually come to that don't they?) put stop to 2 of the sites so now I'm just concentrating on our own venture, www.gardengear.co.uk, and hope to launch this very soon.

Work; the new job is going really well and I'm really glad I made the move from Comet. It was a bit of a gamble, but it has definitely paid off. I enjoyed my time at Comet, except maybe the last 6 months, but it was time for me to move on to pastures new. Republic is a smaller company but is on the rise and will become a big brand over the next couple of months/years. It's good to be in a team/company where everyone mucks in and the politics are not as prominent. Don't get me wrong , I'm sure Republic has it's fair share of politics , but I've been lucky enough not to experience them yet!

Weddings; things have slowed down a bit on this front for now. I'm sure Michelle will comment that they never even got going for me anyway ;0) My only involvement to this point was tasting canapes at Ramada Jarvis ; they were very nice too. Most of the invites have gone out though.

Welton; not quite content with having a new job and a wedding to contend with this year we decided to buy a house too! It's in Welton and is an absolute beauty! The garden is immense and we're both looking forward to getting out there and getting in touch with our Percy Thrower sides. We're hoping to complete the deal at the end of July, so not long to wait. One other added bonus is our new neighbours aren't French which is always good!

So finally onto Wimbledon; we "won" tickets in the ballot (well my Mum did really and was very kind to let us have them) so we hot-footed down to SW19 on the train on Tuesday. It was an absolutely glorious day, a bit too hot for me, and we saw some great tennis. Serena Williams, Rafa Nadal and Robin Soderling on centre court and a few random players on the outlying courts. We took a coolbag loaded with goodies and strawberries and generally had a top day out. I could have quite happily sat there for 2 weeks watching tennis, eating and drinking cream teas and for the most part doing nothing ;0)

Well, that's it for now, the sun is out, the sunday papers are in and England are up against zee Germans later on. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention I've become an uncle again. Andrew and Gemma have just had their first baby, a little girl weighing at 8 pound something. Congrats to them both.

Adios,

p.s. i'm sure you all got the connection with the photo of George W. Bush. Get it? All the words in the title start with W? Never mind!

Absolutely Airbrush...

After many weeks of hard work, reading, photoshopping and general messing about on my iMac, it gives me great pleasure to bring to you Absolute Airbrush, a great new website (well I would say that wouldn't I??) for all your airbrushing needs. A big THANKYOU to Adam J for the cool logo and artwork.


Check it out , Click here

This site is build on the Open Source osCommerce platform Visit osCommerce here, and is hosted by OpenByNature, check them out here

And now the end is near....

Well, it must have been years since I've written a post (Sunday 11th October to be precise) and I've got some news so now seems as good a time as any!

First off, the BIG news, I'm leaving Comet and moving on to pastures new, Republic, the fashion retailer, again to be precise! Should be starting there just after Easter in my new role. I started Comet 12 years ago, and although there have been a few trips round the world thrown in for good measure, it does feel like 12 years now and it seems like the right time to hang up my gloves! I didn't take the decision lightly and have been pondering and procrastinating for well over a month now, but I know I've made the right decision!

Anyway, there's plenty more interesting stuff to write about too! We went to our first wedding fare (together!) on Sunday which happened to be at the venue we have chosen. I say (together) but it's really my first but i can't vouch for Michelle as she seemed to be a natural at it. On entering we took a right into a room which had 5 roast dinners laid out on a table. Hey, this is alright I thought, and preceded to sit down and take out my emergency knife and fork (I always carry a pair with me, well you never know do you?). Anyway, I was just about to stuff a mouthful of turkey and stuffing into my mouth when I noticed "for demonstration purposes only". What a strange notice, "demonstration purposes only" How can you demonstrate food without physical eating it??! What they should have done is have a load of food toffs, or better still that Aussie and the bald bloke off Masterchef there scoffing the food and talking b*lloc.... sorry nonsense!

"That my friend is a triumph!", "I could quite happily lick that plate clean", "first you get the turkey dancing on your tongue, then the stuffing comes out of nowhere and there's an explosion of flavours in the back of your throat!". Pair of nobheads!

So, after wrongly sitting down to a roast dinner, I then found myself being drawn to the canapes that were neatly laid on a silver platter. Michelle had wandered off to look at some seat coverings so I downed a few of them when noone was looking and then wandered off towards the windows. Lo and behold there was some wine to taste! I soon came to the conclusion that this wedding fare malarky wasn't so bad after all. I sipped (I was driving!) a couple of mouthfulls of red and white , obviously dispensing of the tasted wine into a spitoon, and then headed off to the bar. The bar wasn't open but that was the only place I hadn't been too yet! There wasn't a great deal to taste there so after a quick "about turn" I caught up with Michelle again who was just agreeing colour schemes for the seat covers. I won't tell you what colour they are as it will spoil the surprise on the day (that's if you are invited ;0)

When we finally got home I jotted down the dates of the remaining wedding fares in the area and we are now booked into one a week for the remainder of the year! Not really, but it wouldn't be so bad if we were as I can thoroughly recommend the food and drink!

Well, I think I'll leave it there, I've got a week off in March (to use up my remaining holiday), so I'm going to get out on my bike and get some snaps with my nearly-new camera. And then after that, the obligatory round of leaving dos starts. I'm pretty sure this is my third time leaving Comet, so this time I'll keep the leaving drinks very low key ;0)

Adios,

p.s. It is my third time I've "left" Comet although this time, as the Governor of California once said, "I DEFINATELY WON'T BE BACK!"

Baby Baby!!

Well I don't know if there's something in the water or what, but almost everyone we know (about our age) is having or has recently had children!!
Now I know it's only natural when you get to our age that people will be starting / extending their families, but it is all the people that I least expected it from.
You know the sort of people that you think you have a "real" connection with because none of you want children!!
It seems me and Matt are amongst the minority in our choice to remain childless.
Having said that we have just had a lovely weekend with Gary and Eve and their two Ella (19 months) and Xander (8 weeks)they are bloody hard work though!
Gary and Eve hardly had a minute to themselves as they constantly fed, changed and entertained their tots.
As cute as they both are (the kids not Gary and Eve)we are still sure that kids are not for us. We may increase the head count of guinea pigs when we get our own house but that's as close to parenting we are going to come ;-)
Congrats to those of you who have recently revealed their baby news(identities remain anonymous)I think we have just about over come the shock!!

Wedding planning is coming along nicely, although I wish somebody could do it all for us, what started out to be a low key / cost affair is already running into the thousands, and that is without going mad on things that are not needed. We have booked some cracking entertainment for the evening and I'm sure it will be a memorable occasion for all the right reasons!
We have talked about honeymoon destinations but we are still undecided as to what were going to do, might be a mini RTW trip, we might also go back to the Maldives for some R&R, which I'm sure we will both need once the wedding is over.
I wouldn't make a very good project manager, not when it came to managing budgets anyway. Either that or I genuinely underestimated the cost of "wedding" type things!

Bryn and Smiffy are fit and healthy and very settled now, we have them out a couple of times a week for a little cuddle (more for my benefit than Matt's ;-)) They are both completely different personalities. Bryn is the friendlier of the two and will let you stroke him, will come to you for food and is generally very sociable. Smiffy however is the complete opposite, he won't let you stroke him and run off as soon as you go near the cage to put his food in. He also fidgets a lot when we have them both out, where as Bryn will sit quite contentedly.
Love em to bits though, they are ever so funny, and really nice little creatures to have.

I've been on holiday for two weeks, which has been bliss. Matt was off for the 1st week too but the second week I've had all to myself. I've really enjoyed the break and could get used to being off!
However with a wedding to arrange and two Guinea Pigs to keep looks like there's no chance!!!

Bryn & Smiffy

Me and Matt have been talking about getting a dog for a while now, but we have both agreed that we work long hours, love our holidays etc so it's not really the right time to get one. The thing is though I absolutely love animals and feel like I've been missing out on all the happiness that pets can bring, so we have opted for two male guinea pigs instead!!

See attached pics of little Bryn and Smiffy (characters from Gavin & Stacey) Bryn is the ginger one.

They are adorable and have brought us lots of laughs with some of their antics! I have had guineas before but I'd forgotten how funny they really are! Because they are only babies they have a lot of energy and do a lot of jumping about (aka popcorning) this can only be described as popcorn going off in the microwave. They just spring up into the air and then run off with a little squeak, it's hilarious!

they also love tube to run through, stacks of fresh hay to munch, and just chewy things in general, not to mention a healthy supply of fresh greens every day!!!

Anyway see attached pics of the little critters, Bryn and Smiffy Looby :-)

Going to the Chapel

Hey folks - sorry it's been a while, once again not a great deal going on other than the every day razzmatazz! That said we do have some big news, and that is that, Gavin & Stacey is back on tonight at 9pm!!

No seriously, we have finally booked our wedding for Friday 29th October 2010. We will be having a Civil Ceremony (it could turn uncivil depending how much Matt and the best man have to drink the night before!) and it will be held in Hull.

Preparation is already underway, lists have been made up, frocks have been purchased and colours have been agreed!!! It's all extremely exciting, and to be honest i didn't realise just how much I wanted to marry Matt.

We are both looking forward to it, unfortunately we cannot invite everybody to the ceremony but we will be inviting as many people to the evening reception as we can (afford!!) Invites will be going out after Christmas so I will be contacting you all after Christmas for your addresses.

On a more mundane note, not a great deal else going on at the moment.
We will soon be celebrating my 40th Birthday, me and Matt are going to York and staying over at a nice hotel and then going out to dinner in the evening, so really looking forward to that, I've also got a night with the girls which my beautiful bezzy Anna has been busily organising, can't wait for that either, there are quite a few of us going so that should be a giggle! So many social events to attend in December, and so few outfits to wear!!!

Matt has been very busy too with his new websites that he is helping to design, and playing his new PS3 game, and spending every other spare minute on the internet. We have also been watching the Sex and the city box set that Nicola kindly lent to us the last time we were over there, it is a fantastic series and I would urge anybody to watch it, it is embarassingly hilarious at times, but really good fun and entertaining to watch.

Matt got a new SLR camera for his birthday but we haven't had much opportunity to get out and use it yet, so no interesting pics on Flckr just yet (watch this space)

Anyway, that's about it from me... more on the wedding to follow in the coming months (for those of you that are interested ;-))

Haystacks

We missed a month of blogging again but to be fair (to both of us!) we have been extremely busy over the last couple of months. It just seems to be work , work and more work at the moment which is why this weekend , or the one just gone by the time most people are reading this, it was great to get away from it all and get some proper back to basics walking, eating and of course drinking in the glorious Lake District. We joined forces with Stew, Kirsty and loads of teachers and headed off to Braithwaite where we set up camp for 2 nights. The teacher/walking combination thing is a bi-annual affair for Stew and Kirsty but for us it was a first but definitely won't be the last!

We rocked up at about 7pm and met up with the school folk, who are a lovely bunch; they ranged from maths teachers, PE teachers, teacher assistants and more. I wasn't a big fan of teachers when I was at school but then I don't think anyone is really. This bunch were great though, they made us feel really welcome from the off. It helped that we went to an Indian and sank a few beers on the first night too, as you can't get much better than that really ;0)

We stayed in a kind of lodge cum hostel just outside of Braithwaite with proper bunk beds and everything! After a curry and some beers I was absolutely whacked so we turned in for an early night. Apparently we missed the entertainment which consisted of a reenactment of Mama Mia but the Hull version. It's called Mam I'm here, if you say it in a Hull accent you'll see why it's funny. Some of the girls are part of an amateur dramatics society and they have actually performed this to paying customers. I couldn't comment as I didn't see it, but it sounded like everyone was enjoying it, as we heard plenty of laughs and shrieks. At least I assume that was what the laughs and shrieks were for.

So, we rised and shined at 8am to a hearty cooked breakfast, and then before we knew it we were off in the car to Buttermere to begin the walk! Now we've been to the Lakes a few times before with Steen and Nicola but we have always escaped walking because a) the weather has been crap, b) we haven't made it past the pub, c) the weather has been crap, d) we've not made it past the pub and d) all of the above. So we were quite looking forward to actually doing a walk in the Lakes (at least I think we were!).

So we headed off from the carpark and started a gentle climb up a path-like track. The track soon became a steep, rock strewn path and after about 30 minutes we were about 3 miles high! Seriously, it was a baptism of fire! The path was really steep and it turned into more of a climb than a walk. We had quite a few short stops early on and when we turned to look at the view behind it was stunning (see below). I think we were all quite shocked (except Wilko, our guide, who had done the walk before) at how fast we ascended.


Once we got to the top, the way forward flattened out and we reached the edge of the plateau. This really showed off how high we were, I think it was about 2200ft, and it was certainly a lot cooler than when we started. After a short pause we then headed across a slate quarry to a stone hut in the middle of nowhere and it was time for lunch! (N.B. the last two paragraphs actual took about 3 hours of straining, huffing and puffing, but I though I'd summarise it)

After lunch we headed off towards Haystacks, the main goal of the walk. This is/was Alfred Wainwright's favourite part of the lakes and he described it as 'standing unabashed and unashamed in the midst of a circle of much loftier fells, like a shaggy terrier in the company of foxhounds’. Not sure I'd agree with that description, but it's definitely worth a look. The ascent to Haystacks was nowhere near as steep as the initial climb but it was still tough. This part of the walk was a lot busier, in fact I heard one party who were resting comment that they should have brought more tea and biscuits to sell to the masses!

Another rest at Haystacks and we started the descent. Now this part was actually the toughest part and really hard on the knees and calves. You're constantly leaning back so you don't go tumbling down the hill and take everyone else with you! We could actually see the carpark where we started after a while, but even after walking for 30 minutes it didn't seem to be getting any closer.

Sure enough though, after about another hour we made it back to the flat ground and were soon sat back in the car, aching like hell and wishing for a sauna. After a short drive we were back at the lodge with a cracking cup of tea in hand. It was a great walk, with many ups and downs, geographically and mentally, but one I'd love to do again. The evening soon began with a walk to the local pub and a HUGE 3 course meal, with a bonus piece of cake from the birthday party next door. Plus there was some top quality real ales including Theakstons. All in all a top night! Needless to say we missed the cabaret again as we were so tired.

Well that's about it now, I'm just catching the final of the snooker on BBC2, Michelle has collapsed in bed; I think she'll need to be ambulanced into work tomorrow as she's struggling with her legs!

Adios,

p.s. Did I forget to mention that we are off to Portugal next weekend for a week in the autumnal sun?? Woo Hoo!

Gadgets Gadgets Gadgets

Well it's finally here.... and it's about time to! Check out the new site , www.ispy-gadgets.co.uk

Spy Gadgets Spy Gadgets Spy Gadgets

Check out this link to a new website that a "colleague" of mine is working on. Please visit and add it to your bookmarks. Keep your eyes peeled for the launch date which will be publicised on this blog.

Click here for iSpy-Gadgets.co.uk

A blog is for life...

You've all heard the saying a dog is for life not just for Christmas, well I feel a bit like that with our blog really. I've totally neglected it since we got home, for no other reason than; what is there to write about that anybody might be interested in and also just having the time.
I keep in touch with most people by FB nowadays,and on occasion actually manage to meet up with people face to face!!

There just isn't enough hours in the day for work, family, friends, loved ones etc..

We're settling into a Brough life, it took a month or so for me, as I do enjoy being in the city with lots of pubs, shops and restaurants on your doorstep, however the drive into work is now much easier and only take abut 7 minutes, as opposed to the 30 minute drive from Hull. Matt on the other hand settled straight in and loves getting the train in. The only thing the place lacks is a decent Indian Take Away, and any restaurants, it's very limited. Brough is an old place, but it has grown quite quickly and the infrastructure has not kept up with it. We have two supermarkets, 3 pubs, a charity shop, betting shop and some estate agents, and that's it really. Still we are only about 12 miles from Hull so we're not totally cut off.

We have finally managed to start saving, although we haven't got nearly enough to even contemplate a mortgage yet. At the moment the most we can borrow is around 85% of the property value, and even though the house we have had our eye on has just been drastically reduced by 15k we still don't seem to be any nearer to owning our own home. We have got the English wank, I mean bankers to thank for our predicament!!

For those of you wondering about our wedding plans, we have none ;-) we are going to get a house first and then plan a peter and Jordan style do!!

We have now made friends with our French neighbour, who has actually turned out be be very hospitable. She has invited us into her Orchard style garden to help ourselves to plums and apples, she still won't let us move our sat dish back though.

We're having a "quiet" weekend at home this week, well it was supposed to be but Matt is on call (which then means so am I) and he's not had the easiest of times bless him. Especially the call at 4.30 this morning when he had to get out of bed and log on to fix something. Talk about the 4th emergency service. He is an unsung hero!

Last week we got the train out to York and spent the afternoon in a few of York's finest beer gardens. It was a lovely sunny afternoon (I can hear the gasps of disbelief) and we had a really nice day, we finished with a curry in Akbars. Famous for their ginormous nan breads. For any of you that watch Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsey you will remember his visit to Akbars in Bradford. Well they now have a successful chain of restaurants in the North. It never ceases to amaze me though when people order a side portion of chips with their Indian food. And then when the waiter comes across to take their plates and they start telling him how good the food was, but they talk really loud and animated as though the waiter is completely illiterate and does not speak fluent English. There was a group of lads in when we were there who had just come from York races. You can spot them straight away, all dressed in their dad's suits with their hair coiffed and gelled, and shiny slip on shoes with buckles on (puss in boots style!) Anyway this group of lads were all of the above, chip scoffing, shouting, gesticulating, shiny shoe wearing tossers, who couldn't grasp how to eat with their mouths closed. It was like dining with a group of camels!
When the waiter came across one of the camels said "F**ing-lovely-that-pal. I-go-to-the-one-in-Sheffield" (referring to another Akbars)(note the use of the hyphen to emphasise the mono tone in which he spoke to the waiter,as if he were mentally retarded)

We are back off to York again next weekend, as Matt's mum and dad are coming to visit our new place. We are doing the touristy thing and going to the Railway museum followed by afternoon tea at Betty's!!

Everybody needs good neighbours....

Peas and Rice (Cockney rhyming slang for Jesus Christ!) we've got another blog on! It's only just over a week since our last blog; anyone would think we were travelling again (more on this later). Well we've moved into our new house, it's not ours really it's our landlords but it might as well be ours, and we've just about settled in. The aerial man has just left after moving our satellite dish for the 2nd time in a month, again more on this later.

I think we're both getting a bit sick of a) renting and b) moving as it's the 2nd move within 12 months, more than a lot of people have moved in the last 12 years! It's not the actual being in different places that bothers us (or me anyway!) as we both love seeing different places as you probably know, if we didn't this blog probably wouldn't even exist. No, it's the upheaval of everything we own, and a few things we don't, (sorry about taking that frying pan, I really did think it was ours!) from one place to another. When you're travelling, moving everything you own from one place to another, is a piece of p*ss as it's on your back, but when you've been living in a flat for 12 months you tend to accumulate a bit more clobber. TV, iMac, Wardrobe, sofas, guitar(s), clothes, etc., etc. We haven't got nearly as much stuff as most people but it's still a chore. We had to get the company who made our wardrobe to come and dismantle it and get a separate "man with van" to move all the other shi... sorry stuff. Then there's all the bills, accounts, magazine subscriptions to change address details over , the list goes on and on. Anyway, the amount of times we have moved over the last 10 years is well into double figures. We both worked out that between us we've lived in about 20 places in the last 10 years. When I say places I mean different abodes, rather than different towns/villages/hamlets! So you'd expect us to be naturals at moving. Well to be honest, it's probably a less stressful experience than some people have , but still a pain.

So onto the Satellite dish. When we moved in there was an existing satellite dish on the front of the house which we plugged into our Freesat and everything was dandy. Then after a couple of days of pouring rain suddenly the picture went. And I mean completely went! Couldn't even get Come Dine with Me on More4. So, I asked around and got Al's mate from work, or rather Al from work's mate. He came round one evening tested different cables, different positions (for the satellite dish!) and to cut a long story short, we settled on a place about the kitchen window.

All was going well, until our neighbour (SHE IS FRENCH!!!!) returned from a trip away (to FRANCE) and knocked on the door. After the pleasantries exchanged; "hello I'm your new neighbour", "Hello I'm Matt", "Hello I'm rfaiurehriuhf (some French name)", "there's a problem with your satellite dish", "No there isn't, Al's friend came round to fix it, look it's a brilliant picture, come in I'll show you....", "Yes there is a problem , it's on my wall","...look the picture on HD is brilli.....WHAT???? YOU'RE WALL? SILLY FRENCH BAS.....". And it turned out that the upstairs of the house, doesn't match the downstairs of the house and our satellite dish was about 3mm (actually about 18 inches) on her side of the house. I tried reasoning with her and said "well it's not really doing any harm though is it? It's only a satellite dish" but apparently it is a problem and would you mind moving it please because I'm trying to sell my house, and I'm sure the kind of people who want to buy my house wouldn't want a satellite dish on their wall. So I had to get Al's mate back round and he moved it to the opposite end of the house, as far away as possible from the French side of the house!

Now I know that neighbours are extremely petty when it comes to territory but I did think she was being a bit over the top! I don't know whether it is the French blood as I know they are suckers for bureaucracy or the fact that she is just an arse but it's all sorted now. To be honest I would probably have been p*ssed of if someone had put a satellite dish on my wall whilst I was away on holiday but I like to think that I'd be reasonable once the initial shock had wore off and realised that it was a genuine mistake! Oh well!

Anyway, I mentioned travelling at the start of this and we're off on our hols again, to Askrigg in the Yorkshire Dales. It's really close to Hawes where they make Wensleydale Cheese (Oh No Grommit , it's the wrong trousers!) and Black Sheep Ale. So you can guess what we'll be doing for the majority of the week. We're heading off on Saturday morning and hopefully by Saturday afternoon will be troughing on Wensleydale and swigging Black Sheeps'

So there you go , there's a good end to this blog, hopefully I'll have some non-French related stories to tell you in a week or so.

Au Revoir!

p.s. Oh yeah I forgot, we live in Brough now, pronounced Brough. It's about 8 miles from Hull right next to the Humber Bridge! It's a lot more rural here, although "The Avenues" is also pretty rural this time of year what with all the trees out.

They're Grrrrrreeeeeeaaaaatttttttt....

Just a very quick blog to say well done to the Tigers for surviving their first season in the Premiership. I know they lost against the Dirty Reds (Man Utd) 1-0 but hey, they fought well and thoroughly deserved it! Once again Well Done to Phil Brown and the team.

Adios,

Laurel and Hardy

Well we've been in our new gaff for just over two weeks now, and I have to be honest and say I'm still not settled 100%.
It's a really nice place, but it just doesn't feel like home just yet.

The move all went very smoothly, it's been events since we got in that have been unfortunate...
The house came furnished with white goods (fridge freezer, range cooker and a washing machine(!)) which was quite a positive as the flat we were moving out of had all those things too so it saved us (or so we thought it would) quite a bit of money!
It's amazing how you see things differently once you actually move in...
The washing machine was like something out of Steptoes yard, the cooker has never seen a brillo pad, let alone be acquainted with any type of cleaning fluid, and the fridge feezer was so small it belonged in a dolls house!
So first things first, I set about cleaning the cooker (this is after me and my mum had spent most of the 1st day cleaning cupboards, floors and cobwebs from every surface in the place)
3 bowls of black washing up water later and I had finished the hob top, it was minging!! that was without even looking on the inside! Anyway I guess you get the picture??
After I'd get that little unenviable task out of the way, I decided I would take out the old piece of scrap metal aka the washing machine, in preperation for the new one arriving later that day, Matt was still in bed and to be fair wasn't the least bit interested in cleaning / installing new appliances.
I went under the sink and turned off the water supply to the washing machine, pulled out the machine and proceeded to unscrew the connection hoses. First one came away with no problem, the 2nd one was like a Laurel and Hardy moment, water shot out into my face, and within seconds I was drenched. I quickly attempted to screw the pipe back in place, but as you'd might have guessed, it wouldn't go back on properly and water continued to spray everywhere. I panicked, and quickly got back under the sink thinking that instead of turning the water off, I'd actually turned it on. So I turned the tap in the opposite direction and went back to the leaking pipe, to try again. Same thing happened!!
I was breathless, both from panic and the volume of water thar had hit me full on in the face, and also from the amount of water that was leaking everywhere in the kitchen. I didn't have a clue what to do, so I threw all the bedding that was waiitng to be washed into the pools of water, adorned myself in rubber gloves and dashed outside to try and find the stop cock. I couldn't find it!!!! By this point I decided it was no good, I had to get Matt out of bed. He was not happy and proceeded to call me names that I will not repeat!!! This just upset me even more, in fact it actually upset me more than the water!!!
I went next door to ask the neighbour where the stop cock (all the while water pissing out) but she was away on holiday!!
Surely things can't get any worse... Oh yes they can!!
I called Yorks Water to be told they couldn't get anybody out for two hours...
At this stage we were really desperate so Matt started knocking on a few doors to see if anybody knew where the mains water supply was. As luck would have it there was a dear little old lady who has been a resident of the house a few doors up for over 25 years and was very familiar with every stop cock in Brough, ours included.
She pointed and told us it was under that car??? The car of our next door neighbour who was on holiday in France!!!!!
Anyway the long and short of it is, that the old woman knew who was looking after the neighbours property and they had they keys to her car, the car was moved the water supply turned off and we eventually got the new washing machine connected and, two weeks later we have just about dried out!!
We have had other incidents since we moved in too, involving some unwanted biting visitors, but I don't really want to talk about that :-(

It has cost us a small fortune this move, we have got more furniture than DFS, It's good to have something to call our own at last.

There are some cracking locals in the area too, the best one is a bit far out really, it's almost 100 yards door to door, with a pizza shop en route!
We have sampled just about every guest ale they have had on in the last fortnight, in fact I am starting to get a thirst now just thinking about it...

Moving house

Does anybody still read this blog??

Well I can't even remember the last time I blogged, too busy on Facebook to blog.
So as the subject of the blog suggests, we are moving on again, unfortunately it doesn't involve quitting our jobs and purchasing RTW tickets. No it's just a few miles down the A63 to Brough.
Reason we're moving to Brough is to be nearer to my place of work, as an hour driving every day is getting on my nerves. I know this is nothing compared to what some of the cockenys do, but hey we're not cockeneys!!!
The new place is really lovely, Bridge Cottage, set on the railway embankment, we've even got an outdoor patio area too, which will be great in summer. It will be quite a novelty after living in flats for as long as I can remember.

Work is keeping us both busy, despite this massive recession we're in. We have both been extremely lucky (it doesn't always feel that way) in keeping our jobs, and we have both got friends and family who have lost their jobs :-(
The leisure world is picking up now and we are reaping the benefits of the £ being so poor against the Euro, as everybody decides to holiday in the UK and get back to some good old family camping. If anybody is looking for any camping gear etc check out our website at www.discover.co.uk we have got some great deals on at the moment!!

Our next holiday is only about 6 weeks away, we've rented a beautiful little cottage in Askrigg, The Dales. It's where they filmed It shouldn't happen to a vet. There's lots of nice walks and lovely little pubs that serve traditional ales and home cooked food, mmmmmmmm!!

We're surrounded by boxes now as Thursday is our last night in Park Avenue, it will be sad to leave as we have been very happy here, but we're also looking forward to pastures new. You know it's time to go anyway when you find mouse droppings and half a packet of Jacobs Cream Crackers missing from the cupboard!!!

Will try and get back into this blogging...

Thank (credit) Crunchy it's Friday!!

Do you remember that advert "Thank Crunchie it's Friday?"

Oh Sh*t! We missed a month of blogging! In our world of blogging Feb 09 doesn’t exist. It was a pretty bad month anyway, more on later, so no point dwelling on it.
Well we’ve been back from our fantastic trip to Sri Lanka and I can honestly say it was a well earned rest. It was almost a year to the day that we had touched down from our 10 month jaunt around the world and it was good to be on the road again. After a gruelling flight of 600 hours we landed in Colombo airport with not a Tiger in sight. Now usually when you’re on a package holiday there’s loads of reps hanging around rounding people up on minibuses and carting them off to their allocated resort. Not here, we wandered around the ample-sized arrival lounge for a few minutes, exchanged some money (£10 to be precise) and generally looked lost. After a while I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a smartly-dressed chap standing near the exit, holding a little red card. We sauntered over and sure enough he was our Virgin Rep; when I say Virgin, I mean Virgin holidays, he wasn’t a virgin, well I don’t think he was, but he might have been. Anyway, it’s irrelevant!

But as they say “all good things come to an end” and the holiday feeling certainly doesn't last long these days does it? Especially when you come back to a country (or even a world) that is in the worst economical situation since god knows when. Still I can’t help wondering that it’s been on the cards for a while, what with this spend, spend, spend mentality that seems to be the done thing these days.

Anyway, there’s loads of stuff going on at the moment; at work, I won’t talk about it on hear as it’s depressing, and on the home front too! Yes, we’ve got to move again, although it’s no fault of our own. We’re hopefully moving to a gaff in Hessle, which if you ask anyone at work, is absolutely miles away from town, but for those of us who travel and indeed commute (more than a bus-ride anyway!) it’s about 17 minutes door-to-door. When I say door-to-door, I mean literally door-to-door. I can fall out of bed , straight on a train, stumble up St.Jamesons St, and into Comet House. It’s also a lot nearer to Michelle’s work so she’s happy about that.

I haven’t really got a great deal more to say. Things are still ticking along, nothing really interesting happening, everyone seems to be buttoning down the hatches and trying to power through this credit crunch. Hopefully I’ll have more to talk about next month when we’ve moved, and will be waiting for our next holiday.

Adios,

Flying High...

Well it's almost a year to the day that we've been back and it's time we were off again. We fly out to Sri Lanka on Saturday from Heathrow for 2 glorious weeks of no work, eating curry, sun bathing, no Facebook, drinking, no work, swimming, lazying around, and oh yeah no work!

See you in 2 weeks. Adios.

Bloody Hell that was quick.....

Well, it only seems like yesterday that we were wishing everyone Merry Christmas last year. I can definately say that it was warmer this time last year, but it probably is just as warm in Thailand this year too.

Just winding down now at work (as opposed to winding everyone up!) and hopefully only an hour to go before we're out of here.

Merry Christmas to everyone and no doubt see you in the New Year, where there will be more incessant ramblings from me and more sensible blogs from Michelle.

If you can't beat them, join them....

Well it's getting close to the end of the month again and one of us needs to write a blog. (EDITOR'S NOTE - Michelle did actually write a blog the other weekend, but I threw a tantrum and made her delete it. Not exactly freedom of speech and democracy is it. Anyway I went into a strop but we’re over it now. What was the blog about I hear you ask? Well it was about my obsessive compulsive disorder of buying gadgets and electronic equipment which as you know is completely unfounded and probably potentially libellous. Anyway we settled out of court so let’s move on!!)

This leads me neatly on to the topic of this blog..... yes, yes, yes ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AND GADGETS (hahahahaa). No not really. While we’re on the subject though, I just wanted to categorically say that I have bought my last gadget (of this year anyway) so you can all rest easy at night. I finished off my collection with a lovely black Onkyo HTX22HD 2.1 Digital Surround System. I decided that rather than spending about £800 on a fully operational 5.1 Surround system I’d go for the more compact one. It has all these features; 2 HDMI inputs, 1 output (with support for up to 1080p, Deep Color, x.v.Color, Lip Sync, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, SACD, and multichannel PCM) but I don’t know what any of this means; Stewart does and he said it’s cracking. Anyway the main thing is that now films sound really good, we don’t need to watch them with the subtitles on anymore, there’s no wires trailing all through the house which would have been the case with a 5.1 system AND most importantly X Factor in HD will now be accompanied by cinema quality sound! (Is that really a bonus?)

Oh by the way, we also ordered a wardrobe and a dresser a few weeks ago, too. It’s pine, has two sections, one triple and a single, hand-made in Beverley, sports 4 HDMI inputs, has a built-in upscaling DVD player, has Audyssey Dynamic EQ for loudness correction and you can hang your coats in it. Obviously not all of the “features” are present, but I’ll let you decide which ones I’ve added.

Well it’s about 7 weeks to our holiday to Sri Lanka and it can’t come soon enough! It seems ages since we went anywhere and it will be a well earned rest. I’m not sure 2 weeks will be long enough though really; last time we went away abroad we had 10 months to do what we wanted. I’m really looking forward to the food too. Obviously being so close to India, curry features heavily on the menu, in fact it will probably feature in every one of my 4 meals a day. Yes, that’s right, I eat 4 meals a day, so what? Interestingly enough, Michelle has now ordered us both a Nintendo Gameboy from eBay. I think Michelle has just got sick and tired of watching me play LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 and thought if you can’t beat them join them.

Anyway, just a short one from me today, I’ll try and think of something interesting to say next time, and I promise I won’t mention technology once!

Adios

I haven't slept with your Grand-daughter...

Well for no other reason than making sure we have a blog dated in October I thought I’d waffle on for a bit. Again, most of you probably won’t like this one, as no doubt at some point I’ll be talking about my new iMac, but heyho.

So, Brand and Ross, what’s all that about? I’m pretty sure the media (or especially the Beeb) hasn’t got itself in this much of a frenzy since Princess Diana was viciously killed by MI5 on the orders of Prince Phillip.... sorry killed in a car that was driven by a p*ssed up Frenchman, who had been paid by Prince Phillip to make it look like an accident! Anyway, you get the picture. Now personally I can’t understand what all the fuss is about. Anyone who hasn’t been in a coma for the last 5 years will know that Russell Brand has a certain “brand” of humour and to be honest if you don’t like it, don’t listen to his radio show. Most of the complaints have come from people who have subsequently read/heard about the radio show and weren’t even listening to it at the time. What’s the point of complaining about it, if you didn’t actually hear it at the time and therefore were not offended at the time. What a farce! Andrew Sachs (it’s ok , he’s from Barcelona!) didn’t seem that phased by it when he was interviewed on TV, again by the BBC, and he said he wasn’t after revenge. So why does the British, or more accurately the English public (I can’t see the Irish, Scots being interested, and no one cares what the Welsh think anyway) jump on the bandwagon and lose the plot. What a joke. I don’t particularly like Jonathon Woss, that’s not a spelling mistake, that’s how he says it, and only watch his show because it’s on BBC HD (cracking picture). He constantly interrupts his guests to make some witty remark and to be honest; most of his guests seem to get annoyed with him for doing so. Excluding the likes of Ricky Gervais, Noel Gallagher and I think even Russell Brand has been on the show, who have a bit more about them and give as good they get. Even “The Ramsey” , whose restaurant we dine in quite often LOL, got annoyed with him and made some joke about Woss having a small c*ck. At least it shut him up, Woss I mean not Wamsey, sorry Ramsey, even I’m doing it now!

It will be funny if Woss loses his £6m a year job at the Beeb, but to be honest I don’t think he gives a sh*t. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, especially in entertainment, and all of the involved parties, even the Satanic Slut (apparently Georgina Baillie, Manuel’s granddaughter is part of a dance-troup called Satanic Sluts. Allegedly Pauline Fowler and that other minger from Eastenders are part of it too) will move on to different if not better things. Brand has been here before anyway; he lost his job at MTV, for turning up to work dressed as Osama Bin Laden the day after September 11th attacks in New York. (P.s. That would be September 12th then!!)

Anyway back to the world of technology and gadgets! Since I/We last blogged we’ve now got FreeSat and a new iMac. Firstly, lets talk about FreeSat. Well, it’s basically Freeview but via satellite and you get a couple of HD channels thrown in for good measure. BBC Hd, which shows mostly repeated programmes from 7pm onwards, is cracking! Unfortunately we didn’t have it in time for the Olympics or Wimbledon, but we will have for next year, or 2012 for the Olympics. (Maybe Jonathon Woss can present the Paralympics; I'm pretty sure he couldn't say anything controversial or offend anyone there eh?) ITV HD is not a permanent channel, if the programme is available you have to select the red button. They did have the England game on the other week, which again looked stunning. I'm just waiting for Coronation Street to come on in HD. Can you imagine Deidre Barlow in full HD, warts and all??!? Not a pretty sight I hear you say!

Well on to the new iMac. My old one had been playing up for a while, and kept shutting itself down as if there had been a power cut. So, I read up on t'internet and found out that it was most likely the power supply that was causing this. So, I ordered a refurbed power supply and fitted it, and bob's your uncle, it worked a treat...... well for about a week anyway. It completely died after that and I can't even get the bugger to start now. Now I wasn't going to get a one for a while as I can always use Michelle's laptop (I'm writing this on it now!!), but after a few days, (and because we got our Christmas discount vouchers from work; sales are bad , we are in a credit crunch after all!) I bought one anyway. I went for the same model as Geoff (Michelle's Dad for new readers) and to be honest I'm well chuffed with it. It runs like a dream and although the glossy screen on it isn't to everyone's liking I actually prefer it to the old one. I've even installed windows XP on it, just cos I can, but I think that will be going this weekend.

Anyway that's about it from me, I had a sh*t day at work today, but that's all I'm saying as I've just read that some people from Virgin have been sacked for slagging off their company on Facebook!

Adios,

p.s. I love Comet, they are the best company in the world! Honest!

Tell me about the honey mummy!!

I didn't think I was going to be able to remember my login details for the blog as it's been so long since I last blogged!! I just never seem to find the time now we're back at work, and then what spare time I do get to go on the internet I spend on Facebook and eBay!!

So we've been home nearly 8 months now, we were in NZ this time last year!! Work and home life are going great and Matt has really settled into his life Ooop Norf!. He is a an official Hull City fan now and hasn't missed a home game yet. Our life is much less hectic than when we were living and working in the south, but we do miss our pals down there. We have been down to see Gary and Eve (and baby Ella) a few times and they have been up to see us too. Matt also see's quite a bit of Gary at work as he still has to go down to Ricky every now and again (usually when he fancies a few beers and a curry!!)

We booked ourselves a holiday for the New Year to Sri Lanka, we haven't had a proper holiday since we came home. We did have a good week in the holiday cottage in June, but you can't beat a bit of R&R on a nice beach with an all inclusive food and drinks package!! We fly in the middle of January, which is the same time of year that we visited the Maldives. It is a really good time of year to go, as Christmas is usually stressful and expensive and it is really cold and dark nights. Can't wait!

We had another team night out on Tuesday as one of the girls was leaving Discover to go back to Uni. We went out to The Fox in South Cave. It was only supposed to be a quiet night but as usual I had far too much to drink and don't really remember talking to anybody. As far as I know though I didn't manage to upset anybody, which is always a bonus!

I'm really enjoying my new job, it did take a few months for me to settle in, as it does anybody I suppose. I can't remember if I blogged about the big fat hairy bird that I used to work with?, she was a bit like the honey monster from the sugar puffs advert, just as hairy too. Anyway I didn't really like her, in fact nobody did. She just spoilt the whole ambience of the place, just by being there. Every day I would go to work and think 'If only she didnt work here, what a great job and place it would be' The days turned into weeks and months and as they did it became more and more apparent what a lazy big fat hairy bird she was too. This just made me and everyone else in the office dislike her even more!! So you can imagine my delight when my boss came in and told me she was/had left!! We were victorious in our office, the lights were flashing, party popers going off, it was just like the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. We still celebrate most days, and have a leaving party for her every other week, only we don't invite her!!!

Anyway I haven't got a real lot to blog about, not that you'd be interested in anyway.

Enjoy the autumn sunshine that we've been blessed with this last few days!!