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!

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!"

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 ;-))

He-Man

I thought I'd better write a blog as neither of us have blogged in August and if we don't do it soon, that means we'll have missed a month in the archive (see right hand side).

Anyway, so I'll start the blog with a moan about fuel prices. Well it's not really a moan more of an excuse to put this funny cartoon on the blog, which one of the lads at work sent me (thanks Mark G). Fuel prices have gone up though haven't they? Still, I'm sick of everyone moaning about "the current climate" and "the credit crunch" so I'm not going to dwell.

So, what have we been up to then? Well, I've had quite a busy August to tell the truth; I've been backwards and forwards to Ricky a few times, up to Scotland (Ayr) for Al Green's stag do (my mate from Uni not the soul singer ; I couldn't make his stag do, I was double booked!), and then last weekend we went to Belfast for Al Green's wedding to the lovely Jennifer. Oh, we also watched the mighty Hull City beat Fulham in the first ever top-flight football game for Hull. They've got Wigan next week at home and I'm going to that too! Glory Hunter I hear you cry; yeah well I'm not bothered , I'll be dead one day, I may as well make the most of it.

That's about it really, we had a cracking weekend in Belfast, a place I'd like to revisit. It was really easy to get to; we flew from Robin Hood airport in Doncaster to George Best Airport in Belfast (no it wasn't full of pubs!). Al and Jenny put on a fantastic do, good food, a free bar - the Guiness was well and truly flowing, and even a covers band. They weren't as good as The Recovery at Owen's wedding; though I would say that being as though I was the rhythmn guitarist.

So, a fairly quiet September lined up; for those reading in Droitwich we are definately coming down this month, I promise.

Well, I'm off now, as Michelle has got the tea prepared and I've just had a bottle of beer placed down next to me.

Adios,

Carry on Camping

I can't believe it's Sunday night again already, these 2 day weekends need a review!!

We have had a bit of a nightmare weekend this week with cars but I can't be bothered to go into all the detail and tell you about it. Suffice to say, it's going to cost money :o(

I still haven't been paid yet as I actually started my job on pay day, so the only money I have had since we returned from our jollies is £200, courtesy of the tax payer. Roll on the 20th March!! We have managed to get saving, well I say saving, my parents have very kindly and generously donated 1k of their hard earned cash (and believe me it is hard earned as my mum is a nurse!!) to our mortgage fund, so we officially have 'savings' People keep asking us about the wedding, but the wedding is not as important at the moment as us buying our own house is. I could hardly expect Matt to carry me over the threshold of somebody elses house when we tie the knot could I? So once we have a house we will set a date for the big day, we hope to achieve both within the next 18 months, so Jo and Di you wont have to wait too long to buy your hats!

I'm loving my new job, I spend most days putting processes in place for our new call centre and trying to recruit some staff. I have managed to secure 2 up to now and have another to interview on Tuesday. The settling in period is well and truly over too and last week I was dealing with customer complaints. I'd forgotten just how much I love Customer Service and sorting problems out, my phone never stopped ringing last week and I've only been there 3 weeks! It's also great talking to people who want help and advice on their motor homes and caravans and finding out where people are going on their travels, it's not like a job. I'll tell you what I can give Judith Chalmers a run for her money! I did get a bit of unexpected news last week though, that I wasn't really expecting, and that is a trip to Barcelona!! Not sure if I mentioned this on my last blog... anyway we have a supplier of awnings (google it for all you non campers!!) in Barcelona and we are going out to their factory sometime soon. We also have a supplier who is based in Bradford, I think I'll opt out of that one, for obvious reasons!!

Matt has finally stopped spending money and buying gadgets, I think he's getting it out of his system. He did buy me a iPod Nano for getting a job which came as a complete surprise. I hadn't even worked out how to use my new phone or boot my laptop up before I had another gadget to contend with. I've taken all his bank cards away from him now, it's for his own good!

Some of our friends are coming up to Hull for Good Friday, it really will be GOOD Friday for them as they're from Droitwich and nothing ever really happens there. I think somebody from Droitwich once applied for a passport, and then somebody from Droitwich passed their driving test and even contemplated buying a car, they have also just got an Aldi supermarket there so it is an up and coming town, I think most of the houses there have electricity now too, although there are still a few locals who are struggling to adapt.
We will be showing our mates the cultural delights of The Avenues, and the many bars and restaurants that we frequent. I think it's safe to say we are going to have a 'cracking' Easter weekend!!

The Sunday Post

I didn't know whether to carry the blog on or not when we got home, and to be honest I'm still not sure that I can write anything interesting enough for anybody to want to read, but I'll give it a go..

We've been home 4 days now and I'm still glad to be home (so is Matt) I've being staying with my mum and dad and on Thursday Matt went back to Droitwich to see his family, which is where he is now (or at least that's where he's supposed to be!!) I have spent the last couple of days finding all my clothes and shoes (a task in itself) updating my C.V, drinking gallons of tea and watching trashy t.v, as well as spending time with Stew in his lovely new HOOSE, oh yeah and getting the much talked about new hair doooo!!

Travelling certainly opens your eyes to a whole new perspective in life, and I can safely say I feel a totally different person for the experience. Life back at home is an absolute walk in the park to the life we have lived for the last 9 months. Everything at home is familiar to us, even the faces of people driving up the M1 on the way home from Heathrow looked familiar. I know what bus to catch (my dad will be thinking well why do you keep asking me for a lift and to borrow the car then!!) I know the route the bus will take, I know where all the shops are, I know where to buy what I want. I can talk to anybody (I just don't want to) I don't have to convert the price of everything into Sterling. I don't have to find somewhere to do our washing, I can use the phone and know it isn't going to cost me 50p a minute, I know where to get good fish and chips. Are you getting the picture?

Life at home is soooooo easy and at the moment relatively stress free. Every day that you are away when you're travelling you are constantly thinking and planning, where you will travel to next, how will you get there, how much will it cost, how long will it take, where will we stay, how long shall we stay for. At home your life is almost a matter of habit and we can manage most days without even having to actually think about what we're doing. Get up, have a shower, go to work, come home, have dinner watch T.V and go to bed. I'm not criticising that kind of life, quite the opposite, I now appreciate the most simple of pleasures.

Yesterday I walked to Stew's house which is about 2.5 miles away from my parents house, I loved it. I could have taken one of a hundred ways to get there, because I know them all, I knew where I was going and roughly how long it would take me to get there. You probably think all this sounds really crazy, it may make more sense to other people that have travelled, surely it can't just be me who feels this way after 9 months on the road?!?!

I think back to all the buses, trains and planes that we have travelled on since we have been away, and all the people who have got us to our next destination, i.e the bus driver, the pilot, the taxi driver. I'm home now back in my comfort zone and all those people are still out there, driving the taxi's, driving the buses over the Andes in shit weather on hazardous road, none of the experience is lost on me. It is like being dragged out of 'reality' and thrown into a surreal existence for 9 months and then all of a sudden being plunged back into the 'real world'

We are already talking about our next trip, which won't be for another 6 years as we have a few 'grown up' things we have to tend to first, like me getting a job, us buying a house and getting married. It all takes time and money.

On Tuesday I am back on the road again and getting the National Express to Birmingham to meet Matt, we are going to hopefully get me an engagement ring (oooooh how exciting) and I will see Matt's family and friends, so really looking forward to that. We are then going 'darn Sarf' to see Gary and Eve and the infamous bump, and hopefully catch up with a few work colleagues (only the elite) before we head back 'Ooop North' so start 'Life in a Northern Town'

I can honestly say that 2007 was the best year of my life in so many ways, our travels, Gary and Eve's pregnancy, our engagement, Stew and Kirsty's new house, and so much quality time together. We have enjoyed so many new experiences together and seen so many amazing places, it is difficult to put it all into words.

It was sad when Matt left on Thursday to go and see his family, I felt like I'd lost a limb after spending so much time together, he has being an absolute rock while we have been away. I can't wait to see him again on Tuesday. Matt Looby you truly are the best friend this girl could ask for and I can't wait to be your wife :o)

Well you must have known it was coming...

Well lets get straight to the point, I've just proposed to Michelle! Yes, that's right we're going to get married, not sure where, when or how yet but I'm sure most of you who are reading this will be invited to the special day. That's it really, nothing else to say, but again have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Adios until 2008!