Chrimble Eve...

Well, it is Christmas Eve...and we are off to my parents in a short while, but I thought I'd update my blog first...before I drink to much mulled wine and have holes in my memory...

So what have I been up to? School was very busy! We took year 3 to see 'The Snow Queen' at the Watermill Theatre (http://www.watermill.org.uk/) and what a great show it was. The kids loved it, Anna and I want to go and see it again...it is what Theatre as all about...GO SEE IT!

Last Saturday the boys went Chrimbo shopping, as did the girls...which was more successful than last time when Lou and I spent the aftrenoon eating pasta and drinking red wine...although it depends how you define successful! We then met up in Lock Stock for a drink before heading to the Nawab for a curry. The highlight of my evening was seeing Putin as legoman (not that I suggested it!) but it did make me chuckle!! A lot!!

Friday night it was out for Chrismas drinks. Sadly Putin and Noo couldn't make it as Noo was poorly (Get well soon Noo!) We went in a variety of pubs, drank a range of beverages and my stomach hurt from laughing too much! In the Late Lounge, Lou met a couple of christmas ladies in the loos and asked them to join us! Poor Carl got lumbered with Random Man (who was with Chrimbo ladies) who proceeded to talk Carl's ear off about cars and speaker systems etc...we left in the end for Carl's sanity more than anything else! One word here...chav....says it all!

So, that is prechristmas for you...feeling a little crap due to hangovers yesterday...but looking forward to lovely Chrimbo dinner with Mo and dad tomorrow...Mmmmmm

Joshua's 1st birthday party

Time goes so quickly! I can't believe my nephew is 1 tomorrow!
Today was his 1st birthday party for the family (tomorrow he has one with his friends!) Joshua kept everyone entertained and seemed to enjoy himself. He enjoyed the bricks mum and dad got him (as did we all!) and playing with any mobile phone he could lay his hands on! I have to say, his reflexes are super-quick - he grabbed his birthday cake before anyone could have stopped him! We had party food (you cannot have a party without cheese and pineapple sticks and jelly and ice-cream!) which was very yummy. So, Happy 1st Birthday Joshua! (Oh and doesn't my brother look fetching in this 1st birthday hat which looks like a dunce hat to me!)

Which film do you think he's from?

Carl had his work do last night in Oxford. I was chauffer taking him there and returning to pick him up. (Aren't I nice...and I was exhaused too!) It was a fancy dress affair and these theme was Hollywood. Carl was this outfit (very nice!!), but what film was he from? Answers on a postcard....or in the comments!

The 'hole' weekend.

So, my parents came up for the weekend. Intead of them seeing the house all nice (and warm) they get to see the hole in the kitchen (which got bigger after we removed the rotton ceiling)...well they did see the rest of the house but that became the focal point!

Friday night we just chilled out with a glass of wine and a DVD (Constantine - not quite sure what they made of that!) Saturday was almost a right off. Carl was desperately tring to sort out the stupid leaky valve below the boiler and not having much luck. Dad was foreman (and a big help - thanks dad!! xx) and suggested they sort it out while Mo and I went Chrimbo shopping in Newbury (which was the original plan!) So we did. Mo and I had fun exploring the shops...and she managed to do ALL her Christmas shopping...I managed 3 gifts! Oh well! In the evening we had roast chicken and I cooked roast butternut squash (they'd not had it before) and pototo and sweetpotato mash (they'd not had that either!), we watched Strictly Come Dancing and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!

Sunday we went to the Toby Carvery (more yummy food) before taking Mum and Dad on a quick walk along part of the canal - sadly it was muddy and dad's wheelchair didn't like it! I then drove them home, had a cuppa and headed back...by the time I got back to Reading my arms felt like the were made of lead! I blame the traffic on the M25 - for everything!!!

Money Pit?

Look what I came home to yesterday. How annoying! Just what we needed...so no heating AGAIN! What a pile of pants!

The words 'money pit' were banded about and I am just waiting for the moment I fall through the ceiling and get trapped Tom Hanks style.

You're leaving, On a jet plane...

So, Jeannie and Mark are off travelling the world. Alright for some huh!
And so there was a gathering to wish them fair well, drink too much alcohol and hopefully not get hungover. They had much alcohol that needed consuming as it wasn't work packing it...but we all seemed to bring more!! They didn't stand a chance! We ended up going home with more than we brought with us - desperate was there need to rid their house of booze! A few of us decided to drink around the world...people had brought bottles from various countries and we decided to go around the world a drink at a time...starting with ... Cornwall!! Yes Cornwall - the place where people like shiny things, or so I've been told... We had a glass of Red Current Wine from Cornwall to start us off...Other drinks included wines from Chili and Argentina, Rums from the Dominican Republic and Australia and various other things I cannot recall - not that I drank that much mind you!!
Mark and Jeannie had set up a quiz...and I was accused of cheating (other teams did it too) as I held the paper up to the light to look through the tip-ex! I call it using my initiative!! Some of us did play the 'Spot the Intro' game later in the evening...which did seem to turn into the longest game in the world!
Myt favourite comment of the evening was early on and made by Caro. We were talking about penguins/Planet Earth etc and she said "Well it is getting smaller down there" to which we all laughed...dirty minds we have - she was talking about the environment, not their 'bits!'
All in all, a good night was had by all...crawling into bed at about 3am (and getting up at 7.30am as I was boiling and couldn't sleep, even though I was tired! D'Oh)
So, J & M - I hope you have a truely fabulous trip, seeing and experiencing wonderful, exciting things. Keep safe, keep blogging and I expect the odd postcard or two!! :o) Love you both! Oh and I will try not to kill the beanstalk, er I mean plant!

The name's Bond, James Bond...

Well...that's a lie for a start! Lou, Ross, Carl and I went to see the new Bond film on Saturday in Reading. It was sooooo good! Lots of action and a few comedy moments too...and the new Bond is easy on the eye...not my type but I won't complain! I won't say much, so as not to give away anything if you haven't seen it, but the base jumping (not sure if that is the correct terminology!) at the beginning was very cool! What made me laugh was when the film finished...people started clapping. Carl and I looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces. Do these people think they could be heard?!? I have never been to the cinema and had people clap before. The theatre, most certainly, but not at the pictures! Bizarre! I am sure they were just showing their appreciation for a fine film... A drink in the Purple Turtle (what a great name for a pub...and such groovy music too) and food at Nandos with such great company...who could ask for more!

Carl, Lou and I were swimming again bright and early on Sunday morning. 14 lengths this week. Surely these early Sundays wont last!?!? Lou and I went to salsa again Monday night. I decided to continue dancing as a man...I like a challenge and as they don't have an advanced class at least I am paying to learn something new...and it will hopefully help my dancing as a lady too. It was fun...although Lou and I decided that maybe a bottle of cider each and dancing wasn't the best way forward...turns aren't as easy when you have had a drink!

We've been in our new house for just over a month. It is weird really as it feels longer and I can't imagine the old place any more...not supprisingly really as we hadn't leaved there properly since July!

Fireworks, New Forest and stuff

We went to see the fireworks at the Newbury Racecourse on Saturday Evening. I really enjoyed myself - very pretty fireworks...not too many bangers...all set to film music. My fave bit was to the Lost In Space theme - you couldn't help but wobble about like a weeble! We then went to the pub for some refreshment, but it ended up getting really smokey and I had a sneezing fit and thought I was getting ill! Ban smoking NOW I reckon!

On Sunday morning, Carl, Lou and I were in a swimming pool at 9am! We were very pleased with ourselves!! I managed 12 lengths...not bad after a 3 1/2 month break! Carl and I then went down to Ringwood to see Jeannie and Mark. We had a lovely walk in the New Forest (around somewhere called Fritham), where we saw many ponies (hurray!) and lots of PIGS!! The pigs were fabulous. They were in a field with a horse acting as a sheepdog does with sheep - so a pighorse then! Then the little piggies saw big mumma pig outside the field and so escaped one by one under the fence! (see elongated, squishy, stretchy piggy photo!) The they snorted as they followed mumma piggy around - very cute! We did see them when we were heading back to the car, a couple of hours later...still following mum, and we think one had a boot in it's mouth! We then went out for a pub dinner. Sadly, the carvery was nowhere to be seen, but we had yummy food from a normal menu instead...on the 2nd pub we tried!

Apart from that, we've been trying to organise the house, I've had the joys of parents evening, Carl was away on a course and Lou and I failed miserably to go to yoga (well, we went, we just didn't go in! They'd started, they were all sitting in a circle, in a brightly lit room, with towels on their heads. We thought it would be rude to disturb them, and a cup of tea would be a far better idea!) Lou and I did go to salsa last night though. The teacher for my class was very late, so I decided to be a man in beginners and had a much better time!

Other news is that Paul and Sarah are moving on Friday! Hurrah!! And Lou and Ross got the keys to their new place!! I think I'll need a new address book, what with almost everyone I know moving house!!

Our Quirky House

House Quirks 1

All was well in our new house to begin with...until the weather suddenly turned cold and we realised the heating wasn't working as it should. So the house turned into a fridge over night. You know it's not good when you lie in bed and can see your breath! It took a good couple of days to heat up the house (hense wearing hats indoors to keep warm!) and even now the timers (there are 3!) don't actually do anything - so we have to manually put the heating on. Not ideal, but it is better than freezing to death!

House Quirks 2

Poor Carl He had great fun with the electics in this place! Firstly there was the lights in the hall/stairs. You would expect that with the downstairs double light switch the switch closest to downstairs turns on the downsytairs light and the one closest to the stairs the upstairs light...but NO! This annoyed me, so Carl set to work to fix the problem...a quick job he thought...wrong! The place is wired up like a nightmare! It took several dozen attempts (and a couple of small electric shocks) to sort the switches out! Also in the lounge the double switch near the front door turned on the porch light, but not the lounge light (meaning you'd have to walk through the room in the dark to switch the lights on.) This was even worse than the stairs switch problem and took hours and more shocks to fix. Then there are the upteen switches that don't work or seem to do anything...and that is not including the range of phone sockets ad ariel sockets littered about the place! (3 ariel sockets being in the small bedroom!!)

House Quirks 3
Why do we have 3 fuse boxes? And why are they in the garage, so high up you can't reach them without a step ladder! Great during a power cut, when you've blown a fuse (as we did during house quirks 2!) Also the gas meter is practically on the garage roof...nice and easy to read then!

Home sweet home!

Well, we finally moved on 20th October! And quite traumatic it was too - too much stuff and too little time! Anyway, not to dwell on that (and the fact that our solicitors were complete pants - you know, stained, holey, smelly Y-fronts - as in useless) we are in and that feels gooood! We have carpet, a TV and a bed that doesn't squeak everytime you breathe...oh the luxury!!!

So, half term was spent trying to get the house in some kind of order. Carl did a good job putting loft panels in the loft so there was somewhere to store stuff. I got a brand new desk...and huge it is too!! It took 4 different people about 5 hours to build the complex contraption - if only they'd labelled the bits!
I spent all last Monday on the phone, sorting out final bills, new accounts, changing addresses etc. at a cost of £25 on my mobile! So happy was I when NTL came to connect our phone, TV and internet!

On Thursday last, I went home to visit my parents. We had fun picking up my desk and a table and 4 chairs (all flatpacked). Fitting these and 3 people in a Fiesta is a challenge - Dad was in the back seat - being 6'3" it was a squash, Mum was in the front with her nose practically pressed up on the windscreen and I was driving with my knees round my ears looking like Mr Magoo! I then went to salsa in the evening which was great! I have only been once in Newbury, so I thought I'd be way out of practice but I was ok! I did forget my decent shoes, which my knees are now cursing me for!

Saturday night was our housewarming and Carl's very belated 30th birthday party! (His birthday is in July!!) Jeannie and Mark came down on Friday night and it was great to have a catch-up with them. Mark's turtle tales had us in stitches...but those stories are never to be repeated...and will forever remain between us four, the bar and the 20p stuck to the floor which Mark tried to pick up!
Saturday itself was spent trying to clear rooms of boxes so people whould have somewhere to sleep that night, so by the time the party was happening, I was practically asleep on the sofa! Andy did teach Mark some Karate and Lou some self-defence moves. ("Grab me from behind but mind my back I've just been to Physio", "You're clammy" and "He's like my brother" were all wonderful Lou phrases of the evening!) I drank my birthday Scrumpy Cider, which was OK at first, but the more you drank, the ranker it got. Nice!

Yesterday Lou and I went to 'Body Harmony' while the guys went to the driving range. Body Harmoney is a mix of Pilates, Yoga and Tai Chi...and it very hard work...and I do ache a bit today I must confess. I liked the Tai Chi bits best, and some of the Yoga...I found the Pilates the hardest!

The other main event over the past month was Carl going to see Seether with Roisin. He was really looking forward to it. I say went to see Seether but he only heard them. The problem was he drank a wee bit too much so missed the main act as he was chucking up outside the venue instead. Best £12 he's ever spent!

It was back to school today. Boo! But it was nice having breakfast at home and only a 10 minute drive to work, so, mustn't grumble....much!