Back again
Well its been a long time but back at last. Robin Hood is back - which means so is Guy!!!!!
and Primeval too. Cant decide who is best at the mo, Richard Armitage or Jason Statham - ok I’ll have both!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Forgot
How could I forget to mention that Kaz, Gary & Ben came to stop over before we went off on our little cruise. Ben and Kieran amaze me at how well they get on and how it never seems they have been apart. I don’t think they have ever argued in their whole lives. Unlike me & Karen! But now we’re grown ups it doesn’t matter. Its great to have someone who knows so much of your history and to whom you never have to explain yourself.
A sea shanty
Had a wonderful few days on the Pride of Bilbao - yes a ferry! But we took a mini cruise from Portsmouth to Bilbao, got off for a couple of hours & came back. I love it. Have been a couple of times before way back in the day and I still enjoyed it. Lots of entertainment, which was surprisingly good. Included lots of musical shows, and a lovely piano singer in the “POSH” bar. Lots of bars of differing styles & food. A small plunge pool and gym helped make up for the excesses. And there were loads of places to sit & look at the sea or read a book (3 in 4 days!). Deliberately booked an inside cabin with no daylight to ensure lots of unhindered sleep. Even went to the cinema. Unfortunately we were so busy we didn’t have much time to spend on deck looking for whales & dolphins, but apart from that it was great. Even Kieran enjoyed wandering around, the video games room and playing cards. It was lovely.
On our return we took a detour to Bournemouth (once we got the car started as we had a dead battery) and stayed overnight with Lou & Darren (eldest step-daughter). That was really lovely. Haven’t seen them since their wedding nearly two years ago but its as if no time has past. Lou is a primary school teacher, and knowing her I’d bet anything that she’s good at it. I’m very proud at how wonderful she has turned out - she knows that I expected her future to be somewhat different when I knew her as a child. She has grown beautifully.
Hope I get to see Katie and Holly some time soon too.
All back to normal now though but a rest is always important. Will definitely do another mini cruise sometime.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
So sad
How sad am I? I have been using googlemaps (other mapping sites are available!) to look at all the houses and gardens of my contacts, including my own. Compared with multimap the pics seem moe up to date, certainly of my house, its only last year and goes down quite low. The aircraft must have buzzed the chimney!
All is well this end. Very busy and seem more so whenever the sun comes out because instead of sitting and chilling it spurs me into action, especially in the garden. Been managing to read a fair bit too though, which is lovely. That and walking are my favourite two things to do.
Saw Iron Man at the cinema for Kieran’s birthday - now a teenager!!!!! and it was pretty good. Not as good as the reviews but definitely worth a look see. Cant wait for The Mummy 3 and X-Files movies later in the summer. And of course Indiana Jones in only a couple of weeks - wonderful.
In the meantime Dr Who is keeping me going and I have created this for any fans of DT like me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/trailermaker/view/7fha8a
Enjoy
X
Friday, April 18, 2008
Time goes so fast
I doesn’t feel like a long time since my last post, but it is. I’ve been so busy especially at home that time has flown. In particular I finished the tiling in the bathroom and other finishing off type jobs that were needed to make everything look good. Kieran has also been getting back to normal with his ankle and I’m now back in taxi mode, taking him from one sports session to another. I’ve also found time to do some more reading.
We went to the local Exotic Pet Refuge open day. They are allowed to open 6 times a year to fund raise and we try to go once a year. This time we took Kieran’s friend and they had a great time - not sure who should have been in the enclosures, the boys or the animals! Unfortunately places like the refuge are needed because people take on exotic pets that they then cant handle or afford. People just dont think. I hope they dont just jump ship at the first sign of a difficulty. http://www.exoticpetrefuge.org.uk/
I have also spent some of my personal time working on a website for a work project, but its one with limited resources so I am going to look after the website myself. The design is basic and not exciting but the content will develop as the young people involved in the project will develop it over time. Have a look - www.gladstonecommunityspacechallenge.co.uk
Monday, March 31, 2008
Nearly there
Well I worked hard all weekend to finish the tiling and I’m nearly there. Need to complete the grouting, but the adhesive needs time to dry thoroughly first, and I need to refit the loo, but there’s a “donut” washer I need to get first as the original is in a bit of a state. Then it’s done. It was hard work and took two days to cut and fit all the edging tiles, as the skirting was tiled aswell. It was messy - I was covered in dust from the saw - but it looks really professional - I think. I doubt people will notice as the tiles are very similar to the ones that were there before, except without the cracks and the bodged fitting. Very proud of myself.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Getting there
Last weekend Kieran and I started to take up all the ceramic tiles in my ensuite. The previous owners had put them down and some parts had been bodged and a couple of tiles had small cracks, plus the grout was on its last legs. Initially I planned to cover them over with cork tiles, but the instructions said dont lay them on top of ceramic tiles! So I spent ages trying to work it all out and convince my self I could do it. My biggest concern was cutting the tiles as if we did it properly there would be a lot of cutting all the way round the edge. Wickes had a sale and I bought an electric tile cutting table saw.
So Kieran and I (mainly Kieran as it made him feel manly) worked for two days to get all the old tiles up. A few came up really easily because they had been laid so badly, but some had to be chipped away bit by bit. We then managed to lay all the tiles that didn’t need cutting and left the adhesive to dry. Kieran is with his dad this weekend so I have spent the morning cutting tiles. Still got loads to do but the saw works brilliantly, no broken tiles. Only trouble is the blade rotates through a water tray, and sprays water everywhere. I dont have a full face mask nor waterproof overalls so have got rather wet. But so far so good. Am hoping to get them all cut today if I can, and hopefully laid. Only trouble is although I do lots of DIY and like to push myself with it, something always goes wrong, or doesn’t quite work. Apart from getting wet all is going well, so am keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.
Will be nice to have it all done.
So Kieran and I (mainly Kieran as it made him feel manly) worked for two days to get all the old tiles up. A few came up really easily because they had been laid so badly, but some had to be chipped away bit by bit. We then managed to lay all the tiles that didn’t need cutting and left the adhesive to dry. Kieran is with his dad this weekend so I have spent the morning cutting tiles. Still got loads to do but the saw works brilliantly, no broken tiles. Only trouble is the blade rotates through a water tray, and sprays water everywhere. I dont have a full face mask nor waterproof overalls so have got rather wet. But so far so good. Am hoping to get them all cut today if I can, and hopefully laid. Only trouble is although I do lots of DIY and like to push myself with it, something always goes wrong, or doesn’t quite work. Apart from getting wet all is going well, so am keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.
Will be nice to have it all done.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Was that Easter?
What an odd Easter! Not only was it so early that no one was prepared (the TV schedules for example were boring and didn’t reflect the fact that it was a big holiday) but the weather made it feel all very odd. We had snow blizzards on the Saturday and by Sunday morning 4-5 inches of soft white snow. The winds were bitter and fierce making walks unpleasant most of the time. And it all went so quickly.
Kieran’s school holiday started on the Thursday before Easter and he doesn’t go back until 8 Spril, but Ben, in Kent, doesn’t start his end of term holiday until this Friday so Easter was just a long weekend.
As much as I hate snow in the normal course of events (it usually snows on or around my birthday) because it’s wet and slushy and cold and slippery and generally unpleasant, I did find it very nice for just a couple of hours on Sunday morning. Being Easter Sunday it was lovely to be up early out walking with Pebbles in fresh crisp snow, with no one else about, wrapped up warm and knowing the kettle was on when I got back. It was quiet at that time anyway but the snow blanket muffled all the sounds and made our area seem so different from usual. Pebbles loved it! Kieran and his friend Derek who had stayed over the night before both spent two hours in the snow making a snowman, snowball fighting and making angel patterns with their arms on the trampoline whilst laying on their backs in the snow. Of course they got wet and cold but hot chocolate and the fire soon sorted that. Then everything strated to melt, the patio got slushy and icey, the wind picked up and my moment of snow love came to a very quick end. But it lasted far longer than ever before.
The snow didn’t do the frog spawn we spotted in Basil Green pond any good. I hope the late cold snap doesn’t affect the frog population and they are able to do some late spawning to catch up.
Larkrise to Candleford came back to finish the series, and very good it was too. Usually Dr Who starts at Easter but this year they have only just started the advertising, so have that delicious delight to look forward to.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Dancing
Didn’t watch Dancing on Ice final, went to watch 10,000 yreas BC instead - partly because Gareth was voted off last week so I had no incentive to watch. I think I heard that Suzanne won, which is better than smug Chris - judges said he didn’t know how good he was, rubbish of course he did! The movie was better than I thought & better than missing GG on DOI.
What happened to Larkrise to Candleford? I didn’t think it had finished and was replaced by the Passion which could have been shown at Easter!
If anyone reads these mutterings please leave a comment so I know I’m not alone in cyberspace. Ta
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Fantastic News
Had a busy weekend with some exciting stuff to report but will do that later in the week. But I mus report that my friend Debs has had her baby. She must have been very busy and tired over the last few days as I had to track the info down from various sites but she had a boy called Luke Kian Matthew weighing 6lb 11oz in the early hours of Thursday.
Congratulations to Debs & Matt, it sounds like mum and baby are doing well.
