Saturday 23 May 2009

Bank holiday weekend

We've arrived at the long weekend, and amazingly the weather seems to be OK. Mind you, it's clouded over and got a bit cooler in the last couple of hours. Typical really, as I'd been down to Asda earlier on and stocked up with BBQ supplies. Still, we can always have a BBQ tea, even if we end up cooking and/or eating it indoors!

Lots to report since my last blog, but hardly surprising as it was four weeks ago. Most notably we now own two houses rather than one, having completed on the Haig purchase at the start of the month. Since then the house clearance has been completed (thanks to Uncle Martin) and all of the wallpaper has been stripped off the walls, mostly by Nicky and her Mum and Dad. I've been fairly useless in amongst all of this activity, partly due to the inconvenience of having to go to work, but also due to the fact that I got a little over zealous with the electric hedge trimmers a couple of weeks ago, and cut one of my fingers rather badly - enough to warrant a trip to A&E. I've now been officially banned from picking them up again.

As well as all of our own activity on Haig, we've had a steady stream of building and window companies along to give us quotes. We've chosen a window company and paid them their deposit, and hopefully windows and doors will all be replaced within the next fortnight. Mike from YDIY will be doing the building work for us, as well as arranging the electrical and plumbing work, and we're currently waiting on a kitchen design from B&Q. It's all happening!

Holiday news has also been exciting in the last week or so. Firstly, John has booked for us all to go on a 4-night mini cruise towards the end of the summer holidays. We'll be going from Southampton to Cork and back, and we'll be on Independence of the Seas, which is one of Royal Caribbean's largest boats (at least until Oasis is launched at the end of the year). We're thoroughly looking forward to that already - 14 weeks today. I think that we'll have a fairly busy time trying to enjoy all that the ship has to offer in just four days.

Disney holiday news is also good stuff. We phoned DVC member services this week and have been able to change our booking over to the Beach Club Villas, which means that we'll be staying just a short walk away from Epcot. Also, we've sorted out our flights today, and decided to be a bit extravagant and book for premium economy, after we enjoyed our taster on our outbound flight last time. Even managed to save a bit of money off the normal premium fare by using some of our flying club points, so at least we've finally managed to get some value out of them.

As you can see from the top of this page, I have also joined Twitter. No particular reason other than people keep talking about it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've been able to link this site to Twitter, so that it will be possible to see my latest Tweeting (!) from here!