Year end

The end of the year has arrived.

There were two things that I hoped to be able to achieve in 2011 that I thought I'd share: one was to read 50 books this year (in the hope that the number of unread books on my shelves might start to decrease rather than increase), and the other was to try to blog something every day.

On the first of these, I have managed to read exactly 50 - a couple of long flights over the last couple of weeks certainly helped with getting through the last few. For the evidence, you can check out miff73's books on goodreads.com.

On the second, there were definitely a few days where I didn't blog for one reason or another, but I always tried to catch up, and as a result this is my 365th blog of the year, so I am going to award myself half a point for that one.

Obviously, I'm not going to share 2012's challenges now - that way you won't know whether I am being lenient on myself or not when it comes to the end of next year.

For 2011, I will finish off with one photo from each month of the year:

Cloud

UK time is re-establishing itself, although I can't claim to have been up particularly early this morning.

Owen came round to play with Jake today, and this afternoon we took them to see the latest Mission Impossible film. It didn't seem to matter that we hadn't seen any of the previous ones, and it was actually rather good. Would have made a good Bond film! Interestingly, it was directed by Brad Bird (his first live action film), and so sure enough, A113 got a mention.

This evening I've been learning about the Cloud, or rather the iCloud to be more precise. As we are now pretty much falling over Apple devices in this house, it seems worth learning more about, so that we can share music, photos, documents and so on more seamlessly with all of them. It looks like I will need to do some upgrading of operating systems (most importantly to get the Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion) which costs about £20, but hopefully will be worth it. Even without having the main Mac tuned in to iCloud yet we've managed to share photos between the phones using the Photo Stream, and I guess they should be on the Macbook as well, but I haven't tried that yet - use of the Macbook is a little restricted until my US to UK adaptor arrives from Amazon!

Back home

Back in cold and wet blighty. Tried and failed to stay awake all day. Will try harder tomorrow.

Gate post 2

And so, the end is near.
Blogging from gate 83 at MCO as we wait to board our flight home.
Our final day has been fairly uneventful - we were up, breakfasted and out of our lovely villa 6422 by around half past nine and made the short drive to Downtown so that we could check in for our flight and get rid of our big bags (which were a bit heavier than when we arrived). Then we went over to the marketplace end of Downtown for some last minute shopping - pins, choc squares, aerial toppers - before waving goodbye to Disney for a little while.
Next stop the Premium Outlets - main reason for visit so that Jake could get his NY hat JC initialled like the DG one, but Nicky also picked up a bargain bag from Tommy Hilfiger.
Final stop Dennys and then here we are at the airport.
Sent from my iPad

Day 11 - Studios

Just a short blog tonight, as everything is packed and I'm typing on the phone.

Up and out to the Studios this morning with Nicky and Jake, and straight to Toy Story Mania, where I came a resounding last.

Then, during the rest of the morning we did Star Tours, the Beauty and the Beast show, Animation Academy (Jiminy Cricket), the American Idol Experience, and One Man's Dream.

Back at OKW this afternoon we relaxed for a while, played some table tennis (obviously) and then this evening went out for a final Old Navy trip and dinner at IHOP.

Off to Downtown in the morning before making the most of our final day.

Day 10 - Extra Magic

Long day = short post today.

Jake and I were up at 6, and pretty much straight out the door so that we were at the Magic Kingdom in time for the 7am rope drop for EMH.

Perhaps there will be an opportunity to do a fuller version of today's events at another time, but by just after ten o'clock when the rest of the family arrived, Jake and I had done:

- Space Mountain
- Peter Pan
- Small World
- Splash Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Haunted Mansion
- Aladdin's carpets
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Big Thunder again
- Buzz Lightyear
- Carousel of Progress.

Once everyone else had arrived the park was getting pretty busy, but we still managed to go and see the Country Bears and the Jungle Cruise before having our pulled pork sandwiches for lunch and watching the Christmas parade.

Back to the hotel for a rest this afternoon (well I had a rest - Nicky played Jake at table tennis) and this evening we've been to Epcot for the Candlelight Processional and Illuminations.

Anyone would think we're coming towards the end of our holiday - we're packing it in now - off to the Studios in the morning.

Day 9 - Christmas

A short summary of our Christmas Day:

- up late, and cooked breakfast prepared and enjoyed in our villa - a pretty good "full English" with a few American twists
- a ride around our resort on a Surrey bike for four, with Nanny following along on her scooter
- games of table tennis, hover hockey, table football, pool and draughts
- a dip in the pool
- a lovely Christmas dinner at the Turf Club at Saratoga, and
- a Christmas drink with my lovely wife at the OKW bar.

Merry Christmas to all, and I'll leave you with a picture - the view from our balcony this morning.

Day 8 - shopping

Today started with a trip to the Premium Outlets (the usual Vineland ones rather than the I-Drive ones - now that we need to be specific), and everyone did pretty well in bagging some bargains. Jake came away with several new baseball caps - one even sporting his initials on the back.

Once we were all shopped out, we made our way to Downtown, where we had a lunch reservation at Captain Jacks. John and I agreed on the best approach to the menu - namely to skip the main courses, and go straight from starter to dessert - clam chowder followed by key lime pie.

Otherwise, we've been around the resort. Jake beat me at table tennis (and that was before I had a beer at the bar), and we've been to see Father Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Day 7 - Golf and Fantasmic

Well day 7's post really needs to start with day 6 as I failed to blog about it until now.

Day 6 got off to a slow, and unspeakably sad start, with the receipt of news from the UK that we had been fearing.

However, we dusted ourselves off, and decided that getting on with enjoying our holiday was the right thing to do, and so went over to the Boardwalk for some lunch, and for Jake and I to play some silly games in the arcade (several variations on the grabber machine theme, but despite being convinced that I was going to win a 3DS at one stage, we came away empty handed). After lunch we played a round of crazy golf at Fantasia Gardens, where Nanny got holes in one on two holes in a row - the drinks are on her for the rest of the holiday.

After golf we came back to the hotel, and in the evening went up the road to the River Roost bar at Port Orleans, where some mucking about with Bob the pianist, along with a few cocktails, was just what was needed. Nicky got to be a partridge in a pear tree.

After a fairly late night, Nicky and I then had an early morning, as I had an early tee time at the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course.

Nicky is very concerned that I will insist on giving a shot by shot analysis of my round, but I will avoid that, and limit myself to the following:

- I had a great time, and it was lovely that Nicky came along too to keep me company;
- I think that Nicky actually rather enjoyed driving the cart;
- this was the best golf course I have ever played on by a country mile;
- I got a par 3 on the 7th - the one with the island green that our balcony overlooks;
- all of the staff were really friendly, from the people in the pro shop, the guys who sorted me out with clubs and shoes, the starter, the people on the course, and the girl who drove the refreshments cart;
- I can see a round of golf becoming a regular fixture in future Florida holidays!

This afternoon was spent at the hotel, playing table tennis, having a dip in the pool, and generally soaking up the rays - the weather is amazing - getting close to record highs for this time of year (I think that a lot of the records were set during our honeymoon year).

Finally, this evening we went for a second visit (as predicted) to Red Lobster for dinner before heading in to Hollywood Studios to see the 8pm Fantasmic show.

Behind

Behind on blogging - sorry.

Yesterday crazy golf and Bob the pianist. This morning proper golf - lots of fun.

More later, hopefully with pictures too.

Day 5 - Anniversary

On account of being our 15th wedding anniversary, we decided to split into two groups, and Nicky and I left Nanny, Grandad and Jake at home, contemplating a day of exploring our resort, going in the pool, and playing table tennis, before a trip to Epcot in the evening to see Illuminations.

Our first stop was at the Polynesian Resort, where we decided to go and try out the Kona Cafe, which we'd heard good things about in various reviews. Before our coffee we had a little look around, and to be honest, we are not disappointed that we haven't stayed at the Polynesian. The white sandy beach was lovely, and the views across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the other resorts and the Magic Kingdom were beautiful in the morning sunshine.

Nicky made a beeline for a hammock on the beach, and near to it found a ten dollar bill in the sand. Hoping to reunite it with its rightful owner, she asked a child who looked like she was looking for something whether she'd lost any money but she said no. So, as we walked back inside to go and find the cafe, I was thinking that we were doing to be enjoying some free coffee, Nicky wanted to hand in the money at the front desk. So, we went up and waited for a cast member to be available. Nicky explained that we'd found the money, and could they take it for safe keeping, and we were met by a very puzzled expression from the cast member. Clearly this did not compute. "Oh - so you want to hand it in?" Reluctantly, she took the money and put it in an envelope, but I'm afraid this was a black mark against the customer service team!

Anyway, upstairs for coffee, and the cafe was nothing to write home about either - so I won't.

Leaving the Polynesian, next stop some outlet shopping. We went to LBVFS, and parked next to Old Navy so that it could be our first port of call. As always, we found lots that we liked, and ended up with five items which were about $50. However, when we were in the queue someone (not sure if it was a staff member or another customer) handed Nicky a 30% off voucher, so we ended up only paying $35 (and Nicky handed the voucher on to the next lady in the queue as well).

A stroll around the shops, and we bought a few things in the Nike store and in Tommy Hilfiger as well. When we were about half way around the stores, I decided that I needed a polo shirt as well (reason will become clear later) but we couldn't find anything we liked, so we ended up back in Old Navy again, where I picked one up for $9, although I blagged a couple of dollars off at the till by mentioning that we had a 30% off voucher earlier and that we'd forgotten to pick this item up then!

Lunch was calling by now, and so we went and found the bottom of I-Drive in search of somewhere nice to eat. Just above the Pointe, we found an Olive Garden, and decided to add it to the list of new restaurants tried this holiday. It was great, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite only having one starter, one main, and one dessert between the two of us, we still came out really full up.

After a quick stop off at Game Stop (safe to write this here, as there's no way that Jake will bother to read this much of the post!) we went for a look around Celebration, which we haven't visited for a few years. On the main street, they were busy spraying on some snow, ready for the snowball fight that was scheduled for that evening! Our only purchase in the town was a toy for Barley (a reindeer just like Barbara from Santa Barbara!) and we didn't stay very long.

Next stop was Saratoga Springs, where we went to talk to the people in the pro shop at the Lake Buena Vista golf course. As a result, I now have a tee time booked for 8.39 on Friday morning, and am thoroughly looking forward to it. Nicky is going to come with me to be golf cart driver! Expect lots of photos ...

We had a drink at the Artists Palette and then got the boat to Downtown, where we could very easily have spent a few thousand dollars in the art store.

By now we were pretty worn out from a full day, and so after a light snack for tea, we headed home, and watched the Santa Claus on TV until the late night revellers got home from the fireworks at Epcot.

All in all, one of the best anniversaries ever!

Day4 - MK and Mall

The observant amongst you may have noticed that overnight this post was showing as something of a holding message due to connectivity challenges. These have now been resolved, and I am very pleased to announce that this post is being composed on my new MacBook Air - more about that later!

Day 4 dawned bright and warm, and so we decided that we could wait no longer for our first trip to the Magic Kingdom. We got the bus from our resort - hardly any wait at all - and the bus driver was friendly and helpful once again when it came to getting the scooter up the ramp and into position.

Once we'd arrived at MK we wandered down Main Street, stopping to enjoy a little bit of singing from some performers who appeared on a horse-drawn carriage, and as seems to be tradition, our first stop was at the Buzz Lightyear ride. Again, as always, modesty forbids me from reporting here about who achieved the highest score.

Again, in keeping with tradition it was off to the Transit Authority followed by a showing of Philharmagic, before it was time to have a morning drink and snack (funnel cake, waffle, and then - only because they came in rather sweet holiday souvenir mugs - a couple of ice creams!)

By now the park was getting fairly busy and so we decided to make our way back down Main Street and onto the train for a tour around the park, before heading out and back onto the bus (no wait at all) back to our resort.

Here we had a bit of a rest, as well as playing some table tennis, having lunch, and having a dip in the pool, before deciding that a trip to Mall at Millennia was in order. We all got something from the shops, although I must admit that certain members of the party did rather better than others. John and I made a beeline for the Apple store, and despite them not being able to explain why John's iPhone was having some trouble with connecting to a US network (conclusion being that it is all O2's fault) John decided to buy himself an iPad 2 and I bought this rather lovely MacBook Air).

We should have taken a photo of me clutching the bag outside of the store - then I could have updated the photo in the banner at the top of my web page!

We decided against eating at the Mall (a bit of a shock seeing as there was a Jonny Rocket's there - but we'd had a burger at lunchtime), and so with the help of the iPhone (although Siri let us down) we found the nearest Denny's, where Nicky and John had a gallon of OJ each, and Jake "slammed it up".

Now that I have my MacBook, I can get some photos uploaded to Flickr, and so here are a few from our first few days of holiday. (Note that in keeping with an Apple-powered holiday, all photos were taken on my iPhone!)

Day 3 - Epcot

Today was our first trip into a theme park and we started with Epcot. We had a bit of a race between the car and the bus, and the car group won to the tune of a ride on Spaceship Earth. We met up at the pin store near to the fountain, and after stopping off for a drink, Jake went with Nanny and Grandad to the Universe of Energy, whilst Nicky and I went to have a look around Mouse Gear. By the time the Energy show was done we were able to take a leisurely stroll around the World Showcase to Japan for our Teppan Edo lunch. We completed the World Showcase circuit after lunch and made our way to the Land, where we killed a few minutes on the boat ride around the greenhouses before our allotted fast pass time for Soarin' came around. All parked out we packed the stroller into the car and came home to the hotel where this evening there's been table tennis, a dip in the pool for Jake and I, and bagels followed by key lime pie for tea. (by the way, if it happens again, sorry about the lack of paragraphs, seems to happen when blogging from iPad.)

Day 2 - settling in

Having wireless internet in our rooms is a real bonus. Means that I can sit here typing away on the iPad to blog. Jake is playing on his PSP, John has just gone down to guest services to get park tickets for him and Margaret, and Nicky and Margaret are out on the balcony watching the folders on the 7th green. Yesterday was a long day. A combination of the later flight plus a few waits at MCO meant that we didn't get to the hotel until after nine o'clock. We were allocated building 64, which is nice and close to the main facilities of the resort. Other than getting a few essential provisions from the hotel store, we weren't up to much yesterday evening, and so after unpacking (or even before in some cases) we were off to bed. Up early this morning, and after a little explore of our surroundings we headed out to stock up more fully at Publix, and then went to Red Lobster for an early lunch. This is already making a case for getting pretty high up in the charts of our favourite Orlando restaurants, and I have a feeling that we might be going there again before the holiday is out. About to go and get on a boat to Downtown.

Gate post

In keeping with holiday tradition this is the post from the gate waiting to board the plane.
They've started boarding already, so best to keep this brief.
More news later.
Sent from Nicky's iPhone

Packing

And so we've arrived at that moment when bags come down from the loft, and packing can begin in earnest. No more school, no more teaching, no more work, and the most important thing becomes making sure we take everything that we want on holiday.

Clothes are the easy bit - a few t-shirts, a fleece, jeans, shorts and swimming trunks are the most important. Token gesture of a marginally smarter pair of trousers, shirt and jumper, which may all come back home unworn.

The more difficult bit seems to be the electrical kit - cameras, pods, pads and phones (all "i"), games consoles, batteries, walkie talkies, and enough chargers that if we stretched out all of the leads they'd probably reach from here to Disney World.

Then, the most difficult bit - which books to take. Still mulling that one over - may end up making a final decision in the morning.

Oh yeah, and apparently we have some money, passports and tickets as well. Nicky's in charge of that.

Small numbers

0 - the number of days of term left for Jake.

1 - the number of days left of going to work this year.

2 - days until we're on that plane.

Coastal tour

A tour of the south coast for me today - morning in Brighton and afternoon meeting in Eastbourne.

I get to go to all the glamorous places with this job!

(Back to Crawley tomorrow!)

Little drummer boy

Today we took delivery of four boxes of drum-kit goodies - one of which was alarmingly large. Nicky did an excellent job of unpacking and building, so that by the time that Jake got home from school, his Christmas present was put together in the games room and ready to play. The only slight problem was that in order to play with headphones a large to small plug (to use the technical term) socket adaptor was required. We've definitely got (had?) one somewhere, but despite looking in all the likely places, Nicky wasn't able to track it down, and so she had the inspired idea of going over the road and seeing if we could borrow a small amplifier.

Hopefully we are still on speaking terms with the neighbours.

Whilst round for tea this evening, Grandad said that he's got an adaptor, so hopefully Jake will be able to plug in from now on.

In holiday news, I called up OKW, and after a moment of confusion when they tried to locate our booking, put in our room request preferences for when we check in on Saturday. I asked for one of buildings 23, 24 or 62, in that order. Will be interesting to see if they can do this for us - we'll know for sure pretty soon now.

Mahna Mahna

Early Christmas

Christmas came a little early today, and so lunch was roast turkey with all of the trimmings (including a particularly fine, smooth cranberry jelly).

Our job (and I use the term "our" in its loosest possible sense) was to bring desert, and so Nicky made some raspberry mousses and also a truly scrumptious chocolate cheesecake, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it.

I may even have just had a second slice with a bit of late tea.

Ho ho ho - Merry Christmas one and all!

Old Key West

Old Key West was the first of the Disney Vacation Club resorts to open, in 1991. Being the only one, when it was first opened it was simply known as the Disney Vacation Club Resort, but is was renamed in 1996 when the Club began to expand. There are now 11 DVC resorts, seven of which are at Walt Disney World, and this week at the DVC Condominium Association Meeting, an announcement was made confirming the much anticipated 12th resort which will be The Villas at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, due to open in late 2013.

Old Key West is located in the Downtown Disney area, and is on the corner between Buena Vista Drive (to the South) and Bonnet Creek Parkway (to the West). The main entrance is on Community Drive (to the North) and on the Eastern side of the property is the Sassagoula River. We have travelled all of these routes many times, Buena Vista Drive being one of the main thoroughfares of the World, and one which can get particularly busy due to the large number of traffic light stops near to all of the parking entrances to Downtown Disney. As a result of this we have often taken Community Drive as a short cut in the past, and besides which, the main entrance to another DVC resort, Saratoga Springs, is also on this road. Bonnet Creek Parkway leads North past Old Key West and up to the Port Orleans resorts, but one of the preferred routes to get there is by taking the slow boat up the Sassagoula River, which links up Downtown Disney, Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, and the Port Orleans resorts.

The resort is built around the third through to eighth holes of the Lake Buena Vista Golf course, and so all of the villas in the resort come with either water or golf course views (or maybe even both for some). The guide books say that if possible, it is worth avoiding the buildings that are closest to the main roads, and so we will be putting in a room request soon. Apparently the best time to make a request is about four days before check in - soon enough that rooms have not been allocated up to that point, but not so soon that the front desk team will file it away and forget about it. I expect that we will also be keen to stay reasonably close to the Hospitality House, which is where the restaurants and store are - after all, I don’t want to have too long a walk to fetch hot chocolate in the evenings (even if I could pinch Nanny’s scooter!).

The main restaurant at Old Key West is Olivia’s (see these Allears links for recent lunch and dinner menus). The Unofficial Guide says that “for resort guests it’s a good place for a down-home meal”, and recommends the pork chop with chipotle barbecue sauce and cheese grits, as well as the key lime tart. Counter service is provided by Goods to Go, which has looks like it has the usual sandwiches, nuggets and burgers on offer.

Training

Early start today - up and away by half past six to get the seven o'clock train. I had a training course starting at 9, but some bright spark had suggested that a meeting at 8am before it started would be a good idea. I was there by 7.45, coffee and pastry in hand, and was the first there by quite a while.
When I picked up my coffee I tried to use the contactless technology on my new credit card and was disappointed when the guy in EAT told me it wasn't working. Will have to play another time!
Sent from my iPad

Single digits

We are on single digits.

In just nine days from now we will be arriving at our second "hone", albeit staying at Old Key West for the very first time.

Suffice it to say that excitement is building nicely ...!

4S

The 4S has arrived, and so Jake has been asking Siri questions this evening. I've managed to make and received calls, get onto email, and even send a few texts - progress, albeit slow!

Parents evening

Jake's first parents evening today. He stayed with Nanny and Grandad whilst Nicky and I went off to school. The news was all good, and the main thing is that Jake seems to have settled in really well at his new school.

Well done Jake - who knows - maybe I'll buy you a treat at Goofy's Candy Co. in a couple of weeks!

Carols

Home early today to make sure that I was back in time to go with Nicky and Jake to Jake's school carol service at Rochester Cathedral.

The service was great - the boys doing the readings were excellent, singing along with some carols is always a joy, and it was particularly nice to spot a former school music teacher from a quarter of a century or so ago shuttling between the organ loft and the piano.

They even managed to do a rather good Three Kings - sung by one of the teachers, accompanied by strings rather than by a chorale. A special carol bringing back memories of a cold winter's day nearly fifteen years ago.

Profile

I'm going to be famous - yes, even more than I am already. It is going to be my turn to have the profile feature in the church magazine done about me. To this end, I was supplied with 20 questions to consider. Here for your amusement are the answers I gave:


Could you please explain your role in the church?
I have been coming to St Albans for over twenty years, and for most of that time I have been playing the piano for services.

Age:

38

Married:

I am married to the lovely Nicky, and we got married (by Oz and Pam Maton) in St Albans in 1996.

Children:

Jake, who is now 11 and has just started at the Math School in Rochester.

Where are you from?

I was born and brought up in Chatham. Throughout my childhood, we lived on the Chatham Maidstone Road, opposite the football ground, and I went with my family to St Stephen’s Church, where I joined the choir when I was seven.

What did you want to be as a child?

I remember going through a stage of wanting to be a shopkeeper, and have my own sweet shop. I even set up a sweet shop in my bedroom, although I think that I ate all of the profits!

Could you share any precious childhood memories with us?

I especially enjoyed singing in choirs when I was younger, and for a time I sang in the Southern Cathedral Singers, which was lots of fun. However, I particularly remember one Christmas, doing Carols by Candlelight with the church choir, and the choirmaster (Roger Hill) asking me to sing the first verse solo in Once in Royal David’s City.

What is your favourite food?

Cooked breakfast (preferably on holiday!).

What do you watch on television?

Lots of American comedy shows - at the moment I am particularly enjoying The Middle and Modern Family.

What music do you listen to?

All sorts! The radio is currently tuned to Radio 2 so that I can listen to Chris Evans on the way to work.

What is your favourite film?

Like many, I think that The Shawshank Redemption is great, but I also have a soft spot for the Back to the Future trilogy.

What is your day job?

I am an audit director at Deloitte, one of the world’s largest professional services firms.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Not very easily!

What is your church background?

I was both baptised and confirmed at St Stephen’s in Chatham.

Do you have a favourite hymn, why?

Tough question! I enjoy the vast majority of the hymns that I play in church, and I really don’t think I could pick just one. If I can have a top three, I’ll go for Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Make me a Channel of your Peace, and My Song is Love Unknown.

Do you have a favourite bible reading?

Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth. A truly wonderful and inspiring message.

What do you draw from spiritually?

I am always moved by the combination of beautiful words and music. A lot of the music of John Rutter does just that for me. 

Have you ever had a profound spiritual experience?

No, but I’m looking forward to it!

Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

Probably still playing the keyboard in St Albans. Who knows, I might be a bit better at it by then if I keep practicing!

Is there anything else that you would like to tell us that not many people know about you?

Playing the keyboard runs in the family - many years ago, my Grandfather was the organist at St Stephen’s.

Saturday

Saturday = lie in, walk dog, Tonbridge for lunch with Bec, H&O, Waitrose to pick up some grub, soup and bread for tea, Match of the Day, a few games of pool, and off to bed.

Thackerays

Friday morning with a 9:30 meeting with Charing meant that I could give Jake a lift to school before heading off. After my meeting I took the scenic route from Charing to Tunbridge Wells and had a very nice lunch at Thackerays, with some good company too.

Back home late this afternoon, and this evening we went over to Julie and Graham's for drinks, as they are finally moving house next week.

Looking forward to seeing Bec and the boys tomorrow ...

December

The final month of the year is upon us - only a couple more weeks at work and then a couple of weeks off and a trip to the Sunshine State. Marvellous!

Today was Brighton again, but hopefully this was my last stay over until the New Year. Next time I'm packing a bag it will be for a much more enjoyable reason.

Fletching

Tales of my motoring adventures are gaining me a certain notoriety at work, especially when backed up with photographic evidence.

Drove the Aveo to Brighton today. Nothing to get excited about, but it got me here safely.

Been to The Griffin pub in Fletching for dinner this evening. Our US colleague is good company. He has suggested that we fit in a casino trip next time we are together so that he can teach me how to plat craps!

Back to the Myhotel (pink) room tonight. Don't mind being here apart from the fact that I am abandoning a poorly wife at home.

Sorry honey. Take care and I love you loads. See you tomorrow. xxxx

Courtesy

A day of waiting around for a courtesy car to arrive today.

Got here at about 5pm.

Off to Brighton tomorrow.

Only a day late.

Beaten up IQ

A lorry on the M25 decided to have an argument with my little car today, and unfortunately the lorry came off considerably better.

Still, the IQ did a great job of keeping me safe and proving why it deserved those five safety stars.

It is sat on the drive now, having been brought home on the back of a lorry this evening, but I think that the prognosis is probably not good.

Weekend

N & I had a fab weekend away, but the full weekend report will have to wait ...

Marlow

Failed to blog yesterday as having too much fun. Currently in coffee shop in
Marlow. More later.
Sent from Nicky's iPhone

Someone special

A certain someone had a birthday today, and I think that it was a good one.

Even better is the fact that there is more birthday celebrating still to be done during the weekend ...

Road warrior

Today I was racking up the miles, with visits to Reading and Brighton in the same day.

Did just over 240 miles in the car.

Leveson

And so the Leveson inquiry into media standards goes on.

It seems to me that there are two clearly distinct categories of witnesses who are sharing their views with the inquiry - one being the celebrity contingent and one being people for whom "celebrity" was simply a by-product of being caught up in newsworthy events.

I can only feel sympathy for the people from the second of those categories - the McCanns and the Dowler family being two examples. The fact that certain members of the press and certain news organisations have either made up stories, or at least put across some flimsy "facts" from "sources" which will inevitably lead readers to a particular point of view is bad enough, but to find out that a phone hacker deleted messages from Millie Dowler's mobile, giving her poor mother false hope, and that the suggestions made about the McCanns could actually have hindered the search for their daughter - this is just utterly appalling.

And what of the celebrities. Well, actually I think that they have also at times received an extremely raw deal from the press. The argument that they court the press for their own ends, and are therefore "fair game" holds no water with me. If an actor, as part of his or her profession is required to publicise their work, and this includes giving interviews and doing features, that's fine, but why this is considered to mean that they no longer qualify for a private life is a mystery to me.

Yes, I know that things aren't quite that simple - certain public figures will manipulate the press for their own ends at times, and yes, we live in an increasingly mad and celebrity-obsessed culture (if we didn't all clamour for salacious gossip then intrusive and vulgar stories wouldn't sell newspapers and magazines and so they wouldn't be written). Also, inevitably certain stories should be told when they are in the "public interest", but it feels to me that a line was crossed quite some time ago.

Hopefully this inquiry might lead to some changes, and we might start to redress the balance a little.

Dr

Worked from home today, in order to fit in an appointment with the doctor.

I went with a list, prepared for me by Nicky, and was able to tick off each item to her satisfaction.

I have some new tablets to try to help with my headaches.

Amitriptyline.

Apparently in higher doses it is used as an anti-depressant, but in the much lower dose that I'm having they hopefully will do a good job of keeping my tension head at bay.

One to be taken just before bed.

So that's what I'm going to do now.

Night night!

Third

Back in August, I was complaining here about the poor start that Spurs had made to the season, and the fact that they were propping up the table in 20th place.

Well, we might have lost our first two games, but since then, things have picked up rather, and we have played nine, won eight, and drawn one (away at Newcastle).

As a result, we are now up to the heady heights of third, and still with a game in hand on the teams around us.

Long may it continue.

Champions League, here we come!

Timeless

When we were playing golf a couple of weeks ago, we teed off at about half past ten, and so I was quite surprised to see that we were getting towards the end of the first nine and it was only ten to twelve. I was even more surprised to discover as we were heading off for the back nine that it was still ten to twelve.

My watch had packed in, which was a bit disappointing as it had only had a new battery a few months ago.

Nicky tried taking it for another new battery at the start of the following week, but it turned out that the problem was more serious, and so it has been at the mender's for the last ten days or so.

Obviously, when something like this happens you discover that the battery on your backup watch has also packed in, and so I have been watch-less for a while now. Not a problem most of the time (although knowing how long I had to keep playing before the start of the service at church this morning was a bit of a challenge) but I am missing it - I was a special present from a special person bought at a special place, and I am hoping that it comes back soon.

Fayre

A busy Saturday today, even if I didn't surface until rather late:

- Jake and I did some rugby kicking and passing out on the road;
- Barley and I went for a walk in the leaf-covered woods;
- we all had a trip to the St Albans Christmas Fayre;
- Jake and I had a shopping trip to Hempstead - planning ahead for the end of the week.

And, to round things off we had corn dogs for tea, noting that it is four weeks today until we will be back in the land of the corn dog!

Boys Night In

The instruction today was clear - be home before seven because Nicky was going out for the evening.

For once I managed to do as I was told, and so this evening Jake and I have had a boys night in, on the sofa, watching comedy Friday and eating pizza.

Lovely.

GBK

Sat in the Brighton branch of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen this evening I was reading the paper and doing the crossword whilst enjoying my cheese n bacon burger and chocolate shake. The article that particularly caught my eye was about the Christmas advert offerings from the major retailers. It was enjoying poking fun at M&S who have something of a Christmas turkey on their hands thanks to an X Factor effort which is in equal parts lame (due to X Factor all of a sudden seeming like yesterday's news) and embarrassing (thanks to drug scandals). Mind you, it didn't think much of the Morrison's effort either - an entire advert built around getting Brucie to utter the immortal line, "good game, good game".

But, the article was deficient in one notable way. There is only one Christmas advert that even remotely matters, and we saw it for the first time this year a couple of days ago, and I was called into the lounge especially to see it. It is an advert that makes you think of some of the best things about the festive season and then effortlessly associates all of those positive feelings with the product. Genius.

Holidays and coming.

Visit

Mum and Dad popped in for tea this evening, on their way back from a visit to Sue and Martin. Lovely to see them both, and we had a good time catching up.

Off to bed now - early start for Brighton in the morning.

Stood up

I arranged to have lunch with my lovely wife today - a rare weekday treat, but then proceeded to stand her up thanks to a combination of a talkative FD and a broken down lorry on the motorway.

Oops.

I am informed that I might be forgiven, but a final decision is to be delayed until after a birthday weekend coming up soon, when I will be given an opportunity to make amends.

Welcome

And despite having to put up with my (often brief and pointless) witterings, a decent blogger has made her olive green return, with a brace of belters, already covering a broad spectrum from spiritual matters to sewerage!

Marvellous!

Welcome back!

Keep them coming!

M x

Only You

As I do from time to time, I wandered off this evening for a little while to play the piano downstairs. I picked one of my old 80s songbooks off the shelf and played a few things. (A little bit alarming to note how yellowed the edges of the pages are looking these days - makes me feel particularly old, especially as I've had the book since new.)

One of the songs that I played was "Only You", and whilst this may be a Yazoo song, it always makes me think of the Flying Pickets, as I thought that their version was great.

So, when I came back upstairs, I looked them up on Youtube, and sure enough there they were to enjoy. As is always the case with Youtube, thanks to the list of related videos down the side, I ended up looking at loads of videos.

I love the sound of singing in harmony, and I ended up finding a load of a-capella groups. I even had a quick look for the singers who appear as a warm up act for the Beauty and the Beast stage show in Florida (Four for a Dollar / Return to Zero) - at least they used to - we haven't been to see that show in at least five years or so - Beauty and the Beast now being very much in the "not cool" category!

Anyway, I ended up finding a rather fun phenomenon on Youtube - multitrack barbershop singing in which the same person records themselves several times over to do an a-capella version of a song all by themselves. Here's one of the best ones I've found so far.

Pumpkin

It may have been a couple of weeks ago that a carved pumpkin was outside our front door, but the carved out flesh did not get thrown away. It was put in the freezer for future use. So, today we had pumpkin soup for tea, with chunks of bread to dunk in it. And the good news is that there are two more servings still to enjoy. One has gone back in the freezer and the other may well come with us to football tomorrow to keep us warm on the touchline (by the way, mercurial Jake has finally got his new mercurial boots - in orange - after a trip into town this morning).

11

11 - 11 - 11

Seattle

Myhotel full so gone to Seattle.

Living it up with cup-a-soup for tea.

Yesterday's answer agave. Still none the wiser!

Cross

I very nearly finished the crossword today, which is a rare occurrence (only the T2 - not the cryptic!).

I had one clue left: Succulent, 5 letters A_A_E.

No idea at all.

Will be looking it up tomorrow!

Post challenge

Posting proving a challenge. Mac on go slow and publishing via iPad getting error messages. So, still on iPad but blogging via email.
Productive day in the office today, even if the motorways were rubbish again.
Spent most of the journeys listening to Close to Home, especially track 8.
Been helping with taxing matters this evening.
Sent from my iPad

Wabi

Monday morning trip to Brighton today, and I was up and out at 6.15 thinking that I'd be there nice and early. Thanks to the slow motorways, I finally rolled in at ten to nine. Meant that I was still eating my porridge as our nine o'clock meeting kicked off!

Out for dinner this evening with colleagues - went to a nice Japanese restaurant in Horsham called Wabi.

Good news on the house front - the people a couple of doors along from us have sold, and at a decent price too - encouraging in that (i) eliminates the competition, and (ii) hopefully we'll get a similarly good price.

Mercurial

Definition: changeable, volatile, fickle, erratic.

The name of a line of football boots made by Nike.

And somehow appropriate for the shopper as well!

Tax

Spent most of today considering the joys of nasty letters from the tax-man. The letter wasn't to me, but I've been trying to help out a self-employed friend who has received one. Hopefully we've made some reasonable progress, at least in the reassuring stakes if nothing else.

I am typing this listening to the crash of fireworks out the back somewhere. I wish they'd shut up, they're spoiling my enjoyment of "Close to you" (Beverley Craven's most recent album)!

I didn't manage a very long blog yesterday so didn't get a chance to talk about my game of golf, which must have been my first in at least three years, if not considerably longer.

Despite the rain (it did tip it down a few times, but the showers were short and sharp, and bunkers were not a good place to be - rather waterlogged), I had a great time. One of my many ambitions in life is to get all they way around a golf course in less than 100 shots. Well, funnily enough I didn't manage it yesterday. But, I did do the back nine in exactly 50 shots, so I know that it's possible.

I think that a 2012 resolution is forming already - namely to make sure that I get a decent number of rounds in. In fact, perhaps I should aim for the number of rounds to be in double figures, as well as the total for one of the rounds to be in double figures as well.

On Thursday I popped into a sports shop to get some new golf shoes, as my old ones had fallen apart some time ago. They were a bargain at 22.99, and so whilst I was there I picked up a couple of dozen golf balls as well, just to be on the safe side. Well, once I'd sorted out my golf bag on Thursday evening I discovered that I'd already got about three dozen balls in there! Then to top it off, I finished off on the 18th green with the same ball that I tee'd up on the 1st!

PS - still looking forward to the first Olive Green instalment ...

Beverley

Tonight Nicky and I went to see Beverley Craven at Pizza Express in Maidstone.

She was fab.

I would post a couple of photos from Nicky's phone, but it is being slow in sync'ing so will have to try again tomorrow.

Rain

Home late from work this evening, and I'm sat typing this listening to the rain come down on the conservatory roof. Hoping that it packs it in tomorrow morning in time for golf ...

Please all do whatever is the opposite of a rain dance for me!

New picture

Nicky bought a new picture yesterday, which is now hanging at the top of the stairs.

Remind you of anyone?

M25

So, the M25 has been celebrating its 25th birthday recently, and to remind us all of how much we love it, today it stopped. Thanks to a fuel lorry having an accident at J8, the idea of travelling from home to Gatwick this morning was out of the question.

I made it out of the door and into the car, but caught a traffic report as I approached the end of the road, turned around and came home again.

Thankfully there was nothing in the diary today where showing up in person was an essential part of the day's events, so pretty much everything got done.

By the way, I thought that tonight's "Imagine" was fascinating, and I would really like to go and see Grayson Perry's exhibition at the British Museum.

Italian

It's a good job that I like Italian food:

Thursday - lunch at Bella Italia
Friday - dinner at Zizzi's
Saturday - lunch at Prezzo
Monday - lunch at Prezzo

I think I might try to give it a miss for a few days!

Houses

Much to think about as we move into the second half of term. Jake has seven weeks at school, and then we are off to Old Key West for Christmas. Looking forward to that, and counting down the days, but aware that if we get our wish, it may be our last big holiday for a little while, as we if we're lucky, we may find that all of our spare cash is being invested in real estate sometime in early 2012.

Still trying not to get too excited about it, as it's early days, but that is proving difficult, especially when we did have another sneaky look around this morning on the pretence of feeding the cats whilst their owners were away.

Perhaps what we need to do over the next few weeks is concentrate on our current abode, and make sure that it is as organised and impressive-looking as we can make it so that if it does go on the market in the new year, someone will want to snap it up, and give us a jolly good price too!

Scanned a few photos for John today (for a photo book that he is doing). Here are a couple of good ones!

Visits

Just back home from a long day of visits, first of all to Newbury to see the Bearman family, and then down the A34 for tea with Mum and Dad.

For today's blog purposes, suffice it to say that it was great to see everyone, and now it's time for bed (grateful that we get a bonus hour of sleep tonight as we all need to be ready to take penalties tomorrow at footie!).

Friday

Myhotel was its usual reliable self. Comfy beds - woken by the call from home telling me that it was time to get up.

I was at the office by half past eight and enjoying my morning porridge.

Did better with today's crossword - got to only a couple of clues to go, and my colleagues helped me to finish it off - although getting "nacelle" without cheating proved to be too much for all of us.

Left at 4ish and home just before 6.

Meal out with at Zizzi's this evening with the Fairs family, which was very pleasant, only spoiled slightly but the gaggle of ten year old girls having a party at the next table and making a racket (and being ignored by their parents/minders sat at another table).

Off to Newbury and Sutton Scotney tomorrow.

Oh yes - and today marks the 50 days and counting moment ...

Times table

So, here I am back in Brighton, and for the record, today's hotel room is pink.

I got to the hotel at about half past seven, and rather than grabbing provisions from the Tesco Extra across the road, I decided that a trip to a proper restaurant was in order, even if it meant looking like Billy-no-mates at my table for one.

So off I went to Giraffe, armed with a copy of today's paper to read.

And, during my burger (obviously), fruit smoothie (how very Brighton), rocky road sundae (disappointing - a couple of scoops of cheap ice cream, some little marshmallows and a pool of sauce in the bottom of the dish) and coffee, I was able to catch up with what's going on in the world.

So, I learnt that:

- the European currency is struggling on (and whilst it wasn't reported in the paper, it was at least encouraging to see that the markets seemed to react positively today to the efforts being made by the politicians)
- the journalists are enjoying taking the mickey out of Vince Cable for mucking up his tax affairs (or rather his accountants mucked them up for him)
- according to an advert, 84% of FTSE 100 companies have an ICAEW Chartered Accountant on their board (this made as a proud boast. My question is shouldn't it be 100%?)
- India is gearing up for its first ever Formula 1 race, and hopes seem reasonably high that they are more prepared for it than they were for the Commonwealth Games (could hardly be worse)
- a columnist went to the new Stratford Westfield and didn't like it, but is pleased with the news that in our shopping obsessed country, the saving ratio has improved recently (although apparently last year the average household in the UK managed to save less than £300. Mind you I can't cope with being told a bare fact like that, I have far too many questions that need to be answered about how the figure was determined before I can make any sense of it. For example is it just an average of the amounts put into savings accounts? If so, if some people took money out of savings accounts, does that net off the amount saved by others and therefore reduce the average? Also, what about two people in identical situations, one who puts £100 a month into a savings account and one who overpays a mortgage by £100 a month? Is one deemed to be a "save" and one not? Similarly what about pension contributions? Are they included - surely they should be? If they are, what about contributions made by employers for their employees? How are they measured and attributed as savings? Sorry, I'm waffling now, but being given a random £300 means nothing without knowing the answers to these and more questions!)

Finally, a little nugget from the letters page that I thought I would reproduce here as Mum and Dad might like it:

"Sir

Back in the 1980s I was singing with a group called the King's Singers. During the six-month presidency of the UK, under the rotation principle Geoffrey Howe, the Foreign Secretary, and his wife Elspeth invited us to sing at Brocket Hall and the end of a day when all the Foreign Ministers of the European Community countries had been meeting there together.
We devised a programme which included a song from each of the 12 countries, and featured a version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm in Greek. Afterwards, Geoffrey Howe congratulated us, and the other ministers also said how much they had enjoyed it. When the Belgian Foreign Minister passed he muttered out of the side of his mouth: "Marvellous! That was marvellous, the first bit of harmony we've had all day."

Alastair Hume"

Oh yes, and I did both Kenkens, but couldn't finish the crossword - was six clues off! Disappointing. Will be kicking myself when I look them up tomorrow!

Home

Been working at home today.

Got a reasonable amount done, albeit distracted at times by looking up mortgage rates, discovering that stamp duty loopholes appear to have long since been closed, drooling over house plans, and talking about what we could do with all of that extra space.

Want it. Want it now!

Sleepover

Sleepover is happening today - Jake and Owen are set up on camp-beds in the games room.

No-one is asleep just yet!

Aspidistra

A couple of quotes for you this evening, from the thoughts of Gordon Comstock:

"He could put up with this meaningless office life, because he never for an instant thought of it as permanent. Somehow, sometime, God knew how or when, he was going to break free of it."

"He thought of the Tube stations at early morning. The black hordes of clerks scurrying underground like ants into a hole; swarms of little ant-like men, each with despatch-case in right hand, newspaper in left hand, and the fear of the sack like a maggot in his heart."

Hmmm.

Derby

Well, what a weekend's football it has been. It was the Manchester derby today, and it was a seven goal belter of a game, enjoyed by those in blue, but detested by the reds. All sorts of records broken, first time United had shipped six at Old Trafford since the fifties, and Fergie declaring it his worst game in charge.

Meanwhile, Spurs sail serenely on. After their rubbish start to the season, it is now five wins and one draw in the last six games.

But, the really amazing statistic is this. There are three teams supported in our house, and all of them are in the top half of the Premier League.

Happy days!

Beach

Today has been a day for a trip to the seaside. The sun was out and the sky was blue, so we packed dog, child, ball and kite into the car and made our way to Whitstable.

Gaddafi

Is it just me or is the world a really confusing place?

Yesterday, the news came in of Gaddafi having been found. I was in our London office at the time, and was eating a sandwich watching a muted TV screen showing Sky News. I went off to a meeting, and by the time I came out of that meeting, the news had changed to say that he had been killed.

The exact manner of his death will no doubt remain a mystery and we will never know the whole truth, but I wonder if the best guess is simply that the mob found him cowering in that storm drain, and in their jubilation, in their celebration of his capture, in his humiliation, someone in the crowd just couldn't resist the temptation, and put a bullet into his head.

The reaction to his death seems to be pretty universal celebration, from Libya to London, and across the Atlantic to the White House. And, there is much to be happy and to be hopeful about as a whole country looks like it might move from dictatorship to democracy. No-one can argue that the Colonel was most likely the driving force behind some terrible crimes, the worst of which probably took place inside his own borders, but we think particularly of a police officer shot outside an embassy in London, and a plane full of passengers blown up in the air over Scotland.

However, and it is a big however, whilst there is much to hope for, should we be celebrating this particular event? Capture - yes, but summary execution (if that is what it was) - I'm not so sure. I heard a report earlier today in which one of the family members of a Lockerbie victim was being interviewed. I can't remember their exact words, but the message I got from them was that they felt that they had been denied justice. Justice would have been for Gaddafi to be captured and brought before a court to answer for his crimes. That can never happen now.

I mean no disrespect to the many families of people who suffered terribly as a result of his regime in saying this, and I can fully understand why yesterday was for them a day of great joy. It may be all too easy for me to sit here cosily and pontificate about justice. Turn the tables, swap places, and who knows how I might feel about the situation.

As I say, the world is a confusing place.

Open evening

Jake's had his open evening at school today, and so it was his turn to be one of the ones in the know, rather than one of the timid ones looking around the big and scary school! Having done that, half term has been declared (as tomorrow is a training day) and so he has just over a week of relaxing and catching up on sleep from all of those early morning trips to the bus stop.

We are very proud parents, and it's fantastic to see how well he has settled in. A well-deserved half term break, and then long may this good start continue.

A confession - normally at blogging time I might have a sneaky late night snack. Not allowed to today. I'm going to go (at last) for the blood tests that the doctor asked me to do a fair few weeks ago tomorrow morning, so it's no food for me until after I've had it in the morning.

Nearly ordered my car - just trying to make the all important colour decision. Have a look at lexus.co.uk and put in a vote if you like!

Anyway, just to really wind certain people up - apparently there's a machine on a mountain somewhere between Reno and Rome, and within it's plexiglass dome another biggle-ball will be dropping fairly soon as I'm off to bed. Our man will count the balls as they plup into a cup, because after all, that's how we know who's down and who's up.

Hinkle horn

Jake had his year 7 concert this evening, which we all attended. And, he did a fine job of standing by me, and the various young musicians did their music teachers proud.

Maybe next time Jake will get a chance to do some drumming or some piano playing as well.

Talking of musical instruments, the news in just in from the town of Mercedd that the Hinkle Horn Honking club has just gone to bed. Apparently, every one of their fine horns has been hung on a hook for the night in its own hinkle horn nook. All this long happy day they've been honking about and the Hinkle Horn Honkers have honked themselves out.

Well, all I can say is that I know how they feel, and I'm off to bed too.

G- yes - do feel free to start worrying any time now!

Sleep

The news just came in
From the county of Keck
That a very small bug by the name of Van Vleck
Is yawning so wide you can look down his neck
...
...
...
When you turn out your light
Then the number will be
Ninety nine zillion, nine trillion and three

Good night.

Starry night

And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night,
You took your life as lovers often do,
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

But, did he?

CT200h

Church this morning, and then back to pick up Nicky to head off to the Lexus garage to go for a test drive.

The car was very nice - came with lots of bells and whistles, as would be expected from the Lexus brand.

I must have a serious word with my accountant to see if the finances can stand it!

Dogs

Back in September I did a post about the Whispering Canyon cafe, and how we had enjoyed a Saturday evening tea recreating the food we'd had there in Florida.

Well today we had a similar Saturday tea, but this time inspired by our trip to California last year.

After leaving San Francisco, our first stop was Santa Cruz, on our way down to Monterey. We went to the boardwalk, and for the first time in our trip the weather was really warm. Anyway, for the first time ever, we tried out corn dogs (as mentioned in this post), and we discovered that we really liked them!

So, tonight Nicky found a recipe on line, and it was corn dogs for tea. And they were fantastic - tasted exactly like the ones we had in California - took us right back.

The good news is that we have also found a few places that'll do a good corn dog in Florida!

Only nine weeks to go.

In other news today, Jake bought himself the new Forza Motorsport game for the Xbox, and Nicky bought him a pucker cricket bat (as it was reduced to a bargain basement price). We've been tidying up the back garden and hoovering up leaves. I watched the Cannonball Run as it was on a satellite channel this evening - when I was considerably younger, I thought that it was a funny film. Now I'm not so sure. The best bit by far is the bloopers that are shown as the credits roll.

Tomorrow, I'm off for a test drive ...