Kingsman

Been to see Kingsman at Bluey this evening with N, J and O.

Good fun film, even if someone got sliced in half, and quite a few people lost their heads!

Eric

With today marking 50 years since Churchill's funeral, I am reminded of Uncle Eric, who had a part to play in that famous day. Sadly I never got to meet him - he was certainly a remarkable man, as this obituary which appeared in the Independent demonstrated.

Given Eric's connections to both the funeral train and to the National Railway Museum, it is very interesting to see that they have an exhibition which starts today - "Churchill's Final Journey". May well be worth a visit.

(Also interesting to note that they have an article which specifically explains why Churchill wanted the final train journey to depart from Waterloo, which I understand is a story that Uncle Eric had shared before as well. However, I think in Eric's version, the main thrust of the tale was about taking the opportunity to have some fun at De Gaulle's expense, and not so much the subtler point about nations never surrendering to tyrants!)

Pink again

Seem to have a thing for pink rooms this week!

Sent from my iPhone

For Sure

Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are ignoring the owner's manual your Creator gave you. What I know for sure is this: you are build not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more. To be more splendid. To be more extraordinary. To use every moment to fill yourself up.

(Oprah Winfrey)

Bramley

Morning in Brighton today followed by lunch and afternoon in Guildford today. Got a chance for a good run in the new car, including navigation by iphone, which went fine (as the new car doesn't come with built in sat nav). One of the reasons for not getting the sat nav was that there apparently is an app which I can download which will enable me to get the phone screen to appear on the car screen. Must give that a go at some point.

Once my new car's term is up, I did notice a promising-looking place I could go for a replacement. On the outskirts of Guildford there is a village called Bramley, and they have a garage that sells some very nice cars indeed.

Pink

Pink room

Sent from my iPhone

Stall

Went out for my first drive in the new car today.

Stalled it before I got to the end of the road.

Also, learned that pulling away in second is not an option.

On the plus side, Nicky has connected the bluetooth for me!

Crockfords

Lovely day with the Crockford family. Late now so proper report tomorrow.

New

I stay away for one night, and things have changed at home in my absence. There's a new car on the drive, and Jake's room looks completely different now that the new carpet has been fitted, and Nicky has put up the new curtains to replace the horrible old blinds.

I would post a picture, but the little prince himself is already back in situ and is currently gaming and chatting via PS4 with a friend, and I don't think he would appreciate being papped! (And I was going to use it as an excuse to take the first picture with my new toy - iPhone 6 arrived at work today.)

More Superior

Quick emailed update from my "more superior" room (!) at Myhotel this evening after a long Brighton day. Main news of the day is the arrival of my new car, but I've only seen pictures sent from home so far. Will see the real thing when I go home tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

Insurance?

Here's what I learned today. What I thought was a helpful private healthcare provider turns out to be just another insurance company who will delight at pointing at the small print and the policy exclusions when it suits them and enables them to wheedle their way out of paying a bill. And there was me thinking that they were on my side. How naïve!

Booked

Bloomsbury break booked - blooming' brilliant!

Delivery day

Delivery day here today:

• This week's Abel & Cole box;
• The rest of this week's shopping from Waitrose (all of this week's meals have been planned out and written up on the board);
• My replacement book, for the one that I sent back last week - this time in satisfactory condition;
• A new bookcase for the hall; and
• Two new chairs for Jake's room, one of which has just been made, and which I am sitting on to type this blog.

No Besta

A trip to Ikea of only moderate success today, although we did a good job of proving the theory that it is impossible to go there and come away empty handed.

The first part of the plan was to feed up Jake with a cooked breakfast from their café, and we thought that we'd be safe getting there at about 11.15 given that the store only opened at 11.00. However, what we hadn't realised was that the café had been open since 10.00 and stopped serving breakfast at 11.00. The chocolate muffin alternative didn't really cut it, and I think that the die was pretty much cast at that stage to be honest.

Nicky and I thought that the Besta combinations were pretty good (especially the one with the discount for Ikea Family members!) but they weren't met with much enthusiasm, and in the end, the only piece of furniture we came out with was a small Billy bookcase. Anyone would think that we have a bit of a fetish for Billy - as I sit here typing and think through the various rooms in the house, I think that today's purchase may well bring the total up to at least 17 we have!

The other main purchase was a house plant, which now has pride of place in the hall, and we wait to see whether the cats will eat / scratch it to pieces.

We tried out a few other stores in Thurrock, but in the end, I think our only other purchases were made in Costa and Subway!

No carpet

Now there is no carpet left in Jake's room. Still a lot of furniture, including a double bed, but thanks to a fair amount of shuffling around, it has all been removed. It's all cut up and the last bits are waiting in bin bags for a tip trip to be done. Phoned the carpet shop, and the new one will be fitted next Friday.

We were all out this afternoon delivering leaflets for the church boot fair (helping Jake out with his D of E duties) and then this evening, in order to finish up some more bits from our A&C box, we had a rather lovely onion soup with our tea (although I think there were some votes for a smoother blend, which has been duly noted for next time).

Report

Another week done, and another report sent in busy season. More to come next week, but so far so good. Could do some work over the weekend to keep next week easier, but far likelier to enjoy the weekend so that I can head into next week ready to rejoin the battle!

Basket

Top news of the day - first ever basketball game and J was top scorer and led his team to victory!

Busy

Another busy day - I'm sat next to Nicky who is currently making a double helix out of bits of coloured in paper and lots of glue, all held together temporarily with paperclips (biology homework), whilst I was helping out earlier with a few surd-based A-level difficulty equations (maths homework). What nice parents we are!

Otherwise, Nicky has been making sterling progress with painting of bedroom walls, and I've spent the day travelling to Kent-based clients (so not too far at least) to make sure all is under control with a couple of audits which are signing off soon.

Lots of book deliveries today - one ebay order (29 Pratchetts! 3 separate auctions from same seller won at the weekend - bargain - came out at £1 per book including delivery) and one Amazon (2 out of 3 on the 3 for £10 deal) but bit disappointed with open Amazon packaging and slight damage to one of them, so may have to send Amazon and email and ask them to sort it out.

And, a present too - another version of my new favourite jumper acquired for me in the sales by my lovely wife - this time in 'berry'.

Early start tomorrow - back to Brighton for meeting first thing, so that'll do for now.

Delivery date

Got a delivery date for new car - look out for new arrival next Thursday ...

Abel

Realised that I forgot to blog yesterday, so here is a quick one to make up the deficit!

Our first Abel and Cole box arrived on the doorstep (or more accurately on the lodge decking) packed with healthy stuff (apples, blood oranges, potatoes, mushrooms, kale, ....) and we enjoyed some crispy kale with our dinner, and jolly nice it was too - it got thumbs up from Jake.

Continuing the food theme, we watched the horizon diet programme, which split people into feasters, emotional eaters, and constant cravers. From what I remember, I think that I am a feaster, which means that I mustn't go to Yo Sushi, Nicky is an emotional eater, so needs to re-do her driving test, but thankfully neither of us is a constant craver, so we don't need to abseil down a windmill!

Everything

Been to see "The Theory of Everything" this evening. Excellent film - expecting to see a mention or two when the Oscar nominations come out on Thursday ...

Sportsman

Been out for dinner this evening to The Sportsman in Seasalter. Top quality. Someone insisted on taking pictures of the food to prove how good it was.

Week

A whole week back at work completed. My first in quite some time. Two days in the office, two in Brighton, and one in London, and truth be told, I'm fairly tired. Probably as much due to the fact that I'd got rather used to being off for Christmas and taking it easy as much as anything. Certainly in the early part of the week falling asleep on the sofa in the evening seemed to be happening a fair amount. I think Jake was a bit disappointed with me when I kept missing the Wimbledon attacks against Liverpool in the FA Cup coverage. I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things pretty soon.

One of the things that has definitely improved as the week has gone on has been the driving. During the course of the week I've done somewhere between 300 and 400 miles (which is more than I'd done since the start of December), and whilst I was certainly fine and safe throughout, I was aware at the start of the week that driving did require far more conscious effort than in really should. Having been driving for a long time, I've always considered myself to be a very good driver, and able to anticipate what all of the other road users around me are up to based on the littlest things, and because of the amount of time I spend in the car, it was almost second nature. However, certainly at the start of the week, it felt a lot more like hard work and something that required active concentration. Probably just a question of being out of practice, and I was aware yesterday and today that things were starting to feel a little bit more like normal, which is great news. Looking forward to more of the same next week. (Also looking forward to my new car arriving, which should hopefully be within the next couple of weeks.)

Back

Back home from my first stay of the year in Brighton already. I approve of one night stays - far more civilised than having to camp out there for an entire week!

Charlie

What a horrible day.

Je Suis Charlie

Returned

A call to the nice people at Crawley library in December secured one more renewal on a whole load of books over Christmas, and so today I took two heavy bags back in and returned a dozen books! Decided not to take any more out just now as have plenty of Medway loans on the go, and not too sure whether I will be in Crawley when the return date comes around.

Wombles

Back to work today, and survived a whole day in the office. The bad news is that apparently I have to do another on again tomorrow. Not sure I'm cut out for this work malarkey!

Been watching the AFC Wimbledon (I like their mascot!) vs. Liverpool tie this evening in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, and there was much excitement when Akinfenwa scored (he was playing for Gillingham when we went to see them last year), but sadly in the end Liverpool, or more accurately, Steven Gerrard, were just too good for them.

Down

The decorations are down, packed up, and back in the loft, and whilst tomorrow is twelfth night (see this post for clarification), we decided that getting things stowed away today in preparation for returns to work and school tomorrow was probably the best plan.

As soon as decorations had come down, the cats were providing assistance, including curling up on top of garlands, and sleeping in the midst of bubble wrap. Still, as this post from last year proves, they are clearly creatures of habit.

Still, the festive season was fun - we got some new Christmas jumpers, and even the family pets got into the Christmas spirit!

TJ's

A trip into Maidstone this morning - the plan had been for Jake to come with us for a cooked breakfast, but the pull of the penultimate lay in was too strong, and so he missed out on the new TJ's Diner in town (which we only found by chance), but didn't seem too bothered by, given that we was still fast asleep when we got back!

As for the rest of the day, pottering about at home whilst it rained ("good weather for the new grass") and then a stroll up the road this evening to catch up with the Anderson family and compare notes on Christmas breaks.

Milestone

New Year - new plans. As promised, we are making a start on redecorating of Jake's room, which today comprised a trip to the carpet shop to place an order, followed by picking up a selection of tester-pots in Homebase. Not too exciting, but things have picked up this evening with an online order of a couple of new chairs to replace the Poangs. I think some sorting out may start tomorrow.

As for milestones, it was exactly 20 years ago today that I started work with my current employer!

New Year

New Year - new post - it has been too long without anything, and about time that I got back into posting.

Easing into things, a few bits of random news that occur to me from the last few weeks:

• I pretty much had December off from work, and feel equal parts ready and raring to go for getting back to work next week, along with a little bit of trepidation too!
• Since last posting, we've had confirmation that Jake will be having a two week half term in October / November again this year, and so we've booked some flights to Orlando, hence the updated countdown on the blog.
• Lots of work has taken place in the garden and we now have a new wall and path and lots of new turf, and it is possible to get between house and lodge without getting muddy.
• Christmas came and went with lots of family time, and lots of lovely presents for all. We've even managed to eat most of the food from the freezer by now.

And a couple of things from today:

• Dinner at Cote in Bluewater as a New Year treat from John and Margaret, although John did nearly walk out when he discovered that they were out of both whitebait and mussels!
• An amazing result at White Hart Lane as Spurs beat Chelsea 5-3. Spurs are up to 5th, and Chelsea manage to stay top, but have the exact same stats as Man City, so only remain above them alphabetically!