We're at Ponti's at Covent Garden. Having lunch before Oliver.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Sunny London
Took a walk along Embankment on my way back to the station, partly because Blackfriars tube is closed, but mostly as it's such a lovely day. Mind you, in glorious weather like this we really should be on holiday in the South of France! Get me to Nice!
Saturday, 30 May 2009
200 days
It's a lovely sunny day here, and the ice cream man has just been along our road so it was 99's all round (Nicky's pupil even had one!). Jake is wearing his Chelsea strip and has just started to watch the build up to the Cup Final. He's hoping that he'll be able to brag to the people a few doors down from us in a few hours time, as they've got an Everton flag draped over their balcony.
200 days today until we go on holiday to Florida (and we've got two more holidays lined up before then - a week in Dorset at the start of the summer holidays and a 4 day cruise at the end of the summer). We're pretty much all set now, as we've finalised flight and accommodation arrangements. We're really looking forward to staying at the Beach Club Villas, which whilst we've been there for meals before (as well as occasional sneaky parking for Epcot!) it'll be our first time staying there.
As always there will be new things to do in Florida when we are there. The temptation to have a trip to one or both of Universal and Sea World will be pretty strong, as they will both have new coasters which since our last visit. Two new DVC venues will be open as well, the Treehouse Villas and Bay Lake Towers.
There are some pictures of one of the grand villas at Bay Lake on Allears, and they do look rather splendid. The only problem is that a week in peak season is 1287 points - ouch!! That's more than we could manage if we both carried forward one year's points and borrowed another year! Still a trip to the Treehouse Villas could be on the cards in a couple of years time - the good thing about them is that they do three bed villas for the same number of points as a two bed at SSR. That way we could take Nanny and Grandad, and Jake could take a friend, and there would be enough space for everyone to have a room (with Jake + friend sharing the twin room). Allears also has some good pictures of the Treehouses.
200 days today until we go on holiday to Florida (and we've got two more holidays lined up before then - a week in Dorset at the start of the summer holidays and a 4 day cruise at the end of the summer). We're pretty much all set now, as we've finalised flight and accommodation arrangements. We're really looking forward to staying at the Beach Club Villas, which whilst we've been there for meals before (as well as occasional sneaky parking for Epcot!) it'll be our first time staying there.
As always there will be new things to do in Florida when we are there. The temptation to have a trip to one or both of Universal and Sea World will be pretty strong, as they will both have new coasters which since our last visit. Two new DVC venues will be open as well, the Treehouse Villas and Bay Lake Towers.
There are some pictures of one of the grand villas at Bay Lake on Allears, and they do look rather splendid. The only problem is that a week in peak season is 1287 points - ouch!! That's more than we could manage if we both carried forward one year's points and borrowed another year! Still a trip to the Treehouse Villas could be on the cards in a couple of years time - the good thing about them is that they do three bed villas for the same number of points as a two bed at SSR. That way we could take Nanny and Grandad, and Jake could take a friend, and there would be enough space for everyone to have a room (with Jake + friend sharing the twin room). Allears also has some good pictures of the Treehouses.
Monday, 25 May 2009
Front garden
We decided to get Mike to do the rebuilding of the garden wall for us at Haig, and that we would take on the front garden by ourselves. As always, stage one is clearance, and I must say that we've made some fantastic progress yesterday and today - we've knocked down all of the wall to the left of the gate looking out (well, those bits of it that hadn't fallen down already) and we've pretty much cleared the garden. We liberally applied the weedkiller before we left, and hopefully that will have soaked in well before the rain started. Next time we go we can do some more raking up and digging over, and then I think that we should be ready for membrane and gravel.
(Lots more Haig photos now uploaded to Flickr.)
We also had a trip over to B&Q this afternoon to make some notes of prices for a few things:
(Lots more Haig photos now uploaded to Flickr.)
We also had a trip over to B&Q this afternoon to make some notes of prices for a few things:
- light fitting for kitchen
- interior door handles
- paint (lots of it - walls, ceilings, gate, garage, garage door ...)
- sprayer + lots of stain for garden fence
- wood and plastic sheeting for new garage windows
Keeps us out of mischief!
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!
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!
Monday, 27 April 2009
Sunday blogging
It's Sunday morning so it must be swim-blog time! We've got Mum and Dad coming over for roast lunch today, followed by a trip to Haig and a chance to discuss final arrangements before what will hopefully be completion next week. Should provide for some "interesting" but
productive discussion.
Garden clearance is coming on well - in fact you can pretty much see the garage from the house now - the first time that's been the case in a few years methinks (judging by the size of some of the branches and trunks I was sawing through yesterday).
When I was there on Tuesday evening three of the four eggs had hatched into little bundles of fluff with open beaks pointing skywards. But yesterday the nest was completely empty. I can't believe that they would have been ready to fly the nest in such a short time. Seems as though this is an example of the harsher side of nature and that the local cats may have enjoyed an extra meal. I just hope that I hadn't contributed to their downfall by removing some of the brambles and making the nest more accessible. If I did then I'm really sorry.
Sawing away yesterday I did for the cheap saw that we bought from Asda so we're going to pop in and request a replacement on our way back from swimming. Whilst we're there I'm going to ask the pharmacist if they have any whizzy new hay fever remedies this year. Mine is just terrible at the moment. No doubt the garden work isn't helping but I don't think that is the main cause. Nicky will vouch for the fact that I'm a miserable bugger when I'm sneezing every 30 seconds!
productive discussion.
Garden clearance is coming on well - in fact you can pretty much see the garage from the house now - the first time that's been the case in a few years methinks (judging by the size of some of the branches and trunks I was sawing through yesterday).
When I was there on Tuesday evening three of the four eggs had hatched into little bundles of fluff with open beaks pointing skywards. But yesterday the nest was completely empty. I can't believe that they would have been ready to fly the nest in such a short time. Seems as though this is an example of the harsher side of nature and that the local cats may have enjoyed an extra meal. I just hope that I hadn't contributed to their downfall by removing some of the brambles and making the nest more accessible. If I did then I'm really sorry.
Sawing away yesterday I did for the cheap saw that we bought from Asda so we're going to pop in and request a replacement on our way back from swimming. Whilst we're there I'm going to ask the pharmacist if they have any whizzy new hay fever remedies this year. Mine is just terrible at the moment. No doubt the garden work isn't helping but I don't think that is the main cause. Nicky will vouch for the fact that I'm a miserable bugger when I'm sneezing every 30 seconds!
(Note - Sunday blogging not sent until Monday as didn't synchronise my ipod when I got back! And I can confirm that our discussions were productive and we should definitely be on for completion on 5 May.)
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Easter Eggs
Well the Easter holidays are just about done - Jake is tucked up in bed ready to go back to school tomorrow morning, and we've had a pretty busy time of it, even if I was back to work from the Tuesday after Easter.
Today we've been round at Haig Avenue, and clearance is coming on well in the garden. I went round in the morning whilst Nicky and Jake were at swimming, and then we were all there after lunch (roast with John and Margaret - they are off to the airport at some ungodly hour in the morning to get a plane to Barcelona to start their cruise).
Still, we had a bonfire at Haig yesterday evening, after we'd been to Wickes to buy a new incinerator.
The Pitt family came to visit yesterday, and I took Kate and Phil to see Haig. At least they can now see the project that we've taken on at the "before" stage.
Other things we've been up to during the Easter holidays:
- eating far too much chocolate, of course
- Jake having friends over for a sleepover (good timing as we were able to wedge our old mattress into Jake's room for some of them to sleep on, as our lovely comfy new mattress arrived on the same day - Barley certainly likes it!)
- a trip down to the seaside at Dymchurch for a play in the penny arcades and games on the beach
- a day trip to France for stocking up on wine. The Euro exchange rate may not be much good at the moment, but the wine's still pretty cheap!
By the way, the egg picture at the top - a nest found today in one of the trees at Haig Avenue!
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