Furry Four Foot

PJ's parent's new Jack Russell Terrier puppy ... I'd forgotten the "if they can get into trouble... they probably will" rule that puppies live upto. He likes crunching snails... eating gravel... and biting ears. He's rather lovely tho

Tour Guide John

I drove over to Leeds to see John, and we headed to Bradford to the newly renamed "National Media Museum". http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/ It would of course be helpful if the road signs actually reflected the name change;) Here we can see John being squashed outside. .... yet looking remarkably cheery despite this ;)

We also journeyed to the village of Saltaire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltaire , and specifically Salt's Mill http://www.saltsmill.org.uk/index.php .Which has been feautred on a couple of BBC programmes over the past year.

Later John did his tour guide Barbie Impression around Leeds City Centre - I'm sure he remembered where we parked my car really .. didn't you John? ;)

I had a lovely afternoon.. it was good of him to take time off to see me... and to suffer my driving:)

Finally..... a balloon dog of my very own

After years of telling me he could... PJ finally made me a balloon dog... and then taught me how to add to my inflatable family by creating my own ;) Hours of fun and rubberised squeaking for all the family. ( Ah ha....Now I know why he likes it ;) )

... be seeing you...

Sunday saw a worsening of the weather conditions.. and so off to Porthmadog for ( a quite frankly god-awful) lunch and then a trip to Portmerion. http://www.portmeirion-village.com/ . I'd not been for well over a decade.. and nothing has changed.. but I guess that's rather the point. Most of it seems to be gift shops and tea rooms.


It's perhaps most famous for being the location for the 1960's TV series "The Prisoner" http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/prisoner/

I am not a number... but I do have a barcode.

Didn't we have a lov-er-lee time the day we went to ......

Caernarfon... Porthmadog and Portmerion. Hmmmn does have quite the same ring as "Bangor", but I went there too.

Time off work.. and headed to Wales to see Mike and Ben. The weather was very kind on Saturday... and so we went on the Welsh Highland Railway.. as their website says a "12-mile journey from our main station in Caernarfon, overlooked by the magnificent castle, to the village of Rhyd Ddu nestling 650 feet above sea level on the slopes of Snowdon" http://www.welshhighlandrailway.net/index.asp

Strange sights No: 63 : A microwave in a field of sheep

It was on this journey that I noticed... in a field of sheep, near the fence, a microwave oven.. under a large piece of slate! Bizarre wasn't the word... (everyone knows that 'Greece is the word' anyway;) )...it hadn't just been dumped there... it had been neatly placed.. which the slate on top. The question "why?" springs immediately to mind. Answers on a postcard or a sealed down envelope to the usual address please.

Random pictures follow... (sadly non of the microwave... I was too in shock to focus the camera in time)

Regression is nine/ tenths of the law

Do you ever have one of those days... when you just wonder about your own mental state.. or what you are doing with your life?

I spent Saturday evening (yes Saturday evening.. when most people are off painting the town red.. or at least a light shade of muted orange) with friends .. watching Camberwick Green and then Dangermouse on DVD (the back up plan had been The Simpson's game of Life) .

Admittedly I wasn't feeling all that well... and it was somewhat of a last minute choice to go at all... but I rather enjoyed it. As did my friends... I think Gromit (the sofa arm remote control tidy) was less than impressed tho. Oh dear.. I'm taking pictures of stuffed toys!!! HELP!

Soggy balls.... ?

Well the Tennis is over for another year... friends get very little sense out of me for those 2 weeks a year (some might argue there isn't much sense the rest of the time either).

Yes Wimbledon occupied most of the BBC's output for 13 days.. and this year was more than a little water logged. In fact I read somewhere it was the wettest for 25 years.

It started with disappointment ( in British terms, with Andy Murray withdrawing before it started .. and Henman failing to get past the second round (despite a "classic Henman" performance over Moya in round one.)... but ended on the second Sunday with Jamie Murray winning the mixed doubles title with Jelena Jankovic.. to much chest thumping and Union flag waving on Centre Court. Nadal proved that he really is a force to be reckoned with.. even on his least favourite surface (Grass) Federer looking vulnerable for the first time in years, and the emergence/blossoming of some young talent... namely (in the men's game) Djokovic (for some very impressive matches through to the semis before retiring with injuries), and Gasquet who played a fantastic 3 sets to over-turn Andy Roddick's impressive lead in the quarter finals) An interesting fortnight all round really.

It's ok .. I've stopped now... you can stop snoring ;)

NCP Opens world's smallest car park

With kind permission of my friend John in Leeds, here is a picture he took earlier today. I know it's difficult to find a car park space these days.... but really.

Maybe the driver should leave honing their "finding the tighest parking space possible" skill... in favour of learning how to "keep the car on the road in the first place" :)

Multicultural activites in Castlefield

It was my friend Arno's birthday last week and several of us went to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate. ( we even let Arno come with us.. yes we are THAT kind ) :)

It was an interesting and enjoyable evening... having to explain to birthday boy what 'the bumps' were.... and watching him breaking eggs under the instruction of the Chef in the restaurant .

Then Paul had a go. I kept thinking of the swedish Chef from the Muppets.... You could only tell the difference by the colour of the hat. Yes...the Muppet was the one in the green hat... in case you were wondering :)

The food was excellent.. and Arno had a cake and the staff singing at him and banging things ;) Which was my doing... evil James.

You could lie... and say you missed me... ;)

Yes.. I'm back again.

I now have a new bathroom... make a bit of a change not to have a hole in the floor and to have a toilet that flushes properly.

The dining room/study has also been replastered and 'made over'... it's all very exciting (and expensive). I also have a pile of wood/ rubbish that needs to be taken to the tip but despite a couple of people offering to help me move it... neither of them actually showed up... still maybe this week it will get sorted. I still have a lot of decoration to do... but I seem to have developed an aversion to paint rollers/ brushes/ paint etc ;)

Plastered

I don't think I'm ever going to get any work done to my house ever again. Two reasons for this 1) I won't be able to afford to after this week 2) the stress/dust/ and effort in chasing people to do things has led to a greying around the temples ;) I think next time I want something doing... I'll just move house.

So I had the boiler moved/ replaced... and I was left with a hole in the chimney breast where the boiler used to be... and an airing cupboard without anything in it... so I had the hole bricked up.. and the cupboard removed. I also had some extra sockets put in while the flooring was up. Then the plaster started dropping off the wall. Such fun. So I had to locate a plasterer at VERY short notice... as the builder said there was now too much for him to plaster. Now I need to get the room replastered.. before I can decorate.. and I need to decorate before I can have the new floor laid. I have the flooring... I have someone on stand by to fit the flooring... I have the paint and I have (make that HAD) a very kind friend who was coming to help me this weekend to paint... but I had no plasterer.

This is set against the backdrop of water leak in the kitchen and having to work round appliances in the middle of the floor while the floorboards elsewhere dry out. Plus I'm having the bathroom replaced .. and I've had no bath/shower for 10 days! (longer than expected thanks to the discovery of rotten floor joists etc etc... )

I used to have a bathroom.....

Yes... next time.... I'm definitely moving instead ;)