myblonde.blogspot.com

Into the New Year...

2011-12-27T11:21:00.002Z

So, already we are looking back at Christmas 2011, still feeling rather over wined and dined. It has been a very enjoyable time this year. having had time to enjoy the different facets of our evolving family and friends. From an evening with Jools Holland to Cathedral choir concert, the Exeter Children's Orchestra Christmas concert, meals out with work colleagues at the Conservatory and with Jacky and Mike at Quo Vadis and the Christmas morning Cathedral service with Steve and Sarah. Family times over Christmas and Boxing day were pleasant, laid back affairs with more than enough food and drink. Before we left work for the Christmas break we had already managed to do the best December figures since opening the Polsloe Bridge sit , so we were able to relax a bit more as a result.
With so many things happening Europe and Worldwide it's difficult to know what we can expect for business in 2012. As a family we are all, in one way or another, involved in Steve's business', so we just hope that some of the magic formulas and ways of operating we seem to be developing will pay off even more in the coming year and beyond.
2012 is not going to be an easy ride but hard work and determination never hurt anyone and I do think we can emerge substantially stronger during this year if we continue to keep focused on the positive work ethics we have established over the last few years.

How to programme a cat...

2011-11-28T18:25:00.005Z

When you decide that it is time to own a cat and you have chosen your little furry moggy, don't forget there will be various extras required. Various injections, litter trays and food and of course the cat will need to be micro chipped. This will ensure if it lands in anyone else's garden they can take it to the vet who can read the post code and post it back to you, simples!
Unfortunately the cat will, at some time or, unless it is totally neurotic, want to go outside and explore the big wide world. To facilitate this you will need to cut a big hole in your back door and fit a cat flap. Once trained, the cat will then be able to go in and out without asking permission first. If you want added protection from other cats who will want to occupy your house you can fit a cat flap with a sensor that opens the cat flap when yours and only your cat sticks its head in the flap, very useful. Of course you have to get the micro chip in the cat to talk to the sensor in the cat flap so it recognises your cat only. The process for this is easy but often omitted from the instructions with the cat flap. Follow the following simple instructions and you will have a fully operational cat flap for the life of the cat. Hold the cat under your arm and close, about a metre from the cat flap ( check batteries first ) - press the nose of the cat three times, then move the right leg forward and back twice and finally wind the tail in a clockwise direction twice. Point the cat into the flap and you should see the it unlock so the cat can go through. Now your cat is fully programmed to your cat flap and you should have years of trouble free mousing!

Roman Holiday - seven days in the eternal city

2011-10-09T14:52:00.016+01:00

We have just have had a fantastic seven days in Rome, such an amazing city with so much to see. Keeping a diary was essential to try to remember different places. Every church or Basilica visited had it's own lavish ceilings, mosaics, frescoes, sculptures and decoration and it was quite difficult to take it all in. The sheer size and space in many of the buildings was incredible and the extent of decoration adorning virtually every wall and ceiling in the churches and places we visited was awesome. The following notes were made each day.

Monday 26 - Departed Bristol on Easy Jet flight to Rome Fiumicino. Smooth 2.5hr flight. Several people on our flight, including ourselves, were a little concerned when it took 1.5hrs to reclaim our baggage - a bit slow but apparently not unusual for Rome airport! A transfer taxi was waiting for us in the terminal and drove us very speedily through Rome to our hotel. The Amalfi Hotel was situated on the street close to the Church of St Maria Maggoire, which was fairly central for most of the main tourist sites. We were welcomed by the very pleasant reception staff and shown to our room which was small but quite adequate with a good size bathroom and shower and air conditioned. We unpacked and set up camp before taking a brief rest.
We were recommended to a restaurant near the hotel which was designed like an old cave. The food was quite good and there was a classical singer with piano accompanist. There was a Japanese party having a meal many of whom were very amused by the singer. After dinner we had a stroll around the local area before returning to the hotel and crashing out for the night.

Tuesday 27 -One very useful item we took with us was a guide to Rome (DK). It was brilliant in pointing us to the main and not so main places of interest and we found it invaluable. We followed a walk. today, from the book taking us to a series of mosaics. We began at San Giovanni Basilica where the apse mosaic was very impressive. Various side apses had incredibly complex ceiling designs and paintings. The sheer size and space inthe place was amazing, originally the banqueting hall of Pope Leo 3rd (795-816 AD). We walked back via a couple of churches that were closed and then headed back to Santa Maria Maggoire which was very close to our hotel. This was such a huge space with floors and ceilings covered with superb designs using mosaic and lots of gold. This is a working church and there were various services going on in sides chapels which meant there was also various singing and music going on. There were priests in confessionals for different languages and we spent some time just sitting and taking in the atmosphere which was quite powerful. After leaving Santa Maria Maggoire we spotted the church of Santa Prassede, located in a little side street. The mosaics inside this church were apparently the most important Byzantine mosaics in Rome. The quality of these mosaics was amazing and the mosaic floor was beautifully designed. It was a warm balmy evening and so we ate outside at a small street cafe which was excellent.

Wednesday 28 - After breakfast today we revisited Santa Prassede to take a few more photos - this was fine until we got caught up with a funeral talking place in the church. It seemed they just carried on regardless of the tourists walking around! We took a walk around the area to the the Garrdini Piazza Vittorio where we found a shady seat to sit for a while and read. We had an amusing conversation with three Italian blokes about all sorts. As they only spoke Italian and we only spoke English I'm not sure if we were talking about the same things but it was fun to try! After lunch at a street cafe we were picked up from our hotel for a tour of the Colosseum. We were taken to the Palentino where we had a walk around the ancient Rome ruins and buildings. It was amazing to see the way the old Roman city had been laid out and how it must have been, walking through on the original basalt road. the Colosseum was spectacular both in its sheer size and the way it was constructed. It would have been even more awesome in Roman times. After viewing the Colosseum from all levels we walked back to the hotel through the Colle Oppio park and took some shots of the Colosseum with sun going down. Later found a friendly bistro where we had an excellent meal including home made Tiramasu!

Thursday 29 - Today we had an early start for an excursion to the Vatican City. We went to wait for the minibus outside the hotel but the manager insisted we had some breakfast and assured us that the driver would come in to collect us. He did and waited for us to finish our coffee, very civilised! the drive through some extremely narrow side streets was entertaining and demonstrated some pretty skillfull driving. We transferred to a large coach which took us to the Vatican. We walked around the city walls to the entrance and then made our way through several very long corridors to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo's frescoes. The corridors were immense with highly decorated with 'Trompe l'oille' ceilings painted to look like relief and with wall covered in artworks. The galleries close to the Sistine Chapel had actual carved relief ceilings and wall frescoes depicting all the various areas of Italy. Michelangelo's 'Last Judgement' in the Sistine took seven years to complete (in 1541). The work was highly complex and covered the ceiling and main walls. It was a real treat to see the original of such a well known work even if the Sistine Chapel itself lacked any real prescence. We went on to St Peter's basilica which was immense and full of amazing artwork and the massive dome designed by Michelangelo. The 17th century guilded bronze canopy by Bernini, the papal altar from 1592 and the ceiling covered with the most amazing mosaic work you could ever see. Unless you knew it looks like painted frescoes but it is actually all covered with small pieces of mosaic glass! Totally amazing! Spent some time in St Peter's square before picking up a open top bus to travel back to hotel for a break. Later we enjoyed another excellent meal at a local bistro with beautifully presented food.

Friday 30 - After a well deserved lie in, we headed for the Trevi fountain on the open top city bus. Actually getting on was a bit of a problem as it was very busy. We only managed a downstairs seat (not brilliant on a tour bus) and went as far as the Castel Saint Angelo a large circular fortress near the Vatican City built in AD139 as Hadrian's morsoleum. It was a very impressive place and we explored various rooms on different levels including the Sala Paolina, a highly decorated room with frescoes by Perin De Vagna and Pellegrino Tibaldi (1546-48). The whole place was full of interest and as you make your way to the top the view becomes ever better, until at to top there are stunning views across Rome and the Vatican City. We enjoyed lunch overlooking St Peter's basilica, accompanied by a friendly pigeon! After leaving the Castel we used the city tour bus round to the Trevi fountain. The fountain was quite amazing but there were just far too many people there. Surprisingly, when we took a walk a few metres into some side streets there was hardly anyone! Here we found an archeological site under the Trevi cinema with some building and street remains which we were able to explore and a church near the fountain where we found some peace and quiet for a few minutes. We picked up the last tour bus back to the terminal and walked back to the hotel. After a break we re-visited the same bistro as last evening. Another fantastic meal ending with more Tiramasu an Limoncello both superb!

Saturday 1 Oct - We decided after our late start yesterday that we would make sure of a top deck seat on the city tour bus, so took an early breakfast and walked to the terminal before the first bus left. We had a choice of seats upstairs and it was a beautifully warm, breezy morning, perfect for a bus tour. We took the bus as far as the Piazza di Espagna where the Spanish Steps stretch up from the piazza to the 16 century church of Trinita dei Monti at the top of the hill. As you ascend the steps the views of the Piazza di Espagna and the city keep getting better and from the top they are quite spectacular. The Trinita dei Monti is a peaceful church with a very serene atmosphere. From here we went just along the road to the Villa Medici, arriving just in time to join a tour of the gardens. Thia 16th century villa is superbly positioned on Pincio Hill. It has been owned by the French since 1666 and founded as an academy of music and the arts by Louis 14th as a place for musicians and artists to study. Debussy and Berlioz both studied there. The villa was beautiful with lovely formal gardens with statues in several areas. The views were even better than those at Trinta dei Monti. We were able to have lunch in the villa in the large relaxing rooms with sofas and small tables. After buying an Italian salads book from the Medici bookshop we went on to the Pincio Gardens, a large public park where people were sitting in the shade, strolling or riding allsorts of bike, buggies and pedalos etc. A pleasant place to spend an hour relaxing. We walked down the hill to the Piazza di Espagna and as it was about 3.30pm went into Babingtons Tea Rooms for afternoon tea! This very exclusive English tea room has been there for 119 years. Their special blend of tea was very good and the service impeccable. After tea we strolled down the Via Condotti, arguably the most exclusive street in Rome! All the name brands were there including Gucci, Bvlgari, Armarni and Versaci etc. very few of the displays had any prices, if you had to look at the price tag you couldn't afford it. Personal assistants were waiting to open the door for you, I managed to steer Marg through without losing my credit card! We did visit the Ferrari store which had one of Michael Shumacher's F1 Ferarris on display. Everything here was mega price - leather key tag €68 and model Ferrari €5000! Obviously we had to have some retail therapy and we found a Pandora bracelet store near Via Condotti where Marg bought a bracelet which can be added to over the years. (Thank you Angela!) Since the time had run out on our tour bus ticket we purchased some normal bus tickets to get back to the hotel. Unfortunately we couldn't find the right bus so took a taxi instead. Just at the taxi pulled out the police blocked the road and everyone including a large bus had to reverse out of a small street and go a different way. After a few minutes of sorting the traffic out we were then taken on a detour around the back streets on our way back to Santa Maria Maggoire and the hotel!

Sun 2 -Had a lie in today and had breakfast about 9.00am before taking a taxi to the Pantheon. When we arrived it was closed until the Sunday service had finished at 12.00 so we spent some time exploring the surrounding area and enjoyed a coffee on the piazza overlooking the Pantheon. The surge of the waiting crowd wanting to visit the Pantheon before those in the service had all come out was a bit obscene, to say the least. Little respect shown there! Once w did get in it was quite impressive with a huge dome and massive granite support columns. The support walls for the Pantheon are 19 feet thick! Built on the original Pantheon by Hadrian in AD118-25, the dome is covered with a design that is coffered to reduce weight but keep strength. Raphael is buried in the Pantheon. After leaving the Pantheon we walked aroung to see the remains of Hadrians Temple.The eleven marble columns which formed the front of the temple have been integrated into the Papal Customs house which has now become the Rome stock exchange building. We explored the narrow, shady streets that were full of small business', cafe's and bars until we arrived at the church of Sant Ignazio di Loyola. This church was stunningly decorated with an amazing Baroque ceiling by Andrea Pozzo in 1685. The quality and extent of the decoration in a church of this size was quite incredible. Our next venue was the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj to look at the artwork collection in the villa of the family Pamphilj. The audio guide we followed was brilliant as it was narrated by a member of the Pamphilj family in impeccable English and which made you feel like a personally invited guest of the family looking around their villa. The collection included works by Caravaggio, Titian, Lutto and Gvercino. The whole place was a vast art gallery with hundreds of paintings and sculptures, including the portrait of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj by Velaquez. This painting was superb, as was the carved bust of the pope displayed with it. The most decorative gallery was intended to be a pastiche of Versailles and was quite incredible with gold painted pillars enhanced by the natural light of windows on both sides. This gallery was one of the highlights of the week! We wandered back to the Pantheon for our first Italian ice cream. It was very pleasant to be taking in the atmosphere around the Pantheon on an Italian Sunday afternoon. We taxied back to the hotel to recap on the day and prepared to go out for our final meal in Rome. We had booked at the bistro we visited on Wednesday, and had an excellent meal finishing with several Limoncello's with the owners who were really a really interesting couple.

Mon 3 - We had time in the morning to buy a few things for the family and finish packing before being picked up in a rather nice black Mercedes which took us to the airport. Not sure that texting is the best thing to be doing whilst driving through busy traffic in Rome! Obviously the Italians are better at multi tasking than we Brits are! The flight back was very good and we arrived at Bristol to face wind and rain. That was really good, there's nothing worse that getting back from holiday to better weather than you have left behind! All in all this was one of the best holidays we have had and I would definitely go back for another look at the Eternal city of Rome. Just as well I threw some coins in the Trevi fountain!

A Special Day......

2011-09-04T18:05:00.008+01:00

Finding a relaxing retreat with a definite wow factor to celebrate a Ruby wedding anniversary is not easy but the hotel on Burgh Island hits the spot in so many ways. On arrival we were whisked across the sand bar in a Discovery right to the hotel door, knowing that in an hour or so the tide would be covering the access and the island would be truly cut off from the mainland. The beautifully designed Art Deco building beckons in a romantic and slightly mysterious Agatha Christie sort of way. Being shown to our suite, themed around Josephine Baker, we became more aware that we were entering a different time zone in which the clocks have been turned back to the twenties and thirties. Every room and every vista is designed with original Art Deco furniture, fittings and panache which gives a wonderful feeling of actually stepping back in time. Yet, Burgh Island manages to combine this time warp with an exceptional quality of service in every respect. The Josephine Baker suite included a large and comfortable bedroom with dramatic blacks white and reds, a bathroom with marbled floor and a sitting room with attractive red leather suite with zebra cushions, various Art Deco cupboards, tables and fittings including a Bush radio on which we could tune into Classic FM which just finished the ambience. We were welcomed into our suite which had a dozen red roses and bottle of Bollanger courtesy of Jackie and Mike. So we unpacked and then sat on the sun deck and downed a bottle of champers and a few chocolate biscuits. Of course slipping back to 1930 takes a bit of getting used to. Preparing for dinner becomes a more involved and time consuming process of bathing, pampering and checking clothes are fitting correctly and looking right. Pre dinner canope's and cocktails in the Palm Court gave us the opportunity to experience more of the ambience and have a bit of banter with Gary the quite eccentric barman who was very amusing. Dinner in the ballroom is always a special event at Burgh Island and we were not disappointed as both the food and the service were first class. The setting, used in some of Agatha Christie's Poirot movies, is a stunning room in which to have dinner. We retired to our suite to relax with a little music to find curtains drawn and bed turned down, a nice touch..
Saturday started with tea and coffee brought to our room and a tasty breakfast in the dining room around 9.30. We decide to stay on the island for the whole day and just chill and enjoy the surroundings. After reading the morning papers we took a stroll right around the island, not very far but with some fabulous views of the surrounding coastline and rock formations and some very scary sheer drops and cliffs. Not a place to bring young children unless they can fly! An hour of fresh air meant we required a drink so we sat in the Palm Court for a further hour and read our books. After this we retired to our suite and listened to the radio until taking afternoon tea and playing scrabble back in the Palm Court. It's quite tiring being a decadent person of the 1930's, there's just so much to do! It wasn't long before we had to start thinking about preparing for dinner again! Saturday evening dinner is even more special, with live music and everyone expected to wear black tie! Dress and jewellery was even more sparkly, mostly Marg's that is! and it wasn't long before we were back in the Palm Court sipping more cocktails and trying even more exotic canope', I passed on the squid, (that is correct 'I passed on the squid'!). The three piece jazz band, piano, bass and female vocal was in full swing by the time we started our meal, playing a list of songs from the era and providing a fun feel to the room. A few people ventured on to the dance floor giving those watching some amusement although the band did not really connect as well as it might have, but it was fun and we enjoyed the music and the food. We retired to our suite around eleven and chilled for another hour or so doing a crossword and listening to some more classical music.
Sunday arrived with more tea's, coffee's and breakfast. Reading some of the vast amount in the Sunday paper took an hour or so after breakfast before we had to pack our cases to vacate the suite. Having invited Ian and Angela to share lunch on the island with us we took a stroll up the hill to get some fresh air and watched part of a 'round the island charity swim' in which apparently 200 people took part. It looked pretty choppy on the far side of the island and, I imagine, quite hard going. After Ian and Angela joined us we enjoyed another meal and conversation before it was time to leave the island. We were duly shipped back to the mainland in the Discovery and taken back to the garage where we had left our car. It was an exceptional way to celebrate 40 years of marriage, both very enjoyable and very special. So thanks to Burgh Island for creating such a special place and thanks to Marg for sticking with me for such a long time and making it possible for us to celebrate this special day....

Will post some pics on flickr asap.... try the link...

Back To The Island......

2011-08-31T19:49:00.002+01:00

This weekend is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it is the celebration of Marg and my 40th wedding anniversary. The time seems to have disappeared pretty quickly and we are still getting on ok, surprisingly, and looking forward to the next 40! We have watched our two kids grow up into adults and produce five grandchildren between them, and now they are growing up seemingly even quicker! But they are all real individuals and it's lovely to see how they are developing (the big ones and the little ones!!)
For a special treat we are going back to Burgh Island and staying at the Art Deco hotel for the weekend. We know how special the place is and are looking forward to going back for a real stay.

40 years ago we were both part of Gospel Folk group with our best friends Ros and Steve. The 4th September is not only our 40th wedding anniversary but also Steve's 60th birthday. This week we were very amused to discover that the album we recorded as as group back in 1972 (The Trouble With Adam - Exordium) has appeared twice on e-bay this week as 'Rare Christian Folk Acoustic Album' and up for £45!! Music has always been very important to our family and in the last couple of years Blu has released several EP's with her band Girl Friday and my brother JJ Clarke has just released his second acoustic album 'Naked In The Headlights'. Steve is currently gigging with a local Rock band.

So it's happy big birthday to Steve Derges, happy revival to 'The Trouble With Adam', and happy anniversary to my lovely and long-suffering wife Marguerite who has put up with me for 40 years!!

The faded elegance of a French Chateau...

2011-06-30T21:29:00.006+01:00

Just arrived back from ten relaxing days in France. The first seven days at the Chateau in St Cyprien where we stayed last year. This is such a lovely house and one that gives a real taste of what aristocratic French life must have been. The faded elegance of the Chateau combined with the large park garden is a wonderful place to stay in the Dordogne. St Cyprien is a small town with red roofed houses, an Abbey and a collection of individual shops bars and bistro's. There is a strong and friendly community feel to the place and this was demonstrated during our stay by the street markets, the Fete de Musique and the weekly community meal. Emma and Nick were with us, arriving on Monday at Bergerac airport in about 30 degrees of sunshine. They were keen to spend some time on the Dordogne in canoes, so the week was split with some joint trips and some individual ones. On Tuesday, Emma and Nick spent the day canoeing 28Km down the river whilst Marg and I visited a chateau which belonged to Josephine Baker, a Folie Berger dancer of the 20's. To find out about her life story, which progressed from nude dancer to active member of the French Resistance during WW2 and on to supporting Martin Luther King in his fight against racial segregation in the USA where Josephine Baker had originated from was particularly interesting as we will be staying in the 'Josephine Baker' suite at Burgh Island in September. We also spent time visiting our favourite Dordogne haunts, Monpazier, Belves and Sarlat, all lovely places just to wander around for a couple of hours in the sunshine. This year we also went to Lascaux where the prehistoric cave paintings were found. They have recreated the cave and it was very interesting to see the artistic skills of these people and the history surrounding them. We spent more time at the chateau this year just relaxing and enjoying the place as well as having some lovely food both in and out. After our week in St Cyprien we drove up to the Charante Aquitaine area to spend a few days at Don Hatherley's cottage. From here we went into Royan where we revisited the amazing concrete cathedral and spent a few hours enjoying the coast on an extremely warm day (36 degrees). Emma and Nick made several trips on the train over the next few days whilst we relaxed and visited some of the local towns. All in all, a very good break with some excellent weather and the time to chill out in the surroundings of a place which is quite unique.

Lady Gaga wants peas.......

2011-06-06T21:02:00.002+01:00

Exeter Respect Festival took place this weekend. A multi cultural mini festival of music, arts, crafts, food and a platform to inform about a host of organisations. A vibrant array of colourful tents mixed with wonderful smells of different foods being prepared and a background wash of world music. The crowds were chilled out and the atmosphere really pleasant. The most surprising thing to me was the fact that this event was happening in Belmont Park, central Exeter. I'm sure there must have been lots of publicity but I don't think it reached the leafy suburbs! It was purely by chance I found out about it but would definitely go again. Well done Exeter Respect - a brilliant job!
After a last minute change to an audition, Blu had to jump the Megabus at Taunton services today and be collected to give some more studio writing time. What it is to be a rock star. I guess once Blu gets a limo or a helicopter to travel around i, it will be a little easier to change her schedule without upsetting the driver! Anyway by teatime Lady Gaga was extremely hungry and needed a plate of peas with a little chicken and some saute potatoes to get her back on task........

Carbon toe print blogging....

2011-05-30T17:36:00.003+01:00

The logic is this. By blogging on more of a 'needs must' basis, this will save time sitting at the computer screen with that feeling that you will let down all your friends if you don't blog something as well as saving oodles of time and of course using up less of the worlds precious resources. So as a fairly well meaning member of our well off western society, I can blog away every so often and only leave a toe print of carbon behind me!! (unless, of course I make it an extra long blog to make up for what I haven't blogged about....oh no!!!)
So, to play catch-up. Since my last blog only three months ago but the world has changed! Japan has experienced its worst earthquake, revolutions have taken place in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, and other Middle East countries, tornado's have devastated parts of Kansas, William and Kate have married, The Queen has been to Ireland, Obama has been to London and twitter is in the spotlight. On a personal front, I have done my first three hill climbs, we have spent time with some good old friends, Martin & Louise and Ros & Steve, Jacky has convalesced and returned home and Blu is now spending her time between here and Richmond. We are looking forward to a holidays at the chateau in St Cyprien in June, Burgh Island Hotel in September and Rome at the end of September to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary this year. To get right up to date, this weekend went to the Exmouth festival and watched and excellent set by Girlfriday including the latest song 'Rock Star' (just named it) - brilliant song and has got to be a hit!! Managed to repair my cross trainer this morning so fingers crossed it will keep going. So there you have it, from climate saving to mending my cross trainer in a few words, and I only had to blog once! Well, yes, I have left out quite a bit but not many people would ever notice...would they?

I don't Like Monday's....

2011-01-25T22:41:00.003Z

Sometimes days go really well and sometimes they just don't! This was one of those days. It was like this.....
I got up bright and early fully intending to arrive early for the meeting at Water Lane, opened the front door to leave to meet the gardener who had just arrived. Lucky you, you may think to have a gardener. True, but I thought he was coming on Wednesday so then, after spending five minutes discussing this with him realised that he was right and should have been there. So we then had a further five minutes discussing what he was going to fill his day with and what needed doing, something I prefer to have thought about before. Anyway, Marg was to be around for a while so I asked her to set him some specific tasks and went to get the car started. Marg's car was in the way so I found her keys and moved that before starting mine. My car has not missed a beat in two years but as soon as I switched on the engine I thought that it sounded strange and not firing on all cylinders.It will clear itself, I thought so made my way down the road. By the time I had gone a few hundred yards lights started to flash and the car sounded sicker by the minute. It could hardly make it over the rise at the top of the lane so I pulled in to stop before any damage might be done. I parked almost on a driveway entrance and phoned Terry. He suggested a recovery truck to Water Lane and said he would arrange that for me. I locked the car and walked back home to pick up my little Starlet race car. I knew it would be hard to start even using my jump pack but after four attempts it sprung into life so I had wheels again. As I passed my poor Bema I saw that some helpful student had wedged a Ka right up to my bumper and another almost as close behind. I couldn't imagine how any recovery truck was going to move the car and certainly didn't want to be there to watch! By this time I was extremely late but still had to get down to Water Lane because Steve needed a lift up to the sales site and apparently he had my keys. We eventually made it to the sales site from which point the following things happened. We found one car had been keyed down the side, the radio in a Toyota had mysteriously stopped working, one customer phoned with a fault with his car after only a few days, one car left outside with an unexplained fault, one e-mail with a bill for £100 for a fault on a car which wasn't fixed, a hassle regarding a faxed insurance and two cars to prepare before lunchtime to be delivered to customers. Normally we don't get many faults at all but just like buses.......you know the rest.
So by mid morning it felt like we had done a weeks work. Then a little chink of sunlight came over the site. A customer rode in on a bike (not normally a car sale) and after about half an hour agreed to by a little C1. so it was not all doom and gloom.
I say that quickly because it did seem that every thing I touched for the whole day either took twice as long or broke or didn't work. By the time I got home I was knackered. This was a Monday I will prefer to forget....

Eat, walk, chill, eat, walk, chill, eat......

2011-01-23T21:10:00.006Z

Both this and last weekend have been excellent. Last Saturday we left work early, around 3.00pm, and set of in two cars for London. We were heading for Camden Town and in particular the Dublin Castle pub where GirlFriday had a gig. It took about three and a half hours driving but we arrived in time to grab a pizza from a resturant opposite and have a chat with the band. We watched the previous band who had a good male lead singer and were quite tight. Then GirlFriday who were excellent in all respects throughout their set. The final band we very self indulgent and didn't impress so we didn't stay for the whole of their set. We stood around and chatted for another hour and then headed home in convoy back down the M4/M5, arriving around 3.00am. So all in all it was twelve hours of fun (if driving up a motorway is fun!).
This weekend we have had our friends Ian and Angela around and have chilled, walked and eaten lots (not necessarily in that order!)I l left work early (again!!) and had lunch at Darts Farm with Ian and Angela before meeting Marg who had a hair appointment in Topsham. We strolled around the Goat Walk before going back home. Later, we had a lovely meal at the Hour Glass pub and then watched a film (the musical 'Nine') when we got back in the cinema. (quite good but not a patch on Moulin Rouge which it was similar to)
Today we went for a walk around the University grounds after a late breakfast and even had time for a jam session, reviving some of the songs from past bands we have played in together and also a bit of improvising. Emma and Nick turned up with Robyn and Lola so got dragged into a bit of impromptu singing with us, which was a bit of a laugh and in which Lola played bongos! After tea together we spent some time deciding where we aim to go for a weekend together this year and have probably opted for Guernsey hopefully sometime in May. It was just a really relaxing time with friends and family and enjoyed (I think?) by everyone.

We don't need no resolutions!........

2011-01-02T16:56:00.010Z

Another year has arrived and we have lots to look forward to. We also have a mixed bag of memories from 2010 including our holiday in a chateau in St Cyprien (Dordogne), track days and hill climbs, family bereavement and some quite extreme weather. We are looking forward to this year as a little bit special as its our 40th wedding anniversary in September but I'm sure at least one of us will want to milk that for all its worth throughout the whole year! Finding the time to do things always seems quite difficult but I think the aim is to socialise a bit more, improve fitness levels, travel a bit and enjoy life together and with our family. I hope to try a bit of hill climbing with the Starlet and improve my bowling skills. Learning to swim and to improve piano and guitar playing would be three things I would like to achieve this year - so maybe I've set myself a few new challenges? I can't go a whole year without visiting France, so I hope we make that and also India for a special trip later on in the year. As I wrote in my previous blog, this Christmas was very different being quite relaxed as was New Years eve with our friends Dennis and Lucia. I'm glad I don't do new year resolutions because if I achieve the above, by the end of this year I will have improved my motor-sport skills, learnt to swim, improved my piano and guitar and play bowls better and visited France, Ireland and India as well as holding down a full time job and keeping a full on wife under control....wish me luck!

A different kind of Christmas...

2010-12-26T16:47:00.007Z

Every year we look forward to Christmas, often to be disappointed at the outcome. This year it has been different and, I think, the best I can remember. The extreme and unusual winter weather gave us all the snow we could hope for and this together with Steve, Sarah, Anna, Abbie and Josiah as well as Emma, Nick , Robyn and Lola staying over made it a real family affair. Christmas day was spent going to the Cathedral for services in which Josiah was doing his corrister duties (certainly the place to go on Christmas morning - sound and surroundings are very special), opening our secret santa pressies (worked really well), eating huge amounts of turkey and Christmas pud and relaxing playing games and chilling out. The only tele we wanted to watched was Dr Who which was brilliant - a few of us sneaked into the back room to catch that episode! As the evening wore on our blood alcohol levels increased somewhat and rummy moved on to cheat which moved on to pass the pigs and subsequently on to wind-up reindeer racing which included racing grannies and grandads... we definitely had a good laugh! Boxing morning gave some of us the chance to take a short walk in the snow and the others the time to play or gather things together. A massive brunch fry up was a great way to end the family time. Steve and Sarah returned home after brunch, Emma and Nick staying on to help us use up some of the left over food until early evening. It just goes to show that the ingredients for a memorable Christmas are family, good food and drink and a good laugh. The icing on the cake was the snow which, for our family, came pretty well at the right time to make 2010 a very different kind of Christmas...

Widdy's wobble but they won't fall down!!...

2010-12-06T18:48:00.002Z

Thank you God... there is some justice left in the universe. Witnessing the demise of both Vagner (X Factor) and Widdy (Strictly) as they were 'nudged' into oblivion has allowed the nation to breathe a sigh of relief and come to the realisation that we actually have a song and dance contest - well a song contest and a dance contest is what I mean! So, who will hit the top spot this year - I have to go for One Direction - I think they're quite good but with five band members they must be able to pick up more votes - my personal choice would be Rebecca. As for the dancing its got to be between Kara and Pamela and I would give Pamela the edge even though in my opinion Kara is one of the all time best natural dancers to have been on the show.
The Wikileaks thing does my head in - what is that bloke on and why doesn't someone blitz his website and him as well preferably. The nations students have at long last got something to shout about before midday - they sort of have a point but they're on a roll and making the most of it - I predict they'll mostly go home to warm up and enjoy a bit of turkey in a few days. Talking about warming up, it has been freezing again today but I do feel for those further north who have just had another blast of icy weather up the Kyber and must be a bit fed up with it, especially those who cleared their school playground yesterday to be sent home again today, I expect with another lot of homework!! Oooops!....

Gorgeus weekend...

2010-12-01T21:25:00.003Z

After a few months of hospitalisation, care and funeral of Marg's Dad we decided to take a long weekend out to relax away from normal routine. We chose Bristol because it wasn't too far and we know quite a few places because it's where I was born and brought up for my first few years. The Avon Gorge Hotel overlooks Brunel's iconic suspension bridge, so we booked a suite. From the information on the website we thought that would be a bedroom and living area in the hotel. When we arrived we were given the key for a huge apartment with its own front door. It included a hall, large dining room with table and six chairs, large lounge, kitchen, huge bathroom with two sinks and a jaccuzi bath and a large bedroom with outlook over a sizeable garden! Everything was well fitted out with subtle lighting and two tv's. This was brilliant because we could come and go as we pleased and had plenty of space to relax and chill. We met up with Adam and Anna on Friday evening and enjoyed a drink and meal at Strada a few minutes walk from the hotel. On Saturday we had booked seats for the touring Sound of Music with Connie Fisher which was exceptional and well worth seeing. Clifton is like a little Notting Hill and on Sunday we wandered round admiring some of the superb Georgian architecture and looking in some of the quirky little shops. Sitting around reading the Sunday papers is something we hardly ever do but it was great for a change. Just for fun we drove around to various places where I had lived and took a few snaps of what they looked like now which triggered several memories. We attempted to find Dyrham Park to look around the house but got a bit lost and ended up in Chippenham - nice drive though - arriving at Dyrham park eventually just as the house closed. Not to waste the trip we just had a drink in the cafe and bought a few things in the shop and then caught the free bus back to the car - not quite as educational as we had intended! Dinner in the hotel restaurant on Sunday evening was 'hearty' food as the waiter described - it must have been because neither of us could manage a dessert!! We had a really good time and even though it was a bit chilly outside, there was an added bonus in the way everything looked with a light layer of snow over it - very seasonal!!

Congratulations....

2010-11-17T09:32:00.004Z

After a somewhat turbulent summer and early autumn which saw the passing of Marg's dad after three months of being in and out of hospital, culminating in two weeks of intensive care before he died. This was followed by lots of organising of funeral and thanksgiving, which all went exceptionally well and which we will always remember. Now the dust has started to settle and we are beginning to reclaim areas of the house for our own use and to re-design our living spaces considerably. Because we have always had someone living in part of the house it is quite strange to be able to organise our own things into all of the rooms. We have also had the studio roof replaced this week and this will ensure we can make the most of the cinema, work and storage areas in that building over the coming months without the fear of leaks! So life in the old house on the hill is starting to change and offer us new options and alternatives. We are looking forward to a family Christmas and to a bright new year, and with the announcement yesterday of William and Kate's wedding this will be something good for the country to focus on during the year. There will inevitably be critics trying to tell them how much it should or shouldn't cost but I hope they just do it the way they want to. The spin off feelgood factor and income to the country could be phenominal so hope that spreads across the retail sector. So, if you happen to read this, William or Kate, good on you and congratulations on your engagement!

n40 in a new light...

2010-08-04T22:55:00.004+01:00

In a world where everything seems to cost, it makes you think when things are free. Obviously when you reach a certain age (the new forty) the world deems that you suddenly need supporting. So, today I used my new free bus pass to go into town for my regular eye check (actually they have been pestering me for about six months), go to pay and they tell me it's now free because I have reached the age of 'n40'! They gave me a lovely cup of tea (must have thought I needed it) and replaced my glasses case for another Ted Baker one and I got, very good customer service from a couple of attentive young ladies (glad I didn't go to specsavers!) then got on the free bus again and went back to work. All very pleasing really. What I couldn't quite get my head around was that everything was free. As I sat on the bus on the return journey, I noticed at one stop in the High Street about ten people got on and no money changed hands. Every person had some sort of free pass and no one needed to pay!! So, n40 has taken on a new light and is not quite as bad as it seems... and when it comes to pass, you will be free!!

Not just any old photo....

2010-08-03T16:25:00.008+01:00

This weekend was mostly pretty enjoyable and began with an evening wedding reception in a marquee set in a large landscaped garden of a house near Exeter. We caught up with a number of old friends and people we hadn't seen for a few years, which was great and were treated to an excellent set of a great Beatles tribute band called The Fab Beatles. They were Fab, probably because we were able to sing along to most of the song (seemed amusing at the time) as we danced the evening away. There was a spectacular firework display to finish off the evening and copious amounts of top quality ginger beer. All in all, a great time.
Managing to watch most of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday practically uninterrupted was quite an achievement, especially as it was an interesting race.
I'm stretching the weekend because I had Monday off. GirlFiday had a EP launch party booked for the evening in Exeter, so much of the day was spent helping Blu with photos and organising the venue. The event was a great success hearing the new EP and new video for the 'Save The World' track. GirlFriday are a brilliant band, being current and, I predict, will break into the national music scene in the next few months. If you think I'm joking take a look at their website and have a look and listen to their music - hit the link and you will see what I mean. So the weekend was good and I even ended up with a signed photo for the wall!......

True Colours...

2010-07-27T20:43:00.003+01:00

Pedal to the metal in second, hard on the brakes and turn in to 90 right, accelerate fifty yards, brake hard and turn into 90 right, gradually accelerate to flat out aiming for the right of the next fifty, slight dab on brakes into the S section cutting both apexes, aim left into the next 90 right, brake hard (don't forget the spectators are in your line if you lose it!) turn in hard aiming for the tyre on the right apex, watch the hump, accelerate thirty yards then lose enough speed to go around the loop and exit sharp left, accelerate hard across left apex and then right apex into main straight again to start lap two. After a few laps around this small but entertaining track I was amazed how much fun you could have in a little Starlet. No matter how hard we tried, and we did, we could not make it even lift a back wheel. The set up was fantastic on the dry and grippy track surface. So, that was Saturday with a few pics added on Flickr. Haynes has a great museum too, and well worth a visit if you live within striking distance of Sparkford, Somerset. Nine of us and four cars all had an excellent day.

Sunday was a change of pace, meeting our friends Ian & Angela at Coleton Fishacre in South Devon. This is a beautiful Lutchyns style house set right in the coast furnished and decorated totally in the Art Deco style. The day was magnificent, Mediterranean sunshine all day making the place just stunning (Pics also on Flickr). Wonderful house, fantastic day and lovely friends, what more could you want.....

Almost missed the German Grand Prix but luckily Steve recorded it so watched it in evening!

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

2010-05-01T12:24:00.006+01:00

Its May 1st already! We have had our summer by the look of the pouring rain which has arrived just in time for the bank holiday weekend. The fact that I am composing this post as I am working is indicative of the fact that there are very few (well none actually) customers on the forecourt so far today. There will, of course be 1001reasons for this such as rain, saturday and bank holiday weekend but that does little to help as far actual sales are concerned. So I will be positive and put my mind to something else and not dwell on an empty forecourt. Within the next two weeks we will have a change of government at the general election. Since there seems to be more media interest than usual, the outcome will be interesting to see, although I guess that no matter who gets in they will change the goal posts once in power. Since our trip to Paris in early April we have also had a weekend away on Exmoor with our friends Ian and Angela. This was great fun and we were impressed by the scenery, helped by some amazing weather. It was during the no fly week due to the Icelandic volcano which meant that we experienced a totally blue sky with no clouds or even any of the vapour trails which are normally drawn across the skies. The totally blue sky coupled with zero wind meant on one occasion during the weekend we were walking along part of the coastal path overlooking the sea next to the Valley of the Rocks near Lynton and it was absolutely silent. The sea and the sky merged into one blue, the sea was completely flat calm and it was just silent. We stood for a few minutes looking down the sheer rocks to the sea in the eerie silence and it was very strange and quite unusual. After a ride on the cliff railway between Lynton and Lynmouth we had a relaxing time taking in the coast of North Devon and wandering around some of the National Trust properties in the area. We visited Dunstar Castle, Knightshayes and Arlington Court where we also took a ride in a horse and cart. So April was a good month in which we explored some interesting places and enjoyed some quality time with our friends.

Two Days In Paris...

2010-04-08T22:39:00.003+01:00

Well, actually it was almost four days - a surprise birthday present from Marg - we flew from Exeter on Sunday afternoon and made our way through the Metro to our hotel in the Paris suburbs in time to have a late meal in the restaurant. Monday was fine and we took the Metro into the centre of Paris, around La Place de Concorde. We strolled down through he gardens, stopping of for a coffee, to the Louvre. We spent the rest of the day here, visiting a major Russian Art exhibition - which was superb - the quality of workmanship in gold and silver work was quite stunning. There were many iconic images and many pieces that demonstrated the wealth and power of the Russian Church in the 14th and 15th Century. It also demonstrated how much time and skill the craftsmen had to create such outstanding pieces of work. After the 'Sainte Russie' exhibition we spent another couple of hours looking at the Italian masters and taking in some of the amazing images and sculptures. The visit was well worth it and even after a few hours it seemed like you were only scratching the surface of what was there. We took a Metro to La Rue Monmartre and found a Moroccan bistro where we had a very filling meal of Lamb Couscous etc. After another Metro ride and a walk back to the hotel we were pretty worn out. On Tuesday morning we headed to Sacre Cour, on top of the hill above Monmartre with an amazing view over the city. There was a service taking place when we went in but hoards of people were wandering around at the same time which was a bit bizarre! Hearing the choir and the organ in full voice was a real bonus as it made the church feel alive and not just a monument for tourists. We stopped off for some lunch in a pleasant little bistro and then headed on to Notre Dame using the Batobus. Notre Dame is certainly an amazing building with very subdued lighting giving a real atmosphere. After Notre Dame we tried to make it down to the Orangerie, where there is a Monet collection, but arrived just after closing! At least we have a good reason to go back now!! We took the Metro to the Opera area (just because we liked the sound of it!) and found a really excellent bistro where we enjoyed a beautiful meal and wine before staggering back to the hotel no the Metro. Paris is a great place to wake up you senses when you come from sleepy Exeter. The amount of people, the traffic, the Metro, the food and wine, the views and vistas, the art culture, the design and the architecture combine to make it a very special place to visit. So thanks goes to Marg for setting it up as a real surprise and making it a really brilliant break and I can't wait for the next time...

Fix our roads for free campaign....

2010-03-01T21:19:00.003Z

I was prompted to think about this today - are you fed up with the state of the roads, the fact you have to regularly dodge potholes? Are you also cheesed off with the number of speed humps breaking your suspension? So am I - but here is the answer - simply use the material earmarked for speed humps to fill in all the potholes and there you have it, smooth roads with no potholes and no speed humps - that's what I would call a win, win situation - and guess what, if we all use our eyes, brains and control our right foot then safety does not need to be an issue - so maybe win, win, win - what do you think? Okay, maybe a simplistic idea, but actually have you noticed how many seemingly quite dangerous ideas some councils have come up with to so say make it safer in built up areas. Exeter, for example, have started to build high kerbs at 90 degrees out into roads. If you catch one of these with a wheel then even at 20mph there is the likely-hood of a unnecessary accident. Driving a bus or ambulance over the ridiculous number of speed humps which are differing size, shape, height and often with large potholes attached must be a nightmare - it's bad enough trying to avoid breaking a normal car. It seems to me that many of these ideas are dreamed up in offices by people who have little or no concept of the whole 'safety' picture. I would like to know how much it costs to 'engineer' a speed hump. Surely they should at least be the same size, height etc - or is it left to the discretion of one of the road maintenance crew who have the tarmac etc on their truck to decide what shape to make - a sort of 'free road art!!' If you have a view on road safety in built up areas then share our views and maybe we can take this further.

School run, must go, can't stop....

2010-02-11T07:37:00.004Z

Dear Jeremy Vine,
Living at the top of a steep hill, I decided to reduce my carbon footprint and make the family school run and my journey to work more eco friendly. I bought myself a new super duper bike from a local store (chose local to be greener) and prepared for the journey. My two children, who are at primary school, are currently studying the Vikings so we thought that we would make our own helmets out of paper mache and have some prime 'family' time instead of watching he TV. We made some lovely helmets and painted them in different bright colours (pink, yellow, purple and green) for safety. Next morning we were ready for our school run. I bagged the saddle (no pun intended) and my wife sat in front on the handlebars with my daughter on my shoulders and my son safely on the luggage rack behind. We wobbled a bit but soon reached the crest of the hill and off we went, Ten, twenty, thirty miles per hour with our multicoloured Viking helmets to protect us we raced down the hill. We sniggered as we zoomed past the gas guzzling cars and four by fours. As we were nearing the bottom of the hill my wife laughingly shouted a question at me 'This eco travel is such fun, what make of bike did you say this was?' 'Oh it's one of those new eco friendly Japanese things, made one of their car companies, it's called the Pius.......

One down, eleven to go.....

2010-01-30T16:17:00.002Z

Can't really believe that January 2010 is almost over.... Coping with getting over Christmas, the snow and cold bit has been interesting and a little challenging at times. We woke up today to another sprinkling of snow, which was a bit unexpected, which disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. I like this time of year, when the sun starts to shine and the air is still quite cold and the next month or so as we move into spring make it feel like we are emerging from hibernation. With world news dominated by the Haiti earthquake disaster and UK news dominated by the snow and ice this decade has certainly made its mark already. We have even come out of recession - how on earth we come out of recession by 0.1% I can't imagine! But up is better than down and we can now to look forward to better times ahead. I hope the US and other countries rally to rebuild Haiti and give that population the chance to some way recover from the devastation - they certainly need it.
Personally, I hope changes being made in our work will make for less stress and a bit more free time to enjoy other people and offer the opportunity to visit a few more places this year. As this year is one of those horrible ones which ends in a zero for me, I will need to be positive and chilled.... that sounds ok I think ....oh, and of course not put on any extra weight (not that I am neurotic or anything). One other thing Marg asked me to do (you try it) was to reach for the nearest book, turn to page 63 and tak the line nearest the centre for your facebook status - I just did that and ended up with the middle eight of Beethovens Fifth! Happened to be sitting beside the piano at the time! I will try another - Here it is 'If you wish to be included in he mural I must insist you wear the blue dress'. There was a long silence, broken at last. 'You can't force me to change. It is just not fair the force someone to wear something they feel is wrong for them.' Well er yes I agree with the sentiment but I still prefer not to wear the dress!!!

I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat......

2010-01-03T14:48:00.007Z

2010, the new decade has arrived, which means that we have survived another year! Christmas and New Year has gone and included some prime time with family and friends. Highlights included the Cathedral service on Christmas morning with Josiah in the choir, sharing the roast goose with Dennis and Lucia, chilling out with the family, and several games of 'Pass the Pigs'.
2010 has begun with a family get together for the Daniel family (Marguerite's mums family). Held at Langtree village hall in North Devon, about seventy five family members from as far away as Australia met together for tea and a chat. It was a simple idea, but one that doesn't often happen without another reason (wedding or funeral). Follow the link to my flickr pages to see photos. Anyway it was a excellent event and great to meet up with the wider family for a few hours.
So, what then for 2010 - looking forward to the best year ever in the motor trade - hope to get some time away with Marg in France - want to see Steve beat the Cosworth - and Blu's band Girl Friday break into the mainstream - like to have some time for some music, photography, and some art work - so my resolution, if I have to have one, needs to be press the red button on the remote more frequently, get off my butt and do more. (except for Paradox that is!)
Happy New Year!

Changing the world...

2009-11-29T16:24:00.004Z

It is ages since I posted to my blog but after my decision to start using facebook I think I need to blog as well and post a link from face book to my blog. Correct me if I am wrong, and someone please do, but where a blog gives you the chance to witter on about anything at length, facebook lets you chit chat and twitter lets you well - tweet ! Its not that there's anything wrong with any of those per se but my conspiring mind does think that its all a clever ploy to keep most of us busy just keeping up with the next comment, tweet or post. I can remember not so many years ago when I was in charge of IT in a community college that part of the curriculum discussed how computer software was destined to be developed to the extent that it would practically rule our lives. Software in various guises certainly does run our lives - I am actually finding it hard to think of any area where in now doesn't. So if this is the case ie we can all be kept busy busy busy then I have just had a good idea - why doesn't the government give everyone a free laptop and set up a damn good internet connection for everyone for free - bet it would cut the crime rate, cut c02 emissions and give everyone the chance to make use of the fantastic internet resources - OK all very simplistic and naive but think about it - if you were around twenty years ago did you have a mobile phone? probably not but I bet you do now - and you probably wouldn't want to give it up because it saves you time, makes you feel safe, gives you something that, for a relatively small outlay, makes you feel a part of this country's society in a way that you would not have done then. So where is this witter wittering to? I'm not really sure! Perhaps I am saying that like phones , computers with their sophisticated software and applications have become a portal to other things and a tool we should all be able to benefit from in all sorts of ways. Anyway teas ready so changing the world will have to wait till later....

Lola and the chocolate egg affair....

2009-04-16T20:45:00.002+01:00

Easter Sunday and the family arrived for brunch followed by a highly complex easter egg hunt in the garden. After finding the nests with mini eggs in and recovering a series of clues all the kids had to do was solve the clues which would give a number of letters which then had to be re-arranged to discover where the treasure was hidden. It was only a matters of minutes, though, with all five brains working like they were taking part in university challenge that the problem was solved and the treasure found. Chocolate, lots of lovely chocolate, enough to have a chocolate feast....at this point the caring and responsible parents appear and tell the kids they mustn't eat more than a tiny piece in case the spoil their appetite or make themselves sick. So like the good kids they are they looked longingly at the chocolate eggs through the plastic windows in the boxes and were prepared to keep them for later.........except for Lola....she punched a hole through the plastic and grabbed a large piece of egg, stuffed it straight in her mouth and giggled.....

The next morning, easter monday, I woke early and found myself in a hotel room. That was not as strange as it may seem, since Steve and I were booked in for a track day at Rockingham race track. The track turned out to be brilliant, lots of curves and some good fast bits and we had a 200bhp Renaultsport Clio to experience it in. It was really good fun as we got onto the track for several sessions each and both had some tuition from an expert driver. I learned that I need to concentrate for more than three laps and Steve learned a new braking technique and make the car dance! (that, I think really means taking the car pretty much to the limit and being able to use the accelerator and power to steer the car!) I preferred to use the steering wheel and the brakes!!

Anyway, some shots will be posted on this blog and on flickr soon.....

Hit record in the making......

2009-03-29T09:31:00.004+01:00

Yes, it has been a while since I last put finger to keyboard but quite a bit has happened and I thought it about time I made some comments. For the world, it continues to be an interesting time - and we all have something to say. It seems that the powers to be want us to see every day like Christmas and go out a spend our way out of the situation - trouble is by Boxing day we are bored with the presents and arguing about something else as the bill arrives! Anyway in an attempt to 'do my bit for my country' I have invested in a new recording studio... Not a whole building that is - now they come in a box delivered to your door by UPS! However, despite the minute size, once loaded on to Mac and connected to a midi piano you can do pretty much what you could do with a huge room full of mixers, compressors, reverbs, and hundreds of instruments a very few years ago - I know it's not quite the same, but it cost 244 pounds!! including monitor speakers, vocal mike and digibox - flippin amazin' if you ask me ( I would say that I suppose). So now you may be getting the picture what my next little project is. Write a couple of hit download songs and make a few million in the process. I'm surprised no one else has thought of this before!!! My actual project for this year is to try to record some music to go with my own photos in some sort of finished way and also to get together with a ex band member and record some of the songs we wrote and performed some time ago. Car sales are also keeping me busy and it has been a very good month which we hope will continue. We are currently having a new patio area designed in the garden which could make a really good addition and somewhere to sit out and eat and drink through the summer. Attending a diamond wedding do for my parents today and having lunch again at Burgh Island next weekend as a birthday treat! Also have a track day booked in a Renaultsport Clio 197 for Bank holiday Monday, Steve's treating me, so looking forward to a fun day then. So we are all doing well and keeping fit at Highmead, including our recent additions. Bullet and Tinker, two six month old kittens, both black and quite hilarious at times. That's the update for today, so where is my guitar....and how the heck do you you make this stupid Pro Tools work???!!!......

How to spend you lottery winnings....

2009-01-11T21:56:00.004Z

Today we had a bit of an adventure, visiting the Burgh Island Hotel for lunch. To say this hotel has the wow factor, if you like Art Deco, is an understatement. It simply is fantastic. The fact that it is on an island sort of makes it special, but it really is like going back in time to the late twenties or early thirties (well that's what I think it would be like because even I am not that old!!) As soon as you walk through the door you are totally transported to a different time. The whole place has been kept totally original and every view within the hotel is Art Deco. We've been to various places, like National Trust houses which give you an idea of what it must have been like to live in a different time (Coleton Fishacre at Kingswear is a lovely example of Art Deco) but at Burgh Island you can be part of it, which is really cool. The building is superb from all angles, inside and out and authentic in every way, furniture, fittings, decor, artwork etc etc and the atmosphere is wonderfully relaxed and laid back. I have posted a few images and some more on flickr. Even on a cold and windy January day, there couldn't be many better places to spend your day off! Can't wait to see what it's like in the spring with the sun shining. Looks like Burgh Island is the place to go in 2009......well you only live once don't you?

Burgh Island Jan 090044

2009-01-11T21:54:00.001Z

Burgh Island Jan 090044
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Burgh Island Jan 090034

2009-01-11T21:53:00.001Z

Burgh Island Jan 090034
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Burgh Island Jan 090007

2009-01-11T21:50:00.003Z

Burgh Island Jan 090007
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Burgh Island Jan 090008

2009-01-11T21:50:00.001Z

Burgh Island Jan 090008
Originally uploaded by Russ4

2009-01-03T20:46:00.001Z

Originally uploaded by Russ4

Another year bites the dust...

2009-01-03T18:02:00.005Z

So here it is merry christmas every buddy's having fun.. well not actually every buddy. There are several millions across the planet who are not having much fun, to say the least and it seems that, because so much is linked to cultural ways of thinking it is extremely difficult to work out how to improve situations. Or on a worldwide scale is it just another winter's tale? The tale, that is, of so called leaders of various countries who are so focused on power and control and don't really give a monkeys what is actually happening to their citizens. Terrified children not knowing what the hell is happening in Gazza, people dying of cholera in Zimbabwe and kids being taught how to be a martyr in Afghanistan and other parts of the globe. We really are the lucky ones, living in a country where we are being told to spend our way out of recession so we'll all survive, or we lose our job because another high street chain lost its way. We can still hopefully walk to the job centre without being blown up and drink the water straight out of a tap. We can still sleep at night without fear of a rocket attack and take issue with Sainsbury's or Tesco's when they have the audacity to run out of some commodity we 'need'. Good on Annie Lennox for voicing a non partisan plea for a cease fire and negotiation and supporting the peace protesters today... Also good on the shopkeeper in Settle who was brave and trusting enough to leave his shop open with a box for the money so everyone could help themselves, so he could have a day off. Everyone did pay up which really does restore your faith in humankind.

So another year bites the dust and 2009 is upon us. We can only hope that some of the conflict can be resolved and some sort of sanity can replace despair regardless of race or creed. My only resolution is to acknowledge every instance I see of good overcoming evil and try to see the positive side to any situation. To my family, friends, aquaintences and yourself reading this I wish you happy, safe and prosperous 2009......

Party on...

2008-04-13T22:46:00.002+01:00

It was one of those days you sort of dread and then it turns out sort of ok. A family event to mark My Mum's 80th birthday. Thank goodness we are such a laid back family who generally get on quite well with each other and appreciate each other. But the food was great, the children all played together happily, eating lots and having the highlight of having their faces painted by our new star face painter, Becky during the afternoon. Everyone worked together to make the day a success and the main thing was that Mum really enjoyed it. Mum and Dad stayed on to watch 'Singing in the Rain', the original Gene Kelly film in the 'cinema'. I have selected a few shots taken during the afternoon. So thanks to everyone for a very successful day, that is unless your name begins with S and you drive Subaru's to destruction!! But we won't go into that.....

snow1

2008-04-06T11:44:00.003+01:00

snow1
Originally uploaded by Russ4

snow2

2008-04-06T11:44:00.001+01:00

snow2
Originally uploaded by Russ4

snow3

2008-04-06T11:43:00.001+01:00

snow3
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Explosive weather...

2008-04-06T10:44:00.004+01:00

Thought I should blog today after some time after being woken around seven thirty by an almighty explosion - turned out to be an enormous clap of thunder - and that was followed by about an hour of heavy snow. I guess the temperature in the upper atmosphere suddenly changed and some very cold air collided with some warmer air! Still it was quite impressive as were the couple of inches of really good snow which accumulated, enough to make a few good snowballs and a small snowman! Typical Englishman's blog, this - talking about the weather - but it was the most snow I have seen for a couple of years in any month, let alone April! It came and disappeared within about three hours and now I'm looking out on a bright sunny morning!

Since I am blogged on I better make the most of it and fill in a bit since last time. I am a year older, have booked a holiday in France for the end of June, have changed the main car, have had a weeks holiday, have been working fairly long hours, have read a couple of enjoyable books, have done several gigs with the band and had a few successful film nights in our little cinema. Marg treated me to a superb meal for my birthday at the 'Conservatory', one of Exeter's better bistro's. The standard of food there is excellent and still as good as it was when it opened, probably four or five years ago. I am not a white wine drinker generally but we had one of the best bottle of white wine I have tasted with the meal which made it even better. It's a pleasant change to come away from a restaurant and not be able to fault the meal or service at all!

After a week off I am back to the grindstone tomorrow (actually it's not that bad!) and try to keep the current positive retail trend going. Steve's business seems to be bucking the norm of late and we have been turning over an impressive number of cars on the site. Being part of a small business has the benefit of being able to react to market trends quicker and having a more appropriate stock to meet the customers requirements. Anyway, enough of that, the Bahrain Grand Prix is starting soon so I must strap myself in, and later we have friends round for another film night showing 'The Assassination of Jessie James' - so looking forward to that after reading some of the reviews. Bye for now....

Looks fab and actually works first time...

2008-02-19T23:04:00.002Z

Just a quick blog on my new i-mac. It's pretty amazing and has sucked all my files, photos and software straight across from my old mac by firewire and they all work! There was some upgrading needed but not before time and when I plugged in my camera to download this weekends photos that worked like a dream to. The screen quality is brilliant so I am very pleased with this machine and thanks to Steve for lending me the firewire and pressing the right buttons to do the transfer.....

Back to the cooler....

2008-02-16T20:48:00.007Z

'Managing a small and friendly used car sales site has always seemed an attractive sort of job to pursue and, on the surface, quite different from my previous teaching career. Actually, in practice, I don't think the two jobs are as far apart as it may seem. In fact I think many things I learned and developed during my teaching career are paralleled in the selling situation. Firstly you need to quickly relate positively with the client (ie student or customer) and win over their trust. You need to be confident in talking about the product (ie topic or product) and be prepared to listen how each client responds. Keeping control of the situation is imperative but in a way in which the client is carefully lead forward. In a lesson this would be toward the understanding of particular points and in selling it is getting the client to cross the line from 'I'm thinking about' to 'I must have it now'. There are three main groups of people who come on to our sales site. Those who have come to see a specific car, and who we should be able to sell up to, those who say they are 'only browsing' when they mean 'I want to buy a car today', and those who are actually browsing because they are having work done at ATS, the tyre depot next door (these can often be sold cars because often the visit to ATS is just one of a number of bills they are experiencing on their 'old' car, so a change would improve that and be less expensive!) So there we have it, those who want to learn, those who say they don't want to learn but do really and those who are doing something else when they should be paying attention to learning! There are the odd few extremely rude ones who need to learn the hard way and to be sent back to the cooler known locally as Marsh Barton! Once they have grown up a bit for a couple of years they'll come back nice as pie and buy their next car from us!! Sounds very easy but there is quite a responsibility if we want to do the job right. From the client's point of view the 'Act of Purchase' gives them the most buzz (they are about to commit a large chunk of their hard earned cash) and they need to feel good particularly at this point. So attention to detail in the presentation of the product is essential, and to the immediate surroundings to make the client feel good. They need to feel important and receive individual attention with as few distractions as possible (like making every student in a class of thirty feel they have had an individual lesson!). Once the product has been talked up and we are gazing at a miraculously designed vehicle that will fulfill every need the client requires all that is required is a couple of closed questions such as 'So if you're happy with the car, let's go and sort the paperwork out shall we?' and walk into the office. The client then follows you in sits down , hands over the deposit and signs the order form. Of course there are a few who feel it necessary to actually test drive the car before they decide. Most come back and say fantastic because they don't know any better and haven't driven much more than a clapped out Morris Minor anyway, and some try to be technically knowledgeable and talk about strange noises meaning the gearbox is gone or the car is falling to bits. That of course is complete rubbish since all the strange noises you can think of only ever come from the brakes or the tyres!!! Anyway maybe a no test drives allowed policy should be adopted?? Clients who try to be clever like this should be given extra homework to ' Investigate the effect of oxygen on polished untreated metals' - produce a 2000 word essay and hand it into my office in 24 hours!
So, yes, my little car lot may not be very big, it may not even be mine, but it is the source of some amusing events for those who run it and maybe a pretty good place for anyone to purchase a car from. (they may not realise that though!!!)

Summerhill

2008-01-31T21:23:00.000Z

When I was at college, training to be a teacher, back in the early seventies I read A S Neil's book about the 'progressive' school , Summerhill and produced an essay with my comments about this way of educating children. The idea of lessons not being compulsory and students attending lessons because they want to learn was always at the back of my mind during thirty two years of teaching and , I think, shaped a lot of the way I approached teaching as an art teacher. I never believed, for instance, that you can force students to produce creative art work. Sure, you can teach them techniques, which can fill many lessons and fill the required folders for GCSE etc but to be creative and to begin to develop some original thinking through art requires a different sort of approach. The problems involved in teaching art, or any subject for that matter, in an average comprehensive often have a negative effect on creativity. Class size, limited time structure, lack of good materials, space and of course the fact that probably fifty per cent of the class would prefer to be somewhere else. Several years ago, schools in the area would all give one week per year to 'Activities week'. This was one week in the year that was working in school but under a completely different structure. Students would opt in to various 'lessons' or activities and pursue different objectives without the restrictions of a set six lesson per day timetable. Film making, art residentials, technology projects, drama productions, science projects, language exchanges, community projects etc could all take place during this special week. Students would not be required to wear uniform and would work on one or more activities during the week. At the end of the week there would be final displays and performances. Students, in the main, chose things they really wanted to develop or improve in or had a real interest in, and surprise, surprise discipline was never an issue. We all had a great learning experience. Obviously, this type of set up requires an immense amount of preparation and often special resources and a huge commitment by the teachers as well as the students. The pressure from the government over the years to squeeze every ounce from schools through the introduction of the 'National Curriculum' and the various accountability that requires has seen special weeks of alternative learning disappear because they don't quite fit the mould. In many schools and colleges even school drama and music productions, art festivals and projects have become far fewer simply because they take up too much time or too much space or perhaps teachers have too little time left for them. Either way, its a great pity these events are being cut back or lost. It is a loss for the students, the teachers, the schools and their communities. Perhaps it is ok that our kids are in a class for six hours a day learning. After all they need their GCSE's don't they? One of the main things I have observed during my teaching years is the way that students will respond extremely positively once they have something to be responsible for. For example, a problem student given an important part in a play, or displaying their weeks art work, or helping in a community building project, or mentoring other students etc. As soon as students feel valued and are given some responsibility they begin to learn how to make the most of their time in school, however that is organised, and I know that they learn more effectively when they choose to opt in to lessons... I would be interested to recieve any comments on these thoughts......

Larry drew the short straw....

2008-01-21T16:31:00.000Z

Another week which has been both productive for sales and enjoyable in other ways. A few good deals have been made and a few more cars have 'sold' signs on, which is what we want to see. We had Steve kids over for the weekend, while he an Sarah went to London to see the production 'We Will Rock You'. They were very good and Marg kept them occopied through Saturday and we ended the day watching the original Harry Potter film in the 'Clarke Cinema' as Josiah called it, with chocs and drinks just like the real thing! Keeping them up until ten was great because they didn't surface until about nine on Sunday! We had my parents over for lunch on Sunday and Steve and Sarah joined us as well, so it was ten for lunch. Had some of the local lamb bought last week. That lamb did not die in vain, in fact it tasted so good I am sure it must have had a really fab life jumping and running around in the Devon air, occassionally enjoying a game with its mates in the little fluffy flock, until the nasty farmer stuck it in a van and took it to be shot! Oh no, we've just eaten Larry's left back leg......tasty especially with 'be good to yourself' mint sauce. I spent some of sunday sorting an ebay ad for the Delica and watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show and later Little Shop of Horrors during the evening. Little Shop was by far the best put together film though and well worth watching again for the excellent songs. It was about a year ago that I hoped we would get the cinema up an running and I am very pleased with the way it has worked out. So, this year we must sort out the pond area. Pond or barbeque in the big hole, not quite sure yet. I think pond, as long as we can make it safe for the kids, but we'll see.

An enjoyable weekend...

2008-01-14T14:48:00.000Z

Well. fancy that! someone actually read my blog.... Got home to find that my wife had taken a trip to the local farm shop to buy half a lamb which was guaranteed to have run around in a field before it was assassinated. (It wouldn't have been that difficult because half a lamb would have been going round in circles with ony two legs!!). She also bought some free range pork and a chicken which owned ten acres of real estate which it strolled about in at leisure surveying the landscape stopping occassionally to peck at the choicest organic corn thrown gently by its personal trainer. That tasted very good. So we are now only going to eat meat which has a fully documented family history for at least three generations and is sold via its personally owned farm outlets! Other news for the weekend - spent Friday and Saturday demolishing my parents built in bedroom furniture and taking it to the local dump. Great fun to rip out a really good Shreiber fitted bedroom, break it up and dump it, especially when it's not your own bedroom!
Friday evening was spent at Havana with the band doing the first gig of 2008. Not many punters out yet but did make the aquaintance of a bloke called Craig Milverton who is a pro jazz keyboard player and lives in Exeter. He was impressed with Emma's vocals and has invited her to do a gig with his band later this year, so watch this space for info on that. He organises a jazz festival called Hayne Barton Jazz Festival (google Hayne Barton) with some impressive names taking part (and I don't know nuffink about jazz!!) so I think that will be worth a visit in August.
Had family tea on Sunday afternoon with twelve of us crammed into the dining room eating trifle and cakes. A good time was had be all, almost, and we even tried the new X factor DVD game. A bit of a laugh on a sunday afternoon...

Chicken out...

2008-01-10T21:31:00.000Z

If you saw the programme 'Chicken Out' this week then I suspect you'll think more carefully about what you buy for your Sunday lunch. In the programme Hugh Fearnley-Whittingshaw showed the way chickens are intensively farmed and compared it with allowing them to have some sort of life through free range farming. I guess unless you go vegetarian and decide to eat meat then you have to accept that the animal or bird is bred for the table. But we have obviously got to the point when chicken has become an everyday part of our staple diet, like bread or milk. The cheapness of intensively farmed chicken at the supermarket has made it such. However, when you actually see the conditions these birds have to live in for their whole existence you have to question if it is right to treat them like this. So, what to do? Stop eating them altogether or just buy those you know have at least had some sort of reasonable life. I think the latter at present because I quite like meat. The same will go for other meat too, I'm sure so it'll be off to the local farm shop to check out where the meat comes from and how it is farmed. I know from past experience it cooks and tastes better and often you get more meat even if it cost a bit more. There are various websites to visit relating to the 'chicken out' campaign - just Google chicken out and have a look...

Road Rage......

2008-01-08T15:26:00.000Z

Watched an interesting documentary about traffic in our cities last evening. It put various points of view as to why some people transport their kids to school in 4x4's, why cyclists and pedestrians should have more priority or at least have their fair share of the the road. Trouble is, as with most multi viewpoint documentaries, they always present a 'balanced' argument, so balanced that you don't know who's side you are on by the end. I agree that we should encourage the use of bikes but not if cyclists then think it's ok to run red lights and go around in the dark with no lights. Keeping kids 'safe' on their way to posh schools in central London, or anywhere else for that matter, by transporting them in a huge Cherokee or X5 is understandable to some degree but it's never going to teach them how to be responsible getting themselves from A-B. Driving loads of these large vehicles in and around school pick up and drop off points is highly dangerous in itself simply because they are extremely un-pedestrian friendly - ie children can't be easily seen when they are close to these vehicles. But when you have a situation where there are simply too many vehicles in one place at one time it is difficult to see what can be done to improve things. So many of our cities have evolved with little forethought to how we really cope with such a high volume of traffic and promotion of alternatives generally seems to be re-active. Bikes, buses, taxis, eco-cars, pedestrians, delivery vehicles etc who knows who should have priority. Perhaps someone will suggest all pavements within a designated central zone in cities having a large plastic tube with a two way moving walkway coupled with a lane of moving seats (a bit like those long walkways you get at airports). These would be made from recycled plastic and snake all around with entrance and exit points at regular intervals. We could all walk or ride for free into the city centre in the dry from a drop off or car park point. The city centre would be free of vehicles. The existing roads could be used for delivery vehicles only which would be controlled for times and volume etc. I think I will start designing this and patent it! Of course the alternative to trying to think ahead is to say 'sod it', get a work from home job and sit at home in front of the telly with your computer on your lap and do everything online and never ever leave your house. I'm sure there are quite a few politicians who would love us to do that! Anyway, must stop now, and wind up the Hummer - it's time to pick up the kid's!!

Happy bunnies....

2008-01-07T17:01:00.000Z

It's surprising how much time can be spent doing mundane things like filing and tidying. I'm not complaining, though, as it's good to have a day off to get these things done. So this weekend was as bit of this and that interspersed with cooking the odd meal or two and watching a strangly amusing film late on Saturday evening. 'Sean of the Dead' to be precise - apparently a mickey take on another film 'Dawn of the Dead' - full of recently deceased people walking around in a zombie like way who can only be stopped from attacking anyone who is still alive by having their heads bashed in!! It wasn't the best film I've ever seen, in fact I would probably give it about two out of ten. I have never worked out why so many film makers use bad language just for the sake of it, like their obliged to. To my mind it's just an extremely cheap way of trying to gain attention and simply not cricket!!! Anyway moving on, Sunday was spent helping Emma and Adam clear out their garage and sort a load of boxes. My role actually was referee, preventing the arguments about what was kept and what was binned!! Last evening we watched an extremely good concert live from the Albert Hall by the Venuzualan Youth Orchestra. Not only was their musicianship exceptional but as an orchestra they performed exceptionally also and were obviosly really enjoying playing. I often get bored watching orchestras after a few minutes because they just play the music but this orchestra was a refreshing change from the norm and really brought the music to life.
Today, back to work and a very busy day, with sales picking up very well so let's hope it continues and we'll all be happy bunnies......

'They're behind you!...)

2008-01-04T21:23:00.000Z

This week suddenly start to zoom by on Thursday. It was so busy at work I didn't have time to blog anything (simply not good enough!). Sold two cars and had to rush from work to meet up with Steve, Sarah , Anna, Abbie and Josiah to go to the Panto at the Northcott Theatre. It was a great laugh, very professional with good singing and choreography and also some excellent effects including a real snow storm across the auditorium. It was also Anna's birthday and she was suitably embarrassed when her name was called out by Buttons from the stage and she and one other lad were sung 'Happy Birthday' to accompanied by an excellent band. Everyone enjoyed it immensely and after we picked up fish & chips which we ate together back at our house. It was a good family outing and I think better than we had all expected. The Northcott Theatre is, however, threatened with closure, since the Arts Council has said it is withdrawing a substantial grant during this year. It would be tragic for Exeter to lose it's main Theatre, and doubly so since there has just been a major refurbishment to the theatre. This theatre is accessible for the majority of people in Exeter and it does several community based productions during each year. I, for one, would not want to see the Northcott close its doors to the public. Call me suspicious if you like but, being based on the University campus, I do wonder maybe if Exeter University has an underlying reason for wanting a refurbished building of this nature. There is some rapid expansion ahead planned and who knows what courses planned to be developed and who knows what strings could be politically pulled with the Arts Council??!! Anyway there must be a reason, so I am going to try to find out more!!
Today was a day off and I took down the Christmas tree and decorations which had worked really well this year. I managed to crush my one month old designer reading glasses, so had to take a trip to Vision Express to make use of my insurance (I don't usually bother about those but it was two years for £25 so I took it out. Just as well since the glasses were over £200!). they immediately ordered some new frames without question, so good on them. I suppose if my glasses crushing episode had happened twenty four hours earlier, before I sat on them someone would probably have shouted 'they're behind you!.........

Can he fix it? Yes he can!

2008-01-02T16:06:00.000Z

Back to work at a freezing car lot today as the temperature has taken a huge drop. Not helped also by the failure (again) of the office heater. Had to employ emergency measures and nip home to get a replacement. I now know where Steve gets his 'I'm sure we can fix it' mentality from. Not me, after fixing something a couple of times I can't generally be bothered to keep re-doing it and end up replacing the offending item. But when I mentioned to Norman (Marg's Dad who lives with us) that the heater had broken again he immediately said 'Oh, I can fix that, I used to buy broken ones, fix them and then sell them on the car boot sale'. Steve's reliance on gaffa tape to repair anything and unwillingness to throw anything away is obviously an hereditary throwback of a previous and more frugal family time. The biggest problem with keeping things 'just in case you may need them' is simply that you can hardly ever remember where you put the thing you need when you actually need it. On the odd occasion you do find the right thing for the right job you do feel very self righteous, saving yourself loads of money and helping to save the planet too! Unfortunately this just spurs you on to keep more stuff which you may or may not need in the future. There is an answer to this though. Use the 'museum' model. Most museums have thousands of artifacts in their care, some of which are obvious and on display, so easy to find. Many thousands of items, though are kept out of sight in drawers, cupboards and rooms. So all you need to do to know where to find any of those 'maybe useful someday' items is, before they get stuffed into a drawer or box to be forgotten forever, to photograph, label and log the item onto a computer database. Then in seconds you will be know just what the item looks like and exactly where it is. Easy. Actually, I might suggest this method to my lovely wife as a way of locating various items from a pile of clothing which almost forms a living, changing sculpture on the bedroom chair! I think whoever said that 'the more storage space, drawers, cupboards etc you have, the more stuff you will fill them with' was correct. The problem is, when you have 35 + years of accumulated stuff you somehow need to somehow clean the slate a little! Maybe clear out, sort out, make space, organize would be good for the soul, or just a positive new year thing to do....dunno.....what d'ya think?

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T15:43:00.000Z

Another year done and dusted, and seen out in great style. Mixing it with some well known characters was fun and together with some amusing and thought provoking (difficult after a few glasses of wine!) readings, music and film clips, good food and drink made the whole evening a real success enjoyed by all. I have included a few of the pictures taken and there are a few more on my flickr page. (not sure if everyone can get there directly off the flickr link but if not try www.flickr.com/photos/studio-one/ and see what happens - let me know if it works please).
Over the last few days and last evening I have mentioned having some film nights in our studio and most people seem very keen, so we will be making some dates soon and taking suggestions for particular films or themes we could use. All responses very welcome. This morning we awoke to sun streaming in and a beautiful day to start the year, so we enjoyed a walk around the university grounds before lunch. We do live in an exceptional part of the city and are very lucky to have places like this literally on our doorstep. Anyway, I can't sit in front of this screen any longer today (it's not as if I'm at work!!!) Happy New Year!

Abigail's party - Beverley

2008-01-01T15:42:00.001Z

Abigail's party - Beverley
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Woody Allen

2008-01-01T15:14:00.003Z

Woody Allen
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Indiana Jones

2008-01-01T15:14:00.001Z

Indiana Jones
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

2008-01-01T15:13:00.001Z

Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Originally uploaded by Russ4

New Years Eve

2007-12-31T13:18:00.000Z

It won't be long now until 2007 is just a memory to look back on. Looking forward to a New Years Eve Soiree at Dennis and Lucia's to see in the New Year. It's a fancy dress do, literary characters, we've chosen Beverley and Laurence from the play 'Abigail's Party' by Mike Leigh - having lived through the late 70's we can be reasonably authentic. This play has always been one of my personal favourites, the characterisation of a typical 'middle class' couple and their neighbours during a rather disasterous party is very amusing. We also have to take a dvd clip and something to read out, so it could be a bit of a laugh if everyone gets into it! All will be revealed tomorrow when I will review the best bits!

2007 almost gone!

2007-12-30T17:25:00.000Z

It's only been three months since I blogged last, so good on me that I have actually made the effort to put finger to keyboard. I'm not making any excuses, apart from not being motivated but blogging is a bit like exercising, you don't really want to do it but you feel sort of better when you have completed it! Anyway, to begin the comeback I have added a few pics from the last few festive days (does anyone know how you can save a set from flickr direct to your blog? Is it possible?) And, yes, the last few days have been very festive, quite relaxing and enjoyable, so thanks to all and sundry who helped make it so good. Just to cover the blog gap since September these are some of the things which come to mind that I probably would have blogged about, in no particular order! Alpinas and Subarus going up the drag strip at Smeathorpe, Lewis Hamilton almost winning the F1 championship, completing my own cinema, the gorgeous Alisha winning Strickly Come Dancing, Rhidian not winning X factor and Ben Elton's essential accompanying book 'Chart Throb', Lola hughes growing at an amazing rate of knots, a few lazy days spent in Tuscany and Florence, a visit by the mad Irish woman, the highs and lows of trying to be a car salesman and annoying passwords which make things so secure you can't access any of your own stuff!
And the latest news etc.. 2007 seems to have had its fair share of bombs, floods, murders, diseases and assassinations it can make life seem rather depressing if you dwell on it, so I guess the best thing is not to! I don't mean ignore it, or not try to make some sense of it but we all only have one shot at life so it's probably worth not wasting it. So as this is the preverbial time of year to start thinking of resolutions I am going to make 2008 more creative than 2007 - (not very difficult really) - particularly regarding the arts - and become more involved in my own creativity and with other people and groups - not sure how as yet so we shall see how it pans out. You may wonder why I am going off on this creative trip but it became a bit clearer last night. I had this dream about being in some sort of recording studio (don't worry I'm not going to apply for X factor!!) and we were listening to some song or other when these two blokes came in and asked if I could write a pop song for them. Next thing I remember was listening to the song, or the first few lines and melody and then I woke up still clearly hearing the song in my head. I don't normally get up at 6.45 am on a Sunday but did, and within about an hour had penned the whole song. Anyway it's a start and maybe there will be other spooky creativy things round the corner!!

happy adam

2007-12-30T17:24:00.001Z

happy adam
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Always read the instructions!

2007-12-30T17:23:00.001Z

Always read the instructions!
Originally uploaded by Russ4

The worlds best lookin cake!

2007-12-30T17:22:00.003Z

The worlds best lookin cake!
Originally uploaded by Russ4

What a brilliant present!

2007-12-30T17:22:00.001Z

What a brilliant present!
Originally uploaded by Russ4

The Famous Five and The Magic Roundabout

2007-09-01T14:09:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged, mainly because I seem to have had problems with the google access to my account and have walked away from my computer when it didn't work straight away. Anyway, quite a lot has happened recently so I gave it another go and after three attempts managed to log on to my own account!!! So for the recent and important news here goes. Emma has given birth to her second daughter named Lola Kebriah Hughes. It all happened last Sunday (26th August) and between about 2.00pm and 5.00pm (which is very quick apparently). The baby weighed in at 6lb 10ozs (I'm glad they still use old measures) and was extremely unmarked from the outset. She has blonde hair, long fingers, strong lungs and is already showing herself to be very strong. Robyn has taken to her new sister and has seemed to have accepted the sharing of Emma and Adams attention quite well. That makes five grandchildren, The Famous Five no doubt. (as long as it doesn't become the Secret Seven!) Talking about 'The Famous Five', apparently a south west based film company are putting together a film based on the characters of the Famous Five getting together again in middle age to solve a crime! Will wait to see if that comes off.
Steve, Sarah and family had a great european holiday, Amsterdam and Belgium spoiled only by having to leave their car and new trailer tent in Belgium when the gearbox failed on the Alpina.
(for full details see www.tworedboots.co.uk).
We have had a good summer on the 'car lot' the highlight being this weeks company outing to Thruxton Racing Circuit to have a Ferrari supercar experience. It was absolutely brilliant and we all enjoyed every bit of it. Got to drive a Porsche Caymen, Ferrari 355 and a single seat racing car, as well being driven around the track at the start in a Mazda MPS hatch (much quicker than you would think!) and at the end in an Mazda RX8 (also superquick when driven by a professional driver - fantastic!). It was a great day out, travelling together in an Espace made it more of a team event. Funny that when I was teaching most of the team building events majored around somebody spouting their latest ideas and us filling out pages with large felt tip pens. In thirty years of teaching nobody ever said 'Here's the keys to my £150,000 Ferrari, you can drive it as fast as you like around that track!!!' mostly it was ' what on earth will you do if you leave teaching?' Have some fun obviously!!!
Oh yes, I just remembered, we are going to visit Florence (Italy that is, not the Magic Roundabout!) at the end of September. Always wanted to go there to look at the artwork and architecture, especially in term time when it's cheaper!!!

Bank hols and UFO's!!!

2007-05-29T20:28:00.000+01:00

Bit of a weird bank holiday , this one. Friday eve had a lovely meal with our friends Cheryl and Richmond. He's a wine buff and has a cellar with loads in it so we tasted some good wines. Worked on Sat, managed to catch the Monaco GP qualifying timings live on the net, strangely exiting imagining the laps! Sunday was appalling weather and didn't tempt us out much at all. Monaco GP was fun and quite good. Always impressive to see the speed in such a tight situation.
Monday was dry and bright in Exeter and I was able to do the usual necessary bits and bobs in the garden. PM Emma came over and we went out to Sandy Bay, Exmouth, to see the first day of Adams paintball site. Hence the pics in the blog. Impressive set up, very professional and colourful. They had a good number during the day and now time will tell how the business works over the summer. Messing with my camera because of a black spot on the lens or somewhere i clicked a couple of shots towards the sky and then noticed a strange object had appeared on the screen. Weird since I didn't really notice it through the lens, but could it really be a UFO??....

paintball23

2007-05-28T21:59:00.003+01:00

paintball23
Originally uploaded by Russ4

paintball20

2007-05-28T21:59:00.001+01:00

paintball20
Originally uploaded by Russ4

paintball13

2007-05-28T21:58:00.001+01:00

paintball13
Originally uploaded by Russ4

paintball16

2007-05-28T21:57:00.001+01:00

paintball16
Originally uploaded by Russ4

paintball24

2007-05-28T21:56:00.001+01:00

paintball24
Originally uploaded by Russ4

Here are a few pics we took at the Sandy Bay Paintball site which opened today...

newroof1

2007-05-02T06:35:00.001+01:00

newroof1
Originally uploaded by Russ4.

r2bday42

2007-05-02T06:34:00.003+01:00

r2bday42
Originally uploaded by Russ4.

present time

2007-05-02T06:34:00.001+01:00

present time
Originally uploaded by Russ4.

twohorses

2007-05-02T06:33:00.001+01:00

twohorses
Originally uploaded by Russ4.

gardenpic

2007-05-02T06:32:00.001+01:00

gardenpic
Originally uploaded by Russ4.

Guess what?

2007-04-30T19:08:00.000+01:00

Well if anyone gets to read this I will be amazed since it's the first time I've blogged for ages as you can see. Quite a lot has happened but I won't bore you with all the details. Suffice to say that Emma and Adam have moved out to a nice little bungalow in Silverton. a quiet village near Exeter with a really good feel to it. They're happier to be a proper family again and have they're own space. That also means that we have a bit of free space too. yippee. Don't get too excited though, it's only till May 19th when Marg's Dad moves in to live with us. I would be interested in any comments on that!! The work that's been ongoing with the house is now complete and we have a brand new upstairs and hallway and bathroom. It has turned out very well and makes the house into a very well laid out place and has created a comfortable amount of extra living space. Well worth the hassle, although I might not have said that at Christmas!! I have posted some pics of the end result which definitely enhances the whole building. So, this year apart from getting used to an extra member of the household, we aim to improve the garden a bit and hopefully build the pond as well as sort out the studio into some sort of useable venue for large screen dvd's etc. (and probably a bolt hole for anyone needing some extra space or who doesn't want to play daily scrabble!! Business has been a bit slower that we would have liked this year but we are ever hopeful for an upturn. Robyn Hughes has passed her second birthday and is really progressing exceptionally (well I would say that) as are Anna Abbie and Joe, all growing into characterful and thinking young people. (I can't imagine where they get it from!!). Currently the garden is springing into colour, changing a little each day, which makes this a very pleasant place to live. The toadpoles are growing legs and we have at least one Great Crested Newt in the small pond. Runner beans were put in today in little wigwam thingys so I hope the slugs don't eat them (bastards better not!) . Anyway I am going to pour myself a kier (if thats how you spell it?) before making dinner for Marg on a late day today. Guess what? I'm gonna try to get back and blog more regularly again, so if you happen to read this let me know and I will feel that it's not all a waste of time....bye....

C4 BB arrrgh.....!!

2007-01-18T12:16:00.000Z

I haven't watched many Big Brother series since the very first one but have watched this edition and must make my own comment, which of course will be politically correct. Shilpa has, I think, behaved impeccably from the outset. She has shown a dignified, intelligent and good humoured approach to the show and the residents of the house, which is more than many seem able to do. Grmaine Jackson is also obviously an astute observer and can control his emotions well in the situation. There are the dippy blondes (I'm allowed to comment on blondes) who don't know what time of day or night it is leave alone how to stand up for anything, those that have escaped or been evicted, not before time. Interesting it was too much for the rock star rebel!! I don't have much to say about Jade except she must have the biggest mouth in the world which clearly shows, every time she opens it, just what a objectional cow she actually is who deserves to be sent back down the hole she crawled out before she first auditioned for the programme, not that I dislike her of course! I found it very amusing on one episode when Jade reckoned she is the 25th most infue... infuent... infuentical person in the world when Shilpa corrected her 'don't you mean influetial' .... say no more. Anyway it's good to have some news that makes you smile!
Lighten up, its only a TV show.....

space....the final frontier

2007-01-17T17:29:00.000Z

One decision we (ie Marg and I) made when we moved to Highmead was that we would try only to hang original artwork (or at least numbered prints) if we could. With this in mind Marg and I bought each other two new pieces for Christmas. Strangley, although bought completely individually they are both based on on rocks, water and waves. Marg bought me a framed acrylic painting called ' Coast ' by a local artist Clive Burrell (pics to follow) which will fit well in the new bedroom scheme. I bought Marg a piece called ' Sennen IX ' by an artist friend Tim Salter. This is mixed media relief painting, from some sketches completed in Sennen in Cornwall, with a rather metallic look and is unframed.
The house project is getting there at long last with paint and tiles starting to go on. The work involved to create a space like this is unbelievable. We are really looking forward to being able to use the extra space and spread out again. Choosing the final fitments is quite fun as long as you don't dwell to long on the prices!
Adam is back at Catterick for a few weeks and will be paying weekend visits to Emma and Robyn, as well as organising the moving of their furniture from storage in Darlington to a rented house in Exeter they hope to move into at the beginning of February. So the changing of residents at Highmead will continue with Margs Dad due to move in with us around the beginning of March once all the work is complete and we are sorted for space.
So thats a quick update for today..

Happy New Year...

2007-01-01T15:07:00.000Z

So we've made it into 2007 with the help of numerous nibbles, half a bottle of Bacardi, a few Millers and some quality Champagne. We Boggled and we Pokered into the new year completing the evening with an all Exeter firework display (there are some distinct advantages in having a house that overlooks the city - makes for some spectacular and extremely cheap firework displays - I like to think of it as the re cycling of other peoples displays so to speak!). Robyn woke us at the crack of dawn (5am) and I grabbed some 'gulk' for her then she spent an hour or so in our bed fidgeting every two minutes until we called in the cavalry to relieve us and went back to sleep. Eventually got up about nine, felt energetic and spent fifteen minutes on my cross trainer which made me feel very smug. Then went in for a shower and weighed myself. Vowed to buy some new scales that registered correctly, then remembered these are new ones. Thinks ' I can't possibly weigh this much...I have never weighed this much', so promptly made a new years resolution never to eat again. Finished in the shower and then went to make breakfast. Feeling guilty about the size of my stomach and my new years resolution skimped on the Oat Crunchies and had only a few Crunchy Nut Cornflakes on top. Determind to burn off breakfast arranged a walk with Emma, Adam Robyn and dog around the university grounds which was very pleasant in the New Year morning sun. Burnt off some calories and got back just in time to wander with Marg up to the huge house at the end of out road (we call it South Fort) for New Years drinkies and nibbles. (Sugar, I thought all this had ended....oh well we have to try to be neighbourly!) The house is amazing, makes ours look like tiny little hovel. Everything is curved, landscaped garden, huge conservatory, massive dining room through to lounge. There were some young people continually handing out the smoked salmon and other canopays and their daughter, an on-call doctor replenishing the champagne as soon as your glass was empty. We met and chatted to a few neighbours we hadn't met before and it was good to be accepted into the Hillcrest Park social scene. I think people up here in general want to be friendly so guess you have to 'go with the flow'. So what has 2007 in store for us. Safe and successful, I hope for all members of our family. For Marg in her new practice management job and looking after her Dad, for Adam adjusting to life out of the army, and for Emma accepting the extra responsibility of a soon to be expanding family, for Steve making significant progress with his business and Sarah making sure that he does just that whilst educating Josiah and making sure Anna and Abbie get an education, amongst various other things. For me, to be around to give moral support to all of them, to also make sure that we sell absolutely hundreds of cars and make shed loads of cash, to kick the builders out by the end of January and start to enjoy this house again. Anyway, to sum up and to spite the fact that my age will become an even larger number this year I am positive and looking forward to the year. After sorting the new upstairs, I want to sort and develop the studio into a large screen film watching area with some art and music facilities. Also want to do something with the pond and make it Italian garden style and tidy up the paths around the house a bit. My new motto is going to be 'Eat less, exercise more' (we'll see how long that lasts!!) So that's it for now.. and if you've just got this far then I wish you a Happy New Year..

another year almost gone...

2006-12-29T11:54:00.000Z

Well Christmas has come and gone again and we are in that strange vacuum between Christmas and New year in which many people seem to become lemmings and rush in great numbers to the high street, grab anything in sight and empty their wallets on demand. Glad that most of our family manage to avoid getting too involved and try to keep their feet on the ground a little at this time of year. Despite that we all still manage to somehow spend and eat more than we should, but what the heck, it's Christmas.....sugar, there I go again! Must mention a couple of pressies though.. lovely original acrylic painting of rocks and seascape from Marg will go well in our soon to be new bedroom (that's if the builder ever completes the job!). An aeriel picture of our house made into a jigsaw, and another piece of artwork also based on rocks bought from Tim Salter's exhibition. Felt very righteous giving a couple of alternative presents (luckily didn't get any!!! only joking) oh, got the new Beatle 'Love' album, definately worth a listen. So a good time was had by all, we saw a bit of our families and had a laugh and another year has almost bitten the dust. For most things I think 2006 has been a good year. Highlights have been having Emma, Adam and Robyn around and Adam safely back from Iraq, holiday in Cornwall, Touring Cars at Thruxton and just enjoying a second year living in Hillcrest Park. What about 2007? I'm going think about that over the next few days...

I'll get those peas if it takes all night...

2006-12-29T09:41:00.000Z

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It's 28th December and Robyn is still eating her Christmas dinner!

almost rock and roll...

2006-12-18T14:38:00.000Z

Just another weekend gigging with the band. Picked up by the tourbus at Exeter services and got taken up to town (London that is!) to set up and soundcheck before 7.00pm. Gig in St James Square, Mayfair at the Army and Navy Club. Had time to eat and down a couple of beers before the band performed at 9.30. Playing was loud and pretty good, hampered only by the amount of alcohol downed by some members before starting! Gig finished about 1.00am after which we load gear back onto the tourbus and got whisked back to Exeter by 6.00am. Who says local bands from the westcountry don't live a bit of rock'n roll occasionally! Sunday we did the family Christmas bit at my parents in Lydford where they hosted a large gathering of the clan which all went very well. So back to work today for a bit of a rest and some peace and quiet!!!

Wow that looks huge!

2006-12-13T12:55:00.000Z

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Structure revealed

2006-12-13T12:54:00.000Z

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how to total a TVR.....

2006-12-13T12:14:00.000Z

Ok, so its been a month since I put finger to keyboard and it feels like little progress with or conversion. There has been quite a bit but it's not going to get completed by Christmas. My bet is on the middle of Jan (2007 that is!) to see the back of the builders and a couple of weeks after that to do carpets etc and move into the space. It will, however, be a really brilliant addition to the house, making it much more flexible. The tiles are gradually covering the roof and looking very good and it will be a relief to be completely watertight again. The last month has been pretty good on the sales front, and we have succeeded in meeting our targets so far this year. Had one strange weekend in which we were coming home very late from a gig in North Devon in appauling conditions , very high wind and heavy rain. We were having to avoid tree branches etc all the way. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere we just managed to stop before hitting a tree right across the road. Unfortunately the car coming the opposite way didn't, and crashed into the tree. We then spent about half an hour in the pouring rain cutting and moving the tree. The girls from the band had all had a few drinks and they just thought the whole episode was a laugh despite the fact that we all got absolutely soaked. Lifes a bitch when you're on your own with four squiffy girls in stage clothes all soaked to the skin......back to reality! The following day we went out to have lunch with emma in a cottage her an adam were renting for a couple of weeks. On his way back from a day supervising paintballing adam witnessed a guy total a very nice TVR by showing off to his girlfriend with a 360 roll right in front of him. Turned out the bloke driving was an ex D&D soldier who adam knew by name. Shame about the TVR but I expect he was used to driving a tank! He certainly won't be driving that TVR again! Well, I don't know what 2007 will bring but Marg's Dad will be moving up with us in the first couple of months on a permanent basis and I guess adam and emma will want to get a place of their own before too long or when adam comes out of the army. I am looking forward to getting our place sorted and organised again so we can make good use of all the space. Gonna try to do more artwork, music and set up a film/ slide show area in the studio. Marg is doing well at the new practice in Sidmouth and already has them all under control! I always feel better when I've written something in my blog even if it's a load of drivel that nobody else reads. Still have a problem with my mac not letting me blog pics. So have to do this at work, but it is in my contract, honest!!

new model roof under wraps...

2006-11-15T16:54:00.000Z

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mad artist demolishes roof to create random designs...

2006-11-15T16:38:00.000Z

The past week or so have been somewhat eventful on the roof conversion front. The most notable evening being when I arrived home with a bad cold, wanting only to get to bed (you know man flu!). Rich, our builder had spent the day demolishing the rear roof completely and constructing the basic framework for the new dormer section. By the time he left it was past 9.00pm and dark, having fixed in the temporary cover. At about 11.00pm the rain started and it quickly became patently obvious that it was not waterproof. I was lying in bed and suddenly heard what sounded like a tap running above the bedroom. Then it started to run down the electric light fitting and onto my bed. Marg put a bowl on the end of the bed to catch the water but things were looking worse than a mixing bowl could cope with. Not feeling like getting up (man flu) I struggled out of bed and at 11.30pm was up in the roof space with six buckets trying to slow the flow! We then evacuated the bedroom and took our matress into the dining room, the only space available that wasn't dripping in one way or another. Fortunately the rain subsided and the drips slowed down and eventually stopped for the rest of the night. Oh well, I guess that's all part of taking off your roof in the rain but I will be seriously happy when we get a new roof in place.
Anyway, there are a few pictures to see what is going on. I actually like some of the way that some of the structures have created some interesting designs but I suppose that's the art teacher in me?

supports supporting the support

2006-11-15T15:53:00.000Z

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a little troll emerges from the attic

2006-11-15T15:29:00.000Z

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look at those lovely red steel bits.....

2006-10-20T15:28:00.000+01:00

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and artistic ooops...

2006-10-20T15:20:00.000+01:00

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ooops!...

2006-10-20T15:19:00.000+01:00

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support required apply within.....

2006-10-20T14:48:00.000+01:00

when i first started this blog thing i wanted my blog to be a bit different but over the months its been quite hard to keep finding interesting and amusing bits and pieces to write about (ahh how sad). i have tried to record some of what is going on around as well as commenting occassionally on current news issues. one thing i have done from the outset is write the whole thing in lower case with pretty well no punctuation to be different or trendy perhaps (actually it was to make everyone who reads it work flippin hard to understand what on earth it says). now though i have a real dilemma. im reading the lynne truss book talk to the hand in which on page 23 says and i quote "The writer who neglects spelling and punctuation is quite arrogantly dumping a lot of aviodable work onto the reader, who deserves to be treated with more respect." so now you see the dilemma i have do i continue to neglect spelling and punctuation or do i show respect to my readers not that there are many of them. the problem is i have been brought up or maybe that should be brainwashed into the idea that you cant take bits willy nilly out of a book just to suit yourself. and i think from what ive read that there are some good bits in this book so do i have to take it all.....i think i would value any comments on this issue from anyone across the whole world wide interweb...whether i should show respect to my readers or to my personal writing style. also whether or not i am going completely insane or not....

the roof thing is beginning a upward curve with all the old floors and ceilings out and some big steel bits going in. some questions about quite where any supporting walls are but i have complete confidence in the builders. i have also ordered a set of hard hats for christmas.....

the unseen police car......

2006-10-14T10:49:00.000+01:00

have you noticed how police cars are changing colour? for the last probably thirty years the police have used white cars covered with various reflective stickers (the current trend is yellow and blue) but it seems now that silver is the in colour for police cars. of course this has little to do with visibility, you know we're all programmed to notice a white mondeo or volvo in the rear view mirror, no its to do with the value of the cars when they sell them off. some clever little police chappie has worked out after thirty years that silver cars are worth more than white ones. if they had asked a motor trader a long time ago and they could have probably saved the cost of a few hundred police salaries or a load of new cars! so if you don't mind a few holes in the roof and the dashboard and inter galactic miles on the clock a silver volvo s80 will probably be a bargain!
the other thing people have been rattling on about this week is madonna adopting a child from malawi. personally i think its up to her what she does but am interested to know at what point of anyones earning capacity or being a celebrity does the public suddenly get the right to tell anyone else how to live their life? i suggest that people take a good look at their own lives, scale down the numbers then see what they are doing in the way of good for the world. it seems to me far to many people have far too much to say about other peoples lives without considering their own. so there you have it a little bit of personal comment for the week. now onto more mundane things like the loft conversion.
this week has been an interesting one. after completing the downstairs ceilings rich and jamie our builders have started to focus on the upstairs and removing the old ceilings from above. the week started with some very heavy rain and on monday night marg had an interesting experience. having got up during the night she was sat in the lounge half asleep when half the ceiling in the lounge bay window collapsed letting in loads of water etc. (photos to follow) this was a bit of a surprise and the following day was spent clearing up the mess and removing the rest of this ceiling. on the positive side this will be replaced and insulated properly. we arrived home on tuesday the find a thick covering of dust virtually everywhere because the builders had forgotten to hang a dust sheet over the stair well! the dust from lathe and plaster ceilings being taken up is horrendous! needless to say we now have a dust sheet in place. the rest of the week has seen more removal of old ceilings and stuff from upstairs into the mother of all skips. another week of demolition should hopefully suffice and then we will start to see some progress with the construction. heres hoping anyway.....
did you hear about the priest talking to his young congregation saying that sex before marriage is wicked. its not bad after either commented a recently married young person....

Another rubbish photo opportunity

2006-10-08T19:19:00.000+01:00

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Jamie keeps his feet on the ground

2006-10-08T19:17:00.000+01:00

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Spiders web grows

2006-10-08T19:16:00.000+01:00

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That's a nice attic space

2006-10-08T19:14:00.000+01:00

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trendy blue roof

2006-10-08T19:13:00.000+01:00

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Demolition begins

2006-10-08T19:11:00.000+01:00

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new ceilings with no mess gov........

2006-10-08T09:58:00.000+01:00

its now been four weeks since we started the roof project but like all building projects nothing goes to plan. the builders (rich and jamie) started enthusiastically by removing the front roof in a matter of hours. i'm sure they gained a sadistic pleasure by ripping off someone elses roof. i hoped at that point they were going to turn out to be reliable and not suddenly disappear onto another job. glad to say they are reliable and very good at their job. however minor problem number one soon became apparent. the plans we had drawn up we not measured correctly and rich and his structural engineer friend would need to rehash the design considerably. after a few hasty evening together they had a workable plan and then came the second minor problem. because of the inaccuracy of the original plans the ceiling height upstairs was too low and the only way around it was to lower all the downstairs ceilings to give more room upstairs. fortunately we had very high downstairs ceilings which could lose six inches but the idea of removing lathe and plaster ceiling thoughout the house including a lovely plaster cornice in the lounge did not fill me with a great deal of enthusiasm. they did however construct a cunning plan. we will replace the downstairs ceilings first with new ones and then remove the old ones from above tho avoid all the mess. great idea new ceilings with no mess. if you have ever had a ceiling replaced then you will know that with the best will in the world you can't put up a new one without any mess. to be fair rich and jamie have done their level best to keep the mess to a minimum but we have just finished two weeks of a nomadic existance migrating from room to room with all our furniture and belongings to free up each room in turn. i have had two weeks off work following rich and jamie around and painting each and every ceiling as it dried out. the end result is actually very good and we even managed to replace the plaster cornice in the lounge with an even better one. it has been an interesting couple of weeks but if the end result of the roof conversion turns out as well as the ceilings downstairs then we will be very well pleased i think. currently we have blue roofing felt stuff over most of the roof and black plastic over the back section so we are hoping for some good weather for the next few weeks. this week looks like fun as we have to discuss with the original designer why his plans were so far out, watch this space to see how that progresses. apparently this week also will see steel structures going into place and then the proper rebuilding can begin.......

now the fun begins...

2006-09-07T16:17:00.000+01:00

next week the fun begins. the builders move in and begin to demolish the top of out house. we hope they will replace it with a redesigned upstairs (attic/ dormer conversion as its a bungalow)and a new roof. we seem to have made a bit of a habit of redesigning houses we move into over the past few years. mostly to good effect i think and to make the property worth more even taking into account the expense. hopefully by christmas we shall be able to accomodate more people and have a proper four bedroomed property with two bathrooms. business is still very slow at the moment, its a bit soul destroying sitting about waiting for customers. drafted this blog last week and pleased to say have sold a couple of cars since then. we now have scaffolding all around the house so it does already look like a building site. marg cooked a very nice meal last evening with dennis and his new partner lucia. it's good getting to know new people, especially from other parts of the world. this morning at 7.30 had the builder wanting a decision on the colour of slates for the roof. you just hope you make the right decision otherwise you could end up with the roof looking wrong. i am looking forward to the whole project developing and being completed 'cause the house will look better for it and have more usable space.. we hope...

there goes the summer...

2006-09-05T17:19:00.000+01:00

after a bit of a break i think i should get back into blogging again. if nothing else it will give me the opportunity to record daily events and maybe spark a bit of humour or creativity again. so to rapidly cover what has happened over the past three months - a week in cornwall on the roseland peninsula was a most welcome break for marguerite and i and we had a great time visiting various places including the hotel in veryan we went on honeymoon to 35 years ago. a few changes but essentially the same place. After trying out steve's camper van for a week-end this was the 'week test'and it passed with flying colours. we visited various places including trellisick gardens a national trust property overlooking the river fal, flambards at helston with the victorian village and britain in blitz displays, the tate gallery with an exhibition of john hoyland’s entitled the trajectory of a fallen angel and the hepwoth gardens at st ives, mevigissey, the lost gardens of helligan and trerice an elizabethan house near newquay. after returning we experienced the amazing july heatwave when we all thought the planet was going to explode into a ball of fire. of course it didn't it just rained again! adam joined us for two weeks in july taking a break from his tour in iraq where he is being kept busy. emma and robyn have been with us for five months now and we are still sane - amazing. robyn has been developing her own language and her language skills with a very extensive vocabulary and immitating much of what goes on around her often causing great hilarity. A couple of summer parties added interest and alcohol to the summer and the wedding of our niece laura to tom at tavistock, in the same methodist church where we got married 35 years ago almost to the day. a meal out on monday at a local bistro to celebrate our anniversary or major achievement whichever way you look at it was really good. so there goes the summer of 2006. now we have builders and dust to look forward to for the next three months yippee i can't wait... at least it will give me something to blog about i suppose...