Sunday 25th April 2010

Once the rain had stopped, 7 of us set of for our cycle ride to Aldington. We went via Park Farm rather than up Church Hill which was much easier. Our destination was The Good Intent. It had to be Theakston's Mild for me. We sat inside as it was overcast. Most of us opted for the lovely roast dinner. The yorkshire puddings were impressive. They were massive.

On the way home, we stopped off at the Queens Head in Kingsnorth. Another pub that I've not been in before. I was quite surprised that their beer garden was OK. Shame about the toilets. Neither of them were flushing. It was a little unpleasant. Good thing we weren't in there long. Hopefully for them that it was a temporary problem. I had Guinness which was surprisingly good.

When we got back from our ride, we sat in the garden with the piggys. They over munched on dandelions. I thought they would have run off but they were quite content to stay close by, and climbed up us several times for some reason. As we were down to 2% on the Sky+ box, I asked Kat to see if there's anything she can delete from it. We now have 24% free!

At bowling, I had 3 good games. My total score was 488. If I had managed 3 strikes at the end of my last game I would have got a 200 game and then I would have had a 500 series too. Still something that I'm aiming for.

Saturday 24th April 2010

We walked up to town for lunch in The Gorge. It was a shame Martin was doing his shopping in Maidstone today. It would have been good if he could have joined us again. I had bacon, egg and chips this time which was very good. After lunch we had a wander around the shops, catching up with Chippy, Sammy and Emily for a little while and later we found Bernie in HMV. It's usually there that we find Bernie, or in the book shop. Dave bought a camera from Jessops. A lower spec that he originally planned to get but still far better than anything that we've had before. A bargain at £49. I persuaded Dave that Jessops memory cards were over priced and we went to GZ to see if they had them. We went into one of the book shops in town. We found some books that were 20p each. I have loads of books to read and don't really need any new ones but at that price, I couldn't leave them there. I have 3 to read and Dave found one too.

Later we went to the Renault dealer to talk to the very nice man about a new car. There were only 3 really to choose from that were the right size and in the right price range. Dave is getting the sexy electric blue one and picks it up on Friday. They all have 6 gears now, and I think it has cruise control too. It looks really cool.

Martin came round to watch Dr Who with us. The angels are very scary. At Chris's we watched “Law Abiding Citizen” first. It was a rather gruesome film and it made Martin feel physically sick. I hid my eyes. Wish I could have had ear plugs too. The story line was interesting though. Worth watching once but I won't be watching it again. The second choice of film was “Coraline”. A Tim Burton production. If you like “Nightmare Before Christmas” you would like this.

Friday 23rd April 2010

Today at work we got talking about old calculators. My new work colleague, Tony, is very fast on the keyboard number pad. He was saying that he remembers the days of the really old calculators, even as far back as pounds, shillings and pence. He was telling me about the calculators that had rows of 9's, 8's, 7's, etc that you put in the numbers pressing the buttons and then you pull a handle a bit like an old fruit machine. I prefer today's technology!

My candle party at home went OK. Helen, Nicky, Julie and Marie came along. I sold some of my old stock to Helen and Nicky too. It was good to see everyone and catch up. We haven't seen Marie for many years. Probably not since her engagement party and her little fella is 3 now. I think I will be seeing Marie again soon as she loves the candle stuff. Dave said she can definitely come round again. She brought home made cake too.

Wednesday 21st April 2010

After work tonight I went out on my roller blades for the first time this year. Steve and I have been threatening to go out for a while and this evening we were both free and the weather was perfect. We left soon after 6.30. We went through the park, which isn't looking too bad despite the recent Facebook group saying that it needs tidying up. Maybe a few new benches would be a good idea. The grass never looks long. It's not littered, the paths are clear and safe for roller blading. We went across the road at the other end of the park and through to Singleton Lake and then back again. Poor Steve fell over on the way back but no damage done. No holes in his jeans either. I think he is looking forward to going again sometime.

When we got home we had a cuppa and a chat. Steve sorted out the cables from my Play Station 1 to the television. I seem to have lost my dance mat game so I may have to borrow that one. To play on the dance mat game was one of the main reasons for getting the thing out again. I got a spare dance mat from Freecycle as one of mine has gone missing. Maybe the game went to the same place that the mat disappeared too. I played the bowling game for a while. Over 10 games I got a 207 average, top score 248 and lowest score 157, shame I can't bowl like that for real.

Tuesday 20th April 2010

The airports opened up again today. I guess we're now back to white smoke trails in the sky. It's been noticeable that they haven't been there.

We were discussing dolphins being kept in sea life type centres today like the Dolphinarium that used to be Brighton. Although we all loved seeing them it is considered cruel to keep them away from their natural environment. We decided that it's cruel to keep us in an office. That's not our natural environment. Our natural environment? Would that be on the sofa in front of the TV?

Barry was supposed to be off sick for a month from today as he was booked for an operation at St Saviours Bupa Hospital. He went for a pre-op check up this afternoon and later wandered unexpectedly back to work. He wasn't told why it was cancelled, only that the surgeon wasn't available, and they'd have to rebook it. There's private health care for you!! Maybe the surgeon is stuck in a foreign country somewhere.

Monday 19th April 2010

I really did consider cycling to work today but when I looked out of the window it looked grey and not warm, and I couldn't find a lock for my bike either. Must buy one this week so that I can't use that as an excuse again.

My manager reckoned that there was a thin layer of ash on her car. She said that when she put her finger over it and it was black dust. I've seen how muddy her car is at the moment and I'm not surprised she found “black”. I think the cars are dusty as it has been dry recently. Mine has a dry dust layer on it but I would say it is brown, not black.

It's a good thing that I didn't cycle as I wouldn't have been able to get my latest Partylite delivery home. I've got some of the new summer things. The metal ant garden tealight holder, floating tea light holders with a frog on one and a lizard on the other, a fish tea light holder and a tealight sampler of the new fragrances. I think Blueberry Wisteria is my favourite of the 6 new ones.

I also need to go shopping this week for a new sieve. I was frying meatballs for dinner and used my sieve to strain the oil off. It melted a hole straight through it. Oops.

At bowling this evening, we somehow managed to win 6-2 even though I wasn't bowling very well. At least I bowled properly when it mattered at the end. It was down to me to bowl 9 to win on the last go, and somehow I managed just that. I think we maintain our place at the top for another week. I'll have to send the scores through to Jose to see how we are really doing. Results can be found here: www.ashfordbowl.co.uk

Sunday 18th April 2010

We had planned to go kite flying with “The Friends of Kings Wood”. We went up there about midday but there was very little wind and the field was full of intermittent brambles. I would have been worried about tearing most of my kites on these, especially as they would have probably spent most of the time on the floor anyway due to the lack of wind. We abandoned that idea and then went into town. As the card shop was quiet, I stocked up on greeting cards and managed to use the wrong card/pin code and lock my credit card. Something else to sort out. I managed to stay out of the Pound shop. Dave had already been in there to check out what he was looking for. We went into HMV and I found Now 74 for £6. I have been looking at these during the week as Now 75 has now been released and I have not got Now 73 yet. I usually get these through my Sainsburys Nectar points but I worked out that the points needed work out to £15 so although it seems free, I could be putting those points to better use.

When we got home, I did some work on my PC and then cooked dinner. At bowling, my first game was marginally OK but I couldn't get anything right in my second game and only got 91. I finished on 120 average over the 3 games so not my best. Glad it was only a practise.

Saturday 17th April 2010 – First bike ride of the year

We were ready about 11. After a couple of tests runs and some adjustments, we then went round to see how Brian, Rachel and Eden were getting on. We set off about 11.35. Brian and Eden had a bad start and a few tears, Brian made some adjustments so she was more confident with her new wheels and she was later heard to be singing “If you're happy and you know it clap your hands....”

On arrival at the pub, I really enjoyed the half of Dragon's Fire that I had. We ordered food and persuaded the staff that we wanted to sit in the garden even though a table had been reserved and set out for us inside. I had another half of Dragon's Fire and the Neame Mild too. For dinner I was tempted by the toasted panini's but decided to have the Moulés Mariniere as this it's not served in many places. Everyone enjoyed their food. We decided that it would be safer for Brian and Eden if we went back the same way that we had come. Once home and bikes put away, we made a quick trip to Tesco for BBQ food while Dave got coals hot. Martin soon joined us when we got home and later Chippy, Sam and Emily. We had a lovely time sitting in the garden eating and drinking. Martin stayed with us for Doctor Who. Kat has even started watching this season!

At Chris's we watched “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”. Another very strange film. One I doubt I will watch again. It was directed by Terry Gillam and is very “pythonesque”. This was also one of the films that was being filmed when Heath Ledger died. Another great young actor lost. The second film that we watched was “Bedazzled” which is one of my favourite films. It has Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley in it. It also has a “boy's freeze frame” moment!

Friday 16th April 2010

When I got home this evening, we started putting my new bicycle together. Dave did most of the work, as usual I held and passed bits. The only bits I really did was to put a pedal on and tighten up the wheel nuts on my side. So I guess those bits might fall off tomorrow. There were two tools supplied with it. The allen key was very useful but the multi spanner thing only fitted the nuts on the wheels. Who knows what the other shapes were for.

This evening we watched 2 episodes of Flash Forward so we've caught up with that now. I think it is getting exciting. I guess Dave doesn't share that view. I think he fell asleep during both of them!

Later I watched the Dukes of Hazzard film.....there's quite a lot wrong with this film.... the boys aren't as good looking. Daisy wasn't blond. Rosco isn't fat enough and where is Flash? I don't remember seeing him. I loved Flash! He was the main star in the original for me. The only thing that looks the same is the General Lee!! I caught most of “Penelope” film on Sky Family and then watched some of “Road to Eldorado”.

While I was looking for a pic for today's entry, I think I've clicked on one of those site links that makes you think that you've got a virus or several on your computer, and tries to get you to download a file. I shall leave this running a virus scan tonight... just in case.

Thursday 15th April 2010 - Toys r Us

Today's main news was the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Although looking pretty, it is causing devastation in it's wake and it has affected the UK as all flights have been grounded due to the ash in the air. Our manager was coming back from Germany this morning and was lucky enough to get one of the last planes back into the country.

After work tonight, I had the house to myself so I sat down in front of my laptop and started to make some business phone calls. I didn't get very far. Half a dozen phone calls later. 5 refusals/no answers and an “I'll get back to you with a date soon”. Also long chats with Jose/Maria and Brian. I then started to look at finding a reasonably priced bicycle so that I could join the others for the first cycle ride of the year. I didn't really want to buy a flat packed one. It would have been easier to buy one from Halfords or the shop on Ellingham as I could have then had them put it together and I could have ridden it home. We'd looked in Halfords at the weekend and the only bikes suitable for me started at £189. When Dave went to the shop on Ellingham last, there was a problem with where to park, so we decided not to shop there. I checked a few places and found that Toys R Us sell adults bikes too, and they had one in stock that looked good. As soon as Dave got home from work, we went straight to Chatham. It only took about 25 minutes to get there. After trying a couple of bikes for size and comfort, I decided on the one that I'd seen online. It even has front suspension, so that should help if I find one of those horrible potholes. It was also reduced from £119.99 to £79.99, and it's a pretty colour too. I think the guy at the till was having a nap. It certainly looked like we woke him up. It's a good thing that we went in Dave's car as I would have struggled to get it in mine.

Wednesday 14th April 2010

Whilst struggling to get all of my jobs done at work today, the power went out. It was very annoying. Somehow our phones still work in a power cut. I had to phone the customer who I was going to disappoint. If I had been given the full info that they didn't need any software, I might have been able to get the dongles programmed up ready before the power went out. It went out about 4.15 and it didn't come back up by the time I had left. At least it meant that I could leave and not have to go to the post box. I was due to meet up with Michelle at the Pheasant. As that was out of power too, we went up to the Flying Horse at Boughton Aluph. It's ages since we've met up. It was good to catch up and put the world to rights. Apparently the power came back on about 7 o'clock. We had a couple of drinks and I got home about 8. Time to make a quick pasta bake for dinner. We watched a couple of episodes of Men Behaving Badly. One was a Trek related one that we will have to watch one Tuesday when we need something a bit shorter. I then did some PartyLite work before watching another episode of Lost.

Monday 12th April 2010

Just home from another great Partylite meeting. We've been asked to go back to basics to help build our diaries. Back to our Brite Start, 6 parties in 3 weeks. I'd best get on the phone again to get the bookings in. We've got to report back our progress by the end of the week. Be good to have some positive news, apart from getting a raffle prize tonight as well as a crème egg Easter egg.

I called into the bowling alley on the way home and collected the scores. Even though we lost 6-2 when we played our game last night, we still may have kept our place at the top. Of the two teams just behind us, one had a 4 all draw and the other lost 8-0. I'll have to get the scores over to Jose soon so that we can find out what the movement is.

I'm just trying out today's bread pudding that I made before I went out. I don't think it's the best one that I've made yet. I think this is the 3rd or 4th. This one was different as it was made from brown bread rolls that needed using up, I didn't soak it as much as I was in a rush and I used suet instead of butter/margarine. I'll have to ask the bread pudding munching master how it tastes.

Sunday 11th April 2010

There is a comment on my blog dated yesterday. 忍一時風平浪靜，退一步海闊天空
Chinese - “endure temporary calm, take a step backwards
Chinese (Kudoz) – “compromise will make a conflict much easier to solve”
Not sure what relevance this has to the blog but welcome visitor.

Today we were invited around to Chippy and Sam's for lunch so we could discuss our holiday. Only a few weeks until we go now. We had a lovely lunch. Afterwards we went to the garden centre near Appledore to buy some fish food. They have some lovely looking fish there, including a new addition... a massive catfish. He was really cool.

We had our match at bowling this evening. We lost 6-2. It was fun though and the games were quite close. Congrats to the winners. :)

When I got home I recorded Underdog on to disk again, and deleted it from the Sky+. We can tell when Kat's been home as she has been catching up on what she has recorded. We've gone from 17% free to 26% free. I watched this week's Dr Who tonight. I thought it was good. Back to being more scary with the “faces” though. Sorry, Dave I don't think he is like David Tennant. Maybe similar but there is not so much humour, and he's not as cute. Next week's episode looks interesting! It's on later, at 8.25, so I will probably watch it on Sunday again.

Saturday 10th April 2010

I was late leaving this morning... nothing changes there then! My excuse today was that I was shopping on Ebay for Kat. She needed some earphones and stylus pens for her phone. Even though they were really cheap, I still like to get my Nectar points on my Ebay shopping so it takes a bit more time.

I'm glad I didn't rush any way. It was a psychic fair fund raising event at Newington, for Kent Greyhouse Rescue. Maybe I sensed it wasn't going to be busy. I didn't realise Newington was that close to Folkestone. Anyway, most of the day was spent laughing with Brenda. She kept us entertained. I didn't make a single sale, and no promising leads either for bookings or sponsors. I did get one booking for May but I knew her before anyway and she has been thinking about having a show anyway. Not quite sure what one lady thought I was there for with all my candles but she asked to light one for her grandson that had died. She said she lights candles wherever she can. It made her happier anyway. I also met a few lovely greyhounds and their “people” and learnt a bit about the problems these dogs face. We packed up after 3, after the raffle, and escaped early.

We went to Chris's earlier than usual as we wanted to watch both Narnia films. The “Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe” and “Prince Caspian”. In the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, I like the Beavers. They are cool. Of course, the Badger was cute too.

Friday 8th April 2010

In the kitchen at work, one of the guys was asked how his camping trip was and did he get the games that he'd ordered. Apparently he paid about £35, plus £10 courier charge, for a big Jenga set on Ebay. It turned out to be chopped up lengths of wood, no finish at all and still showing the barcode and labels on it from the DIY shop. He was asked if he complained but he said that they put it on the camp fire. That was expensive firewood!!

This evening we went over to Singleton Barn to catch up an old friend, little Steve. The years have not been kind and he's not so little anymore....like most of us. If we hadn't seen photos of him on Facebook, it would have been tough to recognise him. I had arranged this with little Steve and it was a surprise to Glenn when we all turned up. We got a lift over in big Steve's new car. I thought I'd be cheeky and ask for a lift as Steve was joining us on his way back from dropping the kids off. Not so little Steve is back in Kent to sort out a new home for his family. They have found a place in Dover. Hopefully we will be seeing more of him soon. We might have to go back to calling him Little Steve (sorry Steve, you are still the shortest), big Steve and big big Steve, just like the old days. There was a 4th Steve too....Just Steve, or was it Vest Steve?

Thursday 8th May 2010 - Cabbage dinner day

I got out of work earlier today than recently. I even had time to get home and have a cuppa before deciding that I needed some shopping in Asda. I recently bought some cabbage that had been reduced and had to decide what to do with it. Far too much to feed the piggles. There were no useful cabbage recipes in my book so on to the internet. I found one to try: Braised cabbage and sausages. So to Asda for some good sausages and some other bits. I bought some chilli ones to give it a bit of spice and some peppers too.

Here is the original recipe from http://cabbagerecipes.org:
1 medium head cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
Salt
A generous pinch of dried red pepper flakes
4 Italian sausages, sweet or hot
handful of grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

Start by cutting the cabbage into halves and remove the core. Then slice the cabbage into thin strips. Place them on the pan or skillet. To cook, add oil, water, wine and season it with salt & pepper. If you want it spicy then you can add red pepper flakes as well. Cover over medium heat.

While that’s happening, Pour olive oil on a pan and brown the sausages on all sides. Cut the tomatoes in half then cook them in the sausage oil. After browning the sausage and lightly cooking the tomatoes add them both and the rest of the content to where the cabbage is. Cover it up and cook it until the sausage are cooked thoroughly. The cabbage should be soft. The whole process should take about 20 minutes. bon appetit!

Skillet? The dish in the picture looked the same shape as my dish but I heard it crack slightly on the heat so I had to cover the dish and cook it in the oven. I'll try it again one day using a frying pan!

Laura and Dave came round as Dave is going to fix our roof. We kept the kids entertained in the garden for a little while. Not sure how Callum didn't fall in the pond the way he was leaning over trying to feed the fish, but somehow he managed to stay dry.

We ate our dinner, finished the white wine, and watched The Time Machine. The Guy Pearce version. Shame the Sky+ kept sticking on the playback. As I was watching it, I couldn't remember it but I must have seen it before.

Wednesday 7th April 2010

This evening I went to an Ann Summers party at The Swan. Well, if you could call it an Ann Summers party!! The girls had set up in the corner of the pub, underneath the loud TV. We were drowned out by the loud football. A few of the girls who were staff came and had a look but no real interest. Apparently over 400 people had been invited and I was their only customer! My order is going to go through on their next party and if the hostess doesn't want the specials, then they may get offered to me. I'll just have to wait and see. £60 worth of goods for £15. Sounds like a good deal.

When I got home I was watching TV with Dan for a while. He introduced me to “Born Survivor, Bear Grylls”. He's a nutter!! He was eating all sorts of bugs and stuff. He should stick to the fish and the fruit. Bugs are for the birds! We have come to the conclusion that he has only been let out of the mental hospital to record the show.

Apparently Bear Grylls and the crewe receive support when they are in potentially life threatening situations....I should hope so too!!

We've also decided that the camera crew have been to Tesco and have a lovely BBQ when they've finished filming and leave the nutter to his grubs and termites. Lizard soup anyone?

Another question Dan raised when he was in the outback meeting up with an unknown tribe..... how does he find these tribes in the first place? Call their mobiles? Look them up on Facebook?

I've looked up Bear Grylls. His real name is Edward Grylls and he is a British adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is one of the youngest Britons to climb Mount Everest, doing so at age 23. In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest ever Chief Scout at the age of 35.

5th April 2010 – Easter Bank Holiday Monday

I got up as early as I could today to get tidied up before our visitors arrived. I wasn't sure though what time they were coming. Mum and Dad were coming over for the first time possibly in 20 years. We've been meaning to sort it out for ages but we're often out each weekend. They phoned late morning to say that they were the other side of the bollards up the road. No idea how they got up there or why it took so long for them to get from there to home. They only had to go right, right, right and right. They had bought the littlest nephews over too, Paul and Alfie. We took them out to see the garden and to meet the fish. It was good to see them all.

I dusted and moved around a few dragons today. I had a new one to make room for. The Sandcastle. Batty had bought it for me on Ebay sometime ago. It was to be an incentive present for clearing up a difficult spare or for getting 3 good games, which I eventually achieved last week. I think that was the last “affordable” one that I didn't have. I'll have to check sometime.

Sunday 4th April 2010 - Smarden

A little while ago, we were sitting around the table at the farm and I was browsing through the parish magazine. An Easter Sunday Duck Race caught my eye. We all thought it sounded like it might be a good idea and we had nothing else planned. So rallying the troops, friends from as far as Peacehaven and Beckenham joined us. We met at the farm and booted up for a muddy walk. We decided cross country was quicker. The village was as busy as we expected. More ducks and duck squawkers were available in the Flying Horse pub garden. We then wandered along to the bridge over the river where most people seemed to be gathering. Most of us went further up the road to cross the field to get closer to the river. We found a lower platform to stand on below the bank. The 800+ ducks were in two plastic dustbins and were chucked in further up the river. We cheered them down. They looked like clumps of daffodils coming down the river. It was difficult to spot the numbers on the ducks but we noticed a few, in particular Dave's duck, no. 172. We suspected it was going to be last but it got ahead of a few. Two guys were in the water up to their chests at the end of race to collect the ducks in. The stragglers were chased up by a couple of guys in a boat. A couple of ducks escaped past the finish line and when we left they were being followed up stream by the boating guys.


We wandered back through the church yard. Kat and I had a look in the art shop in the village and then we found that the boys had slipped into the Chequers for a crafty one while they were waiting. Kat had a quick drink with them while we waited and then we walked back to the farm. While the BBQ was being warmed up, we took the troops up to the barns to meet the beasts. Kat and Charlotte enjoyed feeding the straw to the cows. I got “cow licked”. They have very prickly tongues, great ex foliation!! The back of my hand was very smooth afterwards. In the nursery, there were two sheep and 3 lambs. None to bottle feed today. Soon it was time to go back to the house, and help with the cooking. As usual, we had far more food than we could finish off, and everyone ate plenty.

To walk off the lovely food, we had a wander around the ponds. The second one we visited is where the ducks are. I thought the ducks would have been scared into the water by our visit but one particular male was so not scared of us, he carried on doing what birds do the best!! Most of us tried not to look! Someone made a comment like “that's where the chicken twizzler comes from”!! It was soon time to say our goodbyes. We had decided it had been such a good day that it might get added to the calendar as an annual event.

In the evening, as I didn't go bowling, we caught up on Flash Forward. We had 3 episodes to watch now. It was good. I will watch it again sometime soon and put it on to disk. Later I watched Calendar Girls. A lovely film that I like to enjoy on my own as I cry every time. If you've not seen it, it's a British comedy about 12 members from the Women's Institute who make a calendar to raise money for a worthy cause. Good girly flick, that you could even watch with your mother.

Saturday 3rd April 2010

Just as I was still having a lazy morning, Martin phoned to ask if he could drop something off for us. He bought us egg and a mug, which is very sweet, as Martin is. Not to appear ungrateful but the mugs are smaller than they used to be or maybe there were children's ones. I had been searching for eggs with mugs before Easter and I couldn't find a decent size one anywhere. Chatting to Martin we agreed that we would meet up town and he would treat us to dinner at The Gorge in town. He often goes there apparently. I had a lovely bacon omelette, Martin had a big jacket potato and Dave had the all day breakfast. These were all enjoyed. It made a change from our usual haunt over the road at Maccy D's. We went to a couple of shops including Iceland. We were lucky enough to be able to book a home delivery. This is so much easier than trudging back to the car with it all.

Martin joined us again later for Dr Who. It made sense for him to watch it with us before we went to Chris's. We all enjoyed the new doctor.....the raggedy doctor. Does anyone want an apple? How about some fish fingers and custard? At Chris's we watched Twilight and New Moon films. I enjoyed both. I had only seen Twilight before. I could watch it again and again.

Friday 2nd April - To Folkestone on the beer

Oh, my feet hurt! I knew I shouldn't have worn my boots today but they were necessary as my jeans were too long for flat shoes. We walked to the station about 11 o'clock and got to Chambers in Folkestone soon after opening time. I started on the strawberry fruli beer and didn't have anything else while we were there. It was something that I hadn't had before and after that sweetness, everything else didn't taste right. I had a lovely lamb stew for lunch. We didn't leave there until 5pm, which was later than intended. We then swaggered to the Guildhall. Dave and Lisa had been shopping for rabbit ears. As the shop didn't have enough rabbit ears for everyone, they bought some hats too and for some strange reason, a set of boobs! The boobs soon got damaged. The ears and boobs caused some concern in the pub. Games of pool were played and more drink consumed. I'm sure Lisa's drink was knocked over by a not-so-fat bum, but I'm told it could have been the pool cue. Paul joined us at the Guildhall. From here we went up to the Pullman. It was somewhere that we hadn't been before but they had a good beer selection, including Oyster Stout. We just had to keep everyone from being rowdy as it was a bit more posh in here. The other customers seemed to be having civilised chats, and then we invaded. From here we went on to the Lifeboat for another beer and then onto a curry place. I had a prawn dupiaza. Dave ordered food but then spent most of the time in the toilet. We suspected he was having a nap. Then he left us here as he needed to get out and walk. When we got to the station he was safe and waiting for us. A good day was had by all.... what some of us can remember of it!!

Thursday 1st April 2010 - Hooray the weekend starts here

The Easter bunny visited us at work today. I got a crème egg one. I've eaten one or two crème eggs this year. I think my waistline will be glad when they disappear from the shops. Generally I don't eat a lot of chocolate. I can't eat it late in the evening as it causes nightmares, and I have to really fancy it to want it anyway. Mint choc Aero's, Bounty's and crème eggs seem to be my weakness. I've decided recently that I'm not so keen on Belgian chocolate. I like the taste of Caramac too but prefer not to eat a whole bar at once. It's very sweet and sickly.

It was Dax's last day at work. End of an era. He had been off sick quite a lot over the last year or so but when he was there, annoying as he was sometimes, he got stuff done. There are no plans to replace him at the moment but I think that is a bit short sighted of them. We'll see. I wanted to get up to The County to join him and friends for a drink but didn't make it. I was late leaving work, and then, unexpectedly, I was cooking dinner for four. Meatballs and pasta bake tonight. By the time I'd got ready to go out it was 8.30 and time to get over to the Windmill. Raw, the band that Brian is in, were playing tonight. It was very good. They had several positive comments. They say that they don't play the most popular tracks on an album but go for the 11th track. I've no idea how true that is but whatever they were doing it worked and was enjoyed by all. I hope they get more gigs soon. They didn't have enough material to play beyond 11 pm but they played a couple of popular ones, “I will walk 500 miles” and “Alice”.

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Today, the busy time at work did not let up. Although I had no orders to ship, I still had other work to catch up on. I had to update several new customer's records with training voucher information and update the version numbers. I didn't get round to the monthly corporate invoicing until the end of the day. It was 6pm before I could escape from work. I did manage to take a short lunch break to order my laptop case. I had found one that was £2.97 at PC World, Currys and Dixons, but at that price I guess I would have been extremely lucky to find a place with one in stock. I had been looking at one on the Misco site that I nearly went for. It was £7.04 with VAT and then would have been another £3.99 delivery cost on top of that. I then found a lovely pink one on the Amazon website that was £11.88 so not a lot more than the Misco one, as Amazon don't charge for delivery. It should be delivered on Tuesday, after the Easter weekend.

This evening Mum's taxi was required to go to Folkestone again. Unfortunately Operation Stack was on due to the bad weather today. It took us over an hour to do a journey that usually takes 15/20 minutes. Once we got to junction 11 and got onto the A20 we were soon there. On the way home, the annoying thing was that there were no vehicles parked in the “stack” lanes so why had they not opened the motorway again. The traffic was still being directed off at the Hythe turnoff. I had to ask Dave to take notes for me at the archeology club meeting. Lesley had asked me to do this as she was away. By the time I had put petrol in my hungry car again and got home it was about 8.15. Dan helped me cook some dinner. He had already started it. After dinner I cooked another bread and butter pudding seeing as I still had some bread that needed using up and Dave loved it so much. More Fringe recorded to disk tonight to clear the Sky+ that is fast filling up. We only have 18% free.

Tuesday 30th March 2010

Today was busy again. The second to last day in my job is usually busy but the recent trend continued and I was too busy to get everything done, and ended up going to City Link again as all the parcels were not packed before 5 o'clock when the City Link guy had to go. All system sales have to be delivered in the same month they are invoiced to count in that month's figures so the pressure is on to get as much done as possible on this day. We sent 13 out today.

For something quick for dinner, I cooked pork chops with some veg that needed using up. I fried a chopped courgette, part boiled some chopped new potatoes and fried them too and then added the tomatoes. The end result was enjoyed. This evening we watched another episode of Heroes. Chris stayed behind after everyone else had gone to help me get my laptop onto the wireless network and get Martin's tablet thing updated too.

Monday 29th March 2010

The hectic spell following the show continues at work. More orders than we can remember seeing before. I think 17 consignments sent via City Link to individual customer's, not Corporates, is something of a record. I got to the City Link offices with the packages that weren't ready earlier at 6.40.

Amongst the madness, my new laptop arrived, and a candle delivery. I couldn't stop to even take a peek at my parcels. When I got home I only had time to get the parcels out of the car before I had to go out again. I didn't have time to unpack them before I got back later.

Tonight at bowling I didn't expect to do well as I was so wound up after such a busy time but somehow I managed to achieve 3 good game scores. 199 was my top score, and the 3 game scores came to 490. I thought this was my highest series score but having checked my trophies I found that I had got 495 previously. I am still aiming to get my first 500 series.

Sunday 28th March 2010

After a lazy morning for me, we went to Whelans after lunch. Dave wanted to get something new for the garden. We went in his car as it has a bigger, and empty, boot. We weren't sure what we wanted. We saw the meerkats that a couple of ladies were coming out with. We just knew straight away that they had to be on the shopping list. After walking around twice we decided on a lizard type fella, 3 meerkats and a couple of other bits. We got back to Ashford about 4pm so it was too late to do any more shopping. Just time to get home for a quick dinner before I went bowling. I didn't do very well. I'm blaming the top I was wearing as it had sequins, etc on it and scratched the inside of my arm when I bowled. Sometimes when I do badly on Sunday, I bowl well on the Monday. We'll see......

Saturday 27th March 2010

I got the minutes done for the archaeology club this morning. Leaving Dave with assistance in the garden, I went shopping. Mainly for something to find some lunch for the workers. Hot cross buns seemed the obvious choice. These were welcomed by all. It was soon time to get ready for Jose's party. This was to be a surprise party so Dave and I wanted to arrive first as we were the only ones that Maria had told him she had invited. Maria put on a lovely spread of food as usual and we were soon all tucking in and having fun. The new conservatory seems to be the favourite place to be for parties since it was finished at New Year. There was television being watched in the front room for those that wanted to, or have a snooze. Later the New Moon film, the sequel to Twilight, was on. I watched the start of it while I scoffed the profiteroles that Maria had given me and then joined the others in the conservatory. We left quite late and had a great time as usual. I hope Jose enjoyed it too. He was very tired as he had only flown back from Turkey that afternoon. Today's picture is Jose wearing his present from Martin.

Thursday 25th March 2010

It's not even 7 pm yet and I'm in my PJs unwinding after a hectic week, and it doesn't look like it's going to ease up just yet. The Sales/Support team have just attended a show in Birmingham and it's generated lots of orders. As well as all of the other queries that I have to deal with, order processing is the main part of my job. I've never known it this busy. It's so lovely this evening not to be rushing off somewhere. I haven't had to run Kat to Folkestone today so dinner is cooking already. I've started watching Heroes to catch up. I've resisted starting on the bottle of wine that I've got out to have with dinner. I had a ginger and lemon tea instead.

Last night's archaeology committee meeting went OK. I took the minutes and I've got them to type up soon. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. I intended to do them last night but a silly game of solitaire called me, after I'd done the bowling scores. Bowling was fun this week and we also managed to win 8-0 against one of the top teams. Dinner is ready.... back later.
We just watched Cold Comfort Farm. The DVD was a Christmas present from Dave. Apparently I liked it when we watched it years ago. I don't remember it at all.... well, maybe I remember... “There's something nasty in the wood shed!!”. It was good.