Well, lets get the news sorted out first and then I'll do some rambling:

• Andy and Neil are fine and are back from Peru
  
• My net connection at home was not working from the 17th to 20th, but Pipex fixed it yesterday
  
• On Tuesday, the clutch pedal on my car went crazy and kept sticking to the floor.
  
• Enough WD40 can fix problems with your clutch pedal
  
• I was in court on Thursday...
  

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[link]   Posted @ 08:48

Many UK readers will have heard about the Boscastle floods on Monday evening, but now I am to reveal more flooding that hasn't been mentioned on the national news.

My house!

I arrived home on Monday evening at around 6pm and before nipping out to get some shopping, I went up to my office to get my PC doing some video processing. So there I am, sat at the desk and I'm looking out of the window - and the rain is so torrential, that I cannot see the houses 50yds from me. I pull all the windows closed and sit there watching it from my office window.

At that point, I hear the sound of running water - like guttering, but it was coming from each side of my head. So I put my ear to the left wall (adjoining wall to neighbours) and could hear water racing down the wall. But I could still hear water running in my right ear! So I put my ear to the right wall (internal partition wall) and could hear water there too...

So I went downstairs to the middle floor and found that the rear bedoom on the middle floor was flooded. A 4ft round puddle in the middle of the room, with water streaming (not dripping but like a tap on full) from the light fitting!

I immediately grabbed pots and pans from the kitchen, along with some towels and started to try and catch the floodwaters before they got any further. The rain died off after a few minutes, but the water continued flooding in for about 3 hours...

The landlord was called and he got into the attic and discovered that the attic was waterlogged, as was all the fibreglass insulation. Yesterday, the builders turned up (several times) and they are coming back at the end of the month to strip the roof and redo it. They aren't sure how it happened - but happen it did - and they suspect it was a combination of the wind at a particular angle and the amount of water. The landlords view was no matter what angle the wind ro amount of rain, his roof should not leak. Which is a pretty good point, it has to be said.

Rain is scheduled for later this afternoon, but hopefully won't be as heavy...

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[link]   Posted @ 10:55

It would appear that my mates Andy & Neil should have been on the Inca trail (just as Jon mentioned). Another Andy (Hi!) has a copy of their itinerary and they indeed should be trekking. We will wait for their next contact...

Friday evening Shell and I dressed up and went out. I was wearing shirt, trousers and shoes (which is unusual for me as I am generally a jeans, T-shirt and trainers guy - I even have smart ones for special occasions!) and Shell wore a little black number from Jane Norman and she looked stunning. I mean, she looks pretty hot in jeans and crop top, but stick her in a dress and phew!

We started off at the Cabot (and chatted to Neil and Bob) and eventually moved onto Senoritas. God that place is hideous and the crowd of people who turn up there are pretty much the same too. However, it is the lesser of several evils as most of the clubs in Weston, we both refuse to go into due to knowing the management or being annoyed by the clientele. Give me Cheers/Back Bar any day!

Saturday we went shopping and visited Shells great-grandmother in the Bristol Royal Infirmary. We then got caught in traffic trying to get home due to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. My god! Bristol was snarled up all over, with people trying to get to the place. Its a great venue (I went a few years ago) but it is located in the worst possible place. We were planning to go out on Saturday night and watch The Cage but we were too knackered and stayed in instead. Sunday was spent moving some of Shells clothes in, and that included her shoes. Her shoe collection has to be seen to be believed. I will post a picture later this evening.

What is it with women and shoes anyway? She has several pairs that have never (and I mean never) been worn, and more pairs that have been worn maybe once or twice. And then she has some that she has worn to death and require a decent burial, but she refuses to throw them away. And some are kept for sentimental reasons! I mean - they are shoes! I did however buy her this T-shirt and that turned up on Saturday morning. Quite appropriate I thought :)

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[link]   Posted @ 09:44

My friends Andy and Neil are currently in Peru, trekking. Last we heared, they were staying in Cuzco and then this morning we read this. Dear god! I sincerely hope it isn't them...

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[link]   Posted @ 13:17

So then. I suppose I should update you all on how Tuesday went, as it seems to be a matter of some interest :)

Tuesday was my 33rd birthday and I had the best birthday present ever! I saw Rhiannon and Chandler!

I arrived at the CAFCASS office at 10.15am and the kids turned up at 10.30am. They walked in with the CAFCASS officer - Chandler said "Hello" and walked over to see me straight away. Rhiannon said hello, gave me a little smile and sat down on the other side of the room.

Within minutes, both of them were involved with playing - Chandler with cars and Lego and Rhiannon doing drawings (she started to play with a dollshouse, but moved to art pretty quickly). Chan was soon giggling away as we joked about putting little Lego men in the boot of car and with me suggesting farm animals instead. It was great to hear him chuckling away. His speech has come on tremendously and he only lost me a couple of times.

Rhiannon told me about her new school and some stories about some the other children in her class. She seems to be enjoying herself there, so thats good. Rhiannon said a few things during the hour that seemed to be trying to get a reaction from me, but I let them go. Then, within a few minutes, she came over to me, got my attention and told me what really happened. This of course, was all in front of the CAFCASS officer.

Chan seemed pretty confused when he turned up. It was obvious from his manner that he remembered that he knew me, but didn't know exactly who I was. But after about 20 minutes, he started remembering things. We were playing and he suddenly said "Diggers", to which I replied "You like diggers?". He nodded and said "Window. Diggers in window. Bedroom"... as he used to watch the diggers going past the house from my bedroom window. A few minutes later he looked at me and said "Daddy". My heart burst! He followed up with "Daddy. Bedrooms. Lots of stairs" as he'd obviously remembered that our bedrooms were on the 3rd floor and that there were obviously lots of stairs.

We spent a great hour together, talking about all sorts of things, playing and it was totally relaxed. When it was time for them to go, I helped them get their shoes on and gave them each a little present - Chan got a truck and Rhiannon got a Piglet Pencil case. Chan then said "Your car?" to which I had to tell him that no, they were going in mummy's car. "Go your house?" was his next question to which Rhiannon piped up "Yeah. We can go to your house". Of course, I had to tell them that they were going home with mummy, to which they didn't look too impressed. They both wanted to see me and come home.

When they left the room, I sobbed my heart out. I'd managed to keep everything in check, as when they walked in the room, I really wanted to pick them and never let them go - but that would have just freaked them out!

A truly fantastic thing - seeing them like that. They were pleased to see me (probably not as pleased as I was) and we started off like we had never been apart - which gave me a great feeling inside. They were both well, looked great and smelt like my kids (if you are a parent, you will know what that means). A great day!

It's now a matter of waiting for the court date (probably at the beginning of September once all the reports have been filed, etc) and then I should hear the outcome of the CAFCASS report. Wish me luck :)

For those of you that come here for other reasons than reading about my life trials and tribulations - here is a link to wedding cake made from donuts

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[link]   Posted @ 11:15

What a fucking awesome day!

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[link]   Posted @ 13:35

Well I, Robot was alright. Not brilliant, but a good action film for the summer. The only thing they seems to have used from Asimov was a slightly briefer version of the basic laws. Nice car though :)

Friday night saw one of Shell's work colleagues turn up asking if they could stay for a few days - so we have done our good Samaritan thing and let him. Things have been pretty bad for him the last couple of weeks and it feels good to help someone out in their time of need.

Shell was working this weekend, but came home early on Sunday due to knackering her knee up. Seems she might have pulled a tendon or something - she could hardly weight bear on Sunday evening, let alone walk. She has gone to work this afternoon, as the last thing she wants is for it to seize up and become more painful.

Saturday morning saw me up at Dave's fitting a new wheel bearing on the n/s rear of the car. The old bearing was well knackered with several of the bearing actually missing from it and they had presumably been ground down into nothing. So it was replaced by Dave (with a little assistance from me) and away I went. Now I have seen it done, I feel quite happy that I could do the other side (if and when it needs doing). As an encore, I went and bought a new tyre, as the one we removed to get to the bearing was pretty worn on the inside. So now my car is more stable and doesn't grind/rumble as I drive.

Sunday morning saw me getting my 22cc petrol strimmer out of the garage to attack the back lawn. A little WD40, some petrol and some oil in the tank, plus a few sprays of WD40 into the enginer and on the spark plug and it fair burst into life and made mincemeat of the long grass. Unfortunately, I was trying to make hay! (Hehe). It hadn't been used for over a year (possibly 2) but it was great. Unfortunately, I didn't have any engine oil to add to the petrol so used a little vegetable oil instead. This gave the garden a nice "chip cooking" smell while I was doing the strimming :)

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[link]   Posted @ 16:36

Yesterday evening, Shell, myself, Dave and Su went to see Jethro at Weston Playhouse. It had been kept a secret from Dave for many a week, as this technically was his birthday present, as he was in hospital at the time. When Shell and I arrived at their house, he was under the impression that we were going to visit family, until Shell told him!

So we popped into Cheers for a drink before the show and then let Jethro and his singer (Shaun Perry) entertain us for about 2 hours. God did I laugh! He told so many jokes I can hardly remember any of them. He told jokes I'd seen him do before, and jokes I already knew - but I still roared with laughter due to the way he told them. Fortunately, none of us got picked on as part of his act. Absolutely brilliant and I will be seeing him again (probably year after next).

Tonight I am off to see I, Robot with my mate Andy. Looking forward to it, but I suspect it might be arse from some of the reviews I've read/seen. It would appear that the film studio had licensed the "name" from Asimov, but not the storyline. Eh?

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[link]   Posted @ 14:56

Saturday night, we did indeed go and see Mendip Road. And verily, did they rocketh! Unfortunately, we only stayed for the first set as Shell wasn't feeling at all well, so we went home early. They played their own rendition of Sweet Home Alabama, which although sounding nothing like the original from Lynyrd Skynyrd, was pretty damn good. It's nice to hear a band be inventive with music, as opposed to banging out bland covers. Shell would like to announce that she never stalked the singer, but may have kissed him 4 times. And remembered what colour tops he was wearing at the time...

The weather this weekend has been absolutely storming - beautiful blue skies, little fluffy skies and blistering heat. Hated it. And on Tuesday/Wednesday, its meant to be hitting 30degrees. Ouch! I'm not sure I can survive that kind of temperature in England. When I am abroad, it isn't so bad, as the heat is generally dry, whereas heat in England is just oppressive and headache inducing. Although it might make for some good thunder storms, which I always love. I remember when Rhiannon was quite little, we lived in a 3 storey house and the bedrooms were on the top floor. Bimbo was hiding under the bed from it and I went it to check on Rhiannon. She was awake and a little scared, but I picked her up and then we watched the thunder and lightning from her bedroom window. I explained it was just the clouds and air crashing into each other and we watched the display for about 1/2 an hour. She must have been about 2 when that happened and she still remembers it now (well, 6 months ago she did).

Last Tuesday, my friends Neil and Andrew made their way to Peru, for 3 weeks of mountain treks and stuff. They have managed to post a couple of times to a mailing-list, so at least we know they got there alright. The keyboards in Peru are different, however, so their posts have been interspersed with little gramatical oddities...

Someone pointed me to the intriguing device - the Pokia. A truly brilliant idea and if I had the money, I'd get one. Beats the stupid hands free things around nowadays

How many words per minute do you read? Check here to find out. I read 500-550 words per minute, which explains why I demolish books at a rate of knots.

Ever wondered what the most used words are in the english language. Someone took the time to do so - check WordCount for the top 86000 or so...

Ever wanted to create your own powerpuff girl? Me neither. But if you do, visit here. Might be fun for someone out there.

Yet more Origami/Paper Sculpture - fancy making your own paper Mac? Check here for more details.

Cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines

On Roger's blog, I found a link to The University of the Bleeding Obvious. Brilliant stuff.

The government are currently sending out a pamphlet to every home called "Preparing For Emergencies". They even have a website here. However, they didnt reckon on a parody site coming up. Excellently funny and also has some details about the government asking for it to be taken down, in case people get confused...

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[link]   Posted @ 11:27

I got a very friendly phone call from the IR on Wednesday afternoon. They basically said that they will entertain periodic payments provided I get my tax returns up to date.

So at lunchtime today, I did just that. A big thanks to the Bristol IRAC. They were snowed under, and after a 35 minute wait, they saw me and had 2 tax returns sorted out in about 10 minutes. Excellent stuff! So I have to call the lady from the IR when I have received my new statement, and then we can start discussing what to do next.

I never thought I'd praise the IR!

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[link]   Posted @ 16:34