If Carlsberg made blogs.....

This would probably be the best one of the year.

So we have been North- and returned.... not without the usual drama though.

I was ill on the day that we went up there (23rd December) and spent the whole 6.5 hour journey thinking that I may not even make it all of the way. I went to bed at 6:00 pm (pretty much as soon as we arrived) and did not get up for 16 hours!! That means that it was officially NOT man flu. On the plus side, I have discovered Night- Nurse (it's a medicine,) meaning that I will never struggle to sleep again.

I was too ill on Christmas eve to go and see the Snowman at the Sage in Gateshead, Elaine's Gran was a guest of the NHS, and so her seat was also n0t used. It sounds like we both had a close call as Tim walked out at the interval and would not retake his seat- I am not sure if it was to do with 'Artistic Differences' with the director, or just the start of his troublesome behaviour which is still plaguing us tonight?

Christmas day was great- I felt OK, Elaine was OK, and we managed to keep a lid on Tim's behaviour for most of the day. Elaine's gran was given a pass out for a couple of days, and we all received numerous great presents- Thank you to those people who are reading this and sent gifts. William and Kathrine now owe Stan and Jo a new patio door (having bought Tim as baseball!)

Mom swept to new levels of inexplicable gifts, when she gave me a toilet seat..... I have yet to understand.

Roy and Sian scored a winner with their PlayStation Karaoke game- already played and enjoyed in Sunderland. It actually listens to what you sing and provides critique- like the words 'Tone Deaf.'

We gave Tim a Karaoke tape player and 6 hours of Monkey Music tapes.............. we are more stupid than we look!

Katie got her first dolls pram and was very pleased- she uses it a bit like a wheelbarrow, to carry around whatever she picks up, which is often rubbish and food crumbs.

I was sadly too ill for the boxing day dip, but Roy still went ahead- dressed in a loud shirt and Tim's new policeman's outfit. We saw a few too many Borat look alikes showing almost all of their flesh, otherwise it was an entertaining morning.

Roy and Sian decided to bring their new daughter Evie up with them- apparently they thought that 9 weeks is too young to be home alone! She was officially declared by many as 'Nee bothaa leek'

We drove back yesterday, and now Elaine is coming down with what I had.... her mother also has it.

The wife

I am feeling in need of company. What a sign of the times that I turn to the blog!

Ben is out having a chinese meal with work colleagues tonight. I am backwards and forwards upstairs to poor Katie who keeps waking up because she can't breathe properly. She is on antibiotics for her chest and has some eyedrops too.

Today we went on a pre-school trip to the pantomime in Ayesbury. Not to be recommended. Poor Paul Daniels and the dreadful Debbie Magee have hit an all time low in their career. Debbie Magee seemed to have pinched all the high pitched singing roles, and it was just excrutiating. But Tim and Curtis seemed to enjoy it, although Tim was a bit scared to go to bed tonight in case Peter Pan and Tinkerbell turn up in his bedroom.

We are going back to Waddesdon tomorrow to see the aquarium on the stairs, all being well with KP.

We visited our German neighbours across the road last night. They have built some kind of Christmas model village which takes up half their lounge (literally), all fashioned with mock snow and streets and hills. There is an ice-rink with skaters, a train, a big wheel and a carousel. We thought Tim would love it but he was very non-plussed.

The snow in Boulder looks amazing. Check out Big Williams world if you haven't seen it already.

Family Antics

I have been away on a course- not for the whole time since my last post, but a fair bit of it. This means that I have eaten too much bad food, and that Elaine is fed up with me being away. I did try to cheer her up by pilfering my own body weight in mini mars bars from the snack area in the conference centre that the course was held in.

The course was the second bit of my project management course..... I have now done 7 days, but have 3 left to do. I cannot believe that there is anything else to learn about the subject, it's all quite obvious, you just need to use acronyms at all times, and have a "breakdown structure" for anything that you have ever dreamed of.

Now riddle me this!

We had a family picture sitting on Sunday- highly recommended for those who suffer from low blood-pressure- it is a sure fire way of getting it back up again.

We could not find a white sandy beach and a golden sunset, but did get some good shots this time!

Now this is a real treat- a cut out and make.... cardboard stormtrooper!!! Will somebody actually make this one I wonder?

In other news, we have managed to drop our video camera- just 2 days before Tim's first ever Nativity play. It still plays back, but just makes films of "Bicester in the dark." I have taken the back off and it didn't make things any better- nor any worse which was amazing!

Still here!!!

We are still here- KP and I decided to get up at about 06:30 and come downstairs. She is dropping bits of the wooden clock jigsaw that Dad and Maureen bought for Tim on the floor while I am creating this masterpiece,

I was away on a Project management course the last week- we didn't actually do many ghant charts- but it was still heavy going.

This week I had a development centre for work on Monday night and all of Tuesday, and then took the Mechanical Engineering team clay pigeon shooting on Friday- I did not win. (Equal second if you are interested.)

My new Christmas gift coffee grinder has arrived and been commissioned (thanks to Dad and Maureen) and now the utility room looks like this:

I always like to make an effort to dress the part while making coffee!

It is working very well and does not wake up the whole of Oxfordshire which the old one did.

Start Press again......

An update on life in the UK.

I have not paid much tax in the last week- despite buying some clothes and food.

We spent the day at a family photograph sitting- Tim would not actually sit, or look at the man with the camera- he also threw balls all around the studio for most of the sitting.

Anyway I am pleased with the contemporary feel of the samples we have got so far.

The photographer told Elaine that she was trying too hard and had developed a squint! (Was he coming on to her?)

We celebrated the whole very dramatic affair with a piece of "Broken Butter Biscotti" made by Elaine. (The recipe called it Coffee Cake, but it seemed to not rise in the least, and then broke into about 50 bits coming out of the tin.) The icing was the crowning glory- 99% butter, 1% icing sugar. The good news for me- as I don't like coffee cake, is that there was no hint of coffee taste in the cake- and our 'Camp' was in date!

We met our new Niece yesterday- Evie Scarlett is genuinely smaller than Tim's toy doll. She is wearing her parents out as all good babies do.

A quick car update- I got half of the money back for my latest breakdown.

We are going to play chocolate Trivial Pursuit tonight- as the chocolates go off on Tuesday........ oh and because we love to play 2 man Trivial Pursuit on a Sunday.

I put KP's curtains up this afternoon- no dramas except the assistance of Tim, which made the job stressful and protracted- I did consider getting a professional in, but his tax demands were not excessive and so I would rather do it myself.

For the coffee lovers, I now have a new tamper- which is the same as this one but more red.

Stop Press....

The news hot off the press is that Tim and Katie have a new cousin- Evie Scarlett Summers, born at 08:15 yesterday and weighing 5lbs 10oz. Tim thinks that 5lbs 10 is not a lot of money and that his new cousin was quite cheap to buy!

Another Car Issue

So another day, another huge bill to repair my relatively new but pretty crap French car!

Apparently 39 months life from the coils in my car is quite alright.... I suppose that they got the 36 month warranty just right!

Deep breath taken..... When I started my car up on Wednesday morning, it had a missfire. I put it down to the damp weather and assumed that it would stop after a short while. It did not and after 26 miles of spluttering, I looked for any obvious problems in the car park at work. There were no obvious signs- even that I was looking at an engine.... just a collection of black boxes connected by wires and pipes. I could not even get a positive ID on the sparking plugs! (and me, a Chartered Engineer.)

I took the beast in, and the next day I went back to collect it, along with 2 new coils (out of 4) and a bill for more than 200 quid!

I wrote a curt letter to Renault the next day and am waiting to see what happens.

On another front, I can report that my new coffee maker is fantastic- highly recommended.

I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking...

Since my last post, we have had a great week in Centerparks (to be recommended to those who have young children and bikes,) and our 7 year wedding anniversary. I got Elaine tickets to see Lee Mead in Joseph...... the down side is that I also have to go. I am saying the line 'I love musical theatre' to myself over and over again to try and make it true!

The above is not actually a dreamcoat, but a coat that William had during the early 80's. I had one that was similar but the colours were reversed. All of the other lads at school were allowed Parka's.

Elaine bought me a new coffee machine- which I am delighted with.

It is trying to get some nice coffee in the mornings that has stopped me from blogging for the last few days- I seem to have cracked it now though.

It's actually not the morning as I write this though.... The Bicester Lady's book group is meeting in the lounge, so I am banished to the study

This is not them!

And this is a blue Cesna model which you could make if you had plenty of time- if you were retired for instance. I am still waiting for somebody to make one of the things that I have posted for you.

Perhaps if the coffee making goes well, I will blog again in the morning.....

Breakfast Guest

Big William guesting on Ben's Breakfast Blog - We have been flying a fish-kite we bought from China - minus a few of it's essential parts.

KP and T of course are even more gorgeous than ever. PK rarely stops smiling!

I couldn't wait to taste the Dorset Cereal but I have to tell you I didn't like it much - too many raisins in it. I like more dried, or fresh blueberries or cranberries or --- any berries really.

Mistake!

I broke the rules today and ate a bowl full of the forbidden Alpen Nut Crunch. One word...... disappointed. It is not as sweet as old fashioned Alpen, but does not even taste as good- which I though would be difficult to achieve and still be listed as fit for human consumption. It is a bit like small cardboard flakes with not many nuts or any crunch. I am still longing for my Quaker Muesli.
Here is an American breakfast- probably eaten by the same proportion of Americans every day as the English eating a fry up.

And here is a Danish breakfast- the best of the lot I think.
This is a Thai snack which I won't be trying by choice for any meal of the day.

And here is a bit more of a classic- just send the pictures to me when you have finished making them and I will make you famous (ish.)

06:49- time to get sorted.

What Exactly are we doing at the NEC sir?

Today I am having to finish of the remains of an old bag of Jordan's natural (from weeks ago)- the last of the Quaker's bit the dust yesterday. There is a box of new style Alpen in the cupboard, but Elaine has told me that I am not to start it. She told me last night that she had hidden it..... but it's where the cereal always lives. This is the first cereal location double- bluff that I have ever encountered!

Apparently if I collect 200 tokens, I win this large pipe!

Last night there was a discussion (on Radio 2- I really am not as young as I look,) about what constitutes the traditional English breakfast.

They came up with the following:

• Bacon

• Sausage


• Grilled halved tomato


• Fried Bread- cut into triangles


• Baked beans


• Fried egg


• Black pudding


• Mushrooms

Now I believe that they missed out on fried potatoes, cup of tea and buttered toast. It then struck me that I have not yet had- and reported on such a breakfast. I aim to remedy this in the coming months- although the thought of a breakfast like that makes me feel a bit ill!

And here is a cut out and make model of a.... answers on a postcard please!!

Quaker

I am having Quaker oats muesli today- it is my new favorite- especially the harvest fruits variety.

I cannot find a picture of the box, nor of a Quaker easting oats, so here is a Quaker looking pleased with himself.

I am a bit tired today as the neighbours burglar alarm was going off for ages last night- I played the caring neighbour and went out into the street to have a look, so they have all seen me in my stripey pyjamas.

I thought that it was about time that I posted another useful thing to recycle your used cereal boxes into- today it's the turn of the label dispenser.

I am even saving the planet! (I do not wish to receive the above as a gift thank you.)

And here is a very old cereal packet- do you know that some people out there actually collect them!

I also found this picture of the Birmingham Airport Maglev being taken apart- it has been replaced by a more conventional train

Right- 06:49, time to head off to work.