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.

Starving

Blimey, I have been starving for the last few weeks- all as a result of missing the most important meal of the day. 06:40 today- end of outage at work means that I am giving myself a bit longer in bed every day.

I have to go on my first ever good company day out in October- a weekend of boat based activities. I think that we are sleeping in a hotel, but messing about in the Solent for the days! It sounds like fun.On Friday I found that when Renault worked on my car, they forgot to reconnect the fan- so the car told me to stop my engine- and made a high pitch squeal to remind me- as I sat in traffic trying to get home. I was delighted, but then relieved to find that the fault was just that they had not snapped a connector in to place.

This is not the actual connector- I am sure that you guessed that, as my car in blue.

Right, time to got to work now.

Oh, I will accept any of the above as gifts by the way!

Probably..... the wrong advertising slogan

Elaine has just left for book group, and so I have broken out a can of my beer of the moment- Peeterman Artois. It's a Crystal Weissbier for those who care, and is delicious.

Today I went to work at Didcot.

Seen here from above- on a cloudy day. It's an amazing shot- my office is not visible!

There was a shop in Milton Keynes selling the above cereal- and other American stuff, like marshmallow paste in a jar. The cereal was £6.95 (that's about $13.00) for ONE box! It must be pretty good at that price!

This is the second picture in the series of old photos that Elaine has started posting- Look how fast I appear to be going!

Oh today I finished off the Dorset in a purple box- the one like wine gums and porridge, and tomorrow have to start to get rid of a packet of Jordan's Natural, which I used to love, but which now disappoints with every mouthful.

Le weekend

We were visited by a jet-lagged granny yesterday. She still had the energy to teach her grandchildren the finer art of blogging on Tim's laptop.

Then we went to Milton Keynes, and wished we hadn't. We always wish we hadn't gone there when we get there, every single time, and we never seem to learn our lesson. We almost had to re-mortgage the house to buy our lunch in John Lewis.

Today we have been to church, and then for a picnic to Brill Hill (yes it is rather brill as you can roll down many steep inclines, which Ben indavertantly demonstrated, and Tim did deliberately). Then Tim made pizza and rice pudding.

Tomorrow is my (Elaine's) book group. I can't wait. I haven't seen the girls for ages, and the book we are discussing is, in my opinion, fantastic. It is called 'The vanishing act of Esme Lennox' by Maggie O'Farrell. I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about it.

For our own amusement, Ben and I have decided to publish this picture, taken on a skiing trip several years ago with Roy and Sian. I have just come across it and I can't for the life of me imagine why we decided to doctor it to give me Sian's teeth, and Ben Roy's teeth and moustache.