Beside the Seaside

I'm Back!

2010-12-03T05:28:00.002Z

Don't get too excited, but I finally remembered my username (which allowed me to create a new password, which allowed me back in here!) And to be cryptic, but still allow myself a reminder, it was Hysterix2008 in the leafy glade place!

So... now that I'm back, what shall we talk about?

Shoebury East Beach

2008-07-21T23:12:00.001+01:00

Shoebury East Beach, originally uploaded by braduk.

Went straight to Faye's from work and had a lovely Chicken Tikka Massala which was very nice (thanks Faye xx), and as the weather was so nice we then went to Shoebury East Beach for most of the evening. We walked around the edge of the paddling pool there and saw a few fish, some baby crabs and even a jelly fish!

They reckon we're in for a "mini heatwave" so hopefully we'll get the chance to come lots more during the school holidays.

What a great day!!

2008-07-20T10:54:00.001+01:00

Sapphy, Wall-E and EVE, originally uploaded by braduk.

Had a fantastic day yesterday! We went to Lakeside, but when we got to the car park we decided on the spur of the moment to go to Bluewater instead, which is a quick hop accross the Queen Elizabeth bridge into Kent. We found out (thanks iPhone!) that they had a Disney store too, and as neither of us had been there before, thought it might be fun to explore.

Now, as anyone who knows me can testify to, I HATE Lakeside! I can never find the shops I am looking for, and always lose the car. So I expected Bluewater to be the same... but OH MY GOD!!! I LOVE Bluewater!! Even while we were still driving it felt like we had somehow been transported back to America! The wide roads, the scenery, the water... the general 'feel' of the place was 100% pure Orlando! Even the sun was shining fiercely! We parked in a covered car park (Green, row D) and even this felt very - yup, you know.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had a GREAT day. Found the Disney Store straight away, Had lunch at TGI Friday's, found loads of cool shops (including a David and Goliath store for more "boy-bashing"!) and had an ice cream. At around 6ish(?) we headed back to Lakeside and had another shorter wander and a look around their (bigger) Disney Store before going to Waterstones where somehoe we all ended up sitting at the kiddies table colouring in and generally acting Sapphy's age! It was great! Ha ha! Then I said I'd treat everyone to dinner at Pizza Hut. We were quickly shown to a very nice booth when Sapphy said that she wanted a little pizza meal with fries. I said that you can only get those upstairs in the food court, which is when it hit Faye and I like a tonne of bricks that the reason we had gone to Lakeside in the first place was to get food from the food court!! AARGGHHH!!!! Much laughter later, we quickly left Pizza Hut and went to the top floor where the girls had their Pizza Hut meals (Sapphy only ate her fries! You just can't win!!) while I had a very nice Chinese.

So all in all, a VERY good day :)

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish!

2008-06-13T18:18:00.001+01:00

Today was officially my last day at B&Q. As most people reading this will know, I injured my back at the end of March and have been signed off work since then. I'm a upset that not a single member of the management team contacted me today to wish me well in the future, or even just see how my back is now. Upset, but not surprised.

Anyway, *I* wish the store and the staff the very best. They are a great bunch of people, and I will miss them - especially my Front End team. You guys are the best! Remember, single-scanning and trolley to trolley! :)

Your Duty Supervisor is no longer Brad :(

Testing...

2008-06-13T00:41:00.001+01:00

Ok it's actually 12:40am on 13/6/08, and I am posting this from a new Firefox add-on. Just testing to see how it all works really.

Lets try a picture...

Wow that was easy!! Yup, think I like this :)

Back to the Future

2008-04-02T14:23:00.002+01:00

Well, I was running out of titles!

Today is exactly a week since I jiggered my back, and it's not showing any signs of getting better. Yesterday I thought things were on the up as it hurt a little less, but today the pain is back whether I am still or moving, standing, sitting or lying. Triffic!

It's quite a nice day out today too, and I would have liked to have gone for a walk and taken some photos but there's no way I can do that. Instead I am sat here, updating my blog. Ho hum.

I still have a ton of junk I need to take to the tip, which is also a no-no at the moment. It' so frustrating!

Oh, and I'm having trouble sleeping, too. Last night I was up until after 4am. Maybe that's a side effect of the tablets?

Not good... not good at all!

2008-03-31T21:08:00.003+01:00

Today I went back to the doctors. The short version is that I have been signed off work for two weeks, been given stronger pain relief and refered to Southend Hospital for physiotherapy. The doctor says it is likely that I won't see much of an improvement for at least four weeks!!! There's nothing I can say to fully articulate how depressing that news is. Four weeks of this pain - at LEAST! God knows what work will make of that, but as much as it inconveniences them, it's just that - an inconvenience. I, on the other hand, have been given notice that I am going to be in a whole lot of pain for WEEKS to come!

This is horrible

2008-03-28T01:32:00.000Z

The time now is 1:33am. I'm writing this from in bed. I'm in pain. Lots of pain. So much pain that I can't sleep. And I am alone. I don't know why but right now I feel like I may as well be the only person on the face of the planet. All my friends and family are asleep, I don't feel like surfing the net. I feel very very low. It feels like someone has reached inside me and ripped out my drive. I don't like this feeling one bit! And I want my stupid back to stop hurting so that I can get back to a normal life!! There's so much to do at work at the moment, and it seems very unfair that others are having to work twice as hard, and rearrange their shifts to accommodate my injury.

I hope this feeling is gone by the morning. I don't want to feel like this any more.

Ouch part 2

2008-03-27T23:18:00.003Z

My back still hurts LOADS, more so today than yesterday in fact. And my neck is definately wanting to be in on the game! Last night I had been sitting in the same place for some time and had been comfortable to the point where I'd forgotten about my back - until I jumped up to go to the loo! THEN I remembered! In fact, I might even have said a naughty word!!

This evening Faye drove me to Shoebury and she then finished clearing the old flat for me, which was really nice of her. That's it. It's 100% clear now. She even hoovered for me! I'm giving the keys back tomorrow and then my time living in Shoeburyness will officially be over.

Watched Ashes to Ashes this evening. I was gutted when the loose ends weren't cleared up as I thought that they weren't making any more, but god bless Mr Voiceover Man who said it is returning next year! YAYAYAY!! After some of the things that happened tonight, I have my fingers and toes crossed that next series we might even see an appearance by the legend that is D.I. Sam Tyler! Well, I can dream!

Tomorrow's the launch day of Southend Radio 105.1. Must try and remember to have a listen at some point!

OUCH!!!!

2008-03-26T11:51:00.004Z

11:50 I am in agony!! I have really hurt my back moving the sofas up the stairs at Faye's flat. OWOWOWOW!! It hurts so much I have been sick! Obviously I'm not going to work, and I feel terrible for that as I know how badly it will disrupt things and also will be a major inconvenience. I have a doctor's appointment at 5pm but work said I should go to A&E right away. I am waiting to hear from Faye to see if she can take me. I'll try and update this later. Right now even breathing hurts!

19:05 I am at Faye's. Didn't go to A&E. My doctor said that I've either strained the muscles in my back and neck (which now also hurts!), or torn them. If it's only a strain, it will be better in a few days. If, however, it's a tear, it could take weeks!! Either way, it will get worse for the next 48 - 72 hours as the muscles get inflamed and stretched. Great!

Tuesday

2008-03-25T23:51:00.001Z

Not much to say tonight. Went to work, went to Faye's, came home!

The fishies are in their new home, which is good as it's one less job! Tomorrow I will be up with the larks to shift the sofas and washing machine, before going to work for a nice busy Diamond Card Day! Lucky me!!

I did get approached by a couple of ladies at work today who said they would very much like me to join their amateur dramatics group as they 'loved my voice'! Hmmm, it's kind of tempting...!

Easter Monday

2008-03-24T23:06:00.004Z

Today was manically busy at work until just after 4pm, when it died a death. Despite making a list of things to take with me to Faye's last night, I still managed to forget my black shoes and so had to make a pitstop here on the way to work this morning.

We did manage to get to the tip on time today, and so that was one big job taken care of.

Other than boring work stuff, nothing much happened today (except for a MAJOR run-in at work which I can't go into details about, except to say it involved three people in the manager's office and I need to remember that it was today this happened!).

Went to Faye's after work for dinner and watched a bit of TV, and then came home.

Got to be up early tomorrow to organise the fishies moving from the old flat, so am off to bed shortly.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T20:09:00.002Z

Today Faye, Sapphy and I spent the majority of the day clearing the flat in Shoebury. It was a Herculean effort, given that it snowed and rained most of the day. So much so, in fact, that Sapphy and Faye made a snowman this morning! The flat's pretty much empty now. Just a couple of bits left to go. We had a nice (if late) lunch at Wimpy at 3:00pm as the troops were close to starving to death!

I am writing this at Faye's on my Macbook. Faye's parents are here! This is the first time I have seen them since... July last year. I was very apprehensive of being in the same room as them, but they have been civil, friendly and chatty. Its a huge relief!

I'm staying over tonight. I brought a pillow from the flat so hopefully I won't get the usual backache I always end up with from the mattress. How I slept on that night after night without any trouble is a mystery!

Faye's car is fully laden with junk for the tip. Tomorrow morning we're headed there at 10am, which is when (we hope) it opens.

Sapphy's being a pain at the moment. I think she's a bit over tired!

I have a sore throat! Not too bad, but noticeable.

OMG - Two blogs in a row!

2008-03-22T11:59:00.002Z

Wow, this must be some kind of record! Two blogs in a row!

Anyway, today was Easter Saturday. Work was busy, but we had plenty of staff in (thanks to the whole Supervisor team, including the girls who are acting as our backup. In fact, we took just over £113k and scraped past budget by about £250!

The day started pretty crap, because I'd made a stupid mistake in the cash office yesterday in my rush to get all the tills cashed up, and although nobody told me off about it, it annoyed me greatly because if I had taken a few seconds more on each till, a lot of hassle could have been avoided by the poor girl in the cash office this morning,

It was nice that both Ryan and Marilyn noticed that something was getting me down and both did their best to pull me out of my funk. Unfortunately I managed to piss Diana off though, and she was in a mood for most of the day! Sorry Di!

So anyway, things got better as the day went on and by the late afternoon I was back to my normal self and enjoying work again. You know, it's true what they say. Moods really are infectious. My bad mood rubbed off on a lot of people, but so did my good mood. Marilyn said I need to not let things get to me. She's right. I need to work on that as I don't like not being in control of my emotions. I need to really learn how to choose my mood.

After work I went to Faye's and watched some TV. Ashes to Ashes was great, as usual. Felt a bit sorry for poor Gene Hunt. Next week is the last episode. Hope they make another series!

When Faye was going to bed, her neighbours were being noisy playing a game of some kind. I banged on the wall, which did nothing so I went round. After working out which door was theirs, I knocked and asked if they would please keep the noise down as the walls are paper thin and her bedroom is just on the other side. The young guy apologised and seemed sincere when he said he didn't realise. But when I got back to Faye's, she said somebody had said Fck that, we're not going to whisper! However, when I left they were still quiet so hopefully they will be reasonable!

Tomorrow we are moving the bulk of what's left at the old flat. We have heavy snow forcast for the morning, so that's just bloody great!!! Typical, really!

March Already!

2008-03-22T01:13:00.003Z

Blimey, time flies! Well, briefly I am now living in Westcliff, but have the flat in Shoebury until the end of the month. I was promoted at work back in August last year, Faye and I now live apart but see each other most days and are now getting on better than ever, and even going out! Something we haven't done for years!!

I will *try* and blog more often as I like re-reading my old entries! Of course, it's always nice to receive comments too!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T20:55:00.000Z

Wow, where to start?

Actually, rather than dwell in the past, let's start afresh for the New Year. I'm not going to go over everything that has happened since July because... well basically because it's been pretty rubbish all round. The worst year ever, in fact.

So here we are... January 1st 2008. I hope it's a better year for you than 2007 was. May all your hopes, dreams and desires be fulfilled this year.

You can't change the past. You can't even be sure of the future. All you can guarantee is the here and now - so make the here and now happy.

Break from Blogging

2007-07-11T22:42:00.000+01:00

Sorry readers, I'm taking a rest from blogging for a while because I really don't want to talk about the recent events that have rocked my world.

Oh What a Night!

2007-07-08T18:30:00.000+01:00

Well, last night's party was great! The store had hired a huge marquee at the Westcliff Rugby Club, complete with DJ, magician and H-U-G-E buffet. Everyone behaved themselves (as far as I saw, anyway) and nobody got drunk, silly or paralletic - unlike a certain other party I attended recently!

At work, I had the whole day to get as much computer-based training done as I liked, and so I now have TONNES printed out that will keep me going for quite some time to come.

Today Ally, Nat and Tom came round, which was nice. Ally brought his new Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360 with him and he and Mantha had a play while Tom and Sapphy went on the trampoline. The weather was really nice - for once!

I'm all set for the minibus driving to Lakeside this week now. I had a bit of a drive round the car park for a while on yesterday, which got rid of my fears. It's really not as hard as I thought it would be. Parking's going to be fun, but other than that there shouldn't be a problem.

Having a nice rest today. My batteries are recharging nicely... which is definately a good thing!

Another Placeholder

2007-07-07T16:29:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the lack of blogs lately. Lack of time plus loads of work to do.

I'll probably write this up either late tonight or tomorrow as tonight it's the B&Q staff party... I could get used to all this partying! :)

Placeholder...

2007-07-05T19:45:00.001+01:00

Today's blog will follow soon. Right now I'm off to the Adventure Island Staff Party! Yay :)

Cream Crackered!

2007-07-04T20:58:00.000+01:00

Only a short one tonight as I'm shattered. I think all these early mornings are starting to catch up on me!

Work was great, as usual. I've been volunteered to drive a minibus full of Southend staff to Lakeside every day next week for some hands-on training in a live store. The training will be good... not sure about this minibus-driving lark though!

Tomorrow night's the Adventure Island staff party. It'll be really nice to see the gang again, Let's just hope that the rain holds off and I have a bit more energy than I do tonight!

I take it nobody liked the puppy photos then, judging by the lack of comments... but then, am I surprised? :)

Check it out!

2007-07-03T22:55:00.001+01:00

First off, a huge thank you to all of you who took the 30 seconds to leave a comment yesterday. As usual, I'm very grateful that you bothered to take all that time out of your busy schedule! (sigh)

Anyway...

Today's checkout training was really good. Dave's a great trainer. Instead of running the afternoon session, I asked Dave to carry on and I helped (as I'd done in the morning, in fact) as I didn't think I could do it as much justice as he had - after all, he has done this a lot longer than me :) But being in a position where I CAN ask things like that and be taken seriously again is simply great! You really have to have walked a mile in my shoes to understand just how much I am relishing every second of this job! I guess it's a bit like walking out into a bright summer's day when you didn't even realise that you'd been stuck in a celler in the middle of winter!

Had an unexpected call this evening from Jules, one of my managers and my absolute rock when I had my recruitment company, which was really nice. Glad to hear things are working out for her at last!

Ok, I promised I'd upload some puppy photos today so here's one for you...

Please go HERE to see the rest.

Oh, and if you don't leave me any comments, heaven help you! I have your IP addresses and I'm not afraid to use them!! :)

Here comes the rain again...

2007-07-02T23:31:00.000+01:00

SO glad I'm not at Adventure Island today! It's been chucking down on and off all day! Danny said it's been really busy today, too!

Instead, I've had yet another day off! Three in a row! Shock! Horror! Once more Fathertedd has been battling for his life in places as colourfully named as Thousand Needles, Shimmering Flats, The Barrens and others. He's now taking a well-earned rest in one of the local inns, having reached level 31 today.

Squeezed in a couple of episodes of Babylon 5 at lunchtime too. Really would like to sit down and watch all five seasons again at some point, but with the huge backlog of shows we have Sky Plussed at the moment, finding the time will be a nightmare!

Ooh - speaking of nightmares you, dear readers, will like this...

This morning I came downstairs to read the Sun online, as I always do - except the PC was making the Duh-Dee... Dee-Duh noise it makes when you plug in and then remove something via USB. Odd, I thought - but this PC is so rickety that nothing surprises me! Then I noticed that my trusty PDA was constantly resetting itself. Now that IS odd - and worrying too!

To cut a long story short, several hours were spent trying to get the thing to reboot. I even tried the (painful) reset-to-factory-settings option. All with no luck.
In desperation I tried the HP online realtime support chat thingie, where I was put through to a guy with a suspiciously Indian-sounding name... "Oh great", I though. "Here we go!"
Several communication breakdowns later, it struck me that I hadn't checked if the thing was getting a charge from the mains. I crawled under the desk and - $&@@&*^#!!! I'd bloody kicked the plug - probably in panic as I fled some evil monster in WoW last night. The poxy plug wasn't in properly!!!
So the good news was that the PDA wasn't dead - just a flat battery!! The bad news was that I'd lost everything on it - but through the miracle of backups, normal service has now been restored! Hooray!!! :) :) :)

If Only All Sundays Were Like This!

2007-07-01T23:48:00.000+01:00

Had a really nice, relaxing day today. Didn't wake up until around 10:30, spent most of the day playing World of Warcraft (henceforth known as WoW) and had a totally child-free afternoon.

After taking my new character from zero to level 13 yesterday, I decided to blow the cobwebs off poor old Fathertedd, my Dwarf Priest who has been stuck at level 28 since God knows when! He's now level 30, which is nice :)

Faye brought Tinkerbella, her Gnome Mage up to level 50 which means she can finally teleport others (i.e. me) to the far-flung Night Elf capital city of Darnassus. Hooray! The journey by conventional means takes the best part of 20 minutes!

So, other than that, we briefly saw Mum, Dad, Ally, Nat and Tom today when we dropped Duckula off.

One more day off tomorrow and then back to work right through until Saturday - and I'm really looking forward to it! It's been far too long since I've done any real supervisory work. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed it and I can honestly say I'm loving every moment of it!

Skallagrigg

2007-06-30T23:27:00.001+01:00

Skallagrigg, originally uploaded by braduk.

The weather today was lousy. It rained pretty much all day long, ruling out any thoughts of going out.

Faye was at Lorna's this morning with Sapphy and so I took the opportunity to catch up on some zee's.

This afternoon was spent mostly in Azeroth. Faye's been playing her mage and I've started a new female Dranei Shaman called Skallagrigg (which was the title of the book Faye 'borrowed' from the pub on her birthday, whose name gave us all many great laughs!

Sapphy is at my mum's tomorrow afternoon and the other two are at Kevin's for the weekend, so tomorrow afternoon we are CHILD-FREE for a few hours!! WOOHOO :) :) :)

The Story of the Uniform

2007-06-29T18:02:00.000+01:00

Now then, draw up a chair. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

Many moons ago, some time in the 80's (or was it 90's? I don't remember the exact date), the CEO of B&Q went to the top of his tower and looked about him.

"Tis grand!", he exclaimed. "I am the master of all I survey! And all my staff look lovely in their red and brown uniforms."

"But sire, look yonder to the land of those bloody Mirkins! They have Ye Home Depot and, mighty as your empire is, theirs is in truth the largest empire in the world! And hark, I fear the news is worse. There is another Mirkin empire who also makes thy empire pale by comparison. And furthermore, I would chance that one of these nasty Merkins would be so unsrupulous as to come to these fine shores and loot and pilfer your mighty empire out from under you by means of ye hostile takeover!"

"Hmmm....." the ruler mused thoughtfully as he rubbed his chin. "Aha! Come closer... I have a cunning plan....."

And before you could say "Ye can do it if ye B&Q it", the CEO had in fact jumped ship, stuck a regal finger to his nose and raspberried the mightiest of raspberries at his empire. He proceeded to swim all the way to Merkinland where he was welcomed by those rascals and cads at Ye Home Depot with open arms. He looked at what was good, and looked at what was bad. He observed how the empire had grown and winced as he witnessed the fear in the eyes of his minions throughout the land.

Back in the land of B and indeed Q, things were not good. "We have no ruler!", they cried as one. "We are ripe for invasion by those steeenking Merkins!!", they wailed. "Heeeelp uuuuus" they yelled.

Then one fine day, a shadowy figure appeared on the horizon. As he drew close, it became apparent that it was none other than the turncoat ex-CEO...

"Yes, 'tis I. And no, I am not a turncoat. My masterly but cunning plan is complete!! I have seen what makes this Merkin behemoth the great and powerful nation that it is... and the secret is... WE WILL HENCEFORTH WEAR CLOTHING AS BLACK AS NIGHT WITH COLLARS AS ORANGE AS THE SETTING SUN!!! Furthermore, our vestiges will be completed by matching aprons!!! For not only will this make us LOOK just like our Merkin rivals, but it will ensure that, should they ever be tempted to set foot on these fine shores, they will be forced to totally change their appearance so as to not be confused with the fine, upstanding folk that WE all are, and thus would lose links with their Merkin heritage in but the blink of a maiden's eye!! And what is more, we shall go forth and build BIGGER and BETTER stores. Warehouses, if you will, where not just the men but the women will shop and be able to buy everything they would need to build their very home, as well as furnish it inside and out, from top to bottom!! And we shall ensure we work in harmony with out neighbours, both local AND global and thus our future will be secure and our outlook positive!!!

And so it was, and is today. The Land of B&Q continues to lead the whole of Europe, and the steenkin Merkins have yet to DARE to even approach our sacred lands!

(And yes, today was really good. Thanks for asking :) )

"Ooooh" and "Aaaahhhh"

2007-06-28T19:46:00.000+01:00

So, having been collected at the ungodly time of 7:30am, I arrived at the new B&Q store at a little before 8am...

Blimey, it's mahoosive!!! The car park is huge, the main entrance is huge, and the exterior only hints at how big it really is inside! To give you an idea, at 8:00am we were given a tour of the building. At 8:40 we'd finished! I think you could get all of Adventure Island's East or West side into the store - and still have room for seconds!

Although there's over £2m of stock now onsite, there's still a lot to be done. The garden centre is still a building site and inside there are construction crews everywhere - but the store is definately taking shape. If you've ever been to Southend's old B&Q Supercentre, your flabber will truly be ghasted when you walk through the doors! That's why I didn't take any photos - I don't want to ruin the surprise!

So, today I started on my computer-based training. As is rapidly becoming par for the course, I was very impressed with how they had managed to make as dull a subject as health and saftey both engaging and interesting.

Found out today that I am to be responsible for the store's telephony. That means anything phone related (calls in, calls out, response times, location of the DECT-like phones, etc) will untimately be by responsibility, as is training the phones to the stores' dedicated telephonists and the rest of the staff.

Met one of our level 3's today and we began putting together some of the vast amount of information that the checkout operators will have at their fingertips. That was a big job that took most of the day. She'll be finishing that off tomorrow morning as I'm off on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Romford warehouse first thing to drop some stock off that we'd borrowed before heading back to do some more training and help get the checkouts ready for next week when the till training begins in earnest.

All in all, I am absolutely loving every second of this job! Yes, some people mock the uniform - but if you ask me, I reckon it's just jealousy!! It's getting a bit tiresome and repetitive now, truth be told. Yes, we wear orange aprons. Deal with it! :)

I was sad that I'd be losing the estuary views I enjoyed every day on the way to and from AI, but I'm really happy to say that the views from our staff room are amazing! Rolling green fields as far as the eye can see! We even got treated to a show by a kestrel today!

Well, I didn't know that!

2007-06-27T19:06:00.001+01:00

Wow! I'm impressed. Seriously impressed! You've most likely hear of Gallup? You know, the company that gets paid lots of money by big firms to take independant surveys? Well, it turns out that not only do B&Q use Gallup, but they were also named in the Gallup 2007 "Great Workplace Awards". The criteria even to be considered is quite scary, and to actually win in this global competetition is amazing! The full story is here.

So the induction is over. Today was quite interesting, including an evacuation due to what turned out to be a false fire alarm. We were briefed on lots more procedures today, and given our rotas. Knowing when you're working for the next month is going to be a novel experience after Adventure Island, where you literally find out on the Thurday what you're doing the following week! Our store opens at 7am, but so far I'm escaping with 8am starts - and full 1hr lunch breaks.

Have to say, so far I'm very happy with everything I've seen. And, what's really encouraging is that my managers have already begun to notice my potential, and have commented several times on things I am doing well. Brilliant!

Tomorrow I get to see the new store for the first time. Can't wait! Wonder if I'll be allowed to take photos?

Day Two at B&Q

2007-06-26T18:10:00.000+01:00

So that's my second day done and dusted!

So far so good. Today we learned more about B&Q's visions and mission, and about how passionate B&Q is about customer service. More of the same tomorrow.

Yesterday and today we were given lots of manuals, guides, workbooks and other assorted info to read. I've also been told what my first "level 5" task is going to be...

Next week, Tues - Thurs, one group (myself included) will be learning the EPOS* systems and then during the afternoons, I'll be helping train the afternoon group. Sounds like a fun challenge!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have lots of reading to do!

*EPOS: Electronic Point of Sale, or "Till" if you like!

Day One, B&Q-stylee

2007-06-25T19:03:00.000+01:00

This morning the weather was, in a word: Lousy!

The rain rained. The wind - um - winded! Today I was glad I wouldn't be outside at Adventure Island, even with my waterproofs on!

Instead, I was at this lovely place...

Southend's bestest hotel. Definately devoid of rain. Couldn't say about the wind!

Yes, today was the first of three induction days into the Wonderful World of B&Q (©2007 Me!). A 9:30am start was scheduled but, eager beavers that all new starters are, we were all mulling about the foyer from about 8:30 onwards.

At about 9:15 "Da Management" arrived and we were ushered in to one of the conference rooms. I'll find out which one tomorrow, suffice as to say it wasn't the largest one.

To cut a long story short, we had a pretty good first day. There was the usual stuff. You know - the history of B&Q, named after Messrs Block and Quail who set up their first store in Southampton in 1967 (see, I was paying attention!) and how it's the largest home improvement company in Europe and 3rd largest in the world.

After this was the return of the dreaded Paper Plate Construction from the interviews. In case you don't know, you're given 6 paper plates, several sheets of paper (neither of which is allowed to be cut), some pens and a roll of sticky tape. You're then given 10 minutes or so to 'make something constructive'. Today we had the further instruction that we should focus on "height and flamboyancy".

We made a flower.

It fell over.

Next off we literally saw a map of where B&Q is now and where they want to be.

Then it was lunchtime. A jolly decent buffet, doncherknow. Yum yum!

Next up was the other side of the posters and more explanation thereof, which was followed by a discussion on what good and bad customer service are. Not exactly thrilling, but hey.

We also had a quiz which was split into two parts: 1) name the film from the short audio clip and b) name the TV theme (from the bloody 70's mainly!!). We did well and came a very reasonable joint first with 16 / 20 - until the cheeky pikeys on table two robbed us blind by stealing a decider from under our noses when we weren't looking!

Last up, we collected our uniforms, signed our contracts and sold our souls to the devil in the orange apron.

I was asked to hang on afterwards by my new boss, who had heard (thanks Ryan!) that I had a few concerns. She made it VERY clear that they were all unfounded. In fact, I think she's going to be an amazing boss and I'm really looking forward to working with her.

I then had to walk home (bah) because Faye was waiting for an estate agent to arrive! As soon as he'd gone, she robbed my uniform...

Isn't she sexy? Lol. I can't WAIT to be wearing that every day!!

Oh - hang on, we're wearing it as from tomorrow. ONOZ!!!

Hot Dog and Chips Twice

2007-06-24T19:11:00.000+01:00

Today our vets was having a special Fun Day and allowing pets to be microchipped for a bargain price so Cookie and Tink are now officially chipped! Unfortunately, nobody told the weather that it was supposed to be nice today and so it's been tipping down all day.

Tomorrow I start work at B&Q. The first few days will be held courtesy of the B&Q University(!) at the Westcliff Hotel, which is about the nicest hotel Southend has to offer so it should be pretty nice. Discovered a few bits of paperwork that I am supposed to take with me tomorrow and so have duly completed each of these and so I'm all nice and ready.

Rage

2007-06-24T15:11:00.001+01:00

Rage, originally uploaded by braduk.

Hmm... No prizes for guessing where Sapphire and I went yesterday! I'm going to be writing a Trip Report for the Adventure Island Guide, so I'll post a link when it's done.

The Adventure Ends Here

2007-06-22T14:39:00.001+01:00

Today is my last day at Adventure Island. Since I started back on 1st April I have made lots of new friends, and had a great time. I'm going to miss it - a lot!

Bowie at his Best

2007-04-13T00:57:00.001+01:00

Through dangers untold and hardships un-numbered I have fought my way to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great...

I LOVE this film so much!! To the point where I wrote the above from memory, and could in fact have quoted a great deal more!

The strange thing is I couldn't tell you *why* I love Labyrinth so much. Yes, I had a crush on Jennifer Connoly for a long time, yes I love every song from the film, but that doesn't explain why Labyrinth has had such a deep and lasting impression on me. Oh well :)

David Bowie - Life On Mars?

2007-04-13T00:48:00.001+01:00

I couldn't really have an entry about Life on Mars without the song that started the whole thing off, now could I? Freaky video, but an amazingly powerful song (with somewhat surreal lyrics).

Best. Programme. Ever!

2007-04-13T00:45:00.001+01:00

What a shame it's all over, but here hopefully forever is the start of episode 5 and the brilliant Camberwick Green bit.

No Comments = No Blog!

2007-03-26T00:00:00.000+01:00

Scroll down this page a bit... You see that little rectangle on the left hand side? The one that says "Site Meter"? Well, that impressive gadget lets me keep track of how many people are reading my blog every day.

This week I had 120 visitors to my blog. A pretty good result by anyone's standards. Of those 120 visitors, not one person has left a single comment. Now, I'm not being a meglamaniac here, but I'm not writing this blog solely for my own amusement. I want my readers to comment! To join in. To answer back. To interact! If my dear readers aren't going to do this, I may as well carry on in a closed blog that nobody but I have access to.

Anyway, it's up to you, dear readers. I'm not blogging any more until I get a few comments!!

May???

2007-03-21T23:51:00.001Z

Good news: I got the job I went interviewed for last week
Bad news: They want me to start in mid May!! Oh My God!!! What am I supposed to do until then? I don't know whether to laugh or cry, I really don't! For crying out loud!!

Sigh. Anyway...

Had some GOOD luck (for a change!) today. I spotted a blinder of a bargain on eBay t'other day. It was an aquarium and loads of gear worth well over £300, but the thing is it was collection only, for obvious reasons. However, the seller is only (literally) a couple of miles up the road, and so I managed to win the auction with a bid of just £40! Woohoo!

I haven't kept fish for some time, but I'm really looking forward to it now. Once everything is set up and looking lovely, I'll post a picture or two.

Calling Anternational Rescue!!!

2007-03-20T23:52:00.000Z

Stupid ants!! Digging a tunnel vertically and then taking a sharp left is not a good idea, as a group of foolhardy ant miners found out today. I have no idea how long they can survive down there, but there's nothing I can do for them :( However, their buddies seem to know something's wrong as they appear to be digging two rescue tunnels straight down to the collapsed area. Of course, this is probably a coincidence - but wouldn't it be great if it wasn't, and they really were working to help their friends?? I've added a few drops of water to AntWorld 2 today. This should prevent any more disasters for a while. AntWorld 1 is still moist enough.

Actually, AntWorld 1's ants have been very elusive lately. They've dug a tunnel right at the edge of the tank, behind one of the plastic side retainers. Therefore it's out of view! Maybe they didn't like the attention and they're shy?

Elsewhere, the tadpoles have all hatched and are swimming about like lunatics; there has been a Sea Monkey population explosion in all three tanks, and there are white specks swimming about everywhere; and lastly the Triops are still hard to spot, but they're there if you look hard enough!

Oh, and it snowed a little today as well!

Welcome...

2007-03-19T22:31:00.000Z

...to Jurrasic Park!

There may not be dinosaurs, but the Triops and Sea Monkeys were certainly about at the same time as those big guys.

Lots of life going on at the moment. All three Sea Monkey tanks have at least two babies in them, althought they're little more than eratically-moving dots at the moment less than the size of this full stop.

I've seen something moving in the Triop hatchery - but not sure if it's Triops or something else. AntWorld One's workers seem happy with the tunnels they've built as they haven't expanded them at all today, but over in AntWorld Two (the one that will become part of Antlantis) the workers have been going at it like Trojans! They've tunnelled right to the bottom of the tank!

There appear to have been a couple of cave-ins in AntWorld Two - but it may just be that the tunnel is away from the side wall. It's a bit worrying though because there are maybe six or seven workers that appear to be cut off right at the end of the shaft, but there is no way for me to reach them. Hopefully if there has been a collapse they will be able to dig their way back to the rest of the tunnel. It's only half a centimetre away. I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow.

Mother's Day

2007-03-18T23:51:00.001Z

I've still got a lurgy so my already postponed outing to the pictures has been delayed again. Still, it's better I'm ill now rather than when I start a new job - which will hopefully be very soon.

Sapphire, Faye and I have added our Sea Money eggs now (stage 2). Didn't see any immediate results, dispite the claims on the packets saying there would be.

The tadpole-wannabes are starting to emerge from their eggs now. Nearly, but not quite.

We went to Toys R Us in Basildon this afternoon as Mantha said they have loads of Sea Monkey sets there. Lies, I tell you! They only had two different sets: The basic one and the one Sapphire has. Bah!

However, they did have a blinding Doctor Who section, complete with sound effects, music, massive posters and a picture of the good Doctor with "follow you round the room eyes" that freaked Faye out lots :)

Called in on both our mums on the way home and stayed a little while at each, and then came home again and looked in vain for our Sea Monkeys. Maybe tomorrow...

...and Hello 35!

2007-03-17T22:58:00.000Z

Hippo Bathday to me!

It's been a lovely day. The kids got me an Antlantis set, which is fantastic, and Faye got me a Darth Tater to complete my set. Brilliant!

Sapphy and I set to work almost immediately on Antlantis. We've planted the grass seed, set up the new Ant World (the ants I ordered arrived today. Brilliant timing or what?), and prepared the Triops hatchery (I always knew all that rain water on the trampoline cover would come in useful one day!).

Next off, we popped into town quickly as Faye wanted to get a Sea Monkey set to join in the wildlife fun and games. Sapphy and I liked the idea, so we bought sets too!

Came home to find Blaine, Ben and Emma waiting here for us. Ben said Star Wars is better than Spiderman. I agree totally :)

Next off, in the car and round to mum and dad's for lunch. Lloyd and Christine were there, having brought mum back from Aunt Dolly's funeral this morning. While we were waiting for Ally, Nat and Thomas to arrive I had a call saying our alarm was going off. Faye and I dashed home, but all was well. Something had triggered the conservatory PIR, but nothing was out of place.

Back to mum & dad's. Ally, Nat and Thomas were there now. Had a lovely Indian, although I have a cold as of today, so can't taste much - but I'm sure it WAS lovely!

Dad gave the girls some frog spawn (at their request) and so after leaving mum and dad's we went to Pets at Home looking for a cheapo plactic tank, but couldn't find anything they liked. Then went to the Factory Shop. Bingo! Bought a couple of little containers for just over £1 each.

Then back home. The ants have been busy. Even the new colony has started a tunnel already! We all watched some telly, and then Faye and I started on Tower Bridge (Puzz 3d) again. In fact Faye's doing it right now so I must type faster and get back and help!

It's been a lovely birthday. As usual, Faye has bent over backwards to make sure I had a great day. It was lovely seeing Lloyd and Christine, and mum had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to lay on such a tasty spread at lunchtime.

So, a very big thank you to everyone who helped make today such a special day!

Ps, I've said it many times today - but I swear these grey hairs weren't here yesterday!

Good Bye 34...

2007-03-16T23:34:00.000Z

So this is the last evening of the first 35 years of my life. Well, let's hope the next 35 years are better!

Maybe watching the stories on Comic Relief, maybe realising I'm getting older, maybe feeling like I have a cold coming on, maybe stress, maybe lots of things. Whatever the reason, I'm fed up while writing this. REALLY fed up.

Anyway, the ants have been industrious again today. Their tunnel has got a lot longer, and this evening they've created a junction which looks like it's going to head back to the surface. The dozy things are asleep at the moment - on the surface!

They're amazing little creatures really. They don't seem to have a care in the world, they get on with the job in hand without moaning about it, they greet each other, they even look after their sick and injured. Hmm... I wonder what ants dream of...

Had an interview today for a company we'll call Bloggs Sherbet Factory. Needless to say, it wasn't a sherbet factory, much less owned by Messrs Blogs! Actually, it was an assesment day. Much better than a normal interview. It consisted of:

A maths test (which, if you failed, you were sent away there and then)
A competency-based interview (things like "tell me a time when you went out of your way to give great customer service")
A written test (replying to a customer e-mail with relevant information)
A role-play (dealing with a customer's call after being given some information to study for 10 minutes beforehand)

Everything was very well organised, and it all ran fluidly from one section to the next. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. The pay is above average, and the list of benefits is quite impressive too.

I think it went well, but these folk never give anything away. I'll find out "within 5 working days", so we'll see...

Cue Pink Panther Theme Tune

2007-03-15T22:51:00.000Z

"Dead ant, dead ant... dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant...." (geddit? hahahaha - *cough*) Oh dear!

These little ants don't seem to be the hardened workers that we were led to believe they were! Six of the little chaps have clocked off rather permenantly (see what I did there? hahaha - ahem). They may not be strong, but they sure seem to be clever! We've not seen any more of their buddies hanging round the lovely ant-attracting blob of jam or over-ripe banana outside the back door that worked so well previously.

Inside Ant World itself, the survivors appear to have started tunneling. Is this a bid for freedom, or the start of an amazing labyrinth of tunnels, passages and chambers? We'll have to wait and see!

In other news, Faye's mum and dad have lent us a Puzz 3D Titanic. Cinders' Castle had a mere 220-odd pieces. Titanic has 398, but Faye and I went at it on Sunday and had completed it by Monday evening.

Actually, it seemed a lot easier than the castle. I guess because so many parts are similar. For example, it's pretty obvious where a bit of ship's deck is going to go when you are building a ship, where as a piece of castle wall when you're building an entire castle is somewhat more tricky!

We've done some hunting and it seems 'Puzz 3D' as a phase (if it ever was one) has come and gone. The puzzles don't seem to be available in any shops. In fact, the only place we can find them is on eBay! Which is good, because they're MUCH cheaper than if they were new and in the shops!!

As it's my birthday on Saturday, I've been doing some window shopping and have seen some great puzzles... New York, New York for example. Over 3,100 pieces and the hardest of ALL Puzz 3D's (cue salavation)! There are some pretty nice Star Wars ones too, including a Star Destroyer (on US eBay only) and the Millennium Falcon.

Just realised... they said it would never happen, but I've found a hobby that doesn't involve the computer (except maybe to order the puzzles), involves the whole family, doesn't cost an arm and a leg and has an end result that can be looked back on for years... Brill!

Edit: Forgot to say, it's been a really bright, warm sunny day here today. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was nearly Summer. However, the weather forecast for next Monday is predicting snow falls so bad that schools will have to close! The world's gone mad!

Myrmecologists - and proud of it!

2007-03-12T22:35:00.000Z

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon was lovely and warm, and not a cloud in the sky. We went into town to do some window shopping (not that we need new windows, you understand!).

In Woolworths, I happened across something called Ant World. It looked like fun, was educational and not too many pennies, and so we became Ant Farmers...

...until we read the bit that said "Ants not included". Ah well, there are always millions in the garden, right? Wrong! Couldn't find any at all. So instead, I helped Sapphy with one of the educational activity sheets. She loved it!

So today, we baited the garden with some nice, about-to-go-off bananas and a big dollop of strawberry jam. And tonight, we have ants!! Not many as yet (they have a tendancy to get a bit squished when I try and get them into the nest - not good), but enough to get things started.

Sapphy's loving watching them run around in the nest, and down the (thankfully enclosed) tube into their "viewing room". In fact, she's been laughing lots watching them - which makes it worth every penny and more.

The booklet that comes with Ant World is very good. Sapphy and I are officially Myrmecologists (or Ant Keepers). We've learned loads about various ant species, how they live, how they die, how long they live (bet you didn't know that the record is nearly 30 years for one queen at some lab or the other!). There are some 50 species of ant just in Britain, and around 11,800 world wide!! Who knew!

Sunday Breakfast

2007-03-11T11:28:00.000Z

Lovely breakfast courtesy of Faye's mum and dad as a thank you for helping them move. Sent live from the table!

Aren't we clever?

2007-03-10T00:03:00.000Z

We bought this 3d jigsaw at a car boot sale last year and over the past two days all of us have been working on it! Not bad for 50p, was it? :)

A touch of wind

2007-03-06T23:09:00.000Z

Holy cow, it was windy last night! And, what with that and the rain hammering on the roof most of the night, you can imagine we didn't get a whole lot of sleep! Whose idea was it to have the loft conversion for our bedroom anyway?? Oh yes - SWMBO* - That's ok then!

Had a really good result in the ongoing Broadband saga today. Having experienced Sky Broadband first hand and quickly deciding I was better off with good old Telewest (or shiny new Virgin Media, depending on how you look at it), I spoke to a nice chap in Retentions today. To cut a long story short, not only are we now paying less than we were previously, but we're ALSO going to get free TV as well! Nice one VM!! Oh, and if that wasn't enough, he also confirmed the rumour that 10Mb is being upgraded to 20Mb free in April too! Woohoo! :) So as of March 15th, Sam will finally be able to watch TV in his room. He's chuffed, I'm chuffed and VM have kept a Broadband customer and also signed up a TV customer, so they're chuffed too!

I hate Sky for what they are doing at the moment. If it weren't for the fact that we watch so many new shows (Battlestar Galactica, Lost... actually that's about all - but we don't watch a great deal of TV), we'd swith to Virgin and ditch Sky. We don't use the Interactive ever, so we wouldn't miss it. And the V+ box is technically a lot better than our Sky+ box. And the Video on Demand (Virgin Central) is a great idea which Sky don't offer. And it's cheaper, too! Tempting... but I know we won't come back to VM without Sky One.

*SWMBO: "She Who Must Be Obeyed" :)

RIP Aunty Dolly

2007-03-05T22:56:00.000Z

This evening I received the sad news that my Great Aunt Dolly had died. She was elderly, frail and infirm so it wasn't a great surprise, but still it's sad.

It's one of life's most cruel tricks that as we grow older and appreciate our elders (and what they do for us) more and more, there are fewer and fewer of them remaining to appreciate.

I feel gutted that Sapphire will never know my dear Nan, nor Aunty Trilby, Aunty Ivy, Uncle John, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Duncan or even 'Big Nana' - my Great Grandmother. She'll never experience the wonderful family Christmas parties at Aunty Madge and Uncle Bruce's house in Tottenham when family would come from all over the country (and sometimes the world).

People say that they don't feel any older than when they were 18. Certainly I don't feel any different. Sure, I can't run the way I could, and I'm certainly not as flexible these days - but the inner me still feels the same. However, I guess it's when you begin to have thoughts like those I've just described that the truth finally starts to sink in...

"You're not that giddy eighteen year old any more"

Rest in Peace, Aunt Dolly. Your long day is over now. Sleep gently. Please say "hi" to everyone for me - and tell them that I miss them all and think of them every day... but I have a feeling they all know that already. xxx

Perfect Sunday

2007-03-04T23:49:00.000Z

Ahh - that's the way to do it! Faye and I had a big clear up today (well, mostly Faye actually. I helped as and when I was needed. I've long since realised it's safer to stay out of the way when Faye's on a mass clear up!). The lounge and dining room now look amazing.

Been playing Final Fantasy XII on the PS2 this afternoon. Really enjoying it. Faye says it's boring! Hehe

Pretty much given up on Star Trek: Legacy. The ships move like pigs in treacle while you frantically try and remember which button does what. It's going back to Blockbuster again tomorrow. I feel sorry for the folks who have bought it and don't like it!

Star Trek: Legacy trailer

2007-03-03T18:19:00.001Z

Here it is - oops!

Star Trekking Across the Universe

2007-03-03T18:15:00.001Z

Hired this game today on the Xbox 360. Only played it a little bit - but boy, is it complicated! Good so far though, with authentic voice acting by all the shows' captains.

The Sky is Falling!

2007-03-03T01:05:00.000Z

You know the old saying "you get what you pay for"? Well, it's certainly true with Sky Broadband. Only a few days ago I was singing it's praises, and lauding it's 16Mb for only a tenner a month... I take it all back!

It seems I was spoiled on cable broadband. I hadn't ever experienced problems associated with ADSL, such as quality of internal (and external) copper wire, distance from the telephone exchange or line drops and random disconnections.

Since having Sky BB activated, I've had nothing BUT the problems listed above. Having spoken to Sky BB's tech support department (who, to give them their dues, have always been clued up and knowledgeable) many times, it seems that the absolute max speed our telephone line will handle is 12Mbps, which would be good except that the internal wiring reduced that speed to 7Mbps max, and 5Mbps stable (no disconnects and line drops).

Clearly, this isn't very good. However, I'm still within my 8 day "cooling off period" and so had more leverage than the average contract-locked customer, and so they are transferring me to the free 2Mbps service and waiving the usual £40 activation fee. This is good news as I've been registering my sky.com e-mail address on a few important sites recently and I'd hate to miss some vital e-mail or the other.

It's also worth remembering that just a couple of years ago, a 2Mbps broadband connection was jaw-droppingly amazing. In fact Blueyonder (or Virgin Media, as they're now called) still charge £14.99 for their 2Mpbs service, which goes to show how good Sky's offer actually is!

So for now I am still running Blueyonder and Sky in tandem. The former is set to disconnect at the end of March, so I'm going to be testing like mad for the next few weeks to see just how vital the 10Mbps connection really is, and whether the £35/mth charge can be justified in today's Broadband arena.

Let the games begin!

Demonstration for Mantha

2007-03-02T18:36:00.000Z

Pay me enough and I may delete it :)

Does my head look big in this?

2007-03-02T18:30:00.001Z

Does my head look big in this?, originally uploaded by braduk.

Deep in the Cornish Slate Mines, Faye and Mantha demonstrate the latest in designer headwear while proving that yellow is the new black!

Ooh, ooh, ooh - a funky gibbon!

2007-03-02T18:23:00.000Z

Showing my age again, the title is a nod at a song from The Goodies in the 70's(?). Anyway, Gil Gibbon has now joined us. He likes attention so play with him. Oh, and he's partial to his nice 'nanas - and they're healthy so don't worry about giving him too many!

Cornwall BBQ - Summer 2006

2007-03-02T00:59:00.001Z

Woohoo! Really getting the hang of this now! This photo was taken last summer (2006) on our Cornwall holiday.

All the food was cooked by moi and, miraculously, nobody got food poisoning! The accomodation was fantastic. They called it a cottage but it wasn't - it was HUGE! Complete with swimming pool, full-size snooker table, multi gym and home cinema!

Now that I've got this working, I *think* you can click this photo to see the rest of the 317 photos I took on that holiday!! (Actually, thank God for Flickr because since uploading all of these, I had a crash and this is now the only place these photos now exist. Poxy Windows!)

Ah... this brings back memories :)

2007-03-01T23:54:00.001Z

It really is true - childhood is wasted on the young!

Still messin'

2007-03-01T20:06:00.000Z

Still playing with the new phone (Sony Ericsson K800i). Here's a photo of Saph Monster in the mean time. Quote: "I don't like photos with red eyes - they look like monsters!" Hmm... No comment. :)

New toy!

2007-03-01T17:59:00.000Z

Got a shiny new phone today. I can even write a blog on it!

The Sky's the Limit

2007-02-26T00:48:00.000Z

Today I've been messing around trying to get Sky Broadband up and running. Actually, it was simplicity itself to get the basic thing up and running... just plug it in, tell the wireless network cards where to look and off you go - but remember this is me here... I don't do simple!

So as soon as it was set up (i.e. 10 seconds after plugging it in), I changed the SSID. I mean, who wants a wireless network known as "SKY15787"?? Our last two networks have been Tink and Tink2007, and so it was my turn to choose the name. And thus, "Krypton" was born! One quick password change later and Krypton officially went live.

Now, the problem with ADSL vs Cable for us is the location of the wireless router. Our phone socket is at the other end of the house to the cable modem and its wireless network. The upshot being, of course, that the signal is reduced. So I wondered if it would be possible to convince the OLD (now defunct-but-costing-£80) wireless router to act as an access point instead, therefore actually belonging to the new network and acting as a range booster. One quick Google later, and yes it can - but it has to be wired in to the new wireless router. They can't talk to each other wirelessly (is that even a word?).

So I'm going to need a LONG Cat5 cable running around the perimiter of the lounge. Somewhere between 15 and 30m. No problem. I had a look on the site where I get all my PC bits. 30m cable for £8 inc vat. Add a fiver for postage. Still not bad - but I hate waiting so had a look at the same cable on PC World's site as there's a store just up the road. They didn't have the 30m cable - but can you guess how much the 15m cable was? Half the length of the one I'd seen for £8? Bet you can't! Go on, have a go...

If you said £35, give yourself a pat on the back! £35!!!! Can you say "con"??

Did they move Friday the 13th?

2007-02-23T23:02:00.000Z

Feels like it! It really does!! How can I sum up today? Hmm... let's think about it... Aha! I know:

Don't know whether finding out my mum had been in A&E twice last night / this morning (plus spending 20 minutes being treated in an ambulance); Faye's parents' house move being delayed and only finding out at 3pm after all their possesions had been loaded on to the lorry (which will now stay in guarded storage all weekend, plus the cost of the removal guys coming back next week has increased the bill by over £800), or losing Julie (who has been my rock, my friends and a major help) from the company today was worst, but all in all I can sum up today in 4 little words...

Worst. Day. For. Years.

However, I'm not going to try not to get all down about it. Think I'll try four other little words of my own instead...

"Don't worry - be happy" (Ugh!! I HATE that song!)

PANTS!!!

2007-01-11T00:11:00.000Z

Bah! Forgot to make a "placeholder" post before midnight - so now this says it's Thursday when 'really' it's Wednesday! (It's Wednesday until I go to bed, so there!)

Had a phone call from one of my old consultancy clients today, so went round this evening and spent a couple of hours setting up a router, fixing a pc (well, actually just plugging the monitor cable into the right socket), and setting up two laptops and a PC to use the new wireless network. I even did my usual trick of saving them money as they didn't need a wireless card for the PC as it was sat right next to the router, so a wired connection was fine.

£60 well earnt - and extremeley good value, I'd say!

CORA Blimey!

2007-01-09T20:11:00.001Z

Well, today CORA is doing my noggin in - so nothing new there! To do it the NEW way would mean having to buy lots of M$ stuff, and learning several new languages so I'm dropping that idea and going back to my original plan (PHP and MySQL). Just means I HAVE to figure out how to get the various parts talking to each other properly.

Read today that the World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, is out next Tuesday and if you want to, you can go to Oxford Street at midnight and meet some of the developers at HMV. Hmm... not exactly like meeting Barry Manilow (which we did on December 3rd), is it! Plus I have a dentist appt on the 16th, so it looks like I'll be passing on this!

Taking the PHP

2007-01-08T23:57:00.001Z

Yes it's been ages. Yes I started other blogs, but since this one is the most "complete", I'll continue here. That plus the fact that I have made a deal with Jules that I will keep this blog updated if she does the same with hers!

So today...

Lorna found out that the sale of the cafe has fallen through, which is really not good news.
Faye is in a lot of appendix-type pain but refuses point blank to go to the doctors because she is scared she'll end up in hospital (despite Jules phoning and advising her to get ot checked out to be sure)
CORA, the application I am writing in PHP coupled with MySQL, is a total nightmare and so I am considering developing it in Access instead within an ASP environment... which means having to learn THAT from scratch now as well - unless I can figure out relationships between tables properly, amongst other pretty important things!

So all in all, lots of fun!

Another Friday Afternoon

2006-06-24T12:57:00.000+01:00

This is turning into a regular event! It wasn't quite as warm this week, but even so we still had a really nice time at the seafront again.

Sapphire, Grandad and I widened our search for crabs and found loads this time! One of these weeks I must remember to get a photo of them.

We walked as far as the world famous Southend Pier this time. It was very eerie underneath, and as we walked amongst the colossal skeletal legs that hold up over a mile of walkway, buildings and train track high overhead, it was easy to imagine the ghosts of some of the millions of souls who have walked along its course in the past.

Don't Lose Your Head!

2006-06-18T12:26:00.000+01:00

It's amazing what you find on the beach sometimes! Friday was such a nice evening that we all went down to the front in Southend for an ice cream with Faye's Mum & Dad.

Sapphy and Grandad went off for a paddle, I scoured the breakwaters in search of crabs (found some, too!), Samuel used pigeons for target practice, and Faye and her mum watched as Mantha dug a huge hole in the sand and was promptly buried right up to her neck! How we laughed :)

A New Beginning...

2006-02-27T23:47:00.000Z

(and Oops, I did it again!)

Well, it's been ages! Sorry about that, but thanks for all your comments, phone calls and e-mails checking I was ok. What's that? You didn't? Oh. Well, neither did anyone else, so don't worry about it.

Have You Seen This Puppy?

2006-01-23T23:36:00.000Z

Disaster! Sapphire has lost her Nintendogs cartridge and is really upset! Of course, we have told her umpteen times to put it away when she's not using it because it's only slightly bigger than a postage stamp - but you know kids!

So tomorrow I will turn the lounge upside down looking for it. Wish me luck!

Sapphy didn't go to school today because she has a bit of a tummy bug. It's not terribly sever, but she says it hurts quite a lot throughout the day, and has been to the loo lots as well. We're sure the doctor will just write it off as a virus, and as the symptoms aren't causing her much distress we are happy to see how it goes.

She can help me tomorrow with Operation Dog Pound!

Peace!

311!! Count 'em! 311!!!!

2006-01-22T22:20:00.000Z

Today was absolutely fantastic - but boy are we going to pay for it tomorrow. The effects are already starting to show themselves!

So Sapphy, Faye and I went to London today so that Sapphy could go to Hamleys and spend her birthday money. Here's how it all went...

10:45am Arrived at Prittlewell Station. Ticket office closed so went in side door.
10:47am Noticed "Permission to Travel" machine not working, so would have to board without one.
10:48am Thought I'd look at the timetable to see when next train would arrive. Notice that Prittlewell has no service on Sundays! We all run to car to get to Rochford station in time for 11:00am train.

10:59am Arrive at Rochford station and are greeted with the sight of our train also arriving. It pulled out when we got to the ticket office (which, at least, was open!). Spend next 30 mins freezing on the platform.
11:26am Board train to Liverpool Street Station. Train was on time to the minute!
1:00pm(ish) arrive Liverpool Street.
1:05pm (ish) Underground train is already at the station so we run straight on.
1:07pm (ish) Get off underground train as it is not the one we wanted at all. Get on different train that takes us straight to Monument.
(no more times)
... Arrive at Monument. Take wrong exit and walk around three sides of station until we find the London Monument. We are all impressed with it - it looks a very long way to the top...
Get to the door on the far side and notice that "due to staff shortages" they are closed until 2pm - 30 mins away. Have a bit of a wander around to see if we can find Pudding Lane, but can't. Decide to get back on on the tube to Oxford Circus.
Get off at Oxford Circus... now, do we want Regent Street East or West? Take West and then find out it should have been East. Oh well. Do we turn left or right? The building opposite is 216. We want 360. Turn right and walk for about 5 minutes before we see the next numbered building; 183. Bum! Turn around and walk the opposite way.
Eventually find the Disney Store. Spend a while lining their pockets before headed back to the tube and back to the monument.
Take the RIGHT exit this time and walk straight out to the monument. Wonder if this is such a good idea - it's 202ft tall and 311 stairs to the top. Decide that it must be done, so pay and begin the ascent. First 100 are no problem. Next 100 not too bad. Next 80 are getting tough. Thank the nice people on their way back down who helpfully tell us that it's not far now, and that going down is much easier. Hmph. Last 22 stairs are painful - especially when Sapphy shouts "I can see the top!". Finally emerge into daylight and the views are fantastic. Shame about the heart attack I seem to be having, but oh well! :) Enjoy the views until I am able to breathe again without the aid of support. Wait a further few minutes and regain the power of speech. Say "This is nice. Look, there's the Tower of London. And Tower Bridge. Shall we start back down now?"
Head back down. Much better. Very much enjoy telling those on the way up that "It's not much further" and "coming down is much easier" :) :) :) Notice that my legs have been stolen by aliens that live at the top of the London Monument (in the golden urn, I think) and replaced with a substance that looks like legs but is in fact a cross between jelly and blancmange. Most noticable when trying to stand against the wall to let others squuze past on their ascent, but unintentionally bouncing up and down on one of the aforementioned alien legs while trying to pretend that you are in fact inventing some new dance.
Eventually reach the bottom and receive a certificate that makes it all worth while. Overhear someone say that "Pudding Lane is this way" and follow at an unobtrusive distance. Find Pudding Lane and take the obligatory photos.
Back on the tube and off to Regents Street again. This time for Hamleys. 6 floors of pure, unadulterated fun!!! Spend two hours (until they closed) playing - um - that is, helping Sapphy play with loads of cool toys. Go down the Narnia staircase and ooh and ahh at the real props and swords etc, from the film. Then Faye and Sapphy make bears at the Bear Factory. I decline.
Back to Liverpool Street and a pasty from the appropriately named Pasty Shop (where I also got Potato Wedges!) and then on the train with 1 minute to spare... and home!!!

So that was our day - how was yours? :) :)

Peace!

"It's my Birthday so I Can Do & Have Whatever I Want!!"

2006-01-21T23:44:00.000Z

If we have heard the above once today, we have heard it a hundred times!! Bless her cotton socks!

Sapphy had a really good birthday. Her 'friends' party was really good, at a pottery shop called Colourful Imaginations in Southend. All the children (and Faye!!) painted a peice of pottery that will now by kiln-fired and glazed.

Then we had the family party this evening which was also really nice.

I'm really shattered so I will leave it there - but it was a good day! Thanks to everyone that helped make it so.

Peace!

This Time 7 Years Ago...

2006-01-20T23:24:00.000Z

Isn't it strange... I would have trouble telling you what I did seven days ago, but this time 7 years ago I was online, not doing anything special. We'd had dinner at Faye's mum and dad's, and Faye had gone to bed. I went to bed at 2:00am. When I did, Faye got up and went to the loo.

That is when her waters broke!

And so, for the next 19 hours Faye was in labour, ending up with an emergency C. Section as both she and the baby were exhausted and showing signs of distress.

One day I will scan in the photo of me in surgical smocks!

Peace!

Clever Sapphire!

2006-01-19T23:40:00.000Z

OOOHHH!!!! I almost forgot!! When we walked out of the front door this morning, there was a large white padded envelope addressed to Sapphire. The logo on the envelope was from the Disney Channel...

She ripped it open and out fell a Disney toothbrush, flannel and book. I looked in the envelope (or what was left of it) and fished out a pink slip of paper which read,
"Dear Princess, thank you for sending in your lovely picture. We thought it was fantastic! Please accept these goodies from Disney."

Wow!! Then I remembered that Sapphy had drawn a picture of herself as Cinderella and sent it in to Freepost Disney. I seem to remember there was a competition to win a trip to Disneyland Paris, but this was just as good! She was really, really pleased all day!!!

Well done Sapphy!! :)

What a Grey Day!

2006-01-16T17:04:00.000Z

Ugh! I hate this weather. The persistant, pervasive gloominess. The constant dank and dreariness. The drizzle that seems to soak right through to the bone. It makes you forget almost forget that there ever were brighter, warmer days or ever will be again.

Wanted: Motivation. Apply Within

2006-01-12T23:00:00.000Z

Depression is like a constipated rhino sitting on your chest.
- Rob Anderson, "The Black Book"

Bonzer day, cobbers!

Met Mrs Wife for luncheon (a sausage roll, doncherknow) at Ye Olde Village of Rochford, which was nice. Then over to Mlle Sapphire's School for Delinquent Orang-Utans but arrived 45 minutes early. Not worth going home, so settled down to listen to the play on Radio 4 (which I do most days, to be honest!). Today's was about an English shoemaker who made Hitler's shoes. I was shocked by the graphic references to a gentlemen's "eggs", as they called (also) them! Shocked, I tell you!!

Anyway, the rest of the day was good - except for Mantha wanting to go to her club, but throwing a hissy fit because I said Sam would have to walk her home as I would be doing dinner, and then throwing a full-on wobbler because I dared suggest the totally unreasonable - that, as it is the middle of winter and but a few degrees above freezing, that the dear girl needed to take - wait for it... her COAT!!! What an unreasonable person I am!! With that she said, "Right, I'm not going then!", and stormed off upstairs. Can you imagine how upset I was?? Can you??? If you guessed "not at all", then give yourself a shiney! Kids!!

Peace!