Massive Update pt.1

While the dogs away the cat will play...well in my case while K is away L will eat bacon sandwiches, play video games and update his blog! I didn't quite realise how long it had been so hopefully my 3 readers haven't given up all hope of updates never to return and will find this update informative and entertaining (or a complete waste of time, I'm happy with that too!)

I have a big list of things that I need to cover but I'll start chronologically for pt 1 at least and then go from there...

So, Florida! We had a superb time on holiday and could have done with a little more time to be honest, although my confusion with the dates didn't help! Not sure how I expected a Thursday flight in the US to return to the UK before it had taken off. Needless to say this caused all sorts of shenanigans with visitors back home and my car being nowhere to be seen at the airport.

Aside from that debacle the trip itself was brill! The automatic car took a little getting used to but it has convinced me that a Prius wouldn't be an altogether awful idea for my next car at home (it too has an automatic gearbox).

I picked the least obvious 'tourist' car to make us less of a target!



Highlights of the trip for me were Magic Kingdom and Key West but most of it was great. Miami was a little disappointing but I think that was mainly because it just wasn't as friendly as the other places we stayed and the less said about the frankly bizarre hotel the better!



The weather was good too and the exchange rate meant that we were able to spend and not worry too much...although it did mean I came home with 4 DS games that I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to playing, but I'll talk about rampant video game playing in another update!

All in all I can heartily recommend Florida! And now to find that bacon sandwich!

Ooops!

I appear to have been very lax on the blogging front recently...almost a month since I last blogged!

I can only say that I've had a lot going on and video games have kept me occupied in the 'Leigh Time' that would usually be used for blogging.

Those games being Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition & Paper Mario on the VC.

Also work has been a bit of a drain recently and I didn't want to vocalise it all on my blog...it would have been a bunch of whining basically. Hopefully there'll be some developments in the next couple of weeks that'll help things become clearer.

K and I have also been talking seriously about our future plans and the upshot is we've started to think about moving house (groan!).

To stave off all the heavy stuff, preparations have been in full swing for my 30th Birthday party on Saturday! (Hmmm...I'll have to think of a new blog name!) We travel to Derby tomorrow to help with the set up, but I need to put the finishing touches to my iPod playlist for the party! Richard sent through a load of tunes to K so I've just got to sort those out and start to gather all the things we'll need for the next few days at my mum's.

I know there is going to be cake, I know there is going to be a whole lamb roasting on a spit and I know about the bubble machine. What I don't know is what K has been cackling about every time she receives mail or a letter from one of our friends/family...hmm I have my suspicions!

In other news we're going to Florida for 11 days in October! A jaunt around Disney, then a couple days in Miami & Key West...hopefully every tourist isn't murdered in some bizarre and scientifically interesting way as depicted on CSI: Miami. I don't so much mind being found dead in a pool of blood but I do worry about K having to put up with some ginger haired, sunglasses wearing Lt. spouting comforting one-liners before gazing off into the sunset.

We've also finished all the flowers for my sister-in-laws wedding! 85 hand folded lilies, nestling in 85 hand-folded day lilies along with 15 orange shrimp. They better like them!

Back & Brown!

Just got back from camping and was really glad we took a risk and went despite the weather forecasts.

The first evening was great and we managed to get set up in record time and had a great barbeque and fire....





The following day was spent eating a lot (I think I put on about 4 pounds in 3 days!) and drifting down river getting tanned for 3 hours...fantastic!



Then the mist descended and we had a quiet night (especially after my disaster with the charcoal)



The next morning a mercy dash to Morrisons ended in disaster with a splashing incident of some cyclists and an argument with a log by the side of the road...



Luckily the weather really cheered up and we managed to get lost in a fantastic maze at Priory Maze at Beeston Regis.



A quick trip over to Blakeney Point....



And a giant penis at Sheringham!



Finally back to the site (which was very basic, toilets you really don't want to use and the pervading smell of chicken shit, it was a working chicken farm after all!) to pack up and head off for a quick pub meal and then home!

Rain, rain go away

It's still raining!

We're supposed to be camping on Thursday. Chris & Emma will be in their caravan but we'll be in the tent. I think we're going to review it as we go through the week but if its like this I'm pretty sure we'll not be going anywhere!

Bank Holiday Blues

Its 8.30am on Bank Holiday Monday and I'm blogging...my life is thrill a minute. Its also raining and has been for the last 24 hours at least. I can foresee a lot of sitting around, playing video games and watching DVDs today. Although after a cider sauce debacle on Saturday I may need to pop out and buy a new lidded saute pan.

I've actually got a fair amount of blogging to catch up on as I haven't really been in the mood over the last week...where to start?

Video game round up...

Managed to get hold of a copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance for £15 from Game last week (half price offer plus points from previous shops) and so far we're really enjoying it. The gesture recognition system seems a little wonky but my biggest problem is having a clue about who we should have in the team! Obviously a nice bonus is if you can assemble a recognisable team (for the bonuses) but so far it appears that Iceman, Spiderman, Mr & Mrs Fantastic haven't ever teamed up in the comics! K is playing as Spiderman and I'm controlling Iceman. We're just working our way around some of th others to see what they are like. I'm pretty sure Mr Fantastic has secured a long term place if only for his Propeller Arms! Its good that there is a selection of lesser known heroes in there to chose from, Spider Woman for starters but its also got Luke Cage & Ms Marvel...now if only there was Jessica Jones!

Also picked up a copy of Mario Strikers charged Football and found myself really enjoying online matches! They are certainly very tense! I just need to find some friends who have it now. (369467 799525)

I'm back!

I can’t believe it’s been such a long time since I’ve blogged properly. And it’s not for lack of stuff to blog about either. That’s probably the problem actually, not enough willingness to free up some time to blog. I don’t know how Alex manages actually (perhaps it’s the fact that he hasn’t really got a full time job?).

OK, important things first, its only 18 days until Wii launches in the UK and I don’t know whether I have secured a pre-order or not. Play.com mailed me to say that they couldn’t fulfil it and I’m waiting to see if Gameplay.co.uk are going to do the same. I’m pretty sure I have a good chance with Gameplay as I was online when they started taking orders and put one in straight away. Amazon opens theirs on the 21st (no time mentioned, so I guess I’ll be up early) with a promise that they’ll deliver on the launch day.

Zelda appears to have been reviewed and seems to be doing quite well over at Metacritic. I’m trying desperately not to read in depth reviews or watch any video spoilers so I can enjoy it when it arrives but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hold out.

Also on the gaming front Elite Beat Agents has us in its thrall, with K even getting in on the act.

I finally finished Jade Empire on Xbox as well. Enjoyed it quite a lot but it was pretty linear. There was a lot of optional stuff to do but once you moved onto the next Chapter you couldn’t really go back. I guess I’m too used to having to back track and do stuff that I couldn’t do earlier. The ending was a bit of a let down as well. There seemed to be a big build up with regards to “facing the consequences” of my actions but no payoff. And the fact that the epilogue was just a bunch of text screens was almost unforgivable. But a nice touch was the voice over stuff that played during the credits.

The TV dilemma is over as well. Bought a nice new 26’’ LCD and managed to find a TV stand that matches our coffee table (although that was irrevocably damaged when we moved the old TV!). The front room seems much bigger now, just in time for the new sofa and armchair/bean bag that I want. A bonus was that even though we’re not in a digital reception area the TV managed to find about 70 digital signals and so we now have the likes of BBC3 & 4 plus a load of others. My next challenge is to work out how to record them.

Christmas shopping is now well under way with me spending too much money as usual. Well, there’s bound to be a time in my life again when I don’t have any spare cash so I may as well enjoy it while I can! That’s my philosophy and I’m sticking to it.

Obviously the other big thing, for those that know me, recently has been the show. We did a double bill of Trial by Jury & HMS Pinafore and all in all it was a pretty good experience. I’ve already blogged this but you can read the BBC Radio Suffolk review here. The only other review we’ve seen is the one from the Ipswich Evening Star which said I was “very good”. The downside was that I felt drained the whole week. I had a list of things to do in the house and I don’t think I managed a single one of them. For some reason every time we put the heating on I get wheezy. I don’t know whether there’s some kind of rising dust or that our house is so well insulated the warm air has nowhere to go but we end up with the heating off and jumpers on instead! I suppose it’s cheaper but hardly what I had in mind when we installed the heating. Didn’t really have this problem last year so I’m trying to fathom what has changed.

Back from the Wilderness!

CIMG1077
Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Finally got around to updating my blog after being very lax this past week. I feel like I'm getting old and tired and can't cope with the normal stresses of life!

Anyway, all of this year's holidays are taken (August/Sept was very busy) now that we're back from Wales. Headed over to Shell Island where Alex has spent many a summer and returned with great stories. You can read all about it here and check out my photos here. Needless to say we had a great time but tides and no love of breaking camp in the wet (even if it was only a potential wet) meant we left a night early and headed back to Derby.

Which would have been great but we don't live there anymore! Another trek across country saw us home (safe but wet!) in good old Ipswich yesterday around lunch.

We made it back!

Got back yesterday from a great trip to The Lakes!

The holiday started off OK but on the way up we visited Mum who talked mysteriously about an email and my brother and so far I'm none the wiser. Hopefully that'll clear itself up in the next few days. We then had a tortuous journey up to Cumbria as it seemed that every rroad I wanted to use was somehow hampered with problems. I hadn't realised that England were playing at Old Trafford and half the country was on teh same road as us trying to get to Manchester! That'll teach me for not keeping up with current affairs!

We got their safely in the end and settled into our new home for the next week. Now, don't get me wrong the cottage was very nice but the owners seemed a bit funny. There were little notessaying things like "Please don't leave the tidying up until Saturday morning", "If you break anything leave the appropriate remuneration on the dining table", "There are 2 plastic beakers in the kitchen cupboard that you could use for your toothbrushes. If you do use them please put them back in the kitchen cupboard before you leave" and so on.

The biggest thing that annoyed me was a little leaflet about their water problems (their tank is nearly empty) and that we should refrain from taking long showers, using the washing machine or dishwasher or even having baths, but (rather magnanimously of them) we shouldn't let it ruin our holiday too much and if we must do any of the aforementioned things we could. It just seemed so patronising and unnecessary. And quite frankly the kind of people who could afford to stay in a place like this (its wasn't exactly budget friendly) would be doing those things anyway! Also if you're going to shoehorn 4 flats into a single building (that being my other complaint, the living room was tiny) and install incredibly powerful showers, baths, washing machines and dishwashers in them all then you should have been better prepared for water difficulties!

Besides, given the almost constant rain we had I think it was a bit rich! For the first few days each morning was greeted with a couple hours of rain but actually it didn't bother us too much. I don't think either of us had realised how much we needed this holiday. Until Tuesday I think we were asleep until at least 10 every morning. I know that doesn't sound late but for me & K it is. Fortunately this sleeping time coincided with the rain so we were OK.

We took it really easy the first couple of days. The position of the cottage was great as it was a leisurely mile stroll into Grasmere village which, much to our delight was full of tea shops and places selling cake.
We did a fairly easy walk around Grasmere (the lake) itself and then enjoyed a cream tea.

The nexy few days were raining so we did a mix of short walks and visits to other towns (Windemere, Keswich, Ambleside) in the area. To be honest they were all a bit towny so we didn't stay long. We did visit a place called Lucy's in Ambleside which took itself a bit seriously but did do a nice lunch!

We did also manage to go into the flagship Lakeland store at Windemere and visit a museum called the Puzzling Place in Keswick that was pretty cool. Most of the rest of the time was spent reading, watching TV or playing on the DS. Managed to finish The Eyre Affair and got stuck on both Final Fantasy 4 and Super Princess Peach, sigh!

Thursday rolled around and we kinda realised that we had not much time left so we should make the most of it! Fortunately the rain had completely stopped by this point of we had 2 great days of sunshine. We started with a visit to Greystoke Gill Pottery where we were both able to have a go on a potter's wheel and create something. I made a bowl and K made a vase. Once the potter has glazed and fired them for us, he'll pop them in the post. I'll take some pictures when they arrive!


We then did a walk up to Alcock Tarn near Grasmere. Strenuous to say the least but it was a great view! We finished the day with a meal and cinema visit at Zeffirellis. We didn't quite realise it was vegetarian until we were seated but it was highly enjoyable nonetheless. My Rain Forest pizza was delicious! This was followed by The Sentinel which was actually not too bad at all.


Friday was a no car day and we did 2 walks. the first a strenuous climb to Easedale Tarn and then a more sedate (but not much) trek around Rydal Water. Also of note is the fact that Rydal Mount is a house and not a hill! Didn't we feel stupid! We also managed to pop into Williams of Grasmere for breakfast AND lunch (although you can't really call a bowl of fries and a cream tea lunch, can you??)

We then tidied the flat and left nice and early on Saturday. The journey back was going great until we discovered that junctions 1 & 2 of the M6 were shut. Our detour via Coventry and the A45 turned into a nightmare when the A45 was closed. When we did finally get around that diversion we discovered that the M45 only joins the M1 going southbound (we wanted it northbound). Fortunately it worked out OK in the end and we diverted through Northampton and finally rejoined the A14 at Huntingdon. Phew!

Oh and despite being away for a week the bathroom isn't finished. I can't be too cross however as the new toilet, bath and shower are all in and usable. Just waiting for the sink, extractor, boxing in and cupboards to be done. I must say the floor and walls do look pretty damn good though!

I found this highly amusing

Just the thought of someone going round with something pointy in the museum....maybe its just me?

La Grand Aventure

Viva La France!

Just spent a great long weekend living it up in Paris to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. I can't believe we've been married so long or that the past few days have flown by so quickly.

By the time work finishd on Thursday I was just tired and not in the right frame of mind for our break. Slowly, through the evening, I got more excited and by the time we went to bed was properly relaxed and looking forward to it.

Clothes and packing, as ever, caused us some degree of stress and we just weren't sure what to take. The miserable weather here and the not too promising 5 day forecast for Paris meant I packed jeans instead of shorts. Halfway walking to the train station with jacket around waist and long sleeves rolled up we realised we might have made a mistake. Fortunately while the weather was nice most of the time, trousers were the right choice as when the clouds came out it was fairly brisk.

K covered what we did on her blog so you can get the specifics there. Paris for me shall be known as the city of tall things to climb. Not that we climbed too many of them in the end. Our massive walk across town from Notre Dame to Arc de Triomphe (due to the metro line being out) was great as we got to see stuff we would have missed but also very tiring. Factor in a climb up the Eiffel Tower and a walk back and we were pooped.

We did mange to go into Fauchon though. It all looked yum and I got a natty new apron as a souvenir.

I must admit though, Paris, along with Brussels has given me something of an enthusiasm to visit some other places. Madrid, Rome, Venice, Florence, Iceland, Athens. There's even talk of Christmas shopping in New York. In the meantime though I just have to remember that there's only 4 more days at work and then we're off to the Lake District for a week!

Oh and FFIV has so far engrossed me for more than 10 minutes and even went so far as giving me a migraine this afternoon because I couldn't put it down. Well they do say the old ones are the best ones....

And we're still waiting for the the bathroom men to visit...