Now what day are we on......

Shrove Tuesday for those who love pancakes! I cooked some last year but Megs prefers the ready made bought type so this year she had those, for breakfast with syrup, lunch plain and evening meal with Strawberry syrup. Her face said it all.

Some religious stuff if you didn't already know Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent.

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.

When a person receives absolution for their sins, they are forgiven for them and released from the guilt and pain that they have caused them.

In the Catholic or Orthodox context, the absolution is pronounced by a priest.

This tradition is very old. Over 1000 years ago.

the traditional story is that Pancake races were thought to have begun in 1445. A woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday, and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen.

Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron.

There I'm full of useless facts!

Finally got my direct access to the Office today and I have tried it out and it works, not sure now how this will pan out as the managers are aware of the possibilities of getting hold of me outside working hours, I may have to switch the thing off we'll see.

Very busy times in the office at the moment lots of teams moving around and I have to change settings on the systems which takes for ever so I can see the next week or so just carrying out admin work on their computer systems oh joy! I have already had an email from LC at 7.05pm asking me a question so it's started already.

'D' passed over some munchies today which was very nice of her xx little things that people do make such a difference to the day you know it doesn't have to be big it's the thought that counts.

Megs is getting all excited as it's St. David's day tomorrow and she has her new costume to wear to school as they have their Eisteddfod tomorrow.

Anyway that's enough from me today. see ya soon xx

Life is a peach

Well I still here after my outburst yesterday, I'm currently listening to this American chap trying to teach me how to code. Well this is how interesting he is I'm writing my daily blog!

I just don't get what he is trying to tell me, I'm only on lesson six and I don't understand it. I have listened to this lesson three times and still can't get my head around it. I suppose I will have to re listen over and over again until I get it.... six months later I'll probably get it.

Anyway back in the office today and it was a good day, managed to catch up on what I missed last week due to the audit, also I managed to see 'D' and that was good well it's always good to see 'D'. She makes me feel so happy just with her smile. ahh slushy stuff, time to move on as I have spooked the girl far too many times this year and I promised not to do it again.

I'm stuck for words here....... I'm all dried out, cannot think of anything to put down except the usual stuff which is starting to sound a bit like ground hog day.

Oh my....

Dave was on MSN today he is not working this week seems the agency he is with don't need him, not sure if I would stay with an agency that has no work for you.... scratching around for stuff to say still.

Ummm took on my brother today to nope that's god where have my thoughts gone.....

Hey you know this is a typical me! get something in my head and cannot get rid of it, sorry.

I have nothing interesting to say not that I say anything interesting anyway.

Not a good one to read sorry

Hello Sunday and goodbye Sunday!! well that's how I feel today, not one of my best days although this year I have not had many best days.

Currently updating my iPod with new tunes from MADONNA and sorry is blasting my office to hell but who cares, I don't that's the mood I'm in. I'm alive and this music is good and I love it!!

Everything else can GO TO HELL!! That's it I'm off, my heart is gone and I don't give a shit, life is a bitch sometimes, and this is a moment that I have been waiting for to express myself. I feel like shit and I don't love this life anymore, Love well there is no such thing what ever anyone tells you. MY LIFE is CRAP yeah it sounds so cool that I have my own business and that I work part time but is that it! work work nothing makes me happy anymore.

I have nothing left to live for. Wake up to the same old shit and what the fuck for. Pay the bills, smoke some fags eat & sleep well that's great for a while then the novelty wares off. Ah that's better I needed to get that of my chest.

Now the big question how the hell do I get out of this rut. It's not nice feeling low all the time, I said to a friend last week, a year ago if I had what I have today I would be over the moon, working part time, owning my own business which is not costing me nothing to run etc. but it's not doing anything for me, I have no buzz anymore.

Nothing I'm doing is doing it for me. Here's one, today I have made £250 via the internet businesses, but it has not moved me, I don't feel anything why not? a year or two ago I was jumping up and down if I made £25 on a Sunday.

Someone got the magic answer?

Anyway that's enough ranting for today, now onto the normal stuff. Well I sat through the Terminal and to be honest I thought it was slow, a little boring and I struggle to give it 6/10, not one I would add to my DVD collection.

Tesco today for the weekly shop, I had this idiot with a trolley that insisted on leaving his trolly in the middle of the isle every time he went to collect an item, he was always in front of me and everyone was getting annoyed as he was obstructing everyone. You know the type I mean, well me being in the mood I am today I went walkies with his trolley, that's right I left our trolley with the girls and I took his for a walk around the store took it right back to the entrance and left it there. Caught up with the girls and saw this idiot standing in the middle of the isle scratching his head. Well I had to dissappear before I wet myself.

Watched Wales V Ireland and what a crap game that was I'm not going to embarrass myself by posting the score all I can say is go see for yourself well OK it was IRELAND 31 WALES 5 and I am now going to become an exile.

Happy days...........

What a dull day, watched the film Seabiscuit this morning, got up and sat for three hours watching a movie, now that's how to spend a Saturday morning. The film was really good great story it was true, I would recommend a viewing for motivation if nothing else. I understand it had 7 Oscar nominations. The book was written by Laura Hillenbrand, this book is now on my wish list I feel.

Then got ready and went to.... wait for it..... Ikea for lunch and to get some storage boxes, needed 3 of them so that's £60 gone, food OK I'm getting fed up with meatballs and gravy, come to that I'm getting fed up with Ikea. Although my friend Dave, the one who walked out of his last job due to stress, well he started work in Ikea last Tuesday.

Didn't do much else today, I have not been feeling that good, I had a turn last night that brought back all the old feelings so have not been 100% but I'll survive or at least I hope I will.

Will be settling down to watch another movie in a bit, Terminal I think it's called the one with Tom Hanks & Catherine Zeta-Jones, I understand what the film is about but not sure if it will keep me seated all the way through.

Anyway I stumbled across a website earlier this is cool make sure you click the before button to reveal how much air brushing goes on with the stars click here

I went through all the pictures and I thought of all those people who believe what they see in magazines is real. Megs sat with me and went through them and even she commented and fully understood what they were doing. I wish more parents would show their children what people really look like rather than seeing glossed up pictures in the magazines.

Anyway that's enough from me tonight, going to grab a glass of red wine and try and chill in front of the T.V

See ya xx

End of

Well it's Friday already and I just managed a 2nd day at the office, completed the audit had the meeting and a smile from people in the meeting as I gave them good news. They were happy anyway.

Didn't do much at the office today some IT changes and yes 'D' just sitting here I remembered I suppose to do something for you, oo err, but it's slipped my mind so you'll have to remind me next week.

Talking of 'D' I have not seen or heard from her since earlier in the week. Hope your OK?

Decided that I will buy the company and have instructed solicitors to handle the paperwork etc. so that's one less thing to worry about, commissioned a graphic designer to come up with ideas for re branding both companies and I have also asked Libra's creative team to do the same so I can see what they are capable of.

I see I have a very busy time ahead, but it takes my mind away from other stuff I suppose. I will still be working at the office part time for the foreseeable future anyway, I enjoy the crack there which you don't get at my home office and I am not travelling over 60 miles a day to go the Libra's offices no siree!

So the weekend is here nothing special planned really, now the bathroom is all but finished I need to find another project to get into.... 'D' any suggestions?

Ah well all quiet on the MSN front. no one to talk to so I may as well call it a day. Have a good one xx

Dilemma

Well back at the office today and guess what, they covered my desk with balloons, banners and gave me a card and the new Madonna album and a huge slab of chocolate cake which of course I split between many people, I did think of 'D' but alas she is off now until Monday so I ate her piece sorry :( I will make it up to you though.

A sad day for 'D's manager her dog had to be put down today so I gave her a larger piece of the chocolate cake and told her this was to cheer her up which did make smile. (I don't really get on with her but I hate to see anyone sad and chocolate cake does help in times of sadness.)

Managed to find the missing 200K in the audit I' doing and have until 1pm tomorrow to complete the job but it's looking good so far, god I'm worth every penny to that place, also had LC down to say a belated happy birthday and she walked away with chocolate cake as well. Also the connection from here to the office has been agreed so won't be long before I'm connected 24/7 to the office oh joy.

Any way I'm rambling now, to my dilemma. I had a meeting today with my old business colleague, at the services I may add and I bought the tea's, do I sound unhappy! I'm not honest well maybe a little he asks to meet and I buy the refreshments....

Anyway Philip and I have worked together since Brenton days and I developed a website business for him which is doing OK nothing special but top of all the search engines under certain key words and is getting in excess of 400 'new' visitors a day, well he is aware I'm making MATWL official and signing all the documents with the solicitors and accountants and has asked if I would consider buying www.librautomotive.co.uk which has a turnover in excess of 1 Million per year for a £1. The reason is that I did not get much money from him for doing the work (2 Years) and his land business is taking up a lot of his time.

He feels that MATWL is better suited to handle the internet business as I, sorry MATWL already owns www.carpartauctions.co.uk and with the two other contracts he feels MATWL is in a very strong financial position.

Well I have negotiated that all staff remain on board with www.librautomotive.co.uk and that MATWL will take control from 1st April as long as the following items are done:

1/ New products are found and put on the site by 31st March. (not much movement over the past 3 months)

2/ The creative team prove that they can 'Create' (Give a presentation on the Re-branding to MATWL)

3/ Libra Automotive Ltd to Underwrite the internet business for 2 years (They will fund any financial short fall for 2 years, at the moment it's self financing but who knows over the next 2 years).

4/ The current manager becomes a director and I'm offering 20% of MATWL (but must prove over the next month she can handle the work load.)

5/ The Marketing manager to join the board of MATWL as Marketing director with 20% stake of MATWL

Leaving me with 60% of the company, but MATWL becomes the holding company for www.carpartauctions.co.uk and www.librautomotive.co.uk

My dilemma, sounds stupid I know but MATWL is a small family firm with little hassle, no personnel to look after, no bills just me really chandelling about 30K worth if work this year. Do I really want to take control of a company that I was involved with from the very beginning but have not really worked with for a while.

Am I ready as a person to be responsible for staff and HR and all that other stuff?

In short am I ready for this?

The end of my short break

Ah well my few days off are coming to an end and the office is calling me. Not literally by the way. My last day was quite slow, just cannot get motivated to do anything at the moment.

Was planning to go into Cardiff to browse some shops and ask 'D' to lunch but the weather here is sooo cold and damp that I decided to stay in and do some cleaning. Also I didn't expect 'D' to agree to lunch on such short notice.

Due to the lack of motivation I emailed 'D' to ask her to help with the vacuum cleaning, not telling you what the response was but lets say I had no chance.

Cleaned the lounge from top to bottom, done a small amount of work not much though. Picked megs up from Cheerleader club and it dawned on me I was turning into a taxi, remember those days when your parents complained "What do you think I am a Taxi service" well the thought ran through my mind at that moment I have another 10 years or so of this type of service, toying with installing a meter and charging her for the privilege, one way of getting the money I give her as pocket money back. (Only joking by the way I'm not that cruel honest!)

Well it's time to get changed and face the bitter wind to pick up Wayne for our weekly game of Squash I think I will have to beat him this week as it was 2-0 last week.

Oh yeah, big fire around the corner from us tonight local drinking hole went up in flames, it's only been open about a month after a major refit. Insurance job springs to mind!! but I didn't say that.

Anyway time to push off, have a great few days of 'D' and you know where to find me if you want a quick chat xx

Everything is so quiet

Well it's just about Tuesday although only a few minuets left, the house is so still as the others are fast asleep except me, today I have accomplished very little, not sure where the day has gone really. Started up here at around 6.30pm and still going at it. I'm getting really worried that the big project is too much for me, a little self doubt has crept in. A;though I have two years to complete and it's only at the project state.

I have read so much information about this project that I'm losing my way so this evening I decided to step back and re-look at it, even downloading some video files from Microsoft just to make sure I'm on the right track, you see the project is a complete operating system for a medium sized company and the decisions made now can make or break the whole thing.

Sorry I'm going into far to much detail.

Megs is enjoying her cheer leader course that she wanted to do, although being alone for five hours a day is quite unreal, knowing that I should be working rather than pottering around the house.

Anyway last day tomorrow of doing very little back at the office on Thursday and I know I'll have a shed load of emails and tasks to do, also got a meeting Friday which I have only completed 50% of the project we are having a meeting about so my work is cut out for the 4hrs I'm in on Thursday.

For 'D' I did send an email into the office not sure if you got it or not I may try and send another tomorrow just to say hi and I'm still alive only just mind. Playing Squash again tomorrow evening so I may blog a little earlier.

I think I'll take my Christmas gift vouchers and pop into Cardiff tomorrow and spend them. Not sure what on but as they are Virgin vouchers I don't have a choice on the shopping venue.

Ah well it's very late and time for me to switch this thing off for another day.

To my special friend I miss you xx

The new Bathroom reveal

Well here they are a few snaps of the DIY bathroom. I can't find any before pictures so hard to measure the results by but before it was a mess.

This view is as you enter the room.

















The new jet bath. It's so cool you have to have one!

















W.C and towel radiator, the W.C is one of those water saving tanks only takes 15 sec to re fill. Sounds like the loos on a plane.

















The new shower area, this part was hard as I had to dig down 4ft to relay all the pipes in this corner but now well worth the effort.






















The bathroom cabinet from ikea but modified to fit at the end of the bath.






















The sink






















And finally the flooring, first time have have laid floor tiles but easy to do so will be doing again probably in the kitchen.

Miss a day or two!

See I missed another day. I must have some sort of illness there has to be an illness for missing every other day! well Saturday night was cool drank far to much red wine but again no hang over on Sunday, I have found one thing about getting older though I can't lie in anymore. Come 7.30 I'm awake I try and force myself to stay put but by 8am I aching all over and have to get up. You know that feeling when we were teenagers and at 1pm in the afternoon we just had to get up as we felt like crap. Well that's the feeling 8am every morning!!

Sunday was a quiet day really, went shopping but didn't really have my brain in gear and spent a mass of money on nothing I even went through the receipt which I don't normally do. Our shopping for the week is normally £80 yesterday it was £114 and for the life of me I can't work out what the extra went on.

Why can't they bring back Sundays all shops closed I would have saved £114. Ah well that's life I suppose.

Can't remember what else I did yesterday. Oh yes I can downloaded this game you have to download and try it it is so addictive, megs and I were playing it until 10pm last night it's really good for children although you will have to help with some of the items.

We started playing the game at 3pm and only left the PC for tea, megs was back on it today with her friends and two hours later they were still addicted to it.

Well today was wired, up at 7.30am got megs ready as she decided to go on a cheer leaders course this week, so got sandwiches and stuff ready for her then at 10am drove her to Barry comp for her marathon 5.5hr training session.

I have not been alone in the house for ages and didn't know myself, took all the old bathroom & rubble etc. to the local tip, had to scrub the car after that inside and out, scrubbed the kitchen floor had a right busy day, sat down for the first time at 5pm whilst the spag bol was cooking, and now I'm on the PC doing this blog avoiding doing some work.

I will be doing the pics of the bathroom tomorrow and will post them here as I think I can make the project public. You'll have to let me know what you think.

Well that's it from me today, glad to hear from you 'D' I thought I'd have to go a whole week without hearing from you.

It's my Birthday

It's my birthday yeah for me 37 years young! well a nice day, finishing touches to the bathroom had to try out the new candles and music, oh and the whirlpool bath, how relaxing was that!! spent an hour chilling in the bath. Being spoilt this evening the girls are taking me to an italian restaurant down the bay so looking forward to downing a few glasses of red wine.

Well I must say I'm gutted all my family have forgotten my birthday, My Mum god knows how she forgot she was there at the time, my Brother and my Sister. What can I say I thought it was bad enough KW forgetting my birthday but my own family!!

All the inlaws rememberd so got some cards on the shelf. Nevermind perhaps they thought better than to remind me I'm another year older.

Anyway, only a short one this evening as I'm off out. Hope 'D' had a nice day as I have not heard from her in a few days, I think I may have offended her with the Russian thing. It was only a joke honest!!

Anyway I may take those long awaited photos of the bathroom tomorrow and put up for you to see.

See ya soon xx

Fiday blues

It's Friday and I'm boared, been working to hard and I'n now all burned out. It's only 8.15pm but that's it I'm calling it a day.

Office was busy doing the AWS audit, went to a meeting to discuss findings but could only report that only half the work is done, no probs they say we'll meet up again next Friday, great I say I'm away from the office now until Thursday! they comment I'm sure you'll have it done by friday, well this is a million pound account I'm trying to audit finish in 4hrs NO CHANCE!

Been trying to gather more info on a project I'm doing and it is really hard getting my thick head around this, I should have had a spec written up by now but only just found the software and servers to handle the work load.

Missed 'D' today, needed someone to talk too nothing major just needed a little lift if you know what I mean, I wonder if I'm getting the birthday blues... Oh that was it everyone forgot it was my birthday in the office. No dressed up desk, cake nothing. I dropped the hint at 2.30pm and his face was a picture, RF wiped the floor with him and then he comments that Lorna had emailed him to remind him it was my Birthday and he still forgot well that's says it all.

So not very happy. Need a PINT or two or three..... I may just go down now stick a CD on and drown my sorrows in a BOTTLE of red wine, save the glasses just drink out of the bottle.

Anyway my next post will be when I'm another year older but not quite 40!!

See ya soon xx

Over worked

Well I think I'm now brain dead, I have worked really hard today even if I say so myself. Just set up a new server with MySQL and all the admin bits and I feel like I need 24 hours of sleep now, I'm still a little worried that one of the jobs I took on is a little beyond me so I may have to enlist some of my IT friends across the pond for some help & guidance.

Office was OK, KW was back in and my stress & anxiety returned so I can definitely say it's him, even though he did not say much, when he was away I had ZERO stress and anxiety. Can you really dislike a person that much that when they are in the same facility you react in such away?

What am I going to do about it, not sure.

Nice to hear from 'D' although a little brief but hey I'm not complaining, I would liked to have one of those eggs though!!

Gym at 6.30am well that is commitment, I'm in the shower that time certainly not in any frame of mind to do physical work, well not the gym anyway good on ya I say and rather you than me.

One day 'D' will look like one of those Russian disc throwers.... (You know I'm only joking don't you?) anyway on with my blog.

Megs is doing really well in school and is well ahead of her years she is now two years ahead in maths and one year ahead in English well done Megs, seems if they are ahead of the class they send them into other years classes to do their work. Although her handwriting is still not that good but seeing her maths book well I was impressed all workings out in the columns really neat figures and some of the maths was really hard.

I wondered why she was always doing mathematical diagrams on the computer and printing them off.

Anyway it's nine thirty and my iPod has just run out so it's time to shut down and go chill for a few hours before bed. Oh Squash I knew I'd forget that, well we picked up the pace last night but I lost 2-0 but hey it was fun and I'll have him next week. I love giving him the illusion that he is better than me only to thrash him the following week. Yeah right listen to me go on!

Parents evening

Early blog today as I am seeing Meg's school teacher in a bit also playing squash with Wayne later so won't have time to do it.

Office was quiet again, KW was off on his travels to London where he was going I can't remember, got one email off him which was unusual but I'm not complaining. The rest of the time dealing with a audit job with AWS so that is taking up most of the time I'm in the office, 'D' I forgot to do those changes for you but will have them done before you get back on Monday.

Meg's open night at school tonight so seeing her teacher around 5 ish I'll put an update down tomorrow a little nervous as the problems we had a few weeks ago I Hope is all forgotten about.

It's nice and wet down here and got bloody soaked waiting in the play ground but hey who's complaining not all dads can do what I'm doing and spending a little extra time with the little one. She is currently behind me doing her home work, a busy little bee and is using the other PC far too efficiently for an 8 year old.

Anyway another gentle game of Squash tonight down at Cogan leisure with Wayne, he wanted to change venue as there is a nice bar at Cogan and we do like our drinks after a game (Orange Squash of course!).

Anyway that's enough from me today only 3 days before my birthday. Oh joy

Be my Valentine?

I'm missing days here, I'm sure I'm loosing the plot, what happened to Tuesday, ah I remember it was quiet in the Office, no one around on my pod, so stuck my iPod on and got my head down not physically mind, however being Valentines day I had to make sure my eCard was sent and a little pressie to my special friend which by her response was well received. Unfortunately I'm one of those sad gits who likes giving rather than receiving so I had a little buzz out of the day.

Listening to the radio in the morning and they were talking about St. Valentine forgot it was to do with soldiers who were secretly married by him but got found out and was beheaded. Now that's not fair is it!

Worked late again last night and was interrupted by my old friend Dave who rang me and kept me on the phone for an hour, seems he quit his job as it was too stressful, not being funny being an assistant manager of a shop is no where near as stressful to what I put up with every day in the office.

Dave mate get back to work and stress well these days that's part of life get on with it. I better get off this subject as I just can't get my head around what he has done.

Well that was Tuesday 'Valentines Day'

It's a hard day

Well it's been a hard one, both physically and mentally but I think I'll get my head around it.

Been updating this new PC and as I type .Net software is installing away ready for me to get into these projects. I am getting daily emails now from my two main contracts requesting different type of data needed so I really need to get my arse in gear.

Had a phone call from KW and he is really probing about my office work, I didn't go into to details the other night I forgot. Well I have been asked to work from home and KW is not happy about it so much so that he is making it very difficult as he is throwing obstacles in the way every day even when he is not in the office, but I'm on a mission now and not even he will get in the way.

Got an email from Bec today she is having a great time although she did suffer with a tummy upset for a few days but seems to be back fighting fit again, she is currently in Phuket, she will be there for a week learning how to Scuba dive. How jealous am I.

Anyway this software has finished loading up so I'd better get on with work.

New PC whoopee

Busy day today, actually went out and got my new PC and what a power house it is, 200GB hard drive and using an AMD Athlon 64 3400 it's fast very fast and easy to use. Only took 25 mins to connect to the networks and get it firing on all cylinders.

Also went to ikea today for lunch and to get some bathroom furniture so I am spent out now!!

Megs is playing on her new PC well my old one but it's great for all her games and I can now look at restricting her internet access as she is always talking to her freinds via MSN.

Well not much else to say today, it's time for me to give this new PC a rest although I have only been on it for an hour or so.

'D' how is the holiday hunting going? changed your mind yet about letting me come as well?

Missed a day

Oops, forgot all about Thursday so two instalments tonight one now and one a little later. Squash well I went and took it easy had two games which the outcome was a draw. I felt much better after the game, it's true what they say about endorphins in the brain we need a dose now and again to get the body working properly again. Thursday was a good day office nice and quiet and scoffing flapjacks felt ill towards the end but who cares they were really nice and I did not go to the gym afterwards like some people mentioning no names! he he.

Megs and I went to the library to take back our books and CD's which was fun, oh I nearly forgot I bumped the car whilst parking outside the School only into a 55 plated BMW, the lady in the car was mortified so was I as I had not caused any damage!! oo how evil am I no really it was a small 1mph bump nothing major but enough.

Anyway I digress, picked up more books nothing interesting only research books, although Megs got carried away and took out 5 books most of them poetry. Megs loves poetry and is often sat next to me in the office doing her own poetry which is great but I don't manage to get much done due to her insisting in reading every line she manages to put down.

I picked up 3 CD's to put on my iPod don't laugh but I got Daniel Powter, K.D Lang and wait for it the sound track from Riverdance. Well is that a great album or what I have it now saved on the PC and I cannot stop listening to it. I do like Celtic music but this is great. A must for all music fans.

Anyway enough for now must go and pick up Megs from the in-laws but I will be back later for Fridays instalments and boy is there news here.

Revelations

Well I'm now a happy chappy, LC sat with me today running through what I do for the department, comments passed that I do things no one else can do within the department and they want more. Then they offered overtime working from home. Well am I chuffed that will push my income well above what I was earning full time with the other two contracts as well.

The only thing they don't want me to do is ring in one day and say that I'm working from home which I would not do.

Had a nice chat with 'D' today which was nice, wish we could talk more often what do they say "It's good to talk" well I'm writing this early tonight as I'm off in a minute to play squash, not looking forward to it as I'm sooo un fit at the moment, I have a slight problem when on the court I do get rather competitive. I must take it easy tonight.

Well that's enough excitement for one day. I'm now feeling more confident in what I do outside the office so is 2006 going to be my year? we'll see.

Not a good day today been really down, wish I knew why. Office was quiet caught up on all me emails so back to normal tomorrow with tones to do and only a few hours to do it in. LC has said that she will meet with me tomorrow to run through some stuff, we'll see. KW just got back from Madrid seems he enjoyed himself went to watch the Football Madrid won 4-0.

Had a laugh on the school run, when all us drivers park up to get the children it means only one car can go up or down the road at any one time, well this young girl basically drove up and was confronted by a line of 10 cars coming the other way. This girl freaked and I mean she FREAKED, she stopped the car and just sat there, a parent suggested she reversed back down the road to allow this ever growing line of cars to move. She flatly refused well after 5 mins everyone turned off their engines and got out of their cars, what a sight, by the time someone took control of the situation there were at least 20 cars in both directions.

It was us parents that got the thing moving, we all pulled off together kids all in, leaving this huge line in the middle of the road. Well what a laugh that was.

Meanwhile back at the office....... managed to start one of my projects which was fairly easy but a few more hours to go before I can bill them for it.

'D' caught me on MSN this evening and mentioned that I am always on the computer, well that is true unfortunately I work 4pm - 10pm on my own business work Mon - Fri I do knock off around 9.30pm if it's been a hard evening though. See back in the office they all think I have an easy life 10am - 2.30pm but that wage isn't going to pay for much these days so I have to do my own thing to boost the income.

Anyway 'D' I'll bring over some more flapjack in the morning, then you can have an excuse to go back to the gym tomorrow night. Or you can take me on in a game of Squash! Thanks for those flapjacks by the way much appreciated. Now about that holiday........

Why are Mondays so hard to get into? first day back at the office and wait for it... 160 emails from managers needing things done, I quote " I know your away but when you get back can you please...." or "I know you have only just got back but can you please take a look at..." and then there were 350 general emails, and, 10 emails from the Claims MD. Note what is the point of out of office being turned on.

Voicemails, well I had 10 three off the same person over different days last week and then rang me at 9.55am left another message accusing me of ignoring me. Well if he bloody listened to the message I left it said I'm out of the office until 10am 6th February I did not say 9.55am. PRAT.

I managed to sneak a smile out of 'D' as she seemed really down and that's not on, she makes my day and seeing her not happy gets to me don't ask why. We didn't get much time to talk but we never do it's one of those things, we both use MSN so hopefully we can grab a few words on there.

It's not the same as talking I know but it's the next best thing. 'D' work is work do your hours and forget about it, I know it's hard as you have worked really hard to build yourself up in the department but I've been there and look back now and think to myself what a bloody fool even making myself ill over it. It's just not worth it, Work to live not live to work.

I'll probably get a black eye tomorrow!! ;)

Got home the usual time done the usual School run and then sat in my office trying to get my head onto gear, well that didn't happen I have taken 8 calls notes every where so decided to build a quick system to log jobs as they come in and mark the off when they are done. So 8 jobs in and only 4 resolved not bad but they were only small jobs so I should have done all 8.

Trying to put a project down on paper, as a good IT programmer will tell you always map out what you are trying to achieve, I have been trying to do that for the past few weeks ever since picking up the new contracts but still no where near done. I really need to push on as they are expecting a brief soon.

Booked a squash court for Wednesday evening with Wayne my squash buddy, so if you don't hear from me after this you know I have died of heart attack on the court. Boy I'm sooo unfit at the moment. I always promise to take it slow and steady on the court but competition kicks in and we are hitting holly hell out of the little rubber ball and by the end of it we are on our knees.

Anyway it's time to stop clicking away on this keyboard and power down for another night. Hey ho life is such a peach!! yeah right.

The joys of shopping at Tesco, well not really tried to get around as quick as possible only 1hr today, still spent over £80 for the week god knows what on!! the check out lady was trying to serve us and help the new person behind, well that was interesting I did suggest at the end that she should not attempt to multi task again as some items she scanned in twice.

Lots of cleaning today, scrubbed the office from top to bottom it looks presentable now and I can now find all the bits I need, all the upstairs done as well for another week. Didn't do this in Spain I can tell you, they have tile floors everywhere so just run around with a fluffy floor duster each morning and that was it.

Well I'm getting myself back into work mode in a sad way I'm looking forward to getting back to work, even though it's the same old routine, but I really need to get out more in the evenings, I may call my friend and go out sometime in the week we'll see.

Meg's is not looking forward to School, I caught her trying to book a flight this afternoon back to Spain, she loves it over there and she can speak Spanish quite well so we have both decided to start to learn it properly you never know one of these blogs may be written in Spanish. Here is a taster of what I know "Hola puedo comer un pan del pan y de un poco de leche por favor" (Hello can I have a loaf of bread and some milk please). also "Donde está la publicación" (Where is the pub) he he that was different, took ages to get the spellings though!

Well I think that's it from me for a Sunday that Spanish has dried up most of my brain cells, not that I have many left.

Bye for now, oh and 'D' this one is for you "Para mi freind especial que le falto carga" xx

Well all back safe and sound from our trip to Spain (Gran Alacant). Flight was Friday evening so we had most of Friday to get ready and close up the house. Had a full cooked breakfast at 3pm to keep me going until we got home. Weather was sunny but a little on the cool side although Thursday when I posted my last note I was sat with a short sleeved shirt on soaking up the sun.

Flight was OK if you like that sort of thing given a choice between fly or drive I would drive every time, I get so worked up before flying I know it's stupid as it's the safest form of transport and I have flown loads of time I should be used to it.

Got off the plane and the welsh weather hit me BLOODY FREEZING! I thought Spain was on the cool side but here is BLOODY FREEZING. Had to dive down to Tesco at Culverhouse X to get Bread & Milk so I didn't get back home until around 10.45pm quick coffee and bed.

Today was a culture shock as it's still cold and dull, typical welsh weather I suppose, done so small jobs in the bathroom nothing much then popped out to Homebase to get the light fittings and a new mirror another job to do, probably next week though as we need to go shopping tomorrow to get some food in.

Had a Pizza Hut meal tonight as I just could not be bothered to cook. Here are some pics taken whilst in Gran Alacant.

This was taken last Tuesday, this was the coldest day around 3 degrees, the sea was very stormy which is unusual for the Med. The salt spray was very bad. This was taken around 5pm.

The beach is about 600 yards from the house down hill it takes about 5mins. But going back up the hill oh about 1/2 hour!!














This is me trying out photography, this is between two sand dunes, taken the same time and location as the above picture.














Meg's doing sand graffiti, all wrapped up for the cold wind off the sea.














And the finished bit of art work. Sid the snake!!














This was taken Wednesday afternoon, the view from the roof terrace, look how different a day makes you would not believe the pictures above were of the same beach. It was very warm on that day a typical Spanish winter so the Spanish were telling me.














And this was taken from the other side of the roof terrace, the views are brilliant, in the distance are the mountains that surround Alacante.

Well that's enough pictures, it gives a good perspective of life in Spain. And now it's back to reality. Getting ready to return to work Monday.

Hi 'D', got your email, glad your still reading these see ya soon ;) xx

Thursday already, well the weather turned on Wednesday and the sunshine arrived also the warmth, we went to San Polu do do some shopping which was good, didn't buy much but it was nice to stroll along the beach in the warm sunshine, had a lovely cup of coffee that was so strong I felt high as a kite for about two hours.

Everything closes at 2pm so we head back to the house where there is work being done, Spanish are not big on DIY they hire people in to do all that type of stuff.

Wednesday evening we went to a buffet style Chinese restaurant which was really nice, they cook all the food while you wait. Drunk far to much red wine but no hang over today.

Thursday we went to the market which is only around the corner, they are very women oriented not much for men to do except opening wallets to pay for the ladies stuff.

Just spent the past few hours sat outside a cafe drinking coke and soaking up the sunshine then popped across the square to the internet cafe to do this blog. I have taken a few pictures which I'll post over the weekend when I'm back in the UK.

I have checked on living out here and there are lots of things to take into account, but property are around the same price as the UK for a 3 bed house it costs around 130,000GBP the properties are allot smaller than the UK.

Running a business over here is better to do from the house as office space is very expensive and they come as a shell and you have to refurbish yourself, the cost of an office is around 250,000 euros then all the fitting out, not very cheap at all.

Anyway last day tomorrow fly back at 8pm Spanish time so should be back home by 10pm UK time.

The things I miss from home:

Warm flooring (Tiles are bloody freezing in bare feet)
My central heating (A no no in Spain)
Always on hot water (Spain have hot water tanks which are really small) you could never have a bath in Spain cos it'll take about two hours to fill up.

Things I don't miss back home:

The cold weather (Cos it's nice and warm here)
The people (Spanish are really friendly and are always talking although I only know a little Spanish but it seems to be able to hold it's own).
Driving (I find it less stressful driving in Spain)
The view where we are sitting on the roof terrace you can see all the mountains and of course the med which is soooo BLUE.

Anyway Megs is playing a game next to me and needs help so must go now.

'D' if you are still reading these it's nice out here and I'll see you soon xx