Month: April 2003

I had a mighty time in the homeland, between visits to friends and family – including rellies in the far West whom I haven’t clapped eyes on in a few years. Then there was the ubiquitous lashing back of significant quantities of alcohol, most notably on the eve of my return. When will I ever learn?! That was a loooong trip back…

Big up to my mates in Ireland who showed me an excellent time – Mushroom and her family extended their usual warm welcome, and Jew’s family did the same. My fad-ridden brother has now taken up the hobby of flying model aircraft; I’m not sure if that’s a step up or down from flying the real thing for him. In any case, it looks like a lot of fun.

Speaking of the male sibling, the bugger was only painting his house when I visited, so I felt compelled to give him a hand. You’ll be able to see the pix of the paint job in the gallery when I get around to posting them. One of these days I’ll visit when he’s got no DIY whatsoever to rope me into – and we’ll have nothing to do with our time. Especially now he’s teetotal – I kid you not!!!

Lest ye forget, there’s a flat to be warmed here, and due to all kinds of confustication and bebotherment I’ve shifted the provisional date to a reasonably firm 17th of May. Put it in your diaries, folks! I’ve had offers from some good people to help with the catering; now I just need volunteers with cleaning skills, ha haa! No takers? Oh well…

That’s about it for the moment – any and all takers for the flatwarming party, get yer butts onto the message board and post your intentions for all to see. I’m not sure how much rowdiness I’ll get away with, as this seems to be a civilised block of flats, but fun will be had regardless, I assure you. I’m shopping for board games this weekend, he he…

Be good, and as the fella says, if you can’t be good – be good at it!

Well, to Ireland at least – for a nice peaceful Easter break. Not that that’s anything like what’s going to happen – it’s bound to be a steaming, pissed-up free-for-all, like these things always are. If I’m not back by the end of the month, send a wreath!

So far, so good in the new place – I’ve got the living room painted in a very harmonious (and totally bland!) magnolia colour, and rather patchy it is too! Damn, need to give it another coat – and it was a pain in the ‘aris’ moving everything out of the way first time round… Mind you, I’m tempted to customise the whole colour scheme; can you say “violent purple”??? Nah, I don’t think Adam would be too impressed!

People, lend me your ears – mine are on the way out (yuk, yuk!). Seriously, we need to talk about the FLATWARMING PARTY!!! I’ve set up a thread on the message board in the Socialisin’ thread for enquiries and general gossip about it – post yer questions there, particularly as I may not be on e-mail very much for a few days.

For those who are uninformed of my current whereabouts, it’s 28 Urquhart Court, 109 Park Road, Beckenham, BR3 1QL (click for a map). Or, more useful to Londoners, right across the road from New Beckenham station, on the Hayes line from Charing Cross/London Bridge. So now you know…

The Saab hasn’t been repaired yet – my Saab at least. John’s been and taken the old wreck to the garage, had a few tweaks done to it and got it through the MOT. That and the insurance make him a very happy, road-legal bunny. Just the clutch to sort out now. Mine is a different story, but hopefully it’ll be sorted by the end of the month. Watch this space, but not for too long – I’m sure you’ve better things to be doing…

Synthetix marches on relentlessly; my latest meeting saw me committed to about 2 months’ solid database development work. Oh well, suppose I had to do something to earn my crust… (bummer!) Still, it’s all money, and that Aston Martin will be mine yet. (Whisper it – the Saab might be listening, and I don’t want to hurt its feelings!)

Right – off to the homeland, where the buffalo don’t roam, and the weather seems to be chosen randomly on an hourly basis. Now a tan in Ireland in April would be an exploit in randomness, wouldn’t it?! If I get one, I’ll show it off to you – in the meantime, don’t do anything I wouldn’t. Don’t worry, that’s nowhere near as restrictive as it sounds…..(!)

Well, I’ve moved, and I’m now safely ensconced in my one-bedroom paradise, with the temporary company of Jew till he moves back to Ireland. It was a hard slog though, moving in here, and every time I climb the stairs to the 3rd floor, I’m reminded of the move. Hopefully it’ll wear off – it HAS to!

HUGE thanks have to go out to John & Gwyneth for their brilliant efforts, giving up their entire weekend to help us move – Stu on Saturday, Jew & me on Sunday. Poor John looked like someone had let the air out of him by Sunday evening…

HUGE thanks also to Stu’s parents Ian & Zoe, again giving up their entire weekend for us. There are some serious favours owing from this little expedition, I can tell you!

Well, work progresses slowly but surely on getting settled in and reassembling my life from bits spread across various boxes – just setting up my PC was a mission, what with bits being in boxes everywhere! But now, happily, I’m computing away, and I’ve even taken a bit of time to set up my audio-visual paradise (DVD and widescreen telly to you) – not finished yet, but getting there…

In other news, John & Gwyn have happily taken the old Saab off our hands – with luck they’ll be able to get it shipshape for not a whole lot of cash, then we’ll have to start our own Saab owners’ club! Well, with Stu that’d make three (sorry, four) members to start with…(!)

If anyone is in the habit of visiting the Message Board (although yer not posting anything!), you’ll see that there’s a poll for people to cast their vote on whether I should ever move house again. Now’s your chance – have your say! Not that I’ll necessarily take your views on board, but it’s a bit of fun, innit??? 🙂

Okey dokey – time to crack on and do some more of the stuff they pay me for. Next bit of news on here will be the flatwarming – keep the faith in the meantime…