A visitor from California - Part I

Jo's Aunt Ruth came to stay for a couple of weeks at the start of April. The house is taking shape again but its been hard work cleaning the place up and decorating in time, but sometimes you need an incentive to keep going! Ruth is 67 but she has the energy of a child, she ran us ragged! She takes a lot of vitamins and herbal potions and they obviously work. Our first few days we spent in Brighton Ruth likes shops and cakes!


Next we sped of to Paris on the wonderful Eurostar from St Pancras International (fantastic station). That champers in first class slipped down nicely. Paris is a wonderful city and as Ruth hadn't been before we walked on foot mainly to all the sites and shops.

The Transition

I finally finished the kitchen (well a few bits of snagging to sort!). Being able to cook again is marvelous and the open plan space really works well.

Snow!

Last Sunday we headed off to rural Beaconsfield for Trish & Phils 40th Birthday bash. It was lovely to see them as it's been a long time between drinks. We had decided to stay at the local Premier Inn which was surprisingly good for the money. The morning saw heavy snow fall and it took us over 6 hours to get back to Brighton, even the M25 had snowmen on it! I think the folk of Brighton enjoyed the snow.

The Transition Part V - Steels in

The Transition Part IV - Progress

It's been a stressful time, the builders are not finished but we are progressing no definite end date from the builder! they work to there own schedules.

I'm sure our kitchen is not suposed to look like this

The building work continues the walls are still not out. I'm hoping for a sprint finish by the builders.

Civil Partnership

At midday on New Years Eve Jo & I became civil partners. We had a private ceremony at Brighton's Registry office followed by Champagne at Hotel Du Vin Lunch with more champagne at Drakes and yet more champagne at The Grand. Then we went home and had .... champagne. Lovely, lovely day we are very happy.

Festivities

We had to get away from our place to escape the microwave dinners over Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent with my sister, she cooked us some lovely fish and mash real comfort food. Then it was up to Manchester to see the Lyon's family. Christmas day we went over to Andy and Marie's for Christmas dinner another lovely meal down us.


Boxing Day we spent with Ann, Todd, Cait, Rachie and Conor, they put on a nativity play for us. More food and lovely company. It was great to see everyone.

The Transition - Part III

The costs are mounting! A well has been found under the kitchen, it will have to filled with concrete - that's a lot of concrete.

How not to do your christmas shopping

While out doing a bit of shopping in Brighton today I came across this...


if you can't afford a Rolex get a Timex they still tell you the time.

The Transition Part II - Holes, props and an interesting find

This little pot was found during excavations. Holloway's Ointment. "For the cure of GOUT and RHEUMATISM. INVETERATE ULCERS. SORE BREASTS. SORE HEADS. BAD LEGS. You never find anything like that in Boots these days do you. I found and interesting article about Mr Holloway's ointment.

The Transition Part I

We spent Saturday night at Jason and Sammy's in Crouch End, we had lovely tapas and muddy cuddles from Sammy. Back home on Sunday a leaking radiator pipe left us with no heating or hot water this better all be worth it. Rico Billy has checked himself into The Grand, we are braving the conditions.

The building work starts.....

To make our kitchen arrangements a bit more practical we have decided to 'open plan' the back of our house. So 'the muscle' element arrived today to start taking the walls out. The noise is thunderous and what is it about building dust it seems to find its way onto every surface of every item of your home. The next few weeks will prove difficult I'm sure but it should all be worth it.

Body Worlds

On Monday I caught up with Eve at the O2 centre in London to see Dr Gunther von Hagens latest exhibition Body Worlds & The mirror of time. I last saw his exhibition at Brick Lane in about 2002, I enjoyed it then but my new knowledge and interest in 'Anatomy & Physiology' made this exhibition all the more fascinating.

Putsborough

In October we took off on what seems an annual pilgrimage to North Devon. We stayed at Clifton Court (our 3rd visit to this block of apartments) which overlooks the wonderful Putsborough beach. There is a swimming pool at the apartments and its just so relaxing. I tried lots of new recipes which Jo seemed to really enjoy, I love cooking for her. We did a fair bit of walking my particular favorite being the walk into wooly for a pint at the red barn!

Indoor skydiving

We finally got around to taking up the indoor skydiving experience I got Jo for her birthday. Bit of a drive but great fun.

Hey little girl! - Redondo Beach

Laguna