Going to Guernsey for a week!

I really haven't blogged in ages (OOPS!).

Tonight we are flying out to Gatwick, staying overnight in a Travelodge, then flying back to Guernsey for our first visit since the wedding.

It will be great to see family and friends (including Mark & Claire and the one and only great great Curley Sue!), and we're really looking forward to a week off work (although the weather forecast isn't looking too good right now).

Will try and report on the trip when we get back (maybe!).

Steve

Trip to Gardenstown

This past weekend, Simon drove me four hours North to Gardenstown, whilst Karen stayed in Edinburgh to look after Poppy, our mini-lop bunny. I would like to say that I got to see more of Northern Scotland on the journey, but the reality was that the fog and rain put a dampener on that prospect!

However, after stopping off to visit Simon's old friend Rachel in Aberdeen, we then made it to the rugged beauty of Gardenstown itself. It reminded me of Cornwall in some ways. Simon's cottage is in sight and sound of the roaring sea - a real isolated place in which to relax.

After sorting out a few things in the house, we drove to Peterhead for Simon to drop off a present to his goddaughter, then back into Aberdeen for food and a film. We ate at TGI Friday's, the first I had been to (but would recommend it highly), then watched The Good Shepherd. The movie was almost 3 hours long, and we didn't get out of the cinema until 11.20pm. With the requirement to go supermarket shopping immediately after, we didn't make it back to the cottage until 2.00am!

The next day, we started our return journey in the early afternoon, finally arriving in Edinburgh at 18:30. It was great to get away with one of my oldest friends.

Firstly, here is a video clip taken on my camera phone (unfortunately taken on the first, foggier, day)...



and secondly, here are a few pics documenting our trip:

Simon loading the car for the journey

168 miles to go on this almost-4-hour journey

Crossing over the Forth Bridge

The beauty of Gardenstown - Simon's cottage is about 30 seconds' walk from this

What a place to live!

Simon by the beach

Night drive back from Aberdeen, with mandatory...

....Cherry Bakewells, of course!

Simon locks up the cottage for the return journey to Edinburgh

Off for a weekend jaunt North

Simon, my old friend and the Best Man at my wedding, has turned up at our flat and is going to take me up to his cottage in Gardenstown (North of Aberdeen) tomorrow for one night in order to check on some building work. This will also be a good opportunity for me to see more of Scotland, so I shall be sure to take my camera.

Karen will be staying in Edinburgh, so I hope she doesn't miss me too much :-)

First snow of 2007!

Although the outside air temperature (+2 degrees C) means that it was not cold enough for the snow to stick where we were, I looked out of the window this afternoon and saw a nice dusting on Arthur's Seat (and also on the hills in Fife). :-)

Christmas 2006

Had a lovely Christmas in Edinburgh with Dad and Suzanne coming up to stay in our apartment.

I will try and post some pics in due course but, for now, here is Poppy receiving a present from Santa :-) (I shot this clip on my mobile phone, so please excuse the poor quality!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Our Wedding Day - a report

At long last, a brief report on our wedding day of 21st October 2006. Sorry for the delay in posting this! (CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE MUCH BETTER QUALITY VERSIONS.)

OUR WEDDING DAY - OCTOBER 21st 2006

Karen got up early ready for her hair to be done by Gillian at 8.45am. Claire and Ali came around at about 10.00am and Mum and Auntie Judy at about 11.00am.

Meanwhile, Steve had stayed overnight at the Bon Port Hotel (the reception venue) and was picked up early by Wayne and Phil (the ushers) for a big fried breakfast(!) at Dix-Neuf in Town. The breakfast was also shared by Simon (best man) and Mark (lesson reader). After breakfast, the ushers and best man took Steve back to the hotel where they all got ready in Steve’s room.

The wedding was held at Spurgeon Baptist Church in Guernsey, and commenced at 2.00pm. With Steve nervously waiting and the church full of guests, Karen arrived with her Dad shortly after this time in Steve’s car, which was driven by Keith. Sue brought the bridesmaids in her own car.



Karen, looking absolutely beautiful, walked down the aisle to Track 9 (Liz on Top of the World) from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack. It was certainly very fitting music and brought tears to a few eyes.

The service was conducted by Mark Richardson, who did a splendid job. The opening hymn was “My Jesus, My Saviour” and, following the legal declarations etc, Mark Le Page read a lesson from Colossians 3.

Shortly before the main wedding vows, Steve had prepared an audiovisual presentation to be projected on the big screen. It was using Eric Whitacre’s beautiful choral music setting of Jalal Al-Din Rumi’s poem “This Marriage”. It really helped to focus the bride's and bridegroom’s minds before the vows. Click play below to see the presentation:


After the vows, the band (plus Suzanne on violin) played “Runaway” by The Corrs during the signing of the register. They did a wonderful job. The next hymn was "Before the Throne of God Above", with the band continuing on with a funky rendition of "Oh, Our Lord and King" to finish.


Following the service, everyone headed up to the Bon Port Hotel for the reception and evening dance. Unfortunately, the photos outside with the magnificent view of the cliffs were hampered slightly by a very strong and cold wind.


Prior to eating, Karen’s Dad, Malcolm, gave a speech in which he alluded to some of Karen’s cute characteristics as a child (and adult!). Steve then thanked everyone for coming and gave a glowing tribute to his new wife. Simon then gave his best man’s speech in which numerous props were brought out of a large sack. Although VERY LONG, it was rather funny!


The food was very nice indeed, with guests having pre-chosen from a choice of 3 or 4 items per course.

The wedding cake, which had been made by Karen’s sister Claire, was appropriately themed for the couple (BUNNIES!).


In the evening, there was a highly enjoyable dance with yet more superb food on offer (although many people declined the buffet due to over-fulness from lunch!). Steve had assembled all the music tracks together on his computer and, to the pleasure of many, this contained a number of tracks from the ‘80s.



After an amazing day, it was time to bring things to a close. It was an incredible day, surrounded by family and friends, which shall live in our memories forever.

More photos can be seen by clicking HERE.

Which US cities best fit me??

American Cities That Best Fit You::

65% Honolulu

55% Atlanta

55% Chicago

55% Las Vegas

55% Miami

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

What kind of pie am I?

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth Those who like you give into their impulses

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Perfectionism...

You Are 55% Perfectionist

No one would call you a perfectionist, but you definitely have a side of you that strives to be perfect. Try to see your mistakes as learning experiences, and don't be so hard on yourself when you screw up!

Are You a Perfectionist?

Vocabulary test...

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

I belong in.....

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

Look what we can (just) see from our apartment!

Karen had never noticed, since she is a few inches shorter than me, but from one of our windows we can actually see the very top of Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcanic hill about 4 miles away. Here it can be seen in the midst of a gorgeous sunset (taken on my Sony cameraphone - it is best to click the image to see a bigger version):

Funny weather

The weather in the Lothian region is very bizarre recently: you're certainly advised to take a raincoat or umbrella with you, even if it currently appears sunny outside.

Anyway, I saw this beautiful rainbow over Granton Harbour the other day when I was driving down the Granton Road, so quickly stopped my car to snap it. (Excuse the quality, as it was taken on my Sony cameraphone).

Simon and the Nepalese food

Simon (my best man) came to stay with us for one night last night. It was great to see him and have an excellent chat.

He was very kind in treating us to dinner at a Nepalese Restaurant called The Khukuri, near Haymarket Station. The food was very nice indeed but, what's more, the service was exceptional; let me give you an example:

I asked for a pineapple and soda. The waitress did not seem too sure so we explained it was a pineapple juice with soda water. A couple of minutes later, Karen spotted the waitress coming back in through the front door with a carton of pineapple juice in a bag - she had actually gone to a nearby shop to buy some pineapple juice (which they obviously don't normally have) just to meet her customer's request! Most places would just say "sorry - we don't do that drink here".

Top marks. We'll be back.

While on the subject of good service, we decided when we got home to have some ice-cream, although we had none in the freezer. Karen knew, however, of an ice-cream shop on the Granton Road that closes at 10 pm, so off she went. She came back with some Italian Mint Choc-Chip (delicious). She had apologised to the owner for cleaning him out of that flavour, when he replied: "Oh! No problem - I'll just make some more in the morning". So it was actually home-made ice-cream, and great it was too :-)

My stag weekend - REPORT

Well, it seems AGES ago now (it was), but it is about time I told you briefly about my stag weekend (then I can finally get on to posting about the wedding and honeymoon!).

I flew to Southampton after work on Friday 13th October 2006 with Wayne and Phil (my ushers) and Mel, Phil's wife. First we consumed a quick Indian meal near the station before grabbing a train to Portsmouth Harbour. From there, it was a shortish walk through the marvellous Gunwharf Quays centre until we found our hotel, the perfectly-located Holiday Inn Express Gunwharf Quays. I shared a room with Wayne, and we had a good old chat about everything under the sun till 3 am.


After breakfast the next morning (Holiday Inn Express do a good continental buffet), we had a good look around the Gunwharf Quays. Mel and Phil went on a boat tour of Portsmouth Harbour then a trip up the Spinnaker Tower, whilst Wayne and I went for a look around the shops.

In the afternoon, Suzanne (my sister) came down by coach from London. I spent some time with her, firstly going up the Tower (with its really rather scary glass floor) and then walking to the Historic Dockyard to have a look at HMS Victory (although lack of time precluded our going on board - and I'm not sure we would have wanted to stretch to £11 each for the privilege anyway).



In the evening we went out for my stag meal, to a great Oriental Buffet called Water Margin within the Gunwharf Quays centre, followed by our reason for going to Portsmouth in particular - the opportunity to see my favourite band, Level 42, performing live in the city that night. They were SUPERB, FUNKY and TIGHTER than a TIGHT THING TIGHTENED :-)

After the show, we waited in the cold air for over an hour until I finally got my chance to meet my all-time bass hero, Mark King. He had a great sense of humour and, on Suzanne taking a pic of us together, he got up on a barrier to equal my height, asking me:

"Are you the tallest man in the world? Here's me and short arse Steve getting our picture taken!"

I was over the moon and it was SO worth waiting for.


The next morning, we flew back to Guernsey. A FANTASTIC stag weekend, and I didn't even consume a drop of the black gold. :-)

P.S. All photos courtesy of Suzanne - thanks.

Wedding and Honeymoon story/pics coming SOON!

Sorry for the delay in reporting on the recent events.

I am now happily settled in Scotland (well, except that I'm still looking for a job), but don't have broadband yet. My Orange broadband and Livebox wireless modem was apparently successfully delivered on 17 October, but was signed for by a Mr R Hussain! Neither Karen nor I have any idea who that is, so Orange have had to send out a second package. When it arrives, I shall update the blog properly. It is SO frustrating being on dial-up, even temporarily!

STAG weekend

Off to Portsmouth tonight for my "stag" weekend, although it won't be typical as I don't drink very much. Instead, we are going to have a wander around Portmouth Gunwharf Quays on Saturday and then go to a Level 42 gig in the evening (my favourite band!). Should be good. My sister is going to join my ushers, one of my usher's wives and me for the gig. We will probably go out for food beforehand. My last weekend of singlehood, here I come!

Oh, by the way, I did not get one of the jobs. Still waiting to hear about number 2.

I'm back :-)

Interviews went fairly well I think but I will not hear about job 1 until next week and job 2 until a couple of weeks' time.

Had a great time in Edinburgh though. Karen made some lovely food (she would be the first to admit that she does not really enjoy life in the kitchen, but she did a great job) and we went on a date to see "The Queen" - Karen's treat.

Here is a pic I took of the "other" side of the Castle from the Grassmarket (taken with my cameraphone, hence poor quality - mainly because I need to clean the lens I think!):

Off to Edinburgh for 2 job interviews

AAAAAARGH! HATE job interviews!

Never mind.

A very quick trip this time - up today and back Friday. Managed to get a good price by using Aurigny to Manchester (£92.90 return) then http://www.megatrain.com from Manchester Piccadilly to Edinburgh for the princely sum of £6.50 RETURN! (Would have been £2.50 return if I'd booked a week earlier :-)

I will let you know how I got on when I come back.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Well done Connie! Both Karen and I voted for her. She was clearly the most perfect competitor for the role of Maria and we hope to go and see the show one day.

Battle of Britain Air Display

Tomorrow is meant to be the annual Battle of Britain Air Display in Guernsey. Whether or not it will actually take place depends on the weather, which is looking a bit marginal judging from the current forecast.

I have many fond memories of this display (I first remember seeing the Red Arrows fly over my old house for the display when I was about 3 or 4 - roughly 1976 - my parents stood me on a chair and I nearly fell off due to the noise!).

Here is a video I took of a Lancaster Bomber taking off from Guernsey a few years back on its way to the afternoon display in Jersey (Guernsey's display is always in the morning). Just listen to those beautiful engines!

Happy 50th Birthday Debbie Turner!

Debbie Turner is well-known as the Hollywood actress who played little Marta in The Sound of Music (the one who said "I'm going to be seven on Tuesday, and I'd like a pink parasol).

(She is the little girl second from the right in the line of children pictured above.)

When I was planning to get engaged to Karen, I emailed Debbie to ask for some help in finding the location where the children had had the picnic in the film, as that was where I was planning to ask Karen to marry me (a stunningly beautiful place - click here to see pics of our engagement). I did not really expect a reply, but Debbie was wonderful and ever so helpful and I will never forget this.

So, Happy 50th birthday today Debbie, and thanks so much for all your help!

Long time no post :-(

Hi guys!

Sorry I have not posted in ages. Things are VERY BUSY for me right now, what with wedding planning, looking for jobs in Scotland, plus being stacked out in my current job.

I will try and write more regularly from now on.

Take care!

Pasties and Ice-cream

Cornwall was great (although my trip was less than 48 hours in total). We went to Boscastle, the scene of those horrible flash floods a couple of years ago. They have mostly rebuilt it all now, and it is just naturally beautiful. I look forward to spending more time in Cornwall in the future. Here are just a few pics (the rest are here).

OFF TO CORNWALL :-)

Off to Cornwall till Monday afternoon for a short break, staying at Karen's Mum's house. Karen will be there with her friend Helen.

Can't wait. Need a break!

Angel with Fur - the Video

As a surprise Valentine gift for Karen in 2004, I wrote her a song about our now-sadly-departed mini-lop, Barney.

I have finally got around to posting the "pop video" I made on Youtube. Unfortunately, the compressed picture and sound quality is pretty rubbish, but you will get the general idea.

Karen, thankfully, LOVED the song. For me, I would have re-recorded the vocals if I could have, without all the shakey bits, but we were in an absolute rush to get this done.

Thanks to Sue Lainé for doing the camera work, and for Bradley Steenkamp for recording and mixing the project, all in record time :-)

To watch the video, just click on the play button below (EDIT: I have now re-posted the video in better quality on Myspace Videos, so this now looks better than before):

Angel with Fur

Add to My Profile | More Videos

World Cup Semi-Final: Italy v Germany

WOW! WHAT A GAME! Am so glad I saw this, although I had hoped Germany would win. I don't really mind though, as long as Portugal do not win the World Cup overall. Anyone but Portugal!

Proof that Myspace is amazing

About 12 years ago, I bought an album called "Ben and Roy Castle's Big Celebration", which was the last CD Roy (the British entertainer famous for "Record Breakers") ever contributed to. I was very struck by the good bassplaying of a Mr Tim Harries on this album.

Anyway, fast forward to 2006 and I am merrily adding some "Friends" to Myspace when I spot someone else has a Tim Harries as a friend (this is where the whole networking thing comes in). So I add Tim Harries to my friends too (having established that this is one and the same guy from his profile).

Lo and behold, today I get a message from Tim himself (who would never have spotted me other than that I added him as a friend), which read as follows:

" At last, a song about a rabbit! Brightened up my day no end."

I was amazed that the Tim Harries had listened to Angel with Fur. I made a comment on his profile to say thanks and that I knew him from the Roy Castle album but had not heard much else of his.

He responded, "Now that was a long time ago! He was a great man. We have a dwarf lop who's a feisty miss but we love her to bits."

So, Tim Harries not only has heard my humble song and it has brightened up his day, he also owns his own bunny! Let's just say I am SOLD on Myspace and the possibilities it offers :-)

Wedding invitations and chest infections

Have been spending hours recently on producing the wedding invitations and associated paperwork (menu choice forms etc). Should be ready to send out in next few days.

Have had a cold the last few days but now seems to have gotten worse and gone to my chest. Oh well - an excuse to sit in front of the telly watching the knockout stages of the World Cup I suppose :-)

Poppy and Karen this weekend :-)

Click to view full-size :-)

Bored at Gatwick

Well, this waiting in between flights malarkey is no fun, but it is not too long of a gap this time. Have just come off the BA flight to Gatwick (cooked breakfast this time - yum yum) and am soon going to return to Guernsey on Aurigny.

It was very sad saying goodbye to Karen (and Poppy of course). However, there are not many more goodbyes left, thankfully. In July we are meeting in Cornwall, in August Karen comes to Guernsey for 8 days, and then September will hopefully be job interview(s) back in Edinburgh.

I will try and post a couple of pics later.

Gotta sign off. These £1 for 10 minute workstations are terrible value for money!

Top quality bunny food

One of the problems of owning a rabbit is that their digestive systems are very sensitive. Top-quality rabbit food is really worth investing in, but some of the stuff typical pet shops supply is not that great.

Karen and I have finally found a good horse feed centre near Edinburgh which supplies the quality items our bunny breeder recommended - Spillers Readigrass and Dodson & Horrell Rabbit Royale. The place is the Drum Feeds Centre and is at 684, Old Dalkeith Road, Midlothian, for anyone in the Lothians who might be interested.

Baggage Loaders!

Well, got on the BA Airbus A319 last night at the correct time, only to wait 45 minutes on board before engine start due to there being no-one to load the bags onto the aircraft! The airline was very apologetic though, but it did mean we arrived in Edinburgh very late.

These Airbuses are nice, what with their screens placed in the overhead panel every 4 or 5 rows showing a moving map and height/speed/temp etc information - much like the screens in every seat on long-haul planes, but just with no interactivity.

Was VERY impressed with the meal - most people had a seafood salad, but I opted for a vegetarian pasta salad, which was gorgeous. It also came with a light creamy mousse-like desert with a fruit compote.

I will try and go BA more often from now on.

Off to Edinburgh this evening!

Am flying to Edinburgh via Gatwick this evening. The stupid thing is that I will be in the air during the first half of the England v Trinidad & Tobago match! That was my own fault for not realising what would be happening at that time when I booked the flight.

Anyway, this will be my latest ever arrival in Edinburgh (I arrive at approximately 22:00).

We have wedding stuff to sort out during this trip, and intend to get the design of the invitations finalised.

As well as it being very nice to see Karen, of course, I am also looking forward to seeing little Poppy, our mini-lop. She has apparently been quite naughty recently, so I will need to play the strong father. :-/

Here is a pic I love of Karen and Poppy together:

Guts ache

Hmm - I have had guts ache for the last two days and am due to fly to Edinburgh tomorrow evening to see Karen. I hope it clears up soon.

Dr Seuss

Have just rediscovered Dr Seuss - absolutely fantastic. Have been reading Dr Seuss's Bedtime Stories. This author was an absolute genius, and was so good at keeping to his favoured meter, which wikipedia reports is called an anapestic tetrameter - you learn something every day :-)