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 :-)

My first post!

This is my first ever post. Once I have worked out how to use this thing I will write something more meaningful :-)