Rare visit

As you can see I am no longer here but you can now find me here these days here instead.

http://twitter.com/mrstu69

Currently experiencing a great thunderstorm out side tonight, virtually no rain coming down but the clouds are crashing together and making some great sounds as I am sat here typing away, the lightening flashes are not as good as night time as it's only 5.20pm at the moment.

Work has been unbearable at the moment, there is no air conditioning where we are most of our country is still in the stone age. We work under Victorian, (Not Australian Victorian, as they are more advanced than us here), rules still where I work in my department. It has been 30C and very humid and it is not very nice, as most of the day is stood up. How people from hot climates most of the year cope I have no idea, we have a run of three days and people start to suffer. I called up our uniform stores to ask about wearing shorts and the reply that came back was, "We don't issue shorts as Health and Safety have not approved them yet!!!!!!!!". How utterly bollocks can you be about something, so we have to suffer in trousers for the time being.

yay, holiday time is getting very close now 37 days away for me, 21 for everybody else, still not sure where we are going to get to while we are over in Oz, but Brisbane has cropped up again. We did it last year for a few days and basically just explored the city and went out to Tangalooma, to see the dolphins. Might go down the Great Ocean Road, but that just might be a bit cold in August. Did it in October & that was quite nice. Oh well time and money will tell I suppose

Washing and ranting!

Well the washing machine situation has been resolved we finally went out and bought a new one, oh no that's wrong Mrs Stu finally went out and buy one. I wanted to throw everything in the bath, fill it up with water, add some liquid and then stamp on it all using my feet until either clean or destroyed!

It was so difficult to buy one they were all so alike and basically did the same thing so I thought, until you start reading into all the special things each one could do. There was one model that had a program for washing trainers, that one amazed me as I just use the same setting for everything I was and up to now there has been no problems. So in the end we ended up with a 7KG front loader and it is superb and all so quite even on the fastest spin.Mrs Stu has now washed everything in the house twice to make sure it cleans better than the last one!

It has been pretty quite here recently as you can see from the postings as we have not really been up to anything at all besides getting things ready for Australia, so remembered have not got the visas yet...yipes better get that sorted pretty quick on the internet.

Work pissed me off these past few days it's not very often I get angry, but when I do you wouldn't like me! There was a project we were all involved in last year and it went so well we were put into the companies annual awards that is taking place in a swanky hotel in the city centre for employees and partners. Now there was some long hours worked to get the project ready and out. It now turns out that the people who did all the physical work and worked the hours to set everything up have been over looked and have not had an invite, while everybody else got one so three of us out of a team of seven will be at home Saturday night while everybody else will be out on a free nigh out with booze included! It seems everybody has known weeks, even the boss and when questioned he said there is nothing he can do!!!!!

I can see a work to rule staring now and pulling people out of the shit is something that won't happen again arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh going to go scream....and read blogs!

Kicking and spinning

Today was the day that Mrs Stu and Little g took place in their first ever tournaments at a inter dojo karate meet. This is where all the clubs under the same style get together to kick the hell out of each other for the highly regarded bit of metal to go around their neck. We had to be at the competition for 9.45 for it to start at 10 and with 130 people entered it was going to be a long, but enjoyable day.

There were lots of various stages to go through for all the different colour belts. There was the kumite, which is basically fighting an opponent in a knock out stage and the kata, which is on your own doing a set combinations of moves and then like the kata there is the team kata, which is three people doing the same moves in unison and imagine watching this for every colour belt of white, yellow, orange, red, green, purple, blue and brown for both male and female! Luckily there were three rings for everything to take place in and everything moved on at quite a pace.

When it was time for Little G to do her kata, being the totally unbiased parent I am I thought she did better than everyone and Mrs Stu in her group was going up against brown belts who have been training for years longer instead of five months and she also did really well. After a long day sat waiting and watching the medal ceremony finally came around and both Mrs Stu, silver medal and Little g bronze medal did really well. With Mrs Stu kicking all the higher belts to nearly beat them.

So that was my Sunday, but on Saturday my loyal servant of 11 years the washing machine broke down mid cycle. Now have you bought one recently, there are so many different models out there, we had an afternoon out yesterday and my head was spinning afterwards after seeing so many. Then tonight I was searching the net and my head is spinning once more, unlike the washing machine. So the quest continues and the clothes pile up!

Hi de hi

Another day another pound for the tax man, when will they leave me alone so I can have some fun with my money besides it going towards their expenses!

Another beautiful day here today although once more work is in a steel box so I don't see it all day. I need a ball like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, so my day goes faster sometimes. It doesn't help this week that somebody has called in sick and I am having to cover for him as well while he is away so I am running around like a headless chicken this week trying to get all the jobs done and out. Just hope he has not passed anything onto me as he has not moved from the toilet in the past few days.

Mrs Stu has decided to enter a karate tournament this weekend with Little G. It is nothing to serious just an inter club thing. It is an all day event with all the competitions so I have to find something for The Terror and myself to do, as trying to keep him happy where the tournament is taking place is not an option. I'll have to hope it's nice this weekend so I can get on with some gardening I need to catch up on.

The Twenty Twenty cricket is not going well for us at the moment the South Africans are knocking us to pieces as I speak, wickets falling all over the place....yikes!

Bye, bye Australia!

So great to be back in work today it felt as if I had never been away and my holiday had not even taken place last week. My day was filled with so much joy tonight when the once mighty cricketing team Australia, went down with no guns blazing in their second game against Sri Lanka. It was such a joy to watch the final ball being bowled fir another wide. All I am hoping for now is the same bowlers to face England in the Ashes, that is coming up real soon.

Doesn't a week fly by when you are having fun camping in the great outdoors. The kids had two weeks break this end of term and as every other school has only one we decided to go on holiday when all the others were back. So off we went to a place about 30 minutes drive from Nottingham.

It was a beautiful first few days and we had the camp site almost to ourselves with the temperature getting up to a mighty 27C driving down there so it was a bit unbearable in the car and going up and down the hills made Mrs Stu a bit sick, so she did most of the driving which was a bonus for me as I could look out at the scenery around us as we drove there, through picturesque countryside and little villages.

The tent was pitched in a perfect spot with the trees acting as shade for most of the day from the sun which made it ideal, the only downside of the pitch being it was so far from the showers and toilets. I think they put us there due to The Terror's reputation going before him of being to noisy!

We actually never did very much during the stay and just basically did nothing due to the rushing around every other day, the only day that was a bit off putting when we had to drive the sixty miles back home to Mrs Stu's dentist as she had recently had some dental work done on a tooth and it decided to flare up again so she had to get that sorted!

We had one day put to the Heights of Abraham, above the town of Matlock Bath, a 30 minute stay from where we stayed. You got to it by a ride on a cable car which was a fantastic kids for the kids.

From here you could see the town of Matlock Bath below.

Another picture from the hill across the valley shows a castle built by John Smedley, in 1862 and although now in ruins it makes a great site when viewed from below.

The Heights of Abraham are mainly full of cavers to explore, being mined since Roam times for lead but are now just a big money spinner as a tourist attraction.

Some very old graffiti they found in the caves and it was researched to find it belonged in old Parish records to the miners who worked down there.

All in all a great few days away, despite the rain on the last day when a waterfall opened up above us while we packed the tent away!

In the great outdoors

As you can see the blog will not be updated this week due to being in a field in the middle of nowhere England. Usual service will be resumed very shortly.

Ups and downs

Not felt quite right today I don't know what it is, I think I am coming down with post match blues after last nights debacle of a match on the once mighty reds part. First ten minutes everything going to plan, lots of attacking flowing football and then Barcelona get one break and we were done for, the plan had gone wrong, their goal was not supposed to happen it wasn't in the script and then in the second half they go and do it again by the smallest man on the pitch at 2 feet tall rises above everybody else to score a superb header. The Catalans deserved the win and all the glory and my lot, well lets start all over again!

Next week are off for a few days away camping here. Not been camping since before The Terror was born, but the kids wanted to go so we have decided finances just about allow us to go this year, with the Australian trip coming up as well. The forecast for the first few days is looking good with the temperatures expected to hit a mighty mark of 24C on Monday. I have a nice bottle of malt set aside for enjoying in the evenings when the kids have gone to bed or i can just sneak off and enjoy it anyway. Just got to pick up a few items before going, like more tent pegs to keep us down as I don't want to be flying over the Peak District, if the wind picks up.

G'day Possums

At last back again not had time to say "BOO" to a ghost this week with so much going on and all other things happening, so what has been happening that has kept me away, well nothing to be honest besides work and the home life.

The Terror has been ill this past weekend so we have stayed in the house all weekend only really venturing into the garden and as it has been a mighty 24C it has been nice to do nothing and save a few pound notes. I took The Terror to see the doctor today to see what he had and as soon as we walked in the door the doctor, said it was a case of slapped cheek and that although he has been infectious he should be cleared up by the weekend. He has just not been his usual causing chaos self so hopefully a few days rest and we will be back to destroying things once again.

It's been great with the weather picking up as there is more chance to enjoy beer in the garden rather than beer in the house and obviously enjoying beer in the garden usually resorts in a BBQ to enjoy which always goes down in my book, although apparently due to Australian law only Aussies can cook behind a BBQ and all others have to get everything else ready, some how I don't think this one is true!

Give me your blood.....hahahaha

Today was the day I had been expecting it for a month and it slowly came around, it was something I had not done in 16 years due to mixed up genetic parents passing down their tainted genes to me, it was time to donate blood again!

The reason I have not been is because I have high blood pressure that involves taking tablets everyday for the rest of my life, it's not to bad two a day in the long run if it gives me a good innings at the end of the day. I called the donor blood sucking vampire people up on the off chance that I could start donating again and it seems that they have just recently relaxed the rules and I would be able to donate again with the medication that I am on, or in other words they are desperate for donors as they are so short of blood in their stock levels. I don't have a problem going as needles or the sight of blood never bother me.

The amount of questions and forms I had to fill in before hand to check everything was alright to give, and then the various checks and then the nurse had to get the sister to check everything out because of the tablets I take and then I had to drink a pint of water before hand as well and after all that they stabbed me with a giant needle and took some of the good stuff to go and make other people as grumpy as I am, my mission and good deed is complete.

A walk on the heath

As is usual in England, at this time of year it was another rainy day today so there was not much to do outside and we had to venture out in between rain showers for a walk and to blow the cob webs away at a place called Lindow Common, which is only a 15 minute drive away and I have never been there in all my 39 years so it was somewhere new for me as well.

We had three options really because of the weather we could of stayed indoors, gone shopping or explored the outdoors and we decided to venture out as we only had a hour anyway as Mrs Stu had to finish school work because for some obscure reason she wanted to go and see Girls Aloud, pretty to look at but not really my kind of scene.

This is where we ended up, land mostly not yet destroyed by human hand.

Little G and The Terror enjoyed a good walk around and an explore of the surrounding woods and every possible puddle was splashed in to find treasure, as that is where the pirates buried it according to The Terror!

At the centre of the heath land is a lake or to must a big pond called Black Lake. It was good for a little walk and an explore anyway.

Hope you all had a fun weekend.

More mutterings

The trip to Oz is fast approaching and it's time once want again to hunt through the net for the prices on car hire. Mrs Stu goes first and we are guessing the total stay will be around 45 days for her this time which is a long time, although I am only there for four weeks. Maybe I can make her take pubic transport until I get over there! Somehow i don't think that will go down well. She will get the car on the first day and Mrs Stu's brother in law is going to the airport to drive them home after such a long flight as it gets in at stupid o'clock in the morning & then it's a two hour drive out to there place in Hoddles Creek, so knowing how tired they will be after the flight it is for the best. Anyway the prices are working out on the extreme side for even a smallish car at the moment around £900, although I think we can get this a little lower with some surfing around for deals.

I have got into a bad habit recently of starting to watch films late in the evenings these days and most of the times I can watch them right until the end but there is the odd time like last night for instance when I am in the film and the adverts come on towards the end and next minute the films over and there is some tele shopping on instead and I've missed the ending and it's so annoying not knowing what happened to who or how the thing finished. May have to start recording everything before I sit down to watch it now.

Just hoping that there is some more cricket today, yesterday it was a complete washout with no play at all, I just hoping there are better things to come today, it is starting of cloudy where I am with a few showers today. The batsmen need to some big hits to get their confidence together before the ashes starts soon. I am liking Bopara, at the moment he seems to like a good knock and I hope his form continues. need to see how the bowlers cope again so I will reserve judgement for now. So today all I want is a bit of cricket and some peace.

The best news today would be if Manchester United can wrap up the Premiership and get an 18th equalling title to match Liverpools achievements. We have two games to go and only need a point, I have confidence, as to win it at home would be special as it's against Arsenal, who just a few seasons ago clinched the title on our ground so a bit of pay back is in order I think today.

Arrgggh metal box of rubbish!

Now I know they are great for doing many things and you can add all sorts of wires and devices to them but when you have to find just one connection is when you eventually hit trouble...COMPUTERS!

Now our desktop sits in the corner of the room with everything possible plugged in somewhere and all the cables from all the devices leading into the back of it from all the various USB devices, printers and camera leads. Now there is no problem in all of these wires until you have to change over something for some reason or other. All I had to do was to re-connect a microphone into the back that had become unplugged the last time I did something in there.

First of all there was the problem of tracing the wire from the microphone to the end of it and then plugging it in and why no matter how careful when you first install your computer you put all the wires in neatly when you go back to it somebody has been there and tied them in the biggest know imaginable anyway eventually I got the microphone plugged in and doing all the tests to find that somehow i had pulled out my speaker connection so then it was back under the desk to reconnect and then out again to find I had knocked the monitor lead so I only had a blank screen to stare at....arrrgggghhhh. Anyway job done in the end after much effing and blinding along the way, just hope The Terror never picked up any new words!

Now if only life can be like this without a care in the world.

Footie woes

I think he's cracked it and he is finally there if the last two days are anything to go by, The Terror, is finally toilet trained. He has just not wanted to do it at all, being a boy, like all men I suppose he wanted somebody else to do it for him but now he goes when ever he feels the need to. So much more harder than his sister she was dong it so much easy but as I said boys are lazy!

The big game today Manchester United vs Manchester City,  the local derby and fierce rivalries. I had it all lined up going around to a mates house drinking lots of beer and enjoying the game, but since what I want to do goes to the bottom of the pecking order in my house I have lost out again. Little G, I found out after everybody else is putting on a show with her gymnastics club and the rehearsals are this afternoon at kick off for the show tonight and I am now left with The Terror, to entertain and as I have no sports at home as it is on pay to view! Will have to surf the net and see if there is a link out there somewhere I can watch, it usually ends up being broadcast with Spanish or Brazilian commentary though. The commentators are great in their goal celebrations though they make the goals all the more special when they shout 'GGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL'. see what I mean! 

Weather and rip off prices

It's been one of those drab days today, stuck indoors while what little sunshine we have here shines outdoors and then this weekend they forecast rain, life is not fair at times to the workers. Beautiful blue skies with the sun to match and when I come out the clouds start to move over and the sun goes in and now the winds picking up....I hate our weather at times.

All clear from the doctors for another six months had my three monthly check yesterday and my blood pressure is fine so he doesn't want to see me now until then, just need to get my bloods taken and tested and then I am home free, apart from the two tablets I have to take each day, which is not many when you consider the amount some people have to take in a day.

Has the price of food where you are still as high as when it was in that period when the petrol went sky high and they used the cost of that to put up the cost of everything using that as an excuse? 

I did the weekly shop last night and i was studying the prices are lot more this week than I usually do and everything seems to of jumped again a few pence and lots of things. The companies soon put the prices up last year when the petrol went up in price and now they are getting their produce cheaper they are being very slow to pass the prices back on to us the shopper, it is so annoying at times.

Anyway I need a countdown clock for my blog page now for when I go to freezing Melbourne in August, any suggestions?

Little G's birthday

Been a very rushed few days lately hence not a lot of time to come on here. Ut has been Little G's birthday weekend this weekend and we have been having fun with her. We never had a party this year as they were working out a bit on the expensive side so we decided to have a BBQ at home and invite Little G's friends and friends of our own and it proved to be just as expensive!

The last few days were spent giving a good cleaning of the house more that what is usually done in a week so everything was spic and span. Friday, night I called the bouncy castle poeple at short notice to see if they had a covered castle for the Sunday for an 8 year old girl, "Yes" came the reply "no problem". So on Sunday the castle arrived and both kids were excited as we had not told them what was coming and they stood in awe as it inflated Little G was not amused and The Terror went "WOW, Pirates". At least they both bounced on it enough to get enough fun out of it.

Not had so much booze in a long time but the best thing was even though I drank all day I never had a hangover to suffer with the following day, now that was a first, as I am usually the one singing into the toilet the next morning, maybe it's because I'm getting older or the amount of food i consume to soak up the booze. I am now banned from taking any food until everybody else has had at least one thing to eat before I start, I seem to have a bottomless pit of a stomach at times.

Then today it rained and it has rained all day for twelve hours which means the garden is to wet to do anything on it which is just a shame, oh well lots of beer over and the footie is on tonight so the kids have to be in bed early..yippee!

Blind as a bat and cat burglars

Last year I finally gave in and got my eyes tested as over time trying to read things in the evenings was getting more and more difficult until it was almost impossible and i had to hold whatever I was reading at an impossible angle to try and see what it said, squinting the eyes was also a good one as well to make out words. I got up to the mighty age of 39 and than 'bam' glasses. it's as if the eye compensates because a few months ago during day time i could read quite easily without glasses, but now i have to have them on all the time to read or play games. I must admit it is easier on the eye as everything is now not blurred anymore and is easy to read. Not sure if i could do the contact lenses just yet, think I will make do with some sensible glasses and get a spare pair of stupid ones for when the kids start bringing friends home so that I can embarrass them!

We had a cat burglar in the other night and I almost caught him as well, next time I will be ready for him! The back door has been open due to the nice weather and to allow the cat to come and go and I was walking in the kitchen when I saw him lying low trying to hide, but then he saw me and ran for his life but it was to late, Toby was not pleased all his cat food had gone!

Birthday clothes and Twittering

Now I know buying a t-shirt is nothing special these days I thought, but I got this in my e-mail today -

Hello,

exactly a year ago your laFraise order was processed and shipped. We wish your shirt a happy 1st birthday! 

WTF!! Is this something I have missed all my life, should I have been celebrating birthdays for all my clothes, damn I have so many cards to write to make up time!!!

I have been noticing a lot of people on here have started to get the 'Twitter' bug and have I have now joined to see what all the fuss is about. I like it that you can make quick updates and let people know what you are doing or your thoughts there and then but apart from that there is nothing special, so it's a case of waiting and seeing at the moment if I like it. So if you want to follow me, if you have nothing else to do you can find me at mrstu69, '69' being my year of birth and not a preference to anything else to all of you with a dirty mind!

Flu thoughts from abroad!

I have been following the new swine flu outbreak with interest and I was reading The Times newspaper about it online when this quote in the comments section caught my eye.

"We should nuclear strike Mexico and wipe them out to stop the USA getting sick, this goverment is weak?"

bill bob, Arizona, USA

Is this not a little to far just yet, do we just nuke everybody who has just a sniffle or remain cautious until we know the full extent of the outbreak or is bill bob from Arizona right!

A trip with pictures.

As Mrs Stu and Little G went to day of card making and crafting today I took the fifteen minute train journey went into the city to kill a few hours by train.

We left the station and took a stroll down the hill towards the city.

This is Piccadilly Gardens, not to be confused with the Piccadilly Square in London. Now this used to be nice until the council sold out to a property developer and they ruined the place. There used to be a sunken garden you could relax in with lots of colour with the plants all year round but now it is just boring and drab.

Now this is the fountain that they put in which is supposed to shoot jets of water in the air but it spends more time being fixed and under repair than doing anything else.

This is Market Street, the busy pedestrianised part of the city...it's just like what hell would be ;like with lots of shops (Kimmy you will love it)

This is what I like about Manchester, the really old buildings that have some character.

What better than charcter than a street busker and this one was really good called 'The Hoochie Coochie Man', we spent some time here just listening, before putting some cash into his hat as a thank you.

Like many cities these day we have our very own big wheel.

More busking to listen to and another statue. We lots of them all over the place, some good and some bad!

We had a french market in the city this weekend selling their expesive wares but they did taste nice though.

I think this is te shirtest street in Manchester, it is called Four Yard Street. Actually it's about 32 being sad I measured!

The Terror running through the arches at the back of the town hall.

Our town hall another splendid building, this was built in the days they could really build something nice.

Another statue not sure who it was as there was nothing on it to say who it is.

Well I hope you enjoyed my little stroll around the city, I did take more but I don't want to bore you with lots of pictures, I hope you enjoy them anyway.

The Reign of The Terror!

Just a little funny story from another chapter in The Terror's reign of fear and fun. (AKA 2 year old boy).

Yesterday he was playing in the garden and wanted his Bob the Builder cycle crash hat on, that is a lot like a fireman's helmet and he was using Little G's skipping rope as a hose pipe to put out fires, so I decided to go and do something constructive and get the dirty clothes together for washing.

I heard The Terror, come in downstairs and he was running from the kitchen to the lounge room shouting "FIRE", need to put it out, so thinking he was playing I asked him if it was still burning as he ran back to the garden "YES" he called back and then he returned to the lounge room once more, by which time I was down stairs with the dirty clothes and The Terror coming out of the lounge room looking all smug with himself saying "PUT FIRE OUT NOW" fearing the worse i walked into the lounge room to see the sofa and the floor covered in sand! He had been using his sand pit outside to fill his bucket and then run inside to pour over his pretend fire! You just had to laugh at him at the time due to the mess he left. Lets just say his sand pit is covered today and he is banned from it for two days!

Saint George's day....hoorah!

It's that time of year that once more when your proud to be English. Now it's not easy as everybody tries to ban anything patriotic and we are beaten down to an inch of our lives for daring to show any pride towards our own country....yet if you are from one of the other countries from the UK (Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) our councils will help you celebrate your day, they will even put on a parade or a show just to make sure your day goes that little bit better. They even ban flags flying anywhere if you don't have a licence on health and safety grounds. 

So today my flag has been flying with pride in the front garden and sod the council because today it is great to be English,......tomorrow may be a little different and I will take down and fold up my flag until next year.

Now it's time to go and drink my little bottle of cheap French beer I have left!

Cats and things

What a busy week it's been this week I have not have five minutes to myself, like a lot of people on here everything just seems to be rush, rush, rush at the moment with only a bit of time to come up for air!

The weekend is only a couple of days away now so that is something to look forward to, I have not got anything planned but it will be good to try and sneak in ten minutes 'ME' time along the way somewhere, not sure when that will be but I can only try. Just may and have a few beers and a play on the Nintendo Wii, although that is difficult these days as the cat sees the dangling wire and thinks to himself 'great a dangling wire this is a game'. Not realising how this upsets me and gets him ready to be thrown out of the room, especially if a high score is on the way and he breaks my concentration by pulling and biting on the wires. The cat is loving the spring weather at the moment and is spending all his tie outside chasing all sorts of bugs, toying with them and then killing them. It's worse in the evenings when he comes in and sees a little moth and feels the need to chase it all over the house knocking everything off as he goes, the cat is mad!

Monday blues

Another fabulous day today (Kimmy 19C today it's getting hotter) the sun is shining all day the skies are blue and at work like a lot of unfortunate others I am stuck inside all day. No windows or anything that extravagant just four grey walls to stare at for fun, so it's great when work is done to come home, put the shorts on and t-shirt and chill in the garden while getting the dinner done for everybody, that's after taking Mrs Stu to karate and Little G to Brownies.

The government announces it's budget this week and it is going to be either a big series of cutbacks for everybody or we are going to be hit hard in the pocket to pay for or the billions that they have pumped into the banks to keep the economies going in this economic downturn. I can see them making everything a 'green' issue so that they can raise taxes easier under the illusion that they are saving the planet by doing so and like every budget whatever taxes they take are never pumped back into the things that they should be pumped into. The usual culprits of the tax increases are bound to be petrol, alcohol, tobacco and their new one air taxes as the aviation industry is the big bad demon at the moment. I just hope the unelected Prime Minister,Mr Brown realises he will soon be coming up for election and after this financial mess there is no way he will be elected back into office.

Now I am going to take my cheap beer into the garden and kind of enjoy it for what it is and to try and hit the spot it's suppose to.

If you go down to the woods today....

It was a pretty good day here yesterday with blue skies and the temperatures reaching a mind blowing 13C (kimmy it wil reach 18C this week), so it was time to head down to the woods for some great exploring and climbing. Mrs Stu could not come as she was catching up on school work before starting back at work after the holidays, so I had to be a responsible adult for once and not do anything to daring, so I just took the camera for something to do.

The kids are eager to go off and explore the woods.

It is a ver ypopula place to come and the park rangers have done a great job trying to combat the eroson caused by all the people who visit the area and enjoy it's beauty.

It's better to go off the beaten track as that's where all the good trees are to climb, Little g managed this today climbing across it but as i said be a responsible adult for the day only, I had to just watch, life is not fair at  times!

This place dates back thousands of years and as the sign says it was a warning point where a large bonfire would of been lit as a signal to warn that the Spanish Armarda was on it's way to try  and invade us.

Looking out across a vantage point in the woods showing the green of the grass now that Spring is upon us and the Cheshire countryside in the distance.

How better to finish off the day than this......

....and after all that there were no bears!

Holidays!!!

Well the much earned cash that has been saved up is once again going to be burned to thin air, I'm talking jet fuel here as once again we are off on our holidays for four weeks to a nice hot summers holiday to Melbourne, Australia.......oh no wait a cotton picking minute there is no sunshine down there at that time of year it's the middle of winter where everybody freezes for a few months, except for mad Englishmen who still go around in t-shirts whatever the weather. Once again I am giving up the English, summer that is booked in for August 7th-9th where it will might get up to a high of around 22C and then every other day it will rain!

For the second year in a row we are taking the nightmare journey to see the in laws! Mrs Stu feels she has to go and see her sister due to all the problems this year they have had with the fires and having to put down two of her horses. This time there is a change to how we are travelling, Mrs Stu, teaches children so in her authority this year they have an extra week at summer so in total she has off nearly six and a half weeks just for summer and she doesn't want to waste it so she is travelling as soon as she can to make the most of her time with her family. In my place of work I am on the maximum 32 due to the length of my service and if I took off all those days then I would be wiped out for the year and I am not doing that again, so the compromise is that Mrs Stu flies out first in the Wednesday, evening that school finished and I travel 16 days later and then we both come back at the same time as the coming back is the harder journey to make we find. Now I don't envy her as she will have Little G who will be no problem as she is 8 this year but The Terror, is a different matter and he is a law onto himself at times and we usually take it in turns like tag team fighters to look after him and keep him entertained. We are flying with Emirates this time as they are the cheapest and quickest from our airport and they have a great in flight entertainment system which we are hoping to act as a kind of a babysitter. it's either that or unleash him onto the other passengers to cause havoc. 

It's going to be kind of weird not travelling with them and being at home on my own. Mrs Stu has started drawing up a list of jobs for me to do before she goes, like painting the hall and staircase and the lounge room as she says it would be far easier without all of us around! My plan is to hit it hard and fast so I have more time to chill out on my own with the cat, I can see some serious game console time coming here and a few beers.  All I am hoping is that the seats are not to cramped and I can get an exit aisle as being 6'4" and cramped is never good on the legs at least with the kids I have an excuse to stroll up and down the plane to stretch, knowing me I will settle into my seat, turn on the films and then I will be gone until I land 24 hours later!

Work, photos and AFL

What a wonderful day to be back at work after a great six days off in total and finding you have to sort out other peoples problems as they are unable to sort it out themselves while you are away for a few days. I am not saying I am the ideal worker but I would never leave a problem for somebody else to sort out without telling them first and I even had to get my hands dirty to resolve it.

This past Christmas I got Mrs Stu a new camera, a proper one at last with the option to change the lenses and the like. The last camera was pretty good but this one for image quality knocks the socks off the old one and it is better on so many levels and so quick as well with continuous taking. We had a great few pictures of The Terror jumping in the air with his tongue hanging out. Most of the pics I have been posting are with the new one as it pics up so much detail and when we process them onto film as we like a hard copy to look at rather than the screen in case anything ever happens to them at home or the computer dies, the colours are so much more vibrant.

Now being married to an Australian, I decided to follow/barrack a team in the Aussie AFL, a few years back and being the sweet gullible person that I am I opted for the Richmond Tigers, the same as my wife and for the pass few seasons and I have been following them and to put it nicely they are utter crap, but once I pick a team I stick with them through thick and thin and I am not use to supporting a losing team I am used to success by following Manchester United in the English Premiership, I think she sold me a duff team!

Sunday happenings

Today is my fifth day of in a row and I am slowly starting to relax, if that's possible with two young kids around. It is the most time of since last August and then it was just the two days at Christmas, so to have an extra couple of days to spend it with the family is great as I am not back at work until Wednesday. I have just not had the holidays to take as I used them to go to Australia last year for a month and that wiped me out and the other days I have are used for kids emergencies!

Easter has come and gone and the kids now have a huge pile of eggs for them to eat, which under our routine of eating nice things will last them a long time as we like to see them eat more of the good stuff than junk, although the only food The Terror wants to eat is a cheese sandwich. I thought this Easter, the first time in 39 years I was not going to get an egg at all as Mrs Stu was not able to find me one when she went the day before Easter Sunday trying to get me one! At least my mum bought me one :-)

Yesterday was spent out and about again so I am not going to bore you with lots more pics and I will only post two of where we went.

We travelled once again to a place we had never been to called Gawthorpe Hall .

It took less than a hour and we travelled though some beautiful green countryside to get there  up and down the hills, one hill was especially great as it was full of wind turbines and although static they just look great, some people say they spoil the view but I think they add to it especially when they are turning in the wind.

This is another modern property and was only built a few years back in 1605, so a relative new build. It is one of the best properties I have ever been to inside with much of the old furniture still in there.

The kids enjoyed another Easter egg hunt around the grounds with a prize at the end of a chocolate egg to add to their collection. What annoyed me most about the day was the parents who let their kids eat their egg after the hunt and then threw the rubbish on the floor. I admit there was no bins, but so what pick it up and carry it away it's not such a hardship to do!

Then when we got back I quickly got the grass cut while listening to the ipod  and then decided to get the bbq ready for the summer season, it had a right good scrub down with the power wash and then all the cooking plates cleaned and oiled again, the burners got lit again to test them and then I had to turn it all off again and have pasta bake as we had nothing in to cook on it, so today it's a visit to the supermarket as the weather should hold to cook on it tonight

Splashing in puddles with pics

As it was glorious sunny day here yesterday (actually I lie it rained all day) we decided to go on an Easter egg hunt being held locally at a place called Quarry Bank Mill. Now this building dates from 1790 so it is weathering a bit well. In fact it is in better condition than most new homes built these days and as it was only a ten minute drive away what better place to go to.

The front of the cotton mill, excuse the picture quality as they were taken from my mobile as we couldn't have the other camera out due to the rain.

The rear view of the mill as you can see quite impressive, the people used to have to work 12 hour shifts six days a week including the children. I have no photos of the inside as taking pictures is not allowed and I respect there as it is something you have to see for yourself and not to rely on the internet to get that feeling of what it is like.

The mill keepers cottage viewed from the gardens where the workers were not allowed to go. These have only just reopened after years being hidden by the undergrowth.

Anther view of the mill from the back.

A view from the mill high up in the gardens.

The stream flowing through the gardens that powered the wheel that turned the machinery in the mill itself

Some of the gardens that have been renovated they still of a lot to do to make the gardens what it was in the past, but they have done a fantastic job.

Doing what all little boys should do on a miserable rainy day, splash in puddles!

Mission done and bad cat!

The mission Mrs Stu had tasked was an easy one this time nothing to serious just to get in and get the job done and be out again, whatever the outcome I knew it was going to be wrong anyway however it turned out. The Terror and myself got to the appointed location but unfortunately there were ten others ahead of us and we knew we were in for a long wait. One by one the men and boys ahead of us went to their fate with some success and some failures, there were some failures  but there were mostly nods of success to the two men standing carrying out the deeds. After a hour of waiting and trying to keep The Terror, entertained it was finally his turn to go and when the task was finally done I returned home to the words that I knew were coming whatever the outcome "They cut his hair to short I'll take him next time!" My reaction...Mission Successful!

That lousy cat caused me pain again last night, he comes and goes on his own now (No Doanli, the cat flap is still not fitted!) up until a certain time and then he stays in for the night. Well at his appointed time of being in he decided to break curfew and stay out. Mrs Stu and Little G were out in the garden calling his name and he still wouldn't come and the clock ticked around and my evening chilled back watching the footie was spoilt by the announcement that I had to go and have a walk and see if he was about. Hmm great I thought, so with no luck I returned home and finally went to bed just after 12 locking the doors as the fear of leaving them open may mean everybodies cats come in during the night. I hit the pillow and was out only to be constantly woken by Mrs Stu saying she thinks she can hear a bell can I go and check. Eventually at four I got sick of this, got dressed and went downstairs to watch some tv and open the back door. Ten minutes later the cat wanders in wanting something to eat and now all of today all he has done is sleep on The Terror's bed all day.....bad, bad cat!

Just for Doanli.....

Doanli, here is your cat pic you have been asking for. I will try to get more if Toby will stay still enough to pose for me. Are you happy yet........lol

I hate school holidays!

First off all may I say greetings to my visitor from the Yemen who has paid a visit according to my statistics box at the side that I have installed and also to the visitor from Mexico, I say hello.

Does anybody have a taser or a stun gun, maybe even a cattle prod I can lend while the school holidays are on over here at the moment as there quite a few of the loud mouths that I would like to silence each day for a few hours! I am quite sure that when I was young I never had a mouth as big as the kids playing outside today, I'm sure they have megaphones surgically implanted at birth and as they grow older they get louder. Mrs Stu has said I have to show restraint as they are only kids having fun, but as soon as they get to noisy then that spoils my fun of whatever I am doing. So annoying that the parents up to a certain age and none of these kids are above 8 are left out unsupervised, they are just left to run wild. 

That's the problem today a lot of parents will not take responsibility for their kids and will blame their kids actions on everybody else rather than their own parenting when that is the obvious choice. I can remember many a time a neighbour complaining about me being noisy and my dad grounding me even if I was in the right, as he said I had to respect elders and not cause a nuisance. My kids are not angels but I am bringing them up to respect others and their property and if they do get to noisy then I bring them in and we can suffer.

Sorry rant over i am turning into a grumpy old man at the ripe old age of 39!

A Sunday out with pictures

Sunday was a quiet day spent relaxing and visiting a National Trust House close to us, well about 45 minutes away that is. The place was called Old Rufford Hall, and was actually quite nice. The picture below shows two stages of build, the black and white bit dates from 1540 and the brick bit is relatively new and dates from 1652!

The back view of the house showing the gardens.

The kids enjoying the walk at the back of the gardens.

The back view of the house

Some more of the gardens

The entrance to the gardens

The courtyard out back

After we had finished at the house we walked along the canal to where we saw all the house oats parked up

The inside of the house was great with some really great things on show set out with all the original furniture from the house and display cases showing old guns and swords with their history. Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the house due to flash damaging the old things and obviously so people will go and see them instead of just looking on the Internet