It's (been) Christmas

This is the second post I have written today having spent an hour or so earlier typing up for the stag do to Edinburgh that brought me back to this country and was in celebration of the amazing wedding last weekend. I have had to take some time between as I found that hard work, thinking back over so many weeks to what went on, and this makes me happy that this blog is not left too long before I update; I don’t like grinding my teeth and getting a headache. Anyway, that has passed so it is time to get on with this one and reflect on the week just finished; Christmas week.

 

Amazing lasagne with salad, coleslaw and garlic bread

We’ll go back to just after I finished typing up the previous post (though I didn’t publish it til the day after, the same as for this one as I’m being tight and not using the limited mobile internet we have in the house) when my dinner was ready and I was called down to go and eat the marvellous lasagne which A had spent the day cooking. It really was very nice and I was very happy to take a lump of it into the office the day after for my dinner.

 

All wrapped up in a bow

Lee had bought some bows from eBay very cheap and been shocked when he opened the packet and found they were not pre-formed; he had to make them himself. Very kindly he brought one in for me and so I was able to tie it around one of A’s pressies just to pretty it up a bit. We had everything ready and laid out by the fireplace, though there is no tree in our house as we’re both grumpy scroogey types. That isn’t to say I wasn’t excited about Christmas, just it should be kept to a couple of days a year and not dragged out for months like some crazy people do.

I am only back in the country to earn money so I worked up until the office closed on Wednesday, getting back for Christmas eve to start properly at about 2pm. A had been bouncing around the house all day preparing food for the feast over the next couple of days but when I got back we settled down on the sofa with books, beers and a film on. It was really relaxing, a sign of things to come. I cooked on Christmas Eve, making my patented and famous spicy pasta though this time I even made the tomato based sauce myself. It was lovely but I didn’t make enough so had to make do with only two bowl fulls. Then it was time for bed and to be wakened the next day, very naturally with no alarm (I had remembered to turn all my alarms off the night before) to Christmas day morning.

One of my presents :)

After doing my washing up (nothing should break this routine) and making a brew we sat and opened our pressies and what a lovely set of gifts we had including some awesome whisky glasses and this book written by the chap who does the Whisky Lounge tasting sessions I enjoy so much, some wooden guitar picks which got use straight away and a couple of good books (for me) and some port glasses, a bottle of nice port, and a mug for A. There will be pictures of all the other pressies scattered through this update so don’t worry.

 

A White Christmas, of sorts

After a relatively bright start to the day it clouded over pretty quickly and then it started to hail heavily; we were getting a White Christmas! It came down and settled over about twenty minutes; enough time to get a good picture, and then stopped. A has been really good with her running every day and, even though it was Christmas Day, she was up and out again when it looked like the weather had cleared. Typically as soon as she was a way away the hail came back and she said she had to shelter in a bus stop for the worst of it. When she got back I had a coffee waiting for her, and made up some bacon and egg butties to warm her inside after a hot shower started the job.

 

New whisky glass, with whisky in it

I had said I would cook Christmas Dinner but, with everything that was planned, it ended up being more A than me however I did take on the challenge of cooking the beef. We chopped the veg together, putting it into water to keep from browning, and then I rubbed the chosen rub onto the beef and left it to settle for a bit. With everything done, and it being after midday, a whisky was called for in one of the new glasses. A chose the whisky and chose well with it being Balcones Brimstone which I really like and its’ deep smokiness makes it a good day time drink; it is too strong of taste to drink for the alcohol really. These glasses are stunning crystal cut glass; much heavier than my other glasses and with thicker walls which was actually quite hard to get used to. They came in a lovely carrying case as well which I will keep them in until the display case is finished and I can present them in pride of place there.

 

A swinging good time

The weather had brightened up considerably since A had been for her run so, after putting the meat in the oven to start off, we headed out for a brief walk to get some fresh air and enjoy the neighbourhood together. Just behind where we are living is a little park with some swings and other playground equipment so this is where we headed to. The ground was sodden and there were puddles everywhere so we couldn’t go that far or explore that much but it was nice to sit on the swings together and watch the clouds scudding past and chat. It wasn’t a long interlude outside but it was welcome and when we got back the smell of the cooking beef was already strong in the air.

 

Christmas dinner; just a bit of food for two

Finally, and with much impatience in the middle, our dinner was ready for serving up though we did forget to put the Yorkshire puddings in to cook which made them late to the table. We had such a feast we could probably have easily fed eight people but it is Christmas and so having a super meal is very important. Everything was lovely, particularly the stuffing which was A’s masterpiece. The meat was well cooked, maybe a touch over, but it was still moist and when you put a dab of horseradish sauce on it jumped. A had never had horseradish before so her first helping was a tiny smear on the side of the plate. After that was eaten, however, she took a huge dollop and now we definitely will have to try and grow this to make our own.

 

Whacked out from over eating

After eating as much as we possibly could we retired to the living room and I’m not ashamed to say that I fell asleep laying on the recliner. This is also what Christmas should be about and I haven’t relaxed like this for a very long time; maybe not even while I was in Bulgaria this year did I manage to switch off like this and just rest. It was very much needed as well I can tell you.

 

Boxing day fest

After watching a couple of films (one of them was Hellboy which was just as funny as I remembered it to be) we headed to bed and slept off the excesses of the day, mild compared to some but still more rich food than either of us is used to. Boxing day dawned bright as well and A once again managed to get out and run; what determination that must have taken. We had no plans at all for the day and spent it resting and doing very little again. Lots of reading and music listening and film watching. Just what the doctor ordered. Lunch was a mish-mash of leftovers from the meal the day before, fried up with gravy and eaten with a spoon and it was so lovely and tasty.

 

A's slipper glass

Later in the day we brought out the cheese board, some crackers, a couple of slices of bread and Ardennes Pate and munched on that, washed down with a glass each of the port I had bought her for Christmas, in the new port glasses. These are lovely things, though slightly unstable, and you can take sips through the long tail if you wish; it is actually quite hard to get a small sip when you do this which makes it quite dangerous. The port was outstanding, if extremely rich, and the small amount in this glass was enough to get us through the meal when paired with a glass of water each.

 

Snowing for the Christmas holidays

Recycling day was Saturday this week, what with the disruption to the usual schedule, so A went outside to push the bins around. I was settled on the sofa with my book when there was a banging on the windows. I looked out and couldn’t see anything so I went to the door and there she was saying “IT’S SNOWING!” and so it was. I dashed upstairs, got some sandals on, went outside and threw a snowball at her. Come on, it had to be done. We had a short but fun snowball fight until both our feet got too cold and we retreated inside. I was hoping that it would stay until the next day so we could make a snowman in the back garden but unfortunately it had mainly melted by then. A has sworn revenge from the excellent shot which got her in the head. I had better watch myself the next time there is snow around.

 

She's gonna be better than me soon

A has been picking my guitar up on and off for the past few weeks and I’ve taught her a few chords. She spent some time on boxing day and I think is noticeably improving. I remember that, when I first started, when every time you picked it up something else sounded a bit better. It has been a while since then for me but the gift of the plectrums has caused me to play more guitar myself in the past two days than in the whole year before. That cannot be a bad thing; I do wish I’d brought another guitar though because it would be easier to show her if we had one each.

Carrying on the theme of this holiday time (and it has been that) yesterday was another peaceful day. She went running, we ate more cheese and biscuits for lunch, we listened to music and read but didn’t watch any films during the day (she was saved from a western as I was thinking of putting one on, then it got too late) but for the evening we decided that rather than cook we’d go out for a meal. The first place we tried was the pub I’d been to with work on Monday but they had just shut the kitchen when we arrived. This mean I drove a bit further out to the pub where I’d met my old friends the week before and this turned out to be a good choice. The food was really nice again and the place was packed with Christmas revellers. A really enjoyed her Chilli Con Carne and my burger was outstanding though I wasn’t actually that hungry what with all the feeding I’d been giving myself all week. We turned down dessert at the pub and headed home where a film was put on and then half way through we had some more of the lovely pineapple pudding A had made for us. I have no pictures at all for yesterday so none for this paragraph.

 

Robin eating bread from our stump

And so to today; the final day of the holidays as I’m back in the office tomorrow working away. We both had a lovely lie in this morning which is unlike us, not getting up until 10am. After the clouds and rain of the past few days it was lovely to have the sun shining though it had been a really heavy frost in the night. After lazing around I got up to do the washing up and she went out for her run though when she got back she said it was too icy really and she’d mainly walked. My plans for the day, those which I had decided on, were to get the stag do pictures edited and write this post. I quickly found that I wanted to write stuff for the stag do so this took me most of the morning as I ground my teeth trying to put together the correct words. With the headache this caused I’ve had to wait until the afternoon to write this and the daylight is dimming as I sit here typing. Lunch was a couple of slices of toast and some Christmas cake (finally) and we enjoyed it sat in the dining area watching the birds come down for the crumbs A scattered outside. There were so many birds; blackbirds, sparrows, starlings and this fat robin. A put some water in the trough and they found that quickly as well and took advantage of it. We must have sat there for an hour or so laughing as the birds chased each other around and munched all the bread. It is something I miss about England, in Bulgaria, the variety of birdlife there is here.

 

Dunkin' biccies in her new mug

While we were sat there I made A a cup of tea in her new mug and popped a hob-nob in the little pocket for biscuits. This was dunked with much enthusiasm and the tea went down well as well. I was still suffering a bit from the headache so after a while I took myself onto the recliner and snuggled up with a book under a rug. We had a suitcase full of clothes no longer needed so A took them down to the clothes-bank near the shop while I rested and then made me a brew when she got back; she’s a good’un. While I type this she is watching another film and I’m going to go down and join her shortly.

So, my alarm has been turned back on to wake me in the morning and tomorrow it is back to the reason why we came back here. This has struck me a bit over the past four days; as enjoyable and needful as the break has been, it will be good to get back to putting money into savings from tomorrow so we can return and be more secure over in Bulgaria next year. Until next update, happy new year to you all.

Wedding bells

Better late than never, as they always say. And late this blog post is. I’ve got good excuses for this, however, considering just how busy the weekend was. The problem is last week is now a dim and distant misty memory so I’ll probably struggle to fill those gaps in.

Awesome pork dinner

I can remember that neither A nor I were feeling particularly well most of last week; this cold has been hanging around and going from a cough to a sniffle and back to a cough. Most frustrating. It did not stop me enjoying the Roast Pork dinner last Sunday which was just gorgeous; crunchy crackling but really moist meat. A was off down to London to collect her stuff (cooking things and a huge bean bag mainly) on Monday which left me home alone. I was planning on tuna pizza but when I found we had no tin opener I was able to put some of the left overs of the pork on and it worked really well. She got back in good time on Tuesday which was great and, after a few more trips to pick up a couple of missing items like a really good frying pan, we’re now fully set up here.

My dinner and hers at the Russian place

Other than lots of sitting around, reading, sleeping and generally relaxing we did get up to other things during the week. We were invited out on the Tuesday night to a burlesque night but in the end we didn’t make it due to tiredness which was a shame. On Wednesday I was accosted on skype by Boris to go for another meal which we duly did on Thursday, at the same Russian Restaurant. It was once again a really pleasant evening and we had a lot of fun, though the weather changed while we were inside and we did get slightly soaked on the way back to the bus.

The happy bride and groom with the official photographer

Friday was a quiet night in preparation to what we knew would be a really busy weekend and wasn’t it! My business partner was getting married on Saturday and we were going to the whole event. As per usual I got us there massively early, about two hours before Dan even arrived, so we settled ourselves in the hotel and had two overpriced coffees each while laughing at the TV screen with a 10 minute loop of an open fire. Eventually it was near enough time to head over to the location where the actual wedding was happening so it was into Thomas and, with a short diversion due to a wrong turn, we were quickly there and chatting to Dan who seemed very calm. The service was absolutely lovely, even bringing a tear to my eye, and to see his huge smile when he first saw his bride was an awesome moment. It wasn’t a very long ceremony and we all applauded as the wedding party left, then followed them for champagne and photographs.

Blazing fire in the impressive fireplace

The wedding was taking place in Samlesbury Hall, an 800 year old manor house with lots of ghosts and beautiful features. I was most taken with this fireplace, which was in the room where we had the meal and speeches, and myself and A were talking about whether we couldn’t have another open fireplace in the school maybe in the library/museum. I don’t think the location of the chimney would support this very well but it is something to think about.

The place setting

Dinner was (for me) tomato soup, steak pie and chips and apple crumble; what a great wedding meal. It was super tasty and I even enjoyed the mushy peas which is not really my kind of thing normally. When everyone had eaten the head of the staff, a very friendly man in a bright red coat who was pleased to identify Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as the figures on two reliefs, led each table in an energetic rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, involving jumping up and singing a line per table.

The speeches were just incredible. After the Father of the Bridge finished his slightly stumbling nervous rendition it was Dan’s turn as the Groom and he excelled; I’ve always said he is made for the stage and this proved it. Once again there was a tear in my eye at several point and this was continued when Billy, the best man, got to his feet and managed to give the best speech of the lot. This was particularly gratifying as he had been so nervous he hadn’t been able to eat all day for worrying. He hit exactly the right level at every point of the speech and brought laughs and smiles throughout. Well done Mr Billington!

Stuffed heads watching us eat

All lit up for the night

With the formalities out of the way there was a break while the band set up for the evening and I took this time to get Thomas back to the hotel so I didn’t have to worry about coming out again in the morning to collect him. When we got back to the wedding it was time to get my first beer and get ready for the dancing to begin.  Before this we took a little walk around the house and outside to look at the gorgeous architecture. These are some stuffed deer on the wall of one of the rooms, and the outside of the hall where the wedding was taking place (only a small part of the greater building) nicely lit up in the dark.

The band rocking out

The rest of the evening was taken up with one of our bands, Kazoobian, entertaining everyone with a mix of new and old songs and the dancing was led from beginning to end by Dan and Ash. One great idea that Dan’s mum had had was to provide thick socks for the ladies so they could take their shoes off and be comfortable on the dance floor. Everyone took advantage of this and the band changed the words of at least one song to incorporate the word “sock”.

Busting the moves

As I’ve said the happy couple led from the front on the dancefloor and this even encouraged me to get on my feet and dance for quite long periods of the night. I was also trying to get lots of pictures of the evening, as the official photographer hadn’t stayed around, and was having a lot of fun with long exposures with the wildly moving people. The entire group of guests got really into it and at various points of the night I think all but one person danced, and he never does. There was a pause in the music half way through at which time a hog roast was announced so I stuffed my face with a huge barm with additional crackling and apple sauce. Nommy.

By about 12.30 everything was calming down so we got a cab with a couple of my friends and went back to the hotel. My mate did buy us a beer but I had about two mouthfuls before deciding I’d had enough and I think my head must have hit the pillow just after I fell asleep as I don’t remember anything from getting to the room until I woke the next morning. We were joined at breakfast by Dan and Ash which was great and I got the presents that had been delivered to the studio from Dan then we headed home for some relaxation time before the next awesome event of the weekend. Yes, we’re only half way through.

Ready for the show to begin

For the first of her Christmas presents I had bought tickets to go and see Andre Rieu performing in Manchester. These were on the 4^th row from the front and they turned out to be aisle seats which were even better. We got to the venue before the doors opened and queued up surrounded by silver haired people making us feel very young indeed. Once the security had fixed their scanning machines we were allowed entry and made our way to our amazing seats. The usher kindly snapped a picture of us which took some doing as he couldn’t operate the camera on my phone.

Can you spot A in this picture?

I headed off to get a programme and when I came back into the auditorium I was amused to see A sat so near the front and I snapped a picture. Can you see her? We were (as you can see) early (I know you’re shocked) but this meant we got to sit and soak up the atmosphere as the crowd filed in and the room filled up. We were sat next to by a crazy woman with tinsel that she was determined to drape around all our shoulders but when it kept falling off she eventually gave up and stopped bothering us.

Orchestra making their entrance

With a quick word of warning to the ushers that the show would begin in one minute and to get everyone seated we were forewarned when the lights dimmed but neither of us expected what happened next. The entire orchestra filed in down the two aisles and onto stage, carrying their instruments where possible and waving to everyone. What a way to start. Andre was already on stage waving as well and playing along to the backing music that accompanied the entrance.

The opening number, with digital curtain

Gorgeous background

All the soloists on the stage

The show was brilliant and I make no apology for the number of pictures above this paragraph as I could not make my mind up which to not show you all. Andre is very much a populist performer and for a classical purist like myself it was at times a struggle to appreciate the excellent musicianship on show with an audience that thought talking through the music was a good idea. The lady sat behind me who was doing this got a very short speaking to from myself and thereafter shut up, but I was not able to silence everyone. This having been said it was an exceptional show (A professed to having tears) and the soloists in particular were amazing. I’m not normally a fan of sopranos  as I find them too screechy and warbly normally however the three ladies who sing with him (they are on all his YouTube videos) are even better in real life than on a recording.

Ukrainian and three Russians

After the interval, during which time the Manchester United manager appeared in the aisle trying to get to the toilet and was mobbed for photographs and autographs and didn’t get anywhere (I got a snap from my seat but I am not wasting your time showing it), one of the sopranos from Ukraine sang a beautiful song accompanied by three Russian musicians on traditional instruments. It was magical and a poignant example of music overcoming conflict.

The Berlin Comedian Harmonists in full flow

Another treat of the second half was the Berlin Comedian Harmonists. These six men (the sixth is playing the piano when I took my picture) bounced onto stage and stole the show for me. The one second in from the right had a monocle in and the one second from the left was hamming it up and having so much fun with everyone else it was impossible not to laugh and smile along. They were also excellent singers with a fantastic vocal range and when their second song was announced as that performed by the original group in the 1930s when Hitler disbanded them for having four jews in the group, they carried the sombre performance off without missing a beat. They were on and off stage quite a few times through the show and I think I will look them up again.

Each of the soloists got to come on stage a couple of times and perform alone though the tenors were mainly out together as a group. Of the three sopranos (one from Australia, one from Ukraine and one from Chile) the Ukrainian had the best voice for us and of the three tenors (one from Tazmania, one from Hungary and one from Germany) we also agreed that the Hungarian was the best singer. This is a bit harsh on the others as they were all excellent but that is what we thought.

Christmas hats on the orchestra

As is standard at Andre Rieu concerts a lot of people stood up and danced during the Blue Danube waltz and then later on they got up again and didn’t sit down. This was when I really had to put my “pop concert” head on and not get annoyed at people talking and laughing over the music; it is what it is and it was very good at that. The lady next to us was doing her best to deafen everyone around her with her piercing whistles which got old quickly but wasn’t as annoying as how out of time EVERYONE was when they attempted to clap along. Anyway, these are minor gripes when set against how brilliant the whole evening was and after quite a long encore involving Andre telling everyone to go home and the crowd shouting “NO!” back, the curtain finally fell and we were off to Thomas and home very quickly indeed which was just what we needed.

And so ended a busy weekend and we are into Christmas week. This has so far involved nothing more interesting than going to work and coming home again, though yesterday I had a lovely steak meal at lunch with work and last night I did get to go into town with Lee and Lorenzo (whom I work with) and meet a few friends for a couple of beers which was pleasant. Tomorrow I am in the office until 2pm and then it is into the serious business of it being Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, after which bah humbug will return. I am going to be cheap and wait until tomorrow to put this online so I don’t use up my mobile internet at home, but I will try and be good and update again on Sunday. Sorry for the length, but a lot did happen.

We've moved

Wow what a week. I am currently sat typing in the new house, at the desk (bought last weekend) in the new office with A just having come up to get her laptop connected to the new MiFi. We have had a week of it and I'm pretty tired but tomorrow morning I can walk the five minutes to the office and leave Thomas at rest. Woop. Anyway, back to it (and this time I did make some notes at the beginning of the week).

Awesome cheesy chips for NFL watching

So last Sunday, after I published the blog, it was onto the sofa and settling to watch NFL again. We had some pizza for dinner and then, after the pizza was eaten (and I was still hungry as we only had one pizza that would normally just about do me) we put a huge pile of chips in and munched them with cheese and mayonnaise. The best thing about this was the cheesy part of these cheesy chips was a mix of super strong cheddar, and blue cheese. They were AMAZING and the evening was a really enjoyable one, particularly as this is probably the last NFL I will get to watch before the Super Bowl and then next year back in Bulgaria.

Glorious start to the day

Monday morning was a cold start and my notes about the day remind me that it snowed on the drive to the office and there was some quite impressive lightning as well; some winter weather was arriving. Every day last week I complained about not having a bacon and egg butty and so I also went past the cafe and got one for me and Lee. That really helped. The rest of the day was pretty standard and so on to Tuesday. One thing of note (I'm living such a rock and roll lifestyle) is the ice was so tough on Thomas on Tuesday morning that I managed to snap the scraper in half! Whoops! When I arrived at work it was such a gorgeous sunrise that I kept going to the window to take pictures as it changed; the one shown is the best of them all.

Lunch with friends is the best thing

Other than that sunrise I had such a lovely lunch meeting up with two old friends; one of them a mentor who changed my life pretty much and the other my old boss who is now a very good friend. We chatted away until it was past time to leave and still hadn't run out of things to talk about so it was agreed that this would not be a one off and another date will be set in the new year. I tweeted what came across as a very negative emotion after this but I meant it really positively; as much as I didn't want to come back and I don't want to stay, getting to see people and spend times like that really does make it so much better. The food was really nice as well and then, when I got home, A had a fantastic slice of chocolate cake for me which I ate and spread all over my face as per usual.

This week at work has been up and down; there have been days when I've felt really productive and other days when it has felt like I have been fighting my way through treacle. I'm still really enjoying it and the challenge and, other than when he is super grumpy, working with my mate is brilliant. I'm also starting to settle in with the other people there which helps.

We were still two whiskies light at this point

Wednesday night was Whisky Night. This has been arranged since before we even came back from Bulgaria and I had been looking forward to it for ages. The rules are simple; there are only two. The first is you are male as no women are allowed. The second is you bring a bottle of interesting whisky to share. We've had it before with too many people so this time we made a hard and fast limit of 10 so as to not end up so drunk we drink whisky we can't taste. This flexed up and down a little bit with there briefly being 11 booked on but, with everyone ill (and I was really not feeling well on Wednesday) one person dropped out due to this and another decided he couldn't be bothered to travel so we were left with a sensible headcount of 9.

Wonderful hot pizza

A couple were a few minutes late arriving so we started without but when we were up to compliment Jamadan headed out to do the pizza run and came back bearing pizza and cheesy chips for everyone. We sat eating and sipping and sharing the whiskies and it was lovely to see how the disparate group (it is various different of my social circles all pulled together) picked up where they left off before I went to Bulgaria.

Whisky night in full swing

With the food eaten we settled down to drinking our way through each of the nine bottles that had been brought. One of the guys had just got back from an AMAZING diving holiday where he'd been swimming in wrecked Japanese freighters, and a warship as well. He had one of those video things with him as he dived and he'd brought them all along so we hooked the TV up and had them playing for the duration. I was having very sensible sized measures as I was still feeling pretty ropey but this didn't mean that I could remember the final whisky as well as I wanted to. All the bottles brought were really nice, as per, and now I can't wait for the next one. I'm not going to arrange too many, maybe one more in April.

A few people stayed in the apartment I'd booked but most left about midnight and I headed to my bed. As I got in I started shivering and my teeth began to chatter; I was feeling really unwell and so I pulled another duvet on top of the one already on me and curled up into a ball. I fell asleep eventually but woke when the skylight, above my bed, suddenly banged round in the wind and it started hailing onto me. I fixed this, went back to sleep, and woke again a bit later feeling a lot better. The fever had broken and my head felt clear. When the alarm went off for me to get the train to work, though, I was back to feeling pretty bad and so I decided to not risk becoming worse and to work from home for the day. I made it to the flat before 9am, via the slowest ever bus, and was able to get involved pretty well despite feeling horrible.

Friday is always a work from home day and it was another one with lots of feeling progress being made. Late afternoon we headed off to the estate agent to get the keys for the new house. We were a little late due to traffic, and then I did two circuits of the ring road trying to find somewhere to park near their offices, but it didn't take long to sign everything and get the keys. We'd had an email during the day saying the heating was broken but as we were sat in the office it was confirmed that the engineer had managed to fix it; all good. From there we drove Thomas to the house, unloaded (and put the heating on) and then headed up to Blackpool. Harrison had finished at the garage and we needed to collect him so we went straight there, ordering a Chinese for A to collect and bring to the studio while I drove Harrison up there. Once again I ate lots of prawn toast and sweet and sour pork balls with egg fried rice and then I went and hauled the last of the bits from storage, with a very full stomach making me wish I'd done that first.

Harrison ready for the off; loads of room

We left Thomas at the studio and drove Harrison back to the flat and parked him out back, then went in and pretty much went straight to bed. I let A have a bit of a lie in and was out in the freezing cold (my shoes were actually sticking to the tail lift on Harrison!) to start getting everything loaded and ready for getting across to the new house. Bless him, John woke up and came to give me a hand and pretty soon we were all at it. It did not take long at all and so rather than have breakfast at the flat we waved goodbye to John, jumped in Harrison, and made it to the new house very quickly. I did the unloading and A jogged round to the local shop to get bread and she made some very nice bacon butties for half way through the process, eaten sat at our table. The new landlord and lady came past as well, just after we had arrived, and they were lovely. They brought us a pipe for the washing machine and seem accommodating. We'll see.

It didn't take that long to unpack but the new bed was a bit rickety and I found that we didn't have the right bits for it; it took two trips to B and Q to source the right bolts but this trouble was counterbalanced by the fact that getting the sofa in (which is REALLY heavy) was rather easier than expected. Dinner was fajitas eaten again at the table and it's so nice having somewhere to sit and eat together. Our evening was spent relaxed on the sofa, me reading and A playing a game, both of us really enjoying the peace and quiet after the noise of the main road at the flat.

The moment we got into bed, however, there was a loud "CRACK!" and it sagged; what had appeared rickety to both of us had turned out to be flimsy. With a bit of quick thinking A suggested that we put the still full suitcases under to support it and this worked a bit, though it wasn't that comfy and after finding herself with a bad back rolling into the middle A got the fold our mattress and ended up spending the night on the floor. Not the best of ways to spend our first night in the new house but at least both of us slept in the end.

The bottom light flickers on for less than a second. Sometimes.

Today has been another busy one, with a drive to the studio to collect Thomas, and bring back the three seater sofa and some wood to reinforce the bed with. It was a good day, we got to see my business partner (getting married next weekend) and another good mate at the studio and Harrison had another good run to check him out. There has been a light flashing on the dash very irregularly; it did it three times on the run from Blackpool back to the flat on Friday night, and twice maybe on the run to the new house but not since, and so I was very keen to push him a bit on the way back from Blackpool today. It did not come on once and so I'm less concerned now. The link from which that picture came suggests it is water in the fuel, but I'm not sure if it may just be a faulty sensor?

I fixed the bed (putting uprights underneath the middle wooden piece every 10cm or so) and it seems much more comfortable so hopefully we'll be able to stay in it tonight. We've also straightened the front room and got the book shelf up. A is off to collect a load more bits from her friends in London tomorrow so we'll have a TV to plug the lappie in for watching films, lots of cookery stuff, and a huge bean bag as well.

So dinner is nearly served  and I'm going to get this posted and switch off; we're on mobile internet here so I'm going to have to ration myself until I know what usage we are getting and if I need to get more data. I've just seen that it is hammering down with rain outside so hopefully my first walk-to-work won't be too damp. Next weekend could be a late blog, maybe not until a week tomorrow, as we're very busy at the weekend so don't shout at me if there isn't a Sunday post.

Ending with the family

It's been another week where stuff has happened and, as per usual, I get to writing this blog and can't remember details about the beginning of the week. Most frustratingly of all I can remember that there were things I wanted to talk about but never made a note of them; this will maybe (almost certainly not) make notes next week so as to not forget what went on. Blogging every day is easier!

The sun appears over the Scottish moorland

No matter, I recall that last Sunday ended in a really relaxing way with us sat watching NFL again when the Patriots were playing the Packers and it was a really good game, well worth watching. The late game I only watched a bit of before following A to bed. I was feeling pretty much fully better this week which was a relief as I was off early on Tuesday morning up to Edinburgh for a meeting. A dropped me at the station as the buses were unreliable times and I was sat in 1st class at 6.13 with my boss who had got on the train at an earlier station. It was brilliant to be in first class as the seats are far more comfortable and there is a little table lamp and free tea or coffee and small bagels and stuff however after a short while something changed in the heating and cold air started blasting in and that was it for the rest of the journey. My boss eventually got his head down for a bit and woke as the sun came up when we were just getting into Scotland.

Heading over the bridge on the local train

I was working away and managed to finish the task I'd set myself for the day, despite some initial mistakes, before we ever got to the office which was ideal. We changed our travel plans slightly to take advantage of a local train direct to where the office is and this allowed us time to find a cafe and get bacon butties and a brew; much needed after such an early start. The short local hop then took us through stunning scenery, across the Forth bridge, and we had a brief five minute stroll before getting to the meeting.

Wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG

It was actually a pretty good meeting and worth the travelling if only to meet new colleagues. We were able to get away in time to get an earlier train back and stop off for a pint and some food from the pub over from the station and this was a cracking success until I asked for mayonnaise at which point I was provided Light Mayo which tasted disgusting and reminded me why I'm so insistent on never having it in the house. The country which deep fries EVERYTHING and they only have diet mayonnaise. I was livid for ages and haven't even yet really got over this.

A little cold when I got in the car

I was super lucky when I got off the train as my bus was just pulling round to the closest stop and so was home and in bed twenty minutes later. Unfortunately A had been really ill all day and was feeling no better; she's actually only just recovering now as it happens, but we both slept well anyway and I felt surprisingly OK when the alarm went off for the next morning. This went away when I got to the car and found that I had to scrape it of frost and I had no gloves on me but anyway. It was a chilly one on Wednesday and the temperature of -2 degrees didn't alter much at all on the way in.

A drew a smiley-face on her pint

Wednesday night is Reggae Jam Night and notwithstanding being pretty tired from the long day previously there was no way I was going to miss this. We made our way down for about 8.30 or so and settled on a bench in front of where the band would set up and were entertained by the rasta guys who were watching the football and teasing each other. Guiness was the medicine to help A feel better and it certainly went down well. Slightly later than expected the band arrived and set themselves up. When they were playing their first songs they were all watching the football that was still being projected onto the screen above our heads; the drummer in particular was hammering away and paying zero attention to the rest of the band.

I have a couple of videos for you from this, taken on my camera so apologies for how stupidly quiet they are; the microphone is really broken on this phone. First of all we have Stand By Me sung by one of the regulars. This is a particularly awesome couple who come on the bus from wherever they live, sing along watching for a bit then he gets up and sings this song to his lady (stood next to him in the video) then they are away off to catch the bus home again, having walked round and spoken to everyone in the pub first (including us). His laugh is absolutely wonderful, so deep and enthusiastic; I wish I had captured that as well.

Secondly I couldn't resist grabbing the camera to film this cover of Aswad's "Shine". This was not what I was expecting to see down there as they normally do the classics from Bob than these newer tunes but this worked really well. I think the guy playing guitar is the chap we met the other week who has a place over in Plovdiv but he was still playing when we finished our drinks and decided to call it a night so I didn't get to chat to him again. Next time, maybe.

The best Chinese takeaway IN THE WORLD

They say there is no rest for the wicked and that may or may not be the case; all I know is I was off again after work on Thursday up to Blackpool to take Harrison to the garage and have a chat with Dan about business matters. First of all though he helped me to get everything down from storage and into the back of Harrison as some of the stuff had been too heavy for me and A to manage alone. As a thankyou (to both of us) I stopped at my favourite Chinese takeaway while walking back from dropping Harrison off and we munched that and chatted about the issues that needed discussion. I can't wait for Friday this week as I'll be back to that Chinese again with A. I love the prawn toast.

This picture is to remind me how to put it back together again

On the theme of being busy Friday was also jam packed with stuff having to be done. At the studio on Thursday it was clear that the desks I was going to take weren't complete so I bid on, and won, two desks on eBay which I then arranged to collect over lunch time. The problem was both of the desks were still assembled when I got to collect them and secondly the traffic was horrendous so I only just got back to the house by 4pm which was when we were leaving to go to my parents house. What a rush.

Mine top left, A's top right and the happy dining group

The journey down was not as bad as we thought it would be at first; it took a fair while to get out onto the motorway but other than a few tailbacks we made good time and arrived without missing our dinner. Other than seeing my parents our main reason for getting down there was to see my Nan on the Saturday and show her slides of Bulgaria. It was so lovely to see her and she was on good form and managed to cope with all the pictures (my dad showed some of their last holiday) without seeming to be too bored. We did split the day in half by going for lunch at a pub which was very tasty indeed, and just as we finished the slide show my dad's sister and her husband arrived which was really nice as well. It was a cracking day but I for one was exhausted when we got back and had to go and snooze before dinner. I'm definitely getting old.

It was such a lovely weekend, though A was still feeling quite badly and rested up a bit which made me feel quite sorry for her but now she is seemingly much better which is good. After a lovely boiled egg for breakfast (and the trick for achieving the perfect yolk consistency being shared) my parents headed to church and I did my accounts, spent thousands of pounds, and felt ill after it. Oh well. A lovely old man from my parents' church came back for lunch and we all sat around talking for a fair while. I then had to go and pack everything we had been given into Thomas (three boxes of books, a book shelf, a computer, loads of empty jam jars and we've been offered their cooker and entire kitchen, pretty much, which would be nice) and then we were on the road and now I'm back here eating pizza and about to settle in front of the TV for some more NFL.

Rambo is as tall as Ken

I will leave you with this picture of Rambo hugging Ken. What a giant of a dog he is!

Man Flu and Harrison

Another week past and another period of sitting at the dining table trying to remember the last week and everything awesome and interesting that happened. I'm struggling as per but I'll do my best.

Thumbs up for the bacon butty

I remember Sunday as being mainly about having a massive lie in, typing up the post for last week, and not much else. I was still recovering from the night before though no hangover, just tiredness. The picture above is actually from the Friday of last week and was the bacon butty I made for A just before I made my own bacon and egg butty. It is only in here to provide some illustration before I get into the meat of the update. I really can't remember much about Sunday so onwards.

This was my second week at the new job and I was up and off to work bright and early on Monday morning. Not just normally early, either; I set off in time to get to the office at about 7.15am. My failure to communicated satisfactorily with the bank on Saturday meant that I had arranged to call them back on Monday when an English speaker would be in the office. On the drive I had a brainwave and managed to finally log in to my account so in the end I didn't have to ring Bulgaria again anyway. This was a good thing as I achieved what I needed to but it did mean I lost the opportunity to keep trying to improve my language skills. I still find myself sometimes thinking in Bulgarian and I am hoping that continues as it is months before I get back over there.

With the banking sorted out I rang the estate agent for the house we viewed on Saturday and confirmed our interest so an application process was started. Hopefully this will turn around quickly as I want to get over there and settled as early as possible. This process has been ongoing all week and, despite the fact that they use UK Tenant Data to collect their application details and do the credit checks and this company appears to be staffed by incompetent, illiterate and rude people, A is 100% complete on her application and I am now 90%. I have no idea whatsoever what the missing 10% is so am waiting for a reply to my email (they don't answer the phone. Ever).

The rest of the day was spent working away and finding myself slowly getting more comfortable with what I'm having to do. There was also a rather loud young lady who had been on holiday for a few weeks and who felt the need to share at top volume the same anecdote with every new person to come into the office. How I wished I had my big headphones! Fortunately our plans were to move to a new office and I was nagging my boss about it through Monday.

Happy in the new office

It was in the car on the way home that I started to feel a bit unwell and by the time I got home I was struggling; man flu had struck! I went pretty much straight to bed and, other than getting up for some food, stayed there all night until the alarm went off in the morning. Fortunately it wasn't too bad and I'm fully better now, however I went straight to bed on getting home on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Tuesday morning we moved to a new office but then were kicked out of it during the afternoon so had to squat on random desks in the office however I think now we are finally fully settled in our new home which is quiet and airy and comfortable.

What with me being so badly on Wednesday I was sadly unable to make it to the Reggae Jam Night at our local however I made sure that A knew she didn't have to stay in with me and so off she toddled for a pint of guiness and to avoid cabin fever. She was tasked with getting some videos so I could feel a little less sorry for myself having missed it and she brought back a few, of which my selection is above. It also sounds like she made some friends up there which is good; it's always nice to have a local where you can go on your own and be made to feel welcome. I am looking forward to getting back up there next Wednesday myself.

The man himself about the carve the turkey

Despite being ill I managed to work the full week and was pretty productive with it and by Thursday I was feeling largely better. Thursday was, as my American readers will know, Thanksgiving and so I set myself on the sofa with Sky's NFL coverage on as is my habit. Cecil "The Diesel" Martin is no longer on their show as often as he used to be but they always get him to come back for this 12 hour long festival of American Football. The main purpose for his inclusion in the show is the huge turkey they get in the studio which he has to carve up and then, later on, he gets to eat one of the turkey legs in slow motion and close up. Yes, I know it doesn't sound very nice but it makes me laugh every time. The game that we watched (Lions vs Bears) was a really good game however the second game (A went to bed) wasn't so good and I turned it off just before half time.

And so to work-from-home Friday which was well timed after NFL (though I wasn't up that late in the end) and the fact I hadn't been well through the week. A has worked super hard this week and Friday was no different; I'm not sure there was much of a break at any stage in her typing away. I was also working hard and actually had to stop on a bit later than usual as I broke the build at the end of the day and wanted to fix it. During the day Ken, who is looking after Rambo, had been uploading videos of him onto Facebook so I asked him to send me some and he did; this is my favourite of the lot and everytime we watch it we laugh so much at the expression on his face. Four months or so til we see him again. A misses him loads but obviously I don't at all. Here is a link to Ken's business, transporting animals and other things back and forwards to Bulgaria

We had arranged to meet up with Shuggy again on Friday night, as his mrs was at a gig, and so we were off into town again that evening. Against all the odds we managed to get a table in Port Street which is one of my favourite bars in Manchester with loads of interesting beers which change all the time. It was a really good night in the end, with my old boss Mike turning up with his mrs and then later in the night A bumped into another of my mates, Rob, and so he came and joined us with his friends. We didn't drink that much, neither of us really being in the mood, however when I woke up the next day I was feeling really rough. A said she was too and later in the day Mike text with the same story so maybe one of the pints we had was off. Anyway, I was delicate all day and it's only now, sat here with a bacon and egg butty and a brew on Sunday morning, that the headache has shifted.

Me sat in Harrison

Huge amount of space in the back

There was no opportunity for lazing around on Saturday morning, though. We were off to Wigan to collect Harrison, the White Van. I drove us there and we arrived dead on time then it wasn't that complicated a process (other than the seller having lost the MOT, saying he'd post it on to me, then just as I was driving off he ran over waving it and had found it in his glove box) and we were off, with A driving Thomas, up the motorway to the studio. Harrison did pretty well on the whole, getting up to about 65mph without any problems and, while he is a bit noisy, he is willing and the bad noise that I was worried about seems to go as you go past 50mph. Our plan at the studio was to get some of the stuff out of storage and into the back of Harrison however we decided against it (partially due to really heavy musical stuff piled in front and partially due to desperate need for breakfast and a brew) and just tidied Thomas then left for the cafe.

Me with my pot of tea for one

I was greeted by the owner with "Hello Mr Tea" and our full Scottish breakfasts were wolfed down in no time, chased by every single drop of tea that she had provided for us. I started feeling a little more human after this but as I say even bacon, eggs, tomatoes, black pudding, potato bread, baked beans and toast wasn't enough to shift this hangover. After eating and chatting with the lady we went to look for a washing machine at the second hand place across the road but he was shut so it was back to Thomas and home. There had been an accident on the M6 which delayed us some but we got back pretty quickly and I was straight to bed and slept for two hours which was just a brilliant decision to have made. I woke up feeling a whole lot better and with energy for the evening.

Steak and chips with peas and mushrooms

First things first, though, and when it was time I started cooking dinner. A had picked up some awesome Ribeye steaks and I did my famous butter mushrooms, chips (which were oven, but were expensive oven, and so were nice) and LOADS of peas on the side. It was amazing! You really can't beat a high quality ribeye steak done bloody so the chips get red. Fantastic.

The main event of the week was a present from A to go and see The Alabama 3 gigging at Academy 2. We did not have to rush at all and strolled the ten minutes to the venue from our house. As we approached there was a MASSIVE queue of young people stretching as far as the eye could see but I quickly worked out that there were far too many of them, and they were all too young, for this to have been the queue for our gig. I was correct and we were able to get a beer (only a small one, and the only one of the night as neither of us wanted another) and some gig t shirts before we headed up and took our places by the sound desk. The support act came on quite early before many people were there and they were really good. They are a local band called The Cornelius Crane and their songs were strong which matched their musicianship and I have decided that I want to see them live again. I really cannot recommend them highly enough and my video does not do them justice so get yourself over to Reverb Nation and if you like them, support them by buying their music. Go on! DO IT!

It made such a difference to have a good support act, after the weird shouty scottish beat poet style weirdness of the Jesus and Mary Chain gig. After they left the stage to warm applause (they deserved more people to have bothered to arrive in time to see them) we settled to wait for The Alabama 3 to start. I had been watching a chap stood next to us for a while and, as I thought, it was The Reverend D. Wayne who had come out from back stage to enjoy the music. I have seen various members of the band do this over the years and I really love the fact that they come out and mingle, chatting to their fans and not being stuck up and hiding away. He was quite pissed and was engrossed in a conversation with another fellow and then had to dash off back stage so I didn't disturb him for a chat or a photograph in the end. Not long after he stumbled his way back stage a roadie appeared on stage shining his torch and beckoning them onstage and there was the Reverend, no longer looking (as) squiffy and polished up nicely in a suit.

What a great gig it was. I was dancing and so was A and the band were on form, after a couple of songs to warm themselves up. This was the first time A had ever seen them live and while she liked their CDs she was amazed at how much she enjoyed seeing them live. After the slightly-unpleasant militant political side the previous time I'd seen them ("burn the tory houses" etc) it was great to see them get back to what they do best which is rock the house and make the entire room dance. The sound on this second video is a lot louder than mine (my phone is broken, basically) and you can really hear just how well they play together live. At one point I hoisted A into the air so she could see a bit better and watch the drummer in his groove; in my opinion he is one of the best drummers I have seen as he holds the groove without ever making any mistakes and is not fussy or over-blown but just does everything that is needed to make you want to jump and dance.

With the last song ringing in our ears (but not as badly as after Jesus and Mary Chain, obviously) we walked home and had a cup of hot chocolate each before heading to bed. Such a rock 'n' roll lifestyle we lead. Now this morning (and it is still morning as I type this) I have made a brew and had a bacon and egg butty made for me and typed this and edited the videos and once this is published I'm going to carry on editing as I put together the pictures and videos which I want to show my Nan next week when we go to see her at my parents house. See you later.