The Angel Gabriel

So today it was Olivia's turn for the old nativity play thing (here she is with Eva, who did a grand job as a narrator) when she starred in 'Are We Nearly There Yet' as The Angel Gabriel. And she was brilliant. I know I'm supposed to say that, but really, she was great. Not only did she take centrestage for the best song, but she delivered her lines beautifully. We were so proud. We knew she was nervous about it, but she fronted it out and pulled off. I think she actually quite enjoyed being the centre of attention for her five minutes.

My theory about shepherds - that it's pretty handy shepherds turned up at the birth of the Baby Cheeses, because it means teachers can cast loads of kids as shepherds and sheep - was tested to destruction today. I counted 13 shepherds, 13! I wonder what the shepherd to sheep ratio was in that part of the world around 2,000 years ago. There must have been a lot of sheep to look after.

Oh, the Olivia story. She's recently become interested in 'swear words'. Peggy's dad uses them, and so does mummy when she's in the car, apparently. Not daddy though. Nope. When she started rehearsing the play, she came home one day and in a shocked sort of whisper she said, 'Daddy, they say a swear word in the school play'. Do they? What is it? 'I can't say, it's a swear word,' she replied. It's okay to tell me. 'Well,' she whispered, 'they say Jesus Christ.' Class.

Jesus Christ! Superstar

It's Xmas play time once again and this year we've got two. First up was Lukey today who was a narrator in Hosanna Rock. Sounds like a rock opera, but sadly isn't Jesus Christ Superstar cast with five-year-olds. Luke, however, was a superstar being pretty much alone in saying his lines clearly enough for everyone to hear. We were so proud.

The whole thing was as ace as usual, it's quite a feat to get that many small people to play ball in such spectacular fashion. I have nothing but admiration for teachers, they must feel such a sense of achievement.

special mention goes to the a nose-picking wise man who would have pretty much killed the baby Jesus had he offered his gift with such gusto 2,000 years ago. Excellent stuff.

I often think that the story of the nativity must be very confusing when you're five. The shepherds seem really important somehow - I guess they are great news for teachers because you can cast around 10 five-year-olds as shepherds and another 10 as sheep. The born in a barn bit is a similar gift, affording the opportunity to cast 10 more children as assorted farm animals that aren't sheep. I think a couple today were dressed as hamsters.

And talking of Jesus, I've got a great Olivia story, but I'll save that for Thursday, after we've seen her as the Angel Gabriel in Are We Nearly There Yet. It's an acting part. She's very nervous, but is playing it too cool for school. Should be interesting.

When it snowed

Completely forgot I had pics of the huge amount of snow that we were treated to the other weekend. It was proper snow, like I remember it from my childhood. Tons of it, really fluffy and very, very cold.

Here's a couple of snaps of my little snowmen people girl boy thingy. Caryn was too chicken to come out with us. So we took her car and, as Luke helpfully explained upon our return, "Daddy crashed your car". It was more of a too fast round that corner and car not moving according to steering wheel anymore until we met the curb at 10mph.



This is a great shot. Looks like I'm trying to be arty, but really wasn't. My hands were about to get frostbite and I just wanted to get the camera back in my pocket. We went to a park near the school - big field, with some suitable sledging slopes and had the entire place to ourselves. In the olden days, it would have been full of kids and parents and noise. Where was everyone? Too busy playing skiing games on the PS3 probably.

November... so far, so good

Sorry, we are useless. We're back again though. Big month November, starting with a birthday for this absolute beauty. You can almost see what she's going to look like as an adult in this picture. She had a lovely day, got all dressed up along with two of her pals and headed out to Pizza Express for a grown-up meal on a table of their own, with us keeping a beady eye from a safe distance (the next table, four feet or so).

Also, for the first time, she really loved all her presents, which was so lovely. Usually, it's rip open the gifts and toss them aside. This year she loved everything and was genuinely grateful. We got her, among other things, a couple of CDs - Girls Aloud and Sugababes. Her response to Girls Aloud is astonishing. Never underestimate the power of good pop music eh?



So while the girls were getting read for the pizza night out I took Luke to Carrow Road for the first time - like my dad took me and my brother, like his dad took him. I go to the football with my dad, it's a great thing to do, my brother is always quite envious that I get to spend this sort of quality time with the old man. So we had three generations with their heads in their hands after Norwich snatched a draw from the jaws of victory. It was a beautiful moment. City are rubbish, but what can you do once it's in your blood? Ask Luke when he's my age. Sorry son.



And finally, eight litres (that's two gallons isn't it?) of Ebenezer Terrace Cider is now resting in the shed. It tasted like cider when I was bottling it, I popped a couple of extra spoons of sugar in so we get a secondary fermentation when the weather gets warmer in the spring. Guess we'll crack them at the first braai of the summer... long wait eh Louise?

Ebenezer Terrace Brewing Company

Properly christened the apple press this weekend... finally, and the cider making is kind of underway. Took me a while to get a gallon (4.5 litres) of juice and I used about half a wheelbarrow full of apples, with the other half waiting for a spare half-day this week.

Hopefully, I will soon have three gallons of apple juice turning - like magic - into cider. Then again it has only taken me a year to get this far. Fret not Louise, I still have your books. You can have them back soon!

Run, run as fast you can...

Luke is settling into school very nicely. His favourite thing seems to be when they make food. Last week they made jam sandwiches and he can home almost bursting with excitement and insisting he made jam sandwiches all round... he was pretty good to be fair and they tasted like jam sandwiches.

He doesn't eat them himself as he claims not to like jam. He's a bit odd like that. He claims not to like a lot of things that he would actually like if he tried them.

This week they made gingerbread men. He doesn't like raisins though.

New wheels

Hello, it's us. Sorry, we dropped out for a while there. We're back again now though.

The most exciting news (although it's only me getting excited) is I've finally got a new car - that's new to me rather than brand-new. It's odd, but recently I've been getting quite interested in cars, think it's the 40-something thing - mid-life crisis looming no doubt, sports cars calling, etc. There is another explanation, which I may elaborate on later.

So, I sold the run-around (Fiat Cinquencento) and the family car (Mitsubishi Carisma - yes, spelt like that) far too easily (ie too cheap) about three, or even four, weeks ago and have been relying on trains and my pushbike to get around. It's not been terrible, but I'm glad I've got a car again - and to my amazement my meager budget actually stretched to big black BMW.

I've never been a BMW fan. As anyone who has driven on a motorway will know, the outside lane is owned by Germans for the exclusive use of their cars only. Tends to make other drivers quite grumpy. Ask the wife. Now I can join in. Ha. I've always quite liked the look of the BMW Touring. I spotted one in Norwich, cheap, and a straw poll revealed it's the only Bimmer you can own with self-respect in tact. What really happened was I mentioned to my (former mechanic) brother that I quite fancied a BM and he didn't say no straight away. That's all the encouragement I needed to be honest.

I have to say I absolutely love it. Kids like it too because it's an estate and they can sit in the boot drinking coffee and eating biscuits when we go to the beach.

Love this pic too. Everyone looking natural, no one gurning.

A little something for the weekend

I'm not a big one for online flotsam and jetsam, but this is inspired. There's a version of 'Imagine' constructed from George W speeches that is even better. I'll try and find if anyone's interested. Anyone?

An afternoon out for the boys

With Caryn at university full-time and Lukey at school part-time, there's some entertaining to be done. Yesterday it was easy. 'Oliver Cromwell' - a huge, spitting, hissing, noisy steam train, one of the last engines to be in service before steam bit the dust in 1968 - paid a visit to the station it was based at after an absence of 40 years.

As some of you will know, my dad quite likes his steam trains. I've never really got it (think that was belligerence than anything else), but I seem to be catching on now. And so every time a steam engine comes this way (and it seems to be quite often), he tells us about it and me and Luke inevitably have to go and see.

It's hard to believe these behemoths were so commonplace. They are truly impressive machines. Looking at the driver and fireman on the footplate, completely covered in soot and dirt, you can understand why train driver was the coolest job in the world. That must have felt like a proper day at the office.

Quick catch up... in pictures

Was clearing out the pictures on my phone and realised I've taken quite a few that I've yet to use here. Me and Olive spent the last day of the summer holidays on a dad and daughter day and night out in London. She was born in London and whenever we do visit, she just seems to fit in there. Nothing fazed her, she just took it all in her stride, like we do it every day. But I guess she's like that anyway. I get the feeling that the pull of the big smoke will be strong in our beautiful daughter in the years to come.

Anyway. Above is her being Harry Potter at King's Cross. Her friends are all very impressed.



See. She's a natural. St Paul's Cathedral? Pah. She was much more interested in the story of the wobbly bridge that's not wobbly anymore and the falcons who live in the Tate Modern chimney.



And the second we arrived back from London we whisked ourselves off camping. These are the frankly breath-taking salt marshes at Stiffkey. And will you just look at our daughter. Hair all over the place. Very grunge, very cute.

... and then there were two

Lukey started school yesterday. So both our children are now at school. Admittedly Luke's only there half days until Xmas so it's not much different to his playgroup, but he's on his way.

Although Olive secretly loves school, she does like to pretend it's boring and she has already twigged that she has to go every day until she's almost not a teenager anymore. That level of realisation must seem quite frightening when you're six. I can recall thinking that school seemed to be going on forever. Thing is, you wish it away and all of a sudden you find that you're 41 and wonder how that happened. Life? You just can't win.

Yes, yes, last published August 13...

Look, I'm busy. There's only one of me and the demands on my time mean no nothing else at the moment.

What's happened since August 13? Erm. I went to a lovely wedding in France on my own for a couple of nights. As you can see from the above pic, security was pretty tight. Hur. The plan was to get away for a weekend and stock up on loads of sleep, but I ended up having hardly any. First night I was back at the hotel by midnight only to discover a music festival raging outside my window until the small hours started getting bigger again. My luck that is.

Then me and O went to London for the day last Friday, visited Tate Britain and stopped over at Uncle Christopher's. Had a good night down the boozer with my brother... then home on the Saturday morning - no sooner was I in the front door than the car was packed and we'd set off to the wonderful Stiffkey for a night of quality camping. In a tent.

Wife started at university on Monday, O when back to school today, L starts school next week... but mornings only until Janaury.

And me? Oh, you know.

The best fish and chip shop in the world?

See this shed? It's on the harbour at Southwold and we think it's the best fish and chip shop in the world. It's called Mrs T's and for five of your pounds you get sublime cod and chips and 10 minutes complete silence while everyone scoffs them all up.

We were of course in Southwold for the World Crabbing Championships. Of course we were. It was an utter disaster as far as catching the little nippy creatures goes, but then with over 1,000 entrants dangling various sizes and strains of raw meat into the estuary all at once it's little wonder anyone caught a thing.



We cleared out after a fruitless time and promptly caught a bucketful of crabs just over the river in under 10 minutes. We were using chicken wings, figuring crabs eat fish all the time and might like a taste of the exotic. The winner landed a 5 1/2 ounce beast using fish bait. Sigh.

To give you an idea of how posh the event in Walberswick is, third place when to a nine-year-old called Mimi Haycraft Nee, who landed a 4 1/2 ounce crustation with some bacon.

Don't think we'll be back next year. We will be crabbing some more though.

Crab!

Headed for Splash in Sheringham today for some water slide action... but bailed pretty sharpish when we saw people queuing outside. It must have been people soup in there.

So West Runton it was, never been before, but what a treat when the tide went out - rock pools galore. And crabs. Which is going to be a recurring theme this week as we're heading for the World Crabbing Championship this weekend. Oh yes.

The toothfairy cometh... again

Yet another tooth bits the dust. They're falling out like there's no tomorrow. And best of all Olive has a brand-new bedroom to tuck the tooth under her pillow in tonight - well, a fantastic cabin bed off of freecycle and lick of (pink) paint. Pictures soon if anyone's interested in how to make a box room habitable.

Going to the dogs

Little brother's birthday was spent at the fabulous Walthamstow Stadium. It's a proper east end institution, which is soon to be no more. The developers will be moving in soon to rip the place down and build some flats. Doesn't seem right somehow.

Looks like summer's here

Day two of hot sunny weather and we headed for the river at the UEA for a little lunchtime picnic. Now, if only I could get paid to do this...

Frying tonight

We had some proper SA sausage tonight. Boerworst. It's made from beef and looks like the biggest Cumberland ring you've ever seen. It kind of gets very juicy as it cooks and ours split in dramatic fashion sending steam every where... just like a train said Luke.

Bye bye Busy Bees

Lukey is in his last week of Busy Bees before starting big school in September. As a registered charity, the playgroup is never one to miss a trick and they managed to sell us a CD full of pictures of our boy for £10. Worth every penny I'd say.

The whole CD is a rather interesting insight into his world without us. Here's a few of the highlights...

Luke and Daphne and Tuni - triple trouble most probably.

... and what appears to be the problem?

Lukey just checking the books at Busy Bees. He does this a lot at home, he has to check the books before we can read them. I do wonder if the playgroup set up a few cute shots like this one. Will have to ask if everyone else had this pose. Louise?

Sports Day, part two

After the excitment of Luke's sports day last week it was the turn of the professionals this morning. Touch and go as it was thanks to the weather changing by the second, they actually got a decent 45 window of sunshine.

And what's more, it was actually quite competitive this year. Even though no one actually said anyone won, the children knew.

Olivia has been talking about the sack race for ages. The other day she said she won twice during practice. Her little face lit up when her team made their way to the sack race startline. Not often you see her show any kind of excitement, but the sack race seemed to do the trick. And she was very good, bounced like something very bouncy as you can see.

See, we've long held the view that Olivia needs to take part in sport, she has a ruthlessly competitive streak that needs to come out somehow. Football and tennis don't seem to cut it, wonder if we can find a sack race club somewhere...

Sports Day, part one

Luke's sports day at Busy Bees was a roaring success, we thought. You could tell they'd really put in the practice as they deftly accomplished all sorts of races feturing water, hoops, hats and scarves, eggs and spoons.

And in this day and age of non-competitive sports days (and we wonder why the English are so bad at sport), it was good to see four teams racing against each other even if they did stop short of announcing winners. And the running race at the end was brilliant.

They were of course all winners. And they got a rocket lolly for their efforts, which makes it all worthwhile.

Next week, it's Olivia's very much non-competitive sports day. Sigh.

There goes the neighbourhood...

Back from our hols on the Isle of Wight, or Island of White, as various members of the family would have it. Here's the accommodation, it is as great as it looks. It was down a long and winding dirt track, past a farm house, through a gate and then on down towards the sea.

There were 15 or 20 similar shacks, all tucked away in their own corners along the, some were little more than modified sheds, others were old railway carriages and some looked rather grand.

The view across the bay was quite something. We want our own shack.

Not got many pictures yet because we've gone analogue with our photography and haven't sent the films off yet. It's quite exciting. More pics soon, then.

Oh, and the tooth fairy paid us a visit while we were away. Olive now has no front teeth.

Visiting

June already? May seems to have passed us by as anyone still bothering to look here will be painfully aware. So... May? Nothing happened until the last day, last Saturday, when we did the London sightseeing tour with the children.

It was a Luke's request. He wanted to see a 'henchman' (translation: those soldiers who wear bearskin hats), so we did Buck House, St James Park for lunch, wandered over the The National Gallery and then took a stroll over the river and down the South Bank to The Tate.


Above is what our babies would look like if they were little London people. Gosh eh? And below is one that will raise a smile with a few people. Olivia stood outside The Brunswick...


Had a great day, really made me miss London - don't think the wife felt the same though. I think it was the book stalls outside the NFT that did it.

Race For Life... run

Caryn did The Race For Life this morning. She was a bit anxious at the thought of running 5km, because 1) she'd only been out on two practice runs and 2) we didn't know how far 5km was or how long it should take you.

Turns out she was pretty good, clocking 29 mins, 10 minutes behind the winner. She could be fairly decent at this running lark if she manages to put in the time. Next run is one in London in September, we've decided she's aiming at 25 minutes for that one on the back of perhaps three practice runs.

The Tooth Fairy Cometh... tonight

Finally, after what seems like having a wobbly front tooth since Xmas, it came out today. Apparently it happened in assembly much to Olive's delight. There's something amazing about having teeth fall out at school. Don't quite know what, but just glad this one obliged. So, it's under the pillow now in the hope the tooth fairy will arrive with a shiney pound coin. Inflation eh? When I was losing teeth, admittedly a long time ago I got 5p. They were always very shiny though... and you could actually buy yourself a comic (2p) and 3p-worth of sweets for that.

I love how disheveled our wonderful daughter looks when she comes out of school. She just looks likes someone who has filled the day properly and lived to the full, even though she is only six. Must scan our favourite picture of O and put it up here sometime. It's a pic of her at school taken by her teacher. It is brilliant.

Tooth fairy fund - running total £2 (£3 tomorrow).

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Start your engines...

Boosters to full power...

We have lift off!

We were out in the sunshine this afternoon trying out one of the new toys. We managed a decent amount of height with a good stomp. Very entertaining, thanks Uncle Chris. Think we might be looking around for something more, erm, 'industrial'...

Happy Birthday to you

Here's Luke scoffing jelly and ice cream at his birthday party yesterday. Four, he is. Four. How does that happen? This year he got the works, the hired hall, the entertainer, hotdogs, jelly and ice cream. Smart new bike from his generous parents.

Lukey is so full of excitement on a normal day, we thought he might explode on his birthday. It was a great to watch him all day. None of the materialism his big sis revels in, he just soaked up his special day. He even loved opening his cards, taking time to look at each one, which is a bit weird.

The party was great too. We hired Dave Doughnut again, we've had him for so many birthdays we get discount. He was as entertaining as usual. The children laughed from start to finish, which is a joy to watch.

The chats we seem have afterwards are always as odd you'd expect from someone claiming to be called Dave Doughnut, he specialises in tales from the darkside of children's entertainment. This year, out of nowhere, I heard about a boy who filled his pants halfway through helping with a trick. I did wonder if maybe it was pure fear.

One milkshake, as big as my head please

Unbelievable as it is, Lukey is four on Saturday. Four. Starts school in September. How does it happen? We will see you at the party on Saturday.

looking at how lovely our children have turned out, I think it's time for another one, number three, Caryn is 100 per cent sure it isn't...

Lost cat

Sage went missing on Monday, he went out early evening and we've not seen him since. One or both of the cats do the staying out all night thing quite often, but they're always waiting at the back door for their breakfast when we get up.

Onion has vanished for a night and morning, wandering home at lunchtime on a couple of occasions, but Sage likes his food too much to wander too far.

We've put posters up, featuring the above pic by Olivia, and we're really hoping he'll come home soon, so he can continue to annoy us in only the way Sage can.

Big mud

Every Easter there's a duck race in town. We've not managed to make it in the four years we've lived here so I was quite looking forward to it this year. I think the idea is you sponsor a rubber duck, they chuck them in the Tiffey and first one to the Becketswell Bridge wins. We arrived, hung around for a bit and discovered it the race was cancelled. The river was looking a bit wild though.

Anyway, the second part of our outing involved the grand unveiling of a new sculpture over looking the Abbey. We squelched through the huge amount of mud and pond-like puddles with the usual warnings about not messing about, watching your step etc. You can see what's coming, really.

We saw the unveiling, the work is a living willow construction by local artist Kate Munro. There's an observation tower that I've mentioned before on the other side of town pretending to be art, but this is different. It is actually real art. A swift google and her work is rather wonderful. This is no exception.

It's very simple and frames the Abbey in the distance, echoing the windows in willow. The real beauty is that it's alive and will grow and change over the years. Not sure if her fee involves maintenance though.

Anyway, just as we were leaving, our friends Simon and Louise arrive. Turns out the artist is pals with Louise. Of course. They went to school together. I take my eyes off Luke for about five seconds when Louise introduces to me to Kate, "I like the arch," I say, "thank you," she says, as I glance back in Luke's direction to see him walking towards me covered, absolutely covered, in mud and crying his eyes out.

So that was us. Off home, washing machine on. Culture on the back burner.

Fish and Chips

Good Friday and we headed out to the coast. The plan was to visit a windmill... which we did, this one, scared the bejesus out of me. How many floors do windmills have? Five. And how windy was it exactly? Veeeeeeeery. Shame it wasn't working, but it'd have probably taken off if it was. Still, we got a sticker for making it to the top.

On the way though, we stopped off at Wells-next-the-sea for fish and chips. We ate in for a change. The fish was amazing, the surroundings less so. I find it odd how a place can look like a fast food joint - the illuminated price list above the counter, the horrid wipe-clean plastic tables and metal chairs - and yet they serve the most sublime food. What ever happened to big wooden tables and a bit of seaside charm?

Or perhaps they need to look this garish to attract the customers these days. Which reminds me, we must visit Mrs T's in Southwold again soon. Fish and chips served from a wooden hut by the quay. Proper.

The wife is going to kill me

When I was at NME, we did some work with a label called Wall Of Sound. Fine upstanding people who we all liked enormously. One day they turned up at the office with a pressie for me. It was a piece by a graffiti artist they were mates with sprayed on the back of fly poster. He did their record sleeves too. I never got round to taking it home.

Anyway, when I left NME it was still on my desk so I bequeathed it to our web designer. I mailed him recently to see what became of it because it's been bugging me a bit recently. Here's what he said...

"I held onto the Banksy until late 2004 at which point I decided that it really needed framing to do it justice but at the quoted £200, I couldn't quite afford it. After much debate and a desire to invest in some desperately needed equipment, I made the decision to cash in on what I perceived to be the peak in Banksy's popularity by auctioning the artwork on eBay. The auction fetched a pretty reasonable £450."

I'll pause for effect at this point.

He went on to say, "Obviously in hindsight it ranks up there as one of the dumbest things I've done, since the value today doesn't even bear thinking about."

It doesn't. To discover the ballpark value of something I gave away, click here. Bear in mind this version is on canvas, of an edition of five, signed. Mine was from the same stencil, but unsigned and on paper.

Doh.

Chicken, chips and peas

We had one of our favourite teas tonight, cold chicken from yesterday's roast with chips, peas and all manner of bottles and jars from the fridge. Luke's favourite is beetroot, which tonight he smeared all over his face and declared he was wearing lipstick and was it too much, before deciding he was a clown and proceeding to tell us 'I'm clown' about 50 times.

He is changing is luke, he's becoming very cheeky. I guess he's discovering what being a boy is about. He not only insists on running absolutely everywhere (and falling over a lot, you should see the bruises), but he really makes us laugh, I guess this must be what it's like having a monkey in your house.

Not so happy Happisburgh

We headed for the coast today and ended up at Happisburgh. I've been going there ever since I could drive a car (which, as I've just insured a car I know to be 22 years), but every time we head that way I can never remember quite where it is. I think my brain is now full, so to take onboard new information it has to lose information, like routes to the seaside.

It was the first Norfolk beach Olive went to according to Caryn, which is probably right as it's always been one of my favourites. I thought we took her to Wells first, but my memory is currently dumping that sort of information. Have I mentioned that?

Anyway, Happisburgh was a sorry sight today. It's very rapidly disappearing into the sea. Costal Concern Action Group have a fantastic website which is well worth 15 minutes of your day if you'd like to know more. You hope something can be done, but you fear it's all a bit King Kanute.

The huge wooden groynes - erected in the late Fifties - have completely failed. They were still intact when we moved here five years ago, as was the slipway down the beach. The lifeboat station is still at the top of the rapidly receding cliff with no way to the sea. Bizarre.


To get to the sea on our first visit with Olive, you had to climb wooden steps over the groynes. I guess they'd have been eight, maybe 10 feet tall. Today, the top of them are waist-height, the rest is buried under beach. That the whole lot is going to be gone before our daughter makes double figures is a sobering thought.

Bicycle weekend, part two

After Luke and Daphne's high jinks in Waitrose the other week, it seems that this has become the way to travel - Luke on the bike, Olive on the back.

Bicycle weekend, part one

We made our first trip of the year to High Lodge this weekend. The glorious sunshine made for perfect biking weather and as Olivia does swimming lessons on Saturday morning (in the pool, 8.30am, we are revising our thinking on that one after Easter) and Caryn tends to work now on Sunday mornings (7am start!), I'm not getting out on the bike so much. At all actually.

We pootled round the 10km track which was very pleasant. Really must go on my own and try the red run, and when I'm not so fat and unfit, the black run which actually sounds quite scary.

Anyway, artful picture of the wife I thought.

Good post? This way please...

We're getting terribly lazy.

Click here...

thank you.

The bucket has landed

We are a two-car family once again, well, a one-and-a-half car family. Despite our attempt to manage with just the one motor (it's been a year and half!), we spent the very last of our uh-oh fund (which really does mean uh-oh now) on this little bucket off of eBay.

Can't say I'd recommend buying a car, unseen, off eBay. Can't say I'd recommend buying a secondhand car full stop. But on the whole, I'm quite pleased with it.

It's got a 1.1 litre engine, which you can't help feel is a little excessive, but that's the point. Hacked around in it today and it drives like a go-kart. All I need now is my mechanic to give it the once over and not suck air in through his cheeks and tut at me for buying a heap.

Ask Caryn about it when you see her, she's been telling everyone it's a Fiat Concheekie... I wondered why the butcher was asking about it yesterday.

Holiday booked!

Holiday booked then. We're going to the Isle of Wight to stay here for four nights in the summer. Won't tell you when in case you're a robber and manage to work out where we live and steal our cats while we're away. Then again... let us know if you are planning on stealing the cats and I'll bring them round.

The Shack is quite find, and it's quite literally a stone's throw from the sea, it doesn't have electricity (there's some solar power for lights for a couple of hours, and a wind-up radio is provided!), but has running water. I've not told Caryn about the chemical toilet yet...

We used to go to the Isle of Wight on hols. Wonder what it's like now? Just booked the ferry. Can't wait. To go on holiday that is, not tell the wife about the chemical toilet.

The people who own The Shack also own a bunch of amazing Airstream caravans. Have a look here.