I’ve always quite enjoyed coming into work during the Christmas holidays.
The roads are half-empty (or half-full, if you are the pessimistic type) making the journey much quicker; there is hardly anyone at work, so it’s easy to get parked and there isn’t a great deal of “real” work that can be done anyway, as the [...]

“Hi honey… we’re home!”
Well, a good time was had by all, up in deepest, darkest Norfolk.  There was much eating and drinking and merry making and the giving and receiving of gifts. The kids had a simply brilliant time and loved every minute of it. It was, in a nutshell, much fun.
But now we’re back [...]

Right, that’s the last of the pressies wrapped.
I now have three very large sacks of Christmas gifts to load into the car to take with me tomorrow. We are going away for a few days over Christmas… nowhere exotic, just up to Bernard Mathews country, where I’m sure it’ll be bootiful. We’ve hired a cottage [...]

I think have regaled you with this anecdote before now, but it was sometime back and on the old site. Last Friday, Danny Baker breathed new life into it on his afternoon show, so I thought it worth sharing with you again.
Some years back, I was fitting some built-in wardrobes in the bedroom - [...]

Each year, Keech Cottage - the local children’s hospice - come round the streets over several nights, towing a big red train with Santa in it.
The train is covered in lights and plays Christmas music so loud that it can be heard several streets away. Santa waves as his ‘helpers’ knock on the doors collecting [...]

As I write this, I am sitting in semi-darkness. We have a power failure. it’s been off for about two hours now.
The emergency generator hasn’t kicked in and so all the essential equipment is running on back-up batteries.
They have tried to start the generator (a Rolls Royce engine, no less) but it doesn’t want to [...]

I had a minor altercation, yesterday, with the ring of steel that is our security guard. To be fair, he’s a really good bloke and was just doing his job, but even so…
I had cause to work in a different room to where I usually work and there were no free mains sockets for me [...]

She looked about sixteen - I found out later she was actually eighteen - and was quite pretty, with a slim build.
I could see she was shivering in the cold night air and the ridiculously short skirt and ankle boots that she was wearing were doing nothing to help, as she stood smoking a cigarette.
I’d [...]

I’ve mentioned on here before that my daughter has naturally curly hair and that it can be a pain in the arse to keep it under control.
Various shampoos and conditioners are available for making curly hair more manageable and for keeping “frizz” at bay and the missus has spent a small fortune in trying them [...]

Having not had any kip for 42 hours, I was hoping for a good night’s sleep last night.
It wasn’t to be.
Little Harry has had a cough for the last couple of days. Last night it suddenly worsened and he was having a terrible time of it. It became evident that he was having breathing difficulties, [...]

It’s three o’clock.
In the morning.
And I’m at work, doing some out-of-hours stuff.
I quite enjoy doing the odd night-shift: the motorways are empty; it’s a doddle to get into work and with no-one about I can get on with stuff quite quickly.
Except I’m not getting on with stuff: I’m playing on the innernet whilst I wait [...]

Today I sat my City & Guilds 2381-200 exam.
I passed.
I’m now qualified to work as an electrician, in line with the new 17th Edition Regulations.
Last year, I qualified to 16th Edition. And did bugger all with it.
Tomorrow (tonight, as we have some cut-over work to do) I will return to my job in telecoms.
Another wasted [...]

My sister is chairperson of the PTA at her daughter’s school. On one Saturday, each December, she runs a ‘Winter Wonderland’ event, where the schoolchildren can come along with their parents and play Christmassy games; buy Christmassy food and get a small present from Santa. It’s a fund-raising thing for the school.
But this year, she [...]

I took my bike out for a spin yesterday afternoon.
It certainly wasn’t my prefered riding weather and to be honest, I only took her out because she needed a run, having sat in the garage for several weeks now.
As it was, the battery was nearly flat and I had to jump her from the car [...]

I use a laptop for work and needing the ability to send and receive emails whilst travelling from site to site, I invested in one of those mobile broadband dongles.  Having perused all those available and have mulled over all the different contracts, I opted for the cheapest one available (the ICON225 for fifteen quid [...]

For a little while now, I have been looking for the definitive Tchaikovsky’s 1812.
Though it’s not one of my favourite pieces - by far - it is one that I feel all lovers of classical music should have in their collection.
Over the last couple of months, I have bought/downloaded/borrowed several versions, all by different orchestras [...]

I went to the dentist yesterday… just for a check-up. No work needed, I’m pleased to report.
“See you next time, then”, I said cheerily to the dentist as I put my jacket back on.
“I won’t be here for your next appointment”, she said. “I’m going to work in Dubai.”
Very nice too, I thought. Dentists already [...]