All gearing up for the next 'bash'

Yes, I'll second that in saying we had a great time yesterday. So good to see everyone and many, many thanks to Ruth & Lee for laying on everything. I know we always say 'lets not leave it so long next time' so I guess we'll just have to make some New Year resolutions to that effect! I guess we're all getting ready for this evening's festivities as I write.

Glad everyone enjoyed the game - I thought it was a good little discovery. Because I'm a bit of a 'gamegeek' I started another 'blog' of my usual game group sessions but I posted a quick description of Sunday's efforts. Kim said to make sure I mentioned her & Lee's heroic last gasp efforts so here it is - Thursday Night Games Club.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Great success, I think!

Hello everyone. Hope everyone had a good time, it was wonderful to see everyone together without there having to be a major reason!! I really did mean it when I said that you're all welcome anytime, just ring to make sure I haven't had a rare trip out!! Mark, glad the lost wallet was a false alarm. I've just finnished the spruce-up and hav'nt found anything left behind.
Love to all, and have a very "Happy New Year"
Ruth XXXXXXXXXX

The Gathering Of The Harris Clan

Hello Sis we all comeing on sunday 30th 8 of us. looking forward to it. Hope You All Had A Good Xmas. See You All Sunday Bye For Now PAUL xxx

Looking forward to Sunday

Did everyone have a merry Christmas? Not too merry I hope!! Hope all are still coming on Sunday. We have the Vincents over tomorrow, our first guests of the season.Not much of a practice for Sunday though...........Extra 4 is a bit different from an extra 25!!!!........oh well if you're going to do a crowd you might as well do it properly!!

It's all go!

Everyone ready for Christmas, huh? No, thought maybe not! Made the big mistake of venturing into the local shopping centre today (Saturday) - not good news. It was very much like this great Argos advert.


Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone next week, it's been a while since the majority of us were under one roof!

We've been on tenterhooks waiting for Lauren's Uni offers to come through recently. She's had a couple from her 'backup' courses and yesterday she got an offer from the Royal Veterinary College so that's really terrific. The other two Vet courses have said they'll be sending out offers to successful candidates in the new year so we'll have to see what that brings. Of course, there's now only the small matter of the getting the relevant grades )-;

We went up to the 'Old Vic' this week to see 'Cinderella', the panto directed by Stephen Fry. You can imagine it had more than it's fair share of innuendo and it was really funny. This is how it was introduced by the narrator, Sandi Toksvig;
Cinderella is a tale of passion, jealousy, cross-dressing, injustice, chocolate, madness, cruelty, ice cream, hatred, revenge, jelly, unrequited love, envy, tarts, forgiveness, music, laughter, hope, redemption, and most important of all, love - the truest, purest true love that ever was. And cake. So much cake you won't believe. And Pauline Collins was the fairy godmother so that was another famous face. Actually, I've just realised, Stephen Fry does the voice-over for the above advert - he gets everywhere doesn't he?

Anyway, Merry Christmas one and all (as Tiny Tim put it) and see you next week.

Nativity Play

Here's Jacie-Ann in her nativity play, surprisingly Jacie-Ann had one of the main parts, she was a sheep, I think we have an actress in our midst (I think thats the right word), Jacie-Ann is the little one on the end, ta ta.......... Tina

Christmas gathering

I have spoken to Mark and Simon in the last couple of days and it looks like everyone can make it on the 30th. I thinking about 2pm if thats ok with all? If anyone wants to bring anything they don't want to be eating or drinking in the New Year then feel free, but don't feel you HAVE to!!
Thanks for the Xmas cards everyone.........Tina, yours was spectactular!! Why do I never find cards like that?
Love to all....See you on the 30th
xxx

Rounding up the troops

Hello all Im doing my best spoke 2 Ben Jack & Chaz & even my grandson Alfie. Lookin good 4 the 30th love 2 u all PAUL x

Lovely Pics (except one!)

Great to see the pictures up at last........of course I've seen the lovely Jasmine in the flesh already...HA HA!!!
Wonderful news that Andy, Sian and all the gang are going to be able to make it up here before the New Year.
Official invitation then......
Sunday 30th December 2007, any time between 1pm and 7pm. I'll lay on some tea (Turkey sarnies!!!)Vegetarian of course Lauren!
Blog me back with confirmations, everyone.
Love Ruth xxx

happy b-day tom & happy belated b-day tina

happy b-day tom on the 16th. hope u like the car, get ur driving test done and the world will b ur oyster! sorry tina 4got ur birthday u old dagenhamite the big 40 ey. the bus pass beckons. ha!ha!now i've got a younger 1 than u it makes me feel much younger.jasmine sends her 1st birthday greetings

1st few pics of jasmine

hi everyone sorry its taken so long, but we have only just managed 2 sort out the camera.(we're both computer virgins) so here(at last) r the first few pics of the new addition 2 the family :jasmine ann harris 23/11/2007

. as u can c, she's the spit of her father, but u'll b able 2 c 4 urselves on the 30th thanks to ruth & lee's kind invitation. hope to c u all there!!!!

40

40, what me, na, not me, im twenty twenty, always will be thanx for your birthday wishes ruth, out for italian tonight and a good drink, cant wait, tina xx

Belated wishes:)

Happy birthday for yesterday Tina! I never realised you were "that" age. You look good on it dear, especially as you live with a Harris!!!!
Love and many happy returns.
PS Does Paul know how to speak into a telephone,?? only I only seem to get little text messages!!! (but i do enjoy receiving them..........not complaining!)

Many happy returns ...

... but Paul is a bit mean suggesting you are 120 (40+40+40)!

Happy 40th Tina

Happy birthday Tina 40 40 40

Hi All

Sorry Andy but my phone was given to me as a freebie so I don't have all the bits and bobs to put up the picture.
Just to let everyone, who has seen Jasmine, know.......she is much more beautiful in the flesh......I had some wonderful cuddles at the weekend. Thankyou Sian and Andy for a lovely relaxing W/E. Even the drive home was quite good!
Congrats on the new car Si, good fun buying something expensive isn't it?
Lovely piccie of Jaycie, Paul, she's so pretty.........must take after her mother eh?
Love to all
PS
Where are Mark and Kim?
xxxxxxxx

Don't make 'em (videos) like they used to ...

... well actually, they do! I was explaining to one of the girls that the idea of showing the lyrics on flash cards was done looooong ago by Bob Dylan, 1965 in fact. Take a look at this, it's a classic.
Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

Apparently it was shot in a back alley somewhere in London.

Rush of blood to the head

You guys must realise that I am not the most impulsive of people in the world but today I think I must have had a bang on the head without realising (-;
I've been saying for weeks now that we need a new car so off we went today to 'have a look' at the Peugeot 307 and the new shape Astra. To cut a short story even shorter, 1 test drive and 60 minutes later we walked out of the Peugeot showroom having put down a deposit on a 2-year-old 307! I was a couple of miles down the road before I realised what'd happened.

WOT`S HAPPNIN FAMILY ?

The B/day Girl
Hello Hello ! How`s my family ? Wot`s the goss ? Where r u ? R u ok ? x

Welcome to the 'club'

Hi to the newest member of the the Harris clan - Jasmine. We saw the picture when we were round at Ruth's on Saturday - very sweet!
Speaking of which, lovely house AND a beautiful setting, very nice. Ruth & Lee - thanks for looking after us and yes, the games *were* good fun, weren't they!

Well Done Bruv Andy

Congrat`s 2 u both from the Benfleet possie ! Told ya so a GIRL !!!!!!!!

baby jasmine is here

well hello everybody ive finally sussed this out not fully but we are getting there anyway its true weve got a baby daughter jasmine and shes beautifull ha ha by the way ruth can u put that picture up of her please.

Great Time

Just to say........Thankyou Simon And Caroline for a great day yesterday, it was a shame not to see the girls but we do understand the hectic lives they lead and the fact that we are "old fogies"
George loved the game......he's off to Canterbury now to keep up his run of wins! (fingers crossed!)
Hello everyone
Ruth x

Congratulations!

Just wanted to add our best wishes to Sian and Andy and (newly extended) family. Things are going to start getting pretty hectic (again!), I guess.
While we're in 'proud parents' mode - here's one from holiday this year.

This was taken in Italy this summer.

Told u so

Just showing off my kids. I told Andy iy would be a girl !!! Just like me 3 boys & a girl. But i got the grandson.

Welcome, new baby Harris !

Just posting on Andy and Sian's behalf. Beautiful baby girl. 6lb 5oz. To be named Jasmine or Tamsin, still undecided as yet. Mother and babe doing just fine. India and Ellie oooing and aaaahing.
CONGRATULATIONS

Checking in

Hi everyone,
Glad to see the bloggy thing still being used. Picture of Jacie very cute, Paul.
We went to see Status Quo in Ipswich last Sunday.........Great fun and I have to say we felt quite young compared to the majority of the audience!!! ( makes a change these days).
I think Sian needs to eat a few vindaloo curries!! Can't wait to see the baby, although my atempt at knitting is rather slower than expected so a trip to mothercare may be in order!
Love to everyone and keep blogging
Ruth xxx

A flurry of activity

This is what we like to see - lots of posting (0; Good to hear from everyone.

Paul - glad to see you have the camera connection up-and-running. Lovely picture!
Andy - we expect to see pictures of any new family additions a.s.a.p. Good luck to all concerned!
Mark - no problems mentioning the Hammers score. Interesting little snippet of footie trivia I read over the weekend; West Ham are the only team in the Premiership with out a single goal scored by a foreigner.

finally found the lead !!!!!

This is apicture from the summer Jacie at southend

General Hello

Just a quick hi to everyone. Hope all is fine and dandy. Waiting to hear of a new neice or nephew from Andy. Still not ready to enter this mortal coil apparantly. Can't blame them for the hesitation though. Having a very lazy sunday. Popping in to loughton for a bit of lunch and thats about it for the rest of the day. West Ham 5-0 against Derby.... Thought i'd just pop that one in. Anyway, lots of love to all,especially Andy + Sian and good luck.

Jacie`s B/day

thank you for my card auntie Ruth xxx

Norman Lovett ... live!

Dunno if anyone remembers the name - I certainly didn't! But if you'd have said 'Holly' the deadpan computer in 'Red Dwarf', then I'd know exactly who you were on about.

Anyway, it turns out he's touring with the stand-up show he did at the Edinburgh Festival - 'Norman Lovett's Slide Show'. Caroline, me and the girls went to see him at Epsom Playhouse last night and he was brilliant! That laconic delivery that made Holly so funny is still there and his observations on how stupid life is are just great. Highly recommended!

not bad 3 out of 4

Thanx 4 me text Ruth & me phone calls Mark & Andy. Hope 2 c u all soon BRUV PAUL x

Sounds a bit cheap ...

... but TBH, the chances of getting a birthday card to anyone right now on time are pretty remote )0: So happy birthday to Paul & Andy!!!

Wi-fi - where would we be without it?

Granted it *can* be a bit tricky to set up in the first place but once you're up and running it's brill! Plus, as an added bonus, if you get a cheapo laptop, you can jump the queue for the 'ole internet. Gotta say, with two teenage daughters, one of who conducts most of their social life on MSN, we'd never get a look in otherwise!

On a related matter, I saw this terrific article on the 'spoof' news site, 'The Onion' - NASA Announces Plan To Bring Wi-Fi To Its Headquarters By 2017. I love the bit about 'NASA's estimated $655 million plan to install a wireless broadband router by 2017 could reap huge benefits'. You sound like you could sympathise, Ruth (0;

Humble appologies!

I am eating my pie as I type.
I have just opened today's post and send thanks to Mark,Kim,Andy,Sian,Josh, Jake, Joe,India,Ellie and Bump.....phew!
Lovely cards, thankyou
Goodnight#XXXXXX :)

don't get wireless connection! It's rubbish

What with fighting for a turn on the computer and it not actually connecting to the internet it's been a while.
Thankyou Paul, for my birthday card and blogger salutations.
Thankyou Simon for remembering that you forgot.
Poo! to everyone else! :)
I went away with Jane for my birthday to a hotel in sleepy Haslemere, for a thorough pampering..........very zen-like..mmmmmmmmm....
Hope everyone well
Ruth XXXXXXXXX

The official 'Ruth didn't get a birthday card from me' excuse list

1. I posted it but it got stuck in the postal strike backlog.


2. I thought it would get stuck in the above backlog so I didn't post it.


3. I forgot (again!)


4. I didn't reset the date on my watch at the end of September so I've been running a day behind for the whole of October.


5. I was abducted by aliens for the last few days and my place in society has been taken by a cleverly fashioned 'doppelganger' with no head for dates.

Please choose the most appropriate or feel free to add more where neccessary / appropriate.

P.S. Sorry, Ruth

Happy Birthday Sis

Happy B/Day Ruth xxx

Found it at last.

You'll have to forgive an old bloke banging on about his hobby just once more! Mark - do you remember ages ago I asked if you remembered a card game we played as kids? I'm pretty sure it was actually yours. It was all about spies and stuff and was set in the desert. Well ... I've found out what it was called - Foreign Legion and someone else on BoardGameGeek remembers it as well. Here's the picture, click on the link for more info. Does it ring any bells ... I guess it's too much to expect you to still have it!

Not another bl***y b/ay

More money ! Thats why im allways working. Bens b/day now !!!!!! bad time 4 us chaz`s 21st Ben`s 25th my 40 something Jacie`s 6th Tina`s 40th then XMAS see u all on the 8th day of the week. gotta go Ben`s here now Bye x

There's interesting . . . !

One for you, Andy (-; I know it's an old article but I found this on the BBC site having seen an advert for Welsh Scrabble on a boardgames website. Apparently, it has no X, Q or Z and Y only scores one!

Another fascinating little 'gem' from the same article - in the Polish version, Z only counts as 1. Next time there's a lull in the dinner party conversation, you know what to bring up!

As a matter of fact...i'm back!

Hello everyone.......Got the computer back at last.
My typing is now even slower than before as I have treated myself to lovely long false nails and if I'm not careful I press all the wrong letters, can be rather embarrassing!
Happy birthday to Charlie..........Feel like you're getting on a bit does it Paul? At least you have your" little one" to keep you young!
I went to my first property auction last Friday, Shoulders were very tense, trying not to scratch our noses but great fun and we came away with a bargain Victorian Jobie in Greenwich (well.....Plumstead anyway).
If anyone has any free time on their weekends we would love to see you. We are only 4 miles up the Wrotham road from where we used to be.
Mark and Kim the view from your holiday villa looks spectacular.....I'm very jealous:)
Love to everyone
Ruth XXXXXXXXXX

Oh to be 21 again

another one has reached 21 GOD i feel old ! Chaz`s 21st to day out for a few down the old Chequers. Any 1 fancey a pint ? Before we drink it all. Bye 4 now

Recently back from Majorca. Seems like a distant memory already. Pretty good weather, though it does change quite rapidly when your that high. Great food. Need a few more visits to the gym now, i think. This pic. is a typical veiw from the villa that we were lucky enough to stay at. Hope all is well with everyone and Ruths move went ok. Went to Pauls last sunday. Nice road and house good to catch up with them. Will write more soon. Going to eat now.

Busy Weekend

I took Friday off and me and Caroline went to Wimbledon to watch the Davis Cup vs Croatia. I've never been to a 'proper' tennis match (let alone to the All England Club) so that was a novelty in itself. However, not so much of a novelty as seeing two British sportsmen win on the same day!

Spent most of Saturday and Sunday painting bits of the house, mostly front room ceiling and staircase bannisters. I'm glad that's out of the way - back to work tommorrow for a bit of a rest!

Mark & Kim over

Hello all again havein a quick tidy up Mark & kim over. Another nice day i see. hope u all ok speak soon gotta go out & get some veggy things + wine. bye 4 now PAUL x

Bl***y winter!

Did I miss summer this year? I think I must have been in the shower when it happened or something )-: On the way home last night, for the first time this year, I had the bike lights on for the whole journey home! Admittedly, I didn't leave the hospital until 6 pm but it's still not good. The clocks don't go back yet, which means it's still British Summer Time until the end of October - HA!

Oh well, that's my little Victor Meldrew moment done with for today!

Ahh Bruv Simon

hello that is a old photo of the pub. its changed a bit now. Hope u lot ok ? we all good just graffting 24|7 must meet up very soon !!!

Happy Birthday, Charlie

Good to hear from you, Paul. Give our love to the birthday boy. On the subject of pictures - you can always cheat, y'know! For instance I found this fairly 'naff' review of your local, together with this photo.

I didn't realise they tried to change the name to 'The Olde Investigator' for a while (something to do with being part of a chain) but it didn't stick. Although, not having been in Ilford for so long, I guess there's no reason why I would (-;

Hello all

sorry its been so long; been really busy. still cant find our lead for the camera so still no photos. hope you are all well. Chaz`s 21st in a few weeks so we will be back in barkingside for the night down the old Chequers for 1 or 2 you know me. Speak soon luv ya PAUL x

We could be Heroes!

No, not the title of my favouritest-ever Bowie song! I'm talking about the TV show Heroes. It's one of those things I've heard good reports, always meant to get around to watching, but never actually did! Well it is a Heroes 'catch-up' weekend on BBC2 this weekend so we actually sat through 6 back-to-back episodes last night (with another 3 this evening!). Really great! B.t.w. if you too are into it - don't look too hard at the link above, they're on series 2 in the U.S. so it'll have all sorts of 'spoilers'.

Just us two then

Hello Simon then!
Next time I get Andy on the phone I shall remind him about this great site, but PAUL, MARK, where are you???
I was hoping for regular family updates.........pleeeeeeeez post
Your ever loving sister
XXXXXXX

Welcome back, Ruth

Well I'm glad to see you back so quickly! I can't say why everyone else isn't posting (-; You say you even did a tutorial down in Wales - what can you do? In the immediate absence of people being able to get down to sunny (!) Kent, how about some pics of your new abode?

Incidentally, Ruth, you said that Eltham Palace was a favourite of yours - well when we were there a few weeks back, I picked up a leaflet for a Art Deco Fair this weekend. I thought you might be interested.

Where is everybody!?

I get back on line and everyone stops posting...was it something I said?

IKEA come to the housing market (2005)

Look on the bright side, Ruth (0; I found this little article about entire 'flat-pack' HOMES.

I dunno if they ever caught on, but they sure beat the 'ole concrete 'pre-fabs' built after WW2.

Back again!

Hello everybody peeps
We're back up and running now, Friday actually but we've been in darkest Wales with Andy and Sian. They should be posting soon as I have showed Andy what to do.
Well, the move went quite well but we are still surrounded by boxes in certain rooms not least of which are the bedrooms as we have no wardrobes!! We ordered some for George which arrived on Friday but we have yet to "un" flat-pack them............something to look forward to after work tomorrow!
Hope to hear from everyone soon and if you don't mind dodging boxes you are all very welcome to come and see us
New address
"Beeches"
3 The Covert
Vigo
Gravesend
Kent
DA13 0SY

01732 822163

Love to all
xxxx

Back again

Back again

Back from Kernow

We just had a great week away in Cornwall in an apartment near St Austell with Jenny, Caroline's mum. A very relaxing time was had by one and all, to the extent that the camera didn't come out too often. Despite the 'long-range' forecast being very pessimistic, the weather wasn't too bad, really. We managed to get to the beach most days and topped up the tan! We went up to the north coast to Wadebridge where the girls walked along the Camel Trail to Padstow.

I got this picture from the website of one of the cycle hire shops in the Wadebridge. While the rest of the party all set off on the 5 mile hike towards Padstow and pasties, I hired a bike and went in the opposite direction! The whole trail is around 17 miles so when I got up to the (newly extended) end ...

... I just turned around and went back to meet up with everyone back at 'Padstein' (as I believe it is now called after Rick Stein took over just about everything!). Of course, the car was still at Wadebridge so I cycled back to get it and pick up everyone else in Padstow. So I ended up doing the whole trail twice - oh well, that'll make up for mot commuting for a week!

Of course, Ruth should be in her new abode by now. Evidentally, they haven't got the 'ole internet fully functional yet, but I hope it all went OK.

where are you now...................

wot, aint none of you using this site anymore? got another week off, will let you know with pics wots gone on this week, bit of a problem at the moment downloading from camera, cant find lead since the move, but will be hunting high and low over the next few days............ sunnier times here again............ hope you are allllllllllllllllllllllllllll well, speak to you soon, bruv PAUL

No offence meant (0;

I was only tidying up the layout (honest!) - it's always good to hear from everyone. Great new about the move, Ruth, best of luck and I hope it goes OK. When it comes to technology, a keen teenager in the house always comes in handy!

B.t.w. Ruth, did you like the Boynton graphics? I remember you were always a fan of her designs when they first came out.

OH......MY.........GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't realise this blog was an English test, Simon! Which reminds me.. how were Lauren's results? I'm sure she has done really well, with a tyrant like you she wouldn't dare do otherwise!!! :) Only two days 'til Doreen's move and four 'til ours. I will anounce the new address and phone number before I unplug the computer next week, who knows when we'll get it set up again? If Tom has anything to do with it, it'll be the same day we move!!!!!!!
Farewell and good night ........another early start tomorrow.

Mark - see me after class!

So Ruth reckons she's Mum re-incarnated (!) - it was all I could do to keep myself from breaking out the red biro (0; Seriously, I just took out the extra 'returns' in your post, Mark, that gave those funny line breaks, you only need one at the end of each paragraph.

Good to hear from you all the same!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Hanging on to my forties by my fingertips! Went out for a meal with some friends on sat. night, and on sunday, had a wander around Covent garden, which conveniently had loads of great clothes shops, for Kim to by me birthday presents in.
Apologies for the lack of recent contributions. Glad to see everyone elses. I'll load up some holiday snaps when we get back from Majorca next month. Went there last year for the first time, and really loved it. Stay away from the obvioustouristy hot spots, and drive inland north, up in the mountains, and it's really picturesque.
It's my day off today, monday, so i've been down the gym, to try and keep some assembelence of shape to this 49 year old body!
Got a gig early september, at a club in collier row. First one for a while. Once we get a couple under our belt, maybe one or two would like to come and see us. I'll keep you posted.
Anyway gonna go and watch tv in bed now, and probably fall asleep about 15 mins. later.
Love to all Mark x

Happy Birthday Mark

Just getting before midnight ......'though you sould have received a card in the post too!

We've been over at Doreen's for the weekend taking down 35 years of loft contents!!!!!!!!

We all needed two showers each when we were done!

Tom is enjoying reading the posts.

Birthday Boy

Yo Mark! Happy Birthday Bro........ mmmmmmm card will be in the post tomorrow, not very good at this birthday lark are we, but thinking of you on your special day, and they do say 'its the thought that counts'

Mark - hippo birdies two ewes

Have a good one!

I don't scare that easy

The 'birthday idea' sounded pretty compulsory to me (0; We are pretty c**p at remembering dates so we need *unsubtle* reminders. I thought listing the dates in the sidebar would be a good start.

Ruth - great news on the house, hope the big day goes OK, no doubt we'll speak (or post) before then just to keep up-to-date with progress. Incidentally, I have been posting comments on some posts so keep an eye on them as well.

Anyone else got any hols coming up? Always nice to see some pictures of the Harris clan. Even if your not going away, upload some images anyway - at the rate we meet up someone could have had a radical makeover in-between visits!

We were thinking of popping down to Eltham Palace on Sunday (weather permitting). It looks really nice - saw a article in a newspaper somewhere. We might even risk a picnic. There, that jinxed it for the weather, now!

Anyone There????

Hello?
Have I frightened everyone off? The birthday card thing was just an idea, not compulsory!!
You may be interested to know that we have exchanged on our new house, and we move on or after the 20th August.
New address....
3 The Covert,
Vigo,
Kent
DA130SY
If you are all still talking to me
Ruth xxxx

Birthday reminder

Hello All......
I'm setting myself a new challenge........ to see if I can get everyone to send a card to their brother or sister on time, or in some cases, for the first time in years! so that each family member gets at least 4 cards through the door on the right day!
Mark's birthday is on Sunday this week so second class stamps post today and first class tomorrow! NO EXCUSES
Love Ruth ( mother reincarnated ) !!!!! xxxxx

N Ireland pics

We were only there for 3 nights but we managed to pack it all in! We flew to Dublin (EasyJet) did the open top bus ride (in the rain!) and then drove over to Derry where we stayed that night. Then we drove across to Bushmills (famous for the oldest licenced distillary in the world) and stayed 2 nights in the hotel I mentioned before. From there we could easily get to the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
All-in-all great fun and both interesting and beautiful.

It's all happening here!!!

Well.................. We've completed on the garage sale, and the Vigo house is exchanging on Friday with completion on 20th August!!!!
I may not be on the blog for a while I'll be up to my eyeballs in boxes in both Essex and Kent. I may never emerge from the loft in Woodford Green.
Wish me luck!

i`ve got loads more !!!

waiting for Tina to sort out the pic`s

This is what we want

Nice to see lots of messages (-; Great piccies as well! As you've probably noticed, we're doing th 'ole holiday thing a bit unusually this year and taking it all in bits. Last week, it was Italy, this week we are in Northern Ireland for a few days (I'm writing this in Bushmills right now). I've nicked the photo off the web, I'll put some of ours up when we get back.

Alfie..............

Thought you all might like to see my grandson, Alfie. Took he out for the day, but was all too much for him. God, I am the youngest and am first to make it to Grandad status......... Dont think you lot are getting off lightly, by my reckoning that makes you lot GREAT Unlces and GREAT Aunties, hehehehe

Yes, I'm still alive!

Not sure about anyone else!
Been very busy these last couple of weeks getting things organised for the GREAT MOVE.
Looks like it's gonna be near the end of August now.
Simon, your holiday pics look great, I expect you are all hidiously brown, I'll see you when it's faded!!!
Paul, I have been trying to conact you. I've sent an email since you left a message with George( he did tell me) and I couldn't get through on the phone.
Anyway, back to organising........throwing out!
Be happy everyone.......

Helloooooooooooooooooooooo

Wot am I the only person using this blog, dont you lot use it no more.............

What's the Story, Morning Glory.....

morning all......... third day off and the sun is a shining, again, i hear canvey beach a calling, (anyway Jacie-Ann's excited hehehehe)

All present and correct

Just noticed that Paul has now signed up - that makes a 'full house' (or should that be a 'royal flush'). For those of you with a sheltered upbringing (!) here is a quick explanation. Anyway, I digress (0; - nice to see everyone on board, it was beginning to look a bit like a solo venture. We're away for a couple of days from tomorrow (what? again? I hear you cry!) so I expect to see a packed blog when I get back!!! Somewhere not quite so hot this time, more news to follow.

Hooray - at last i have arrived ....................

Hello Harris famliy im here its me bruv PAUL. got the week off so i thought id try & join u all. no pics yet but will try & get in to it when i can. Have a week off work with tina and jacie-ann, so just taking some time out together, as has been all work and no play. speak soon x by the way simon, i have read most of the stuff posted and was wondering about something you said "what it lacks in content it makes up for in brevity", just wondered what that meant, lol, i know, brevity is not a word i am familiar with, some guidance would be good..........bye for now

Back to the sunny (!) UK

Back home again and it looks like we brought the Mediterranean sun back with us! Here's a handful of the inevitably *huge* stack of photo's we took over the week. I think the digital photography age now means we don't discriminate at all - just take half-a-dozen when one well-chosen one would have had to do in the past.




These are of the well-known Pisa and the lovely town of San Gimignano. The latter is a historic town sitting on top of a hill famous for it's towers earning it the nickname of the 'medieval Manhattan'.





The first of these two is of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence looking like I imagined to be an upmarket London Bridge (before it burnt down in Samuel Peyps time) - now it's packed with very expensive jewelry shops. The second is of the famous Campo in Sienna, the site of the crazy annual horse race which is essentially a representation of a historic 'turf war' between the 17 rival subdivisions (or contradas) of the city.


Lastly, here's one I'm quite pleased about - it's a 'classic' Tuscany countryside shot. Can't remember exactly from which tower this was taken, I just recall climbing an awful lot of steps over the course of the week.

B.t.w. Andy, I noticed your last post was still in 'draft' did you just forget to publish it, or were you still 'fine-tuning' your message?

Greetings from Tuscany

This has got to be a quickie because I only have a few minutes left of my Internet Cafe session here at the 'Grand Hotel Continental' in Tirrenia. I was just booking some tickets to a museum in Florence that we were planning to go to on Friday. This is going to be a bit of a 'whistle- stop' tour around Tuscany (along with getting plenty of sun and sea) - all in 7 days!!!

We went to Pisa this morning and did the hike to the top of the leaning tower - spectacular views all part of the deal! Already we all think we're going to come back 2 stone heavier each, the food is terrific! We're going to try to fit in a tour of Sienna on Wednesday so it's all go! Anyway, pictures to follow - not sure how I plug in my camera on this PC. It tough enough trying to find the 'at' key, all the punctuation is in a different place!!! So back to the beach (it's a tough life!) - speak to you all again soon!

Welcome to the new kid on the block

Good to see Andrew signed up to the blog (alright, strictly speaking it's 'sian & andy' but who's counting?). How is it going with you guys? Still looking for your first contribution - we're not expecting the new JK Rowling or anything (0; Have you been affected by all this bizarre weather, I been hearing tales of floods, did they get to you?

Back in the Surrey branch office, we're all whizzing about getting ready for a week in Italy starting Saturday. It's a breakfast time flight so it'll be a antisocially early start that morning. I guess that's all part of the holiday experience. We're staying in Tuscany which we've not been to before and we're all looking forward to it. Hopefully get a few piccies up on our return. We're hoping to get to Pisa and Florence at some point, both of which are fairly close by.

In keeping with our teaching heritage, I will be expecting 500 words from everyone over the coming weeks with working title - What I did on my holidays. Marks will be awarded for spelling, punctuation and layout as well as content!

Variety is the spice of life ...

... but 4 seasons in a day is a bit much! I think there was a storm last night but I am convinced I would sleep through the apocalypse so I wasn't troubled by it. As it happens, all four of us went over to a friends last night for a bit of a 'social'. I brought over the Really Nasty Horseracing Game (by request!) and it went down very well. As usual with our events, there were far too many people to play a board game with a single person per 'player' even with a 6-player game like this one. I did try to convince everyone that we could play two different games at the same time (I had brought a few with me!) but they aren't all as big board games fans as me (see thursday_club) so we just 'doubled up' and essentially played 2-person teams and had 12 rowdy adults packed round one table. The kids (aged 18 down to 11) were in another room playing equally rowdy games of Pit and Werewolf.

As if that wasn't enough in terms of numbers, the host family also occasionally take in foreign schoolkids while they are on school trips to the UK, so I don't know if these 5 Hungarian teenage boys thought the British are *always* this loud on a Saturday night!

Weather wise, we had a short sharp storm this afternoon but it was bright sunshine before and after - I wish it'd make up it's mind!

Creeping out from under the bed clothes

WOW! That was a loud storm this morning. Anyone else get it?
I've only just braved it from under the duvet. Mark was going to an open air concert in London today, hope it dries up a bit by the time it starts. This weather is quite rediculous isn't it? I know we say this on a yearly basis but I'm sure this is exceptional. We went to a barbeque yesterday and the weather was glorious....I didn't need to borrow someone's jumper until at least 7.30pm which means it must have been a positive heatwave!!!
Hope everyones weekend is going OK

Increased popularity

I just idly dipped into the statistics for this site and nearly choked - over 200 hits (visits as opposed to visitors) in 3 days!

That'll be due to the fact that we have some pictures of the TdF and I put a 'keyword' to that effect in one of my posts. The result was we got a link to this humble page (!) from a very big blog specifically about the Tour and 94 hits came directly from that site alone. Well, I guess that's our '15 minutes of fame' (see Andy Warhol quote).

I've got photos too!

Well this is the third time I've tried to write this blog!!!!!

We went to Gravesend to watch it all pass and I forgot the camera, but George remembered I had the phone so pictures need to be studied under a micrscope but at least we were there for "Tour de France" en Englaterre!

Pictures as promised

Well, that was a great day out. The atmosphere around central London was terrific yesterday. It seemed to be a marvellous advert for London and the what with the upcoming Olympics (is 2012 really that far away?) I reckon Ken must be feeling pretty pleased with himself. I found myself a good spot to watch from the inside of the park where I could also get to one of the big screens. I watched some of the warm-up laps and then settled down to watch the early riders on the screen.

The times of the UK riders were publicised well in advance so I trooped over to the roadside to see Millar and Wiggins flash past (see photos - Millar and Wiggins in that order) before running back to the screen to see Bradley miss out on second place by a fraction of a second. Minutes later the eventual winner slashed a full 10 seconds off the lead time to knock Wiggins off the podium. As I write, it transpires that Millar made it to 3rd place overall as the tour left Britain. Of course it won't last but it was fun and a great plug for the UK.

Warning - strange yellow thing in the sky ...

... the UK is on alert! Panic buying of lawnmowers in B&Q causes huge drain on the National Grid! Yes, it's true, I was in the big orange shop early this morning, came back with a new mini-hover and gave the bottom meadow it's first trim since being installed over month ago! See pic for end result. Note the strategically removed rotary drier (0;

Up b4 everyone else!

Morning peeps!
Just been doing a spot of research after having read through my son's business studies assignment which he intended to hand in on Tuesday............more work needed I fear!
I will be checking out the old velo's on sunday at the overcliff in Gravesend. Hope it isn't 50 deep.
Well at least the sun has finally arrived. I ate my breakfast in the garden thismorning and so did the slugs by the look of my strawberries and lilies!!!!!!!!!!! They must be superslugs to get passed the vast amount of very unorganic slug pellets I have resorted to this year!
In my next garden I will be doing all I can to encourage as many birds and frogs and toads to the garden as I can.
Simon - hope everything went well with Lauren's trip.
Everyone - Don't forget your suntan lotion today.....................Bye ....Ruth xxxxxxx

Tour de London

While we were up in town tomorrow (Sat) picking up Lauren from her week away I thought I'd take the opportunity to spend the afternoon in Hyde Park soaking up the atmosphere of the very *rare* occurrence of the Tour de France in England. Saturday is the prologue 'time trial' so it'll be a bit like the downhill skiing with all the riders on the course one at a time. There are some great maps of the course on the official TdF website. Ruth - you should check out the London > Canterbury Stage# 1 - it goes right by your place.

I might take the 'ole camera with me and see if I can't get back with some piccies. I did read somewhere on the web (uk.rec.cycling) that some one had calculated with and estimated attendance of between 1 and 1.5 million people lining a 7.9 km course, that came out at around 50 deep for the whole course. Oh well, let's hope that 10x zoom is up to the job!

A very belated happy birthday for the 27th Simon.
Can't get onto this site very well Im using a mac and it does'nt like internet explorer much. Which this site seems to pick. So thats my excuse for seeming to forget your birthday.
Anyway just been up to my usual thing. Writing and fiddling about with music on the computer. Going away to Majorca in september, might be the next bit of sun we see!
Hope everyone is well.
Mark x

Still no twins yet

That well-known technophobe, Paul, still hasn't set up an account yet - come on mate! Somebody tell him how easy it is! Just so that his contribution isn't lost to the world, I'll cut & paste his email to me from last week;
hello bruv - paul here not very good with computer its more Tina`s thing.
yes it was very good to see u all MUST do it more often !
What it lacks in content, it makes up in brevity.

Anyway, we're down to a 3-person family a.t.m. what with Lauren being off at Nottingham on a 1-week University taster session. What small contact we've had would seem to indicate that she's having a good time and getting a lot out of it. It's organised by the Sutton Trust via Lauren's school and I think it's a really great idea.


One other thing I thought I'd mention is that had set up an account with a web-tracking service (for another site I run) and it was no extra effort to get the system to track hits on this site as well. After an initial slow start, we seemed to be getting a flurry of activity over the last weekend - here is the graph they provide. What is interesting is that we had 10 visits on Sunday alone, 6 of them unique (i.e. from different computers!).