HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello Harris Family just wanna say Happy new year to you all ! hope to see you all very soon. We had a nice peaceful xmas Jacie done well from Farther Christmas. Going to Ruth & Lee`s for dinner new years day. Bye for now x

Moonlight Murders

Yep - rowdy is how I prefer Christmas, as well. Over in Carshalton, we're doing something a bit different for New Year - we're having a 'murder mystery' party. We found this great website that gives you the whole 'kit' for anything from 4 people up to mass catering 16. You get invites, backstory, 'sealed' clues, costume recommendations and even menu suggestions. It is all based around a dinner party so you get clues between courses and the big 'showdown' at the end which it nice because it has a definite beginning and end and won't drag on all evening. Unless, of course, we all get so far into character we can't stop (0; Anyway, photos and report to follow.
Have a great New Year everyone - see you at the Ladies Night. Speaking of which, for those of you young enough to still be 'students', Burton do a not inconsiderable discount for 'Formal Wear' hire for anyone with a Student Card, which might be worth bearing in mind!

In the Stillness!

All quiet here now. we had a lovely and positively rowdy Christmas in Vigo. Lots of food, booze and a few brisk walks with the dogs. Boxing day, Rupert, two jack russels and a BEAR (Burmese mountain dog!) TV is rubbish and have spent the last two and a half hours reading a good book.... The Memory Keepers Daughter.
Anybody doing anything exciting for New Year?
Love Ruth xx

Pressie thanks

I hope Santa brought everything we all wanted. I think my Lamborghini must still be in customs, but all the other presents were great! Thanks to my Secret Santa for the great Espresso maker, btw.
We've just come back from a few days at Caroline's brother's place down in Eastbourne - we had a great time. Lots to eat and lots of games played - the ideal combination in my book!

Merry Christmas Everyone

Sunday Xmas lunch

Great to see all. Have a good one and a happy new year.

First one to post pictures!

Birthdays..............

Hiya, Tina here, just having a read below.......Happy belated birthday to Elena, didnt know it was your birthday, which date is it, and when is laurens and carolines??????????????????????
Hope Tom had a good birthday, did he get our card ???????????????? didnt realise it was his 18th

Singing ... part II

1. John Cale - a founder member of the Velvet Underground (y'know - Lou Reed, Andy Warhol etc.).


2. Congrats on the performance - sounds like fun.


3. We went for a major curry for Ellie's birthday - table for 24, please!


4. I had to ask Paul as well, he said 13:30 - 14:00.

Singing

Great video Simon, excuse my ignorance but...who is it?
Our staff choir singing went very well last week I absolutely LOVED it! Thought I would be embarassed but no.... must be an age thing! Singing all round with Elena too then?
How did her birthday go? Tom's has been very quiet considering it's his 18th.... watching telly with girlfriend and his brother.. it's either a miricle or a dream!
Looking forward to Sunday, do we have a time? I cant remember...must be an age thing......is there an echo in here?

Hallelujah - the *real* version

On the subject of X-factor, I love this great song (remember the great scene in Shrek?) - take a look at this video to see how it *should* be done.

How did it go, Ruth?

Who cares how X-Factor went? How was your showbiz debut? On a similar note, we went to see Elena singing in her choir in the shopping centre in Sutton today. It was great and all very festive.

Knees-a-knocking

Just to let you all know to put fingers in ears on Thurday evening as I will be doing my first performance to a real audience in our staff choir....they say those high notes travel far!
Wish me luck as I feel a cold coming

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Doreen, lots of love, Tina Paul and Jacie-Ann XX

Pressie Time

'I know who Im buying for, I know who Im buying for' lol.......Tina here, noticed there is a profile text that everyone can fill in which you can put down interests, you know like whether you into books or certain music, games, etc etc whatever is your thing, so basically you can give lots of ideas for what you are into to help with whoever is buying a gift for you. Are we filling this out?????? ttfn xx

Right ... got it!

What I was *going* to say was - Ok, everyone has now signed up for the 'Secret Santa' - I will close the list and get the system to send out everyone's allocated recipient. This is pretty good timing 'cos everyone will get this in time for the weekend, but Tina has already beaten me to it! I have now put in a bit of text into my profile - I reckon it might be a good idea if everyone has a moment.

Chloe??

Hiya Simon, Tina here. I've had Chloe on the phone saying she hasnt received anything from Secret Santa for her to log in, I suggested she put in her email address and then click on 'forgot password' then perhaps she will be able to log on with that...... but have told her to hold on til I check with you that you have registered Chloe ????

New career beckons

Tina - impressive PC fixing efforts! You could come and work for Kings College IT department.

Should be ready to send out the selections in the next couple of days. As I write, there's only George and Chloe to go.

getting good at this!

ok, tina again, sorted, i have registered too, really have to get ready for work now, will speak to charlie and chloe tomorrow and i will sort them out, were you all waiting on us, so sorry, but computer has been playing up, got there in the end will let you know tomorrow as soon as i have got charlie and chloe registered on SECRET SANTA ttfn xxxx

yippee

hi everyone, tina here, just spent 2 hours trying to get the computer up and running, what a nightmare, just kept shutting down and saying your system was shut down due to a serious error, anyway seem to have got it going again. i have checked out secret santa for paul and have registered, apparently he will now get an email telling him whom he will be buying for, now going to sort mine.............. fingers crossed computer stays on

Getting there!

I think I now have *real* email addresses for Charlie and Chloe and I've sent out reminders to everyone as yet not confirmed. Currently,that's Thomas, George, Paul, Tina and of course the two new additions! I think Paul and Tina are currently internet-less - can anyone let them log into their hotmail accounts to at least accept the invites? Then the system can send out the all important 'who has got who' messages. Hopefully by that time they will be back on line.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone ...

Secret Santa up and running

I set up (almost) everyone one on the Secret Santa today. The only tricky bit was that Ruth gave me the same email address for Charlie and Chloe which it seems the system cannot cope with! Also, I think it's xyz@live.com not xyz@live.co.uk which also confused me for a while )-:

Anyway, if I could have another address for either one, that'd be great. So, check your emails, login into the thinksecretsanta site and confirm you want to join in. Once I've got everyone confirmed, I'll get the system to sent out everyone's 'secret' recipient.

Secret Santa comes to the internet!

I found a couple of on-line 'Secret Santa' organiser sites. As usual, Wikipedia is your friend! This one at Elfster has a natty on-line tutorial to show you how it works. SecretSanta looks pretty straightforward (if a bit American, as I think they all are!). ThinkSecretSanta looks the simplest but what does everyone else think? Hey, I might even do a poll!!

Oh, purely in passing - has anyone ever finished 'Minesweeper' on 'difficult'? Did for the first time in ages today.

Secret Santa???!!!

Thankyou everyone for a wonderful evening.
Forgot that S&C brought a cheesecake....found it in the veg drawer of the fridge yesterday....YUM!!
We forgot to draw names out of the hat for secret santa on the 21st December. Does anyone have any ideas how we might be able to do it by computer?
Ruth xx

Next step - Christmas

Well, that was a fun evening! We really enjoyed it, glad to hear the game went down well.

The journey home was soggy but much quicker than the 'sat-nav' pretty route on the way there!

George was saying he was having problems finding one of his favourites from the ole' game collection - Starfarers of Catan. I've always had good service from a company called Gameslore - so that might be a pressie sorted out, Ruth! I've put a link on the company name, usually it will say if it's not in stock, so you might be in luck!

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 21st.

The Curry Night

Yes it was good to see you all again. Good game simon. looking forward to the Xmas dinner xxx

It's all a conspiracy I tell you!

Here's a funny thing you might like to try out yourself. Caroline was txting today and noticed the words that her phone's dictionary was suggesting all had a decidedly religious flavour! Here are the intended words followed by the *first* suggestion.

• Mum - Nun
• Resent - Repent
• Rain - Pain

Any other strange suggestions people have come across?

Incidentally, really looking forward to this evening. Nobody did my game survey (sob!) so I'll just bring along everything I can stuff into the car.

Curry order

Ruth - If you are pre-ordering, put us down for;
1x chicken dhansak
1x lamb rezalla
2x pilau rice
1x keema naan

Just as bit of a diversion (i.e. nobody has to take it too seriously!) I've discovered a new feature of 'Blogger' - polls! Couldn't resist adding one so feel free to vote. All very topical (polls, that is - not the subject matter) and you don't even have to queue! You can vote for as many games as you like. There are a couple that I haven't brought before so you can check out what they're like at everyone's favourite board game website!
Wits & Wagers, Starfarers, Citadels, Carcassonne, Pandemic

Curry night update

Yes, have been in contact with all concerned recently and I think everyone is still comming.
Have had a word with Kim and suggested that everyone contact me with their order so that we are not still deciding at midnight!!! She will email me nearer the time with hers and Mark' s requirements. Can everyone else do the same and I can get it ordered for a certain time.
I think 7.30 for 8pm should suit everyone, let me know if not.
Love to all
Ruth xxx

Curry & Games

... are we still on for November 8th? Just thought I'd check to see if everyone can make it. Just by way of an update from this particular branch of the family tree - Lauren is popping back this weekend for the first time since she started her course at Bristol. It seems like *ages* but is, in fact, closer to 4 weeks we decided.

Happy Birthday

A slightly belated greeting to Ruth. Hope you had a good one. Just got back from Crete. So got my dates mixed up. That's my excuse and i'm sticking to it! Look forward to catching up soon. Mark. x

Harris Xmas Lunch

Hello all Been for a meal tonight at the Tower Arms VERY nice ! Xmas lunch booked for 1.30 - 2pm sunday 21st Dec for 15 people.

Davis Cup at Wimbledon

I took a day off on Friday and Caroline and I went to day# 1 of GB's Davis Cup match against Austria at Wimbledon. The tennis club that we go to arranges tickets (you still have to pay, they just block book them!) so we got a couple and went with some friends to watch a couple of singles matches.

In the first one, Alex Bogdanovic lost 3-1 to his Austrian opponent and then Andy Murray looked pretty convincing taking his match 3-0 against Alex Peya. Here's a pic I took on my phone (from way back in row 'Z') so we'll see how it looks.

Sadly, we lost the doubles match today (Saturday) so that means we'll have to win *both* the 'reverse' singles matches on Sunday to take the match.

Thames River Festival

We went up to the South Bank on Sunday for the Thames River Festival just on the off-chance and it turned out to be a really good evening. We got there around 5-ish and browsed around the various music stages and food stalls then found ourselves a good spot to watch the parade go past on Blackfriars bridge. The costumes were amazing, some of them having won prizes at the Notting Hill Carnival - top honours, indeed!

Then it was more food stalls and settle down amongst the crowd around Gabriel's Wharf to watch an excellent firework display.

Then, of course, the inevitable slog through the crowds to get back to the underground, catch the last tube to Morden and arrive home around midnight, exhausted!

Just a little something from Benfleet

Hello all -
YES really good to see you all last sunday. looking forward to the curry night ! Off to Ruth & Lee`s tomorrow for sunday lunch happy days !!!

Slight modification

I've made a couple of changes to the info in the sidebar just so the dates for upcoming Harris Family social events (i.e. Curry / Games night and Christmas meal) don't get lost as new posts push down Ruth's last message from the front page.

Lunch Gathering

I concur!!! if that's how you spell it!!

Great to see so many family at once. Just to let Sian and Andy know in case they can make it up...................we have booked a curry night at my place for Saturday 8th November and a Christmas meal in Essex on 21st December. There are various beds and houses that could accomodate.

Now for the moment of truth.....can she get some photos up???

Lunch

Lovely to catch up with everyone yesterday. Yes we were lucky with the weather.
Watched some of that Nadal- Murray match. Great game, but just can't seem to warm to Murray. He always seems such a miserable bast**d in interviews. Maybe he just can't get over being scottish! Anyway look forward to the next meet up. Mark x

That was fun

It was great to see everyone today. Well, almost everyone - would've been a bit of a hike for you Andy! Bit of luck with the weather meant a quick stroll round the park was possible which helped to blow a few cobwebs away. Also it was great to get the next few dates in the 'ole diaries - I know we are pretty hopeless as a family at getting 'organised'. I can't believe we've already booked up a Christmas meal - I don't think we've *ever* been this organised!!

Meanwhile, in another browser window I'm following the Murray / Nadal match it sounds a really close one. Latest score (cut & paste from the BBC);
US Open
Semi-final latest:
R NADAL (Spa) v * A MURRAY (GB)
2-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 4-4
* denotes server

Speak to all soon!

***STOP PRESS ***
MURRAY BEATS NADAL!!!
US Open
Semi-final result:
R NADAL (Spa) v A MURRAY (GB)
2-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 4-6

Lunch next Sunday (7/9)

Looks good - even better if the weather is OK for a walk in the park afterwards.

Directions are pretty simple although we have our new 'sat-nav' toy to play with. Some of the new roads in Italy challenged it a bit, I can tell you (0;

Update from Benfleet

Hello family

Had a good laugh at Johns 50th b/day party with Mark & Kim last w/end here are some photos

Holiday part II

Just got back from a week in Tuscany (with *both* the girls this time!). Like the title says, we were doing the usual 'fortnight' holiday in two separate weeks this year. Had a great time in a self-catering appartment in a villa near San Gimignano.

The term 'self-catering' wasn't particularly accurate; when you are in a place like Tuscany, why cook? The food was fantastic, you're in the home of Chianti (say no more) and the scenery was amazing. Here's a couple of photo's although it probably fair to say they don't do the place justice!

These two are taken in the actual town of San Gimignano.

This one is in Siena - home of the famous Palio horse race which happened on the day we arrived. Race day itself is more than a bit mad, thousands of people pack the central piazza and passions apparently run pretty high! It's all about district vs district rivalry, the victor getting bragging rights for the rest of the year.
Anyway, that's the culture lesson for today - speak to you all later.

Thanks

Thanks to all for birthday cards and wishes.

Happy Birthday

Welcome to the club, Mark! It no big deal, honest (-; Hope you have a good time on your 'secret' treat tommorrow. As far as I know, Sunday the 7th sounds OK, what were you thinking of doing - a lunchtime restaurant visit or something like that?

On an unrelated matter (and because I like to get a photo in every so often) - here is one of the view from our terrace of the villa we stayed in Turkey last week.

Great view, but the drive up to the villa did make for some exciting hill starts!

Round up

Hello to all. Been meaning to post a blog for ages. Have been busy finishing a song i've been writing for a breast cancer charity, which is finally done. So hopefully i can now get it out of my head every time i close my eyes to go to sleep! Was trying to get a date together for us all to meet up on a sunday around the old 50th birthday, but it seems like the nearest one that Paul and I can make is Sunday the 7th of Sept. I know it's nearly a month after the 12th of august, but would still be great to meet up anyway. How is everyone fixed for that date? Going away for a couple of days somewhere tomorrow for my birthday. Kim's treat, don't know where yet, ssh.. it's a secret. Love to everyone. Mark x

It's all go!

I've not long been back from picking up Elena from the coach drop-off from her orchestra tour (sounds like very eventful and great fun!) and now we are running around putting the last few bits in suitcases prior to whizzing of to Kalkan in Turkey early tommorrow morning! I think I'll need a week there just to relax. Meeting up with a variety of friends out there - all at various times - so we're all looking forward to it. Anyway, I'll not be *ages* at the keyboard tonight - it's an early start!!! More details and pictures to follow ...

Hello From Benfleet

Hello family hope you are all well. We all good here been VERY busy at work working 7 days to get the job done in time ! He`s moveing in on monday 28th not much time loads to do still !!!! My grandson was 3 a few weeks ago GOD i must be getting old ! Jacie went fishing for the 1st time with her bruv Ben loved it. started decorating ( stripping walls ) when we have a spare min or two, not alot done no spare time ! hope to see you all round about Mums & Marks B/day bye for now BRUV PAUL xxx

hello all

Just a quick hello to everyone. Interesting reading about various family vocations and vacations. The big half a century is coming up for me in august. Not planning a party as im not really in to all that malarky. On the other hand it would be nice for all, or some of us to meet up for a sunday lunch around mid august. Play it by ear. Thought i'd just chuck the idea in the pool. Kim passed her aerobics instructors course which she's been doing for the last three months. I now know what a grapevine and a box step is, but having two left feet, leaves me at a big disadvantage when trying to perform these complicated professional moves! Starting to plan for a holiday in sept. maybe Corsica. Looks quite interesting. Bit of history, Napoleon etc. Nice beaches. Anyway hope everyone is well. Blog soon x

News from Botswana !!!

We saw off Lauren at Heathrow on Monday afternoon at the beginning of her 4-week African adventure with 'Projects Abroad'.


International Volunteer Work on a Conservation & Environment Project in South Africa and Botswana
Well, today she managed to get a phone call through to us from on top of a large rock outcrop, apparently being about the only place near the camp that you can get a predictable mobile signal! They do get into the nearby town once a week so she can get to an Internet cafe then. Already she's seen close-up a herd of elephants (including babies!) and also zebra. It all sounds wonderful. More news as we get it (-;

So what made *your* shortlist?

We saw a TV show about the short-listed entrants for the show prize and really liked the 'Blue Egg' - which actually won!

Was it as impressive close-up?

Checking in from Vigo

Hello Everyone
Congratulations to Lauren on passing the driving test. Tom has his theory test next Friday, no date as yet for the BIG ONE! ( these boys are a bit slow!) He also had his interview for going back on his course, all looks promising, just waiting for official confirmation.
Only 4 weeks until my holiday now and I'm counting the days.
I'm off to the RA on Friday to see the summer exhibition this is my third year. It's a killer on the feet (I always take a change of shoes in a large handbag!) but worth the pain all the same. We always pick out what we think is 1. our favourite 2. the most pretentious and 3. the "we could have done better ourselves".
If anyone is bored any weekend just ring and come over, you are very welcome
Love to all
Ruth xx

News from Sutton

Well, Lauren finally finished the last of her A-levels last Thursday, so there's a big sigh of relief all round! Then on Friday she took her driving test ... and passed - yeah! Of course it's a well-documented fact that all the best people pass 2nd time, 1st time is just lucky (-;

Also, Elena and some of her school mates who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award went on their 2 day, self-navigated walk. Obviously, this involves an overnight camp and carrying all your own stuff round with you so it's all a bit of a challenge (which is the idea really!). How some of them coped 48hrs without GHD hair straighteners, I don't know!

I guess the next big (ish) event is my birthday on Friday (see side bar for other dates), hope to be going out for a couple of beers possibly followed by a curry. Haven't done that particular combination for a while! Last weekend was a friend's 50th birthday party which turned out a good night. The weather held out well and we all stayed outside right up to the end in the early hours. The guy doing the music (another friend) was showing us his pretty impressive DJ set-up. It's all very PC-based nowadays, no more 'wheels of steel'! We even indulged in a bit of karaoke (well, some us did!), the great thing about having all these tracks on disk as opposed to the 'ole CDs is that would-be crooners have got 100,000s of tracks to choose from at the click of a mouse.

Well, I'm just off out now on taxi duty (I don't mind really, when it's *your* kids coming home on their own!) so I'll speak to you's all later.

Some Holiday Snaps

Will do some more later when i can find the rest

Summer is here ?!?!

Looks like it was OK for the BBQ, then? We had a game of tennis that morning and got pretty warm, I must say.

Paul - holiday sounds really great, looking forward to the (editted) pictures (0;

Simon

Best Holiday Ever

Hi family Will post some of the 250 odd photos asap. Just to let you know WICKED holiday lovely place very cheap ! (40p pint)

oooh De Wedda!!!

Hi folks
Keep your fingers crossed we're doing a barbie tomorrow
Ruth xx

cherio benfleet family!

Hello
Have fun, everyone.
From all in Kent

Up Date From Benfleet

Hi family just wanna tell ya 2 days to go. Will give you more goss when we get back. luv 2 u all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Paul

Nice pix

Hey Andy, looks like you guys had a great time. We really enjoyed it when we went, ooh it seems like *ages* ago now - but was in fact only 2003! Did you do any of the 'cultural' thing while you were there (y'know - pyramids and stuff) or are you saving that for the next one?

Here's a couple from the 'ole archive (-;

hi everyone hope ur all ok. just returned from sunny egypt. had a great time indi & ellie loved it, jasmine was fantastic, & sian behaved herfself too! cant wait to go back there next year. (sians all ready been in the travel shop to check out the prices) well here r some of our holiday pics. to share with you