Best wishes to my big sis and brother-in-law on the arrival of their daughter Emily at 10:30am today, weighing in at 7lb 14oz (or 3½ bags of sugar, comparison fans). Mother and baby are doing well. All being well I’ll be able to scoot over and see everybody tomorrow.
More catching up to do…
For my birthday, the lovely Mary took me on a trip up to London for a good old-fashioned touristy weekend. First stop was Her Majesty’s Theatre for the Saturday matinee performance of The Phantom Of The Opera. This was my very first musical, and it was absolutely fantastic. You can read the story to ‘Phantom’ in about 2 minutes from one page of A4, but we were hooked from the first chords of the overture all the way until the cast took their final bows. The songs are still going round my head even now, 2 months on, and I don’t think I’m the only one.
Next we took a walk from the theatre to the Thames, via Westminster Abbey and the Houses Of Parliament. My second treat was a ‘flight’ on the London Eye. Although slightly marred by the family from hell (who pushed in front of us in the queue for tickets and then proceeded to do that annoying thing of using other people to discipline their own children: “That man’ll hit you in a minute if you carry on…”), the trip itself was very good. London is quite impressive at night with all that well-designed lighting. I recommend a flight to anyone who doesn’t have a morbid fear of heights. And even those that do — just don’t look down, you’ll be fine.
Click the thumbnails for bigger versions, or there’s an album in the gallery.
Finally, we took the tube to Earl’s Court and amazingly found our hotel without getting lost. The hotel was lovely. Our room was a bit on the cosy side, with about half a yard’s gap between the end of the bed and wall, but its saving grace was the fantastic balcony. We supped bubbly stuff, and then, in the morning, made like good old fashioned Englanders, and insisted on breakfast out in the winter air. It was fantastic.
More than just catching up, this post is a longwinded way of saying a huge THANKYOU to Mary for spoiling me rotten for a weekend. I had a fantastic time, even if I am now stuck with that Phantom melody endlessly going round my head. When do we go again? 
Happy New Year everyone – I hope you had a good one, and that the new year holds all that you expect and want it to. I’m not so sure why we, as a society, look to the ticking over of one figure on our home-made time system as a new start and some kind of punctuation mark, but we all do. You hear a lot of talk about fresh starts and clean leaves – I would rather not be doing something that needs restarting or cleaning in the first place…
Anyway, the new year does indeed hold a fair bit for myself and a few of the people around me. Good luck to everyone who needs it – congratulations to everyone who deserves it, and best wishes one and all
Well, I am back at work after having the tail end of last week off with Reading-itis. I’m still annoying all around me with a strangely loud cough though. 
Kent, it has to be said, were soundly beaten by Surry tonight – see? (when did I become a cricket fan, exactly?)
Best wishes to Sam – get well soon.
As you may have gathered, I am back from “oop north”. It was ok – glad I went. Tainted a little by the trip to A&E Sunday morning, but still… Prospects for the week – more coding; plugging the ‘engine’ into the ‘bodywork’, pretty much. It seems to be going ok. And oh yes… I kinda bought a new toy (but I have since taken it back… 
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I am off for a family gathering up north for the weekend. It’s been a slow day with things on my mind. Thankyou for keeping me occupied. Why does tidying an inbox take so long?
Looking for a car? Try this. Yes it has a knackered engine, but it really is a great car. Go on, it’s cheeeeeap! (ok ok, it’s my dad’s and it is slightly knackered… but come on… )