Two wheels good - Four wheels better?

 

This weekend was the date for the Black Country experience II (this time it's serious).

For this event I managed to arrange a factory tour of Westfield sports cars in Pensnett. The tour was very good and the test drive of one of the cars even better. A simple 1600cc engine with hardly any body to pull around means that you can get near motorcycle performance from the car - quite cheap too. Having tried both I think the bike still has the edge but at least you can't fall off it.

Sampled the Batham's and the Enville Ale - very nice and even managed to spend a few hours with my Mom too. As a bonus we were pleased to avoid Boff and  disappointed to miss Amanda as they came down to Cardiff for the weekend. Just joking Boff - honestly :)

Carol did get her pressies too. I bought her a new watch, an Omega De Ville which looks really good and my Mom bought her a top of the range Sat Nav Tomtom 910 for when she gets lost around Trowbridge. So pretty good all in all. - but she does deserve it ...oh did I say that already?

As I write this we have just had our third consecutive day without any appreciable amounts of rain - is this the turning point?

It's that time of the year again

When your birthday arrives now it's not quite as welcome as it was when you were a child but you do get the chance to celebrate it the way you want it. It was technically Monday but I decided that I would bring it forward a few days and celebrated it over the Saturday and Sunday (as per my previous blog). The curry  was particularly good and the beer too and we shared the experience with our friends Janet and Andy. 

Remember also I said that I wanted and flashgun and a battery grip for my new camera - well guess what Carol bought me both of them. I was particularly impressed with her choice of flash gun especially for a non techie.

What I didn't mention - because it hadn't happened at the time - was that I got wet again. Capsizing once is bad luck, but the second time is getting a bad habit. This time it was slightly more difficult as the mast got stuck in the mud and righting the boat was much more difficult. Still we managed it and sailed back on the jib sail.

The benefit of posting two blogs at around the same time is that I can repeat how proud I am of Carol passing her exams. Pressie time I think.

The Wait is Over

 This week has been quite a busy week for a number of reasons and the most important being that Carol has passed her final exam for membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Managers and is now a Graduand and awaiting the Graduation ceremony later this year. It's been a long hard course for Carol who has had to fit this in around her day job and looking after Barney and Me. It's also no exaggeration to say that I am very proud of her and believe that she has done very well indeed!!!

Much less auspicious but worthy of note is the fact that I have had a very busy week on ebay. At the time of writing I have a confirmed sale of my 17-85mm lens, (posted) 10-20mm lens (collected) and the 20D Body and battery grip (awaiting payment). That's the positive side of the Bank Account ledger - on the negative side I have bought a 17-40mm L series lens which arrived on Wednesday this week. I have only had a little time to play with it before having to be in London for the last two days this week. The observant amongst you will probably conclude that the nett balance is still likely to be positive so there may be a few smaller purchases over the next few weeks as I get a flashgun and Battery grip. After having a grip on the 20D I really miss it on the 5D. The 100-400mm lens will have to wait until next year when we go to the States- so for the meantime I'm sticking with my 70-300mm IS USM lens from the 20D.

Its my Birthday next week and this is the Birthday weekend - so it's off for a few beers and a curry tonight. The weekend weather is looking pretty grim at the moment and this may be another weekend's sailing cancelled.

Yesterday (Friday 20th July) was an horrendous day for the weather. The heavy rain stopped all trains leaving Paddington and I had to go to Waterloo Station. From there it was a slow train to Salisbury and then change to go to Bristol Temple Meads. No trains were leaving Temple Meads for Bristol Parkway - where my car was parked, so I caught a taxi from there. I intended to get the 3.15pm train for a 2 hours journey and actually arrived at 9.15pm after popping into the Chinese Takeaway on the way back. Looking a the damage caused by the flooding on the news last night I suppose that I should be thankful that was the extent of my inconvenience.

So what about the coming week? Well a few trips to London but really it's going to be fairly quiet. Need to sort out the currency for China and Hong Kong this week and perhaps buy a few clothes for the trip. Please stop raining so that I can go sailing !!!

Dam(m) Wall !!!

Well it had to happen eventually and Saturday was the day when I capsized the Miracle. It was quite windy out on the lake and the wind was blowing onto the shore making it difficult to get away. As you can see from the Move clip by following  This Link to see the fun and games!! We did make an attempt to try and recover it but too late on this occasion - better luck next time... 

Still the weekend wasn't a complete disaster very good news in fact as Carol has gotten herself a new Job as a Senior HR Advisor at Trowbridge Council - well done Carol!!

Having had enough water based fun on Saturday I thought it best to stay away today so its been catching up on a few jobs at home and a nice long walk with the dog. This evening in fact in around an hours time we are going over the road to a BBQ at a neighbours house. The rain clouds are forming as I write this.

Moving On Up

The last few months have been really busy for Carol finishing of her College course and swotting for job interviews but now it's time to relax a little as she has just been offered a new job!!

It's a senior HR Advisor at Trowbridge Council and she went for the Interview on Friday 6th July. The post is initially centered in Education but offers the opportunity to move around the various HR departments to get the post Graduate experience she needs.

It will be a tough year however as Trowbridge is quite a trip - but hopefully the benefit will outweigh the inconvenience - like the 50% pay rise.

It's the day of the Durleigh Regatta today and it looks like being a good day. It was very windy yesterday but now its much calmer - hopefully not too calm though!!

Yet to try out my camera properly but have a trip to Westonbirt arboretum planned for Sunday to take some pictures of trees and things.