The First 25 years (are the worst)

 

Or so they say but I can’t say that I agree with them. There have been a few bad times, lot’s of good times and no regrets.

As regular readers are aware we went to New Zealand earlier this year as part of our wedding anniversary celebrations but decided that the great day couldn’t go without some special event. So we (I) decided on Spain and more specifically Malaga and Granada – with the second location being the site of the Alhambra (The Red One). It is a basically a citadel located on the top of the hill that was constructed during the time of the Moorish empire and it is listed as one of the top 50 places to visit. Better still in my opinion was the hotel where we stayed and you can see photos of all the places we visited by following the link.

It certainly didn’t disappoint and the weather was good too. Plenty of time for some R&R before getting back to work – which as ever is challenging.

The driveway is moving along slowly but steadily and work went well yesterday with the combination of good weather and a great deal of effort on the part of Carol and myself. A separate blog will follow with all of the pictures but here is a shot as at yesterday – just before it rained.

I bought Carol a bracelet and a necklace for the anniversary but she got me a pair of cuff links but with a difference. The centre of the cuff link was made from the engine material of a Spitfire and the number of the Spitfire was embossed in the centre. A very nice present indeed.

On the bad side our IPOD dock has decided to expire so I will be looking to replace that in the future – there are a lot about and it should make the coming months interesting in auditioning the favourites. At the moment I am interested in the Fatman itube Carbon which looks very nice.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was looking at buying a bike. With the cyclescheme run by Arup it effectively allows you to buy a bike at around 50% of the price and pay for it over 12 months interest free. The scheme was open only briefly in March but now has reopened again at work so I have been spending the last few weeks selecting a model I like. I won’t go into all of the details over Hybrids, cyclocross, road bikes etc but I will probably go for a Bianchi Camaleonte 5 which is festooned with bits of carbon, is very light and is unavailable for this year!! The new models come out in September so by then I should have my voucher to use.

The idea is that when I’m in the office I will share the commute between the train and the bike to improve my fitness. Unfortunately it will arrive too late for my next run – the Bristol half marathon which is at the start of September.

Finally I won’t be working on the drive next weekend as I am off for a very special Birthday treat that Carol has booked for me. More news on that when I return.