bob the blog

Well, we’ve been in this house for nearly 18 months and the bathroom renovations are almost complete, with the last tile being stuck in place yesterday. I might get the grouting done today.

Still waiting for a really good day to do some kite landboarding. I went out yesterday to the usual haunt at Baiter Park but the wind was marginal and only just sufficient to keep the kite in the air and little else. And the grass was wet and squelchy. All this in contrast with last weekend when the wind was blowing in huge gusts and not much fun for kiting either.

aj

Oops – archived the lot with one click. Nevermind.

Like I was saying, we’ve got some wedding pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/81134979@N00/sets/72157601939884716/

aj

The wedding rush is over, but there’s still lots of stuff kicking around the house that needs sorting and tidying. I’m off to start a new job tomorrow in Ferndown, and am still working out the best way to get there – it’s a good hour or so on the bus, but under fifteen minutes in the car *Outside Peak Hour*. Could be much longer in heavy traffic. The bus is looking tempting.

We got a lot of wedding pictures from various people and I’ve put a collection of them online here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/81134979@N00/sets/72157601939884716/

Well we’re now married and the day seemed to go well, with the transition of the church building from `service’ mode to `reception’ mode appearing very smooth – this all happened while we were outside having Pimms and photographs. The sheer amount of cakes was mind-boggling. I felt quite relaxed throughout, and was glad to be at the culmination of months of stressing and organising and worrying that we were going to appease some people at the expense of offending others, etc. Thanks to Revd Mike Oates for his great leadership and a sermon which he appeared to have expertly built around the readings we’d only finalised on the morning of the Day.
It was good to have some Wibbers and Shippies there, and many many photographs were taken which will no doubt surface soon online. When wedding planning, some people suggest getting lots of disposable cameras for the guests to use, but in this day and age of nearly everyone having a digital camera of some form, it made more sense for us to set up a computer at the rear of the church with a flash card reader so that people could upload their photos on the day.

aj

Been back a week in the UK, and yesterday we went off to a car boot sale in Yeovil. There didn’t seem to be many car boots in stock, but we found some other good stuff, coming away with a teapot and packet of chai tea for £2, a wall mirror for £2, a paper trimmer for £1 and an old Magimix food processor for £5. Add a game of Jenga and a soup ladel and it was a worthwhile afternoon.

aj

I’m in Bangkok’s shiny new Suvarnabhumi airport, enjoying the free wireless. Whoo-hoo!!!! Waiting for the plane to London, which is said to be boarding at 0030. Dum-de-dum. Luckily the Tim-tams are safely packed away in checked luggage, otherwise there’d only be half as many as there were when I started.

aj

Ok I’m nearly set to return to the UK. Tomorrow is the day to pack all the bits I left behind last time. I’ve got my road bike pedals + shoes, headphones, a few books, some souvenir Australian tea towels (printed on genuine Irish linen!), an EOS camera lens, some Lizard sandals and various other bits. It’s cold down here, and rainy, so I look forward to seeing a bit of warmer weather, if the rumours are true. I’ve also stocked my computer’s iTunes library with a few extras, including some Gershwin, some Vaughan-Williams and a touch of PDQ Bach, not to forget an old Sarah Masen record that i dug out to refresh myself with her sound, in preparation for seeing her at Greenbelt this year. The flight’s on Sunday at 4:05pm.

aj

Well, a couple of worthy Muppet references, but I’m still hoping someone here can recite something from the Muppet ABC. In the meantime, I’ve been sitting in front of the fire in rainy Hobart having a surf, while my sister watched Spaced. I’d add the picture, but I pasted the code from Flickr and got, well, code. Maybe someone more technical than me can tell me how I get the picture displayed (do I need to make the picture public on Flickr to begin with?). Anyway…

Apparently it’s still raining in Melbourne. Meanwhile, I’m now down in Hobart, enjoying the Tasmanian pace of life. Lots of mist around today, swirling over the city and up into the valleys. Every now and again the sun breaks through, and you think the clag is about to lift…and then the mist sinks down again. Quite special, really.
Anyway – time to get back to sorting out various bits of my stuff in my folks’ house. I’m finding old school books, bits of model aeroplanes, and various 3.5" (and one 5.25") disks that hark back to university days. Not sure I’ll ever look at them again.
Yesterday I put the Muppet Alphabet Album onto CD from the vinyl, after needing to repair the turntable first. That record is a classic and a favourite from…childhood…er…um…will always be a favourite. Would you like to buy an ‘O’? If we turn up at Greenbelt singing ‘C is for Cookie’ then you know I’ve got it on high iTunes rotation.

aj

It’s raining in Melbourne. I went to the zoo and all I saw was the zookeeper building an ark. Well, I wasn’t egg jelly* at the zoo, nor did I see an ark, but I have seen more rain than I’ve seen in England for a while. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a mere blip in what is turning out to be a very serious drought for Australia.

aj

*Ah…what therapy the Strine language is.