This has turned out to be a very dismal day weather wise, and I am feeling like I'm coming down with a bad cold or the flu or something which is definitely NOT good, what with tomorrow looming and all. The sense of taste has gone all to pot and I have a stuffed up feeling with aches in the legs. The latter could be from numerous trips up and down the stairs last night bringing books back to the dining room of course, but that won't explain the rest. Hope I feel OK for the theatre trip. WOuld be an absolute bummer to miss it.

Anyway, managed to get the camera all plugged in and installed on the PC and transfer pics off it fine. OK, so it then crashed when I tried to open up the interweb and refused to start up again for so long I thought I'd killed it for good. Had to go via Safe Mode in the end which did the trick but had me feeling sick as a dog for a while. I hate it when expensive things don't work properly as I always fret about what it might cost to get them sorted out. Still, it all seems fine now, with the large memory card and tv-link also proving to be successful. Now all I need to do is work out how to insert pictures here and this can be regularly illustrated.

Not been further than Alberts today due to the torrential rain so no shopping at least.

Will have to get some dosh before tomorrow at some point so hopefully it will stop or ease up soon so I can do it on the way home. Only another hour or so before I leave.

Well, that was an interesting visit to the Dentist. Regular viewers will know I've got troublesome deep pockets which they have attacked with various methods up to and including a series of root planing treatments. This time they have come to the conclusion that there is nothing more they can do for me as general dentists - my mouth is as clean as any they have ever seen but bone loss is still happening. This is not good as sooner or later my teeth will have nothing to root into and just fall out. Which is not something I particularly relish.

As a result I am being referred to a gum specialist to see if there is anything he can do for me. They think a chap in Colchester is one of the best around so I could be in for some serious A12 mileage in the future. Unfortunately it will all have to be done privately rather than through the NHS so could well end up costing a fortune. I'm not sure I'm happy with the expensive option either but I guess it has to be better than false teeth.

Just so long as the pain is kept to a minimum I guess I will cope.

So, on leaving the Dentist I went and paid in that cheque and headed down to Argos for some sympathetic understanding from Joan. She greated my arrival with a rather unexpected question: "Were you serious about getting a digital camera with some of that money"? Was I ever! They are doing a series of one week promotions in the build-up to Christmas and this week's included a rather superb Minolta digicam reduced from £599 to £299. Well, that was what I was thinking of spending on a much lower spec one (well, obviously!) so after a good look at the one they had in stock and its manual I bought it. And in doing so qualified for a half price additional memory card, a free leather case (designed by Lamborghini of all people) and some free binoculars. Not bad at all. Not installed the software to transfer stuff to the PC yet but the results so far just on the built in LCD screen look absolutely stunning. Plus it has a whole shedload of features and stuff. Whooopppeeeeeee! With that and the Cube Christmas really has come early for me. I think I will be spending much of tonight in the study experimenting. Just need to find a mains adaptor/battery charger thingy for it now to save on expense in the future.

On top of all that the Carpet people got it right at the second try and the room looks great. It was their fault not mine - someone had cut some off the roll and not marked it or something. Seems a bit odd to me - surely they should measure when they cut each time? Anyway, they did a great job and we are going to get some mats made from the kitchen-sized off-cut to put down by the windows and doors (or possibly in the kitchen).

Ma & Richard came round to help put the room back together and move the shelves from the lounge in, so the whole thing now looks superb. Just need to bring all the books down again, and put the new CD racks up in the lounge. That will have to wait though as they need staining first to match the rest of the furniture and I might as well wait until after we redecorate in there if we are definitely going to do it this side of Christmas.

I don't believe this - I can overhear Mike on the phone to one of our sponsored service operators whose drivers don't want to go out after dark. What a bunch of idiots!

Had another stroke of luck this morning. I had planned to bring Joan in to Ipswich on Saturday for a spot of indulgence-shopping as she deserves it and was luckiy enough to have a Saturday off this week, but that will now have to wait as we are going to the Theatre instead. Yup, on arrival at work there was an email offering tickets and travel to see Les Miserables in London and I snapped them up like a shot. It is the matinee performance so we will be back home at a reasonable hour (she is working on Sunday) and I am really looking forward to it. Neither of us have ever been to any of the big London shows so this will be a real treat. And I can take the camera to get some fab London pics with any luck. Fingers crossed for the coach being unaffected - it is also the Lord Mayor's show on Saturday morning which may cause us a few problems but may also provide some nice piccies.

I think that's all for now. Only a few developments to report! Now for some fun timetable changes to look at.

Hmm, I seem to be in a doing as little real work as possible but being at my desk all the time kind of mode this week. This entry does of course help in that score! All I have done relating to my contract today is meet a man about a possible future park & ride site at the Wherstead interchange to Ipswich (which could be pretty good as they are proposing it as part of a development including some kind of entertainments arena - if that brings big bands to within 15 minutes of our house then it gets my backing) and sign a couple of letters I wrote on Monday. And I am leaving around 1ish to go to the Dentist so today could be my least productive ever.

Got all the furniture out of the Dining Room OK last night - which makes the rest of the house unfeasibly crowded at the present. And it seems they brought the wrong length of carpet. Richard says they cut it wrong but I hope it is their mistake and not mine on the initial measuring or it could turn out to be very expensive. Urk.

Oh well, an insurance policy matured yesterday and paid out more than double what we were anticipating so it looks like we will have a stonking Christmas and a cracking holiday next year after all. Yeeha.

The weekend can be summed up with a couple of words really. Paint and Cube.

To expand on that somewhat, on Saturday I put two coats of creamy emulsion on two walls in the Dining Room. We now have a nice two-colour room and all the wood panelling is hidden. Well, it is still there but the paint went on to it really well and has totally transformed the look of the place. Wish we had done it when we first moved in, but that's experience for you. On Sunday we took the old carpet up and glossed all the remaining woodwork and trim. It really does look rather tasty now. Roll on tomorrow when the carpet man comes.

When not painting I put in some quality time with the Gamecube and am once again very happy. I can see that I am going to get totally addicted to all 3 games I have so far. Of course it helped that Joan went out to Bingo with Helen on Sunday night so I was able to get properly stuck in...

Yesterday was our Seventh wedding anniversary. So up yours to all who said it wouldn't last! Pity we both had to work but there you go. Helen & Bhupen bought us a lovely unicorn statuette thingy which will go in the Dining room as it matches the new colours perfectly. Ma, Pa & Richard came round in the evening with more goodies including fluffy sheepie stuff as 7 is allegedly the Wool Anniversary. We also had a very nice tea and a relaxed evening.

Tonight we have to get all the furniture we've been working around out of the dining room for the carpet to go down. Not sure how we will move in the morning but hey, that's the fun of home ownership.

Better do some work now (or just read the latest stack of bus and rail magazines that have ended up in my in-tray).