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).

Oh crikey, where does the time go? Been a bit busy hence the lack of entries for a week, so time to dig out yer old time travelling socks once more, slip them on and slide back to last week for an update.

On Friday I had no sooner got in to the office than I was whisked out again by Gary to help with the big roadside extravaganza we'd been preparing all week. Our target area was sort of up the coast a bit and then inland but never straying west of Ipswich. I thin kwe got done everywhere we needed to and also found a new lunch location. Jets Cafe on the old RAF Bentwaters site. It is a bit creepy seing the remains of the US Airforce occupation sitting in some corners, buildings with old signs on etc mixed in with those that have been re-developed and have new businesses lurking within their walls. The food was excellent and very reasonably priced so we will no doubt be back in their in the future. Our route did also include Charsfield, but we got their far too late for it to have been worth hanging back on lunch to visit the Three Horseshoes. Never mind.

In the evening we were round at Ma & Pa again as Grandma was up for the weekend. Another nice meal and good chat etc.

As previously hinted at, Saturday was the day of the Llamasoft forum meet up in London. Things started OK but then went drstically pear-shaped to say the least. I got down to Waterloo by 10 as expected and found the hotel we were meeting at empty, they were already queueing for the Eye. I thus hoofed it up there as fast as my little legs would carry me and arrived in time to see them in the second pod up. Aaaaargh, missed my flight!

Having hung around for half an hour while the group rotated I finally got to say hello when they got down again. At which point it was decided I should go up after all (they still had my ticket) while they had a coffee and we would meet at the Science Museum in about an hour. That was the last I saw of them!

The trip on the Eye was as good as I had been lead to believe by a number of different people and I can highly recommend it. Hopefully my pictures will come out OK as it was a fairly nice day and I coud see quite a distance. I was also a bit surprised to find London not as dominated by high-rise development as I had thought. There has been a lot of bad press over recent years about new buildings spoiling the city but in all honesty I didn't see many big lumps sticking up. And as I actually like modern architechture it looked fine to me. The Eye itself is also a fantastic piece of kit although parts of it look like they could do with a re-spray already.

So, I then made my way down to South Kensington and up to the Science Museum. Nobody there. (Well, nobody I was expecting, there were plenty of other people but they don't count). A quick burst of text messages confirmed the group had heard the queue was enormous (it wasn't) so they had decided to head in to central London instead. I asked them for a place to meet and went off in the same direction, arriving at Leicester Square to get a mesaage saying they were now on their way to South Ken. I gave up at that point feeling hungry, tired and a little peed off. So had some food, did a bit of shopping and went home early. Not really the day I had planned and lessons will be learned before the next attempt.

On Sunday Joan and I stayed in the house to avoid the horrendous winds that were sweeping the country. Seems we made the right decision as a little lad from up the street was killed by a falling branch. Tragic all round and his parents are apparently in a right state.

I also spent the morning in bed with a splitting migraine, but managed to stir myself by lunchtime. Didn't really get anthing else done that day though.

Then it was Monday and back to work again. It was intended that I would stay in the office and look after things here while everyone else went out doing more roadside and deliveries. However, I ended up doing a run out to Bury St. Edmunds with a delivery. Not of books though, but of our modern apprentice Ray. He had managed to slash his head open on the lock at the back of the van he was loading and after glueing and stitching up at hospital needed to be taken home. It was nice to get out of the office and I have put in a claim for the mileage, but it did kind of interrupt my plans for the day somewhat.

Monday was also the day that the town centre gyratory system came in to operation. As far as we can tell it has all gone very well - it now being Friday we have received no complaints and only good mentions in the press. This must surely be a first of some kind. From my perspective both Park & Ride sites are running at least as smoothly if not better than before so I really have no worries.

Tuesday was another out and about day. This time just doing deliveries in the west of the county and with Charles for a change. We got loads done and had a nice dinner at Newmarket too. It was a long day though, which helps in my quest for a couple of flexi-days off between now and Christmas which I will hopefully be able to tie in with times Joan is off too so we can do the big present shopping thing.

That then leads us into the two days off I had this week. Wednesday was our trip to London to do the Eye and a river cruise. It all went OK to start with and then down hill (sound familiar?). We had a lucky escape at Ipswich station when it became obvious that Barry from work was going to be on our train. Fortune smiled though and he didn't spot us which did at least allow us to get to London in peace and quiet. I'm sure he doesn't mean it, but the man is just so tedious and irritating.

Anyway, all went well with the trains and tube and we got to Waterloo with no problems. A swift walk up (well, I knew the way this time) brought us to the Eye in good time but also a slight drizzle. That was not what we wanted, but unfortunately the weather was not to be on our side and we suffered from showers (and downpours) all day. Being early was deliberate as we decided to make the Eye the focus of the day and explore the area around it a bit rather than risk getting caught up in crowds elsewhere and miss our flight or cruise. So we went for a snack at the aquarium in the old County Hall building but decided not to actually go in to look at the fish for an hour as it was £8.75 a head. Which price also applied to the Dali exhibition which again I would like to look at, but will want to take a decent amount of time to get my money's worth.

Instead we went to the Royal Festival Hall for a mooch about and so forth. It is a wonderful building and we really must get to see some music being performed their sometime. We even managed to buy a couple of small Christmas presents whilst inside, which was nice.

Then it was up up and away again. I enjoyed it just as much as on Saturday despite the poor weather meaning reduced visibility and Joan thought it was great. The only downer was that our pod contained the obligatory screaming kid, who I think was lucky they don't have opening windows. I'm sure I wasn't that noisy when I was little so why should I have to suffer them now?

From the wheel we went straight on to the boat. That was also brilliant. Only went as far as the Tower and back again but lasted a good 45 minutes and enabled us to see many new things. Again, some brilliant buildings in a good mix of old and new. And the new City Hall opposite the tower is just fantastic. Must go back on a sunny day to get some pictures of it. I don't think I've done a boat on the Thames before (certainly have no memory of one) and am now itching to get water-borne again on different stretches of river.

Having nibbled a bit on the boat we skipped a proper lunch and headed off to South Kensington - to the Natural History Museum. Somewhere else Joan had never been and I'd not been for years. The dinosaurs were as good as ever (if a little dusty) and there have been some great changes since last time. And the mionerals gallery is as fascinating as ever. I still can't get over the fact that the crystals and things in there are actual natural occurences and not some sort of mad experiments with things. Such wonderful shapes and colours. And of course the building itself is also a work of art. I was sorely tempted by a book on the history of the museum but at £30 decided it was just too expensive.

By the time we got out of the museum it was 5.30 so we decided to get a meal before heading home. On arrival at South Ken underground station we discovered the District and Circle lines closed due to some fool throwing themselves under a train at Victoria. That meant everyone crushing down to the Piccadilly line platform leading to them then deciding to evacuate the station due to overcrowding. Well, hello! What exactly did they expect people to do? So there we were turfed out into the rain with no idea of what to do next. Fortunately I know how to read bus maps and we were soon on a 14 heading towards Tottenham Court Road where we know a good branch of Garfunkels. Naturally the bus terminated itself short at Piccadilly Circus leaving us out in the wet again. Still, a quick walk took us through Leicester Square to the Garfunlels on Charing Cross Road instead where we duly warmed up, dried off and stuffed our faces.

By the time we had eaten all seemed to be back to normal on the underground and we were able to get to Liverpool Street with no hitches. Of course that meant the rest of the final journey had to be awkward instead! We thought that arriving at 1948 left us too late for the 1945 train but it was also late, arriving in time to leave again at 2000. It was painfully slow most of the way, stopped at extra places and then they threw us all off at Colchester. We finally got back to Ipswich at 2200. Only an hour late! However, despite the transport and weather hassles it was a great day overall. Once again London has tried to put us off going back and failed.

Yesterday was a much calmer and lazier day in many respects. To start with we didn't go out of Felixstowe. We went in to town in the morning and came back with paint for the dining room, full stomachs after lunch at Puccinos, a bit of other shopping and... a Nintendo Gamecube. Yup, I finally got round to buying it, and all seems lovely and shiny and top fun (and managed to get second controller and memory card free)! Only spent half an hour or so with Pikmin so far but it looks very good indeed. Also picked up Super Monkey Ball and Zoocube dirt cheap today so that should last me a while.

We also cleared all the bookcases in preparation for the painting tomorrow (of the walls they rest on, fool!) and did a bit of general tidying and stuff.

Today started with a meeting of the town centre car parks group. At Bury Road P&R where it all seemed to go well and athen a visit from the man from Britvic. He wants me to change from Coke to him for vending machines at the P&R sites. Might well give him a try and see what happens.

And now it is piddling down with rain again and I need to go and catch my bus back to the site soon. Fingers crossed for a dry spell.

Busy day so far for a change. Finished off all the roadside preparation this morning and waved all those heading out off before settling in for a few minutes of quality internet-based skiving. Then headed out to Bury Road Park & Ride to be photographed with the new buses. That went OK but while I was there one of the buses they were using while we had the real ones broke down and chaos ensued. Glad I was on site to see how well they coped really.

Called in at Radio Suffolk on the way back to buy one of their new CDs produced to raise money for Children In Need. Full of jokes and stuff so should be a good laugh. And it was only a fiver. Took the opportunity presented by being up that end of town to pop in to the shop where I got another Lynx game a couple of weeks back, but they didn't have anything else in. Some cheap second hand Gamecube stuff though so I expect I'll go back there after I get mine next week.

Now things have gone a bit wrong at London Road Park & Ride. Some idiot car owner has driven into the exit blocker and had their petrol tank ripped open in the process. Splendid. They have had to get the fire brigade in to mop up and now the water company need to find where all the drains go to make sure none gets where it shouldn't. Fab.

Add to that people asking me to chase up complaints and answer questions that are nothing to do with me and things seem gloomy. Then throw in the fact that my phone number seems to have been used to replace the TraveLine for enquiries now that has closed and you can see that I'd much rather be at home today. Especially as Joan is off. If it wasn't for the availability of quality Egyptian Dance Music on the internet I'm sure I'd go mad.

OK, so it is technically American music, but by a chap of Egyptian descent who has lived there for a while in the past (and also Italy) but we don't need to get that specific do we? MP3.com sure is proving to be a wonderful place now I've started digging deeply into it. And I have always had a soft spot for some of the stranger sounds that come out of Arabia so adding them to a modern idiom works wonders for me. All I need now is time to get them on to Mini Disc for regular listening.

Also lookingon the brighter side, I have now obtained a blank CD to take with me to the Llamasoft joly thing in London on Saturday. The plan is to record a whole bunch of us shouting obscenities on Yak's laptop then work those in to a special customised version of Gridrunner available only to those in attendance. Should be a laugh. We are also going on the London Eye (and I'm going again on Wednesday with Joan!) and shopping for fluffy sheepies etc. Really looking forward to meeting some of the people in the flesh I communicate with daily. Pity some of the foreign correspondents can't get over, but that would be asking a lot really.

Hmm, just had another complaint in - seems one of our sponsored operators is refusing to accept notes as payment for any fare under £3. Surely that's not cricket! Better get the sponsored team on that one.

My books have arrived. And maps. All look lovely thank God after all the hassle. We even had a helpful driver to getthem off the lorry for a change. Weeeeee. Now just have hurty arms to worry about.

Tried the new fried chicken take-away in town last night. Tasted exactly like KFC. Not so much of a secret blend of herbs and spices eh, colonel?

Managed not to spend any money at lunchtime again, but the potential for spending has increased again. Especially as our payslips arrived today and we have had both raise and back pay. Most woo and yay worthy.

Less in the way of strange dreams last night I'm pleased to say.

Oooh, look at the time. Better go now to pick Joan up.

More rain. Getting a bit sick of it, and winter hasn't kicked in yet.

One of those regular back at Argos dreams last night. Ipswich this time, and they had once again called me in to sort out a serious mess in the stockroom. I did of course, and then refused the job when they offered it to me on a regular basis. But is this case the manager was my old Primary School headmaster Mr Thomas and the person I trained up for the job instead of me was Dr Carter from ER. All very odd.

Today we are mostly stciking timetables together in advance of the big roadside push later this week.

Another drab day waiting for other people to do things for me.

Weekend had its moments though. Joan off Saturday so we did lots of tidying and ordered a new carpet for the dining room. Not sure when I'll get time to paint it but that's another matter. We then had Alexander staying the night which was fun.

Sunday Joan back to work so I did loads of ironing (of course) complete with commentaries on Independence Day and Charlies Angels. Both quite interesting. Then last night round to Ma & Pa's dinner. Very tasty.

Wahay, nearly the weekend. Nothing else to say!

Drat, and double drat. Beaten again by the curse of intermittent posting. Still, I do have a work-related excuse for a change. We had a Business Plan away day at the Novotel in town. Not the most scintillating place to be, but the food was superb. Hot bacon rolls and cheesey croissants in the morning break, a 3 course lunch with choice of 4 main dishes (I had char-grilled prok with cinamon and apple) and cream scones in the afternoon. I was quite good and had no starter or dessert at lunch and avoided the scones entirely (well, they weren't done with proper cream!).

However, other than fat stomachs I'm not really sure what we acheived. Lots of discussion and buzzwords flying about, but how much of it will make the final cut I couldn't say. Will be interesting to read it though, and I have also volunteered for the working group to pull it together and try to get stuff implemented. Sucker for punishment, that's me.

Then haircuts and a relaxing evening.

Today it is all Park & Ride Christmas leaflets and calenders to keep me busy.

Another miserable rainy day. Although rain is not a strong enough word for some of the precipitation we have been witnessing.

Only real bit of excitement was that they shut the college across the road after a bomb scare, but didn't think about telling us. Surely if that goes bang then we would suffer? I could have used an afternoon off!

Oooh, and now we have thunder and lightning too.

Joan didn't get in to work until nearly eleven today due to another shutter failure. Hope they get it fixed at some point.

Oh, alright then. Maybe this week I'll get something written every day on the day. Don't go holding your breath though. So, back through the old time machine again to Thursday last week.

A day about which the work related part of my mind seems to be completely empty. Hmm. I must have done something constructive, but I'm blowed if I can recall what. I know they found the problem with the shutter at Argos though - instead of wiring it up properly on its own circuit, the fitter took a spur from the shop lighting rig. That operates on a timeswitch hence them not being able to open it until the lights came on at 0855. This has now been sorted and hopefully our days of late night visits to the shop will be over. Especially as Peter who lived closest has now moved up to Trimley which theoretically means we ought to be first on the list.

At home we had a bloke in as well. After 6 years in the house of thinking about it we now have individual thermostats fitted to all the radiators which should save us a bit of dosh on the heating bills. Plus we can finally use the fire properly in the lounge without the rest of the house going cold. Whoopee.

Friday was a Park & Ride themed day mainly. Some work on the accounts, some hanging around on street corners waiting for the buses to deliver them some posters and some wandering down to the post office to send cromalins off by Special Delivery. Our post people not being able to handle that sort of technical detail. I'm quite keen on any excuse to get out of the office, but it could have been a bit warmer.

Saturday Joan was at work again (she's off this Sat though, hoorah) so I did the usual music (lots of Wonder Stuff as I am doing some minidiscs for DTJ) and film (American Pie 2 plus one of the 4 commentaries) whilst ironing in the main. Also went round to Ma & Pa's as cousin Christian was up with his brood. Nice to see them again. Also loads more done on the extension since I was last there. I also surprised Joan by turning down an X-box even though the price has come down again. I'm just hoping that will lead to a cut for the cube as well soon.

Yesterday was another looking around at things to do in the house day. Went up to the big (OK, enormous) B&Q up by Bury Road Park & Ride and have now almost definitely decided we will be attempting laminate flooring in the lounge. I'm just not sure (a) what we will do with all the wires currently hidden under the carpet and (b) how to get around skirting boards. But as the answer to (a) may be to replace the skirting boards with hollow ones to run the wires through it might not be an issue. Also managed to squeeze in KFC for lunch. We know it ain't good for us but it does taste so nice.

In the evening Joan & Helen did the Bingo thing again (and lost again). There was also the watching of Panorama which was about the anti-depressant I'm taking at the moment. Seems likely it can actually cause some of the symptoms it is meant to be treating, which could explain a lot of the crap I went through last year when the dose was upped. Also the fact that when I tried to come off them earlier this year I had to go back on again. Am seeing the doctor on Friday to see what's what.

Today it is more P&R but no excuses to hang about on street corners. Did take a wander over to the Council Chamber at lunchtime as this week is stress-busting week and they were offering some sort of relaxation and information event. Turned out to be a waste of a walk really - just a few leaflets with nothing new in them and a couple of people doing Indian Head Massage with big queues. So I didn't bother sticking about.

Huzzah, shops in town have started reducing Gamecube software prices. Makes my imminent purchase all the more groovy.

Can't rely on technology can you? Argos finally gave in to the staff's requests in Felixstowe and Yesterday the men came to fit a proper security shutter at the entrance to stop people walking up to the door after hours, piddling through the letter box and setting the alarm off at stupid hours of the night. It looks very nice and seemed to be working fine when I picked Joan up last night. Today she had a doctor's appointment so wasn't rushing when the phone rang. Tracey couldn't get in and was coming up for our remote control. That didn't want to work either until nearly 9. Ha diddy ha ha.

Have also just had a thrilling meeting sorting out security aspects for the new Park & Ride at Martlesham. Should be as good as the other two.

Blinkin' 'orrible rainy wet gloomy miserable day. On the brighter side we have now seen every timetable and almost got the books finished. About bloody time too.

Picked up my Pix and also seen the ones taken digitally last friday. No good ones of me but I will stick a few up somewhere for people to look at sometime. Some surprises on my film too - I'd forgotten how long it has been in the camera. And Jessops did a pretty good job so I will use them for a while (they give a free film with every one they develop too).

Have also put a subscription form in the post for F1 Racing. They finally have a freebie worth getting - Murray Walker's new autobiography rather than a baseball cap or T shirt. Hopefully they won't have run out before mine is processed. Will work out cheaper for the magazine too even if I will miss out on the WH Smiths points.

Time to go now and sit outside Argos waiting for Joan.

OK, new week, new attempt to at least register my continued existence on here every single day. So, what has gone on since last time?

Thursday: Was generally dull and uninteresting. Just checking timetables and so forth. Managed not to buy anything at lunchtime followed by a quiet evening and all that.

Friday: Good and bad kind of day. Bad bit was that Joan woke up with a stinking bad head, feeling and being sick and generally not very well at all. Packed her off back to bed sharpish and then had to deliver some keys to Argos so they could carry on without her. All of which meant I got in to Ipswich with about 2 minutes to spare before leaving for Red Lodge and our way out day out thing.

Gary had obtained a small coach from Beestons to drive us all over in and it was very comfortable indeed. I lived up to expectations of all and sundry by sleeping for most of the trip there (a feat I repeated on the way home) - I even missed stopping to pick Ray up in Bury St. Edmunds so I must have needed a rest. After signing our lives away (well, some form of disclaimer anyway) and coffee for those who wanted it we were split into teams and sent off to our first task. My team also featured Ray, Christine and Barry. Yup, we had to suffer the Walrus from hell messing with our team's scores by being absolutely crap and useless at pretty much everything.

Anyway, our first thing to drive was the "not quite a tank" armoured personnel carrier with caterpillar tracks and stuff. Only a very short course for that one and very bumpy as the lack of rain meant the ground was solid as a rock. Despite the chap telling us it would be tricky, it was actually very simple and easy to drive. One pedal to make it go forwards and two levers controlling the brakes on the left and right side tracks, both of which were expected to need a lot of pulling but were actually quite "light". A bit of gentle but persistent and controlled pulling required to turn smoothly rather than in jerks and it was also incredibly noisy. I have now put tank or similar tracked vehicle on my Christmas list. That would really annoy the neighbours, but I'd have no trouble parking it.

After a swift break event two was the reverse steer Ereppi. A pick up thingy nobbled so that turning the wheel to the left made you go right and vice versa. Oh, and just to make life more interesting the driver was also blindfolded and relied on directions from a partner. That was therefore the only part of the day that was anything like a team-building exercise - which was the original intention behind having a day out. Ray and Barry went first and made a complete arse of it. Going round in circles, stopping for ages to try and work out what to do next, knocking over and missing out the gates and cones. Loads of time and loads of penalties added. Christine and I did a lot better - very quick and only a copule of knocked cones between us. Unfortunately our speed and efficiency didn't help us make up the defecit the other two had created in our scores.

That led us in to lunch and for some a go on the swings as well.

For the afternoon we started with the bit I had been looking forward to the least - the Quad Bikes. Again that was done in pairs so Ray & Barry went first. And returned within about 5 minutes as Baz was scared to go above a crawl. Christine and I therefore donned the helmets and gloves and mounted up. It took me about 5 seconds to decide they weren't as scary as I expected and another 5 to decide they were actually a lot of fun. Damn fast too. I ended up being out for about 45 of our 60 minutes as when we headed back to see if Barry was going to try again he wasn't, so I went out with Ray. I did make the mistake of sticking my foot out from time to time when cornering at speed (thinking I was on some sort of normal bike that might tip over) thus knocking it on the floor painfully and also ended up in a fence at one point leaving me with some hurty bruises and the bike with a cracked fairing. However, once I got the hang of steering by turning the handlebars rather than leaning over I had a damn good time. Got up to a lot of speed, got some air underneath me after some of the bumps, humps and jumps and got very dusty. I have now added quad bike to my Christmas List.

The final session was Range Rovers. As with the other 3 events, I've never experieced 4x4 off-roading before either. Luckily they had two so I was able to share one with Christine and avoid Bazza once more. This was also good fun - the "not falling over when driving along a very steep bank" and "going up hills you wouldn't want to walk up without a rope" abilities were just incredible. Trusting the vehicle to do things you would normally try to control yourself was quite a novel experience too. I have now put some sort of Jeepy thing on my Christmas List.

In all a very good time was had, even if our team did manage to come last overall thanks to Baz and his general prat-ness.

Home in time to find Joan up, but ready to go back to bed again. Which was where I sent her and had a fairly quiet evening followed by an early night.

Saturday: Ouch, aches in places I didn't even know I had places. Probably what comes from hanging on for dear life but with a big grin on yer face whilst trying to control the hot throbbing monster between your legs. Oooer Mrs.

Joan well enough to go back to work so I spent most of the day tidying in the study and ironing. Richard came along for lunch - we finished the Iron Maiden DVD - and study of job websites but found nothing. Then in the evening we went shopping and settled down for a nice (you guessed it) Chinese with Casualty and Silent Witness.

Sunday: another good day overall. Joan off so we started lazy then went out. The main aim was to try and locate some form of raised bed kit for the garden as we both fancy the idea of some. Nothing was forthcoming though so I guess I will end up getting some wood and building our own. Should be fun. We also managed a nice lunch at Fatty Arbuckles and looked at lots of carpets and furniture and got a stick-on shelf to use in the shower. I think we are looking at re-decorating the lounge sometime soon but having seen the cost of floor coverings this may well get put back a tad.

On the way home called in at the open day park & ride/remote display site for the Ipswich Transport Museum (didn't have time to go to the museum itself) to find Gary as achy as I was. Then home for a snooze before a light tea and part two of SW.

Today: at last!

More timetable checking and so forth. Have also put my film in to be developed (and had to find a new outlet for processing as the one I'm used to in Felixstowe has shut). Will see how the pix come out tomorrow and scan and post any good ones.

Stillreading the London book (well, it is very thick) and over the weekend listening has included:

Little Angels - Don't Prey For Me and Young Gods.
Apes, Pigs & Spacemen - Snapshot.
The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land.
Trancient Dreams - Some MP3 Stuff.
Gong - You - Remix album (disc one).
The Levellers - Green Blade Rising. (Again).
Various - A free Disney CD that came with a paper yesterday (the only reason I bought the paper, so you could say it was free with the CD).

Right, time to go home now I think. Hopefully for a nice evening.

How strange, no furniture has been moved today. Not so strange was me getting sucked in to Out Of Time 2nd hand cd shop at lunchtime and getting some more Thunder. The first album Backstreet Symphony to replace my tape and also The Thrill Of It All which I've never had before. Bet you are glad you read that then!

Concluded last night that either Joan and I watch too much tv, or their aren't enough actors going around at the moment. We seemed to spend all evening saying - "wasn't she in Holby" or "He was in Casualty" or whatever. Very confusing when you are trying to appreciate them as someone else.

Joan is in Ipswich for a meeting today. Tracey brought her in but she will probably come home with me. Might stop for dinner on the way home if she finishes late enough.

Um, err, whoops. Maybe next week I'll manage to post every day again. Anyway, back in time we go. Weeeeeep, bleeeep, whooooosh, spong! There, through the time tunnel and out in the murky past of last Friday night.

Dinner at the White Horse was as tasty as ever. OK so I had the cottage pie which I've had before and Joan had the Chicken & Mushroom pie that she's had before but the menu isn't that varied so repetition is unavoidable. Mum & Richard then came back to our place for a game of very competetive Trivial Pursuit. I won! However, the stress and mental effort involved must have been too much for me as after getting up for a spot of breakfast on Saturday I decided to go back to bed for ½ an hour or so and ended up sleeping on until 12ish. Quite ridiculous and most unheard of for me. Still, I still feel refreshed today so it probably did me some good.

After a spot of tidying up and stuff we went out again in the evening. To Joan's boss and her bloke's house-warming bash. Very unexpected for it to happen and even more so for us to get an invite. He must be doing something right with her! Very nice house all told, if a bit bland in the decor and in need of major plumbing repairs in the bathroom. Still, those are the legacy of the former owners so we won't blame Tracey for them. They are sort of on the border between the villages of Kirton and Falkenham, just outside of Felixstowe. Not sure I'd want to live in the middle of nowhere like that myself (well, not within walking distance of the shops at least) but the peace and quiet must be nice sometimes. Mind you, compared to our old flat our house is vey quiet too. Nearly had to leave early as Tracey got an alarm call while we were there but in the end Peter dealt with it which saved everyone a lot of hassle. When we did finally wend our way home not only was it very foggy but the police were pretty active. We saw the helicopter hovering over various points between Felixstowe and Ipswich and saw several cars and a van on the move. Haven't seen anything in the news though.

Sunday saw Joan at work again so I once more confined myself to the study and ironed whilst coralling numerous internet-sourced tunes and herding them on to mini discs. Mainly some more Bassic but also some other stuff that was just floating rootless on my hard drive. I also got some reading in. Finished ...Shimmerism while I was waiting for Joan to come out of work on Friday night and can say I thoroughly enjoyed it. And not just because I'm in regular communication with the author either. Hopefully he will be able to get a sequel up and in print soon. Am now working my way through Peter Akroyd's Biography Of London (which sharp-brained readers may recall me mentioning when I bought it). I say working my way through, but it is not work at all being a wonderfully informative and easy read. Not the first book on our capital I have read but I've come across new things already. Just wish i had more spare time to spend wandering round London looking up some of the places and features mentioned.

The evening was occupied by the US Grand Prix. ITV have tapped in to Bernie Ecclestone's digital broadcasts so although we still have to suffer adverts and no widescreen the overall quality of the show was much better. Focus on the right moments of action, stacks more vantage points and cameras (some cracking on-car shots) and useful graphics too. Much better than what we were having to deal with. Of course if this becomes a permanent fixture I'm even less likely to pay £12 for the priviledge of the full package on Sky as this version was more than good enough. The most interested I've been in the middle of a race for years. And the end result was superb poetic justice too - Schumacher slowing down for a formation Ferrari finish and getting it a bit wrong so that Barrichello ended up taking the win. Classic cock-up! Makes up for the result in Austria though.

And so it was back to work for another week yesterday. Am now finishing up loose ends with the books to make sure they turn up on time and doing much the same with Park & Ride stuff for the gyratory. I guess that should keep me busy until November when I will have to find a new project of some description to keep me happy and busy. Of course I could always become a furniture mover as there seems to be a lot of that going on at the moment. 4 people have already shifted around this week and more will no doubt follow. We are supposed to be recruiting 4 new people soon and will have to squeeze them in as well as a possibel whole group move to make that possible around Christmas. I know we need a good clear out, but there must be an easier way!

Helping me start the week was one of those forgotten classics or "cd's I don't seem to have played for years that turn out to be much more superb than I remember them from before" to be more complicated than necessary. In other words, in the car has been Laughing On Judgement Day from Thunder which had me singing all the way in and out yesterday and in again today. What a damn classic that is. Good job I have no passengers really.

Oh, and I did pay the anticipated visit to the HMV sale yesterday too. As well as the superb new Wildhearts single I got the two System Of A Down albums (Toxicity is in the car now following the Thunder) and two more from Underworld - Dubnoheadwithmybassman and Second toughest in the Infants which I have on good authority are well worth the £2.99 and £4.99 I paid for them.

The sun was still shining come the time I'd finished scoffing my lunch so I went out for a wander. Made a fairly major decision while I was in Smiths and didn't buy Buses magazine. I will be giving that a miss from now on as a regular purchase as, quite frankly, I've lost interest and can't be bothered with it any more. I guess I will keep an eye on it for local articles but otherwise am happy to be reduced in my public transport consumption. Followed that up by resisting temptation in the HMV sale. But I'm going to have to go back there on Monday after we get paid. Hur, hur, hur.