Have Passport, Will Travel: August 2006

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Autumn must be on its way...

Morning all,

A couple of days ago when I was getting ready to drive of to work I noticed that this hot summer is definitely on its way out. The weather felt chilly even though the sun was out. But what mostly convinced me was this sight on my neighbours aerial. A whole bunch of this years fledgling starlings starting to group together. I'm not a bird man (or ornithologist...) so I don't even know if these birds migrate or not, but normally when these start to flock the autumn is on its way.


I had to post it as I quite like the picture, hard blue sky and good light on the subject matter.

Cheerio,

Alex.

PS Please vist my mate Chaz' Blog, there have been developments...
http://disappearingchaz.blogspot.com/ Posted by Picasa

|

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Disappearing Chaz...

Afternoon!

A while ago I posted some entries about my friend Chaz who was having a Gastric Band fitted. Well, first of all he is doing well and losing weight fast but even better, he has joined the Blog community. You can watch Chaz' struggle with the weightloss on his brandspanking new Blog at
http://disappearingchaz.blogspot.com/

Please have look at it and maybe leave him some comment, he can use all the support he can get. Plus, he is a funny fu&^%&%$er... Hahahahahaha....

Take care,

Alex.

|

Dog People...

Hello there,

Its been a while since I have updated the Blog so here it goes. First of all my trip to Ensenada Mexico has been cancelled. Another engineer is going to sort out that particular customer. The good news is that I am going to another south american country. I'm off to Venezuela in a couple of weeks. The place I'm going to is Tiara in Miranda Province, about a 100 km south of Caracas. The job is a straightforward one so with a bit of luck I might be able to actually see something of the country.

The other more important thing is this... The missus and myself have been talking about getting another dog. It is now 4 months ago that my greyhound Mickey died of cancer. Over the last couple of months we really have noticed the difference between being a dog family and not being one.

We miss the walks in the countryside. We always used to take Mick on long walks all over the Suffolk countryside. Besides the fact that he really enjoyed it, it also was very nice for us. We used to see all sorts of wildlife. We have seen, amongst others, Foxes, Hares, Rabbits, Mink, Red Deer, Munckjack Deer, Owls, Pheasants, Grouse, Adders and many more... Now that we don't go out to those places we don't see any of that anymore. It also provided us with a frame of reference with regards to the seasons. We would know from being outdoors what season it was just from the state crops or trees were in.

So our health has suffered as a result from not walking him. Normally we would do an hour twice a day shared between us. Usually the missus the morning ones and I would take him out in the evening for a good run in the forest. Now that we don't, we have gained weight. I must have put on a good 10 pounds since we stopped walking. We miss the fresh air, and yes, we even miss walking in the pouring rain, as frequently happens in England... And strangely enough it seems to have affected our general mood. We just seem to be a bit down and nothing seems to be able to lift us out of it. Its a bit like going through the motions but not really enjoying it all... We never expected our dog's death to have such an impact.

Don't get me wrong, not having a dog has had its rewards as well. We can now go on holidays without having to sort dog sitters. We can go out without having to make sure to be back on time to walk the mutt. It has saved in dog food cause he ate like a horse, the bugger...

So the long and short of it all is that after long discussions about the pro's and con's we have decided to go for another dog. We can't at the moment as we are (still...) working on the second half of the kitchen project but as soon as that is done we will start the process. We will have another greyhound. We like the aspect of providing a retired (or injured or un-qualified) racer with a good home. Mick was a retired racer and we like the idea that these dogs, who normally don't have such a great life while they are being raced, finally will get what they deserve, a good home with plenty of exersize and plenty of lazing about. (That is what they do best, after all...)

A few things will be different, we will try to get one that is smaller than what Mick was. Mick was an Irish greyhound and the tend to stand taller than english greyhounds. He weighed over 90 pounds... The problem with having a greyhound that is huge is the fact that they are not very good at laying in small spaces. They spread out as far as they can and Mick had colonised a whole settee for his comfort. So a smaller one shouldn't take as much space as he did.

We will go through the Retired Greyhound Trust. http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/ This group of people is responsible for rehoming 35.000 greyhounds over the course of their existence. There are quite a few dog race tracks in the UK and as dogs only race till their 5 years old there are a lot of dogs that need rehoming. In the bad old days a lot of dogs were put down as soon as they retired or got injured. The Trust was formed to help the trainers out by sorting out the rehoming of these dogs. Through their site you can find you own local branch and that is where we are going. We will use the Ipswich branch to find a dog. Or a pair. Sometimes they have dogs that need rehoming in pairs and one dog or two dogs? Its all the same. (Just double the costs hahahaha....) http://www.greyhoundhomer.org.uk/

So I guess it took us some time to get over Mick's death and to realise that we really are doggie people. I don't want to be without a dog anymore, they make my house a complete house. Don't get me wrong, Mick's death did tear me apart but I guess the human spirit can learn to cope with anything. So, watch this space for updates, the missus is already trawling the web pages to find suitable dogs, I will keep you updated.

Cheerio,

Alex and Jackie.

|

Friday, August 25, 2006

The Kid From Brooklyn...

Morning all,

Finally a new post, I've been busy. Sorry about the layout problems, there is something wrong with my template. The links are on the page but they are way down at the bottom. Also note the difference that there are no ads anymore. Adsense was under the impression that I was cheating or had broken their rules so no more ads. A well, at least the page looks more restfull for the eye....

You gotta go to this site, this is hilarious. Its called The Kid From Brooklyn and can be found at http://www.thekidfrombrooklyn.com/ . This is an old guy ranting at everything from terrorists to fuel prices in New York. There are a host of video's available and they are sidesplittingly funny. Don't go on there if you don't like swearing, he's rather rude, but funny!

OK, gotta go, it is nearly weekend here,

Take care,

Alex.

|

Monday, August 21, 2006

Bob Marley Biography...

Afternoon,

Another book I gotta share is this one. The book is called "Catch a Fire" by Timothy White. It is a biography of Bob Marley. I have always been a fan of reggea music but I never knew much about the man himself, besides all the normal stuff in the press.

The book is very well written and is actually readable. Some biographies are unreadable because of endless lists of facts and figures. Of course, as he was a musician, there is a bibliography and a discography but the figures don't get bigger than the story.

The book chronicles his early life, his career, his politics and his love life. The book also delves, quite deeply, into the background of Rastafarianism and Marcus Garvey. It is fascinating to see how the early reggea artists battled it out in the war of the Soundsystems. You soon realise that there really was a fertile scene there as a lot of comtemporary artists cross each others path. Most of these became household names themselves, like Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff and others.

The book devotes a section on the less tastefull aspects of the squabbling over intellectual rights and money after Bob's death. The book of course is not quite up to date anymore and there has been a recent court ruling against Aston 'Family Man' Barrett with regards to royalties. Another fascinating part describes the strange events that happened after his death with regards to the ring of Haile Salassie. This ring has disappeared under suspicious circumstances with many believing that it is buried with him. This mystery is still ongoing...

The book was first published in 1983 but has had a whole slew of updates and reprints. The version I have is the 1998 issue. It is published by Omnibus Press. They can be found at www.omnibuspress.com .

All in all this one I can heartily recommend as it is a fascinating read. A stiff one I have to say at a good 500 pages...

Enjoy,

Charles Dickins.

|

Gastric Bypass... (or something like that...) Part 4

Wheyhey, I had a reply from Chaz, it's in the comments but I have stuck it on a full post so that its visible...

Hi Elmer, Just a note from your friend Chaz. Operation seems to have been a success so far. Restrictions include no alcohol, no fizzy drinks, no fried foods, no currys, no chilli and that is probably forever unless I get the band removed. Oh well, I guess I ate my fair share of all that stuff in the first half of my life.

Now I am on liquids for a week and then onto such luxuries as runny Ready Brek, fruitjuice, smoothies, strained soup and scrambled eggs at a push. They haven't even pumped in the saline to the band yet and won't for a few weeks until the swelling has gone down... and there was me thinking it was just my overgrown stomach...lol Also had my umbilical hernia fixed after seven years of agony and that is hurting too right now. Chest looks like it has been sprayed with bullets with a large patch over where my valve is for the gastric band. Need to return to the clinic today (Monday) to get some fluid drawn off..Yuk!

My food bill will drop immensly as will my size. I can hear the local take away shops in Portsmouth boarding up and moving elsewhere now due to the loss of their main contributor to their profits... Just like to say "Thankyou" to Alex and our other mate Rob for the support in my hour of need. Weight before op was 164kg(just under 26 stone so I have roughly worked out, will keep you progressed on the 1/2 to one stone per month on average I am now expected to lose.)

Hiya Chaz! All I can say is keep up the good work and good luck with it all!

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Friday, August 18, 2006

Gastric Bypass... (or something like that...) Part 3

Hi there,

I was just instant-messaging (is that a verb?) with my mate Rob and he told me that Chaz, the man from the bypass, is waiting in hospital for a doc to discharge him. So I guess it is all going OK sofar. Maybe he is fit enough to leave a comment on the Blog this weekend...

OK, gotta go, got guest coming over for a drinkup. Marian The Irish Pixie is coming over. I fear I might have a hangover tomorrow. And tomorrow we are off in the caravan to Thetford for an evening with Jackies sister.

Cheerio, have a good weekend!

Alex.

|

Gastric Bypass... (or something like that...) Part 2

Hi there!

Good news this morning. I had a mobil phone text from my mate Chaz. This is it completely:

"Op went well. Still all wired up 2 monitoring machines. Bit out of it still. Chaz."

So I guess he is on the way to getting thin now. The hard work must start now I suppose. From how he described it, it works by restricting the top opening of the stomach so hardly any food can get in. His stomach size will go from the size of a small country to the size of an orange. I guess he will have to eat small portions and often. I will ask him when he is out of the hospital. So good news all round.

Anyone want to pitch in a comment, feel free, the more the merrier!

Cheerio,

Stadtler without Waldorf!

|

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Gastric Bypass... (or something like that...)

Morning all,

This post is meant as a bit of support for one of my friends, Chaz. I have known Chaz for a long time. First he worked for me as a contractor working in Martlesham, then he became a manager at the company he worked for, that did work for my company. Then we both got made redundant and he ended up at NEC the telecoms division. He managed to get me a job there as well.

For 4 months Chaz and I were the Waldorf and Stadler (Click the title of the post...) of NEC while we were seconded at 3 the video mobile network in Reading. The both of us had a riot even though the work was crap with a capital C. I have never seen a bunch of inexperienced tossers make such a hash of a network rollout, never mind.

Chaz is a big bloke. I mean seriously huge. He is 6 ft 8 or thereabouts and rather rotund to go with it. His trick at 3G in Reading used to be to go in the elevator and when the doors opened after going up or down he would stand right in the centre of the door. He would completely block the entry to the elevator with his head scraping the ceiling and he body filling from door to door. You should have seen the faces of the people waiting, it was hilarious... A coupla of weeks I got an email of him telling me that he was going in for a operation to shrink his stomach. He is having a sort-of donut fitted to the top of his stomach so he won't be able to eat to much. The operation is not so invasive as I thought it was. Apparently they can do it all now through keyhole surgery. He only has to stay in for 1 night. But nevertheless it is surgery so it can be dangerous. He told me that he was going to email me as soon as he was out so I'll keep you posted on his progress.

Anyone who reads this gone through the same operation? Drop us a comment please!

(Something else, while you are reading this, click on a few of my ads on my pages, the revenue has been rather poor.)

Good luck Chaz!

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Ian Banks, writer...

Let me share something a little bit more intelligent that just ramblings about my kitchen...

I have always been a voracious reader. I drive my wife to distraction with all the books I always have laying about. I am one of those persons that can read more than one book at the time. On some occasions I have 5 books on the go. I read a bit from one, I read a bit from the other. Another odd fact about me is that I re-read books a lot. For example the Robert Heinlein SF classic 'Time enough for love' is a book that I must have read at least 5 times. My missus does wonder about that. My main reason for re-reading books is that some books are written with such a love for language that you keep finding little bits and pieces that you missed last time.

I read all sorts. I have favourite catagories but I will read anything. I have been known to even read the thrashy chick-lit my wife reads when I have run out of books on holiday.

My main love is SF. Any of the great writers like Asimov, Heinlein or Ian M Banks can get me interested. Especially 'old' SF books written in the 50's and 60's are useful to show what the thinking in those days was with regards to the future. Yes, most of the technology and societies described have now been overtaken or disregarded but it still provides a good window on the thinking of the time. Take a book like 'The Green Hills of Earth' by Robert Heinlein. It is a 1952 collection of short stories by Heinlein. Yes, most of the technology is now all outdated or bypassed but the actual stories stand up as good old yarns...

My favourite however is a scottish writer, Ian Banks. He goes by that name for his fiction and Ian M. Banks for his Science Fiction. http://www.iainbanks.net/ The first book I read by him was Consider Phlebas and it really bowled me over. In my opinion this was the 'space opera' coming of age. Within months I read everything by him I could get my hands on. He's written over 20 books now and I have read them all. Actually, I'm a sad bastard, I have all the books by him on the shelf...

Other books I enjoy a lot are biographies. One of the best I read was about the american WWII general George Patton. The book was called (unsuprisingly) Patton, by Ladislas Farago. The book managed to cram a lot of facts and figures in a book about a fascinating character. Another good one is Bob Marley by co-written by Chris Blackwell. We all think we know all about these famous people but when you read about the nitty gritty background it can be suprising.

I know that SF readers are always looked upon as nerds and slightly weird people, in my opinion people that read Science Fiction are just trying to broaden their minds and take a new point of view at age-old problems and opportunities.

Anyone read any good new SF authors recently? Drop us a comment. About any book I suppose...

Here is the url from Orbit books, the publisher of Ian Banks' books, http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk/
I guess the other books can be found on Amazon, http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=books

Cheerio,

Charles Dickens.

|

New Kitchen Progress...

As promised, an update on the kitchen progress...

The new kitchen is now nearly finished. We are still short of one cabinet door and a tray insert for one of the drawers. All other parts of the new kitchen are working as they should. The best part of the new kitchen is the dishwasher. We have not done any dishes by hand for a month now, bloody brilliant! We must be one of the last families in England to have been doing the dishes by hand, but alas, we have a machine for it now, thank %$£%$%ck!



The new cooker is very good. We haven't found anything with it that we don't like. The best part is the rotisserie in the oven. We are grilling chickens, sides of beef, ducks whatever, it is great. The meat stays nice and juicy while crisping up the outside, these must be the best grilled chickens this side of London hahahaha.....


The missus has stuck some flowers and potplants on the windowsill and that does look rather nice. Lets just see how long they last. Jackie hasn't got green fingers as such. Most plants in her care survive on a spartan regime of water once every 3 months.... Needless to say that most plants in her care take the easy route and die as soon as possible to avoid a lingering slow death hahahahaha....


This is the door that is still missing. Trust Homebase the DIY store to make us wait on one single 30 cm door more than 4 weeks...

Never mind, the big work now is the old kitchen. That needs ripping out and waterpipes need re-routing and the whole floor in the new and the old kitchen needs re-tiling. That'll be done last. It won't happen this weekend as I 'm off to Jackie sister on saturday with the caravan for an evening on the beer in Thetford.

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Cuba Gooding Jnr...

This is the man, Cuba Gooding Jnr...


Hi there,

The mystery is solved. In february my wife and I went to New York for her birthday. We stayed in Manhattan and did all the sites. My missus wanted to go to Katzes deli to go and have a Pastrami sandwich in the place where 'Harry met Sally'. While we were in there chomping away at our pastrami sandwiches some bloke walked in. A lot of people went up to him to get his autograph. I couldn't care less as I was eating. Do not get between me and my food! After wolfing the nosh down I asked one of the waiters who that was and he didn't know either, 'Some stupid actor I fink', was his comment. The guy at the counter got his takeaway and left the place. Just today I saw a piccie on MSN and bugger me, it's the same guy. Apparently he is a famous actor who played in Pearl Harbor amongst others. So I DID meet somebody famous, even if I couldn't care less....

Little hint: When ordering the food in Katzes deli: They do not do Bacon, nor Ham nor anything related to pigs. I guess I forgot, hey, I''m a foreigner... Just because they don't like pig doesn't mean I can't eat it? Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm stoopid, I just fancied some bacon, sorry...

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

James Blunt parody...

Afternoon,

I was surfing around some Blog sites and I found this. Its a parody on the James Blunt song 'You're beautiful'. It is very funny. Here is the link.

http://www.lifeaftercoffee.com/2006/06/14/my-cubicle-song-lyrics/

Don't ask me about copyright etc, I don't know, read the stuff on the page and enjoy the song.

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Ensenada Mexico...

Morning All,

Just found out that I am going to Mexico for a short job. I'm going a few days to Ensenada in mexico. It's at the northern end of Baja California. According to the website the airport in Ensenada is strictly military and private aviation so I'll fly into San Diego which is 110 kms north and then just take a taxi I suppose. Has anybody done this trip before? If so, is it easy to get taxis at San Diego Airport to go across the border? Are there any special rules on what you can bring in and out of the country? I'm carrying loadsa tools and spares so might need import licenses. All info is appreciated. The trip is not for a while. Possibly within the next 10 days...

Cheerio,

Alex Speedy Gonzales.

|

Monday, August 14, 2006

Caravan Greyhound...

Morning all,

I was trawling though some old pictures and I found this one of my greyhound, Mick. This was taken in Sea Palling on a camping trip. The bugger had snuck in the caravan and had gotten himself nice and comfy on the bed in there. When uncle Jarred started cooking breakfast he poked his nose out of the window to see if there was anything there for him...



See, he looks like a natural camper. (He wasn't, he didn't think sleeping outdoors, when you have a perfectly good house, was any fun...)

Cheerio,

Alex. Posted by Picasa

|

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Mayon Volano Philippines

Afternoon all,


I was having a look around on the BBC news website and I found this picture of a soldier on patrol near Mt Mayon which is on high alert as the volcano is about to erupt according to experts.

What attracted me to the picture is that the guy is bringing his lunch, alive...
See the backpack...

Picture Copyright AFP News Agency.

Regards,

Alex.

|

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Claude Monet's Waterlillies (Modern Version)

I had to Blog this.

I found this online somewhere, I can't remember where. It's a modernday version of Claude Monet's Waterlillies. Check the shopping trollies in the drink...


The picture is not mine. I also don't know who's copyright it is... If its your's and you want it removing just drop me a comment and I will take it off.

Cheerio,

The Art Critic. Posted by Picasa

|

New Slayer record!!!

Wheyhey the day just gets better and better!

The new Slayer record is out. Its called Christ Illusion and its brilliant! I have been a fan since, well, forever actually. I've seen 'em in Holland loadsa times and everytime it was wilder and better than the last time. Mr Araya and compatriots are still my favourite band. Nice to sea that after about 15 years and loadsa records they still make the same uncompromising racket! Who says having a University degree stops you from making decent heavy metal?

Make sure to visit the Slayer website at www.slayer.net . The picture below is from their website and is their copyright. Go and check it out. You can download their new record from there and buy all sorts of goodies!

Keep it real!

Alex.

|

Dragon Boat Race Sudbury 2006

Ooops, I had forgotten to post this...

This is the annual Sudbury Dragon Boat race. This is an event where local teams of 10 contestants (I believe...) have to row against one another in a shoot out. There are 5 pairs of rowers and a drummer on board. First one to the line wins. Fastest time qualifies...


They were very lucky with the weather as the sun was belting down and there was a good crowd on the banks of the river Stour.


The beer tent did brisk business (mainly me and my brother in law Jarred) and a good time was had by all.

Sudbury Suffolk is not really known for being the most happening place in England but once in a while they do organise something that is worth the bother. Nice one!

Cheerio,

Alex. Posted by Picasa

|

Red Arrows v Red Barrows

Hello all,

I had to Blog this. Last sunday at the Sudbury Dragon Boat Race there was a display team doing a spot for charity. Everyone must have heard of the Red Arrows Flying display team. Well, this is nearly the same with the difference that the Red Arrows use jet airplanes while the Red Barrows use, eh, ehhh... wheelbarrows. They do the display all through the UK for several different charities. The one on sunday was for breast cancer support I believe.

The Red Arrows do all sorts of dangerous stunt formations and so do the Red Barrows. They did all sorts of formations like Flying V's, Left Flank formation, right flank formation etc.

The crowd loved it. The MC hammed it up nicely explaining what they were doing, it was hilarious.


The boys in red must have been sweating their behinds off as it was a very warm day.


The biggest proof (if that was needed) that people loved it was that at the end when they went round with the wheelbarrows to collect donations for the charity the money came flying in from everywhere.

This was an excellent humorous way to collect money for charity, keep it up boys!

Cheerio,

Alex. Posted by Picasa

|

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Hua Hin Suites...

Hi there,

I just found a website with the hotel on there where I'm going in december. It's called the Hua Hun Suites. www.huahinsuites.com Has anybody reading this Blog stayed at this place before? Any comments are welcome. Or comments on Hua Hin itself would be nice. Where to eat, what to do, what to avoid... How much the taxi is from BangKok to Hua Hin etc....

All comments welcome!

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Hua Hin Thailand Holiday...

These are some pictures of the place we are going to in december. See entry below...




Morning all,

Its been a while since I added anything to the Blog, that's because me and the missus have been taking it easy the last few days.

Last sunday went to the annual Sudbury Dragon Boat festival which was pretty good. It was a beautiful sunny day with loadsa people about. I'll post some pictures in a later entry as I don't have my camera here. The beer tent was a popular location, wink wink nudge nudge... Jackie managed to get 'a bit wobbly' as she put it... We then went to an art display in the Quay Theatre that featured photography from Elaine Tuke and Stephen Whatshislastnameagain. There was some good stuff there but the local guitar duo piped up and that was reason enough to bugger off back to the Dragon Boat races.

But the main reason for this entry is that Jackie and I have booked our holiday trip for december. We are going to Thailand for 9 days. We are going to Hua Hin which is about 2.5 hours south of Bang Kok. The best thing of this trip is that we are flying Business class all the way. I managed to use my millions of airmiles that I have earned over last year. So for about 150 quid a person in taxes and fuel surcharges I'm flying business class all the way. So that includes the business lounge in Heathrow, the business lounge in Paris and all this vice versa on the way back. So basically free food and booze for 24 hours and a seat that might actually fit my big behind. Jackie is seriously excited about the trip. I have been to Thailand before but that was just a short visit for work so didn't see too much of the place. This time I'll be mostly doing nothing! Above are a few piccies of the place where I'm going. These pictures are from the Virtual tourist website ( www.virtualtourist.com ) and I don't know if they are copyrighted, if they are just drop me a line and I will remove them.

The DIY on the kitchen is still ongoing. We are in the process of kitting the new kitchen out with all the necessary bits like knife racks, cutlery drawers and stuff like that. Basically the new kitchen is nearly done. Soon it'll be time to start the removal of the old one. Actually we have already ripped one side of cabinets out to fit the fridges and freezers in there.

No work trips planned for me at the moment, it's summertime in thermal imaging land. There are a few on the horizon but nothing firm yet. Countries mentioned are Jordan, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Vietnam, so plenty of interesting stuff coming up.

That is all for now,

Cheerio,

Alex.

|

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Adnams Broadside...

This is another reason not to fall asleep in the afternoon after a shed load of Adnams while there is somebody creeping around with a camera.

Nice one Jackie, I'll get you back....

Alex. Posted by Picasa

|

Caravan Part 2...

Morning All,

I tried to file this bit yesterday but the server was playing up...

I was gonna explain a bit about the problems I had with the caravan. My caravan is a very old Bailey Pageant Majestic 2berth from around 1985 I guess. Everything used to work OK but after this trip I am convinced it is on its way to that great scrapyard in the sky. It started on the thursday when we arrived. When I arrived I couldn't be arsed to set up the water system as I was in a hurry to get to the pub which still closes at 23:00. So on friday morning when I hooked it all up I found out that the pump had seized. So of to Barry Sharman in Ipswich to get a replacement pump. www.barrysharman.co.uk He had one on the shelf for 28 quid which was good. When I hooked the thing up in the caravan it all looked like it was working. When I went behind the caravan to check the position of the water butt and the pump I noticed that there was a waterfall coming out of the side of the caravan. After I picked myself up from the floor after laughing my arse off I had a good look and it turns out that there is a leak in the Carver Cascade water heater. I can't fix that easily so I have just turned it off so we have no hot water anymore.

The next morning I opened the main front window and it came off in my hand. Again I pissed myself laughing. I think the window rubbers had gotten soft in the hot sunshine. At least I managed to get that back in without too much hassle. Maybe it is time to part exchange this caravan for something a bit newer.

I actually once managed to lose this caravan once. This happened on our first trip to Thetford in Suffolk. When we left that campsite I thought I had hooked it up good and proper. When I drove off the whole bloody caravan fell of the tow hook. I have never heard such a gale of laughter going across a campsite.... hahahaha.... Luckily we didn't do any damage that time. I did manage to lose both my wheel trims as I kept forgetting that the caravan is wider than my car. We live and learn 'ey?


This piccie was one taken by the missus. Its a beautiful sunset over Martlesham taken with the camera set to sepia. It really is a cracking picture.

OK, gotta go, off to Dublin tomorrow morning,

Cheerio,

Alex. Posted by Picasa

|