Afternoon,

A few months ago we had a quick weekend trip to Holland to visit my parents. They were of camping so the house was empty which meant that there was place for us. I brought my brother in law Jarred, his wife Clare, Jackie and her mum Barbara...

On the saturday we went to visit my parents on their campsite. We had given them a barbeque as a present and as we had a head chef with us (Jarred) we had an imprompty barbie... Needless to say that Jarred did us proud and cooked a great barbie!!!

Jarred had to get used to the fact that the dutch eat all the time even when camping...

This was my parents caravan.. Hmm, looks a lot neater than my caravan...

Barbara relaxing in my parents house back garden. A good time was had by all as the weather was great and the food ace and the green wonderful hahahahahaha!!!

Cheerio,

Alex.

James 21 in a silly hat...

Another late entry...

These are some piccies from James' birthday in April. He had come up from High Wycombe from Uni so we had to throw a little party...

This is yours truly hiding the fact that the cider was having a great effect in the sun hahahaha!

We had the party at the place where Uncle Jarred works so he did the honours with the cake...

Silly hat competition: James wins!!!

Everyone diving into the chocolate monstruosity...

Two of James' cousins digging into the dinner...

It was a nice little party with some decent cider and some good grub...

Cheerio,

Alex.

In the jungle, the mighty Jungle Jackie screams tonite!!!

Wheyhey another update...

While we were in Varadero, Cuba we went to some nature reserve. In that place they have the
oldest remains ever found in Cuba. They are believed to be from neolithic times...

This was a small cave where they found some skeletal remains...

Lots of bromeliads hanging of trees and it was boiling hot of course...

This here made Jackie run for the hills shrieking like a banshee... If you look carefully you can see a small snake in the middle. It was some little tree snake but it was enough to make her leg it... I don't know who was more scared, the snake or Jackie hahahahahahha!!!

Lots of cute little lizards everywhere...

Oh, and some dolphins... No they were not wild, they were penned in and were tame...

All in all a nice day out tromping through the undergrowth...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Cuba Holiday April 2010...

Afternoon!

Like per usual this must be a record, I haven't updated this Blog for ages now... Mainly because I was busy and also because I had better things to do...

In the mean time I have been to Cuba with my wife, to Dubai with my Lebanese agent, to India with my Indian rep and various other places in the last few months...

Right Cuba...

That was an eye opener I can tell you. The place is absolutely stunning but its ruined by the fact that the cuban people are dirt poor and under control of the government... They make fuck all money there while they see rich freely spending tourist having fun in their paradise...

This was the beach right outside my hotel in Varadero. Varadero is a 20 mile strip of white sandy beaches and lots of all inclusive hotels...

We did this holiday as a two centre jobbie. We stayed in Havana the first three days which was brilliant. Loadsa bars and restaurants and they all had one thing in common, they all had little cuban bands playing. This restaurant which strangely was called Vietnamese Reastaurant even though it didn't serve anything remotely Vietnamese had this combo playing. They were really good. It transpired that a lot of cubans are properly trained musicians that can't get any decent work so they have to work the tourist scene... After that we relocated to Varadero for 10 days lounging on the beach... what hardship that was... hahahahaha...

While we were in Havana this UK registered boat showed up to show the locals that yes, we are dirty capitalists... Bloody huge...

And yes, the cliche is true, the whole place is full of pre- 1957 american cars. This is because the govermnent doesn't allow any normal person to buy a new car... So they have to make do with these old bangers that look good but are pretty crap...

This is the Government House in Havana. Looks a bit like the White House doesn't it?

So, all in all, I enjoyed Cuba but I would not go back in a hurry unless there is regime change... I can't bear to watch these poor people living in paradise without any bloody money just because their government thinks that communism is the way forward...

By the way, Mojitos rock!!! Never drunk so much rum in my life!!! Hahahhahahaha!!!

Alex.

Keyur's new car...

Afternoon all,

I had to post this... This was very very funny!!! On the friday myself and Keyur had flown to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. That is where his offices are and we had some office stuff to sort out between Thermoteknix and his company. He told me that on the saturday we had to go and pick up his new car. No worries. So on saturday afternoon after a good vegetarian meal at some curry house we made our way to the Honda dealer. His new car was there, all spruced up with ribbons and all that... They made him pose with a big cardboard cut out key and took some pictures. The car was polished to a high gloss...

Keyur with the new car key and the new car moments before driving it of the forecourt...

In his car with some paper certificate that he now was the owner of brand spanking new Honda... This is saturday 16:00... (mark the time... its important...)

This is sunday morning around 11:00 am. Keyur in the street surrounded by loads of people argueing and shouting in the middle of Ahmedabad...

This yellow and green auto rickshaw had piled in the back of it, not that hard, then another bigger autorickshaw had piled into the back of that which rammed the first one firmly into our boot of the brand new Honda...

So there you have it. The boot lid on that car was les than a day old and it was already dented to buggery... While we were sorting the paperwork I just couldn't stop laughing... I had said to him while we drove of the forecourt on the saturday: 'I wonder how long it will be until you have your first dent in it...'. Hahahahahahahahahaha!!! Exactly 19 hours hahahahahaha!!! By the way no one was hurt and the insurance covered it all so all was well that ended well....

Keyur, you have had it now for over week, how many dents have you got already?

Cheerio,

Alex.

DefExpo 2010 New Delhi 2010...

Afternoon all,

Its been a while since I updated the Blog but here goes...

The last two weeks I've spent in India. The first week in New Delhi on the Defence Expo where my company showed some InfraRed cameras. We had a good uptake at the show, lots of visitors and lots of interested companies...

This is yours truly in a monkey suit with Alistair the product manager Imaging...

This was the small booth we had there with Mr Keyur in the picture. He is our local representative for our cement products and as of now also involved in the sales of our Miricle cameras...

There was loads of nice hardware there, from handguns to complete ballistic missiles... All of this stuff is Indian made defence gear. We are busy trying to get in with these kind of companies as there is a lot of money available as there are lots of threats in the Indian region...

Another nice example of some big missiles... dunno what they where for but they sure looked dangerous...

Another example of a rocket launcher that was parked outside where our booth was. All three of us had a good if exhausting time at the show. At least we did find the time in the evenings to blow of some steam and drink a few Kingfishers... While we were there Alistair had his birthday and Keyur managed to get a cake from somewhere that we ate on his birthday. All in all a good first attempt at the Indian defense market... Now all we have to do is see where it takes us...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Oi Love the snow, me!

Morning All!

We woke up this morning to another fresh layer of snow. It is perishing out there. We took Jay and Kenzo out to the rabbitfield. It was beautiful there this morning. The first piccie is Little Cornard blazing in the morning sunlight, blue sky, sharp light, beautiful...
Little Cornard...

Little Cornard...

Hey Jay, whats with all this cold wet stuff???

Jay, why is she wearing a dead ferret on 'er head?

Oi love the snow, me!!!

Snow on me hooter? Where?

I recommend these snowbaths! Good fun and does wonders for the skin!

A good wash in the morning...

Is this how you do it Jay? Is this enough snow?

Mum, for god sake ttake that stupid hat off, you are walking next to me and you are dragging down the style here....

So we had a nice but cold trot around the snow. Kenzo seems to be enjoying her walks. I can't wait when we can start letting her off the lead. It will be a while though as she first has to start listening to her name. Jay loved the snow as per usual. Charging around like a mad man, buldozering his hooter under the snow, rolling in it, just good clean cold fun!

Cheerio,

Alex.

You know when you've been Kenzo'd...

Good afternoon,

After the sadness of losing our little girl Izzy a while ago we have a new arrival...

On friday I returned from a two week trip to Saudi Arabia. After countless internal flights without a hitch or delay I return to the UK and Hoppa! Flight diverted to Heathrow, bags missing, traffic on the M25 blocked because of 1 mm of snow... Welcome to Blighty...

And this was the one day I needed to be back on time. We had to pick up our new greyhound, Kenzo. I had to get there before 2 oclock in the afternoon. With my flight arriving at 6:55 AM no worries, you'd think... Think again, I finally got home around 1 PM. Jumped in the shower, had a cuppa amd went straight out again to Dillymore Kennels. There we met up with Debby who runs the kennels.

We had come to have a look for a new dog 4 weeks ago and we had been shown a very young dog with no name. She was attacked when she was a puppy by her litter mates and because of that she refused to run. So she didn't go to the track and was straight up for rehoming. As she didn't race she didn't have a name and was not registered on the track.

So after a few days of coming up with bizarre names we finally ended up with Kenzo. We picked her up in a snowstorm and took her from the kennels home to our house.

And here she is, the little stunner! Kenzo in all her glory. She is a blue. That is what greyhound types call a grey dog... Strange...

And here we are showing that greyhounds are very adaptable. Within hours of arriving Kenzo was sleeping on the sofa with Jay!

In the evening I was channel hopping on the telly and found "One man and his dog." Kenzo loved it. She stood watching it on the telly, barking at the dogs and the sheep. Then she had a look behind the telly to see where the sheep were going, it was hilarious!!!

Come bye, come bye, a bit left, a bit right!!!

And this is her knackered in her bed in her new house. Sofar it has been great. You can tell that she is a new dog that has never been in a house. She is constantly snuffling around, trying to see what she can steal... She loves the back garden where she can tear around with JayJay. So indeed, it was a few bad months with poor old Izzy's demise but now we are looking forward again. This is the first grey that we have had that has been younger than 5 years. At 18 months she is virtually a puppy and I am sure at some point in time she will drive us mental but sofar so good, things are going very well...

I'll keep you updated...

Alex and Jac.

My baby is gone...

Afternoon,

A sad say for us...

For you that read the Blog on a regular basis know that our little Izzy was ill. We got her home last thursday from Dick White Referrals. She was happy and we were over the moon that she was responding to the treatment. Unfortunatly over the last few days it became clear that things were not OK...

Even though my baby was eating like a horse and fighting really hard, the weight started dropping of her. By friday she was like a walking skeleton. On friday afternoon we took her to the normal vet to see if there was anything that we could do to get her to put some weight on. The shocking news was that because of the damage done to her gut she could not absorb any of the food that she ate. After consultation with the vet we had to take the hard decision to let her go. Although she was fighting like a lion this was a battle she could not win.

Jackie held my little girl as she slipped away... I am very proud of her, she went with dignity... Good girl, Izzy...

Rest in Peace my little girl.

Izzy, Racing name 'Is You Is'
Born: Ireland 26th of May 2002
Died: 30th of October 2009.




Little Izzy came to us 1 1/2 year ago. We used to put our other grey, Jay, in racing kennels near Colchester, Dillymore Kennels. As Jay can be a grumpy one the last two times he was there he was put together in a kennel with a brood bitch. She was used in the kennels to calm jumpy and nervous dogs down. Jay really got on well with her. So we asked if she was up for rehoming. Even though she was a personal favourite of the kennel owners they allowed us to rehome her. From day one Izzy was very happy. She tried to make Jay play (Fat chance... He dont do play!), she loved the big walks in the countryside, happily murdering rabbits with JayJay. Within two days Izzy and JayJay were sleeping arse to arse on the settee. She was not very lucky with illnesses. She had corns on her feet that were cut out three times. She had a toe amputated because of that. Then this spring she got spindle cell cancer on her leg. That was successfully treated and we thought we were out of the woods. Then two months ago she got bad diarrea and the rest is history.

At the moment my wife and myself are pretty cut up... But some of her antics can make us smile again...

There was the time when we went boating on the Broads. We didn't know how the dogs would take to that but they loved it. One day we were moored up near Wroxham. We had the top of the boat open. We took our eyes of her for a second and hoppa, she legged it over the side and went to visit a painter that was sitting further down the bank. We quickly rounded her up but the painter said he didn't mind, she was a very friendly dog. The picture above is from that trip. As space was at a premium on the tub Izzy had taken to sleeping with the missus. She started at the foot end but by morning she would be laying with her head next to Jackie happily snoring on the pillow.

She was a favourite at the RGT shows that she went to with JayJay and the missus. Most of the time she would just lay in the grass surrounded by little children that would pat her continously... We never heard a bark or a growl out of her, she was a very happy cheerful dog. When I came down this morning and she was not there with her tail wagging, hopping around to go for a walk it hit home again. I have lost my happy little girl...

Another funny side of her was her mothering side. She had had two litters. The last lot was send to Ireland for training for the track. They were sent back within weeks as they would not run. Basically she loved her little ones so much that she would not let them out of her sight. That was also evident at home. She had a crate full of old teddy and toys. She would take them one by one and round them up and lay right on top of a whole heap of toys... Little minx...

So, Izzy, I hope you are happy wherever you are, playing together with my other grayhound Mick that went before you. We miss you like mad and are very happy and proud to have had you in our lives for a short time... Thank you for all the good times...

Last night we put a little candle and a teddy on Mickey's grave. The candle burned all night for her...

Run free forever my baby...

Alex and Jackie.

She's home!!!

Afternoon!!!

Finally the patient is home. It was a bit of a shock seeing her. We last saw her on saturday a week ago and she was swollen up quite bad. Now that they have the protein and albumen level thing sorted and she is on steroids she has lost all the swelling. But now she looks like a p.o.w. from a concentration camp... She is just skin over bones...


We reckon that she has lost over 8 kilos and that is a lot on a 26 kg dog... Never mind, we can now start feeding her up again. She is on a special fish and spud based diet because she can only have certain types of protein. Luckily my other grey, Jay, doesn't mind the stuff either so we can feed them both at the same time....


Weightloss aside she is happy as Larry being home. She is constantly busy herding up her stuffed toys as she always has done...

Here you can see that there is not much left of her. The ribs stick out, the pin bones on the back are very visible and of course she is bald on both her sides where she was xrayed and bold on her neck where the intravenous drip was stuck in... Still beautiful to us!!!

Never mind, she is back home and the missus and me will lavish care and attention on her to ensure that she stays with us for quite a bit longer hopefully...

Happy days!!!

Alex.

Wheyhey! She's coming home!!!

Result!

Yesterday we got another call from the vet. They have pinpointed the problem with Izzy. She is suffering from Lympangiectasia. This is an affliction of the lower intestines that stop the body absorbing protein. The vets have taken Izzy of the intravenous feed and she has managed to keep her albumen levels up for 48 hours. This means that she is coming home!!!

This is not something that can be cured but it can be managed, whoopey! She will have to have a special low fat diet and medication but that can be done.

Her is another piccie of her Ladyship reclining in her bed.

I am going to pick her up from Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire after work and bring her home finally. I dread to think what the grand total of the vets bill is up to but luckily she is insured. We thank the staff at http://www.dickwhitereferrals.com/site/ . They have been very good. When we took Izzy there it looked like we would be digging a hole in the back garden soon for her but with the very proffessional care, attention and medical excellence we now should be OK for a few more years of IzzyMissWizzy's presence!!!

Time for a beer tonight, methinks...

Cheerio,

Elmer.

Good news about Izzy!!!

Afternoon all...

Finally some encouraging news about Izzy...

I got a call yesterday evening from the vets that they had the results from the biopsy. The biopsy showed NO signs of Lymphoma. It did show that she does have a problem with her lower intestines. The problem is something that I can't pronounce and can't remember but more importantly it is treatable. She will have to be on a low fat diet for the rest of her life and take drugs...

They told us yesterday that today they will take out the intravenous feed. They will test the albumen (protein) levels and then see if she can keep these levels up. If she can then she might be able to come home on friday... Thank god, the bills are through the roof...

So, again, fingers crossed but it looks like that poor old Jay will have to share his settee again!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Izzy still ill...

Good afternoon...

OK, here is another update of Izzy's progress at the vet Hospital in Six Mile Bottom...

We went to visit her on saturday. At least we could combine the trip as Jackie's mum
had heart surgery to fix aleaky valve and a bypass. She is fine by the way...

We had a bit of a shock when we saw her. Both her sides have been shaved for the scans. She had a drip feed that is giving her steroids. She couldn't walk very well as all of her paws had swollen up. We stayed with her for half an hour and we were allowed to give her her lunch which she actually ate quite well...

This is the patient with her neck bandage and her drip... Poor thing...

Yep, she has now two windows, one on either side...

Now we get to the important bit... On saturday the news was not good. Her protein levels were very low, down to 12 whatever that means. On the sunday we got a call saying that the protein levels were now back up to 20 which is good. They took a biopsy on friday and we are still waiting for the result. If that result shows no Lymphoma then we have a fighting chance. That would mean that it is some kind of bowel disorder which should be treatable. If it is Lymphoma then there is not too much hope. She might have 4 weeks, she might have half a year...

Yesterday on monday they called us again to tell us that the swelling around her face and legs had gone down so I guess that is progress...

So we are still on tenterhooks waiting for the biopsy result...

I'll update this when we have more information, fingers crossed, it's time for my little girl to come home, Jay is missing her...

Alex.