Thurs, Jan 31st

I ended the month with a cold. Which meant that I got very little sleep over the last couple of nights. Thankfully it seems like it's on its way out, so at least I should be able to enjoy the weekend when it gets here.

One amusing footnote concerning my company's relocation plans. As we are renting our current offices consisting of two units, we are having to endure some strange sights and noises going on while we work. In the unit where the accounts office is, we have had to listen to continual banging while our training staff demolish several classrooms downstairs in our unit. More amusing though was that the walkway from my office to the office next door was bricked up as that is part of the other unit. Check out the photo on the right. Now we have make our way outside, through the cars and into the entrance of the next unit to visit anyone that is not in the accounts office. Our training department have already been moved to Enfield.

On the reading front, after completing 58 books last year, I am now on my 6th book of the year. Again I have set my goal on 50 books by the end of the year. I'm anxious to see how I do this time.

Also, the price of gas yesterday when I filled the car up was now £1.069 per litre.

Tues, Jan 29th

This morning I took the car back to Marshalls so I could get an MOT certificate. While there, I asked to see the manager so I could explain why I was unhappy with how the car had failed its MOT last week. The manager listened to all I had to say, then informed me that the DOT often change the specifications (which is why it was possible to fail on the seat belt), and apologised that they had not told me about the rear brake problem last month. This being said, I still had to pay for the work to put right these two issues. The good news is that I now have an MOT so we can drive the car for another year before going through all this again. I can't wait!!

Sun, Jan 27th

The cook was busy today. And so was the lady of the house, too. Dawn, apart from having her weekly video call with Brady, spent most of the time doing the vacuuming, laundry, dusting, and of course the obligatory ironing. Chef Paul on the other hand made a large pot of Chili that we'll have over the next fortnight, along with some thyme and sage meatballs that we will also have over the next two weeks. In between I also made some cornbread so we can have it in the week with our Chili and soup, and some oatmeal muffins that we can have for lunch with fruit.

I again watched Spurs on television. But this time they were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Premiership league leaders Manchester United. It didn't dull the satisfaction of Tuesday's victory over Arsenal though.

Sat, Jan 26th

Thank heavens for the weekend. Even with doing the grocery shopping, running errands and popping up to see Dad, it was still easier going than it had been this week. It helped that we decided to get out early so we could catch an earlier train into London than we did last time so we didn't have to contend with all the Arsenal fans on the way to the Emirates Stadium.

Dad seems to be doing really well. He's getting about pretty well, has put on some weight over the last few months, and has got more colour in his cheeks. If he could only get his INR under control, I think he would be really happy. While we were there, I tried to sort out a problem he had with his laptop. Unfortunately he doesn't have Internet access, so I will have to download a new printer driver when I get home and take it up with me next time we go.

Fri, Jan 25th

Following on from yesterday's failed MOT, this morning I had to pay my GP a visit to discuss my blood tests results. I was not feeling too confident sitting in the waiting room, once again reading my book.

To my surprise, my doctor informed me that I didn't need to see him and that I could have called the surgery and got my results from the nurse. It's nice to know he cares so much about my health care. Even more surprising, although I am not complaining, is that my cholesterol ratio is adequate at 5.7. That's the good to bad cholesterol ratio. He added that I have an 8% chance of having cardiac problems within 10 years. That's good to know. He did, however, add that I shouldn't really go out and celebrate by eating a load of deep fried foods covered in salt.

Thu, Jan 24th

I was not a happy camper today. This morning I took our car to Marshalls in Welwyn Garden City for its annual MOT. Cars over 3 years old in the UK must pass an MOT to ensure that they are road worthy. Well, after sitting in the waiting room patiently for over an hour reading a book I'd taken with me, I was informed that our green Vauxhall Astra had failed. I wasn't upset that it had failed, but the manner in which it had failed - the centre seatbelt on the rear seat was the wrong type, and because of the rear brakes.

Why had this upset me? One was that we had bought the car from a Vauxhall dealer less than 2 years ago having passed its MOT and last year it also passed its MOT at the same garage that I took the car to this time. So when did the seat belt become the wrong type? As for the brakes. We took the car to the same garage three weeks earlier for a major service and was warned about faulty front brakes. Did they not check the rear brakes too? Now I have to take the car back next Tuesday for the work to be done and have a re-test.

Check out Tiny finally using the chair we got her for Christmas.

Tues, Jan 22nd

Christine drove Steve, Simon and me down to our new Enfield office today. The four of us, plus Ilyas who was already down there for an Asbestos Awareness course, needed to run our eyes over the room where we would be working from soon. There had been some improvements since we came down before Christmas. However, it's still hard to visualise what it will look like until the furniture is there. The target move date for the accounts office was the 28th of this month. Now it looks like the week after (possibly).

The real news was that tonight I watched Spurs demolish our north London neighbours Arsenal in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final live on Sky Sports. Having followed Spurs for over 39 years, I never thought I'd get excited about a Spurs victory. I was wrong. The manner in which the mighty Gunners were dismantled was sheer pleasure. Not to mention we had also brought an end to a sequence of over 20 games without beating them. Let's hope we can now beat Chelsea in the final next month.

Mon, Jan 21st

Today at work I had a meeting with JT and Adrian (who is designing our new job database). As much as I want to get away from systems, my past just seems to haunt me. We have a database manager who should be dealing with this project. However, he has been seconded to a client for God knows how long and won't be working full time with us until the 1st of next month. Once he's back, I will hand this project to him with great pleasure.

By the way, when I filled the car up today, gas cost me £1.059 per litre.

Sat, Jan 19th

As this was the alternate weekend, we had no plans to see Dad today and were able to spend the day around Hertford. However, because Dawn couldn't wait another week for her hair to be cut, we had an afternoon appointment for a change instead of first thing in the morning. This meant that we were able to take things easy for a change before heading out to the grocery store.

Then it was back home for a fruit salad lunch (we're trying to eat healthy again) before heading over to Ware to drop off some recycling stuff. We had a complete dustbin load of cardboard boxes, and another dustbin liner full of plastic and glass bottles. We also took a piece that the boiler guy had left in our yard yesterday after he finally came to remove the old boiler and other crap he had left in the yard.

With that out of the way, we popped into Hertford town and had a nice cup of coffee in Nero's after we had been in the Oxfam bookstore to look at some books and picked up some veggies for dinner. Our haircuts followed before we were off home for a nice relaxing evening in front of the television. I however spent most of the time reading 'Cujo' by Stephen King.

Fri, Jan 18th

After last week there was nothing major for us to bitch about this week. Work for the two us of was enough for either one of us to pull our hair out over. I finally caught up with timesheets (it's only taken me nearly two and a half weeks). I also had to work on figures that both the Business Director and Financial Controller needed by Friday, and now have to review our new accounts software by lunch time on Monday before a meeting I have at 2pm. However, I do see the positive side of things. A year ago I didn't even have a job. The move to Enfield by the way will be sometime in February now. We are having IT problems at the new location. Which is nothing new as our servers turned themselves off three times this week for no apparent reason.

Dawn had a meeting with the guy she had been working with on Business Continuity and had to tell him that she was having to call it day. She had too much work on her plate being a PA for one of her bosses in addition to trying to complete the school's travel plan. Watch this space is all I will say on that one. Dawn's been at CU as long as she was working for Dr Leibrecht in London and only now is she being expected to be a PA.

Sun, Jan 13th

On the seventh day God rested. Well, I don't blame him one little bit. The last six days depleted most of our energy and we still had bits and pieces to do around the house. Dawn, the usual laundry and ironing, and me cooking in the kitchen. Thankfully, I made two pies last night so I didn't have to spend too long in the kitchen today. However, I did made Dawn a nice vinaigrette for her to have on the salads she makes for her lunches at work.

I also made a nice apple pie that Dawn and I had for dessert, not to mention some scrumptious hot custard.

Sat, Jan 12th

Today was one of those Saturdays where we had a lot to do, and not enough hours to get it all done. First we had to drop off a couple of DVDs at Blockbuster in town. Then it was off to the grocery store. We then spent a brief time with Tiny before we had to head out of the door for lunch and the train ride and walk to see Dad. I know I could have driven, but, sorry, if I can avoid driving into London then I will. Even if it meant that we had to be crammed onto the train with Arsenal fans on the way to the Emirates Stadium to see their team play. It wasn't the number of people on the train that got to me. It was how loud people were talking, either to their friends opposite them or someone else on the cell phone. I couldn't concentrate on reading my book.

When we arrived at Dad's, I requested a nice hot cup of tea, which George made. Dawn had one too. We spent some time chatting with Dad before we had to walk back to Finsbury Park and the train back home.

Even then I couldn't rest. I had planned on having a homemade chicken and mushroom pie. So I didn't get a chance to settle down until after we'd had dinner and Dawn had washed up my mess.

Oh yea, we also put the new duvet that Brady and Jim had sent us for Christmas and the duvet cover that Dad and George's Christmas money had paid for on the bed.

Fri, Jan 11th

Thank God for Friday. We both felt like this week was the week from Hell. As you no doubt have already read, Monday started with a nightmare journey home. Well, now I have to park on the other side of some railway tracks so that I don't have to endure a repetition. Even when I came home at lunch time I was confronted by water flowing into the road from a nearby stream thanks to a downpour all morning (see above).

Dawn had another hectic week where she was chasing her tail. What made it worse was that today she even stayed half an hour later than usual so she could be there to say goodbye to her boss who left at the end of December. He felt it would nice if he could come back and say goodbye to everyone and then go over the pub so he could celebrate. He was also able to pick up a £100 gift voucher that he could use at Selfridges. The cost of the leaving do, partly funded by the university, came to considerably more than this sum of money.

Thur, Jan 10th

Hurray, we have heat! Today I spent the day at home because Dawn couldn't afford to lose two days from her holiday entitlement before we'd got out of January. And I couldn't afford to lose one, so I brought work home with me last night. Tiny did make the whole work thing a chore, though, as she kept going to the kitchen door where the plumber was and getting too close to the fire.

Again our experience wasn't without its problems. The plumber had informed Dawn yesterday that he may not be able to get heat to the radiator in our bedroom as the valve on it was damaged. The fact that this is the coldest room in the house just made this news even worse. Then, once the good man had completed his work, he left a large hole above the new boiler that would allow heat to escape and God forbid allow wasps into the house if we had a problem like last year.

With Dawn on her way home and both of these problems still to be addressed, I called the owner of the business and voiced my complaints. To cut a long story short, he turned up and resolved the radiator problem and put a temporary cover in the hole, leaving me minutes to get to the station to meet Dawn.

This whole boiler problem has drained all our savings. But at least we now have a boiler that we have faith in and heat again. Keep your fingers crossed for us that nothing else goes wrong in the house anytime soon.

Wed, Jan 9th

In just over a day now we should have heat again. The last five nights without heat have been cruel. Even Tiny's not happy. She has spent every minute of each night curled up like a ball near Dawn's feet at the bottom of the bed.

Anyway, today Dawn took a day off work and stayed home while we had someone working on getting us some heat. By the end of the day, the old boiler was resting against the wall in the backyard and, thankfully, due to the plumber leaving the immersion heater in our bedroom cupboard, we still had hot running water.

The house unfortunately still felt like an igloo. The plumber had the back door open all day while he was working in the boiler room. It had been a downstairs toilet, but it sounds better calling it the boiler room. We use it for storage now, and of course to house the boiler on the wall. Needless to say, Tiny and Dawn spent all day sitting in front of the gas fire in the living room.

Tues, Jan 8th

After last night's fiasco getting home, I parked my car on the south side of the railway line that brings trains into Hertford East station. It meant that I would have to cross the track via a walkway in the dark. But at least there was a hazard light to warn pedestrians of an oncoming train. Not to mention I would be able to get to Hertford North if I left ten minutes earlier than I usually did and would not have to deal with the major traffic jam that was Mead Lane.

However, even with my plans to avoid a repeat of last night, the evening still didn't go without a hitch. At around 4.50pm, half an hour before I was about to leave for the night, there was a massive power failure that knocked out all the electricity not only to my company, but all the other businesses near my office. This meant that everyone left early tonight and I had to make my way not only across the railway line in darkness, but all the along the streets where I worked too as we had no street lights either. The good news was that the new route home got me to Dawn's station with time to spare.

Mon, Jan 7th

A cold house was not the only problem we had to deal with today. I had to endure the nightmare that is the journey from my office, near Mead Lane Hertford, to Hertford North Station and home again. Tonight it took me an hour to drive the distance that it normally takes me around 5 minutes at lunch. I left work as usual dead on 5.30pm and text messaged Dawn to let her know that I was on my way to meet her. Dawn's train usually arrives around 5.40pm. Ten minutes is plenty of time, and I usually have to wait over five minutes or so for Dawn to get to the car. However, tonight, as soon as I reached Mead Lane, I saw red taillights all the way down the road and no one was moving. So I messaged Dawn to call me. After a long day in London, this was not what Dawn needed to hear. Thankfully she accepted my advice to catch a cab home instead of waiting for me to arrive. She was home the best part of 40 minutes by the time I walked in the door. However, that wasn't the worst of it. The road works that caused this hassle will be going on until the first week of February.

Sun, Jan 6th

Cooking day. Oh yea, also freezing day again as we woke up once again to a freezing cold house. When I went out to get a paper I had to scrape ice off the car. So you can imagine how cold it was.

Anyway, back to the cooking. Today I spent most of my time in the nice warm kitchen. First I made a stockpot full of my own "Paul's best chili". And after four plus hours on the stove, it tasted excellent. We gave lunch a miss after I had some fried porridge for breakfast and Dawn her first bowl of grits this year.

Then I made some more buttermilk biscuits before putting some maple honey marinated ribs in the oven from a recipe I got from Nigella. The biscuits came out better than my first attempt, but the oven once again got the better of me. This time with the ribs. We had them with a broccoli gratin (recipe from Gordon). Then, if that wasn't enough, while we watched Happy Feet we had a nice plate of home made spotted dick and hot custard.

I said it was cooking day. Perhaps I should have called it eating day.

One humorous note worth sharing. Dawn put on a thick coat, plus a hat and scarf for her video call with Brady. It wasn't really THAT cold. But it certainly cheered everyone up at the time.

Sat, Jan 5th

We woke this morning feeling damn cold. Not that it was snowing or anything. We just didn't have any radiator heat. I shivered as I went downstairs to get Tiny a bowl of food and check out the situation. The good news is that Tiny cleared her bowl of food. After hardly touching her food after we had returned to work this week, it was nice to see a clean bowl. The bad news was that the boiler wasn't working.

I called someone to come out and check out the problem only for the news to get worse. In a nutshell, the boiler was history. The hard water that we have in Hertford has resulted in limescale buildup. The only solution it to replace the boiler. At least we can feel pleased that the new combi boiler will be more energy efficient than the one we have. But, that's the only good news. Thankfully they can install it on Wednesday. However, that means we will no heat (except for the gas fire in the living room). Thankfully we have an emergency immersion heater to heat the water for washing up and a shower.

One other thing the repairman noticed when he was surveying our equipment. We have two pumps on our heating system instead of one. He can only surmise that the second one was installed to help the flow of water because the boiler was already on its way out and the first one couldn't cope. A nice short term solution for someone that cost us £2,000.

Fri, Jan 4th

News update on my company's move to Enfield. My boss returned from our new offices with the news that the accounts department will be working out of Enfield on Monday, January 28th. Not the news we all wanted to hear. However, that may change again. I checked with our IT guy to find out whether we will have access to our accounts software and he said No. So watch this space.

Wed, Jan 2nd

Back to work. Dropped Dawn off at Hertford North a little after 7am. After spending a little time at home with Tiny, I was also off to work. Neither one of us enjoyed our first day back. Mine was the first of three days where I had to work twice as hard as usual to cover two weeks' timesheets. In Dawn's case, one of her bosses had left the week before Christmas and now she was having to assist his replacement.

I had a meeting with my boss to discuss the company move to Enfield. I wasn't happy with the outcome. However, as things stand, I will be moving with them next month.

Tues, Jan 1st

As always, we started the day with our traditional New Year Day's breakfast: a bowl of mushroom and bacon in milk with some fresh crusty bread. A little later we set up the tripod in front of the fire and took the New Year group photo. However, Tiny did not make it easy for us.

We gave lunch a miss as we wanted to enjoy the traditional New Year's Day dinner. We had some honey glazed ham left over from yesterday with black-eye peas, greens and cornbread. I also had a biscuit that was left over from yesterday.

In between meals, I brought our photographs up to date. First editing them, then uploading them to Flickr for everyone to see. By the time we sat down this evening, all three of us were feeling a little depressed. Dawn and me because we had to go back to work, and Tiny because she could read our moods and knew something was up.

Happy New Year

We would like to wish all our readers, both family and friends, a Happy New Year.

Hopefully 2008 will turn out the way you'd like. But most of all we hope that it brings you prosperity, happiness and good health.

Don't forget to keep checking out our blog and online photo album. We'll do our best to keep them both up to date with all our activities and of course all the humorous goings-on in the White household.

Again, have a Happy New Year.

Paul, Dawn and Tiny