Sun, Mar 30th

British Summer Time began today when the clocks went forward an hour at 2am in the morning. However, you would never believe it from the weather. Sun was definitely absent shortly after sunrise, so I jumped in the car to pop down to the Post Office to avoid getting wet in the downpour of rain that welcomed the summer.

Once home, we spent all day in the house again. Dawn did her usual chores while I spent a good few hours sorting through boxes in the spare room. Dawn's mum Brady, and Jim, have now bought their flight tickets so they can come and visit us in December. That means that between now and then we need to sort through all the stuff we have in the spare room. Not to mention make it possible for a couple to sleep comfortably in there for the best part of a fortnight.

Sat, Mar 29th

The weekend, hurrah!!!!

However, we needed to be up early because we had to get into town for an early haircut at Fringe Benefits before heading over to Morrisons at Welwyn Garden City for the groceries.

After a little time back home with Tiny, we headed back into town to finish off our shopping by dropping into the Oxfam bookstore (to drop off books), Co-op pharmacy (for Dawn's prescription), the petstore (for Tiny's grass), and a jewellers for a new battery for my watch. This is the third battery I've had in nine months. The guy at the jewellers said that as it was nearing 10 years old (the one Bowers gave me when I left), it could be getting past its best years.
We then stopped at the new Wetherspoon pub in town, The Six Templars. We weren't overly impressed. However, it is pretty spacious, has cheap food, and is very family orientated. So it did have its plusses.

Fri, Mar 28th

Friday couldn't come soon enough for me. Following on from the Wednesday, I juggled helping our HR controller with my own responsibilities of overseeing the bought ledger, supervising the office junior, and reviewing and liaising with our database developer. Then yesterday on the way home to the station from work, Dawn texted me that she was on the earlier train. She did say that I need not rush, but I did anyway. I made it with a minute to spare, albeit hot and exhausted. But at least it meant that we got home quarter of an hour earlier than normal. Fifteen minutes means a lot to us when we have such an early night.

Wed, Mar 26th

This may be a short week, thanks to Monday being a bank holiday. But we're making up for it with stress at the office. Yesterday I arrived back in the workplace to be faced with yet more problems with our computer systems. Then, today, I had three different meetings to discuss the new project management database that will replace the defunct ADEO system. We've now been without it for over a month, and it still seems like the replacement EMP Manager is at least another month from being ready.

It also didn't help that Tiny woke me up the last two nights either. Last night she disturbed me by laying sphinx-like on my back as I slept on my chest. I got up and took her downstairs, which settled her down. I, needless to say, felt dead on my feet by the end of the day.

Mon, Mar 24th

The last day of our long Easter weekend and we spent it huddled up in front of the fire. Again, there were snow flurries when we woke up. We just can't get used to snow at Easter. It didn't settle like it had yesterday, but it was nice all the same.

I spent some time editing photos and uploading them to our Flickr website and Photobox for ordering later before we watched the film Bobby that we had recorded a few weeks ago from Sky, but had not had the opportunity to sit down and watch.

Sun, Mar 23rd

Forget about a white Christmas; we had a white Easter. We woke up once again to sub-zero temperatures and a light snow flurry. I didn't fancy the idea of walking down to the Post Office to get Dawn her Sunday newspapers, so I wiped the snow that settled on the car off. At the time I told Dawn that the snow was too light to really settle. There wasn't any real snow on the ground; it was mostly on the roofs and the cars. I was wrong. A little after I got home, the snow started to come down heavier and it wasn't long before it had started to settle. Tiny, who still was not herself, couldn't make out what the stuff was.

As always, I got my camera out and took several photos (see above). The rest of the day was spent editing the photos, and many more from previous weeks that I hadn't worked on. We also found some time to be able to relax and watch a file or two, including the hilarious comedy Night at the Museum. Thankfully Tiny was able to settle down when we went to bed. So after a couple of sleepless nights, we were able to finally get some much needed sleep.

Sat, Mar 22nd

What a start to the day. Dawn woke me up to tell me that Tiny had already kept her awake for a while and that she wouldn't settle down. So, because Dawn had already endured several sleepless nights recently, I got up and tried to settle Tiny down to sleep in the living room. Dawn joined me at 5am. Thankfully she had been able to get back to sleep. But, not me. Tiny just couldn't settle.

Then if that wasn't bad enough, our plans for today nearly changed before we left the front door. Outside there were sub zero temperatures accompanied by both snow and sleet. When we got in the car and actually headed towards the A1o and London, the snow started to get heavy too. The rest of the day became a mixture of glorious blue skies with interjections of icy sleet and snow. One thing that was not changeable was the temperature. It hardly got above freezing all day and it was coupled with a non stop icy wind.

Anyway, we'd planned to take Dad to the RAF Museum at Hendon and left it up to him whether he still wanted to go. When we arrived at his flat he was ready and eager to get going, dressed up as always in shirt and tie. Needless to say, his RAF tie.

As for the museum, it was worth the trip. Best of all - it was free for us to walk among the many planes and replica planes dating back the best part of one hundred years from the pioneer days when fabric and wooden rods were all that held man in the sky to Chinooks used in the Falklands and Iraq. There were fighter planes like the Spitfires and Hurricanes from the Battle of Britain, and a Lancaster bomber that flew many raids over Germany (just like Dad had in 1944). There were even American planes like the Mustang with the teeth painted on the nose behind the propeller.

Best of all was seeing how much Dad enjoyed it. Several times he wandered off on his own to take photos. He seemed to really enjoy seeing the planes. We even had a chat with a survivor of 46 raids who proudly boasted that his Lancaster arrived back after each sortie with all four engines in one piece.

On the way back to Dad's, we stopped at The Gatehouse for a little lunch and chat. It was nice to get out for a change with Dad. Hopefully once the weather warms up a little we'll be able to do it more and more this summer.

Fri, Mar 21st

Good Friday. That means in the UK it is the start of a four day weekend for most people. That is if you're not employed in retail. We had hoped to start the day with a little lie in. However, it didn't work out that way. We were awake, as usual, at 4.30am. So we got up and watched back to back the American Idol shows that we recorded last night. I then drove into town and picked up half a dozen hot cross buns for breakfast. Now that was something else I missed living in America.

We also popped out to our local grocery store today. Dawn wasn't so pleased. She enjoyed not having to do it on Saturday. But she didn't enjoy having to drive around the parking lot in search of somewhere to park. Nor did she enjoy having to swerve and back track as we pushed our trolley down the aisles to avoid all the other shoppers. It was worse that hurricane eve in the Publix store.

Back at the house, Tiny was still not eating as much as usual and was sleeping on her brown couch. I also made a wonderful cod and shrimp pie that Dawn loved. Thankfully I made enough so we had left overs for tomorrow.

Wed, Mar 19th

I don't think I need to repeat that we are still having problems with our systems. We are, however, starting to address them. We now have two IT "wizards" working the next two days to try and finish migrating all the staff from the old domain that we had in Hertford to the new one we set up in Enfield. As always, only time will tell whether this will work.

I had a meeting with Adrian, the guy who is building the database that will replace Adeo, our project management system. Our database manager should be the one driving this. Unfortunately he is tied up with working on general system problems. Besides, I know more about Adeo than anyone in the company. So that's no bad thing. It just means that I now have this to contend with as well as my accounts role. Again, watch this space to see how this pans out.

Sun, Mar 16th

We tried to chill out this weekend after the week we've just had. Thankfully, the cold that I had at the beginning of the week is now gone. However, Dawn seems to have caught it now. I don't know if she got it from me, but she now has the same symptoms I had on Monday.

Anyway, we spent Saturday running our usual errands. We popped into town and dropped into WH Smith for a newspaper and a couple of pens for me. Then called in at the Oxfam shop to drop off some books we'd finished reading. They didn't have any that interested me, so we called into the local library where we were more successful. We even picked up a couple of DVDs while we were there. One was Michael Moore's "Sicko," a film every American and Brit needs to watch. One to make Americans realise just how their government is treating them like third class citizens, and so the Brits can see just how lucky they are to have the NHS.

We were going to try out the new Wetherspoons in Hertford, the Six Templers. However, it was so busy we decided to stop at the Woolpack instead.

Today we spent all day at home. I made a large pot of my chili and then we relaxed in front of the fire and watched the second film we'd got from the library, "Into the Wild." It was a good film and it felt nice to chill out and do little for a change. However, Dawn did have a load of washing to do. Although to help her out I did do the vacuuming for a change.

Fri, Mar 14th

Another week finished. Now I am beginning to question my choice of employment. Our computer systems are still causing us major problems at work three weeks after the rest of the company relocated to Enfield. Worst of all is that I can't see any real signs of improvement. There are also other issues that are unsettling, too. It's like Schiller all over again. Only different. It's only my philosophy that "Nothing is as certain as the unforeseen" keeping me positive. But it's not easy. Time will tell, obviously. But time will tell what the future has in store there.

Dawn, too, is finding the going tough. She is trying to find the time to work on the school's Green Travel Plan. Unfortunately she is spending far too much time doing admin work for others. Somehow she needs to complete the first draft within the next month. So like me, time will tell how this one will pan out.

Tues, Mar 11th

Today was similar to yesterday. At least how I felt - like crap. Thankfully I was able to avoid the worst of the rain. However, the blustery wind was atrocious. At work the computer systems were a little better. Adeo unfortunately is still inoperable. It's getting close to giving up the ghost on this system. We'd planned to replace it at the end of the month. Unfortunately its replacement system is far from ready yet.

Tiny, like me, hasn't been feeling like her normal self either. Once again she is not eating her normal amount of food and then gets sick when she does eat. She is still sleeping with us though, and still seems to enjoy laying next to me on the couch at the end of the day. Although she did actually lay on the chair we bought her for Christmas. We thought she would love to spread out on the foam based mini-couch. But she just hasn't got into it yet.

Mon, Mar 10th

Yep, I have a full blown cold and as luck would have it the journey to work was a nightmare. I didn't feel great as it was, having been awake most of the night with a bunged up head. Now I had to fight torrential rain and high winds on the two mile walk from Enfield Chase station to work. Even my full size umbrella couldn't cope. Within half a mile from the station, it collapsed in a heap when the metal rods holding the nylon canopy buckled and broke. I persisted with it for another mile by holding the material over my head like a sheet to keep the rain off. It was better than having to rely on the rain hat attached to my rain coat alone. However, when I got within half a mile of the office, a huge gust of wind turned the umbrella inside out and it virtually disintegrated in my hands. Now it gave me no protection whatsoever. Part of me felt like tossing it in the gutter like many others I'd seen before once they'd ceased being of any use. Instead I folded it together the best I could and completed the rest of the journey getting soaked. At least I got some comfort knowing that my work colleagues would get some amusement from seeing the mangled brolly folded up in the bin.

Sun, Mar 9th

Well we've been home two years now. I can't believe that it's been two years since we arrived at Gatwick and had the nightmare drive through London to Winchmore Hill. On a positive note, we both feel that we made the right decision to come back when we did, although we do miss our friends in Dunedin. And of course meals at restaurants like Las Mariachis, Hooters and Spotos. What we have here is definitely what we prefer. If only we could find more satisfaction on the work front. But you can't have everything.

I had planned on getting back to writing our story today. To be honest, I have been planning to get back to it for a while now. However, I felt a little off colour all day and never got down to it again. By the end of the day I realised I had a good excuse this time. I'd gone down with a nasty head cold and was feeling like crap. Hopefully it won't end up like what Dawn had and kept her out of work for the best part of a week.

Sat, Mar 8th

Today we got out early to do our weekly grocery shopping before catching a train into London to meet an old friend and work colleague from our time at Schiller and Dunedin, Florida, Cathy Eberhart, at Auberge - a nice restaurant where we used to enjoy mussels when Dawn first lived in London. However, following the week I'd had at work, even this outing was not without incident, as we had to change our route at the last minute because tube trains were not stopping at Euston station due to maintenance work.

As for the lunch, the company was good and we enjoyed listening to how Schiller had changed since the Leibrecht family sold the school to KIP. Not to mention hear how all our other friends at SIU have been getting on since we last saw them. The food, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired. We were really disappointed with the mussels. We'd had larger cockles at the beach in Hastings. We're probably not going back there again.

One other factoid to mention is that today is the second anniversary of the day we left Florida to come back to live in England. Neither one of us can believe how fast the time has flown by, or what we have been through (jobs, Dad's ill health and problems at the house).

Fri, Mar 7th

Another week has ended at work and we're still not closer to having all systems working. In fact, it go so bad yesterday that I volunteered to take the special mail to the post office to get out of the office a little earlier than normal because by mid afternoon I couldn't work on any of the systems. Sage was down, as were emails. Our project management system, called Adeo, is still no closer to seeing the light of day again, making it two whole weeks down now.

Thank God it's the weekend!!

Wed, Mar 5th

The migration from Hertford to Enfield is not going too well at work. I've called it a relocation as that describes the movement of bodies and furniture. Part of the wonderful plan was to replace our patchwork system of computer servers with a new one that would be more reliable and stable. Well, it hasn't happened yet. Every day this week I have arrived at the office at 8am and not had access to either Sage (accounts system), email or my data files on the server. Best of all, the project management system still remains down after 11 days. It's getting a little tedious to say the least.

On a positive note, Dawn spoke to her sister Kelly tonight. Dawn called our niece Michaela yesterday to wish her a happy tenth birthday, and then promised to call her mother back this evening as Michaela was expecting another call from her Grandma Brady. Dawn came off the phone after talking to Kelly feeling pleased to have been able to talk to her one-to-one for the first time in seven months.

Sun, Mar 2nd

Today being Mother's Day, we had a ride (in the car for a change) to see Dad. As we all wanted to drop by the cemetery to lay some flowers on Mum's grave, it seemed the best way to go.

At Dad's I tried to sort out his printer problem. However, an hour later Vista had got the better of me and I decided to contact Lexmark later for the solution. So we headed to the cemetery and then onto the Gatehouse in Highgate for a spot of lunch. As par for the course recently, even that was not without incident. I saw a space where I could park the car and eagerly pulled into the gap. However, in doing so I nearly hit another car whose driver had the same idea. I had seen him, but thought he was actually leaving. On closer inspection I noticed it was the actor Rodney Bewes who appeared in the 70s sitcom "The Likely Lads." I was able to confirm my opinion when I noticed a sign showing that he was appearing in a one-man show upstairs from the Gatehouse.

The food was only okay - Dad offered to pay as a treat. And the journey home was a nightmare with all the traffic on the road. The journey that should have taken a little over an hour took the best part of two.

Finally, the icing on the cake was that my camera decided to go on the blink and I couldn't access the photos that we had taken. Roll on Monday, huh!

Sat, Mar 1st

No lazying around for the two us today. We woke up around 5am as usual and it wasn't long before we were downstairs enjoying a nice cup of Earl Grey tea in front of a nice warm fire followed by a bowl of grits (for Dawn) and fried porridge (for me).

A little later we had a ride into town. First we had to pick up our prescriptions from the chemist. I'm still on blood pressure pills, even though my blood pressure is nearly normal (with the medication). Next we stopped at the Oxfam shop to look for some books. We'd both finished reading our current ones yesterday. Dawn completing her 8th of the year and me my 11th. After a quick cup of hot chocolate and a cappuccino, we headed on to Morrisons in Welwyn Garden City. And all this before lunch.

After lunch Dawn did the laundry and vacuumed while I went into the kitchen to make another pot of my "Best Ever Chili" and some experimental oatmeal muffins with the apples and raisins substituted with bananas. They came out pretty good. As for relaxing, we watched three back to back episodes of American Idol (with dinner sandwiched in the middle somewhere).