Wed, Jul 30th

Today we celebrated the day that Dawn responded to my posting on MSN asking if anyone was interested in corresponding with a pen pal living in London. Little did we know 12 years ago where that innocent email would lead us, or how many lives it would affect. Looking back now, neither one of us would change it. We have made each other happier than we thought possible. It doesn't mean that we haven't given a thought to those who may see things differently. We just know it's down to each and every one of us to find our own happiness, and not put the blame on others if we don't find it.

As for the actual celebrating, we had a Sky engineer call to replace our Sky+ box and a surveyor call to look at the house as part of our remortgage application with Nationwide. After lunch Dawn had a two hour driving lesson with BSM. Her instructor felt that it showed she had been driving 30 years. She just needed to learn how to drive over here......

We didn't go out for a celebratory meal this evening. Instead we had some home made spaghetti meatballs followed by my strawberry trifle dessert.

Sun, Jul 27th

Even though I had every intention to paint the walls in the spare room, again I found other things to do. I vacuumed downstairs while Dawn did the ironing, then made some lunch, made some black olive hummus, transferred files from an old hard drive to my laptop, moved the computer table to the spare room, tided the hallway, cooked some stuffed mushrooms and burgers for dinner, and then made us a strawberry dessert. We did relax and watch Session 9 that had been on the Sci-fi channel in the week. But, again questioned the TV Guides ratings. It left us both scratching our heads.

Dawn then had her weekly video call with Brady before we downed the desserts with a nice hot cup of Earl Grey before bed.

Tiny Report - She is still eating the new food, and still hasn't been sick. She is slowly getting better, but we're sure the heat and humidity we're experiencing isn't helping...

Sat, Jul 26th

Again we were out early doing our grocery shopping at Morrisons. We were back home by 9:30am and within a hour were back out in town doing more shopping. Dawn picked up a couple of pairs of shoes with the money Dad had given her for her birthday. I picked up a couple of books from the Oxfam shop, and a drawstring bag for work. We chilled out at Starbucks with a skinny latte before dropping into Tesco on the way home. After checking out the fruit and veg, and seeing as we don't need to pick up Tiny's food at Morrisons anymore, we'll be going there in future. We'll have to get there early to avoid the crowds, but at least it's in town and we won't have to drive to Welwyn Garden City.

After chilling out watching Heath Ledger in Candy on TV, I made us coconut chicken for dinner. We then watched Hidden before going to bed. Now that film was strange.

Fri, Jul 25th

The end of another long week ended with a hot sticky walk to the station this evening. Here the temperatures have been in the high 70s the last few days and with the humidity the two and a half mile walk did not feel pleasant. At least I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had two whole days without having to deal with that walk. However, in all honesty, I have been getting the bus from the station to work in the mornings this week. With my boss out and with so much to do, I made a point of getting to work for 7:30am. It made a long day for me, but I got far more done.

This evening we started the weekend by watching the final of Celebrity Master Chef and were both pleased that Liz McClarnon won.

Again, best of all was that Tiny is still eating her food and not being sick. In fact, she has cleared every bowl we have put out.

Wed, Jul 23rd

After a week of juggling and cash monitoring, I was able to close the day knowing that I had secured enough money to get through the next week. Money had been pretty tight, and with my boss out of the country since last Wednesday, it was down to me to make sure that we didn't run short. Job done, feeling relieved.

But the best news of all is that Tiny hasn't been sick in the last 24 hours and is still eating her new food. She still isn't t herself, and is still not as affectionate as she normally is. But, at least she looks like she feels 100% better, and that is far more important.

Tues, Jul 22nd

When we got home from work this evening we immediately saw that Tiny had been sick again. This left us no choice but to take Tiny to the vet so they could check her out. After a little examination and some complaints from Tiny, the vet came to the conclusion that Tiny appears to have a digestive problem. We left within an hour of arriving with a couple of bags of food to try out. Hopefully a hypersensitive diet will make her feel better and bring an end to this three/four week cycle of starvation and sickness.

Sun, Jul 20th

Household chores again, plus a visit to the recycle centre to get rid of three bags of cardboard and two bags of plastic and glass. Thankfully we get the newspapers and aluminum cans collected every other week with our rubbish (trash) by the council.

Dawn had problems again with her weekly video call, thanks to Brady's broadband supplier. But, at least it gave her a chance to finish reading her John Grisham novel. That made it 21 books she's completed this year. The same number she completed all last year. Yesterday, I finished reading Peter Pan, which was my 29th of the year.

My afternoon was then spent editing the photos we'd taken on Wednesday and uploading them to our photo website. Shortly afterwards we got an email from someone who wanted to use one of our old ones on their site. They wanted the one of me eating a Ploughman's lunch. What can I say .......

Sat, Jul 19th

Saturday means grocery shopping and we were up and out early today visiting Morrisons so we could see Dad this afternoon. We hadn't seen him in three weeks and didn't want to miss another week so were pleased that we were able to get all our shopping in, and spend some time with Tiny before getting the train to Finsbury Park.

Dad and George are doing fine. Dad gave Dawn an envelope with some cash for her birthday inside. I am sure she'll have no problem finding something to spend it on.

Tiny on the other hand is not eating again. It seems like she eats for a week and then takes three or four days off food. Hopefully she'll be better by the time we go back to work on Monday.

Fri, Jul 18th

We were both glad to see the end of this week. My boss is now on holiday until Monday week, so it's up to me to make sure that we have enough cash in the bank to pay the wages next Friday. I am also jumping through hoops trying to get the historical data into EMP Manager, keep suppliers appeased and dealing with God knows how many other fires on the go.

It also hasn't gone amiss that it was my son's 27th birthday today. It seems like it was somebody else walking through Smithfield Market in the early hours that Saturday back in 1981. I suppose once again it proves that nothing is as certain as the unforeseen.

Wed, Jul 16th

Today Dawn celebrated her birthday by both of us taking the day off work. That in itself would have been good enough, but she also got some gifts and cards, too. Not to mention had a nice day out.

Her gifts (which came from Brady & Jim, plus Tiny and me) consisted of several books that she had said she wanted, a couple of DVDs, and a nice Parker pen and pencil. I won't list all the people she received cards from (16 of them) because you already know whether you sent her one. That's one or two more than the seven I received back in May.

To celebrate we caught the train into London and crossed the Millennium Bridge for the first time so we could have a wander around the Tate Modern and have lunch overlooking the Thames towards St Paul's Cathedral. We then caught a bus to Piccadilly and visited Linda McCartney's photo exhibit. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to buy a copy of any of the prints on show. £4,800 was just a little out of our budget!!

Tues, Jul 15th

Today Dawn took a half day holiday and caught an early train back to Enfield so she could have a walk around the shops and pop into BSM (British School of Motoring) to ask their advice on how she could pass her driving test. This in itself really irked Dawn because she has been driving for over 30 years. However, what irked her even more was having to book lessons so they can check on her driving before giving her the appropriate advice. She left their office having booked a double hour lesson on July 30th. Oh yea, they also booked her driving test for her while she was there. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot.

Sun, Jul 13th

Spent the whole day at home and although we didn't do anything special we seemed to stay busy all day. Dawn did the usual weekend chores while I spent several hours cooking as I always tend to do on a Sunday. I also backed up our computers and moved all the files from our desktop to the laptops. That was fun. But, at least it's done now. Brady had some visitors so Dawn didn't have her video call until around 7pm this evening. By the time she had finished it was almost time for bed.

Sat, Jul 12th

A quiet weekend again. Today we did our grocery shopping before popping into town for our monthly haircut. We also dropped off some books at the Oxfam store and as usual bought a few more to read. Paid a visit to Clintons to buy some cards and then made it home in time to avoid the rain and spend the rest of the day with Tiny.

Wed, Jul 9th

With Wimbledon behind us, the skies let loose all the rain that normally dampens the famous tennis championships. That meant that we had to contend with it on the commute to work. Which in my case meant that I caught the bus to and from the station to the office. No complaints with the cost though, as I use my Oyster card and it only costs 90p each way.

The bus rides also helped me conserve some of my energy today as Tiny again had me up in the wee hours. It would be nice if she could go a couple of weeks without feeling unwell.

Mon, Jul 7th

We had a fire drill today at work. In fact, it was so unrehearsed that even our health and safety department didn't know anything about it. Standing in the car park with rain coming down the staff wondered why they had to do a practice run today of all days. As it goes it wasn't a drill. A new company has moved into the unit next to us and inadvertently cut through our alarm cable. Once the fire engine had left with the crew of firemen our H&S office pulled out the fuse to stop the bell ringing so we could get out of the rain and return to our work dutifully.

Sun, Jul 6th

It may be the day of rest, but you would never know it. We did however lie in until 7.30am for a change.

Once up I got the Sunday Times for Dawn before getting stuck into cooking. For breakfast I made some home made Muesli, which was excellent. I then made some black bean soup and beef and leek meatloaf for this week's dinners. For lunch I made crab cakes with a red pepper sauce, and for our evening desserts I made some home-made ice lollies using raspberries. I of course cooked dinner this evening, which was a shrimp creole without rice.

Somehow in between all this I was also able to fill up the car with gas (now £1.189 a litre) and pick up our monthly rail tickets at the station. Not to mention watch Lewis Hamilton win the British F1 Grand Prix, and Nadal beat Federer in the incredible men's final at Wimbledon.

So much for having a relaxing weekend.

Sat, Jul 5th

Thank God for weekends. Both of us had a stressful time at work again. However, unlike when we had our own business, at least we have the weekends off now.

The day started with us checking our weights as we finally completed phase one of the diet. Dawn wasn't happy that she didn't lose any more weight. However, she was still lower than she had been since 2006. I on the other hand lost another three and a half pounds, making it eleven and a half over the two weeks. Now we can add some good carbs to our diet, so that should make meal times a little easier - especially breakfasts.

As usual we headed to Morrisons to do our weekly grocery shopping before heading over to Stevenage to pick up some stuff for Tiny and look around a few other shops while we were there. Back home we watched Venus Williams beat her sister in women's Wimbledon singles final.

Fri, Jul 4th

Today was American Independence Day, and everyone in my office thought that I had changed the ring tone on my cell phone to the Star Spangled Banner in honour. Especially when it rang half way through the morning. I gladly informed them, "No, that's my normal ring tone." At least I won't mistaken it for anyone else's phone when it rings. I of course hear Love Will Keep Us Alive when Dawn calls me.

The good news at work was that after four days we finally had EMP Manager back up and running. Best of all was that it was Friday and I could escape from the place for a few days.

Dawn on the other hand had a heart to heart with her boss about her job.

Wed, Jul 2nd

The July woes continued for me today. Again, we still had to cope without EMP Manager. It appears that our IT guy was moving things around on Monday and as a result created the problem. However, if that wasn't enough, shortly before 3pm this afternoon our building and all the neighbouring businesses were in darkness without electricity. Thankfully one of the MDs suggested that everyone should go home as there was little that could be done without computers and light. So much for modern technology. Oh yea, we also watched Nadal beat Andy Murray in the quarter finals at Wimbledon. Beat being the polite word. The Spaniard was in a completely different league for the Scotsman.

Tues, Jul 1st

Not a good day at work today for me. With my boss out of the office today, things seemed to go from bad to worse. The threatening letters are getting heavier by the day. In fact, we received a County Court Judgment from one supplier we have an outstanding dispute with. However, the biggest problem was that our new project management and costing system, EMP Manager, went down.