Sun, May 31st

Woke up and watched an episode of SG1 before dishing up our usual Sunday fry-up. Then it was out the front again and back to the weed pulling and tree trimming. Both of these I can cope with, because I am not really what you would call an avid gardener. However, when it comes to pulling up roots for plants that don't seem to want to come out the ground, I am not so good. I did win though. After a couple of hours' toil, the front yard was unrecognisable. But there was a price. My hands and back really ached. It meant that the rest of the day was spent on my backside watching television, editing photos and writing, or in the kitchen where I prepared lunch and made some salmon patties and mash for dinner.

Dawn did the weekly ironing again and then decided that she wanted to make room in the drawers and cupboards by putting away the winter stuff.

After dinner we chilled out in front of the television watching the film Once, both of us trying not think about about the upcoming week at work. When are we retiring to Cornwall? I think after we win the lottery. So not any time soon, no doubt.

Sat, May 30th

Dawn came with me to Tesco for the first time since our holiday in Cornwall. Over the last few weeks she has always had chores she wanted done at the house so missed out on getting stressed out as the local grocery store gets more and more crowded.

After a little break at home we then headed into town to drop off some clothes at the dry cleaners and did some shopping for odds and ends. One thing we were delighted to find out was that we can get eco washing up liquid, laundry detergent and clothes softener refills from The Hertford Natural Therapy Centre. This will cut down on some of the plastic bottles we current use.

We then stopped off at the Woolpack for a light lunch. As it was so warm and sunny we sat outside by the river, which was nice.

Back home I then watched the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Everton from the new Wembley. I was delighted when the Toffees took the lead by scoring the fastest ever cup final goal in just 25 seconds. I wasn't so happy that Chelsea came back to win 2-1.

Tonight we stayed up late to watch the last episode of Reggie Perrin followed by the results of Britain's Got Talent. We had already watched the final earlier and were blown away by the amount of talent there was, and the sincerity of the people competing. It made me proud to be British (again). Dawn felt good too when the dance group Diversity beat out Susan Boyle for the title.

Fri, May 29th

Even though this was a four day week, we were more than happy to see this one out. No problems for me to complain about. In fact, I spent today working on the company recycling programme. Dawn, however, was a little late getting out because she had a meeting with TfL. Thankfully we had already planned for this and stopped off at Carleys in Sele Farm for some much loved Fish and Chips.

Dawn is really turning into a Brit. She now loves drinking tea and rarely has a coffee, unless it is a cappuccino. She loves baked beans, Cornish Pasties, and of course fish and chips. But don't worry. She still loves grits as much as she always has. And greens or any veggies are always her favourite given the choice.

Wed, May 27th

We have been back to work two days and are already looking forward to the weekend. I am now reading Earth in the Balance on the train to work in the morning, and the IEMA Environmental Management in Organizations handbook in bed at night. If I could only get back into my studying.

Tonight we gave reading a miss. I watched the first half of the European Champions League final (and ten minutes of the second half) between Barcelona and Manchester United before turning over to watch The Apprentice. For those interested, United lost 2-0.

Mon, May 25th

Bank Holiday Monday with a clear up job. I had to get the ladder out and remove some fast food cartons, empty drink cans, and other rubbish that had been thrown on garage roofs that we can see from our bedroom. Then I settled down to enjoy the third day of the weekend.

Watched some SG1 on television, made a large pot of chili, edited some photos, updated Facebook and our blog and then ordered a ton of photos that we'd taken this year from PhotoBox.

Dawn worked on her course work and did some ironing before we settled down for the evening. That was after we'd had a delicious plate of spicy chicken and vegetable casserole.

Sun, May 24th

God's day of rest. But as it was a gorgeous sunny day, a bank holiday weekend, and as our front yard was being taken over by weeds that would make Kudzu proud, I decided to do some yard work. In the process we found out that we have two tiers out front that would be ideal for some flower beds. After filling up our 14o litre garden waste bin and three dustbin liners, I realised that this project will take a while.

With my joints reminding me how old I am getting, I relaxed by watching the Monaco F1 Grandprix and Newcastle United being relegated from the Premier League.

For dinner I then made some chicken and mushroom risotto for the first time. It was pretty good.

We then relaxed in front of the television watching Dan in Real Life. It was a nice feel good movie and a nice way to end the day. Although to tell the truth I ended the day by reading a book on Environmental Management in Organisations in bed.

Sat, May 23rd

The start of a nice weekend began with a run to Tesco to do the weekly grocery shopping on my own before the two of us ran into town to get a haircut and pick up my blood pressure pills. Then it was on the train into London to visit Dad, stopping at Nandos for a chicken wrap, some olives, and half a chicken between us. The latter was free because of the number of stamps we had in our appreciation card.

At Dad's he got out an album full of slides of photos that he had taken the best part of 40 years ago. They certainly brought back memories: standing on a rock with Dad in Hayle (1968), holding the 7-a-side trophy won with Grafton School (1972), and my first day at Holloway school (1972). There were plenty of Dad and Mum back in the early 70s too. I of course asked Dad if I could have the slides to make copies. But he said he would do it for me.

For dinner I did some pan seared scallops with asparagus. It tasted delicious.

Tonight we watched a recording called Strange Days from the National Geographic Channel that showed just how much mankind is destroying our planet. The coral being killed off Cancun was bad enough, but the sight of plastic found in the stomachs of dead albatrosses in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was worse. The two of us both decided that we needed to eliminate buying any products that come in plastic containers some how.

Fri, May 22nd

Another week behind us and we celebrated with a fish sandwich washed down by a couple of bottles of beer.

Then tonight we stayed up very late (for us that is) to watch the American Idol results show. Dawn wanted Adam to win. But, after the show last night, I wanted Kris Allen. As usual (I've lost count how often), the performer I thought would win did. It was even better when it was the one I preferred.

Thu, May 21st

Dawn called our dentist, but could only get an appointment for Friday. At least she has an appointment sorted and won't have to sit in the waiting room not knowing when she will get seen.

As for me, a lunch date I had was cancelled. Maybe another time.

On the way back to Enfield Chase (I've walked every evening this week), I stopped by the New River and took some photos of the cutest little baby geese. They could be another bird, but the point is they looked so cute in their furry coats. No feathers, just a fine brown tuft. Check out the photo above.

Tonight I called Dad and made arrangements to go and see him Saturday and then got comfortable on the couch to watch the American Idol Final. We've been watching the show since Kelly Clarkson won the very first series. This time Dawn is pulling for Adam. She thinks he is out of this world. However, she would still be satisfied if she could have Leon Jackson in her pocket so she could get him out to sing for her when ever she wanted.

Wed, May 20th

Boy when it rains it pours. Hopefully we can win the lottery or something. Already we had to fork out some much needed cash on the car bill this month. Now we have a dentist bill to look forward to also. Dawn was enjoying a bowl of my home-made chili when she gave me a strange look, followed by the words, "I've just broke a tooth."

Now I know that you probably think that those beans must have been undercooked to do this damage. But it wasn't the beans that did the damage. The tooth cracked when Dawn bit down on a pita chip that I had baked. They taste really good. I get a pita bread, cut it into pieces and then dredge it in olive oil, cayenne, garlic powder and salt. I digress though.

Now Dawn has to contact our dentist to see if she can fit her in on Thursday. Even if she can, she'll have to go back again if she can get a cap fitted. Follow this thread later to see what happens and how much it sucks out of our bank account.

Tues, May 19th

Tonight when we got home from work we received a sad email from our very good friends John and Phyllis in Florida. Sadly they had to break the heart-wrenching news that their 19 year old kitty BeBe was no longer with them and had gone ahead to our maker. I won't deny that reading of BeBe's passing brought a tear to my eye. Losing her after so long must have been truly painful for them, as well as Princess (their other kitty). However, on the bright side, BeBe had a long and happy life with John and Phyllis and was truly loved. Our heartfelt thoughts go out to the two of you. We are both so glad that we had a chance to meet BeBe while we were in Dunedin. P&D (and Tiny, too).

Mon, May 18th

My apologies if you were unable to read our blog over the weekend. The good news is that it's back now. You'll be glad to know that you didn't miss anything. We live pretty boring lives over here in Hertford. Thankfully we're just happy with each other. Although we would be a lot happier if we were living in Cornwall. But, we're not complaining.

Sun, May 17th

Woke up and as usual did the usual Sunday morning stuff, like getting the paper and doing a big fry up for breakfast.

Dawn did her chores and after lunch had her video call with Brady while I tried to chill out with some SG1 on the television. I then decided to sort out Facebook and removed several friends.

Dinner was a great plate of salmon, jersey potatoes, carrots and cheese sauce on broccoli before we chilled out together in front of the television again. Then it was off to bed and ready for another stressful week at work. Strange as it may sound (for our friends in Florida especially) Dawn was still in awe of how bright it was outside while she was laying in bed reading her Shakespeare book by Bill Bryson. Wait till it's really the summer and it's bright out gone 10pm.

Sat, May 16th

Another weekend and we had plenty to do. I ran out to Tesco while Dawn put on some laundry and tided up. Then it was off to Stevenage to pick up litter for Tiny.

We did have the pleasure of a great lunch at the Tilbury in Datchworth. We shared some fried squid and leak and asparagus soup, then some fish and chips and a mushroom risotto. Now Dawn wants me to make it at home.

Back in Hertford we stopped off at Riverside to pick up some pots so Dawn could re-pot some plants. Back at the house we chilled out as best we could.

Thur, May 14th

Another special day for me. I met my daughter, Hayley, who took me out to for a birthday lunch, and also gave me a birthday card and gift, too. Incredibly, priceless is the only word I can think of to describe the meal. And that is one word I never thought I would use to describe a Pizza Hut Hawaiian pizza and Diet Coke. However, I will admit that the company and the occasion will make the meal one I will cherish for always.

Wed, May 13th

My birthday. Didn't go to work today because I had to take the car to the garage to have the engine emission warning light dealt with. It came on when we were driving down to Cornwall. I picked it up around tea time and had to part with (or my credit card did) £276 for the repairs. Now that that's been put to bed, I can get back to my holiday.

On the way to the garage I picked up some USB speakers for my laptop from the post office. I ordered them at the weekend and these were my first gift of the day (I'll use the cash Dad gave me). I then met Dawn in Starbucks. Dawn was doing a Jimmy Neal (buying me some presents at the last minute). Back the house she wrapped them so I could unwrap them minutes later. In addition to a pair of jeans and top Brady and Jim gave me, I got two cookery books, two badges, a "I love Spread Sheets" mug, and a sheepy bank. Just look at the picture for this. That will explain all. Dawn also had to explain what a Spread Sheet was. I'd forgotten!!!

We then had a baked fish sandwich for lunch and then spent a couple of hours chilling out. During the course of the day I got more birthday wishes: Katie in Florida, some work colleagues who found out it was my birthday, and later Kelly (my sister-in-law).

Tonight Dawn and I then headed into town for an Indian birthday dinner at Dil's Restaurant. It was excellent, but we left bloated.

The icing on the cake for my birthday was a call from Dad to wish me happy birthday, and several texts from my daughter Hayley wishing me happy birthday and arranging to meet me tomorrow.

See, now you can see why even the cost of the car repair couldn't dampen my spirits.

Tues, May 12th

Tomorrow is my birthday, but the I started receiving birthday wishes today. Friends on Facebook primarily being those who had remembered. A special thank you to Christina (from Landseer Ct), Sam (Bowers), Paul (Ms).

Oh yea, I beat Dawn at Scrabble on Facebook, too. She was not a happy camper. She kept on bitching that I was getting ALL the big letters. Makes a change.

Sun, May 10th

Today was laptop day for me. I spent most of my spare time editing photos or loading photos onto Photobox. In between I had the Spanish F1 Grand Prix and two premier leagues on the television. That was in the background, of course. Dawn had her weekly video call with Brady. This was the first in three weeks thanks to our holiday and the communication problem last weekend.

I spent lots of time in the kitchen, too. I did our regular Sunday fry-up of potato waffle, baked beans, mushroom and egg for breakfast. Then made some spicy chicken kebabs with flatbread for lunch, and then a chicken roast with peppers, cherry tomatoes, carrots and new potatoes for dinner.

Sat, May 9th

A day on the go today. I went to Tesco on my own for the weekly groceries so Dawn could get a head start on the weekly chores. Then it was in the car and off to Hertford North station again and a train ride to Finsbury Park to see Dad. As usual now, we stopped at Nandos for a quick bite on the way.

Dad seemed a lot better than he had been in weeks. Last week he actually went out three times. Once to the hospital for blood tests and twice to Morrisons at Nags Head to do some grocery shopping. That can only be a good sign.

One other highlight of the day was that I finally finished reading and editing Dawn's holiday journal. Editing may not be the right word. I think I should say adding omissions. This time it's Dawn's perspective of our vacation instead of mine. Anyone interested in reading it please don't hesitate to drop us a line.

Wed, May 6th

The week got better and better. Well for Dawn it did. She had an appointment with her dentist and thanks to the lateness of her appointment we didn't get home until three quarters of an hour later than usual. What's 45 minutes you may ask? A considerable amount of time when you have been up and on the go since 4:15am that morning. I had it slightly easier than Dawn as I stopped on the way to the station to grab a skinny cappuccino. It's just 64 calories, so doesn't affect my waistline too much.

After watching the United-Arsenal semi-final last night, I couldn't resist watching the second game between Chelsea and Barcelona. What a shame that Chelsea conceded a goal two minutes into injury time to prevent a repeat of last season's Champions League final.

Tues, May 5th

Well our holiday was well and truly over today. We were awake again a little after 4am and caught the 6:25 train from Hertford North. I will say about what followed was that we both felt totally miserable and exhausted by the time we had met again on the 4:21pm arriving at Enfield Chase. Tonight, I stayed up to watch the Champions League Semi-Final match between Manchester United and Arsenal. As a Tottenham fan for over 40 years, all I can say is that I felt sad that the Gunners ended another season without a trophy...

Mon, May 4th

We had a nice lie-in and took it as easy as we could today. Dawn of course did several washing loads. However, we did get out of the house. We popped into town and had lunch at the Woolpack. We ordered a minestrone soup, but it looked and tasted more like a bolognese sauce. I also spent forever loading our holiday snaps onto Facebook so our friends could check out what a great time we had.

Oh yea, I also made a huge pot of chili which we can have over the next few weeks with some pita chips and salsa. Not every day of course.

Sun, May 3rd

Thankfully we had a long weekend to recover from the long drive home from Cornwall. Or more appropriately, Dawn had an extra day to do the laundry and her chores. I called Dad to tell him about our vacation, check that he was okay, and thank him for contributing towards our anniversary picture.

Sat, May 2nd

Well the holiday is almost over. Tiny woke us up at 12:30am with the sound of her throat heaving. I think we had upset her with all the packing we did before going to bed. She had been laying on the bed with me, but ended the night on the chair in the other room.

Anyway, we were up and out early. Well, earliesh. We left The Old Haven chalet around 7:45am after we had downed an authentic saffron fruit bun and cup of tea for breakfast. The sun was in the sky and the forecast was for no rain. If only the drive could be as easy as the one down.

We left Hayle along the A30 which would take us all the way to Exeter in Devon and the M5. I tuned the radio into easy listening on Radio 2 and got into cruising mode around 60mph. Tiny though was unsettled and wandered around the car. Dawn again had to love on her and I had to pull off the road and move the framed picture as she wanted to sit on it.

That done, we continued on the drive east. All went well. Several pee breaks and more for Coca-Cola kept up the progress home. In fact, we hardly even stayed stationary for long. We just enjoyed the sight of thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle as we passed farm after farm. We did stop a little longer for lunch. We picked up a sandwich once we had reach the M4 motorway and had less than 150 miles left to go.

Sadly, the good time we made on the road wasn't to last. As we got closer to London we saw several signs warning of congestion on the M4 between junctions 4 and 6B. Worse still was that there was worse congestion on the M25 (the way we were going) just after our exit onto the M25. After almost coming to a standstill on the M4, I decided to stay on the M4 and get home via the North Circular and M1. That too proved problematic. Here the volume of traffic was even worse. We crawled along the road from one traffic light to the next. Eventually we reached the M1. Signs telling drivers to use the North Circular to get to Westfield, the largest shopping mall in London, did not help.

To cut a long story short, Dawn suggested that we stay on the M1 and go via St Albans rather than the M25 which we did. This meant that we made it home around 4pm after over 8 hours driving. The whole holiday we had only done 809 miles including the trip to and from Cornwall. Not too bad for these two environmentalists. Best of all is that we both agreed that it was the best holiday either of us had ever enjoyed.

For those of you interested in checking out the photos we took, go to our Facebook and see them there.

Fri, May 1st

Today we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary just as we had our first, in St Ives. This time we had a ride over with the hope of finding a framed picture of Hayle to commemorate the holiday and as a gift to ourselves. However, I am getting a little head of myself.

After exchanging cards, receiving a anniversary text from my daughter Hayley, a shave, bath (no shower), and breakfast, we headed into town to get some photos before the so called rains came. We also wanted to have a drive around the residential part of Hayle, after I'd grabbed some photos of the Parish church in Phillack that had been there since 500AD, and The Bucket of Blood pub, to get a better feel of the place. That took all of five minutes. Like Dawn said, it's a pretty small town. But for those who visited Dawn in Oriental, NC, nothing as remote or isolated. This is bustling in comparison.

We then drove to St Ives and parked the car so we could check out the art gallery for a painting or print. Dawn went first and found some she liked. When I went I had to plump for the panoramic print of Godrevy Lighthouse from the beach at Hayle. It cost more than we had hoped, but we put the money Dad gave us for our anniversary towards it so it didn't break the bank.

The ride back to Hayle was the scenic route and with the windscreen wipers moving back and forth. As predicted, the rains had come. Thankfully after we had picked up the framed print. In town we stopped and picked up some more ice cream from Mr B's and a couple of pasties from Philp's Bakery. They had only been in business since 1958, so they weren't as good as Warrens. The ice cream was for dessert after dinner.

The pasties were so filling that I decided to go for a walk on the beach even though it was raining to lose some weight. Sorry, an excuse. I wanted to photograph some windsurfers on the waves. The wind and rain certainly brings them out. Then it was back to editing photos while Dawn did the journal again.

Our anniversary dinner was some really good fish and chips from Loggans Fish Bar in town. We spotted it when we went for a drive earlier in the day. It was so much better than Hubbard's. And, all things considered, an appropriate anniversary meal. Especially with the Ferrero Rocher and Cherry Ripple ice creams with chocolate flakes for dessert.

I did the washing up for the first and only time while Dawn went for one last walk along the beach. This time she headed towards the dunes just north of us and ended up along the clifftops. She arrived back exhausted and totally thrilled by the views from the clifftops. Another fitting end to our anniversary.