Sat, Feb 2nd

Today we spent an hour or two in town visiting our usual haunts. First we dropped into the Oxfam bookshop, where I dropped off about 15 books that I read last year. Most were probably bought from there in the first place, so at least the money will have gone to a good cause (twice). That's what I call practical recycling. We stopped at the Co-op for Dawn's pills, Messages for some wrapping paper and cards, WH Smith for some stationary, and finally a petshop for some food for Tiny and a couple of toy mice. One, which by the way, she has already chewed the tail off of!

Next we dropped into Hertford North to get Dawn's monthly rail ticket. I also picked up a railcard after I got my mugshot taken in one of those instant photo booths.

From there we headed to Morrisons for our weekly grocery shopping before making our way home to Tiny.

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

Mon, Dec 31st

The last day of 2oo7. First we drove to a small butcher shop near Sele Farm in Hertford to pick up a ham for dinner today and tomorrow. Then it was off to Welwyn Garden City to get some kitchen stuff for me in the sales. Well, Dawn too. She fancied some home made biscuits with her ham and realised we didn't have a rolling pin. Well that problem was solved pretty quickly. After that we grabbed a quick bit for lunch at Bebo's before heading to the grocery mad-house that was Morrisons. There were more people there today than before Christmas. The line of cars leading into the car park as we left reminded of us of the Publix in Dunedin when a hurricane was on its way.

At the house (you've guessed it), I was back in the kitchen again. This time baking honey glazed ham for tonight's dinner, macaroni and cheese (from Nigella Lawson's cookbook), and some home-made biscuits. Then, if that wasn't enough, when that had all gone down I made some caramelized bananas for dessert while we watched the movie Prestige on TV.

Being New Year's Eve, we had to stay up (much to Tiny's disgust) to see in the new year, stepping outside the front door seconds before midnight so that we could bring in the new year (with some coal, money, bread and a glass of wine in hand) for good luck.

Sun, Dec 30th

This was supposed to be a down day where we took things a little easy. However, it didn't turn out that way. Dawn spent several hours taking down our two Christmas trees and putting away all the ornaments.

I was kept busy, too. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making a nice and tasty beef stew to freeze before making dinner for the evening. We had (not that you need to know, but as it was delicious we thought we'd tell you) home-made salmon patties with slow roasted cherry tomatoes on rocket lettuce with goats cheese. I know, all we seem to have done this Christmas is eat, eat, eat. But, we have certainly enjoyed it!

Sat, Dec 29th

Today my daughter Hayley paid us a visit. I picked her up at Hertford East Station and together popped into Tesco to get some sandwiches for lunch. Back at the house, with Dawn, the three of us chatted about our Christmases and caught up on things. It was great to see Hayley and spend some time with her. Hopefully in the new year she will be back so we can all pop into town and enjoy some of the local scenery. I even promised to cook us all a nice roast lamb dinner with all the trimmings next time.

Fri, Dec 28th

This morning we had a ride out towards Hertford Heath to visit a local farm shop at Foxholes Farm. However, when we pulled up outside the shop we just couldn't bring ourselves to get out of the car and check out the butchery and delicatessen. There was a barn full of cute cows grazing on some straw. We just couldn't do it.

So it was off to Morrisons in Welwyn Garden City for the weekly grocery shopping. However, our journey didn't work out as planned. They didn't have a single sachet of Felix "As Good As It Looks" tuna. So once we got home and unpacked, we had to jump back in the car and head out to Crews Hill inside the M25. Now that Tiny has settled into eating this particular food, we weren't going to try her on something else.

Back home Dawn finally got a chance to read the day's newspapers while I made a cottage pie using Gordon Ramsey's recipe. It was "excellent". We have been in food heaven this Christmas.

Thu, Dec 27th

Today we had a ride up to Watton-at-Stone for lunch at The George & Dragon. A work colleague of mine that lives in Hertingfordbury recommended the place and she was spot on. The ambiance and food was excellent. Best of all was that we enjoyed a stroll around the little picturesque town and even found a butcher that sells mostly local food. We'll definitely be back here again. The butcher, who had been working there for over 30 years, also recommended some other pubs in villages nearby where we could get some excellent local food.

Back home I finished uploading all the photos that I had edited and posted them to our photo diary on the web. You can check them out by clicking on the link to the right. You can also check out our Christmas letter, too. We have links to both this year's and last year's for those who want a quick glance on what what we have been through the last two years.

Wed, Dec 26th

We used today to recuperate and relax after the last few days. We certainly needed to catch our breath after all that we had been doing. Best of all was that we didn't have to go anywhere. Although I did pop into town to pick up a couple of newspapers for Dawn.

With us eating such a big dinner yesterday, we decided to postpone our Christmas breakfast to today, Boxing Day. Needless to say, we both thoroughly enjoyed a plate of Eggs Benedict before jumping in the shower.

The rest of the day was spent with Dawn downloading music from i-Tunes and a new website we found where she could get songs for 5p each, and making a festive video call with Brady. I on the other hand spent forever editing all the photos that I had taken since Thanksgiving.

Best of all was that we were able to have some Christmas dinner seconds. Our leftovers from yesterday tasted even better, if that was possible.

Tue, Dec 25th

Christmas Day. As usual we got up early like kids to open our gifts. However, that was more because we had a long day ahead rather than eager to open our presents. Tiny joined in, but was more interested in her Christmas stocking than the chair we bought her.

Dawn and I opened each other's cards and those from Dad and Hayley before opening our gifts from each other. We both loved our gifts. Dawn especially loved her pearl earrings and personalised hardback book of our 1997 vacations. I just loved the gold cross she gave me.

Before a quick shower, I then got back into the kitchen to prepare the veggies for dinner and bake the stuffing. Then all of a sudden my cell phone rang. I answered it to hear my daughter Hayley's voice. We talked for a little before she hung up and called Dad. It was a Christmas gift better than money could buy.

We then drove up to Holloway to collect Dad and George and brought them back to Hertford. Here they were given a basket each, full of food goodies wrapped in Xmas paper, before I disappeared into the kitchen to complete our dinner.

As for the meal, it turned out to be the best Christmas meal I had ever cooked - Roast turkey, roast potatoes cooked in goose fat, honey baked parsnips, Brussels sauteed with pecans and bacon, sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, cranberry sauce and gravy. For dessert we had Christmas pudding, mince pies and whipped cream.

After allowing our food to go down, we took Dad and George home before crashing on the couch and watching a recording of the Queen's speech.

It was my best ever Christmas Day with a couple of text messages from Hayley before reading Christmas Jars (a gift from Brady and Jim) adding the icing to the cake.

Mon, Dec 24th

Yep, the Christmas period is well in the swing now. Today, again after another leisurely morning, I was back in the kitchen getting more stuff ready for the big day. This morning I made the Christmas stuffing. We used a recipe from last year that was excellent. I then wrapped the sausages in bacon and then cooked the turkey. This time I lay the bird on a bed of onions, carrots and garlic. We saw it on a food show recently and apparently it will add some wonderful flavours to the gravy.

Once that was in the oven, I went out the back to clear up the back yard while Dawn completed putting the year's photos in photo albums.

Tonight we watched the last of four films that we watch as part of our Christmas tradition - It's a Wonderful Life. The other three being Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Vacation and of course Love Actually. I'm sure next year we'll add another film or two to the list.

Sun, Dec 23rd

We like the Christmas holidays. Today we took our time getting up and getting dressed. It made a nice change from rushing around. However, once we were up, and after Dawn had read the morning papers that I had gone out to get from the local newsagent, Dawn did have to tidy the house a little. I on the other hand ran into town and picked up a few presents for Dawn that I had not been able to get before.

Back at the house Dawn then continued to tackle the last eleven months' photos that we had taken. It's part of her usual festive routine. Leave the photos in a shoe box for the best part of the year and then in two days put them in photo albums while I work in the kitchen.

I made some home-made Beef Wellington. That too was excellent. Best of all was that we had plenty of left overs for Monday.

Sat, Dec 22nd

Today Mum and Dad should have been celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary. Sadly Mum is no longer around to enjoy the day with Dad. However, she is still with us in our minds and hearts. And on occasions still offering a helping hand where needed. Anyway, this morning we had a ride up to Holloway to collect Dad and George and take them to the cemetery to lay some flowers on Mum's grave, and also Dad's parents' grave, too.

Later in the day I watched Spurs on Sky Sports lose to Arsenal in a match that they should have at least got a point from if not won. Not a good start to the festive period for my team.

Dawn and I then chilled out watching a couple of films. The first we had recorded from Sky movies, The Holiday. Then after dinner we watched (as part of our Christmas tradition) our favourite film - Love Actually.

Fri, Dec 21st

At last Christmas is here. We may already have a Christmas tree beautifully adorned in the living room and a collection of Santas bringing some festive colour to the mantle piece, however, it didn't really feel like Christmas until we could turn our backs on our jobs for the holidays. And today we both felt one hundred percent better waking up knowing that we didn't have to go to work until the New Year. In fact, I never received one card from anyone I work with.

To celebrate, and get the festive season off and running, we booked a table at the White Horse Hotel in Hertingfordbury for lunch. We had been meaning to try this place out for a while and this seemed the ideal time to go. It certainly turned out to be a memorable occasion, but not for the reason we expected. We thought that the restaurant would be quaint and old, with a couple of areas for an even more romantic setting. However, the room was an open plan room with a conservatory attached to the back. Under the conservatory and stretching into the main area were four long banks of tables covered with white linen. The staff were laying the china and cutlery, not to mention party hats and Christmas crackers. Our single table was located to the side at the back of the room with two chairs side by side. In between was an area big enough to be used as a small dance floor after the party had finished the food. The party by the way was not scheduled to start until 7.30pm.

You've got it. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It did have piped Christmas music in the background, and the food was excellent. But the ambiance was not what we expected.

Thu, Dec 20th

When a company relocates their office in England, under employment laws the employer and employee must undergo a 12-week process called a consultation period. The main component of this is for the employee to visit the new location so that they are able to evaluate the affect on their working conditions and travel situation. So, today, Steve (my boss), Christine, Simon, Ilyas and I (the accounts team) made the journey over to the new location in Enfield.

After a leisurely walk through the building, the biggest issue was where the accounts department were to be located in the new set-up. The journey also received one or two complaints as well. Fortunately, when we arrived back in Hertford, the issue of the accounts office was raised with senior staff and it was agreed to move the department to a better location. As for the travel, that will be what it will be.

I ended the day feeling pleased that I had somehow been able to not only complete my week's work in four days, but had also been able to deal with the cash for November that Steve wanted and sorted out the first payment run since Lina had left last month. Unfortunately, I left for the Christmas break with one issue still to be resolved regarding the company's relocation in the New Year.

Wed, Dec 19th

Today I had a meeting with my new boss to discuss the move to Enfield and how it would affect me. It was a positive meeting with regards to my work load, as I will be passing a lot of the data input work I currently do to the new accounts assistant. We were even able to address the travel situation. Instead of being a five minute drive to the office, it's planned that I get the same train as Dawn in the morning and walk the two miles to work from Enfield Chase. This will mean that I will get to work around 8am. A huge difference from being able to go home for another hour to be with Tiny before I leave for work. I won't be coming home to see Tiny at lunch time either. As for the journey home, I will have to leave before 5pm so that I could be back at Enfield Chase station to catch the train Dawn had boarded at Old Street. I still have one or two things to resolve, but it's alot closer than things were a month ago.

A Christmas footnote: This morning I handed out Christmas cards to some of my work colleagues. Those in my immediate office also received a special CD that I had copied with my favourite Christmas songs.

Sun, Dec 16th

More relaxation today. However, I did work on some papers for work while Dawn had her video call with Brady. We then sat down and enjoyed watching Christmas Vacation on DVD before watching several Christmas cooking programs on the Food Channel.

Oh yea, Dawn also wrote out several cards for some of her workmates at her office.

Sat, Dec 15th

Today we spent the morning in Hertford. First port of call was to get our hair cut. However, the girl that cuts our hair did not turn up. We waited for about 30 minutes before the owner decided to do our hair herself. We had it easy though. She had to re-schedule all the other people who were due to have their hair cut that day to Sunday instead. That would have been her day off, but she decided to come in especially to make sure her customers got their cuts.

Then it was the usual places. WH Smith for newspaper and stationary, Clinton for some cards, the Oxfam shop for some cheap books to read, Waitrose for a Christmas pudding, and then the local garden centre to find something green and festive for the mantle piece. The latter being unsuccessful, I am afraid.

Back home we chilled out and watched the first of many Christmas films this festive season - the original Miracle on 34th Street. I always remember watching this when I used to arrive home from midnight mass in the early hours of Christmas morning. Later tonight we then watched the X-Factor final. Dawn was pleased that Leon won. Although we're both convinced that Rhydian will have a huge career.

Fri, Dec 14th

A nice day off work. However, it was not an inexpensive one. We dropped the car off at Marshalls in Welwyn Garden City for a major service and made our way on foot to the Howard Shopping Centre so Dawn could pick up some new work clothes. An hour later we got a call on the cell phone to advise us that we needed new front break pads and that a rear tyre had a slow puncture. That just doubled the cost of the bill. But we had no choice other than to get it done.

Dawn was in heaven though. Not because of the car. But because she was finally able to find some warm work clothes that she liked and that fit her. I got something, too. I picked up a new roasting pan for the Christmas turkey and an oven thermometer. After cooking the fruitcake cookies on Sunday, I felt I needed to check out whether our oven's temperatures came anything close to what they should be.

After a nice lunch we picked up the car (also had a silent cry when we paid the bill) and then drove around to Parcelforce to pick up a Christmas parcel Brady had mailed us. When we got home, Dawn found a couple of packages of grits and popcorn inside, as well as a few gifts that we put under the tree and several Christmas ornaments (including one for Tiny from Chance).

Thur, Dec 13th

This was a short week at work for the two of us as we both booked Friday as a day's vacation. However, this didn't mean that it was any easier as we both had to cram a week's work into less than four days. That was because I had a dentist appointment on Monday, and Dawn had an appointment with her doctor on Wednesday.

If that wasn't bad enough, I had to train and supervise the new bought ledger clerk at work, too. By tonight I was more than glad to be out of the office. Dawn on the other hand was having to deal with the aftermath of one of her director's resignation. It looks like as his PA she will be the one tasked with a lot of the handover of information from him to his successor. As with me, this will also mean in addition to her already extremely busy workload.

Sun, Dec 9th

Another busy Sunday. I did some (yes, you can guess) work on the baseboards before Dawn put our new Christmas tree up in the living room. Dawn keeps reminding me that it's a Fraser Fir. I, on the other hand, remind her that it's still artificial.

In the meantime, I made a mess in the kitchen while I baked six dozen fruitcake cookies. We used Brady's recipe as best as we could, but had to substitute some dried fruit for glazed pineapple pieces, which we couldn't find. The first batch got overcooked as I left them in the oven too long. I had stuck to the recipe. However, the later batches came out fine as I adjusted the temperature and the length of time I left them in the oven.

Sat, Dec 8th

After running out to do our grocery shopping, we made our way to Hertford North to catch a train to Holloway to visit Dad. We chilled out by reading our books. That was until Dawn noticed a reindeer on a leash looking into our carriage as we arrived at Gordon Hill station. Dawn asked me what it was doing there. Apart from suggesting it was waiting for a train to the North Pole to meet Santa, I hadn't a clue.

We caught the tube from Finsbury Park to Holloway Road so we could stop for a bite at the Coronet before stopping in to see Dad. However, as I had forgotten our umbrella in the car and it was pouring down with rain, we had to stop at a local shop to pick up a cheap one to keep our heads dry. This it did successfully (almost). However, our backs, jeans and feet were soaked by the time we got to Dad's. Thankfully, the walk back to the station afterwards was a little easier as the rain had subsided.

Back home, I worked on the baseboards again. This time I started to paint them.

Fri, Dec 7th

Today Dawn used some of her holiday entitlement by taking a day off work to recover from her long day yesterday. However, she didn't waste it with her feet up. I dropped her off in town when I went to work in the morning and she spent the next four and a half hours doing some Christmas shopping before I picked her up again when I popped out of the office for lunch.

After I returned to work, Dawn then spent a good few hours pulling out the Christmas ornaments. When I arrived home shortly after 5.30pm, I was welcomed with a wreath on the front door, a festive clown hanging in the den, a mini Christmas tree on the kitchen windowsill, a small Christmas tree in the bedroom on top of the dresser adorned with countless miniature ornaments, and a nativity scene on top of one of the radiator covers in the living room.

Again after dinner I worked on the baseboards before settling down in front of the television.

Thur, Dec 6th

Will this week ever end? We set the alarm for 4am this morning because Dawn needed to catch a 6.30am train from Stevenage and needed me to give her a lift there. Dawn then enjoyed (perhaps not the right word) a 3-hour hour ride to Durham where she attended a Business Continuity meeting at the university there.

I, on the other hand, had to drive out to the other side of Stanstead Airport to attend my company's overhead Christmas lunch at the Lion & Lamb. Thankfully it started around 1pm so I could make my way there and back without too much of a problem. However, it was probably the most surreal Christmas lunch I had ever attended. Our HR officer Christine was the only female present among the 30 attending the festive meal.

When I got home, I did more work on the baseboards before picking Dawn up at Hertford North after her long journey home (one that she needed to get two connecting trains resulting in a 20 minute wait on the platform in Stevenage). We finally sat down for dinner around 7pm feeling completely exhausted.

Wed, Dec 5th

Our busy weekend continued this week as I spent the evenings after work gluing baseboards to the walls in the living room and then filling the gaps the following night. At lunch for a couple of days I made a trip to the post office so I could mail some packages that we needed to send to the US, and also pick up stamps for our Christmas cards.

Oh yea, on Tuesday I also spent another half an hour on the treadmill. This time at 5am in the morning before we jumped in the shower and got ready for work.

Sun, Dec 2nd

A very busy day for us today. I continued from where I left off yesterday. First I sanded the walls that I plastered yesterday before adding a coat of paint. Next I fixed the two radiator covers to the wall, and then I started cutting the baseboards ready for the walls. I had a brief break while Dawn had her weekly video call with Brady around 1pm. I was also able to relax in front of the television for the second half of Spurs versus Birmingham live on Sky Sports. Once again they threw away points by conceding a goal in the second minute of injury time to lose the game.

Incredibly, I was also able to get out to the shed and spend half an hour on the treadmill. This was the first time this year that I had been on it, so I took it easy and didn't over do it.

Sat, Dec 1st

Another busy weekend. No rest for us this time. We had a ride up to Welwyn Garden City to do our weekly grocery shopping before stopping at B&Q to pick up some baseboards for the living room. That meant that when we got home I had to spend a couple of hours plastering the bottom of the walls so I could start fixing them this week.

Dawn, in the meantime, spent a good couple of hours writing out our Christmas cards and wrapping some gifts that we need to get in the mail next week.

Tues, Nov 27th

I don't know whether you all realise how finicky Tiny is when it comes to her food. When we lived in Florida, she would only eat Fancy Feast. When we arrived in England in March last year, we had to find an alternative. She liked Tuna or Chicken flavoured Sheba. Recently, when she wasn't eating her Sheba, we tried her on the Felix tuna. She loved it. The problem is that's all she wants now, so we have to run around to several stores to see if we can find more. Today, I had to make such a trip to Welwyn Garden City in my lunch break to satisfy our kitty's needs.

Dawn,on the other hand, had to stay behind this evening for a tea-time get together at the home of the new Vice Chancellor of the school so he could get a chance to meet all the PAs. Not Dawn's cup of tea. Worse was that she didn't get home until gone 7pm.

As for my work situation, we received confirmation today that my company have finally exchanged contracts on our new offices. This means that it's official that they will be moving out of their current offices in Hertford by the end of February. A consultation period has now started to address employees' issues and to see whether the concerns can be addressed.

Sun, Nov 25th

We had a fairly relaxing weekend for a change. Yesterday we did run out to Morrisons to do our weekly grocery shopping. But once home, we spent the rest of the two days pottering around catching up on all the things we have been neglecting over the last few weeks. I did watch the live coverage of West Ham versus Spurs on Sky Sports. Again Spurs did their best to throw some more points away in the dying minutes. It has been pretty tough watching them this season.

Fri, Nov 23rd

With the two of us enjoying a much deserved holiday from work, we popped over to Harlow to visit the Harvey shopping centre so Dawn could look for some warm work clothes at BHS and M&S. In addition to complaining about the bitter cold, she also complained that neither the sizes available or the styles of today really suited her. On the way back we did our grocery shopping at Tescos before picking up some stationery at Staples.

Thur, Nov 22nd

Thanksgiving Day. We woke early so I could make the broccoli casserole and bake the dressing before we headed out to pick up Dad and George to bring them to Hertford for a Thanksgiving meal. On the way we called into Jollyes and picked up a new litter box for Tiny. Her current one is over 18 months old and really needed to be replaced.

When we arrived home we gave Dad his belated birthday presents, which was a nice surprise for him. Then we sat at the table enjoying one of our favourite meals of the calender year. We had roast turkey, broccoli casserole, dressing, sweet potato mash with some boiled rice and gravy. A little later we had a slice of apple pie and ice cream before taking Dad and George back home.

All four of us really enjoyed the day, even if in Dawn's and my case it had been long and tiring. We were up at 5.30am so we could start preparing the food and drove to and from Holloway twice before we could finally settle down for the day around 6pm. At least we didn't need to prepare more food. We were still full up when we went to bed a couple of hours later.

Wed, Nov 21st

A sad day for England. After two days where Dawn was attending an emergency planning course at City University's business school, she was able to start her Thanksgiving celebrations early. Better still she was able to make the dressing and cook the turkey for Thursday's meal. As for the sad day, tonight we both watched England's qualifier with Croatia. The media have printed every adjective possible to describe the national side's lacklustre performance. But at the end of the day we will not be represented next year in the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. As an Englishman, it's a travesty. But as a realist, we also have no one but ourselves to blame. Once again we failed to live up to our reputation, or reach the level of the nation's expectations.

Tues, Nov 20th

Following a late phone call last night, our plumber called around this morning and re-installed the radiator in the living room. However, even this wasn't without incident. The a seal on the valve was worn and the rad started to leak once he had installed it. Thankfully he had a spare one in his van and was able to fix it.

I also finished reading 'The Tide Knot' by Helen Dunmore. This enabled me to accomplish another one of my targets for the year - reading 50 books. That's a little over a book a week. Not having a television in the bedroom certainly helps, though.

Sun, Nov 18th

On Saturday we ran over to Welwyn Garden City and did the grocery shopping and picked up an artificial Christmas tree. Dawn kept on reminding me that it was a Fraser Fir. But at the end of the day, it's still an artificial one. At least it will save us having to fork out the best part of a couple hundred pounds over the next five years for live trees. Best of all, it will save on clear up afterwards.

On Sunday I spent a good couple of hours making a radiator cover for the radiator by the window. The radiator, however, is currently in the storage room as we're waiting for our plumber to come back and install it.

Fri, Nov 16th

This week I spent a lot of time with Lina so she could show me everything she does on the bought ledger. This is because next Tuesday will be her last day and the new Financial Controller has asked me to cover the position until we find a replacement. I have no problem with this. However, on Friday I had a meeting with the Financial Controller about something else I was not happy with. Only time will tell whether the matter is resolved to my satisfaction. If not, then I will be looking for a new job before the company relocates office in the new year.

Sun, Nov 11th

On Saturday we popped into town and did some shopping. We ran into the usual stores: Co-op Pharmacy, WH Smith, Boots, etc., before calling into the frame shop to pick up a couple of pictures that we had dropped off a few weekends back. Then it was up to Holloway to visit Dad and George.

On Sunday Dawn as usual did the laundry and ironing, while I did the vacuuming for a change. This was after I had gone to Hertford North railway station to pick up Dawn's monthly rail ticket. We even found some time to relax and watched The Devil Wears Prada on the television.

Fri, Nov 9th

After all the work we had done over the last few weeks, it was nice to concentrate on our jobs for a change. However, neither one of us found that easy. The two of us had a pile load of work, not to mention we both needed time out of the office for medical appointments. On Monday, Dawn dropped in to the dentist for a periodic review. On Thursday, I called in at my doctors to have my blood pressure checked. As expected, having gone there in my lunch break, it was higher than we would have liked. Now I need to get over to the hospital for a load of blood tests.

Sun, Nov 4th

The weekend was spent working on the living room and doing the chores as we feared. Dawn spent most of Saturday painting. First the windowsill, then the paneled wall, then a baseboard. And then finally the coving. In the meantime, I built a radiator cover from scratch. It doesn't seem much when you list it like this, but for some reason it took most of the day.

On Sunday, Dawn touched up some of the paint jobs after I had painted the radiator cover and hung the rear window curtain rail. Dawn also had to deal with the laundry and ironing as usual. At least we (including Tiny) could sit down at the end of the day and enjoy our front room. Although we still need to install some new baseboards and another couple of minor jobs.

Fri, Nov 2nd

Our last day off work was spent window shopping at the Howard Centre in Welwyn Garden City. We did pick up a few odds and ends and had a pub lunch in the Doctor's Tonic. However, the best part of the day was being off work and spending the time with each other.

Unfortunately by taking the last few days off from working on the house meant that it was all left for the weekend.

Thu, Nov 1st

Today 11 years ago the two of us met for the very first time at the top of the Empire State Building. We celebrated it by spending the whole day in Hertford, the town we now live in, after an incredible journey together.

We popped into a few shops and walked around the castle to enjoy the park that surrounds it. We also walked up to The Hillside and enjoyed a wonderful anniversary lunch at a Michelin star restaurant.

The day ended relaxing in front of the television with a cosy fire and Tiny laying next to me on the settee.

Tue, Oct 30th

Dawn spent her second day home painting the living room walls while I was at work. I on the other hand worked like a dog to make sure I had the manager's figures ready for the manager's meeting tomorrow. I had two days to do three days work. But at least once the day was over I was able to look forward to three days off.

Mon, Oct 29th

Dawn started her week off work by helping me rip up the old carpet in the living room and hall way before I went off to work. She was then imprisoned upstairs with Tiny while we had the new carpet laid. However, that wasn't the worst of it. The carpet fitters accused us of making a mistake with the measurements as they were short on the carpet for the hall. They could of course resolve the problem at an extra cost. At least they sorted it out. However, that just meant we had another dispute to resolve. The fitters also told Dawn that we would have to cut down a cupboard door as it wouldn't fit back on after they had laid the carpet. Again not true as I was able to hang it without any problems at all.

Sun, Oct 28th

Back to the grindstone again. We spent all day working on the living room or getting the chores done. First we had to wash down the living room walls, having got all the paper off this week. Then we had to fill all the holes and cracks (and there were plenty), and sand the walls. Next the baseboards came up (what a mess). And, finally we were able to put up the new curtains in the front window. We'd had brown paper up the last few days having taken down the old curtains on Friday.

Dawn had to do the laundry, ironing and hoovering, too.

Sat, Oct 27th

Today Dad finally got out of the hospital. During his 36 days there he had pneumonia, thrombosis in his leg, and was diagnosed as having malignant cancer. He only went there because he was feeling really rough and was having palpitations. Dawn and I drove up to take him home.

As for George, I called the flat again all morning and got no answer. We were really worried that something may have happened to him. Especially when Dad said he didn't pop up to see him Friday (he had been up every day previously).

When we arrived back at the flat we were a little concerned as to what we would find. Thankfully, George was there. Only just. He had passed out the day before and had been kept overnight in the West Middlesex Hospital. Needless to say, we have made sure that he and Dad have our correct cell numbers so someone can contact us in an emergency like this again.

In between we popped into Paul Simons in Harlow to sort out curtains for the front room and even found time to take some of the old ones down, too.

Fri, Oct 26th

I've spent the last four evenings of this week stripping the wallpaper from the walls in our living room. That may sound either excessive work or pretty slow work. I'd have to say it was the latter. The previous owners had embossed paper that they had painted, so I needed to removed several layers before I could get to the walls.

In between this and work I called the hospital and George. The doctors have been pleased with Dad's progress and are letting him come home on Saturday. As for George, he's been doing well on his own. With the exception of today, that is, as I never got hold of him despite calling the flat all night. We thought that he may have been spending his last night of freedom with a neighbour.

As for work, my new boss Steve started on Monday. It will be interesting to see how I get on with him compared to his predecessor. Dawn had another trip out of the office, too. On Tuesday she went to University of Westminster for an Estates Management Statistics workshop.

Sun, Oct 21st

On the seventh day God rested, and we tried to do the same. However, Dawn still needed to do the ironing. Although I did help with the vacuuming.

We also popped out to Harlow to visit CarpetRight and ordered some new carpet for the living room and hall, and checked out some curtains in Paul Simons. It feels like all we do is spend money at the moment. But at least the living room will look nice once we have finished. Not to mention it will be ours and look the way we want it to.

This afternoon I watched Lewis Hamilton miss out on becoming the first driver to win the Formula 1 World Title in his rookie season. He did well to achieve what he has. Maybe he'll go one better next season.

Sat, Oct 20th

What a hectic weekend. We started the day with a ride into town where we dropped into Frame Shop (to get our Empire State Building and Dunedin pictures framed), Hertford Pet Store (grass for Tiny), Woolworths (umbrella for Dawn; she left the last one on the train), Co-op pharmacy (for Dawn's prescription), Albany Radio (filters for the Hoover), a jewellers for a watch battery, and then Cafe Nero for a coffee and hot chocolate while we waited for 11am to come around so we could get our haircut at Fringe Benefit.

Then it was back home for lunch before I headed up to the Whittington Hospital to visit Dad on my own. Dawn by now was dead on her feet and was also concerned about passing her bug onto Dad. As for him, he was still positive despite starting his fifth week in a hospital bed and receiving the news that his growth is also malignant. They are now doing tests to see whether the cancer is the same as the prostate or something new. He's definitely been through the wars this year.

Tonight we watched the first live show in the X-Factor show. We'd got hooked on American Idol when we were in Florida. However, we prefer the style and makeup of this show a lot more. I then watched England lose the Rugby World Cup Final to South Africa 15-6 while Dawn slept on the sofa while the fire was blazing in front of her .

Fri, Oct 19th

The winter is here in Hertford. For the second day running I had to scrape ice off the windscreen of the car before taking Dawn to the station. Thank God we'll be able to put the new gas fire on in the mornings from this weekend. At least it won't be so cold in the house before we set out for the day.

In addition to that Dawn now has the flu. She didn't have the stomach problems I had last week but now feels like crap. She would have stayed home today in the warm, but she had a special project at work that she had to do. On the way home tonight she fell asleep on the train and was lucky she woke up as the other commuters got off the train at Hertford North.

At least Dawn was able to relax in front of a nice warm fire. We lit the fire for the first time and enjoyed the nice flames without having to spend ages trying to light the wood like we used to. Tiny got a little upset because she wasn't the center of attention and started to claw on the furniture and chew papers.

Wed, Oct 17th

Good news from Chiswell Fires. I spoke to the owner this morning and he confirmed that the installers had not gone the correct route when laying the new gas pipe for the fire. He did give me the choice of having them come back and relay the pipe correctly. But, as a compromise I was more than happy to leave it as it was when he offered to waive the cost of the installation. As it would have been a couple of hundred pounds using the new route, I was happy to leave it was it was.

Tues, Oct 16th

Dawn took today off work so she could be at home while we had our new gas fire fitted into the living room. Already it's getting pretty cold out here in Hertford where the temperature in the mornings is a little above freezing when we get up.

The fire was installed, including with the guys from Chiswell Fires having to drill out a channel through the concrete floor for the pipe. However, the route they took was three times the distance agreed with their surveyor, so we weren't pleased with that as they charge by the feet for this. At least the new fireplace makes the front room look a lot more cosy. We just have to wait until Friday before we can get the pleasure from its warmth.

Dad finally had the biopsy of his growth today. It took longer than planned because the doctors wanted to make sure his I&R was okay because they needed to be sure that the area would stop bleeding after they had done the biopsy.

Mon, Oct 15th

Back to work after my long weekend. I still can't believe I had food poisoning. It felt more like flu symptoms, but with acute stomach problems. At least it's subsided enough for me to be able to get back to the office and start earning a wage again.

Sun, Oct 14th

In preparation for the new fire going in, we had a couple of tasks we had to get out of the way today. One was moving the bookshelf that housed many of our mementos and souvenirs up to the spare room. We decided to use it as a bookshelf for a change and put the ornaments and some bears on the fitted wall in the old dining area. This also meant that I had to rearrange the spare room to accommodate the bookcase.

Once this was done I needed to paint the chimney breast. The old brick wall already looked a darn sight better having been plastered over. The brilliant white paint made it look even better. The only problem is that we now need to paint the rest of the room. Although we'll wait until the fire has been installed before tackling that task.

Oh yea, congratulations to England on beating the French in their own back yard last night to reach the Rugby World Cup final for the second time.

Sat, Oct 13th

Today we headed out to Stevenage for Dawn to take the practical half of her driving test. Let's just say, for legal reasons (she doesn't want to be sued), it did not end in success.

Then after a trip to the grocery store and short visit with Tiny we headed up to the Whittington Hospital in North London to pay Dad a visit. I of course kept my distance as I didn't want to pass on my bug to him. He looked in good spirits despite the bad news of the last seven days, and the fact that he was now starting his fourth week there.

I suppose it helps that George has been up to see him every day, Dawn and I pop up to see him at weekend, and even Phil (with Jean on Friday) has been up to see him twice this week.

Fri, Oct 12th

I'm still off sick, and yes I've now lost two days' pay. This sucks!!!!!!!!

Thu, Oct 11th

My stomach finally got the better of me today. Or I should say last night. After the best part of five days trying to ignore the symptoms, I finally gave in to to the pains and contacted my doctor. To my disbelief (I had also been suffering with flu type symptoms), diagnosed food poisoning. This despite the fact that I had been having these symptoms for over five days now. Anyway, hopefully a course of antibiotics will help. Needless to say, I stayed off work today. The first day I'd been off sick at my new place of work since I started. Even worse was that I lose a day's pay in the bargain.

On the plus side, while I was at home, I had the chimney swept ready for the new gas fire that is scheduled to go in next Tuesday. Check out the Mary Poppins view scene.

Wed, Oct 10th

Today the accounts team, including the current Financial Controller who is leaving at the end of the month, met with his possible replacement. We all met him in the board room to give us a chance to ask him some questions and also give him a chance to meet the people he would be working with. It was certainly a novel way to manage finding a new employee, but at least he won't have any shocks to face should he join the fold.

Dawn in the meantime met with Mavis and Margaret at the Angel and had a nice pub lunch at The Steam Passage in Islington High Street. The three ex-Schiller work colleagues really enjoy catching up on what everyone has been up. However, Dawn is a little envious that the other two are now retired and can now roam freely Monday to Friday instead of trundling off to work.

Dad had yet another examination and got the results of some earlier scans. In addition to prostate cancer, he now has a growth somewhere else to worry about. However, we'll have to wait for the results of a biopsy to see whether this is malignant.

Mon, Oct 8th

Back to the grindstone again. However, today both Dawn and I left work early and for similar reasons. Dawn had a 5.40pm appointment with her doctor to follow up on her recent stomach ailment, and me because I too had a stomach problem. Hopefully the two aren't related. I also popped into Specsavers earlier in the day to complain about my verifocal glasses. It seems that the centre of the spectacles hadn't been lined correctly with my line of vision and was causing the blurred vision and headaches. All seems okay now.

Sat, Oct 6th

Today we had a ride into town to pick up a new pair of glasses. However, after getting them home and wearing them around the house, I decided I'll have to take them back. We then did some grocery shopping before heading home.

After lunch we popped by the local sorting office to mail a card to Kelly (Dawn's sister) for her birthday on the 16th. Thanks to the Post Office strike, it may not get there on time. We then headed up to the hospital to visit Dad, taking some grapes and a camera magazine for him. Dad was asleep, so we didn't wake him. Thankfully he woke up after a little while and we had a chance to chat with him.

Dad was in good spirits considering that he had now been in the hospital over two weeks. The good news is that the swelling on his leg seems to be going down. The bad news is that (in Dad's words) his prostate is no longer benign. However he is still in good spirits.

Fri, Oct 5th

Today Dawn took a day off work so one of us could be at the house while the plasterer repaired the damaged wall in the living room and old dining room. We moved what we could from the living room, but we couldn't move the sofas and bookcase with our ornaments on so we covered them with some old sheets. We remembered the mess that he left behind when he repaired the damaged ceiling. Dawn didn't want to have to deal with that all again.

As for the work. Let's just say that we were both pleased to see the chimney breast covered and a smooth surface for when the fire goes in. Not to mention the yellow stains and damaged plaster from the water leak removed.

Called the hospital as usual and found out that Dad had a second scan today. That's three in five days. Thank goodness we have the NHS.

Thu, Oct 4th

Today I asked my boss for a couple of hours off to visit Dad in hospital - so I was able to pop up to the Whittington Hospital to visit him again. Dad looked well considering he has DVT (a thrombosis of his leg). Unfortunately they won't allow him out until the swelling goes down. The good news is that the cyst on his kidney looks the same size as it was six months ago, so the doctors are pleased with that.

My visit was cut short when the hospital porter arrived with a nurse to take him downstairs for a CT scan.

I was also able to see George while I was there. He seems to be coping well on his own this time.

When I got home from the hospital I finished scraping off the wallpaper for Friday and removed the cast iron fire from the fireplace. We'll be glad to get a nice warm fire installed just in time for the winter.

Wed, Oct 3rd

As part of the new fire project, we decided to move the thermostat from the wall next to the chimney breast to the wall in the old dining room between the living room and the kitchen. Following the problems I had changing the light fittings in the bedroom (due to the poor wiring), we decided to get the same electrician back to do it for us.

All seemed to go well until he drilled through the wall and hit neutral wire leading down the socket outlet connected to his power drill. Thankfully the circuit breaker worked and he didn't hit the live wire. He repaired the damage he'd made before finishing the job.

While this was going on, I was scraping the wallpaper off one of the walls that the plasterer was going to repair at the end of the week. I had already removed the decorative bricks that had been glued to the wall (instead of normal baseboards) the previous night.

Mon, Oct 1st

Today I was late in to work as our plumber came out to remove the toilet and radiator from the small room at the back of the house. We felt it was a waste of money heating the room, plus we wanted to use the room for storage instead. On the downside, we'll have to visit the bathroom upstairs in future. The plumber also removed one of the radiators in the living room so the plasterer due at the end of the week can plaster the wall.

Dad had an ultrasound while he was in hospital. Here's been in there eleven days now.