Sun, Jun 15th

Today was Father's Day and I have to say I really appreciated getting a card from both Dawn and Tiny this morning. After some breakfast and a shower we then dropped by our local recycle centre to drop off four bags of cardboard and some plastic and glass bottles. Then it was up to Dad to spend some time with him on Father's Day - something I will cherish and something I am pleased to say was able to tell him to his face. Dawn and I gave him a pay-as-you-go cell phone so we can stay in touch when he's out and about. We then had a ride up to the cemetery to lay some flowers on Mum's grave to commemorate her birthday, which was today, and to let her know that she is always in our hearts and minds. On the way back to Dad's we stopped off at the Spaniards Inn in Hampstead for a Father's Day lunch. The pub that was previously an inn dates back to 1585 and has had some famous customers down the years, including the highwayman Dick Turpin, and authors Charles Dickens and John Keats. Even today the old pub had a famous visitor - Ricky Gervais of The Office popped in. And, no I was not trying to be an amateur paparazzi. He just happened to leave as I was taking a photo of the pub before we left.

Sat, Jun 14th

Today we had did the usual Saturday things. First we filled up with petrol despite all the media making a meal out of the strike by drivers who haul petrol around the country. Although, paying £1.18 a litre did not make me smile. Thankfully this tankful will last a couple of weeks. Next we did our grocery shopping at Morrisons, then popped into town to run a few errands. First on our list was to make an appointment at Nationwide to sort out our mortgage. In September our current fixed rate mortgage comes to an end and our rate will jump from the current 4.99% to 7.24%. Next week we'll go back to see what we can sort out for the next few years. Oh the fun of being a homeowner. To drown our sorrows we dropped into the White Lion in Bengeo. It had been on Dawn's list of pubs to visit since we moved to Hertford. We weren't disappointed. The food was excellent.

Fri, Jun 13th

Unlucky for some, huh. All I will say is that somebody's boss was pretty unlucky today. Again they completely missed the opportunity to acknowledge how much someone is appreciated. That mistake, my friend, will one day come back to bite you. Remember, what goes around comes around .........

Thu, Jun 12th

Today we received a nice email from our friends who live in New Port Richey, Florida. You know who you are because you'll be reading this on Sunday. We just wanted to let you know that we think about the two of you all the time and would love to meet up with you if (or when) you can make it to England. However, it may take a little while to fit us in with your busy schedule. One neither of us envy. Especially dealing with computer systems and having to spend time away from each other while one of you is in Pittsburgh. Although, as you know, the two of us would jump at the opportunity to travel and see things. Thanks again for keeping in touch. Love, P&D.

Wed, Jun 11th

Tonight Dawn and I broke with our normal routine and did not go to bed at 9:00. Which I will add for the record does feel strange as we wake before the sun rises (currently 4:45am) and go to bed before it sets (currently 9:20pm).

Tonight we stayed up to watch The Apprentice finale. We got into this show when we lived in Florida and watched the second series with Donald Trump. However, Sir Alan Sugar leaves Trump in the shade when it comes to entertainment. Old DT just doesn't get out of the blocks. Anyway, we were both pleased that Lee McQueen and Claire Young made it to the last two. Unlike I'd Do Anything, though, I picked the winner this time. I just felt that Lee's lying on his CV and being able to do a reverse pterodactyl impression made him more suitable for the boardroom. Just kidding. I felt that he was a hard worker, prepared to make sacrifices, and was a better candidate to be shown the ropes. Unlike Claire, who I felt was already very much her own person.

Tues, Jun 10th

Tiny again is not eating her food and tonight decided that she needed a little TLC. First she woke Dawn up, who went downstairs and got a her a bowl of food that she didn't eat. Then Tiny woke me up too. About 3:15am I finally decided to take Tiny downstairs so at least Dawn could get some sleep. Five minutes later Tiny had settled down on my chest and was resting. She stayed there for the next 45 minutes before climbing onto the couch next to me to grab 40 winks. That gave me the chance to grab half an hour, too, before Dawn came downstairs and we started the usual daily routine.

Mon, Jun 9th

Dawn got out of work later than usual this evening which meant that she wouldn't make the train that arrived at Enfield Chase at 16:54. However, she bust a gut to make it to Old Street and caught the first train she could, then sent me a text to let me know that she was on the train arriving at EC at 17:24. I immediately boarded the train and looked up and down our normal carriage for her, but she wasn't there. So I called her to find out where she was. I felt a complete idiot when she told me that she was about 20 minutes away and I realised that I had boarded the 17:09 and was now heading towards Gordon Hill. Thankfully, I was able to get off there and wait for her.

Sun, Jun 8th

All I will say is that I am exhausted. Like I can keep my mouth shut. Seriously, though. Today I walked down to the paper shop to pick up the Sunday Times for Dawn. Then made breakfast (grits and fried porridge) before a shower. Then went into the spare room to give the wall its second coat of paint. As expected, it will need a third coat. However, not next weekend because it's Father's Day next Sunday and we'll be spending Sunday with Dad. It's also my mother's birthday, so we'll be going up the cemetery too.

After lunch I tackled the front yard. For someone who didn't even like mowing the yard in Florida, this was sheer hell. There were weeds galore. I'm glad to say that two hours later, the front yard looked a darn sight better. Although we still have a lot of work to do to make it look pretty. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Sat, Jun 7th

The cell phone saga continues. The two phones arrived at 8:30 am - hurrah!!
However, when we opened the boxes they had charged Dawn £100 for the phone and had not set it up on the monthly plan, or added her old number to it. I got on the telephone yet again. Eventually they sorted Dawn's phone out, but not mine. They said it would take between 10 min and 48 hours to change my plan. Give me strength.

All this meant that we got out of the house late and had a haircut before doing our grocery shopping. In between we popped into The Old Barge for lunch. The ambiance was nice. The pub had a cosy atmosphere and right on the canal so we could watch ducks swimming past through the window. However, for us, the food left a lot to be desired.

Fri, Jun 6th

So much for my good business sense. I have spent a good few hours on the telephone with Virgin Mobile sorting out our orders over the last few days, and we still are not completely sure that we'll keep them now if or when they arrive.

The orders I placed online on Tuesday did not go through because payment for delivery (all of £3.99 each) was not processed. Needless to say, no one contacted us to tell us this. I had to call Virgin myself. Then I could not complete Dawn's order because she had to do it herself. This Dawn did when we got home last night from work. However, today when I called Virgin to check on the order, again the payment was not processed. I was not at all happy. However, by the end of the day, we were assured that both phones would be delivered on Saturday.

Tue, Jun 3rd

The two of us enjoyed a day off work today after all the excitement yesterday. Needless to say, we turned the alarm clock off so we could have a lie in. The major news of the day was that we popped into town and opened a couple of savings accounts. We have been pretty concerned for quite a while that we are less than 20 years from retirement age and don't have a penny saved for the future.

I also ordered a couple of cell phones from Virgin Mobile online. At present we both have a couple of phones on a top-up tariff. The deal I got today meant that we could get a new phone each, have a fixed monthly rate for the next 18 months, and still pay less. Now that's what I call good business.

Mon, Jun 2nd

Shortlisted for Islington Council's Green Travel Plan award, Dawn was hopeful of receiving some recognition for all the hard work she had done at CU over the last few months. Unfortunately, as our alarm clock wakes us up at around 4:30am, she would have a long wait to find out. Not only did Dawn have to complete a full and busy day's work, but she had to attend a presentation dinner tonight to find out.

No complaints with the venue, though. The awards presentation was at the Honorable Artillery Company in central London. However, with a three course meal that resembled canopies and background chamber music on violins and marching band outside (nothing to do with the presentation, I might add), nothing seemed to detract from the elegance of the building. For fun she if you can spot Dawn in the photo above!

As for Dawn returning home with an award - not this time. She barely made it home Monday. First the meal ran on longer than scheduled; then she was overlooked for the award. Leaving the presentation around 10:30pm, she had to walk to Old Street station and catch the tube to Kings Cross. There she caught a First Capital Connect train to Hertford North, arriving there at 11:38pm. I was worried sick to say the least. But, thankful more than anything that the day was over with. Dawn felt the same, but more so.

Sun, Jun 1st

The first of the month. As always, I gave Dawn a card to celebrate another month together. I've done this now for 11 years and 7 months and plan to do it for the rest of my life.

After breakfast (grits for Dawn and fried porridge for me), we had a shower and I got stuck into painting the spare bedroom walls. Unfortunately, because the walls are so dark, it will take at least two, if not three, coats to finish the job. Dawn on the other hand did the laundry and vacuuming. For lunch, I made some home made hot wings with veggies and blue cheese before Dawn had a successful video call with Brady.

When Tiny went upstairs to lie on the bed, I popped into the kitchen to make a dozen banana/apple/walnut muffins and prepare our tuna-egg salad for work. Dawn finished off the laundry and vacuuming before we finally sat down for the day.

Sat, May 31st

I completed the first draft of our Brussels journal before we headed out of the house to Morrisons to do our weekly grocery shopping. Then, after a little time spent with Tiny when we got back, we headed into town to run some local errands.

First port of call was Oxfam to donate all our old vinyl records. Next we called at Edinburgh Woollen Mill to find some slippers for Dawn (unsuccessfully). Called into Clintons to pick up a few cards, and then Woolworths to do the Lottery and pick up some dark chocolate Kit-Kats. We share two biscuits each when we have a hot cup of Earl Grey at the end of the day. We had a quick lunch at Caffe Uno, then picked up Dawn's dry cleaning and popped into the local petshop before heading home to spend the rest of the day with Tiny.

The evening was spent watching the finals of "I'd Do Anything" and "Britain's Got Talent." Dawn was delighted that Jodie was picked by the nation as Nancy. I on the other hand really felt sorry for Jessie, who I felt had done everything asked of her to win the final. The other finale was just incredible. We were both shocked with the level of talent. At least five acts could have won the £100,000 prize money and appearance in this year's Royal Variety Show. However, neither one of us would begrudge George Sampson his victory with his breakdancing.

Fri, May 30th

Both of us were more than happy to see the end of this week. Even though work hadn't been anything different than normal, it still left its toll. However, today, I did get out for a rare lunch. Steve took Simon, Ilyas and myself down to the Picture House for a team building meeting. It was a Wetherspoon pub, so I ordered a Chili-Con Carne with my Diet Coke. Steve and Simon were pretty impressed with the wine promotion.

Before leaving work, I got an email from Dawn telling me that trains on our line were being disrupted because of a fatality at New Barnet. This meant that Dawn had to head to Kings Cross to get home, and that we had no guarantee what trains were running. Thankfully for us, not to belittle the travesty that occurred at New Barnet, the train cancellations and delays only lost us 30 minutes.

Thur, May 29th

Tonight I finally gave in and got a bus back to Enfield Chase. As expected, the heavens had opened this afternoon and I did not fancy walking the two miles to the station in the pouring rain. So, I left work a few minutes early and caught a bus. To my delight, I did not have to wait to catch the 231 that dropped me off right outside the station. Incredibly though, despite all the rain, I was the only person on the bus. It did not stop once more to pick anyone up or allow anyone off, and when it arrived at Enfield Chase I was the only one to alight the bus.

The best news of the day, though, was that Tiny has started to eat again and has already cleaned several bowls of her chicken.

Wed, May 28th

My birthday card count surprisingly increased over the last two days. Yesterday I received a belated one from Marsha and Ed in Florida, and today I received one from my brother David and his family in Dublin.

Nothing out of the ordinary at work the last two days. Although, tonight we didn't get home until gone 6pm for the first time in ages. Dawn needed to stop in at the post office on the way back to Old Street station, so we didn't meet up until her train arrived at Enfield Chase at 17:24.

Tiny hasn't been eating much again. She cut down eating her meals around Sunday, and has been sick a couple of times while we were at work, too. We think if could be a ginger haired cat that is now in the neighbourhood. But, with Tiny, it could be anything.

Mon, May 26th

Bank Holiday in England and right to form it was miserable outside. Rain, rain and more rain. It felt depressing even though we had no plans to go out. Instead, Dawn completed the photo albums by putting the Brussels photos in the last album. While I spent what seemed like all day in the kitchen.

For breakfast, I sauteed some mushrooms which we had with an egg on a baked potato waffle, and some grilled bacon and tomatoes. Then, before having a shower, I made some home-made blue cheese dip. After the shower, I made some home-made BBQ wings. For a first time effort they tasted excellent. Next time I'll make some hot wings.

After a break, I made our lunch for the next two days (chicken, celery and apple salad), before baking a dozen cornbread muffins.

Then, to complete the day, I pan-fried pork shoulder which we had with greens and corn bread.

Sun, May 25th

Today was a day spent at home. Dawn tackled six months' photos and by tea time had put all the photos (except those from Brussels) into albums and had spoken to her mother as well. They did try to use the web cams, but again Brady was having problems with hers.

I meanwhile filled holes in the spare room walls, so it's ready to paint. Hopefully, I will get to that next weekend. Then I watched Lewis Hamilton win the Monaco Grand Prix.

We closed the day by watching the results show of I'd Do Anything. And although Dawn's favourite, Jodi, made it through to next Saturday's final, everyone (us included) was shocked that Rachel went home.

Sat, May 24th

Up early so we could watch the American Idol 2008 results show before we ran our errands. Dawn was more than happy that David Cook won. She'd said from very early in the series that she hoped he would.

Then it was out to Morrisons for the weekly grocery shopping before we caught a train to Finsbury Park so we could see Dad. We stopped on the way to try out Nando's in Stroud Green Road. I had eaten at one of their restaurants in Dalston back in 2001. But it was the first time for Dawn. We really enjoyed a grilled chicken pitta sandwich before continuing on to Dad's for a couple of hours.

This evening we chilled out with an episode of Bones we had recorded and the semi-final of I'd Do Anything. Here Dawn hopes Jodi will be chosen for Nancy. So watch this space to see if she can make it two out of two.

Thur, May 22nd

Dawn attended a course on how to be more assertive at work today because she felt that she was having a problem saying no to certain people at work. Unfortunately, Dawn turned out to be one of, if not the most, assertive person on the course. Watch this space to see if it has helped. But, based on her comments when I met her on the way home, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Wed, May 21st

Dawn now has a huge purple bruise where she hit the bottom step on Monday. Her back has been aching, and her butt hurts too. Thankfully, her injuries are no more than superficial. However, that doesn't mean that it's not painful for her to sit down.

Tonight, I stayed up late to watch the all English Champions League Final between Chelsea and Manchester United. As a Spurs fan, and a neutral, I have to say that the two teams were a credit to the Premier League and showed just how passionate we are about football here in England. Here is a photo of Tiny laying on my chest before Dawn departed upstairs to bed at half time.

Mon, May 19th

Today I made a life-changing decision and one that I had hoped I would never have to make. Sadly, I had finally come to accept that sometimes dreams just don't come true. I tried, I failed, and consequently will have to live the rest of my life knowing just how much.

On a lighter note, Dawn started the day by falling down the stairs before we went to work this morning. Luckily, she only bruised her butt. But it could have been so much more worse. Even Tiny was freaked out by the racket she made.

Sun, May 18th

I suppose you could call this a lazy day. We just did things around the house. Dawn did the laundry, ironing and vacuuming. I cleaned the oven (again), made some blueberry-banana muffins for Dawn, and tuna and egg salad for work this week. I would have made a quiche and filled holes in the spare room wall, but couldn't really be bothered.

Dawn and Brady had some problems with connectivity when starting their weekly video call, so Dawn called her mom instead. Brady had been having problems earlier in the week. So it was probably caused by something going on between Norton and McAfee. She removed one, and loaded the other. Better luck next week, I suppose.

Sat, May 17th

Following a week of early rising, we took it easy this morning before popping into town to stop by the chemist and to drop off half a dozen books at the library. Then it was off to Watton-at-Stone for my birthday meal. I used the money Dad gave me for a special lunch at one of our favourite places to eat, the George & Dragon. The food wasn't as good as normal (we don't know why), but it won't stop us from going back. They change their menu frequently, and use local produce, too.

Then we called into Stevenage to get some litter for Tiny before heading to Welwyn Garden City to do our weekly grocery shopping. We arrived home dead on 3pm just as the FA Cup final between Cardiff City and Portsmouth was kicking off. After putting away the shopping, I settled down to watch the 127th cup final from the new Wembley Stadium. I was hoping the underdog would win, but a solitary goal by ex-gunner Kanu gave the trophy to Portsmouth. Dawn got her fill of television watching "I'd Do Anything" later in the evening.

Fri, May 16th

As Dawn and I were eating our dinner, we were shaken by the horrible sound of a crash just outside. But it didn't sound like a car accident as we didn't hear the sound of screeching brakes before the sound of impact. I ran to the front door and told Dawn to stay inside fearing someone had been hit by a car.

The sight that welcomed me, just two houses up the road from us, just blew me away. A small black car coming out of a side entrance had been hit by a large blue car heading up Cecil Road. The driver of the blue car must have swerved to avoid hitting the black car. Although this was unsuccessful, as the front bumper was hanging off the front of the black car. The blue car then careered into a black SUV parked half on, half off the kerb, forcing that vehicle completely onto the kerb and hitting a fourth (white) car parked in front of that. The two parked cars seemed to belong to people from the same building.

After police and wrecking truck arrived, the blue car was then dragged back from the SUV showing severe damage to it and to the blue car as neighbours, cats, dogs, and even a rabbit wandered around watching the activity. The rabbit, in all honesty, was on the balcony opposite us.

Thur, May 15th

We woke as normal and headed for work after a shower and bowl of cereal. However, today, Dawn wasn't going to her normal place of work, Northampton Square in London. She was attending a business continuity meeting at the University of Birmingham in the Midlands, so needed to get to Euston to catch another train. It's the same place she had been for a seminar she'd been to last month, so she knew where she was going.

Or maybe not. There was a signaling problem near Milton Keynes so Dawn didn't actually make it to the meeting. Planning a 2-hour meeting over 100 miles away from your office to discuss business continuity was perhaps not as clever as some may have thought. What do you do if there's a problem with the train? Oh yea, there was. Virgin Railway did help by advising customers that they could get to their destination by alternative routes. However, as that would mean that Dawn would arrive after the end of the meeting, that wouldn't really work.

Tues, May 13th

Woke up and celebrated my 47th birthday by opening my cards and gifts.

I received five cards from Dawn, Tiny, Judy (in Florida), Dad and George. The card from Brady and Jim was still in the post. However, Brady did send me an e-card.
Dawn gave me a couple of Delia Smith cookbooks, and a really nice Parker pen. Brady and Jim ordered me a couple of writing books, and Dad and George put some money in the cards they gave. Tiny had fun too playing the ribbons Dawn used to tie up my gifts.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. Went to work as normal and unlike everyone else at work did not buy cakes for everyone. I prefer to share my birthday with my family and friends.

Tonight when I got home from work, and after enjoying a nice plate of spaghetti, I received a call from Brady to wish me many happy returns (although she didn't say this - it's not an American phrase), and a call from Dad. However, as I was on the phone, he left a recorded message, wishing me many happy returns for the day.

Mon, May 12th

Some good news for Dawn at work today. She received notification that she had been shortlisted for Islington's 2008 Green Travel Award. The bad news is that Dawn will have to attend the awards night next month. I really hope Dawn wins this. She has had to juggle producing the University's travel plan with all her other duties single-handedly. Keep your fingers crossed that come June 2nd I will telling you all that Dawn was successful.

Sun, May 11th

Started the day with my usual walk to the paper shop for the Sunday papers before breakfast and a shower. We both shared the housework and I cleaned the oven while Dawn did some ironing. Then it was backside on the couch while I watched the 2007/2008 Premier league season finales between Wigan v. Manchester United and Chelsea V. Bolton. I'm glad to say that United won their game to be crowned champions again. Sadly, my team Spurs lost at home to Liverpool to finish the season 11th.

Dawn didn't have her usual weekly video call with Brady because Brady and Jim had stayed overnight at a friend's house Saturday night. However, the mother and daughter caught up with each other later when Dawn called Brady shortly before we went to bed to wish her a Happy Mother's Day.

Sat, May 10th

Had a ride up to the sorting office to pick up a couple of packages that the postman was unable to deliver. One was a birthday present Brady had ordered for me; the other was the photos I'd ordered. Then it was over to Welwyn Garden City to do our weekly grocery shopping before we spent a hour or so with Tiny.

Then it was back out again. This time to Hertford North to catch a train to Finsbury Park so we could visit Dad. On the way we stopped at Ariana's Cafe for a sandwich and soft drink. At Dad's I spent over two hours trying to sort out his printer problem. He ordered one that came with a laptop. Unfortunately, one ran Vista and the other XP. Needless to say, the two did not talk very well together. George kept Dawn company, though.

Tonight we relaxed in front of the television watching the talent show, "I'd Do Anything".

Fri, May 9th

It's been a busy, hectic week for the two of us at work. On the bright side, we only had to work four days. We were also able to catch the early train home three out of the four days. However, that also meant that I had to bust a gut to make it to Enfield Chase in time to board the 16:54 as it arrived with Dawn already on board.

The only thing out of the ordinary this week was opening the door to a policeman holding a clipboard last night. Apparently a car had been damaged opposite where we live around 5 to 6pm on Wednesday and he was calling on the neighbourhood to find out whether we heard anything. He said it could have been caused by a vandal, or car driving past too fast. Unfortunately we weren't able to help.

Mon, May 5th

At last the warm weather has arrived, and it decided to stay around for a bank holiday Monday. The temperature today was in the 70s and we finally went ALL day without having to put our heat on. Certainly something to celebrate when you think just a month ago we had snow.

As for our last day before heading back to our respectful workhouses, I drove over to Ware and took several dustbin liners full of recycling (cardboard boxes, plastic and glass bottles), after I had picked up our rail tickets for this month.

The rest of the day was spent chilling out. Even Tiny joined in.

Sun, May 4th

Not a normal Sunday. I did walk to the paper shop for the Sunday morning papers as normal and did grits and fried porridge for breakfast. But, that was about it. I spent what seemed like half the day in the spare room cleaning the walls of all the glue and tiny pieces of paper that I hadn't got off earlier in the week. Dawn in the meantime tackled the caulking in the shower. She removed the old stuff first before putting down a new layer.

I also ordered the photos from Brussels that I had edited yesterday. That will mean soon Dawn will have the best part of six months' photos to put into albums. Tiny, as you can see, kept me company by sitting on the wicker chair by the back window keeping an eye out for the local outdoor cats.

Sat, May 3rd

Today we needed to pop into town to get our haircut. After running a few errands there we drove the short journey to the neighbouring town of Ware. We'd only passed through it once and had never really had a look around. So we parked the car and had a walk around town before having a spot of lunch at The Vine. Our hairdresser who lives in Ware recommended the place, and we were not disappointed.

Needless to say, I took more photos. These and those that were left over from the Brussels trip were edited when we got home and posted on our photo website before Dawn added all the captions.

Fri, May 2nd

Needless to say, we took things easy today after our trip to Brussels yesterday. We had a lie in and Tiny slept all night on the bed with us too. We then had a ride up to Morrisons to get our grocery shopping out of the way and spent the rest of the day chilling out. However, I did spend a couple of hours editing the many photos I'd taken yesterday.

Thur, May 1st

Today was our eleventh wedding anniversary and we celebrated it by spending the day in Brussels. There isn't enough room to cover all what we did. However, here is the condensed version.

We set the alarm for 4am so we could catch the 5.42am into Kings Cross, and opened cards from each, Brady and Jim, and Dad and George. Had a baguette, muffin and tea at the magnificent St. Pancras station before catching the 7.55am train to Brussels that arrived 11am local time. Once there we walked around the city (avoiding the showers with our umbrellas), dropping into a famous chocolate shop and passing the Manneken-Pis while taking countless photos. For our anniversary gift we ate moules frites (mussels and fries) at La Terrasse before heading towards The Grand Place and then picking up a couple of sugared waffles for dessert. Feeling tired and ready to get back to Tiny, we made our way back to the station and caught the 5.01pm Eurostar to London. Our fun didn't end there. We had to contend with the rush hour at Kings Cross. We finally made it home, to Tiny's pleasure and ours, around 7.30pm.

It was a long day, but a memorable one. You can check out the photos we took and I am now working on our diary of the trip.

Wed, Apr 30th

Yes, you guessed it. I was working on that damn spreadsheet today again. However, by the end of the day I had completed what I needed to do and emailed it to our database guy and said see you next week.

In between Dawn and I headed into town and popped into a few shops and visited the library before trying out a restaurant for lunch that we had been dying to try since we moved to Hertford - Baan Thitiya. It does Thai food and it was excellent. We will definitely be going back there again when we fancy a nice dinner out.

Later tonight, after I had watched the Chelsea-Liverpool match on television, Dawn's sister called her to pass on some bad news. She had been to the doctors and had got some bad blood test results. After coming off the phone Dawn called Brady to pass on the news to her. Now we have to wait and see what the specialist says.

Tues, Apr 29th

Again I was at working on the spreadsheet and exchanging emails. Just a couple of hours today, though. Most of the day I spent in the spare room removing the wallpaper. We knew that there was a kind of dark purple paint underneath. However, we had no idea how bad it would look. By the time I called it quits for the day, I was left with cleaning glue that was left on the wall before I start dealing with filling the holes and painting. That's for another day though.

Dawn spent a fair amount of time dealing with storing lots of ornaments that we needed to put away until we complete the spare room.

Mon, Apr 28th

Our first REAL day on vacation. Yet, I was still working on the spreadsheet and sending and receiving emails from work. Oh well.

However, we did move the bookcases down to the hall way as we completed phase one of decorating the spare room - getting all the stuff out of the room. We then caught the train to Stevenage so I could look for some jeans. The only pair that I had that fits had a tear in the knee. Thankfully I found a couple of cheap pairs at M&S. Dawn bought herself some new trainers and we stopped at Aroma, an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant. Let's just say we won't be going back there again.

Sun, Apr 27th

Despite the two of us now being on holiday, it did not stop either of us doing work-related stuff. I spent several hours analysing data in a spreadsheet that was needed at work for the new EMP Manager database. Something that no one else at work would have been able to do.

Dawn worked all day on two reports for City. One was for a green business award that was up for grabs with Islington Council and the other was for a recent seminar Dawn attended. But, it did take all day. However, the good news is that by the end of Sunday Dawn had emailed the two documents and could concentrate on the rest of her vacation. Unlike me who still had quite a bit to do.

Sat, Apr 26th

We did the usual Saturday morning errands. First we drove over to Morrisons in Welwyn Garden City, and then after a brief time with Tiny popped into town so that I could pick up my blood pressure pills and a few other odds and ends.

We then caught the train up to Finsbury Park and walked the rest of the way to see Dad and George.

On the journey back from Morrisons this morning we stopped and took a few photos of the incredible fields full of rape. The picture above gives you an idea how yellow these fields looked.

Fri, Apr 25th

Finally we made it. After several long, hard and laborious weeks, we made it to our week off. And how did we celebrate it? We both made the train that arrived at Enfield Chase at 16:54 and then picked up some fish and chips from Carley's Fish Bar in Sele Farm, Hertford. As I have a tendency to have stomach problems after fried fish, I was apprehensive as to how I would fair. To my delight, no aftereffects this time. Although, I don't need to be eating fish and chips every night either.

Wed, Apr 23rd

I just wanted to let everyone know that St George's Day did not go unnoticed in the White household. When I woke up this morning Dawn presented me with a nice card that also told me how pleased she was to be living in England.

Mon, Apr 21st

Dawn had a rough day at work and it didn't end when she left the office. I was walking through Enfield town on the way to Enfield Chase station when I got a call from Dawn on my cell phone to tell me there were more disruptions to our trains. Sadly, this time it was due to a fatality at Bowes Park. So First Capital Connect had canceled all trains between Alexandra Palace and Gordon Hill. As I was virtually at Enfield Chase, it meant that taking the Hertford East route was not an option. So Dawn caught a train to Welwyn Garden City and left it up to me to work out the rest. At Enfield Chase a station employee advised me that I could get a bus to Gordon Hill outside. That journey took forever thanks to a filter light near Chase Farm. Thankfully when I got to Gordon Hill a train arrived to take me to Hertford North within a couple of minutes. Once there I walked back to the car and drove over to Welwyn to pick up Dawn and finally go home.

Two thoughts that crossed my mind as I drove to meet Dawn were that although this was an inconvenience to us, somewhere so unfortunate family would be mourning a lost one this evening, and that how lucky we are to live in a country that has a wonderful public transport system.

Sun, Apr 20th

A typical Sunday in the White house. Dawn did the laundry, ironing and vacuuming, while I cooked a large pot of my best ever chili. However, the main effort of the day was moving some more stuff that we boxed in the spare room out. Dawn helped me move a nine square book shelf out to the shed at the bottom of the garden after I had moved some boxes into the attic. We have several boxes of paperwork from our business, Just Sentimental, that we need to keep for seven years and they were just getting in the way. We also moved a large box of our bears there, too. As well as bringing down a dustbin liner full of an old bee or wasp nest that had been affixed to the roof. Thankfully there were no wasps or bees!

One other thing worth mentioning, although it was just a token effort in all fairness, was that I finally got back to writing our story. I spent the best part of an hour writing half a page. Admittedly, I wrote the same paragraph five times at least.

Sat, Apr 19th

Today was my daughter Hayley's 23rd birthday. I still can't believe she is 23. It only seems like a dozen or so years since she was a tiny baby in the special care baby unit at the Whittington Hospital. She certainly has come a long way since then. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend any time with her over the weekend. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to catch up with her before too long.

Instead, Dawn and I did our usual grocery shopping at Morrisons. We gave Dad a miss this weekend as Dawn did not want to endure a platform full of football fans at Finsbury Park station like two weeks ago. We'll pop up and see him next weekend instead.

After popping home with the groceries and spending some time with Tiny, we had a drive up to Watton-at-Stone for lunch. We enjoyed some wonderful freshly prepared food, and a roaring fire at the George and Dragon before continuing on to Stevenage to pick up some boxes from Staples. We will definitely take Brady and Jim to the G&D when they come over in December.

Fri, Apr 18th

Thankfully the week ended on a better note after our adventure on Wednesday. We both caught the early train back to Hertford North and were home by five thirty. However, I think the two of us really had a difficult week. Dawn had to present her 'Travel Plan' to the sustainability committee at work and then had to deal with the draw to pick a winner from everyone who bothered to complete Dawn's travel survey. To Dawn's delight, the committee loved her plan, and even better was that the draw went to plan with an unknown (to Dawn) work colleague winning the weekend for two in Paris and a round trip on Eurostar to get them there and back.

As for me, I finally got the bought ledger up to date, completed paying employee expenses (previously done by another colleague of mine), review EMP Manager for its launch in a couple of weeks, and countless other tasks. All I know is that I have just another week to go to get everything sorted so that I can have a week off work without coming back to a nightmare.

Wed, Apr 16th

So much for my comments yesterday. This afternoon I got a text from Dawn to tell me that she had checked the First Capital Connect website and that our trains were running about 45 minutes late because a vehicle had hit a bridge at Finsbury Park. Knowing that 45 minutes could easily become an hour, or even 90 minutes late, we decided to look for an alternative route home. Which was no bad thing as we always need to have an alternative plan in an emergency. Anyway, after several text messages, emails, and eventually a phone call we decided to head to Hertford East instead. Dawn would have to walk to Liverpool Street station (twice the distance she normally walks to Old Street station) and catch a train to Cheshunt that stopped at Southbury. My walk was a lot less than my normal trek to Enfield Chase, as I made it to Southbury in around 5 to 7 minutes.

I waited on the platform for the train to arrive with Dawn and we then traveled together Cheshunt were we waited ten minutes or so for another train to take us to Hertford East. Once we arrived there we had to get across town to the other side of the Hertford North station so we could get our car which we had parked earlier in the morning. Eventually we arrived home around 6:30pm. So much for the last two days.

However, I did laugh when Dawn mentioned all the unsavoury characters that boarded the Liverpool Street line that called at London Fields, Hackney Downs, Rectory Road, Stoke Newington and all the way up past White Hart Lane. They just weren't the same as the regulars she sees traveling to Crews Hill, Gordon Hill or Cuffley. Thankfully she'll only have to use this route in an emergency.

Tues, Apr 15th

Following all the traveling Dawn did at the end of last week, it was nice for us to be able to start the week a little less stressful. Dawn was even able to get the earlier Stevenage train that calls at Enfield Chase at 16:54 instead of her normal Hertford North train that arrives there at 17:09. However, that also meant that I had to cover the two miles distance from work the to Enfield Chase station by alternating walking and jogging. Even with my imagination, I couldn't stretch the description to running, although I did arrive there pretty breathless. The effort was definitely worth it as it meant that we made it home by half past five and had dinner on the table by six.

Sun, Apr 13th

We certainly made the most of the weekend by taking it as easy as we could. Yesterday we popped into town to pickup a few bits, including a weekly season ticket for each of us from the station, and then onto Morrisons to do our weekly grocery shopping. Then it was home for the next two days. That is except for walk this morning to pick up a couple of Sunday newspapers from the local newsagent.

We did of course do stuff around the house while we were here. Dawn did several washloads and the ironing and some vacuuming. She also had her weekend video call with her mother as well. Our biggest project was sorting out the spare room so we can tackle decorating it when we're off work in a couple of weeks. By moving some stuff to Tiny's box room, and bagging up a couple bags of books to take to Oxfam, we were able to free up a complete shelf unit. That's now downstairs in the old dining area next to the computer. Hopefully by next weekend we'll be able to free up the second one and then we'll only have to worry about two full sized bookcases. One, as everyone will already know, is full of photo albums.

Fri, Apr 11th

As expected, Dawn left the house this morning still feeling tired from her trip to Birmingham yesterday. Today we caught our regular train at 7:04 into London. I got off at Enfield Chase as normal, only this time Dawn got off the train at Highbury & Islington and caught the tube to Victoria and walked to St James where she had a "Travel Planning" course. Given the opportunity, Dawn would have given the course a miss following her trip yesterday. However, as always, she went ahead and attended anyway. Unfortunately, most of the subject matter related to car commuting (which very few within CU do), so it wasn't really ideal for her needs. Again, Dawn was able to get out a little early. I guessed that this may be the case and raced back to Enfield Chase just in case. It proved a good idea as Dawn was on the 16:54 instead of our usual 17:09 so we were able to get home a little earlier than normal. Something Dawn needed after the last couple of days. One highlight of the day. Dawn was able to get a nice rooftop photo of Central London from the rooftop of her workshop venue (at St James tube station).

Thur, Apr 10th

We had a long day today. Although, I reckon Dawn had the longer one. The alarm woke us at 3.30am so I could drop Dawn off at Hertford North to catch the 5:12 to Kings Cross and walk to Euston to catch another train to Birmingham where she caught a third train to the University. There she attended a Business Continuity seminar that City University had organised. When her schedule was originally set up, Dawn was due to arrive back at Hertford North at 8.00pm. However, thanks to the seminar ending earlier than planned, she was able to get home an hour and a half earlier than she feared. She was of course exhausted regardless. Worse still was that Dawn had a second day out planned for Friday.

Mon, Apr 7th

Sorry, but British Summer Time hasn't arrived yet even if the clocks have gone forward. Again we woke up to a blanket of snow out back. It wasn't as thick as yesterday morning when we woke up, and at least it had stopped falling. However, we did not expect that I would have to wipe a two inch layer of frozen snow off the car this morning.

Fortunately, the snow had melted on the roads and pavements (sidewalks). So it wasn't too bad to walk on. I was even able to get some more photos on my journey to the office, too. Which reminds me. Don't forget to check out our Flickr photo website to view a selection of photos from the last few days.

Oh yea, we received an email at the weekend from a stranger who had looked at our photos and asked permission to include a photo we'd taken of Tiny with her pet passport. We of course agreed without hesitation.

Sun, Apr 6th

Okay, what happened to British Summer Time? I was woken this morning by Dawn pulling back the bedroom curtains and telling me, "Look at this." Dreary-eyed, I pulled myself up and looked out the back to see a blanket of snow everywhere. And it was still falling. I tried to get back under the covers, but that didn't work. So I got up, got dressed and jumped in the car to drive around a bit and take some nice photos of Hertford's WINTER WONDERLAND in APRIL!!!

Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day at home. Chores followed, and Dawn's video call to Brady as usual. I also made a large pot of my Best Ever Chili. Then, would you believe it? The sun came out and by tea time the snow had all dispersed and there was a glorious blue sky above. That's one thing I love about being home - the seasons. I just don't expect them all in one day.

Sat, Apr 5th

The weekends roll around pretty quickly when you're having so much fun at work. The only problem is that they race past too fast when they arrive. Today we ran our usual errands, both weekly grocery shopping at Morrisons and picking up a few things in town, before stopping at the Six Templars for a spot of lunch before catching a train to Finsbury Park to go and see Dad. I know we weren't overly impressed last weekend with the Six Templars. Unfortunately the Woolpack didn't serve food until noon and we needed an early lunch.

We enjoyed spending time with Dad as always. But the journey home was a nightmare for Dawn. We arrived back at Finsbury Park station as thousands of Arsenal fans descended on the station after their football match at the Emirates Stadium with Liverpool. The platform was choc-a-bloc, not to mention we were re-routed the long way around to get to our platform. Dawn was not a happy camper. All I could hear ringing in my ears were the words, "We are not going to your Dad's when Arsenal are playing on a Saturday ever again!"

Thu, Apr 3rd

Hurrah!! The summer is here at last. I didn't have to wear my rain coat, scarf or gloves to work today. In fact, in addition to my usual work attire, I only had a wind jacket on. Dawn was even more pleased that it was the warmest day of the year. She had begun to get a little fed up with the 2007/8 winter. It's felt like it's been here for over 6 months now. As I now commute by train, and walk over four miles a day to and from work, I do have a little sympathy with her view. I never really appreciated the winter as much when I just had a five minute drive to and from the office when I was working in Hertford.

We celebrated this evening by watching back to back shows on television. First we watched The Apprentice (the British version with Alan Sugar which is so much better than the American version with Donald Trump). That was followed by The Apprentice: You're Fired. Here the contestant who is shown the door gets a chance to air their opinions while a panel dissects the funniest parts of the show and the audience gets a chance to either support Sir Alan's decision or air their disapproval. Before calling it a night we then watched American Idol. We've been watching it since the very first season won by Kelly Clarkson, so were pleased to know that the series is being broadcast over here on ITV2.

Tues, Apr 1st

Tiny decided that she didn't want us to sleep when we went to bed last night. Or what I should say is that she woke us up after about an hour's sleep. About 11.30pm she climbed on my belly and laid there in the sphinx position before pestering Dawn. Who knows what gets into her mind on nights like this, but there was no way she was going to allow us to ignore her and get a good night's sleep. Instead, I threw on my dressing gown and took her downstairs. She immediately settled down in the middle of the floor before eventually moving to her large brown comfy chair. That was all the encouragement I needed for to decide to head back to bed. By which time it was now gone 2am in the morning.

The day didn't get much better. I had to leave work early for a change as I had a dentist appointment. That meant a two and a half mile walk to Winchmore Hill to see her as we'd kept the same dentist that we joined in Winchmore Hill after we returned to England two years ago. Thankfully the routine checkup went fine and I don't have to go back for another six months. Best of all the visit only cost £16.20. And that's £1.05 up on the regular fee. Eat your hearts out all you Americans who criticise universal health care. Like it or lump it, the NHS is one of the best institutions we have.

Sun, Mar 30th

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

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

Sat, Mar 29th

The weekend, hurrah!!!!

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

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

Fri, Mar 28th

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

Wed, Mar 26th

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

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

Mon, Mar 24th

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

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

Sun, Mar 23rd

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

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

Sat, Mar 22nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fri, Mar 21st

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

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

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

Wed, Mar 19th

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

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

Sun, Mar 16th

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

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

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

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

Fri, Mar 14th

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

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

Tues, Mar 11th

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

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

Mon, Mar 10th

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

Sun, Mar 9th

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

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

Sat, Mar 8th

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

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

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

Fri, Mar 7th

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

Thank God it's the weekend!!

Wed, Mar 5th

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

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

Sun, Mar 2nd

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

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

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

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

Sat, Mar 1st

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

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

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

Fri, Feb 29th

Once again the two of us were more than happy to see the end of the week. Dawn returned to City University on Monday feeling a little better than she had last week. However, the continual stress and problems that she had to deal with ran her ragged. She was worn out by Friday.

As for me, the Sage problem was resolved on Monday and did not return. However, the telephones were a constant pain in the butt. Still not everyone had extensions. So it was a lottery trying to pass on calls and messages. With regard to the Adeo problem, we received the repaired hard drive back around 6pm Tuesday. But, as at 4.45pm (when I left work), we could still not use the system. We'd lost a whole week.

The week wasn't completely bad. Tiny wasn't sick once this week and she also didn't lose her appetite and ate her food every day. Let's hope she can keep it up next week.