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 .