I think it is time...

I love cycling in shorts, but the British weather is so unpredictable that it is hard to know when it is safe to start wearing them. One year I waited for the good weather to arrive and it never did, so I have taken to making a unilateral declaration of Summer. From this declaration onwards I try to wear shorts as much as possible -OK, sometimes I get cold, but hey I can take it! It is worth it to get a bit of colour into my legs!

Talking of this, there has been a lot of talk on the radio recently about guys with fake tans. Is it OK or is there something just a bit "wrong" about it?

Personally I wouldn't be seen dead with a fake tan but if someone feels better with it then who am I to criticise? As someone sang - "If it makes you happy it can't be that bad!"

Well...

today flew past!

Where did it go? I had so much planned and it all went to hell under a load of stuff that suddenly appeared.

Oh well, there is always tomorrow!


It was really warm at work today. My room has a massive window that catches the sun all day -if the sun comes out I am effectively in a greenhouse. Might bring in a pair of shorts tomorrow and get some air circulation around the knees...


Taking offers for an elderly relative - do you think I could shift him on ebay or Craig's List?


My stomach still feels stuffed from dinner - a huge chili cheese dog, cheese nachos and coke. Probably not the healthiest lunch ever but if sure felt gooooooooooood!


Home time and it has just started to rain. Might actually be a good thing, nice and refreshing...

How English Am I?

My last post mentioning cricket made me think - I am not a typical Englishman, am I?

I don't like cricket!

I don't drink tea!

I don't wear a suit with a bowler hat and an umbrella!

I don't do Morris Dancing!

I am not a beer-swilling soccer hooligan!

I don't watch Eastenders!

I think of the Krays as psychotic killers and not "lovable rogues"!

I am not proud of the British Empire and what it achieved/did to the places it owned. Think Hitler invented the concentration camp? Think again...

No, I don't feel very English at all.

There is only one thing that makes me feel a bit English.

The English are supposed to be eccentric.

I do believe I am eccentric. Unless I am just mad, of course - that has always been a possibility!

But assuming I'm not mad, maybe I am just a little bit English?

Stuff

It is a wonderful sunny day here in Canterbury - probably going to be the hottest day of the year so far! And I am stuck indoors :-(

Exams are less than 2 weeks away! Yikes! Revision is under way - I hope some of it is sticking to the sides!

Trouble with elderly relatives continues, although one seems to be a lot better than he was. Hoping for an end to this sometime soon, the cracks are starting to show.

Looks like my game at Hastings is going ahead - I have been painting a few extra soldiers for this as a form of relaxation. Will post photos when it is all ready.

My youngest has finally joined a school sports team! He is really good at sport but just can't be bothered with the teams, much to the disappointement of his teachers. But he has now been persuaded. He has joined the cricket team! How English of him! He is really enjoying it too, so maybe he will join more teams when he moves up to senior school in September. I think one thing that puts him off at his current school is one of the sports teachers who is the big loud mouthed bully type that everyone hates - even most of the other teachers!

Well, must get to it! I am hitting work hard this morning so I can spend the afternoon studying - sounds like a plan!

Nothing can possibly go wrong...

Did they sound like Famous Last Words?

Spot

This is, as you might already know, my dad's dog, Spot.

Yes, Terri, I know he hasn't got any very visible spots. There are a couple of slightly darker bits on his ears, though, and I think the name was chosen in the hope that they would get darker, which they never did.



He's a funny little dog. Looking at that picture you would never guess that he was once so nervous that a vet recommended having him put down, would you? Nothing scares him now!

My daughter really loves him and spoils him rotten. She often comes on walks with us and always has a pocket full of treats. We sometimes walk to the local shop with him where, you guessed it, she buys him something especially nice.

There is only one thing that I would now change about Spot - his eagerness to eat things that he finds when we are out walking. He is better now than he used to be, but some days he just can't help himself....


Another Spot has a big place in my heart. These cartoons and the books that they were based on were a big part of life when the kids were small. My older daughter particularly liked this episode:



Have a great week!

Less Pain...

Got a temporary fix for my tooth yesterday - hopefully getting it sorted permanently tomorrow morning...

Family stuff is gradually getting less stressful and complicated - might even be good by next week!

The planes are starting to fly again! This is, of course, good to see but am I the only person concerned about the change in safety levels of ash in the air? The airlines were clearly desperate to get flying again, but I have a terrible feeling that wasn't helped by the appearance of a pilot on TV last night talking about how when you fly in the far east you are always going through ash clouds! And now, of course, we are in for a session of "we were prevented from flying for no reason, we want compensation from the government!" Gah!

Ah well, lunchtime now. Hoping to be able to meet up with Mrs RC and my daughter who are in Canterbury this morning. Hope the shopping bags aren't too big :-)

UPDATE - Shopping bags not too big, but got bigger under my influence - "Ooh that smells great, get some of that!" Oh well...

Pain

I just broke a tooth.

Hurt like hell until the drugs kicked in.

Hoping to see someone today to get the little bugger ripped out.

Not enough left to rebuild it!

The Weekend

We live under the flightpaths of planes that are flying from London to northern Europe. Normally we can see several planes in the sky at any time, or at least their trails. Of course, there are no flights at the moment, so we have clear blue skies!

We are continuing to walk the terrible trio. Here is Bryn:

and Spot:


This is my usual view when walking them. We keep them all on extending leads (Custard because we hawe to and the others because they aren't ours and don't want them to run away, although I doubt they really would now).

The weekend was good overall - things seem to be settling down a bit now, and we had a great barbeque on Sunday to round it off. My home made burgers were a big hit...

Here's to things continuing to improve!

Let's also hope that the ash cloud goes away too! My Canadian friend isn't due for a couple of weeks yet, but who can tell what will happen? I heard this morning that the winds are now taking it towards the east coast of the USA!

Friday!

Friday again!

This week flew past again, not helped by me having to take yesterday off. On Tuesday, Number One Son had a brace fitted to his top teeth. That evening he noticed that part of it had come loose, so he had to go back yesterday to have it reattached. With all the stuff that is going on at the moment, I decided it would be easier on Mrs RC if I took him while she had the day she had planned - sorting out the vegetable patch in my dad's garden.

The brace was fixed really quickly and we were back home by lunchtime, so I went to visit Mrs RC in the veg patch. Not sure how it happened, but I ended up digging over the potato patch. Much as I profess to hate gardening, I really enjoyed this, partly out of amazement at the size of some of the worms I was finding. I swear that some were almost as fat as my little finger!

We got a lot of stuff planted yesterday, and the rest of the beds are now ready for next month when we can plant up things that can't go out yet. Felt good! Maybe there is still a chance that I will become a gardener?

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The academic year draws to an end - in less than a month my exams will be over - revision is under way - hope my old brain can retain enough to get me through - thank God for coursework bumping up the marks!

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Just before the exams, though, a friend and I will be attempting a git of geekiness that we planned last year - he is flying over from Canada and part of his trip is for the two of us to meet up at Hastings and refight the battle with toy soldiers. We tried it last year but the trains and Swine Flu conspired to make it impossible. Fingers crossed for this year!


That's it for this week! Have a great weekend!

Your face is...

My daughter is a constant source of fun.

She often adopts phrases and drops them into conversations at random.

Her latest is to take something that someone has just said and repeat it, with "Your face" added to the beginning.

For example:

"That smells disgusting!"

"Your face smells disgusting!"

"It's got black bits around the edge."

"Your face has got black bits around the edge!"

(Playing on the XBox). "Oh, epic failure!"

"Your face is an epic failure!"


Try it - but only with close family and friends!

The Aliens are here!

I finished painting my Aliens last night.

They are based on the Area 51 Aliens.

They have got a little run-about flying saucer:

Their current mission is to collect samples:


I have already got a human force to fight them (mainly armed with 1950s and 1960s equipment), but hope to put together a force of US Marines and M48 tanks - this is, afterall, what they always fight in the movies!

Jeez....

I hate feeling like this.

Events of the last week or so have really worn me down. The worst bit was having an elderly, much loved relative accuse me of trying to kill him and take his money. And no sign that he is changing his mind either.

I try not to take it personally, try not to think "is this all the thanks I get after the years of always being there to help when needed?" But it is hard.

Meanwhile I will carry on doing the right thing, regardless.


One of these things is walking an extra dog. We now have Custard, plus Spot (my dad's dog), plus Bryn. Bryn is a female mongrel, really sweet and is adjusting to walking with the other 2 very well. I will try to get some good pics of this bunch in the next day or so.


Meanwhile, to take our minds off things, we have started turning our attention to the summer's camping. Saw some good equipment in a store that just opened near us, but only bought some new heavy-duty tent pegs and a nice big mallet to bash them in with. The place where we go camping has got very stony soil, so these should prove very useful. We are all hoping that this summer will be as nice as the winter was nasty!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Hope to post something more entertaining soon!

Suckered

We went shopping yesterday and picked up a few movies.

One was a movie that we had wanted to see at the cinema but we missed it for various reasons. I won't say what it was. Last night, we settled in for an early night to watch it in comfort.

The movie started.

Seemed OK...

That's strange, how did she know her way around a town that she has only just arrived in?

Wow, this woman is a dreadful actress!

They have just walked 50 miles, where did that car come from?

You get the idea, I think.

Then my daughter came in. She had seen the movie at the cinema.

"What's this?"

We told her.

"Is it? I don't think this is what I saw. I don't recognise these people."

We showed her the DVD case.

She laughed.

"No, this isn't it, it is just a movie with the same name!"

Argh! How could we do that? We put it down to the stress of recent events. Ah well, another movie to join my collection of "Bad Movies" I guess.

And it WAS bad...

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Can't really talk about the "recent events" but things do seem to be taking a turn in the right direction. Might even be able to laugh about it at some point! Have a great weekend!

Easter Weekend...

Well that really sucked!

"Interesting" family stuff going on (relatives, nothing wrong in the RC household) - hopefully things will be sorted out soon.

Might be able to post something better on Friday, we will see.

Hope your weekend was better than mine!

Back soon!

Musical Time Travel - School

This song was a real anthem when I was young. I hated school and the thought of it being "blown to pieces" was very apppealing!

Hm, I think I probably gave it all away now, but I hope you enjoy this version of an old classic: