It's a wind up!

This is the one I wouldn't buy, even though my daughter insisted! The one we, sorry I bought is green, it goes with my Crocs but my wife thinks that is wrong as well and the lantern pictured above is much better design wise, oh well.

The lesson here is that I should listen to my eldest daughter, who has taste. Perhaps it is something I should consider whilst winding the lantern continuously for 5 minutes for 20 minutes of light from it's 12 diodes. I will then be able to finish Harry Potter by the light it casts prismatically, rather weirdly, but brightly.

It will be like trying to read by moire! Not Moirai as I originally wrote ~ Moi•rai - Greek mythology ~ the fates .

We go camping for 3 weeks tomorrow. Enough said.

Wales and back!

We went away and I thought I'd be able to keep this blog up to date. Ho-hum.

OK we arrived in Wales last Saturday, if you are using TomTom the correctly entered postcodes is important.

Amazing views onto the most beautiful estuary, which is spanned by a huge bridge, which strides across our view.

Over the last 7 days 23 people, 14 adults and 9 children in total, have caught up with one another or met for the first time in nearly 20 years.

As a family we have discovered that we can't necessarily play snooker, but can take it in turns to cook for 23 whilst not very sober and be more terrifying than a coach load of tourists as we make our stately progress around the Pembrokeshire countryside with the aid of TomTom.

We listened to a no nonsense talk from an expert at Castell Henllys who did not want his time wasted, we even tried to row upside down up a gorge near Cardigan, the home of Howies. And of course we drank a lot.

Holiday - at last

l don't believe it. So I'm writing my first holiday blog. Everyone is awake and excited about the drive tomorrow! Actually, I hope they're not, awake I mean.Tomorrow we meet up and start having a great time with all the family. The first week of several!

But, whats really intetesting is that I am typing this out on the Nokia n800 I purchased the other day. I admit that many would find this a little retentive, but this is gadget heaven.

I just have to sort the install of Skype and I'm away...for real. What joy.

The last day and the first day...

Just a brief note, it's the last day of work and tomorrow is the first day of the longest holiday I have ever had...

So I'm off to enjoy some real rest and relaxation and to explore local delights and the opportunities to snack!

Decisions, decision, decisions

Should it all depend on the throw of the dice? What to take on holiday, what will the weather be like, should we leave the kids at home?!? (just joking).

What will go in the top box, well that is a surprise nearly everything and all the alternative footware can go in the gaps! The tent and suitcase will fit in the now roomy boot. But I bet there will be kipple disguised as holiday extras and essentials.

This is a bit of a watershed. It could be the first time we have all gone on holiday and that's five of us, traveling in a degree of comfort without having to twist our bodies into those rather comic yoga positions which, as you travel up the motorway get you sympathetic looks from other drivers who believe your family is suffering some horrific muscular afflication and that you are being rushed to the nearest medical facility to be untwisted and have the windows surgically removed from your face.

However I'm sure it won't come to that and besides I'm hoping that my Nokia n800 will arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Aliens have landed

So my thoughts are following a theme, obviously encouraged by the things I pass everyday to feed my irrational paranoia and conspiracy theories about inanimate objects… although in this instance I don't really believe that the local authorities are providing directions and clear sign posting for extraterrestrial tourists, are they?

These little mosaics adorn various streets on my way to work, a couple of them are on buildings that are scheduled for demolition so I will try to photograph those, but I don't ever remember seeing a space invader on my Mac Classic II, from 1991 (I think I got that right).

Courage and the phones

From time to time over the last few years I have passed this building on the train and although it is an old advert for the beer of the Courage Brands Ltd, I've always seen it as a more personal message, for me and anyone else looking from the window of the train, but it has only been relevant on the way to work, never on the way home. I wonder what people think going the other way? It never fails to make me smile.

Then again it might be more of a warning. I need to get a grip. I put all the phones back in their cradles this morning and some how they congregated around one point in the kitchen by the time I got home. Gravitating toward the microwave…