The Jenster has now got a “Reading Bookmark” that she designed where us and school can write comments about her reading activities. All very good and all very sensible.
We noticed that she’s not reading as much recently so quizzed her as to whether she had forgotten her reading homework.
“Nope.” Was the reply.
So it was with a huge amount of humour that I spotted this entry in her Reading Bookmark yesterday;
“Relly good werk Jenny Mum”
I have to say that the “Mum” was a perfect copy. Must have a word with Jules about her spelling though.
I know, I know. I’ve been ill I’m afraid, but am back up and at ‘em now. So, what’s been happening?
Well, the recent news on the web is how those half-wits the PRS have forced Google to pull all music content for UK IP addresses. If this is impacting you, then don’t panic. If you’re using IE, then Hotspot Shield will get around the problem. If you’re a Linux user, then Firefox has a couple of extensions that will block or spoof your IP address. If the worst comes to the worst, then there are plenty of anonymising proxies out there that you can re-direct through to hide your IP address. All in all then, a totally pointless move by the PRS which will only serve to harm the people that they are allegedly representing.
Other than that, I’ve been runing a comparison of getting Joomla, Drupal or WordPress up and going for a quick TTL site here. Probably going to plump for Joomla – purely because I know it, and the learning curve for Drupal is too much for my schedule right now.
The flights to Denman have been booked and Kit and Robin are talking about spending a few days treking and camping up in the Beaufort Range, so I’ve bought myself and Austrian four-piece rucksack and am loading myself up when walking Shelby. It’s an amazing piece of kit; The main rucksack is attached by a full yoke (two pieces), then a but-pack is attached to a webbing belt (two more pieces) and clipped to the yoke. Very, very comfortable. Very roomy and breaks down into a day-sack too.
Not only but also, I’m meeting up with Dad again for our now “Official” yearly meet-up in Cary this Easter. Charlie has promised to give me a few golf lessons in the meantime. Gina’s still loved-up. Jenny’s still crackers and Jules is still gorgeous.
For reasons known only to ourselves, Jules and I were discussing how to give Shelby mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the other night. I explained that you need to do gentle nose to mouth resuscitation.
“Do you need to put your fingers in her ears?” Jules asked.
What a wonderful Christmas all-round eh! Despite being ill, the kids were all happy, Jules was happy and we all had a fantastic time. I’ve even gotten round to updating the PHP in the site to turn the custom HTML into widgets – which, believe it or not, has sped things up a bit.
All that’s left to do now is get Activision off their lazy arses and replace the drum kit on the Guitar Heroes game and spend a couple of months giving the credit card some much needed tlc.
Even diesel has now dropped to 96p a litre – which is an absolute treat. Atomic has stopped losing oil, Gina’s got (another) boyfriend – so she’s happy, the Jenster’s back at school – so she’s happy ……. blimey, must be a nightmare round the corner somewhere.
…. and it was time to break out the Swanni this morning. Minus three degrees and a beautiful clear (night) sky – in fact we saw a shooting star yesterday morning. Three days until I can order my Fenix, which will be a welcome relief from the somewhat feeble (although usable) Everready torch that I’m using at the moment.
I eBay’d the E2D – for a lot less that it was worth but, to be honest, does it make any sense getting through twenty quid’s worth of batteries a week!?
The Shelberator and I had a couple of monster plods over the weekend – eleven miles (avec Jenster) on Saturday morning, and then fifteen miles on Sunday. I’ll post a review of the GPS software that came in handy a little bit later.
After remembering Holly’s birthday on Friday, I was taking Shelby for her morning walk on Saturday – route saved through Nokia Sports Tracker on the N95 – when I came across a chav‘s bag that had been dumped in the bushes. Ever the decent citizen – and because it felt pretty heavy – I had a look to see what was inside in case it was the proceeds of a burglary or some such. Along with the usual drug taking and house breaking parephenalia (I kid thee not) that you would find in a bag dumped by some Hoody Half-wit, I was over the moon to discover an eight-inch kinfe and a can of lighter gas for sniffing. The brainless dork had also managed to leave his phone and a letter with his name and address on it in there – so that’s all with Henley police now.
Other than that we had a lovely potter around South Oxfordshire yesterday. The intention was to visit Holly’s grave, pop into the Crazy Bear for a drink, grab a bite to eat and then take Shelby for a wander along the Thames;
Holly bit – sorted. Crazy Bear – sorted. Here, though, the cunning plan of a bite to eat started to fall a bit flat. It’s sunny, we’ve got a roast tonight so just wanted a sarnie. That’s not too much to ask is it? Well, the Crazy Bear was only doing “Sunday dinner in the marquee” – not an option with Jenny, Shelby and me looking like I’d just emerged from the Australian bush. So, quick trip down memory lane and let’s try Home Sweet Home in Roke. They always used to have a huge menu. Nope! Lah-di-dah menu and clearly changed hands.
Next stop the Six Bells in Warborough (sorry about their web-site, it’s crap) – and the same again. Sunday lunch or nothing.
Next Dorchester-on-Thames (where we intended to do our walk anyway) – first pub (can’t remember it’s name) kitchen closed because they’re too busy, second (The George) lah-di-dah again. Finally, I spotted the last pub/hotlel in the village and tried them. Result! The White Hart was a hell of a find. Lovely menu, lovely food, lovely prices and a “garden” to sit in. Thoroughly recommended.
Sadly, after all our driving around looking for somewhere to eat, we didn’t have time for the walk – but we’ll get that sorted soon.
Other news. The washing machine has died! Stone dead. After a mere five thousand, seven hundred washes (ahem) it’s gone to meet it’s maker. Looks like Jules is getting an early Christmas present!
You’re probably wondering what the three Ws is all about. I knew this chap once and had the pleasure of going out for a drink with him and a couple of mates to Reading one night. I think he was a postman, but harboured Walter Mitty fantasies of being in the Special Forces. As we walked to the train station, he uttered the immortal words “Never set off on a night out without the three Ws”
Impressed by this wisdom and not having a clue what he was talking about we asked.
Reaching into the back of his trousers, he pulled out the largest knife I’ve ever seen in my life ….
Sunshine over England! Surely not. The weather was so nice that we had balloons over Henley.
We had planned to go to the Henley Show on Saturday but, at twenty-five quid to get in and being a totally target-rich environment for Shelby, we went for a plod along the river instead. I managed to “Harvest” the lawns – first time for about a month, so you can imagine what they were like.
I’m not saying they were in need of it, but I managed to find a couple of Japanesesnipers in there who didn’t know the war was over.
Sunday was similarly lazy – walking, mowing the lawns again. In fact, I’ve worked out that in the week we’ve had Shelby, I’ve done the equivalent of walking to Portsmouth – most of it at six in the morning.
Talking of the Shelbinator, the tally of things chased now includes, rats, geese, dogs (including an IrishWolfhound), cats, rabbits, pheasants, squirrels and a horse. Yes, that’s right. A horse. Off the lead in the near future?
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Mum”
Sitting here at work and the phone rings ;
