Summer time, a crazy car driver and too much rain

What a naff summer (weather-wise) it's been. Spent a lot of time at the beach when the suns been out. The newly nearly finished breakwater/tidal defance building work has made a big difference in the overal fun factor. It is supposed to stop flooding, but from what I've seen it's just a pile of specifically placed rocks imported (apparently) from France, and placed in long lenghts along spaced out sections of the beach. It looks strange as its changing the appearance of the whole horizon of the beach, when seen from beach long view. The only concerning factor is that there now seems to be a permenant foot or so cliff which has formed at the edge of the pebble section. So now, when you want to "hit" the beach and go paddling or building castles, you have to remembed to bring you hiking gear so you are able to get "down" to the beach itself. Hopfully this has been calculated and is simply part of the finished outcome. But I have my doubts. Its come about from all accounts, because the newly placed sand (dredged from the seabed?) has been quickly pushed by the moving tide, to a point where the waves stop, and hence a wall of sand is now created.

That aside, the new sand is wonderful for making castles and digging with.

So many lovely shells that my daughter now loves collecting them. I am also a bit sad about the colour of the sea itself. It's now got a strange yellow muddy look to it.

The froth from the breaking waves, which is left after each wave craching against the shore, is not something I would want to walk on, touch or for that matter choose to see. But I hope it's just the new work that now has to settle down which has caused it.

That aside....
Today, our new trailer arrives. I dont have a car just yet, and so decided that because we need transport, and I need to loose a few pounds, I would get us a bike trailer. I've only seen one in use, and that was a friend at my daughters old school who used one to take her little one to and from school. They (trailer) looks odd at first glance, but the appearance is outweighed by its usefullness. My daughter as I am myself, is looking forward to trying it out. There's room for luggage along with being able to transport (in safelt via two seatbelts) two children. So Sophie and a friend can sit in there whilst dad peddles like the wind to the destination....ha ha

We've been doing a bit of gardening too. I moved a tree from the back garden and planted it in the front.....and its now nearly dead. Oops! Still it was a valuable lesson learnt about now moving certain buds etc.

We now have a kitten called Max. He is great. Together with our dog Harry, they have quickly become inseperable. If Harry gets stuck and can't find Max he will look everywhere until he finds him, and then usually curl up beside him. Max (Kitten) has become a permenant squater in the no-longer-used-very-much large dolls house my daughter has in the front room. Whats funny is that Sophie my little one (not so little anymore as she is nearlt 6) has sorted out all the furniture and fitting, and along with removing the movable iserts has created a luxury detached house just for Max. He can curl up anywhere now apart from the loft. The stairs are far too small. Althought Sophie asked if we could make a lift for Max. But logistics and materiels and obvious difficulties aside, I have had to explain why this wouldn't either be a good idea or possible. Cats don't know how to press buttons (or could they be taught?) to take themselves up and down to the different floors.

Yesterday, we both went crabbing down on the jetty at Felixstowe ferry. Great fun! We caught in total 11 crabs, various sea weed and an old crabs claw. We hoever lost two fishing weights and nearly lost the fishing net. I managed to rescue it after it slips out of Sophies hands, via the throw ing the fishing line and old cod head bait at it until I caught it and managed to pull it in.
Things have certainly changed down there. I don't recal ever having to wait for a space on the jetty previuously. But yesterday we had to go and use the other side of the water way until someone moved. Its amazing how many people got down there these days from what we were told.

A few days ago, we called on a friend and family from across the way. I had been meaning to visit for a while. Great people and great kids. Sophie had lovely afternoon and it was great to catch up on old times with my friend. What ever nicer is all the children go to her school. So it will mean even more friends for my daughter. She loves the new school and so do I. Everyone so far has been great. I have even bumped into a few old faces from my own school days. It only seem like yesterday when I was at school. And its funny how faces stay pretty much the same. In my case I guess it's just the weights around my middle that gives the game away...he he he he

Recently.. I got hit by a car whilst about to go around a corner on my mountain bike. The old guy was certainly in now fit stage judging from how he looked and sounded when he eventually pulled over to explain. I have a nerve in my right arm at the moment that is causing a bit of a problem. As the car nudged my handle bars, I put my arm out to steddy myself, and the car pushed up again me forcing my arm up. This is what caused the nerve to become damaged.
I called the police straight away having got over the road, and .........

Well. I have a few things to do today, so had better stop writing now and make some breakfast.

Nick

Sophie at the wheel

Sophie at the wheel
Originally uploaded by non_com

We were waiting for an Ipswich bus on Saturday. One came along quite quickly so it was great start to a lovely sunny day.We were off to the swimming pool. Trouble was though that the bus on turning up, brought with it a smoking brake disc on its left front side. Bit of a shame we thought as we were told another bus would be 20 more minutes. But the hand of thanks must be passed in the direction of the kindly bus driver, who obviously is one of the most decent people we've met in a while. He simply told us to not only wit in the bus out of the hot sun and slight wind, but told my little one that should she want to, she could sit in the drivers seat and look around. Wow....it made Sophies day, and to be honest I couldn't wait to see her face light up when she got in the cabin. We eventuallygot to the pool that day and had great fun. Then to the park, where we collected sticks to and had a stick sword fight before constructing a wigwam for "tiny people" that was actually supposed to be a pretend fire...then we did a bit of shopping and having woken Sophie up on the bus when we got to our stop we were back just in time for tea.

A neat day....

life update...and rather a lot of my waffling

Hello out there...

Firstly, I am sitting in the front room at the moment using the old laptop. So I don't have access to any pics to upload of the new house or garden etc. So I will have to do that later. Still, its just cool to get a moment this morning to write at least something in my blog.

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Its certainly been a while since I last wrote on here, so I thought I would add a few lines regarding what is happening in our life. First off we (my daughter and myself) have recently back in April moved into a new house. Its great and has changed our lives so much. Coming from a large no garden two bedroomed appartment as you can imagine makes it fantastic, as we now have two even bigger bedrooms (Sophie my daughter got to choose which one she wanted and guess what, she chose the biggest room and at the front of the house) I got the back room and am happy too. Two outhouses in the large garden means (although Sophie chose the first one which incidently is once again the biggest and best, but she DOES have a lot of stuff to tidy away..ha ha)

I can put my recording studio dream into action once I get into teaching and life gets to a point where everything slots into place, I bring home a nice wage, I manage to find a writing partner who can also play an instrument such as a guitar: accoustic? and...blah blah blah Can't wait for that.

We now have a happy little jack russel called Harry who I'm sure I've written about previously.Anyway along with the fact that her adores the garden too, we have a park not far away and we have both made a ton of friends. So I walk him when I can which is most mornings after my daughter has gone to school and I have an hour before I have to further my studies on the computer. Sophie also uses the garden daily and we've at last been able to use the rather large Swimming pool I saved up and bought over two years ago (never thought I would ever get to inflate it let alone fill it and put a slide at one end).
Just got buy some chlorine later today so the water can stay fresh and usable, oh and a filter at some point. It really IS a fairytale come true.

I have also gotten into gardening somewhat, and with help from family, managed to transform the previous incarnation into a more personal and relavent piece of estate especially with my daughters needs in mind. Just have one more thing to do with the back garden in particualar and that it to extend back about just over a meter. There was a rockery and build up of soil when we moved in. So I have been saving up for a skip rental to remove it and plant some grass. After that its going to have add lenght to the already long garden. I have already moved the group of garden slabs and extended te patio (it wasn't really a patio previously BUT is now) I've gotten both Picnic table and bench too which are great. Oh, and an old American type rocking chair which I fixed up, sewed up the seat fabric and use on hot days. At the moment the pool is in use daily as my little one has chicken pox and it keeps her from scratching when she is in there. I checked up and just like the benefits of a cool bath the pool helps her skin. Luckily Sophie has not really scratched as once I told her the problems with chicken pox she understood. Thanks be for a great daughter. Shes actually missing school too. She has to be off until the crusts appear on her chicken pox spots which hasn't happened yet. But already she misses her friends. Bless her. We've been doing lots of painting, drawing and reading. I bought her a complete pottery kit recently from my favorite charity shop called the PDSA (animals can't speak for themselves I always say so hence they need our help right?) We got three full bags of clay which is specially made for auto hardening without the need for a kiln along with a powered potters wheel.

Neither of us managed to finish off whate were making, as Harry ended up jumping on the table and killing our work whilst they were drying.

Oh well. I've also started writing music and songs again although my lyrics are somewhat in need of fine tuning and NOT like they were.
Words dont come easy these days but I'm sure they will. Before I forget, we have great neighbours. One of the main points that can make or break a move into a new place is obviously getting on with those next door. I couldn't believe how nice the people are on either side. Infact I would go as far as to say that the whole street is a very nice place to live. People are so friendly where we are. Its certainly a breath of fresh air to say goodmoring or have goodmorning said to you when you walk down the street to get a newspaper or are taking the dog for a walk. I'll be off now and will upload some shot of the new life very soon. So just incase someone out there is tuning in now and again these are for you.
Finally, its great to say that we are now in a position to be able to recycle at least 50%. All cardboard and paper is sorted into a bin, and the next step is to get a can crusher and seperate metal bin.


OK, I'm being called so had better go. Cu/
Nick

Harry

I took this picture on the spur and really like the way the sunlight shines from behind.

I took Harry for a walk yesterday evening across the fields behind where we live. Harry had never seen horses before.

Puddles, Parties and technology

Party

What a really great party yesterday. Took my little one to a party for one of her friends at a place called Jans Madehouse. Wonderful time had by all judging from the cool and relaxed atmosphere throughout the morning/afternoon.
I ended up playing soccer with my daughter and some new friends who joined in. I was in goal. I ALWAYS hated being in goal at school, but now as an adult I seem to be able to stretch my arms left to right enough to cover the net (evil laugh, ha ha ha) so that made a difference and gave me somewhat of an advantage..... I did let them all get a few shots in. (truth is, that i am RUBBISH at football and let them all in because of it.)

My daughter also managed to get me to go down a slide that I hasten to thought I would get stuck down, but that didn't matter one iota.
It was quite funny at the time as just as I sat staring into the abis bellow wondering if the slide would hold all 18 stone of me, I heard a child say "hey, there are steps for big people over there if you're scared" Bless!
I didn't get stuck and successfully got out at the bottom and found myself laughing my head off.

It really was a great time and we all enjoyed the day.

Puddle Jumping

My daughter and I oh and the dog, all went puddle jumping yesterday. The last time we did that was months ago after the big rain fall. Yesterday was funnier though as we went and found that all the puddles were frozen over. It was good fun watching her break the ice and make a mess everywhere. Harry has a short learning curve with anything new and so picked up quickly what puddles were for.

Technology.....

At the moment, I'm listening to some early 70's ear candy in the form of some Peter Gabriel tracks. Heaven knows it took long enough to get the BlueTooth 'widcom'stack to work (part of the software drivers) and load correctly.
Got it going in the end and it was worth the wait. Nothing better than pure stereo pumping out out of these minute futuristic buds AND from up to 100 feet away from the laptop! Love technology...love life.

My daughter has her own birthday party later today and I can't wait. I know she's going to have a ball. Lots to do later so I thought I would keep my blog up to date whilst it's early which I am going to try and do on a regular basis now.
Its quite therapeutic especially when I look back and read what I've written a few months or so down the line. But I guess thats the same with everyone who keeps a blog or diary.

Proof positive, that Harry is finally getting used to public transport! :-)

BeetleDrive

In all I had a lovely week this week all round. I managed to get all my future goals aligned in one fell swoop. I will be going into the teaching profession at some point in the future and have had several things to do what with one thing and another. Anyway.

Once I have my degree mapped out and finish my dissertation (I have completed 99pc of it now) I will only need to obtain my GCSE in Science and English. Once I have those which I am told won't take long to achieve, I will fully qualified to look at teacher training.

Life doesn't get better than that!!


I haven't had so much fun in years. It's true! My daughter and I went to her schools Beetle drive yesterday evening. If you haven't played then you are missing out!!
At first, I have to be honest and admit that beforehand I had no idea what to expect.
I thought a Beetle-Drive was something to do with prizes, hidden treasure, following trails and using clues on paper locating around a place.

Little did I know that it involved ones heart racing ten-to-the-dozen as we all raced each opposing table as we tried to be the first "team" to construct a drawn beetle by throwing the right numbers from a dice.
I did take take a few minutes (thanks to one and all) to get the hang of putting my beetle together in the right places, but once I managed to get it together I loved every minute of it. What hit home the most, was that the parents, teachers and various other contenders? who played were the nicest people you could wish to meet. I really enjoyed the evening. Our highest score was 58 I think, so that was pretty good. Or so I thought until a young chap with a fizzy drink in his hand came over asking what score we got. He beat us by one or two points. I still wonder who won the whole evening on points. Be funny i f it was Team-Endean...lol

On the way out my daughter proudly showed me her Skeleton design which her class each put together as part of the reading module/lessons. She's getting really good at reading and writing and its wonderful to watch her progress so well.
I was spending an hour a day after school and some mornings after breakfast reading, writing and then as off recently using the new sentences packs and envelope. It was only after one of my favorite staff who my daughter thinks the world of, that I realized only ten minute each learning session is enough. Oh well, no one can say we don't put the effort in.

I realize its just a game, but truly, when you have alternating tables of players who are all trying to get hold of the dice and shaker as quickly as possible, AND shake the right number (need a one to start= beetle body) then you can understand although it may sound crazy, why you sit there mesmerized waiting for a go with your heart going faster and faster. I so wanted to win and get a finished beetle, but alas next time. Oh Yes!!! next time I WILL get to shoot a winning beetle.

Incidentally, the more I think about it, the more I am both proud of what my daughter has achieved and how lucky I am to know that she is able to attend such a wonderful school. A really great bunch of people all round.

Thanks School, and I look forward to the next evening.

what a crazy week

Just another bit of slightly strung together words with a few sentences thrown in for good measure....you have been warned......blah blah blah

So many things have happened lately that its been mind blowing. There's one thing for sure to be said and that is simply that there is never a dull moment.
In no particular order but as I remember them, here's my week or so just gone. Just for the record, at the moment I have been tidying up my Dissertation website and signing back up to Microsoft Live as family and friends are keeping in touch I thought it was about time. I forgot my details so have to go through all that hastle again of signing up. It will be worth it though as I have Live already installed on my PDA and have often felt it would be good to try it out (along with VOIP which is also on the new ROM by "Dutty" from xda dev..thanks Dutty the ROM is great!)

Sorry for waffling...blah blah blah.

Anyway. I had probably the worst driving lesson to date last week but incredibly one of THE best also a day earlier, so explain that!@?
I know it won't take long now before I am scaring all the other road users and pedestrians when I get behind the wheel of my own car shortly...(evil laugh)
I think out of all the acheivments I have made in my life, driving is going to be hard to top although getting my degree and obtaining a teacher training placement which sounds like will be shortly in the pipeline will be a close second.
I met someone recently who has made a big impact on my life and the way I think about myself. They will remain nameless and I look at them as a friend. But I'm actually glad that this person has become known to me. Every now and again in our lives (at least thats my take on things) Specific people come along and leave their mark with specific words, phraces , comments etc that you know seconds later will stay with you for life. Well, this person has already said a couple of things that have left a very positive mark on me. To the point I might add, that I intend to follow one area up and do something I wasn't going to do for a while. I can't go into it as it personal, but rest assured it will make me a more confident person for sure.

I have better shut up now as I really need to play catch up and finish my dissertation off before I get much older.

Cu