Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas Eve at Leon's House. We shared presents and really enjoyed watching Liam enjoy his new toys. The highlight of the evening must have been Elizma's gift to Leon. A beautiful painting of Liam, which brought us all to tears.

Christmas Day we spent at Andy's Mum & Dad's place. Carole cooked a lovely traditional meal, and we played some Wii Games in the evening.


HO HO HO!!

Click here for Leon & Elizma's photos

Mr Murphy and Mr Mitchell

Just some cute photos I snapped of Murphy and Andy - best mates

Click here to view them

Let it snow

The week leading up to Christmas has been very white in Reading, where I live. So much so, that the whole town came to a stand still with grid locked traffic for almost 9 hours! I could only leave work at 1:30am on Monday 21 Dec. So much chaos, but very pretty nonetheless!


Andy and me outside my house

The road to Andy's house

The Hotel I work at, overlooking the River Thames

Click here for a few more photos

Surpise Visit

Mom and Dad took a week break at Warmwell in the South of England. Andy and I surprised them with a visit on Sunday. There was an obstacle course which we attempted. Andy did better than me...........I needed some help!
Looks more like I've been to the pub......

Bonfire Night a.k.a. Guy Fawkes

Andy, Mike, Lucy, Russel and me went to Bonfire night in Winchester. The whole town and then some came together to walk down the high street with fire torches. Everybody walked to the leisure centre, where the Mayor lit the Bonfire and we watched the fireworks. Really nice!

Sailing Video

Greece 2009

As most of you know, Andy and I went on our first holiday together. A "Learn-to-Sail" holiday in Greece. A very active holiday and not for those who want to lie next to the pool or on the beach and relax....

We arrived at Preveza airport on the Sunday, and had a coach transfer to the port where we were to be based for the first 4 nights - Nidri. Really beautiful surroundings!


We were shown straight to our 32 foot Moody yacht, which would be our home for the next week. Her name was "Merlot".


On Monday morning we started our training with our assigned trainer - Owen. The next 3 days were spent learning how to work the radio and protocol to speak, sail under sail and motor, man over board procedures, parking bows-to and stern-to, anchoring, rights of way on the water and navigation and route plotting. Each day was spent out on the water, which was great fun.

In the evening we could join a group meal organised by the Nielson staff, or just do your own thing. The food in Greece was amazing, and we tried traditional dishes such as Souvlaki, Saganaki, Gyros Pita, Stuffed Squid and of course the local beer - Mythos. For lunch we either ate at a taverna in a port where we pulled in, or anchored up in a bay for some home made lunch on the boat.

One day we anchored off an island called Skorpios, which belongs to the Onassis family. It's private property and you are not allowed to set foot on dry land. As long as your feet are in the water, even ankle deep, you are fine! Here we jumped off the boat for a bit of a swim. No one ever really visits the island anymore, and apparently Bill Gates viewed the island in the summer to possibly buy it. Estimated price: $200 million.





On Thursday Owen stayed on the boat with us, and we sailed to a new port to join the rest of the Farfalla flotilla. We were 5 training boats with a couple on each to that joined the main Farfalla Flotilla in Sivota. This evening we had a punch and dips night on the quayside, to meet our fellow sailors. Paul Jarvis, the ex-England cricketer was one of them!! Lot of banter between me and him......

On Friday was our first day on the boat alone, and we sailed out of the bay at Sivota, to be faced with gale force winds and a force 7 storm. Crazy!!! We motored into the Meganisi Canal, and sailed back to Nidri for some lunch and to go to the bank. We then set sail to Little Vathi, where me moored for the night with the flotilla. On Saturday we sailed back to Nidri, for the last night group meal, games and drinks!

The scenery was amazing and Andy and I really enjoyed ourselves! A great holiday, and will definitely go back to do a 1 week flotilla in the South Ionian.


Click here for all the photos

At the seaside

Andy and I took mom, dad and Murphy to Pool for a walk on the beach and a drink at the pub. Afterwards we drove to Corf Castle and took and old fashioned chain operated ferry over the bay. We came home to a delicious pork stew that was cooking in the slow cooker all day! Mmmmmm.......

Independance of the Seas

Andy and I were in Southampton, where the new mega cruise liner, The Independence of the Seas, was about to sail from. Amazing!!

Bwets-y-Coed

On the Sunday of our trip, Andy and I went on a little drive and stopped at Bwets-y-Coed, a little Welsh village aimed at the climbers. We ate some lunch overlooking some waterfalls.


After this we drove to Conwy, a fisherman's town with an ancient castle. Also home of Britain's smallest house.




On the way back we stopped to get some photos of the Snowdon Summit, to show how far we climbed.


Click here for the rest of the photos of our day out

Camping at Snowdon

Our camp site was at the foot of Snowdon overlooking a lake.



Andy and I went well prepared, and some good food in the evenings that included "pap", boerewors, new potatoes with garlic and lemon and garlic asparagus.



The breakfast were even better, with a lovely cup of tea.


Click here for the rest of the camping photos

She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes.......

After staying at the Holiday Inn Chester West on the Welsh border on Friday, we got to our camp site on Saturday morning. After setting up camp, me, Andy, Mike, Russell and Sveta set off to climb Mt. Snowdon.

It took us 2.5 hours up to reach the summit at 3,560 ft above sea level. The last 40 minutes was really tough, especially with the air being thin, and a lot of cloud and misty rain setting in. Almost at the top, I decided that I would not manage the climb down, and was going to take the train. To my deepest disappointment the train was full for the rest of the say, and after a few tears of exhaustion, we braved the 3 hour climb down.

All and all a great experience, and thank you to everybody who sponsored me. I managed to raise £188 for my chosen charity - DogsTrust. This money will feed one dog for 18 months.

A big thanks to Andy for his motivating words all the way up (and down) and all his patience.

Click here for the photos - some great scenery shots on the way up

SUMMIT

Caen Hill Locks

On Saturday Andy and I took a drive to Devizes, famous for the Caen Hill Locks.


Click here for some interesting information on the locks.



A Lovely sunny day, and AMAZING to see all those locks, one after the other. We even got to see a barge go up, and the chap said it takes 4 hours from bottom to top.


Click here for all the photos

It's a Dog's Life

Murphy loves his new friend Andy, who takes him for long walks up the biggest hill in Hampshire, and then let's him have a cuddle and a snooze.......

Man's best friend

Test Run

I borrowed a tent from a lady at work, so this weekend Andy and I had a test run so we know what we're doing when we get to the camp site at Snowdon. It was dead simple and only took us 30 minutes to put up. Murphy watched from a sunny spot.......

Tannas and Liam

This is Liam and me playing in Andy's garden and at the play area in a park nearby.
He is getting cuter by the day!!

Lekker Braai

Andy and I invited Leon, Elizma, Liam, Mom and Dad around Andy's house for a braai on Sunday 6 Sept. It was very nice to have them around, and even though Dad had a bad cold, we all had a really good time. And we introduced Andy to "Krummel Pap & Sous", which he loved!! Liam had to fight Murphy off when he was having his packet of crisps.....

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Reading Rock 2009

As I arrange the accommodation for Festival Republic, who are the organisers for Glastonbury and Reading/Leeds Festival, they always give me a couple of free tickets to Reading Festival. Some of you might remember how excited I was last year to go see The Killers.

This year Andy and I went of Friday 28 Aug. We were only there for Kaiser Chiefs and The Kings of Leon. Must say, KoL was very disappointing, but Kaiser Chiefs (yes - got their name from the SA Soccer Team) absolutely rocked the house!!

Click here for the YouTube Video of Kaiser Chiefs singing their famous tune: "RUBY"

Click here for our photos

Bournemouth/Poole

One Sunday Andy and I drove down to Bournemouth and Poole on the south coast. It was a lovely sunny day and the beach was packed. Everyone making them most of the sun. There was an Air Show at Bournemouth, and we got to see some amazing planes fly over the beach and ocean.

Click here for the rest of the photos