Crikey it’s nearly February…

Can’t believe we’re nearly through January already! I’ve managed to fit in trips to Forfar, Liverpool & Alderley Edge already this month with Sheffield, Northallerton, Belfast and a Edinburgh still to come before the end of the month, And then I’ve got three days in Winchester the first week in February. It’s been a while since I’ve had to do this much travelling.

Still we’ve got the first holiday of the year lined up, with a weekend in February at Center Parcs with Graham, Rachel, Mark & Jack – which I think I’ll need at this rate. The following weekend Dave’s coming up for a visit which we’re also looking for too – not seen him for ages – and then it won’t be long till Megan’s birthday party. So by then I’ll be looking forward to the next holiday which will be for Jim’s stag do in Barcelona in May – Dave’s been doing a sterling job of organising, we got flights sorted just need somewhere to stay…

The move upstairs is working out nicely, got everything working just the way I like it – got a couple of jobs on this weekend so it’s nice being able to look out across the Firth of Clyde again as I’m working.

There’s lots of snow on top of Arran today – it’s just appeared for the first time in a week or so. 🙂

I’m using a couple of Netgear XE104 Power Line Ethernet Switches to route the network down to the ADSL routers that have stayed in the study – and the were the true definition of ‘plug and play’. Just plug them in, wire them up and you’ve got instant networking round the house – very impressive.

Also discovered the rather neat One For All Wireless Phone Extender which uses DECT to give you a phone socket anywhere in your house without having to run a cable. Extremely handy if your Sky box is miles from the nearest phone point and you don’t fancy running wires everywhere.

Happy New Year

It was supposed to be a less hectic Christmas this time, we’d decided not to go away at New Year so it was just a couple of weeks at home chilling out. Well that was the plan anyway…

The first week started well – we went to the cinema to see Casino Royale on the Saturday (pleasantly surprised – it’s actually very good!) and then Megan and Angela went to the panto at the Seamill Hydro on the Sunday.

Things took a bit of a setback when I noticed that the front tyres on the V70 were wearing unevenly, but when I took it in to get them replaced and the tracking checked we found the ‘key’ for the locking wheel nuts was worn and wouldn’t actually remove the nuts. Which meant a trip to Parks in Ayr to get them removed and new set of locking wheel nuts.

Still we got that sorted and then went to Glasgow on the Tuesday for the Ice Skating in George Sq with Darren, Elaine and Kimberley – Megan was a natural, didn’t fall once (unlike some of us) – some photos on the flickr badge above. Then to the nursery on the Wednesday for Megan’s Christmas Show, which was very entertaining and Cinderella at the SECC which was also good fun!

Christmas Day we were supposed to have Isabel, Alec, Darren & Elaine, Ina & Dennis and Elaine’s Mum & Dad for dinner, but Dennis was a bit under the weather so we only had nine in the end – which was fortunate since it turns out we only have ten dining chairs. Later on Audrey, Alan & Heather (and two sets of grand parents) also popped round for some drinks and entertainment so it was a bit of a full house – but a good time was had by all.

Well everyone except for Uncle Dennis. 😦

So far so good, unfortunately come Boxing Day Angela decided that it was a good time to rearrange the house. She’s been threatening for some time to move my office out of the converted garage and back up into the front bedroom – so the garage becomes a family room (pronounced ‘somewhere for all Megan’s toys’).

Not that I’m complaining because it means I get my view of Arran back! 🙂

However, for those who were not familar with the status quo – the ‘study’ was basically full of all my junk and the front bedroom full of Megan’s, so swapping the two round was not a trivial task (and one week later is still a work in progress!).

Having said that I am composing this missive from the front bedroom, although there’s no sign of Arran today, and just about everything has been swapped over. There’s a lot of tidying up still to be done, but at least everything is in the room it’s supposed to be.

So not exactly the relaxing second week we planned, but never mind – the house is still standing after the gale force winds last night, although the (full!) wheelie bin was blown across the garden along with the garden furniture and Megan’s playhouse (which gave the patio doors one hell of a whack).

Let’s hope 2007 is a good year, and who knows we might even get that extension built before next Christmas…