Saturday, April 28, 2007

What's The Time?

Jacq has been chuckling all weekend at her MacBook. She has set it to 'speak' the time to her every half an hour. It's cheesey robot sing-song voice cracks her up every time.

The kids haven't been around much this weekend. Harriet was sleeping over last night and out all day with friends today. Dylan was at a birthday party this afternoon and is sleeping over tonight. Where has my little gang gone? Still, on the plus side, it did enable me and Jacq to get into some serious DIY. Cracking on with Dylans room, we got some more painting done and I've installed a couple of extra sockets.

Grabbed a moment in the garden this afternoon with the dog and took a few photos. I've been trying to 'capture' Pebbles for a while now and I think I might have finally got one. Check it out on my Flickr stream here.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Restarting DIY

Another nice weekend just gone. Finally back into working on Dylans room. I should have been into it last weekend but the shower needed replacing and that was a higher priority. Really have to get a wriggle on and get the room done so Harriet can have her bedroom back to herself.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

What Kind Of Madness?

Most mornings I drive into the city centre and straight out the other side on my way to the motorway and another city. What kind of madness is this? I'd love to work in the city that I live in but I've never managed to find work based here.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

More Exercise

Appointment with the doctor this morning about my hip joint pain. He prescribed some painkillers and recommended that I increase my exercise time to 45 minutes a day. If only it were that easy to fit such a time in. I suppose I could always visit a local gym in the evening but I don't think my energy reserves could support it.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Coffee Break

Pain in my hip joint today caused me to suggest a lunchtime coffe to Phil in place of the normal trip to the gym. Phil agreed and so we popped down to Starbucks in the local Borders bookstore. The car park was very busy for a bookstore but it seems that everyone is in the coffee-shop, not browsing books. It was a very pleasant time spent chatting away with Phil fueled by coffee and cake. At the end of the hour I'd really lost my work-mojo and didn't relish returning to the dull workplace. I think Phil felt the same as the conversation extended into the office and it was a struggle to get back into the document I was working on.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Uber-Demo

I continue to be impressed with Phils MacBook Pro. At work this afternoon he presented the uber-demo, showing off some of the neat apps that I've been hearing about on podcasts over the last few months. Quicksilver, Scrivener and iGTD all look like the business. Seeing iPhoto being used from a photography perspective looks a breeze. Of course the Apple hardware itself just rocks and seeing the keyboard softly illuminate was super-neat.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Beadnell

Some notes from a wonderful holiday.

Packed the car and got everything in the boot so I was happy with that. The kids were well setup in the back with their dvd player and the dog in the middle. On the journey up, Harriet got a text from a friend saying that Dylan had won the easter egg competition with 'Egg Wars - A New Yolk', an egg-based homage to the movie. Another winner for Jacq.

The holiday cottage was great with lots of space and nicely decorated. Everything in place we wanted for a relaxing holiday. Talking a stroll with Pebbles, I found a path which lead between houses straight to the coast in less than a minute.
Saturday morning I walked to the shop with dog and boy to fetch paper and milk. Slipping easliy into the relaxed pace with breakfast followed by a long read of the paper. Looking forward to a walk along the north beach later.



The first walk along the beach was a real life-giver with the wind in our faces. Pebbles loved the beach from the start, dragging great clumps of seaweed around with her. Although there was a chill in the wind, the sun shone through and lifted the scene. I took some photos and we collected some pebbles. Real ones, not the dog. Back to the house for some warm baths. I'm sat outside on the back patio with a coffee enjoying some sheltered sun. It's a meditation in itself. The first of many hopefully. Me and Jacq popped down to the local chippy later then we all sat down to watch the start of the new series of Doctor Who.

Sunday morning strolling along the south bay beach, just me and Pebbles. A huge stretch of sand backed by dunes, a perfect scene. We all returned later in the day running up and down the sand dune hills. Totally lost track of time, it reminded me of how it felt to be on holiday as a kid. Afternoons streching on forever. Time goes slow on this holiday.

Monday morning slowly stirring. A bath in Lush Blue Skies is a refreshing delight. Shorts on today even though it's not that warm yet. Another afternoon on the south beach dunes. We took sledges found at the cottage to ski down the dune hills. Jacq took some video. Pebbles had such fun greeting everyone on the beach and making friends. Back at the cottage and it's only just gone three in the afternoon. It's great to actually feel each moment of the day pass by naturally.

Weather got nicer as the week went on. We hadn't expected he sun and packed no sunblock so I burnt the top of my head. Apart from a trip to a Roman site to get Dylan a sword and shield, we just simply hung out in Beadnell and relaxed. Sublime.

I'm glad we didn't take all of our usual gadgets up on holiday with us. I was free of the opression of possibilites. Would I be happier without it all? No, the holiday was a refreshing break from the routine that should hopefully renew and refresh my creative goals. Normally by the end of a holiday I've usually had enough, ready come back home. But this time I would have loved another week in Beadnell living at that same pace and just enjoying each moment. I could tell it was a good holiday by the despair in my mood on returning to work the following week. It took nearly all week to re-adjust back into things.