Stormsail » Personal

It’s snow use……again!

andy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:50:00 +0000

Happy new year to all and it’s that time again for more snow fun except this time it’s bigger and better (sounds like a film sequel doesn’t it). Yes another large snow dump as coated Basingstoke in the white stuff again just as we were recovering from the last bout before Christmas. I think I need to spend some quality time fixing my car as it’s not liking the cold too much. It turns over well enough but won’t fire. I suspect the glow plugs are all broken now and that will be my first port of call when I get a chance. Didn’t really have time over the Christmas break due to working and being ill . Still hopefully I’ll take a day off next week and get it sorted. I’m looking forward to what this year brings in many respect with Pheebs and I getting married, massive changes at work and hopefully a decent honeymoon to look forward to.

It’s Snow Use!

andy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:50:00 +0000

A little bit of snow and the country grinds to a halt… It was a shame I had to be in the office for the late shift otherwise I would have worked from home and missed all the fun but hey it wasn’t to be. It had been snowing all afternoon as predicted by the weathermen and some folks had been lucky enough to be let off home early and hence avoid the majority of traffic delays. For the ones that didn’t seemed to get caught in the madness. One poor sod had to drive back to the office due to no traction once they got off the motorway, hills seem to have that effect with cars and snow. It took Craig 4 odd hours to drive back to Alton, which didn’t give me hope for me once I finished work at 9pm for returning to Basingstoke. To make matters worse the Basingstoke junction was closed which meant the A30. So the time came and I set off up the minley road very very slowly. This driving (car in snow mode) continued pretty much all the way to Basingstoke and hence why it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home. It was tiring due to having to concentrate on the car in front making sure I had enough stopping distance in case I skidded. which actually happened quite a few times. In a sadistic sort of way I actually enjoyed the time driving back as it made driving a little more challenging. What was particularly eery was coming off the A30 into Basingstoke and noticing the vast number of abandoned cars sitting on verges, roundabouts and anywhere essentially off the main carriageway. I’ve certainly not seen it this bad in my life time. Strangely enough countries that do have a lot of snow do seem to cope unlike us. I mean you only have to get a couple of leaves on line for the trains to stop. Getting up the hill to my road was really fun as I kept loosing traction on the back wheels (rear wheel drive car) but lucky enough I managed to make it and get home… phew.

Snow is fantastic in that it transforms any drab place into a place of beauty as you can see from the picture of my road above. Right….it’s time for bed.

More Rugby at the Stoop

andy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Pheebs and I paid a visit to the Stoop in Twickenham to watch the Harlequins versus Gloucester match which was very entertaining as there were 7 tries rather than a ping-pong kicking game. Glad we didn’t pay to see any of the England matches this Autumn (although I’d like to go next year!). It was also nice to see the Quins beat Gloucester 35-29 as last time I came they lost to Saracens! It was shame Ed couldn’t make it due but it was good to catch up with Ryan and Liz who I’ve not seen for a long time.

Wildlife in the Garden

andy — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Whilst watering the garden after being away during the week I noticed this little fella hopping around the garden. He appears to be a common frog and I hope he manages to avoid being munched on by Henry……

A Visit to the Stoop to watch Harlequins vs Scaracens

andy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, finally my first visit to a live rugby match with a trip to The Stoop in Twickenham with my future brothers in law. A really pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon with a couple of beers and watch Scaracens beat Harlequins 22-9. Certainly made the Scarries fans happy.

A Visit to Scotland

andy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +0000

It’s that time again for having a week off from work and going somewhere interesting. So, after an Easy Jet plane trip we arrived at Inverness airport in sunny Scotland. After we picked our hire car up we made our way to Dores which is right by the north east edge of Loch Ness in the central highlands of Scotland. Once we sorted a room out at the local B&B we headed out for a short walk by Loch Ness to have a quick search for Nessy before heading to the Dores Inn for some beers and food. Once successfully stuffed we headed back for a good nights sleep. The next day we had a road trip around the highlands as it’s one of the easiest ways to cover a large area of sights in one day seeing as we had a wedding to attend the next day. Our first stop was the world famous Elliean Donan Castle which is on the main route to the Isle of Skye so you can’t really miss it. Upon seeing it for the first time (actually on a poster in the tourist information center in Drumnadrochit) I knew exactly where I’d seen it before and that was in the film Highlander (so we most definitely had to visit). That visit has now made me want to watch the film again but only that one (ie none of sequels as they don’t exist….you’ll know what I mean if you like the first one).

After spending some time admiring the castle, the contents and the sights (which are eye watering) we left and made our way over the interesting single track (with passing places) road over the misty mountains to Glen Mhor Hotel where we got ourselves sorted out before heading out for a quick bite to eat and then back to the hotel. I actually made it out again afterwards for a quick beer with the lads for Ike’s last day of freedom before he got hitched the next day.

Salsa Again

andy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Pheebs and I visited the Salsa Factory near Brick Lane where our Friend Mike teaches for an evening of Salsa. For me it was beginners lessons again as it’s been a while and for Phoebe, back to the intermediates/advanced to play catch up after so many years away. Both Pheebs and I enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours before heading off to brick lane for a curry.

Phoebe and the birthday cake

andy — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:16:46 +0000

It’s Phoebe’s birthday today and thus it was amusing birthday cake time. I put an order in last week for my friend Karen to design a birthday cake with a rough idea of having a monkey and jungle on the cake. The result of Karen’s design flair is shown above and we both think she’s done a very good job of it.

I especially like the worm sitting on the jungle foliage and Pheebs likes the monkey!

If anyone else would like to order a cake then you can contact Karen via her email address -> karen at cuckoocraft dot com

and a big happy birthday to Pheebs…. xxx

The Twelfth Night at The Vyne

andy — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0000

So this was a new experience for both Pheebs and I with a visit to The Vyne to watch an open air production of Twelfth Night by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The tickets were actually given to us as an engagement present by Phoebe’s sister Sarah so a big thanks to her for giving us the opportunity to see something different! The Vyne is only down the road from home so didn’t take long to get there but we did have to bring our own chairs and snacks to sustain us through the play. The actors did a very good job of the play and especially hammed it up with some strong vocal projection so everyone could hear. It would be interesting to see another of Shakespeare’s plays so we’ll have to keep an eye out for further productions.

A Day at the Hawk Conservancy

andy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:15:00 +0000

So Pheebs and I took a day out down the road to Andover at The Hawk Conservancy tto visit some feathered friends. When we arrived we managed to grab a little bite to eat at the BBQ and then started wandering around the various enclosures viewing the birds. There were lots of birds of pray there but I wasn’t quite sure who was eyeing up who. A large number of the birds were out in the open but tethered and it was quite daunting to see them up close and personal. Pheebs even managed to don a glove and feed a kite

The afternoon shows where quite spectacular as the bird handlers released the birds into the air so they could fly around circling us and every once in a while catch food thrown by their handlers. We saw Kites, Buzzards, Hawks and perhaps my favorite the American Bald Headed Eagle. The second show was also interesting in that it showed Owls and other birds who frequent the forest environment more that the plains. Again, more up and close time was spent with the birds flying extremely close and I think I count my lucky stars that I’m not something which gets eaten by one of these gracious creatures.

It’s certainly a great day out for all the family and I’m sure we’ll be back at some point in the future to see them all again.