Day trip to Suffolk

We drove to Suffolk today and had a bracing walk along the beach with Amanda and Johnathon. Filled up on lots of fresh air and plenty of good laughs. Suffolk is a relatively sleepy town at this time of year (not quite high season yet) but is very quaint and attractive in it's own way. We enjoyed visiting some nice art galleries and sampling the local brew - a bitter but tasty ale that is famous, though I can't for the life of me remember it's name.

I didn't get wet, believe it or not, but Amanda got a good shot of me dwarfed by a wall of water that narrowly missed me.

A warm, sunny day by the sea side. Well, maybe not!

A little critter we found on the beach

On the cannon

Warming up in the pub

Silly devils through the glass

Mid week update

I'm glad to report that my sniffling and snuffling is much reduced and I'm feeling human again - so much so that I managed a tennis lesson last night. My cold has taken it's toll though and I was huffing and puffing dramatically - and that was just from swinging my racket with almost no movement of the feet.

My terrible forearm is progressing well at last thank goodness. Who would have thought that all that squash I played as a young school kid could have corrupted my stroke to much. It was like learning again from scratch. Squash is all about using the wrist and keeping an open racket. That's paramount to disaster in tennis with the result that all my shots kept slicing straight up to the roof.

Ally had a successful job interview on Tuesday with Minolta and everything looked very positive indeed. However, she then didn't hear back from them or the agency (and still hadn't early today) so we're wondering what is going on. Hopefully it's simply that tthings work slower there than at World Challenge where things got done at lightning speed. We're holding fingers.

I've also been looking for a person to hire for my team and have been doing lots of interviewing. I think we have found the right person and are in the process of doing a job offer. Hiring is always a bit scary. No matter how vigorous the interview process, people can always suprise (on the up as well as downside.) A bit like a lottery really.

Ally's just starting to get cabin fever but her break has been a god send. Just what she needed. She's become a fitness fiend of note with body pump one night and cyber spinning the next - and is looking wonderful and fit. Putting me to shame. I haven't been to gym properly in over two weeks. Starts tomorrow!

Happily the weather has warmed up a bit from the icy spell we've had recently, but there's rumours we're in for a wet weekend. If it does play ball, we've decided to go for a drive to the coast with Amanda and Johnathon which would be lovely. Will give me a couple of hours to pet Geena in the back! Sure Ally won't mind - she might even join in.

Our trip to Canada is now organised (dates set and plane booked) and we're very excited. It's going to be great to see our Canadian family and do some hiking. Canada has been on our life lists for ages now. It's a pity August is so far away. Counting the days...

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I managed to get hold of this elusive movie on e-Bay in VHS format, again for just a couple of pounds. Why it's not yet available in the UK in DVD format is beyond me - what an awesome movie. It's made me into even more of a fan of Humphrey Bogart who plays a ragged, gritty character slipping into an insane bout of gold lust. Walter Huston is also brilliant in this movie. Enthralling plot too with a very clever ending. I'm not suprised this 1948 movie is such a classic and number 66 on the IMDB list.

So that's 99 movies out 100. Just one to go - the 1944 version of Double Indemnity. It's the rarest of the top 100 movies in the UK, though I hear rumours it's being released in the UK in April. I'll also be keeping a tight watch on e-Bay.

Travel blogging

Two friends of Mike are travelling through Canada and South America. They're keeping a blog here which has some great photos. Take a look. Wets our appetite big time...

Snowy Cambridge

Well, they've been warning us about it for ages and today it finally snowed with gusto. Everything in Cambridge looked very different, clothed all white. Poor Ally wasn't too charmed though as she had to drive an hour and half to an interview through icy roads. It's snowing everywhere in Europe at the moment - I was in Gothenberg this week and I've rarely seen so much snow. We have a rather chilly weekend ahead. Unfortuntely I've come down with the dreaded lurgy (a nasty bout of flu that downed Ally for close to a week) so I think I'll be staying in.

Jo and Anthony in wedding garb

A nice picture sent by mum. Jo and Ant went to two weddings in two days. Jo is wearing the bracelet we gave her for Xmas and Ally is very chuffed and touched that she likes it enough for wedding wear!

Volvo Construction Equipment SPM project

Priceless moments (Cambridge years: 2004 - 2005)

Blogging and photography

• Starting my blog and photography (an instant love affair)
• Learning to use Dreamweaver and creating a site around the blog
• Bird in flight in colleges

Cambridge living

• Finding and moving into our Cambridge apartment
• Library (for movies)
• Cambridge crepes
• Gym & tennis (with Louis)
• Rollerblading
• John Barleycorn ribs
• Picnics
• River and punting
• Botanical Garden
• Cycling along river
• Dinner with Amanda and Johnathon and by the fire
• Ally's face as she fed the lambs at Wimpole Estate
• Meeting up with Nicky (rollerblading, Lion King)

Volvo

• Volvo.com meetings (Bokenas, Rostaried)
• Abba party and dancing forfeit on table
• Barbecue at Matts - whole clove of garlic!
• Mindmanager
• Getting Things Done
• Tennis with Louis
• Volvo Sailing day
• Making Mark and co laugh in Gothenburg

Trips

UK

• Weekend away in East Bourne with Colleen and Steve
• Cliffs where scatter ashes

Egypt, Prague

• Diving in Dahab
• Ride on a horse ridden carriage (Prague)

Canada

• Zip lining in Canada
• Rollerblade Stanley Park
• The Grind walk
• Lake Louise

Business trips

• Amsterdam conference with Volvo (Ally with me)
• Shopping in Greensboro (i-pod, rollerblades, clothes galore)
• Driving on icey roads in Greensboro
• Snow in Greensboro with Caroline - driving
• Iguazu Falls and seeing Toucans

Western Australia

• Birding in Australia
• Shannon National Park (cosy hut, dam, forest walk, little shop)
• Geo caching (Lighthouse & Magazine) - Macavity the Cat
• Rottnest Island (bicycles, camping, lighthouse, quokka, restaurant, birding)
• Snuggling up in the cosy cabin at Shannon National Park
• Lunch at Margarrette's River - and a gorgeous parrot, river walk

Movies

2005

2004

Volvo Construction Equipment dealer sites

Volvo Volvo Construction Equipment web strategy

Volvo CE Used Equipment tool

Taking measure.

Saw this quote in a bookstore today and really like it:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away. (Anon)

The American Cemetary

One of the loveliest, most peaceful and certainly most moving places in East Aglia is the American Cemetary, which stands on a beautifully landscaped hillside just outside Cambridge. It commemorates 3812 American soldiers who died in the Second World War. We visited it today despite the chilly weather and were glad we did.

Every so often you see something that moves you to the core - and seeing this little note under one of the graves was such a moment. Nearly 4000 memorial graves may give you a sense of scale of the war but to trully appreciate the emotional depth of the loss, it just takes a simple note like this. The note was written recently. 60 years may have passed but somewhere out there, a women called Mary still deeply feels the loss of her loved one. True love never dies.

Duck Soup

I managed to get hold of Duck Soup on E-Bay last week. It's one the 3 elusive movies I've been trying to get hold of for a while. Cost me the princely sum of £1:30. I love E-Bay! Duck Soup is cetainly an acquired taste for any one who likes The Marx Brothers and contains some pretty risque one-liners for a movie made in the 1930's. So now I've seen 98 of the top 100 IMDB movies. Only two more to go and I can get a life...

 

Gatwick re-union

Rosemarie and Nick flew through Gatwick today on their way from Jersey to Madeira where they will have a week's holiday. We drove down to see them and had a great chat and catch up. Great to see them again. They look happy as they start their new adventure in Jersey and Nick starts his new job when they get back. We hope to visit them in Jersey later this year.

A Brief History of the Human Race

I'm recently started this book and am really enjoying it. The History of Mankind in just 359 pages - and not just western history; it includes an historic account of every continent. It might be brief but it's full of interesting ideas and anecdotes - to be recommended.

Talking of brief histories, I found an account of The History of the Universe in 200 Words or less on the web. Impressive but not many of the 200 words are short!

Happy 5th year wedding anniversary

Wow, are we on the same wavelength or what! Ally and I made cards for each other for our anniversary. Ally made her card a week ago, I made mine yesterday. Isn't it amazing that the themes are the same! Two rose together. Almost surreal. I really like the poem above so included it in the card - it's particularly special because Ally adores "cream coloured" roses.

Winter Bluebells

We went for celebratory lunch at a nice restaurant in Camridge. Then for a short walk by Trinity College. The Bluebells are blooming - a lovely flash of lavender against the stark, winter trees. It is a rainy weekend but the snow that all the weather channels have been predicting all week has not materialised. Instead of a sprinkling of snow, we got the bluebells.

Ally and Una in London

Ally visited Una in London (an ex colleague and very good friend) on Friday night to see her off before she moves to Sydney to try out life there. It will be great to have a friendly face there when we arrive.

Brussels Airport

I flew to Brussels with VLM - quite an expensive airline. It was the only flight available. I laughed when I saw the advert above - it is placed at the VLM gate, just before you get into the plane. You've got to hand it to Virgin - it's clever and cheeky of them.

Volvo CE Headquarter (Brussels)

I visited the Volvo Construction Equipment HQ in Brussels this week. I've now officially been to every HQ of all the businesses across the Volvo Group - for Buses, Trucks, Penta, Aero, Financial Services and Volvo Group HQ - and visited offices in over a dozen countries. Amazing what a global company it is. It's a national past time at Volvo to compare caffetarias. Volvo HQ in Gothenberg has the badge for the best food. Cambridge is notorious for it's stodgy English fare but I still like it - I need fattening up.

Ah, that explains it!!

Sheffield

I've just got back from a two day training course in Sheffield. A pleasant student town with a positive vibe. There was a wonderful European cinema showing arty movies and I managed to catch "A Very Long Engagement" which I've wanted to see for a while. Made by the director of Amelie in a similar style but with a very different plot, it was pure poetry. I loved every minute of it. Whatever you do, go see it!

Sunday by the fire

On Sunday, we went to Amanda and Johnathon for lunch. They've just arrived back from 3 weeks in Australia so were tanned and full of hearty stories. They had a wonderful time and it was good to see their photos. We watched a movie "The Motorcycle Dairies" all about the "backpacking trip" through South America that started Che Guevera on his revolutionary journey. Great scenery that wetted out appetite. It was a freezing day on Sunday so we had a fire in the lounge to warm us up. Gina (A & J's collie dog) was as gorgeous as ever and very happy to have them back to herself (see top photo).

As a movieholic, I like this...

Things you would never know without the movies

- During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

- When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

- All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they are going to go off.

- A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

- Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.

- If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.

- A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

- It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts

- your enemies will patiently attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

- All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets which reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to the waist level on the man lying beside her.

- All grocery bags contain at least one stick of French Bread.

- The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place - noone will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building undetected.

- Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned to a partner who istheir polar opposite.

- The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

- It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.

- It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

- Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds - unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

- Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at the precise moment that it is aired.

Pretty as a picture

From Mum: "We went to supper with Jo and Antony when Mike arrived home from fishing - with one nice fish I must add. Sammy is into "shows" so we sat and watched her perform. Matthew thinks its great fun and played the wicked witch - which meant Sammy chased him round and round! The men would have preferred watching cricket but were remarkably goodabout it! "

Spinning highs

Well, I've just discovered a new fun but exhausting passion. Went to my first spinning class the other night. All the pros knew I was a newbie because i spent at least 10 minutes learning to adjust my pedals and seat to match my long frame. Also by my lack of a towel to mop up the sweat so I pespired all over the handle bars. Eeeeuw! But what fun. Pumping music. A loud, demanding coach who exhorts you to up and down the resistance level. Sometimes you have to stand on the pedals, other times hover just over the seat, then get into a racing position and move your legs as fast as you possibly can. No way in hell I'd put this much effort into my exercise without the peer pressure, thumping music and screaming coach. Plus it's fun to look accross at your fellow spinners and see you're not the only one suffering. Gives you a great sense of comraderie. And when you get off the bike after 45 minutes of go,go,go the endorphins keep you on a high for hours. Needles to say, I'm off for another dose tonight.

The fading of the winter gloom

Thankfully winter is starting to lose a bit of it's grip here in the UK. Today we managed a twilight game of tennis up to 5 pm - just a month ago it would have been dark at 3:30. It's a welcome change. The winter in Europe certainly does have a rather desolate effect on the landscape and inevitably, on one's mood too. I'm looking forward to the advent of spring. On the drive home, we heard a reading of Thomas Harding's poem about winter and it stirred a few chords. So I thought I'd include it here.

The Darkling Thrush

I LEANT upon a coppice gate,
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to me
The Century's corpse outleant,
Its crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind its death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervorless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead,
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited.
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
With blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew,
And I was unaware.

Thomas Hardy

London stop-by

We drove to London this afternoon to have dinner with David and Susan - a belated celebration of David's 30th birthday. He liked his present - a fondu set. We went to a nice Spanish Tapas retaurant in Putney. Quite weird being in London again, especially driving past our old place in Hammersmith on the way. The relative peace and quiet of Cambridge is definely more our style. We also got to see Colleen and Steve for a couple of hours and had a game of twilight tennis.

Random memories now added to this site

I've recently migrated my photos to a new online album that offers all kinds of wonderful functionality. It called flickr. If we ever travel, it will allow us to blog our photos from any internet caffee. If I had a mobile phone that took photos, I could even post them to this site directly from the road. An added touch is the ability to post a strip of random photos from the album (see the right hand menu). Cool. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I love technology.

The Hustler

I saw "The Hustler" last night and loved it. Paul Newman as a young hot shot pool hustler who takes on the big fish in some of the most awe inspiring pool playing I've ever seen. Made we want to grab a cue and take a few cracks myself. Problem is I usually embarrass myself horribly at pool - particularly when it's my turn to strike and I miss the huge triangle of balls altogether. I do have the occasional flourish of brilliance bit it's generally pure fluke and the ball sinks in a pocket I was never even meaning to aim for. The movie also contained a rather tragic love story which I wasn't expecting - and leaves you with a lot to think about. Definitely a movie I would heartily recommend.

Serving up a storm

I had fun tonight. Went to the "tennis extravagana evening" at the gym. All the tennis enthusiasts (must have been over 50 of us!) at the gym met up with all the tennis coaches and we did fun exercises accross 9 courts.

I was a bit nervous about going because my tennis is still rather shaky and i'm struggling with the new technieques i've been taught. it's like being a beginner again. Still, i needn't have worried - we were at all levels and there was a friendly, jovial atmosphere about.

One thing i can do is serve. While i struggle to get my forearm balls to go anywhere but in the net or catapaulting to the roof, my serve seems to just go in. So i was delighted to discover that one of the exercises was "fastest serve competition" They had one of those speed monitor things that tells you how many miles an hour an hour your ball flew over the net. The winner was 95 miles an hour. I managed 87 miles an hour - which i was very chuffed with. I also managed to hit the hardest shot of my group (over 100 miles) but it didn't go in unfortunately!! As my tennis coach said "If i can manage to get those in all the time, i needn't worry to much about my faulty forearm.

Still, it's all coming on (i only stated a few weeks ago) and I'm having fun. Also meeting lots of great people. Ally's tennis is also coming on in leaps and bounds.

Continuing traditions (Ally)

Carol has given me a very precious gift: Nana's printer's tray. Whenever I visited Nana, I would admire the objects in her printer's tray she had collected from her travels. Whenever Graeme and I travel, I plan to get a little momento in the same way. It will give us something to remember the travels by and stops me from buying big nik naks (Graeme's arguement!) Looking at all the empty spaces, we have lots of travel still to do!

Insights (Cambridge life: 2004 - 2005)

Don't sweat the small stuff 

• Everything passes.
• Let others be right. Choose being kind over being right.
• Instead of judging, be an anthropologist.
• Accept the moment as it is.
• You are what you practice most.
• 100 years from now, we'll all be gone from the planet.
• Don't be fooled by your low moods.
• Everyone is a teacher, here to teach you about yourself.
• Let go of need for approval.  You can't please all.  Even landslide victory is 55%

Getting Things Done (David Allen)

• Collect it all. Now (2 mins), actions, someday.
• What's the next action?
• What's the purpose.
• Mind like water.
• To do in Mindmanager

Favourite Music

I'm really enjoying my i-pad and the ability to download music through i-tunes store. With 10 days (and rising!) of continuous music on my i-pod, it is hard to get bored.

Smiles from Cape Town

Great photos - taken with mum's new camera i think. I particularly love the photo of Sammy in the bottom right. I could eat her up.

fxfx

My favourite software just got better!!

Picasa is a free photo organising package that is powered by Google. They've just brought out a new upgrade that catapaults the functionality into a new league - especially when it comes to correcting and improving photos. It also allows you to do automatic "collages" and all kinds of other special effects at the touch of a button. The collage above literally took 10 seconds to create. I can't recommend Picasa more. 

Special memory: Rusty

Wow, look at Russel! This is one of my favourite photos of him from his young days. Captures him at his zaniest. Hope he isn't to pissed off that I blogged it!

Dinner party

We had my colleagues from work over for a dinner party on Friday night. A great fun and very boozy evening. It's good working with such a great group of people.

Weren't they cute...

Found these pics of Tina and Meg recently. Along with Cindy and Scamp, I associate them with my "young days." I've realised I really miss not having animals around. The only animals in our lives right now are Geena (Amanda and Johnathon border collie) and Treakle, Carol and Gus's pavement special - and we hardly ever get to see them. Ah well, maybe it's time to settle down inside that white picket fence.

Mike's close shave

Mum's first attempt at cutting Mike's hair with the electric hair clippers. As she says " I know he doesn't have much hair at the best of times but after my first attempt he definitely has even less! I am sure I will do better next time - in the meantime it had better hurry up and grow!" Never mind mum. Short hair is in - and Mike's now very in indeed!

A new motto for life

Nicola (Gardner Atkinson) emailed this to me today and it gave me a real laugh. It's brilliant!!

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, margarita in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ~ WOO HOO what a ride!"