Time Flies

Well, I cannot believe it, but tomorrow will be the 12 month anniversary of when we moved from Birmingham to Cornwall.

There were many people who told us we must be mad to give up our long standing jobs (Paul was in his for 17 years and I was in mine for 7 and a half), and move 300 miles away to an area we knew little about, apart from holidays etc, and with no job prospects.

Well na na na na nah!!!!! we showed 'em all!

Not only do we have a lovely home. We also have great jobs that we are really settled in, fabulous new friends and we are 4 miles from the beach and amazing coastline.

BLISS!

Sneaky getaway

On Friday we decided to take a run up to Somerset for the night. We stopped in our caravan and I got this lovely picture of Freddie with his Daddy this morning.

Sheer Happiness....

I still can't understand how we got to be so lucky. We live in such a beautiful area, and this is all just a 5 minute drive away. As we arrived for our evening walk on the beach the sun started to set and I could not believe the tranquility of it all.

Tidying Up!

In readiness for Karen, Dave and Emma, we decided it was about time we tidied up the spare bedroom..... It got a little out of hand and we ended up sorting out all of the outstanding filing and paperwork and making more of a mess than when we started!

I Need You Nigel. NOW!

Right, for those of you who don't know, I damaged my back a few years ago, Sacra Illiak Muscle (Not sure that's how you spell it though) and after many many months of pain it finally healed up. Well stopped hurting so much anyway.

Since then I have always been a bit cautious with certain things, just in case, so to speak, however sometimes I manage to set the pain off again.

Not long after I started my job, just such an occurrence happened. As we had just employed a chiropractor to assist staff with just such an occasion, I tested him out so to speak.

What can I say, Nigel has magic hands!

He says that I have some pretty serious damage happening down there and it's quite long standing, however he can stave off the effects with the occasional visit to him.

After the first 3 trips I told him I was cured. He said not likely, and that he would keep my notes with him just in case! There's confidence!

We actually all that time ago, it seems he was right. 6 weeks ago I got out of the '5' and the pain hit. It then took 3 weeks to get an appointment with Nigel, as he is now very busy with a number of the other 750 people at work.

He did his magic and for a day I felt great. It then started to go down hill again.

Let me just say that today I feel C**P. I've now used half a tube of Deep Heat cream since Friday night, and I NEED YOU NIGEL.

Am booked in for his next visit so will keep you posted on the agony that is back pain.

Laundry Time

So.... I'm filling and emptying the washing machine like there's no tomorrow.

I have wet laundry on hangers, on clothes airers and over every available hanging space.

I have ironing everywhere - and what does Fred do? Watch me in the comfort of the kitchen chair!

Go to the Mattresses - as the Godfather said.

As a result of buying wonderful new large items for your home there are always, it seems, consequences...

In point of fact, one very large double mattress that we now have in our possession that we no longer need, or require. Now 3 weeks ago this would not have been a problem as we still had the wonderful and much loved passion wagon, however, now it seems to be a worry and a wonder if we can actually make Pash MkII work for us in just as efficient a way as it's predecessor.

Well, see for yourself.

Yes, it did take some pretty tricky moves, as in where to sit in just to right place to keep the fold still, and it also took some brute force from Paul when it came to strapping it together, but what we ended up with was an awful lot more confidence in Pash MkII than we ever thought that we would.

Not only did the old mattress fit, but so did an old office chair that Paul broke the seat on (Don't ask) and a DVD player that had bitten the dust.

Microwave Madness..

Well the microwave stopped working yesterday morning - it was awful - I had to boil my milk in a pan! SOOO spoiled aren't I!

As we only bought it in November it is thankfully covered under the warranty, so first thing this morning off we went to Falmouth for a visit to our favourite "Happy to Help" store. (I'm getting good at not mentioning store names now aren't I!)

True to their word , as always, we got our refund and swapped it for another food zapper. The relief was great I can assure you - it's amazing how you come to rely on these things, the time you save cooking with them allows you to spend more time doing other useless stuff that you don't really need to do but, now can fit into your day - Brilliant!

We got back and had a dirty great big fry up, with the baked beans done in the microwave - of course!

I have to practice the perfect breckie for Karen, Dave and Emma - they are visiting us on the May Bank holiday weekend- and I have to say I really can't wait. I'm so excited at all of the places we can take them and the things we can show them, then I have to rein myself in and remind myself that they are only here for 2 and a half days!

Sorry Karen....

Karen, I know Paul says you told him it's a very Freddie week this week, but I can't help it - he is such a handsome little lad!

He went to see his Mommy Gloria this week (MG is the lovely lady who we bought Fred off) to have is hair cut. He is such a good boy, he just stands there and takes all the attention and fuss and comes out looking all huggable. It must be the big brown eyes that do it, and the waggy tail of course..... yes I know, I'm mad!



Look at me Mom... OK bored now...



The garden is starting to look really good Mom... Please let me out...

PLEASE !!! No more pictures....

Wardrobe success!

I finished work really late today.

Started work at 07.30 and left at 16.30. Knackered.

On the way home I stopped off at a local furniture store and checked out the wardrobes. They had the perfect one for us, and amazingly it was far nicer that the one we had from the fated Home Improvement Store. Needless to say, the fact that it was £200 cheaper was a bonus too. On this basis I ordered it ( another six week wait as it is coming from Germany, but hey what the heck!) and with what we had saved also got a new Memory Foam mattress, which had been reduced. The whole order came out at about £20 more than the credit from the other store. BONUS!

I'll keep you posted on what happens when the 'robe arrives.

I Hate DIY Stores

So, I've had to leave it this long to rant because I was that cross I would have said some very naughty words!

6 weeks ago we ordered what we thought was a very nice wardrobe from a very well know very 'orange' home improvements store.... get my drift so far?

We were told that we could specify AM or PM for delivery, great we thought that will fit around my shifts wonderfully, so no need for time off work. We did not give the order to any of their competitors because they could not give us a time specific delivery.

Anyway, we are supposed to be getting delivery on Wednesday of this week according to my order sheet, so I called the contact centre, to make sure that the PM that we had requested was in fact going to happen.

NO NO NO they want to deliver am!

I then proceeded to have a very in depth and verbal conversation with the pleb on the other end of the phone who said they could rebook the delivery for me, but it would be another 6 week wait - Yes 6 weeks despite it being in their warehouse now, and then she could not guarantee that it would be delivered on a PM delivery.

What a bloody pain in the a**e, and talk about jobs worth's.

Having spoken the the local store to see if they would accept delivery for me (No we won't do that in case you get it damaged - then we would have to take the blame!) I told the pleb that she could stick the order and credit me my money back - I did think that this would help her to see sense and give me the PM delivery that I was promised, but NO! I got a credit.

I certainly will not be doing business with this company again for anything other than the usual take away with you stuff that you need at a moments notice.

Soooooo Tired Still

Normally when I get up of a morning and come downstairs Fred is there to greet me with great enthusiasm and energy, bounding all over me and trying to lick me. Not so today - it was all he could do to drag himself over to my feet and give me a wag of the tail.

10 minutes later he had disappeared and I could not find him - no need to fret though - he had taken himself back to bed and was out cold once more.

We really did tire him out yesterday I think!

An Evening Stroll

Once we were home we had a lovely roast dinner and decided a trip to the beach was in order, and so at 8.00pm we met up once again with Sally-Ann and Mike along with Hamish this time to go for a stroll. As we were going on down to the beach we met up with Cilla their neighbour, who has a little 4 month old westie called Trampas. The 3 boys played beautifully together in the surf and on the beach...

Fred is the one at the back in a harness, Hamish is front left and Trampas is front right

Once we got home again Fred flaked out once more - I think we tired him out today!

A Drive around the Devon and Cornwall Borders

Today was a '5' run. We had a couple of new cars turn up, as they had seen our local website and wanted to join the club so we ended up with 16 cars.

As we knew it would be a very long day (we were joining the start of the run at Jamaica Inn, an hours drive from home) we decided that Fred should come along for the ride - off course he was thrilled to be included and as always, jumped up on my lap and sat watching the cars in front of us. Such a good little chap he is.

I reckon he was definitely up to be designated driver - don't you think!

Anyway - after driving for most of the day, it was decided to start heading back home after a small coffee stop in Looe, where we had a wander and Fred wowed the residents with his charms and good looks - obviously.

On the way home he decided that he had had enough of keeping my lap warm and wanted to curl up and sleep in the foot well - no mean feat I can assure you in a sports car!

Soon the eyes started to droop and then....

Out cold!

Bribary, Corruption and the Sparkling End Result...

So...... We start off in the bath with cuddles and sympathy and a very large beefy treat. The bad stuff then follows, and a poor little drowned rat appears!



And as the water becomes blacker and blacker - a sparkly clean little Fred starts to appear...



And despite the fact that my hair is now all over the show, I think Fred is now starting to enjoy this!



And suddenly, there is a lovely little boy, all fluffy and velvety, rolling around on the lounge rug and playing with his bone. I don't think there were any ill effects there then .... except perhaps for my appearance!

A Typical Friday Night?

Well maybe not a typical Friday night - the sun is streaming into the living room - you can't see the picture on the television and the dog is having a mad half hour. The sky is blue and all is right

with the world....

Why won't the stupid dog do this when we have to brush him!

Anyway back in the real world, there are boxes around my living room that need to be dealt with. On Tuesday evening we went to collect the sink/vanity that we had ordered a couple of weeks ago and the boxes had not moved since then. Paul decided that now was the right time to start building it together. Forget the fact that it was gone 8pm and I was trying to watch Storm Chasers (sad I know), but he said it had to be done now!

And so it begins...

Then Fred wants to get involved...

Where did this go again?

Oh there!

How am I doing he says! Right in line of the tellie I say!

Bored now dad - and isn't it upside down anyway? - My dog is so clever!

Told you dad - I've even done the legs for you.

Snow???? Not in Cornwall...

So, when we decided to make the move from Birmingham to Cornwall, we thought, Blue skies, sunshine every day. yeah Right.... soon enough the locals put us right on that front.

This is Cornwall now Jo, only ever get rain 'ere. If we are lucky April and September may be dry.

Fantastic! Great! Smashing! Then to top it all they said - 'Oh No - we never get any snow here'

Well looky here - they were proved wrong. OK it was only for about an hour, then the skies went back to the lovely blue and the sun started to shine. I even washed the '5' this afternoon when I got in from work. Paul nearly passed out when I told him, but having said that, I have advised that, I have now fulfilled my car washing obligations for the next12 months, so don't expect it to happen again!.

Anyway - this is what we woke up to before the sun started to shine...

Crane Daze

Today they are putting the boats from the dry dock back into the water at Portreath Harbour. The crane was booked for 3.30pm so we arrived early just in case, and lucky for us they were just about to start. The water was just starting to come in and the wind was bitter but that didn't stop the workers.....

The crane finished at the closed end of the harbour and moved to the mouth and started to drop some of the boats directly into the water....

Everything went like clockwork and soon they were whizzing up and down the cut testing their outboards.

At this point the winds picked up and it got really, really cold. It was decided to abandon putting any further boats in as it would be dangerous with the boats hanging mid air on such a blustery day.