Nearly the end of a busy week. Nikki has been away camping in Great Yarmouth for most of the week. A well deserved break after her exams. Tricia is catering for a wedding next weekend, and doing what seems like hundreds of cakes at the moment, so she is flat out. I have been busy in the office, and also had a school governors meeting, then a PTA meeting.

So, I am looking forward to the weekend. And we start tonight with a trip to the theatre to see a production of High Society. Well did you evah ? etc etc.

On Saturday Ellie is in a dance display. Then we are off to some friends for a BBQ. And we are determined to do it in spite of the monsoon season.

April was lovely. Sun, and barely a drop of rain. Then it started raining in May, and has barely stopped since. We should be enjoying early summer sunshine, and drinking Pimms in the garden. Instead we sit indoors watching the garden grow like a tropical jungle.

Wimbledon starts tomorrow. At the current rate they will do well to finish the tournament by August.

Nikki has finished her exams, and is off to Great Yarmouth tomorrow. I hope she will enjoy a well deserved holiday.

Trish and I went to a summer ball on Friday evening. Fantastic evening. Great company, good champagne, and a terrific live band. We were staying with some friends, and we got back at 2am…. where we had bacon rolls and tea. Bed after 3, I am just not used to it. Saturday afternoon we were watching our godson Matthew in a youth theatre production of Wind in the Willows. He played Badger, and did it very well. I have to say though I struggled to stay awake for the whole performance. Purely through the late night before.

Here we all before the ball. Tricia is in the red dress.

Here I am with Deb, who has been a life friend. I met Deb in September 1977 when I switched schools – so we will have known each other 30 years this September. She has been a great friend.

I like this photo… not necessarily because I am enjoying the company of friends, but more because whilst my hair is greying, I have plenty more than my friends.

A few photo’s from last week, when my brother had his 40th….

Me holding Mark’s cake (Tricia did the cake again, in Derby football club colours). As you can see, Mark has his leg in plaster at the moment (interesting colour) – he has broken a couple of bones in his foot.

I haven’t quite finished Great Expectations yet, but I am enjoying it. I am seeing more of the self ambition themes running through the novel than I did before. Bit of a moralist was Mr Dickens. I have also been reading the Borrowers with Ellie.

A nice card from Ellie, that she made herself. A nice card from Nikki. And a card from Robbie in which he had written ‘happy birthday’ ? Questioned about this he just claimed he wasn’t thinking when he wrote it. He must have been on what we call ‘Planet Robbie’.

Still I prospered with a dvd (Hot Fuzz) and a book on (Sir) Ian Botham, and fine bottle of 15 year aged Glenmorangie. Guess what I will be drinking in a short while !

I was treated very well. Thank you to my lovely hooligans.

With the exception of Nikki, who is studying for her last 3 exams this week, we all went off to help my brother celebrate being 40 this afternoon. A good time was had.

Have started on a re read of Great Expectations, which I haven’t read for over 20 years. My fav Dickens is David Copperfield, but this isn’t far behind.

   The power supply unit on my home pc failed, hence the lack of pictures from last weekend, and postings this week.

I managed to find a suitable psu replacement, and spent Friday evening swapping out the old for the new, and hey presto, back up and running. I have also installed a second hard disk, which I will use purely for back-up. Digital photos are fantastic for immediate access and viewing, but can be lost forever if you lose the disk. So, I am taking a belts and braces approach, a second hard disk within the pc, and copies out onto cd’s / dvd’s for safe keeping.

I would also like to say many happy returns to my dear wife, who had another birthday today. Statistically, people who have the most birthday’s tend to live the longest, so there is nothing wrong with birthdays. My youngest brother hits 40 tomorrow. So, happy birthday to him.

Tricia and me before the Saturday evening.

All the men on the Saturday

All the Ladies…

Side view of the hotel, we had tea on the terrace….

Shooting party… some of us went clay pigeon shooting on Saturday morning.

That’s it for now, I will dig some more out later.

A cracking weekend. Good friends, food and drink. The weather was splendid. I would post some piccies, but that will have to wait. Got home to find the home pc won’t start. Looks like the power supply unit is refusing to co-operate. So, I will have to get that sorted out.

Hoorah, Friday is here. Some packing to do this morning, and some place settings to print, a letter to all from Jeeves, and then off to Bibury for the weekend with Tricia around noon. Ellie is off to the outlaws for the weekend. They are picking her up after school today. Nikki is already away, she is at the Download music festival for the weekend. She drove up yesterday, going on the ‘big, scary motorway’ (her words). Spoke to her last night, she was sat with her friends bbq’ing some food. Robbie is staying over at a friends this evening, then playing a gig tomorrow evening. Good luck Robbo.

I got two of my Open Uni essays back yesterdays. Very pleased with the mark. I am just waiting on the final paper now. Fingers crossed on that one. 

Looking forward to this weekend. We are away with 10 other couples, to a country hotel in the cotswolds. The theme for the weekend is Jeeves and Wooster… So, dressing up 30’s style, we all have stupid nicknames, and will spend the weekend saying ‘what ho’ or ‘tinkerty tonk’.

This is the hotel. The weather forecast is good. The food will be good. Croquet on the lawn on Saturday…