Well what a beautiful weekend. The weather has been fantastic, clear skies and warm sunshine. But where was this weather in July and August. It seems all out of kilter. Not that I am complaining, I am pleased just to get some sun. Some of the weekends over the last month have been glorious.

As usual it has been somewhat busy and frenetic over the last week. I was on a course in London this last week, and took an exam on Friday. Some years back I passed an exam in ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). It is all about how to run an IT environment. Since I took the exam, the detail has been updated, and so I took the refresher course last week. The exam on Friday was tough, and I shall have to wait an see how I got on. The pass mark is an unreasonable 80%. The result should be through by the time I get back from holiday.

After dashing back from London on Friday, Tricia and I were off dancing. Still doing the cha cha cha and Jive, but we have learnt some more steps over the last few weeks, so we are progressing nicely. Then straight after dance it was off to rehearsal for the village panto we will be doing early next year. I get to play a comic baddie. Typecast again.

Saturday morning, Tricia was leading a team of people around the village, planting bulbs for the spring. This was her idea, she wants the village to look good in the spring. Some local funding helped provide the bulbs (1000) and so she spent most of the morning, and early afternoon planting. Most of the bulbs have been planted on the roadside verge at the village entrances. I had gone off to Buckingham for a haircut – cycled there and back in the lovely weather – and when I got back I helped with some of the planting. Ellie was a willing volunteer.

Nikki came back Friday evening, and then was off playing hockey on Saturday morning before going back to Hatfield. Her team won 5-0, and are doing well. It’s nice to see Nikki enjoying her sport again after so many injury problems. This photo was taken in a game a few weeks back – Nikki in the green, going in for a tackle.

On Saturday evening Tricia went to see a Welsh choir singing at the local church. Which she thought was quite good. I did the reading in church on Sunday morning, and Tricia and Robbie went off shopping in Bicester village for some holiday wear. All of a sudden the cruise is nearly upon us. We go next Thursday.

Speaking of which, I have finally got my passport renewed, so I can go .

On Saturday, whilst biking, I must have somehow accidentally knocked my phone and it dialled out – it called my Mum and Dad’s number. All they could hear was garbled noise, so were concerned something had happened. When I called back, Dad said he was in the hospital today, seeing a consultant about his upcoming op. It seems the visit went ok, particularly as the hospital is near a model railway shop, which is of course of greater interest !