Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Nine

Saturday 1st June

The water people were back again today to  do more work filling the hole. Kate and I went to Chatswood Library in the morning to make use of the JP service, its a nice library as neither of us had been there before.

During the day we viewed three properties in lane cove, grabbed a cuppa in the lane Cove Shopping Centre. An afternoon of watching the AFL.

I thought it would be good to add a pictorial record of the works in the garden.

Before work begins

Say goodbye to the trees

Firewood anyone?

The stumps

Day one of hand digging

End of first days digging

Bring inthe digger on day two of digging

More earth works

All filled in, final clean up works happening next week.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Eight

Friday 31st May

Back to work in the Sydney office after two days away. Actually drove in this morning as I had 12 car parks to be distributed to staff before the Brisbane event. Spent all day catching up on Sydney activities whilst still support a few things from Brisbane too. Also cancelled my planned trip to Brisbane next week as I'm not really needed, this is good as I can stay at home with Kate and she is not on her own for a night next week.

Drove home at 4.30 to miss the traffic and spent a quiet night at hoe with Kate catching up on some telly with a few drinks.

We have a big day of house hunting tomorrow.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Seven

Thursday 30th May

After a crap night sleep in the hotel I got up at about 6am and watched a bit of telly before walking to the Brisbane office to meet my counterpart Ruth before heading off to Walkabout Creek to assist with the Stakeholder safety briefing. It was good to meet with all my old contacts who support the event.

Everything went well and shortly before lunch we drove back to the office. 

A few more hours of Brisbane support before catching the air train back to Brisbane airport. Flight was delayed by about 40 minutes (probably a result of a third day of fog in Sydney and knock on delays).

Landed and then had to wait about 30 mins for baggage to come through. Once I had that caught a train back to the office and picked up car before driving home and being reunited with Kate.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Six

Wednesday 29th May

Alarm went off at 5.30am and I dragged myself out of bed for a shower as I flew up to Brisbane today. Drove across the harbour bridge in dense fog and parked at the office. Caught the train three stops to domestic airport and dropped off my bags. Alas as I suspected fog was causing havoc at the airport and as a result flight left about 35 mins late.

On arrival at Brisbane caught the train to the valley and headed into the office. Spent all afternoon supporting the Brisbane team in the absence of their event coordinator who is off sick in hospital (hence the need for me to fly up and support).

Finished up at about 6.30 and went to hotel to check in. Grabbed some Thai takeaway and ate in the hotel room. Skyped Kate and ended up going to bed at about 10pm after a long day.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Five

Tuesday 28th May

A normal day in the office although much time spent doing preparations for Brisbane event and stakeholder briefing on Thursday.

The water company finally started work on the garden this morning at 7.15am.

Night at home.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Four

Monday 27th May

Back to work, not much to report beyond being super busy with lots of people off sick, on holiday or on compassionate leave.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Three

Sunday 26th May

A day of shopping and general weekend catchup stuff. Also spent some time prepping the garden for the upcoming sewer works at the far end of the garden this week.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Two

Saturday 25th May

We caught a train into town today and went to the Sydney Writers Festival, this is more Kate's thing than mine but I was happy to go along. We primarily went to see a talk by Kate Atkinson at the Sydney Theatre in the afternoon. This was an informative session lasting an hour with extracts of her book being read by her and a second person interviewing her.

After this we made our way to Circular Quay to catch some of the Vivid festival which was good and we also had a cup of tea and some cakes at the cafe in the rocks.

We made our way home on the train and had some dinner before watching the football, unfortunately Adam Goodes had some racial abuse from the crowd in the 4th quarter.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty One

Friday 24th May

Another hectic day at work doing lots of things for the Brisbane event to help them out. Tried to focus some effort on Sydney activities too, managed to get agreement from Army to take a look at our broken bridge to see if they can install a temporary solution for us during the event.

Been a crazy week at work with many colleagues being sick of having devastating family news so glad this one is over.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty

Thursday 23rd May

More calls with Brisbane and booking my flights up there next week. I'll be there Weds and Thurs next week.

Came home, dinner, TV and bed.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Nine

Wednesday 22nd May

The tree surgeon arrived at 7.15 to remove two trees in the back garden, they made quick work of it and were done by about 8.45am.

I gave the dog a walk around the block before going off to work in the car.

Spent most of the day focusing on Brisbane activities.

Drove home in heavy traffic caused by downpours, the first heavy rain for a while.

Had dinner and skyped folks in evening.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Eight

Tuesday 21st May

2nd day of first aid course, more time spent on theory followed by practicals. Had a final multiple choice exam at end of the day.Once that was all done (oh I passed), I headed back to office to have a teleconference with Brisbane to discuss what help they need. Looks like I'll be in Brisbane at least once a week for next three weeks.

Got home, went out and grabbed some food and then picked up Kate's aunt and uncle Jan and Kevin form North Sydney who are travelling back north and stopping in Sydney for a few days.

Was very nice to catch up with them both. We dopped them back to North Sydney at about 10pm and came home and went to bed.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Seven

Monday 20th May

Got up stupidly early to get into the city for an 8.30 start of a two day first aid course. My certificate expired last Friday so need to update it.  Alas the trainer was late and we didn't really start until 10am. Rest of day was theory and practical including CPR and Defib training.

Got texts to call office during day, one of the key staff in Brisbane is ill three weeks out from event so I'm going to have to assist them delivering the event. As a result had to go to office after course to discuss situation.

Came home and had some dinner and relaxed before bed.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Six

Sunday 19th May

A lazy day doing weekend things like washing the car and then shopping at the chase.

Spent some time sorting out the garden in preparation for sewer works which will commence this week.

A relaxed evening including a skype call to UK.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Five

Saturday 18th May

A quiet morning around the house. In the afternoon I dropped Kate down at Circular Quay as she was meeting Pru, Alex and Colleen for dinner and then going to the ballet in the Opera House. Kate got to eat at Cafe Sydney, v jealous!. Meanwhile I had an exciting time including buying a new ironing board, ironing for two hours and then going back out later in the evening to pick Kate up.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Four

Friday 17th May

Drove into work as I was going out later in the afternoon to visit our new control centre. A morning of meetings with stakeholders and then with Marcus who is off for two weeks. Mid afternoon myself and my new assistant drove to the new control centre to measure up and review radio signal and phone data coverage for the event. All seem to be fairly ok but radio coverage needs further investigation.

All things considered the move looks to be a good one.

Drove home after dropping off my assistant at Artarmon station. 

Kate and I had a Thai takeaway for dinner, it is Friday after all!

Spent some time doing financial things, the dollar exchange rate has seen a surge in our favour this week with dollar value against the pound going in our favour, its currently 1.56 dollars to pound compared to 1.45 a few weeks back.

We started to watch Life of Pi DVD after dinner bit gave up later on as we were both tired.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Three

Thursday 16th May

A fairly normal day at work today, although we went out and celebrated some birthdays of a couple of colleagues at lunchtime.

Came home and had dinner.


A good story about dollar is here

http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/dollar-dives-like-a-falling-knife-20130517-2jr5w.html

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Two

Wednesday 15th May

More staff scheduling activities at work, feel like I'm quite ahead this year in that regard. A few meetings and onwards planning on who is coming to event and what they will be doing.

Quiet night at home. Pets seem to be settling down well in absence of the parents in law.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty One

Tuesday 14th May

A normal day at work, still catching up after my time off. Back on train after work. Seem to be settling into a routine now without Bill and Carol around.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty

Monday 13th May

Back to work proper, time to get back into it for 2013. Spent most of day actioning emails etc.

Also phoned water board who have done some investigations in the garden, it appears there is a collapesed sewer that runs right along the back of the garden that needs replacing. Have a site meeting later in week with them to discuss what needs to be done.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Nine

Sunday 12th May

A relaxing day with Kate, nice to have a weekend together to catch up with each other.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Eight

Saturday 11th May

Woke up at about 4.45am, still suffering jet lag. We spent the day doing some shopping etc. I then had a couple of hours kip late afternoon. This was useful as we went out for dinner together at the High St Bistro. Was a nice walk there and back too.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Seven

Friday 10th May

woke at about 4.20am, pesky jet lag. Was kind of good through as I was driving Bill and Carol to the airport in the morning to send them on their way to Europe. Once they were safely delivered to airport I drove to the office, primarily for a lunch out with my new assistant who starts next week.

Left work at about 3.30 and came home.

Kate came home and we had dinner together and I crashed not too late.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Six

Thursday 9th May

Arrived to chaos in Sydney customs hall, so many people trying to get through passport control. Thankfully I got bumped into Aussie queue so was speeded up a bit.

Went through and picked up baggage and got through quarantine no problems too. 

Met Kate in arrivals hall, so good to be back in her arms again.

We went back to Willoughby and got to see Bill and Carol again.

Managed to stay awake most of day before going to bed quite early evening.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Five

Wednesday 8th May

A day lost in the air! There was a trip through Hong Kong airport at some random hour of the day. We arrived and left HK through a thunderstorm, lightening flashing around an aircraft is not so much fun. Dozed a bit on second leg back to Australia.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Four

Tuesday 7th May

Spent the morning doing some final shopping and then had a quick lunch in Crowthorne with an ex colleague Kevin, also took Hazels car through the car wash and managed to get stuck in it for 10 mins, pesky wing mirrors too wide!

Dropped car back to Old Basing and Hazel dropped me back to Yateley, had a hasty goodbye in car, these things are never fun.

Finalised packing, had some picky food before heading to airport. After a cuppa said goodbye to folks and headed through to departures.

Boarded plane on time and flight got away OK. Had some dinner and watched a movie before getting probably 7 hours or so of sleep before arrived in HK.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Three

Monday 6th May

A quiet day around the house and in the evening we had a family dinner to the Aviator to celebrate Alvins birthday. Food as always was excellent as you can see from below...

 

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Two

Sunday 5th May

Happy Birthday Alvin...

Was awoken bu neighbours in hotel at 5.55am with their telly going full blast on wall behind my bed, a quick bang on the wall soon shut them up!

Went down to brekkie at 9.30 with Hazel, Peter, Ray and Doris and others from the wedding. Once brekkie was done and good byes were set i picked up the car form other car park and drove back to Yateley, was a painless drive home.

After a quick bit of lunch I went round to see Rob, Jo and Isla and give them some gifts from Australia. Isla is growing fast and now has a good vocabulary of words and can count to three. Some pics below.

I went home again and then drove to Reading to see Caro, her husband Jon and Jules form the Oxfam festival days, was nice to see them and we had a nice dinner near the oracle followed by a couple of drinks. I said my goodbyes and drove home at 10.15pm.

Finally went to bed at about 11pm after a long day!

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty One

Saturday 4th May

Awoke and went down for breakfast with folks. After breakfast relaxed before getting ready for the wedding of Amanda and Sam. A minibus picked us all up from hotel at 12.30 and we made our way to the church about 10 minutes away.

Soon after the wedding began, it was a lovely ceremony with a young vicar who said nice things.

With the formalities done we jumped back on minibus and made our way to the reception at the Clifton Club. this is a great venue with three separate areas.

We had a lovely dinner of soup, pork and meringue.

the speeches went down very well and then there was dancing and merriment before heading back to the hotel. A few highlight photos below...

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty

Friday 3rd May

A leisurely morning at home packing for trip to Bristol. I left Yateley at about 11.40 and drove to Bristol, stopping at Leigh Delemere Services for a spot of lunch, the place Smithy from Gavin and Stacey recommends!

Arrived in Bristol and went to visit Oxfam GB Festival Office to say hello and catch up on what they are up to. Here is a pic of the office

Once I left there I checked into hotel and caught up with family. In the evening we all walked into the city and went to Browns for dinner which was nice.

Came home and went to bed before the big day tomorrow.

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Nineteen

Thursday 2nd May

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Eighteen

Wednesday 1st May

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Seventeen

Tuesday 30th April

Went shopping in Camberley during the morning, not much changes although there is a few less shops. Visited the Rockbox the last remaining record shop in the town and still the best. In the afternoon I caught the train up to London and met up with a few ex work colleagues form Symbian/Nokia days. Was nice to catch up with them

Caught the burger king express train home and Alvin and Crystal picked me up from Fleet, like old times!

Day One Thousand Four Hundred and Sixteen

Monday 29th April

Spent all day at Hazels building a display stand for her upcoming event at Guildford Cathedral in June. Managed to get sunburnt on my head in the process, here are some pics of our activities...