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Craig is still suffering with his damaged ankle, which has so far taken 3 weeks to heal and is still the size of a grapefruit.
We went to spend the weekend with Allan, Bel and Hazel in Hemel and had a really nice time with excellent company, a really good BBQ oh yes and more alcohol (woo hoo).
Lorna has been busy helping the local business with her jobbie and Craig has been enjoying the rather nice weather (along with mowing the front lawn which is so big it takes the best part of an afternoon).
Spike cant wait to go out in the morning (usually at 6am), then trogs around all day investigating, sleeping and cleaning himself. He is now on at least one mouse or vole per day, although the last mouse put up such a fight he was taken aback when it karate chopped his nose (feisty Welsh Meecies).
We have been enjoying the weather here, having a BBQ at least one or two per week, whilst watching the local woodpecker devour the treats on the bird feeder.
We will be seeing our good friends Stu & Jen in a few weeks and the folks are also coming over in June for a bit of Welsh weather (better stock up on the alcohol then).
And the future, still no clear idea on what to do, although we are sorely tempted to travel the US again, but for this year we are going back to Japan and then next year to start the celebration for my 40th (yup I become and adult next year, boo hoo) we are going back to St.Lucia, the beautiful island where we got married.
So this month Lorna managed to fit in her Christmas present from me (Tandem Paragliding, off a 700ft mountain in Shropshire), you can see what it was like on the Videos page, she loved it.
I had a go at a taster day learning the basics of paragliding, which was real fun, only for the day to be cut short when I came down with a bump and bent my ankle the wrong way in a rabbit hole. So I have been hobbling around for 1 week with a massive club foot, having to wear sandals cos nothing fits (you can see the pictures on the 2007 gallery in April).
This month we went to a Medieaval Banquet at Ruthin Castle. The hotel was ok, but sorely overpriced for the very poor service offered and very rude staff in the bars (needless to say we did not pay full price), the duty manager refused to look us in the eye or even apologise, but hey this is England, service culture has yet to hit this land. The Banquet was quite nice, decent food, plenty of wine and a little mead, shame the entertainment was lacking, no court jesters, booo.
And lastly we are off to see Allan, Bel and Hazel and enjoy a decent bit of company, food and alcohol.
Consider the picture - small family owned business having major staff troubles, organisation issues and daily headaches because of it. What was a potential seasonal "social" job has turned into me being the Manager at a local gift store (oh yes, I'm a shop worker!). I have to say its fun fun fun, dealing direct with customers for a change and actually getting positive feedback for helping someone is THE most rewarding thing ever. So, hoping to get everything ship shape for this small firm and help a nice couple get their business omn track and then we'll see what next.
A few weekends ago Stu & Jen came to visit for the weekend and we had a great time. They are proud (we hope) owners of special tour t-shirts for their world tour and Tour Leader Stu and myself have finalise our schedule for Japan where we will join them for an all too brief period.
We are still enjoying our remote living here in Wales although I confess I am now missing Craig daily since my little jolly into the retail sector is taking me away from him - I have managed a concession in gaining a chauffeur for the time being.
Next up is a travel back in time to visit Ruthin Castle for a medieval banquet complete with authentic costumes and a night in a (haunted?) castle.
Then at the end of April we are off to annoy Hazel, Allan & Bel with a long weekend in Hemel and hopefully experience our first takeaway since we move to isolated Wales!
Well it was an early start for us (5am, oh my god what time is that). Then a 2 hour drive to Holyhead to catch the Ferry over to Dun something or other in Ireland.
The crossing was uneventful and as you would expect the prices were over the top for cheap tat and poor quality. The High Speed Ferry was a total non smoking zone, but they open up the back doors to allow the smokers a chance to keep killing themselves and everyone in the area.
So a chance to experience the roads in Ireland and a 45 minute crawl out through Dublin and then on to the open roads in the lashing rain.
The folks live in a little village some 3 hour drive from the ferry in a beautiful bungalow with stacks of open space around them and a very very wet and muddy garden. The house is very nice and tastefully decorated throughout (including the clean wooden doors, where did you the idea from, was it whitemoor?).
We enjoyed a soaking wet walk out in the countryside with some rather fantastic looking houses and reasonably priced too (well in comparison to the UK anyway).
The town was full of surprises, the world's worst drivers and probably the world's worst roads even more so than Greece. Driving down the roads you have to dodge drivers who just pull out on you and the worst maintained roads ever (uneven, cracked, pot holes and downright terrible to go on). The drivers have to be the most courteous in the world, they wave to let you out, thank you when you have let them pull out, dont get angry behind the wheel and are pleasant (England learn something here).
We took a trip down to the local "Spells" to sample the local nightlife, with a few drinks and a listen to the local Irish music. The music was excellent and we had an ace night, the bar even laid on free chips and sausages for everyone (try to keep Lorna out of there).
A good few days of getting up nice and late in the morning (around 9am ish) taking a few little trips around and generally chilling out.
On an evening we enjoyed watching a few movies and then trying to learn the finer points of football with some foreign bloke called Ka Ka (I know nuffin about football and I'm so glad).
Ireland appeared to be one of those places that is about 10 years behind Wales, which is about 10 years behind the UK.
The journey back was uneventful but pleasant and it was nice to get little ole Spike back out of his prison again.
Have a look at some of the pics in the March 2007 Gallery.
It's been a hectic week really, lots of work going on and a major project running behind the scenes - oh yes we're off travelling again!!
In September we shall join our good friends Stuart & Jen in Japan as they drop off in Japan as part of a major world tour (oh we are sooo jealous) so we thought we'd go and bug them whilst in Japan. Unfortunately our travels extent to just a fortnight this time, but we have longer in Kyoto and Tokyo this time to do some more exploring. Its certainly travel bug time as we are sat here considering plans for 2008 and where next might be on the schedule - watch this space for details.
When we are back from Ireland I am hoping for some good weather - a planned Paraglide (my first!) has had to be rescheduled due to poor weather but I shall be chomping at the bit to do my charge down some hillside and launch into the air.
Well, time to sign off and get ready for an early rise to catch the ferry tommorrow.
We arrived on Thursday 15th Feb to find that the stand we had booked at 2.5m x 2m had suddenly changed to 2mx2m between 2 other stands. It would appear that the organisers run with 2 separate plans, one for sales and one for the builders (shame they are not the same). So the easy answer, dismantle the lego kit stand next to us and shuffle everything along as it should be, but life is never easy least of all when you have Stratford council busy bodies on the next stand who simply refuse to move any item on their stand least of all their organ (which apparently took 3 men to put it into position, but only one man to move) and then threaten to sue anyone who moves it or damages it. Oh listen to me go on here, after all the council people at the stand next to us have a right to pay £1,344 out of council tax money to exhibit at the NEC in order to show people they can get married in Stratford Town Hall and refill the council coffers of the money they have just wasted at the show (remember its your hard earned tax at work here). On top of which they had paid some overpriced graphic designer to make some pretty exhibition pictures that they stuck on the wall, this guy had charged the earth for these pictures and also came to the show to make sure they looked right. Who says councils waste money, oh yeh, everyone that's right.
So moving right along after eventually getting hold of the event managers, they rectified the problem by moving us to a 4mx2m stand, which really looked the business when we were finished.
So the show, 8 hours stood up everyday for 3 days, oh my very hard on the old tootsies. We handed out over 1,500 leaflets and demonstrated to at least 30 couples, so fingers crossed.
Thanks to Al, Bel and Hazel who cat sat for us and also found out that you need electric to use a cordless electric phone (that'll be Al, turning off the power midway through a phone conversation).
So what now, well Feb is almost over and we are taking a little trip to see The Folks.
For the future, well a little radical, next month Lorna will be having a go at Paragliding (part of her Chrimbo prezzie), we are joining our good friends Stu and Jen in Japan during September and then off to New Zealand to celebrate my 40th birthday next Jan (more on that later in the year).
Yes we had 2 full days of snow on the 8th & 9th Feb and what does the local council do about it, well the usual send out 1 grit van (minus 4 wheel drive capability), which ends up in the ditch. So what happens to the roads, nuffin, but hey that's what your Council Tax goes on.
Craig travelled from Shrewsbury home in the snow (a journey which normally takes 45 minutes), which took 2.5 hours due to the untreated roads and people leaving work early to avoid the queues in the snow, which in fact all it does is move the traffic queue from 5.30 at night to 3.30.
SO we spent part of one day building our snowman family. Lorna as per usual ended up down the road with a big old snowball, forgetting that she then had to roll it back up hill. Craig built the scariest looking snowman ever, but it was great fun.
Now 3 days later we are waiting for the snow to leave so that we can get out of the house and get provisions.
Next up, the NEC during Valentines week, hopefully we may see some of you there.
Well what a fantastic experience Tatton Park was in Jan, showing our wares at the Wedding Show. The number of people that were really hit with the idea of wedding websites, so we showed them in the hope of getting this really running.
We handed out over 1,000 leaflets over the two days and demonstrated to about 20 people, while managing to explain to most people in under 30seconds what it was. The initial guesses were, Wedding Planners, Venue or Table Decorators. So time will tell what comes of this.
At the beginning of Feb we took a romantic break to Stratford Upon Avon to stop over and see a play. We decided on Richard III, which was fairly heavy going and was brought up to date, using modern clothes, Uzi's and digital cameras. Stratford was very relaxing and Lorna looked like a million dollars (no change there then).
So next stop is the NEC in Feb to exhibit at the National Wedding Show to over 30,000 visitors over 3 days (oh boy here come some more aching feet).
We are getting set for the first Wedding Show at Tatton Park (27/28 Jan) and have finally got 10,000 leaflets printed so many thanks to the guys at ProntaPrint in Shrewsbury for pulling out all the stops for us. We are taking a trip to see our good friends Stuart and Jen at the end of the show.
We are then planning a short trip to see the bard on the boards shortly afterwards as a little treat for us.
Lorna is pushing ahead on the family history side of things after publishing her family tree and now launching a Genealogy service at http://genealogy.pebbleinthesea.com
Feb holds in store the National Wedding Show at the NEC, so who knows. We will publish an update about the shows on our photo galleries.
What a fantastic year 2006 was, seeing some amazing places and meeting some fantastic people.
Well 2007 started off very nicely indeed, with a fantastic New Years Eve spent with Lorna (the most amazing woman in the world).
It was my birthday early in Jan, so Lorna surprised me and took me off Quad Bike Rallying across the Welsh countryside (an experience you must try, awesome).
What does 2007 hold for us then, well who knows but we will ensure we have fun and enjoy it.
Jan 27/28 will see us exhibiting at Tatton Park in Cheshire (oh my), then the NEC in Feb, check out www.ourweddingroom.com for all the details.
Anyhoo Happy New Year to all of our really good friends.