Saved! By a bearded Virgin

Love him or hate him, Richard Branson has proved to be our saviour! Not only is the credit card I booked my holiday with one of his, and they have agreed to pay us the cost of the flights. The Bearded Virgin went one step better. We have been able to book a flight on his Virgin Atlantic and the seats are cheaper! A whole £400 cheaper in total.

Thanks your bearded virginess, for your help in a crises. Maybe i'll sleep tonight, as I certainly didn't last night, dreaming of happy smiling bearded virgins......or maybe not.

Zoom Airlines goes into Liquidation a Week before our Holiday!!! Noooooo!! you've got to be kiddin

How can it be, that an airliner who has successfully been running for 7 years, suddenly dies the week before we get on one of their planes?

Whats the chances eh? 1 week almost to the day

Probability of a refund from them.....nil. They have said try your credit card company. That's 2 grand to try and recoup if we can then.

The website is very apologetic though....That's nice eh!

Tonight the wife and myself were sitting down and watching the 10 o'clock news, when it came up as a headline. First thing we did was run to the computer to find out if this was true. It seems surreal that one minute we are chatting and drinking a coffee in the living room, and the next we are running about panic stricken. We chose them as they are the only carrier flying direct to San Diego. There's a definite lesson to be learnt here I think. Only use the major carriers, even if it means flying to an airport 2-3 hours from where you want to be.

Zoom.........stuff em eh!

The 3 S's, Sun, Sand and Sement (ok cement then)

Its that time of the year, when blogging slows down. It should be because of the hot summer we are having over here, but we know that's not true. There hasn't been a summer in this country for a few years now. There's so much I wanted to accomplish this year when it got warmer, but it just didn't happen! Of course there were the odd days here and there, but most of them were during the week when I'm meant to be working. We have had one BBQ this year and that's it.

Not all hope is lost though! One project I was determined to accomplish was relandscaping my pond. Boring !!! Well I agree it probably is, but as I didn't realise I even had any fish in this pond i'd inherited, it shows how uninterested in the subject even I am. It was after living here for a month or so that a mate of mine said, "you do know you have fish in that pond, don't you?", "No your kiddin". Apparently he wasnt and I have about 5 of the hungry chappies in there. Knowing this meant I have the responsibility of making sure they have a pleasant home to live in. One that looks a bit smarter and a lot less ...green. Problem is, I don't know anything about ponds or building and I have little DIY know how too.

This didnt stop me from deciding buy a new pump for the pond and wiring it along the edge of the garden, so we could have a water fountain feature. Also I wanted to kill the old waterfall/rockery that looked like it came from the sixties. This involved a lot of clearing and shovelling, quite a few hours worth. Then the same again with the aged crazy paved edging and stones. I really didnt realise it would be so much work. Come the bank holiday Monday, this was it, I am going to have a go at bricking in my own surround for the pond. How much sand and cement do you use?? Whats the mix? I guess I could have asked a man in Wickes, but I was too scared he might laugh at me. You see as a man you are meant to know this stuff, well thats what we are led to believe. Its the same with directions in the car. If we ask for help on jobs like this men are scared that their voice will sound like a choir boys and we would lose all our body hair.

So I had to just try! And thats what i did, it even went quite well. So this summer I have one job I can smile and say i've got done. With that in mind I can now clear off to find a proper summer, I quite fancy Califonia, sun, sea, sand and......I think i'll skip the cement though.

If

Occasionally I have been known to include a spot of poetry in my posts over these last couple of years. I'm not a soppy romantic, but I do love it when I hear or read the English language being used by a master. The best modern example is Stephen Fry, who wields the spoken word like a knight with his sword.

It was whilst visiting Bateman's, the home of Rudyard Kiplin. That I was re-acquainted with his most famous of poems, 'If'. I have included this poem below, please read through it. I believe this has a good chance of being the best piece of verse ever written. Even IF you know it well, reading it through again is worth the time.

[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

I dedicate this to my son.
I will always try my best for you
With much love
Dad