results...........

No its not the footy back on again. This is to update you on what we did for our anniversary, and what i decided on after much deliberation for a gift.

Taking onboard a little of what you had suggested on the last post here's the results.

Initially I must say that Jo's suggestion of a box of her favourite things was a great idea. But! I couldnt get past a copy of Hello magazine and a Cadburys Twirl chocolate bar as things i'd know she'd like. Does that make me a bad man?

So I did the best i could do in the circumstances and went to have a look around the shops in Eastbourne. I looked at craft things. I looked at books, be it novel, biographies or factual and historical until I went crossed eyed. Smiths thats normally a good place, maybe some attractive stationery, but that has no passion!

Eventually I went to Past Times, which isnt a normal blokey shop but I must say if you are stuck for ideas it's worth a look. When you get past the throw cushions and sickening smell of pot pouree if has some nice little bits. It was here I stumbled over my eventual idea. I was looking at the unusual jewellery, which in my book is always over priced, and I saw a round locket with a Celtic Design. I didnt buy the locket but it made me think a locket might be a nice idea. Its not my wifes normal fare but with a couple of pictures of me and the kids she'd like it! So thats what I did, I found a nice locket. Even though I had previously said that I wasnt keen on buying jewelery.

Its a funny thing though, almost a law or rule unto itself, that if you choose and purchase one thing, suddenly you see a hundred of other ideas. I had to battle with myself not to buy much more. In fact I purchased a small box of hand made chocolates personally chosen and beautifully decorated, but thats it! Thats if you don't include the fine meal I cooked for her along with wines and cheeses. Main Course was an Indonesian Prawn dish, similar to a mild curry, bursting with flavour from the fresh corriander. Then we watched a soppy flick called 'Music and Lyrics', not my normal fare but appropriate for the occassion.

The anniversary was Wednesday and i'm pleased how it went. Its Friday today and my mother-in-law is down to stay and gonna babysit for us. So we are off out tonight for a meal in a Thai restaurant not far away in the village of Little Common, within the area of Bexhill.

Thats that, thought you might be interested and have supplied some rather poor photo's so you can see what i was talking about.

thanks for the help! have a drink on me!

I need your help............its life or death

You'll understand the urgency when I explain to you its our 15th (yes I was a child bride) Wedding Anniversary in less than 2 weeks!! I want to get my wife a present, but need some ideas.


With the big move to Bexhill we have decided although 15 years is a decent milestone in our marriage we dont have the resources to go to town with our celebrations, such as a party. I plan for us still to go for a nice dinner out together, but finding a good restaurant in an unfamiliar area is a problem. I'm randomly approaching 'locals' pretending to be a market researcher in an endeavour to solve where too eat. I'm sure i'll work it out. There is always KFC!



Its this present quandry that is muffling the activities of the grey cells. I want it to be something that will make her go ahhh and smile. I'm not talking about mega expensive here. In the past I bought her a white gold diamond solitare and so jewelery unless something really unusual and beautiful (and much cheaper than that ring) wouldnt be on the list. I have given her CD's and books, beauty treatments, perfume and smellies in the past but I want to do something else. Underware and chocolates have been done in the past too, but I don't really think they are my darlings 'thing' at the moment.


So I throw myself on your mercy and ask if you have any ideas?
What about gifts you have given in the past that had a good reaction? Or, maybe you received something that you always cherish or at least thought it was particularly sweet?

Its been 2 months

This living by the seaside melarky has been great on the whole! To show you, I have at long last had a go at using YouTube to get some of my camera-phone videos online so you can get a 'low-res' feel for the place.

here's kite flying with the kids. The bigger fella at the back is my mate Dave NOT my son in case you wondered.



Not far way is Middle Farm, its a working farm that allows visitors. We had a good time here and had a picnic. I tried to get the kids to talk about the place on camera but it went a little sour. Made me laugh though!



Place we want to check out soon is the Long Man of Wilmington, we'll make that one a walking adventure I think. Also there is Drusillas Park a childrens Zoo and play park between Long Man and Middle Farm which looks worth a family fun day out.

On a personal note I will make a discreet visit back to Middle Farm sometime as they have there own Cider and Perry production onsite that needs checking out. Whilst i'm there they have dozens of different bottles of Sussex ales and beers that I think would be worth trying. Just to widen my appreciation of the fine work these people do you understand!

and there are vineyards not far ............... oh the hard life I live

Take a look at my office..........

Take a look at my office its the only one I've got...... not much of an office I never seem to get a lot....
please excuse its that flipping song in the charts by someone called Gym Class Heroes ,they use lyrics from Supertramps, Breakfast in America.

That's not why I'm writing this post! I am finally relieved to get my office kit supplied by my most incapable company. You'd think being a full-time homeworker living miles from my nearest office, that getting me the kit so i can actually work would be a must. I have learn though over the years that the only thing reliable is their incompetence. Enough moaning here's my little office which is in the loft of our new house. There is other space in the loft for a spare bedroom, but this is my little personal corner. I think it's great and now I can even get on with learning to play the keyboard. What do you think?

The view out of that window is OK too, as I look over the gardens of my house and my neighbours.

Just one other thing before I finish. The Eurovision song contest!! What is that abomination all about eh? It has no relation to the platform that brought us Abba. I tell you now I'm not an Abba fan, but I believe they were special and deserved their fame. The contest is now nothing more than the worst sort of Europop or occasionally Eurorock introducing us to Europe's extensive legion of freaks and nutters. I was subjected to this program on Saturday as wifey wanted to watch it, but the only think that stopped my ears from bleeding was listening to Terry Wogans sacastic satire. He was a lord especially when he said here comes the Ejeet!

The political voting is shocking. The music is worse! That dreadful song done by Scootch for the U.K was enough to give Hannibal Lecter nightmares. The other Europeans didn't like it even though its just their cup of tea. My guess is it was too much like looking in a mirror for most of them, and nobody likes what they see in a mirror do they!

Lets go fly a kite, up to the highest height.......

A fitting tune from Mary Poppins I must say. But I'll explain that as we go on.

The move has been excellent so far. The Bexhill people seem genuinely nice. Its a regular thing to have a chat with a shop assistant about just stuff. The house is great too, we have emptied ALL of the boxes. (did you catch that ALL OF THEM!)

Work has tried to dampen my spirits by not supplying a broadband connection for a month, and when they did it came with the wrong sort of modem. I work for a technology company who don't seem to know how to supply and install technology. That's not even covering my office kit which hasn't arrived at all. But stuff em I say! It ain't my problem its their's.

A couple of things that have made living here that bit special so far are the older people and flying kites!

Let me tell you about the oldies in Bexhill. This area is know for being a place for older people to retire, and I'm not surprised its a very nice. So far though the oldies seem to come in 2 forms. There's the Schumachers and the Shouters. The Shumachers own the electric disabled carts and hurtle about the place. I thought old people were meant to me sedate, but no. The Shumachers of Bexhill only go one speed in there jet propelled trolleys and that is fast. Forget the other speeds it can do. They belt it about cutting up the youths who are genuinely scared of them knocking over bins and making a nuisance of themselves. I'm lucky because if one decides to have a go at me I recon I'd be the winner but for the skinnier people about they'd go over like bowling pins. The Schumachers have very little to do with the other group whom I affectionately know as that Shouters. These people are happy taking things a bit slower and generally speaking are very amiable and friendly people. That is if you can get past that fact that they shout all the time. WHAT TIME IS IT? or NICE WEATHER WE ARE HAVING? and when you reply they say WHAT, WHAAAAT? You need to plug your ears with cotton wool to speak to a shouter just so you can catch what they are saying without making your ears bleed. In fact I recon it wasn't the Island that made the plane crash in LOST but rather a Bexhill Shouter that sent the plane spinning. Bexhill shouters don't have to be like this, almost all of them have hearing devices so they could hear themselves and others without causing landslides and avalanches all over the world. The trouble is they don't know how to switch the things on, and when they do the screeching feedback makes dogs whimper. I'm sure that when they visit the doctor about tinnitus that 9/10 times its the hearing aid needing adjusting or turning off. I'm looking into developing cheap and efficient noise reducing ear plugs and muffs as a service to the local community. Of course at a small profit to myself! Its funny as the only people that can tame a Shumacher is a Shouter, who can use their sonic abilities to knock the Schumachers from their crazy rampage. The poor Shumachers are dazed in confusion when you look at their faces whilst the wheels on their supersonic shopping pods are pointing upwards. Its like looking at a beetle struggle on its back. Watching the shenanigans of this strange folk has brought me and the family many hours of entertainment already!

The other thing that has made the move special is flying kites down by the sea! It's great we've been down there a few times now. This week I bought myself a new stunt kite that has the warning not for the under 10 years olds! So i take it that means its good, and I'm going to try it out sometime soon. And this is where the Mary Poppins kite flying references comes in. I almost want to start shouting SUPERCALLAFRAG............ but i think i can hold off on that.

That's my update for now. I'll tell you about any other groups of special Bexhill residence that I come across in future updates. Sorry about the delay with this update but that's down to my companies incompetence.

all the best and keep blogging
Chux

ooh left a bit...right a bit....you're nearly there!

Yes not long now before the BIG MOVE to Bexhill-On-Sea (dont you know!). It's just around the corner. Contract exchange is now set for friday with completion on the 30th march.

Things are bedlam at home and wifey is getting stressed with it all, but its not for much longer so i'm sure we can cope. The most difficult thing i'm trying to organize is saying a decent goodbye to all my friends. I know i'll see people from time to time, but it will be very different from now on. It's a shame and i'll miss everyone desperately. I love the people i'm friendly with and the daily interaction with them is the only way i've been able to carry on in such a mundane job and life. BUT, I am convinced that the move is right for us and is just what we ALL need.

I'm a loyal friend by nature so i'll keep in touch as often as I can, even though I know not everyone will be quite so bothered.

Two things have inspired me to set up todays blog.

1) I've found out my new house has a pub in its shed! Yes a full on pub. With Guiness on tap!! Can you believe that. The fella who currently owns the house designed and built a fully working pub with satellite TV and draft beer. Its for real and he's named the shed pub the Collington Arms, click and see what I mean!!

2) Guiness are having some fun on their website for StPaddys day. Although I am not connecting myself to the celebration, I couldn't resist creating this fella for you to watch. You'll be asked your date of birth when you click on the link as apparently you have to be over 18 just to read anything regarding alcohol, go figure! Click on it now and my little ginger self will entertain you.

Top Gear.....am I the only one?

Ok just a quick one here!!

Did you see Top Gear last sunday or possibly on wednesday? If you did i'm guessing you think the programme is great too and that Jeremy Clarkson is a lord? That Richard 'the hamster' Hammond is pretty cool? Oh and that hairy bloke who's with them is ok too.

What I want to know is am I the only one who as disturbed by the behaviour of our American cousins on this weeks show? I'm not just talking about the bigotted rednecks. What really upset me was that charity that was going to sue Clarkson for 'giving' them an old car to help out a family in New Orleans!! Essentially because he got it wrong and the car he gave was a '91 year rather tan an '89,(or the other way around) the charity sent a legal representative to tell him it was misrepresentation and unless he gives them $20,000 they would sue.

Do you see what i'm getting at here? Those guys out of good motive offered a little help and ended up being blown out of the sky.

****STOP PRESS**** Most of the episode is now on youtube!

To my american friends who check out this blog please dont be offended by these remarks, but I hope you understand why i was shocked!! Shocked enough to let it get under my skin for the last few days and to eventually write this post on it.

I must say that this series of Top Gear has been class and I hope it continues for many years to come!!