A Blustery Day (or Jim comes to the Rescue)

Thursday was an unusual day. I was working in St Albans in the morning and Paddington in the afternoon. Gail and I drove up to stay was Hazel & Rob on Wednesday night so Gail could spend the day playing Battleships with Rob and Scrabble with Hazel. In the morning I headed into the office and by lunchtime was on a train into London. The wind was a little on the strong side and by the time I got to our Paddington office it was strong enough to lift clouds of spray off the canal and break windows in the office block I was walking past. Two hours later as I started to make my way back to Kings Cross Station I had a few problems to deal with. Firstly the central and district lines were closed so I figure a cab would be the quickest way. It was only now I started to realise that the winds had caused a little more damage than the odd broken window. Power was out in several places and therefore traffic lights were not working and the area within 2 miles of Kings Cross was grid locked. I saw a signpost torn out of the ground and several broken trees. The wind however had died right down and it was back to just a blustery day. When the cab got to Kings Cross and I saw the Police blocking the entrance, part of the entrance roof missing and hundreds of people milling around I figure I was going to have an interesting day. Entering the station I discovered all trains had been cancelled. A little research on my phone told me that Paddington was also closed, so was the M11 and the M25 in several places. This was suddenly a very scary place to be. I got some cash from the nearest cash point, pondered the alternatives; hotel, cab to St Albans or cab to Jim’s. Jim seemed like the best option. I phoned Gail to let her know I was very unlikely to get back to her that evening and then found a cab willing to go out to Northolt. The journey took close to 2 hours and £70 pounds but still way cheaper than finding a hotel. Walking through Jim’s front door I relaxed for the first time in 4 hours an relaxed a little more as soon as Jim provided a beer. We went out for a curry, just down the road from him and had a very pleasant evening. I spent the night comfortably on a mattress on the lounge floor. In the morning I borrowed Jim’s car and drove back to St Albans, collected Gail and then my car from the work car park. We returned Jim’s car on our way home and finally got back to Bristol between 2pm and 3pm.

Thank's Jim, it very good to know you are there for me in an emergency. I also hope BT will fix your phone soon so you can get back on the web and see this.

Gail's 40th Birthday Party

We had a great evening. Chris arrived about 4pm, Sandra & Adrian about 5pm. As it was a typical wet winter day the fire was lite and we started with Bucks Fizz a chat around the fire.

Around 6:30 the ladies headed for the kitchen started to sort the food out. The chocolat foutain was turned on to heat the chocolate. When the say it takes an hour, they really mean 2-3 hours.

With Friends from all over we both had a great time. Gail really enjoyed herself, thanks everyone for coming.

BY 9'ish the chocolate was good and melted and Gail tried it for the first time.


One of Gail's requests for her party was a bottle of pink champagne, a big bottel in fact. We open this just after she blew out the 40 candle's on her cake. Lighting 40 candles was the more difficult of the two tasks.

The party continued into the small hours of the morning. Rupert left with a small glass of whisky to drink when he got home. We hope you all had a great time, we did. G&J.

New Years Eve

New Years was spent again with Friends and Family. Hazel and Rob came down for a few days. We spent Several hours play board games and Rob watch most of his new DVDs on the big screen. On Sunday afternoon R&O brough the family over.

We spent the evening of New Years Eve at Colleys Supper Rooms and had a fantastic time. Lots of food and all of it wonderful. Hazel, Rob and Chris also came out with us. Rob as normal got customised service :-)