Catching up...

Picked up SJ from the train station on Friday night. Was good to see her again. We then went round to her parents to show them the photos we'd taken in Cannes, particularly the large format ones. After that, back to Rugeley and then off to The Wolseley Arms for some tea. Was very nice...again...

Saturday we decided to test out the new bike so I said it was about 5 or 10 mins to the Chase from my house and we could probably just cycle there. Big mistake...its not 5 or 10 mins...its more like 30 mins. Its actually 5 mile but its all uphill on the way there! Suffice to say, we were rather tired before we even got to the Chase! Anyhow, we continued from Punchbowl up Sherwood Valley and back down the other side of the stream. We then cycled back (downhill and via the pub)...

On Saturday night we went to The Hartley Arms, a pub in Wheaton Aston. Its right by the river and is a bit like the Anchor in Coven. I thought the meal was OK, but not as good as it was supposed to be. SJ drove tonight so I was able to have a drink although the route through the lanes was a little tight to say the least!

Sunday we decided to go shopping to The Fort. I'd got to take some stuff back and SJ wanted some tops. After that we came back, headed down to Bridgtown Bikes as I wanted to get a Camelbak and SJ wanted to look at the bikes there. We were then going to have a bit of a quiet night but J rang, SJ's friends and said there was a fun day on at The Elms. One call to my Dad and we were there. Was a good night actually, although the fun day (sumo suits, etc) had finished some time before.

So on Monday, we were a little hungover but we went out anyway. We took the dogs to Seven Springs for a walk and then we had a look at the new Ramada hotel they've built in Cannock. Its nice but a little small in terms of footprint. What I didn't realise though is they have some buildings around it, a couple of bars, a Costa Coffee, a restaurant etc. Some aren't open yet and the ones that are have only been for a week or so but I think it'll be nice when they're up and running.

Monday night was a quiet one watching the TV and having an Indian. A good one way to finish off the weekend!

The mountain bike

Today I bought myself a mountain bike from Bridgtown Cycles. I've been meaning to get one for a while, I suppose I just needed an excuse. Well, I've got one now as SJ is into mountain biking and has a Gary Fisher (apparently they're very good). The one I bought is a Scott and by all accounts seems pretty good. I don't really know the first things about mountain bikes, the last one I had I was more worried about the colour and how many gears it had! I took it for a trip round the block and it seems ideal. The first test will probabaly be at the weekend over the Chase. We'll see...

The Moonwalk

On Saturday night, my mom completed The Moonwalk, a 26 mile walk around the streets of London starting at midnight. 15,000 people took part in this years moonwalk, all raising money for breast cancer. My dad, SJ & myself all went down to London to support my mom. We got down there about 13:00 on Saturday and had a cup of tea in SJ's flat. We then went and checked into our hotel, the Ramada Hyde Park. My mom went to sleep for the afternoon in preparation for her exertions and we went round Harrods as my dad had never been there before. I didn't actually realise just how much stuff is actually sold in Harrods. You can pretty much buy anything in there!

Anyway, we went back to the hotel to get ready with my mom. She had to be in The Playtex City in Hyde Park by 8:30 so we went and dropped her off there and then came back for a bit to eat. We then went back down to Hyde Park to see the start of the walk and it was quite a sight. 15,000 people all coming towards you, pretty much all wearing the same! We did manage to pick out my mom...just...and then it was off to SJ's flat for a sleep for an hour or so.

We met up with the walkers again at the 11 mile mark and this time, the ladies from my mom's office had come down to surprise her, and what a surprise it was although considering SJ, my dad and I were supposed to be watching for my mom, we completely missed her so it was a good job my mom saw them!



We then hotfooted it round to the 17 mile mark where we waited for my mom to come past again. It was an interesting wait, SJ dropped a cheese/crisp sandwich down the car seat and a cyclist decided to hit my winf mirror with his arm! Shortly after that the door was nearly taken off by 3 deranged mountain bikers! Eventually my mom appeared and we cheered her on and then back round to the 21 mile mark.



We met up with my mom's colleagues again at 21. They'd been out all night with no hotel room to go back to, just a National Express coach to look forward to at midday! My mom zipped past again and then off we trotted again round to the finish line. By now it was about 6:00 in the morning so we were all a little fatigued to say the least. My mom crossed the finish line in 6 hours and fifty minutes although she reckoned she would have done it quicker as they were held up for a lot of the time going across roads etc. I think its a tremendous achievement al round and a big well done to all the walkers who took part.



I dropped SJ back off at her flat as she had to pack to catch a flight to Brussels later in the day! I don't know how she does it, I was absolutely exhausted. We had a bit of a sleep and then it was back to the hotel for some lunch and to check out. We ate in the hotel and then drove back home. I then went to sleep!

Cannes...the experience...part 2...

Our second day in Cannes was bright, hot and sunny again. We had breakfast in the room and then went down to meet the others in the Hotel Reception. We had a trip round the harbour planned in which we would see HP's experimental boat Proteus. I think the pictures speak for themselves, its certainly a weird looking machine. Apparently, we're among very few people in the world who've seen this bizarre craft up close and moving.



After the boat trip we went back to La Majestic and the HP Studio where we'd been printing off some fantastic photos on the HP Large Format Printers. We then had a wander around Cannes and stopped off at some of the shops that had pictures from the red carpet the night before. We bought a couple of them as they were pretty good pictures and to be honest you would never get photos like that again.

We headed back to the hotel and got in our transfer back to the airport. This time it was a blacked out Range Rover. As we left (after rolling over the foot of the doorman with my case) they had put crash barriers up outside our hotel as Kelly Brook and Billy Zane wee staying there and were also doing an interview on the roof!

So, back to Nice airport, we had a bit of time to kill so we had a look round the duty-free. SJ decided to buy a new watch, very nice, a diamond Breitling. The flight home was OK although we were both pretty tired. We arrived into Luton on time and picked the car up and drove home. All in all a very, very good couple of days.

Cannes...the experience...part 1...

Cannes was absolutely fabulous...an experience never to be forgotten!

I went down to SJ's on Wednesday night, had a meal in her flat and a couple of bottles of wine. We did intend to get an early night as we'd got to be up at 5:00 to get to Luton for out flight to Nice. Well, best laid plans and all that...

We did get up nice and early and made the (short) trip up to Luton. Got there in plenty of time, despite SJ carrying her "Early Learning" suitcase...checked in and settled down with a coffee. It was at that point SJ decided to check her phone...message from her customers saying there was only one place booked for their flight from Stansted. Major problem! They'd actually sent the message at 5:30, it was now 7:30. One quick phone call determined they had actually left the airport and were back at home. The next 30 minutes were spent in a frenzy of texting phone calls, emails to SJ's offices to see what had happened and also to see if they could get flights later in the day. If I'm honest I didn't think they'd come but when we landed in Nice we had a message to say that they were indeed coming, albeit on a flight that arrived at 17:30. Still, at least they were going to get there and it was certainly a relief for SJ!

We were whisked through the airport by the HP representatives, into a black Mercedes with immaculate chauffeur. He certainly knew his way around Nice as we didn't really get held up at all in the local traffic. What a transfer!



The hotel we stayed in was the Cannes Hilton and it was right on La Croisette, the main street on the beachfront in Cannes. We couldn't have been more central. After a briefing from the HP staff and an outline of our proposed itinerary we unpacked our stuff in the room. The very pink room. For some reason, the hotel designers had decided that our room should be resplendent in pastel pink, very nice, if not a little overwhelming.



We wandered down La Croisette, taking in all the sights and sounds to La Majestic Barriere, the other hotel HP had booked for the Festival. We had passes that allowed us to basically go anywhere. All the exclusive beach terraces, hotels, everything. We couldn't have asked for any more really. We had lunch on the private beach terrace of La Majestic, watching the gin palaces go past in the harbour. Occasionally we would see someone being interviewed on camera for one TV program or another, whilst sipping our free, unlimited wine. The weather was fabulous, about 25 degrees and sunny. It really doesn't get much better than this!

As SJ's customers were not due to arrive until 18:30 in Cannes, we agreed that we'd forgo our Zodiac tickets as they probably wouldn't make it. We headed back up to the hotel to go and meet them. We got ourselves ready and made our way downstairs and then to La Majestic again for the Cocktail party where we had to collect our tickets. We decided that we'd wait for them down there as the meal was booked at the restaurant within La Majestic. We met a rather interesting person there - Imogen Diamonds, sort of like a mix up of Steve Tyler, an old Pamela Anderson and Mick Jagger. Quite weird.



Sj's customers arrived and we went off for a meal in Fouquets. It was really nice and afterwards we headed over to take our place on the red carpet. That experience was absolutely amazing. Despite the film (4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days) being not exactly a top draw, the paparazzi was out in force. We must have had our picture taken a hundred times. People were still standing 4 or 5 deep behind the crash barriers as well. It took us about 45 minutes to do the whole red carpet walk and every minute of it was amazing! We eventually arrived in the cinema at La Palais des Festivals and settled down to watch the film. And what a film. It was in Romanian, subtitled in French and then in English. The whole story was about two sisters, one of which is pregnant and has an abortion by a back street abortionist. That was it. I won't be rushing out to get the DVD! I'm sure it was very well shot, etc, etc but when you'd given up tickets to Zodiac, you can't help feeling a little let down!



After the film we headed back up La Croisette to our hotel. We had a couple of drinks in the bar and then went to bed.

Cannes

Just packed up mys stuff for our trip to Cannes. We think we'll be seeing Zodiac as our premiere. To be honest, I'm not bothered what film we see, it'll just be brill whatever we do.

Really looking forward to seeing SJ again tomorrow night. I can't believe that I've only been down to her place once! It feels like we've been together ages! We get on so well its unbelievable!

The next few days are going to be busy though. I go down to London tomorrow, fly to Nice on Thursday from Luton, then back to Luton on Friday. Then, I drive back up here for the night and then pick up my parents on Saturday morning to take them down to London. My mom is doing the Moonwalk on Saturday night. This is a 26 mile walk around London, starting at midnight from Hyde Park. Its in aid of breast cancer - an issue thats of particular importance to my mother - I think you can guess why without me spelling it out. Not sure therefore when I'll be able to update this blog with the Cannes trip and stuff, hopefully I'll be able to do it on Monday night.

Another weekend...

I'm becoming rather lax at updating this blog...I should be doing this much, much more regularly. Its just time at the moment though, I don't seem to have enough of it!

Anyway, SJ came up from London on the Friday night train. Picked her up from the train station in Cannock and we went back to mine. Had a good night - ordered kebab! Yay! Haven't had a kebab in ages...twas rather nice. On Saturday we went shopping in Birmingham. We both had to get some kit for our trip to Cannes next week. I managed to do quite well! I bought three shirts, three pairs of trousers and two pairs of shoes! I won't keep all of it though, I'll take most of it back when I've decided what I'm wearing for Cannes.

ON Sunday I took my parents to the Alexander Theatre in Birmingham. They had tickets to see Gervaise Finn. I can't find a link to him anywhere but he is a retired School Inspector and the show is him recounting his experiences. It was apprently very good. SJ and I went for a meal in The Mail Box. We ended up in an Indian restaurant called Lazeez. Was one of the nicest restaurants I've been to in a long time. The ambience and decor was absolutely stunning! They also have a private room upstairs where you can hold private dining functions. I bet that would be very nice.

Took SJ to the train station on Monday morning...was sad, I miss her when she goes back down to London. Still there's not a lot either of us can do about it at the moment...At least its not long till we see each other again. I'm going down there on Wednesday night as we fly from Luton early Thursday morning to Cannes.

Weekend

Picked up SJ from Luton train station. A minor drama with where I actually picked her up from. I did say that Luton wasn't the nicest place on earth to hang around, however we agreed that she'd wait in Luton whilst my meeting finished. Anyway, cut a long story short, she ended up at a Travelodge in Luton...problem is there is three in Luton! Anyway, found it, picked her up and came back up here.

Had a good weekend, went out up to The Elms on Friday night - met most of SJ's friends. We then decided to go up Cannock where we went to the usual haunt - Bar Sport. Saw K & J...was an interesting meeting!

Saturday daytime, we went to Solihull. We went to look for some outfits for SJ and I for our Cannes trip, however we ended up coming away with a blender/juicer/kneader/slicer/grate. This thing does everything! I've been after a juicer/smoothie maker for ages but could never find one that did everything. Anyhow, we were in John Lewis' and they had a Magimix 5200 that fitted the bill so I bought it. I also bought a "proper" bow tie. Now I just have to learn how to tie it!

On Saturday night we went back up Cannock and met up with the usual crowd. Again, was rather an interesting night! Maybe I'll elaborate at some other time, but for now I'll leave it as interesting...

D & C came round on Sunday afternoon. Its the first time they have been round the house and was quite a weird meeting. It all went well though and they got on well with both SJ and I so I think things are progressing on that front quite well. After that we went out for a meal at The Wolseley Arms with SJ's friends, J & R. Good day and night in all!

Had a really good weekend...really enjoying myself with SJ! Looking good so far!

Product Specialist

In Luton at the moment. Had our Product Specialist Meeting yesterday and we have our Systems Integrator forum today. My new car arrived yesterday though and its brill!!!!! Haven't really had chance to drive it as yet but so far all looks good...

Also had a new laptopn yesterday for work. Its a HP one and is much, much better than my previous Toshiba one. The Tosh was so heavy it was more like lugging a desktop around!

Picking up SJ from the train station later then back home and hopefully to dog training. I haven't been in a few weeks because I've been too busy with work.

1st May onwards...

So, the 1st May - new month and really a new start for me now. Today is the first day my new mortgage payments go out of the bank. Not exactly a a landmark but to me it does represent "freshness". I'm actually looking forward to the time ahead for the first time in ages. I seem to be full of positivity and that marks a real change from how I've been feeling for the last few months. I'm really looking forward to getting my house the way I want it and just learning to enjoy the things I want to do. Of course, I think that SJ has a lot to do with this. We seem to get on really well and I am able to be "free" with her. I know this sounds a bit la-di-da but its true.

I'm also off to the Cannes Film Festival in a few weeks. Can't wait, its a real trip of a lifetime. SJ had the opportunity to go if she could get a customer to go with her. This she duly did and so I am also invited! The trip looks absolutely amazing - here's a brief synopsis:

Fly to Nice from Luton airport. Get picked up in either Chauffeur-driven car or limo. Stay in either the Majestic Barriere or the Noga Hilton. Trip to the HP Digital Studio. Lunch on a private Beach Terrace restaurant, then you get a bit of free time before attending a red carpet premiere at the Palais des Festivals! This is either preceded or followed by dinner in a top French restaurant and then back to the hotel. What a trip! We then fly back into Luton the following day.

Ferrari or not...?

Forgot to put these up the other day...whilst we were at Weston Park the other day we came across these cars. These are not Ferrari's at all but are Toyota MR2's, made to look like a Ferrari. Very convincing but somehow I can't help thinking that it must cost you as much in time, effort and money as to buy an actual Ferrari. Still, they were interesting to look at. I suspect that the only way you would tell they were not legitimate would be to see them against a "correct" Ferrari...