My 40th birthday party

After months of organisation, the day suddenly arrived. It had been 'hairy' with a lack of acceptances to my invites at first but bit by bit, the numbers accumulated until it was 90 plus.

Debs and Mick came down on the Friday and were a great help all day Saturday with all the food we had to prepare. John went totally overboard with the shopping, doubling and even trebling up on stuff. I tried to tell him that people don't eat that much at parties but he wouldn't listen. Typical man. Should leave it to the women!

Late afternoon, my 'long lost' friend Denise and her hubby Pat came to the house to say hi before going to the party. I hadn't seen her for 26 years since school - she moved away with her parents who were/are publicans. Denise contacted me on Friends Reunited a couple of months ago and we've been emailing ever since. It was so wonderful to see her again and she's still as lovely as I remember, but even taller than ever! We just had time for a quick chat and a cuppa and then we drove to the rugby club. I went in Pat and Denise's car so as to continue the catch-up. They were staying in a hotel in the same road as the venue.

Once we got to the hall, John and Keith set up the disco equipment, John and Maria, Debs and Mick helped me to decorate it with banners and balloons and we filled three long tables with the food. There was enough there for about 300 people! Mum and Dad turned up about 7-ish to lend further hands and then there was just enough time to get changed into our fancy dress costumes. The theme was Film and TV characters - I was Cruella De'vil, John was Andy Pandy, my Mum was Charlie Chaplin, and Dad was supposedly one of the musketeers, Poor Debs - when she put her saloon girl dress on, the zip busted and so she couldn't wear it. She had to change back into her normal clothes and she seemed quite down about it. I told her not to worry, the most important thing was that she was there at the party.



Then my guests started to arrive and it was great to see what they had dressed up as. There was a Dorothy Gale, another Charlie Chaplin, Pocahontas, Willy Wonka, Dark Knight, Fred Flintstone, several Snow Whites, Buzz Lightyear, a few Woodys and random cowboys, two Mini Mouses, Capt Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones, Elvis, three Pink Ladies, Lilo (from Lilo & Stitch), an Officer and a gentleman (my brother), Captain America, Superman, Super Girl, Bat Girl, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Vicky Pollard, a wicked witch, Silas the monk?, Dennis the Menace, two Spidermen, Sleeping Beauty, another Andy Pandy, a couple of medieval looking characters, Henry VIII and one of his wives, Daisy Duke, a flasher (losing the theme a tad!), a rock n roll teddy boy, a ladybug, a fire girl, and lastly another Cruella! Of all people, it was Denise. After all those years, we are still thinking the same! How ironic. I think she made a better Cruella than me as she is so tall and the false eyelashes looked great. My work mates didn't dress up but they were pretty much the only ones, so it was a great effort!

Keith stepped into the DJ shoes for us as a favour. John and I gave it all up a few years ago but kept all the equipment as something to fall back on if John lost his job. I'd already created a playlist of songs that he could choose from, just to narrow it down a bit and make it easier. Most of the music was from the 80s (my era) and the 60s and 70s. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I stayed on the dance floor most of the night barring about 10 minutes I'm told! Well you have to make the most of it don't you? The night went so quick and it was all over before I knew it.

After all the packing up and clearing, we got home just after 1am. Then there was the problem of finding room in the fridge for the left over food, which there was a fair bit of (I told you so John!).
Several piles of washing up and clearing took us to 2pm and time for bed. At this point it was like someone flicked a switch because my nose starting streaming and the cold which has been brewing for several weeks, suddenly came out. Thank goodness it waited until after the party. Now I have to get rid of it before I go to Australia this Friday. I am dosing myself up like mad, believe me!

Well, I may have celebrated my 40th with a fab party but I'm not at that milestone until Friday.
I will make the most of my last few days as a 30-something. :(

White Hart pain

Spurs 0 Wigan 0

"We are bottom, we are bottom, we're still bottom, of the league"....That's my new chant. It goes to the tune of "We are Tottenham, we are Tottenham, super Tottenham, from the Lane". Whilst the rest of the stadium were trying to gee the lads up today, I was singing my own version. I just wasn't feeling positive one iota. It was diabolical - possibly the worst patch of football (football is debatable) that I've witnessed for many a year. The club have spent £67m pounds on new players but what for? We can't even grasp the basics of how to kick a ball to one of our own teammates. This is a far worse start to the season than last year and we know what happened to Mr Jol. I don't suppose the club would even contemplate doing the same to Ramos and I'm not saying that's the answer at all, because we've had so many managers I've lost count. The thing is, the style of football since Juande's introduction has gradually diminished so that now it is nothing more than 11 players running around achieving nothing, creating nothing and providing no entertainment value whatsoever. I feel really cheated out of the money I pay for tickets. The club put the prices up every single season and I'm getting to the point now where I'm going to think twice about buying them, especially whilst they are playing this badly.

Anyway, just for the record, the last few results have been as follows:

Chelsea 1 Spurs 1
Spurs 1 Villa 2
Spurs 2 Wisla Krakow 1

Earning a point away at Stamford Bridge was a minor miracle after the first two losses. Villa were just much better than us - Martin O'Neill being the good manager that he is, has created a really strong team all over the pitch and would be my tip to finish at least 5th this season. And finally, yes, we managed to actally win a game, albeit scraped it, against the Polish champions. However, it was dire apart from 20 seconds of the game when quick one touch football ended up with Bent putting it in the net, only for the referee's assistant to rule it out for an offside, which was clearly not there!

Whilst I'm angry and disappointed at the way things are going, I have retained my sense of humour at the jokes that are flying about at the moment. Well you have to don't you?

I got this text from my brother today:

Did you know that there are no trains going in or out of White Hart Lane Station at the moment? This is due to points failure.

:) hehe

George...I think YOU'RE amazing!

So Monday arrived and it was another busy day. The sun refused to make an appearance at all; well what more can you expect of a bank holiday? It was breezy too, not really barbecue weather but being British and all, you just carry on and brave the elements with plenty of layers! My friend Suk was the host but with Elena away and Sunita having an apparent better offer (?), the guests were just John and I, Ellie, Simon and the boys, and Ellie's niece also tagged along. I had a light lunch but asked Suk if I could have a bite later as well, as I was going to see George Michael at Earls Court that evening, leaving straight from hers. I wouldn't survive without an evening meal of some description; as my eating habits are as regular as clockwork.

Alice, my gigging partner in crime, arrived at 5:15 outside the house to pick me up, despite me giving her a bogus house number! Intuition or what?! We drove to Rayleigh station and picked up a train to Liverpool Street. I can't remember the last time I was on the Victoria line, but man it's slow! We cocked up slightly on the tube taking a circle line train instead of district and so had to change twice instead of once, but we got there in the end. I was glad we took the 5:34 train instead of the one half an hour later as it took longer than anticipated. We just had time to buy a drink, have a wee, take a quick look at the merchandise before taking our seats (which were better than expected) ready for the 8pm 'prompt' start according to the ticket. However, we should know by now that it's a ploy to get bums on seats before it actually kicks off, which in this case, was 20 minutes later.

And then the lights went down and George's voice was heard. One minute went by before he emerged from a door in the middle of the stage, to an uproarious reception. He opened with Fast Love which led into a funky version of I'm Your Man. George then said "you don't think I'd do that to you, do ya?" and the intro to the old and great version of I'm Your Man' was instantly recognisable. Whoop whoop! Wham was my era; I loved them in the 80s and I still love their tunes to this day. It's a great sing-a-long party song. However, George only went on to perform one more Wham song (Everything she wants), to my slight disappointment. I'm sure the fans would have gone wild for a bit of Club Tropicana, Freedom and Wake me up before you go-go. A lot of the songs he chose were mellow and moody, and although fantastic, I would always prefer to be up clapping and boogieing to an upbeat tune. I couldn't possibly name all the tracks George performed; there were a couple I didn't recognise but of those I can recall, these included:

Fast Love
I'm Your Man
Jesus to a Child
Amazing
Too Funky
Father Figure
One More Try
Faith
You Have Been Loved
Roxanne
My Mother had a brother
Outside
Careless Whisper
Freedom 90

I don't know what track he was singing at the time, but in the first half of the show, a very large inflatable George Bush appeared with a British bulldog sucking his dick (sorry to be so direct!). George isn't known for exactly being shy about views and issues, political or otherwise and this said it all. (See pic below)

He announced during the show that he was doing a Christmas single which would be available to download free on Christmas Day. He performed the accompanying song, Nina Simone's Feeling Good.

After he came on for his first encore, he did Careless Whisper as a duet with the fans. I don't mind saying so myself, but we sounded pretty darn good! That song has been in my all time top 3 since forever. I was hoping and praying he would perform any of my other favourites of his which are A Different Corner, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Praying For Time and Queen's Somebody to Love, but it wasn't to be :( I shall have to have words with Mr Michael.

After the second encore he performed an upbeat song which I didn't know and then finished the evening with Freedom '90 (as requested by the majority of fans), but I guess he was expecting that response. Not the one I would have requested (see previous grievances above!) but nevertheless, it was still very enjoyable.

George did say that the reaction of the fans and the atmosphere in there that final final night had absolutely made it for him, and thanked everyone for their support over the past 25 years. What an incredible career. To have longevity in music these days is an amazing achievement. At the end he said this had been the longest gig of all of them which was 'great for us [fans] but fucking knackering for him'! lol

We got out of the venue at 11:10, and were shepherded like sheep through the gates of the tube station opposite. It was a bit unnerving being pushed along by the crowd; if someone had fallen over, they would've been trampled on. It's a hell of a trek to and from Earls Court, and Alice and I eventually got back to Shoebury at 1:30 in the morning. Lucky Alice had the next two weeks off work so no worries, but I had to be up. I got to bed just before 2am, tossed and turned for ages, woke at 4:30 to go to the loo, then managed a solid 3 hours sleep. I was so knackered this morning; I just don't function without sleep. I've gotta say it was so worth it though. It's a one off. I wouldn't have had to go through the sleep deprevation if it hadn't been for the false advertising on ebay when I bought the tickets. It said in big bold black letters SUNDAY 24TH AUGUST but when I received the tickets, it had Monday 25th printed on them! I contacted the seller telling him how aggravating that was, how arrangements had to unmade and rearranged for that weekend and that I purposely chose Sunday as I wouldn't have to get up for work the following day. He profusely apologised and after my suggestion of suitable compensation he offered £30, which I accepted.

Couldn't resist this pic. Look at the hair George! Aah, the good ol' days of Wham. I only wish I'd seen them in concert

My aunt & uncle's Ruby wedding party

Sunday 24th August 2008. It was 40 years ago today that my Auntie Annette (my Dad's sister) and Uncle Brian got married at St Andrews church in Rochford. Ironically, this was the exact date and venue that my Mum and Dad had booked for their wedding; however, a bit of a mishap occurred in the form in me popping into my mummy's tummy at the wrong time! Hence, my parents' wedding was brought forward to March 1968 and my aunt and uncle took their slot!

They've both aged so well; they hardly look any older. My uncle has just turned 65 - guys of his age usually have grey hair and are bent over with walking sticks and hearing aids! Thinking about it, most of our family look much younger than they actually are.

It was a garden party and obviously a bit of a gamble knowing how past bank holiday weekend weather has turned out. Most of the day was gloomy and grey with rain looking likely. However, come 4pm, the clouds parted and the sun tried its utmost. There was plenty of coverage in case of rain but it wasn't warm enough for short sleeves (not for me anyway). Later, the patio heater was turned on and the chiminea was lit, which a bunch of us ended up huddled around. At one point, my uncle Mike (my Dad's brother) was going round the tables finding anything that would burn - he even put blue cheese in it - gawd, it smelt so bad burning! Him and my dad are so alike with their mannerisms but Mike has a less obvious and quieter sense of humour, if you get my drift.

At dusk, after the food had been served, a makeshift painted dance floor was planted on the lawn for the evening's musical entertainment. I didn't partake but instead intermittently did a few moves around the table, which was closer to the heat! My dad was hilarious - he is the ultimate 'dad at a wedding' dancer and his specialty is 'Staying Alive'. You have to see it to appreciate how funny it is. I look forward to the repeat performance at my forthcoming party!

Spurs: deja vu?

After a 100% winning spree pre-season, once again Spurs crack up when it comes down to real business. It's like deja vu; last season all over again when we won just one game in the first six played. So far, we've lost against Middlesbrough (away 2-1) and Sunderland (at home 1-2). Thank God we haven't got Newcastle next coz we clearly don't like playing the Geordies! I was at the Lane on Saturday to watch the lads fail miserably against a very average side. Three of the Spurs side signed for Sunderland in the transfer window: Chimbonda, Tainio and Malbranque. Of those, only Steed played, and he was applauded by the Spurs fans I'm pleased to say. I was sorry to see him leave the club after having such a great season for us.

What I want to know is, how is it that whatever players we have and whoever the manager is, we always play the same way? The style never changes. I feel aggrieved that the ticket prices have increased YET AGAIN when other clubs' stay static, and I'm forced to watch a load of shite and listen to them being booed off the pitch.

I am also furious with a certain Mr Berbatov for his behaviour. He's like a baby spitting his dummy out of the pram. I just wish he'd leave now so we can all move on. He's done himself no favours at all because if he wants to leave the club so badly, no-one is gonna be interested in a sulky puss who doesn't know how lucky he is. I read in the Mail today how the club are fed up with him but are still looking for a £30m transfer fee. If it doesn't come and Mitta doesn't sort himself out, he will be forced to 'rot' in the reserves. I think he is more likely to chuck football in than do that but he needs to learn his lesson. I feel bad saying all this because he has been my all time favourite Spurs player who I have hero worshipped for the past two years. However, I'm not going to be a hypocrite because if it was any other player, I would be telling it how it is.

After Keano leaving, it's all been a bit of a downer and we have Chelsea away next game. Yippee! (not).

Impressive pre-season

It was nice to be back at the Lane today after the summer break, although I had pretty much cut myself off from football for the past couple of months. After meeting up with Debs & Mick at the Coach n' 'Horses, it was the final friendly before the new season, with the opponents being AS Roma. On paper this would be a test but it was far from it. Spurs were 2-0 up within four minutes and it was a stroll. Throughout the whole match Roma did nothing so resorted to playing dirty. After Mexes used the V sign on the ref, he then went on to gesture to the crowd (more fool him) because he then made a fatal error and Spurs scored. He was of course branded a wanker for the rest of the game. Next, a punch landed on Zokora who stupidly retaliated and it was our man who was yellow-carded with the opponent getting away with it scot free! Following this, Lennon got hacked down and this time a red was shown. Roma were truly shocking, whereas Spurs had some great spells with the new signings Bentley, Dos Santos, Gomes and Modric looking impressive. Darren Bent scored another two, Bentley also two and Lennon the other.

Line up: Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Woodgate, Dawson, Zokora, Jenas, Dos Santos, Modric, Bentley, Berbatov, Bent

Subs used: Jansson, Bale, Gunter, King, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Gilberto, Lennon

The fans were successful getting waves from Gus, Gomes & eventually Juande Ramos, after someone on the bench must have translated for him! The usual chants were heard but I must say, I was very disappointed to hear a lot of jeers (to put it mildly) for Keano who left for Liverpool a couple of weeks previous. How a player can be a fans' favourite one minute and then hated the next is beyond me. Yes, I was really upset that he transferred but it's his career we're talking about - I say good luck to him and he will certainly get a good reception from me when he returns to the Lane with Liverpool.

Poor old John turned up in his Keane 10 shirt and had a few laughs directed his way. He's now talking about getting a black away shirt, the same as mine. All the Spurs shops had the longest queues I'd ever seen outside so it will have to wait until another day.

So the completed list of pre-season friendlies is as follows:

Norwich 1-5 Spurs
Leyton Orient 1-5 Spurs
Celtic 0-2 Spurs
Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Spurs
Spurs 5-0 AS Roma

The first game of the new season started with a trip to Boro. Let's hope the lads can keep up the good performances and not repeat what happened last time!

Tears for Keano

Yesterday, it was confirmed that Spurs legend Robbie Keane had completed a transfer to Liverpool for £20.3m. It had been rumoured for a while that Liverpool had made advances and that if a bid was made, Keane would accept as they were the team he supported as a child. It was a shock that he would even contemplate leaving as he's been a loyal player for the past six years and it seemed that he would be there for the rest of his career, as he'd hinted previously. He had, as us fans says, Lillywhite blood running through his veins and no-one could see him playing for any other team. Always the fans' favourite, the chant 'there's only one Keano' would be sang at every single game.

When I heard on the radio yesterday morning that he was going for his medical at Anfield, that's pretty much a done deal so I was absolutely shell shocked. I felt tears welling up and the terrible sinking feeling you get when you get bad news. I know on the scheme of things, in reality, it's only football (a game!) but Spurs is a huge part of my life and this was the worst news possible, jointly with the expectation before the transfer window ends, that Berbatov will also leave. One of them going is enough to bear but both strikers is agony, as they are my all-time favourite players.

When the news was confirmed of Keane's departure and I read his statement on the internet last night, the floodgates opened. I've never cried for a player before (although I did shed tears when manager Martin Jol was sacked unceremoniously last year). Here' what he said:

"I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date."

"I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn't let pass me by.

"I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too.

"I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy."

I've just watched his press conference and oh God, the blubbling has started again. What a baby I am. What can I say? I love Robbie; I will never forget the good times he brought to the Lane, his brilliant goal tally, his loyalty (because 6 years in this day and age is a long time), and his unique charisma. I will look back with pride that he played for my beloved team.

I wish him good luck and happiness at Liverpool and thank heaven that he didn't sign for one of the scum teams. He will most certainly get applauded by the fans when he comes back to the Lane in his red shirt.

"There's only one Keano"!

Busy family weekend & stuff

John's cousin Marie, her hubby Tony, daughter Shalina, son Darren, his partner Nyrie & their one year old baby Jasmine, arrived from Australia last week, one day later than planned. What a fiasco and complete nightmare! The story is that we had their flight info and John's brother Chris viewed the website to check the flights were still on schedule. It stated that the connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur was cancelled so John decided to ring Marie to find out the new flight details. It was 05:30 in the morning their time and John woke them up but good job really. To cut a long story short, it turned out that they should have been on the flight that left 00:15, five hours earlier! Well, poor Marie was in bits, so upset at the thought that they may not be able to even make it over here, having to book another flight for 5 adults and a baby. Fortunately, they managed to get on the exact same flight the following day and the aeroplane turned out to be virtually empty! That was one hurdle sorted but as they also had a flight to Rome arranged for the Wednesday, they missed that too and this also had to be changed. All that extra cost has now left them with little spending money and John reckons this is worrying Marie a lot. The purpose of the whole trip is to get Shalina to a twirling competition in Dublin at the end of this week. She is one of the top performers in the world and at 22 years old, is probably a veteran in her field. What she does with a baton is truly amazing!

Saturday was a hectic day. In the afternoon John and I went to a kids' party. Dylan, my friend Ellie's oldest son was 5 and the garden was all geared up for a fun day with two paddling pools, a trampoline and a sand pit. The weather couldn't have been any better; in fact it was too hot and I found what shade I could. Unfortunately we could only stay a couple of hours as we had to get back to ours to host a family barbecue. Seventeen of us in all: Chris, Sandy & the kids, Marie, Tony, Shalina, Darren, Nyrie & Jasmine, Jacqui and Kevin, Paul, my parents and us. As usual, John didn't let the coals cool down before he put the food on the grill and promptly we had black burgers and bangers! He will never learn and he certainly can't take criticism. Clearly a man's barbie is his castle!!! Lots of hints were flying in and eventually my dad took over and the food became edible! I'm so glad I don't eat meat so everything on my plate is the right colour! Anyway, we sat outside till dusk as it was so warm, then adjourned into the living room for some games. Some played Dingbats, others were on the wii and we were also introduced to an Aussie game which Marie brought along, which apparently, is no longer available and no-one can get it anywhere - not even on the internet! I can't remember what it's called but it was very good. It involved several large pictures which were made up on hundreds of objects, scenes and events. On each picture you had to list as many things as you could see starting with a certain letter of the alphabet, but you only had a minute to do it. Once the minute was up, you pass the picture to your left and so on and once everyone's seen all the pictures, you do the scoring. For every unique word you've written, you gain a point. Very simple but very good.

On Sunday, I had a lie-in after the late night, caught up with some TV I'd recorded Friday and Saturday including the Celebrity MasterChef final. I was pleased that Liz McClarnon won it as before she entered the competition she'd never ever used an oven! There's hope for me yet! I spent the rest of the day in the garden, reading, chilling out and falling asleep! Another amazingly hot and sunny day. We were invited to Chris and Sandy's for the evening and dinner which we took in the garden as by that time, it was a tad cooler, and certainly less stuffy that sitting indoors. The bugs were biting at dusk and John and Paul were the victims; they didn't touch me! I don't know what they were, nothing like gnats, but come Monday, Paul's foot had swollen right up and puss was oozing out of one of the bites. Yuck. I made sure he went to the chemist this morning to get it sorted- Lisa's orders! Anyway, back to Sunday night, and we had a return match of the Aussie game I can't remember the name of which took bloody ages when it came to the scoring as there were ten of us playing. John was drinking stronger lager than he's used to and got hammered. When this happens, he gets louder and louder which I have to admit embarrasses me, even if we're around family. The funny part was that he couldn't read hardly any of the words he'd written down and couldn't focus to read them anyway! It wasn't until midnight that we finally finished! We got home half an hour later; poor John had to get up for work just after 5am although actually, I have no sympathy for him because he got hammered and then kept me awake with his snoring for ages. He had a hangover which was self inflicted so hahaha!

My week off

Well I suppose I can't complain too much about the weather this past week. The first half was cracking, and as soon as I got up last Saturday morning I was raring to have a clearout of some sort! I decided on one of the sheds and after a couple of hours it was transformed to something of beauty and ordiliness (is that a word?). During the rest of that day, Monday and some of Tuesday, I spent on more garden projects, thus also making the most of the sunshine: clearing leaves, weeding, trimming ivy, going to the garden centre and planting a few patio pots, sweeping and getting rid of rubbish. It looks so much nicer now and I felt well and truly accomplished.

On Tuesday evening John and I went to see Mamma Mia the movie at the Odeon. John's seen the stage musical about half a dozen times, myself twice, and so we were eager to see how they'd managed to convert it into a film. Unbeknown to me, John had downloaded it from the internet and watched it earlier on in the day - WHY WHY WHY would you do that if you're seeing at the flicks?! Anyway, the film far exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun I immediately wanted to see it again. We were both perplexed when we heard that Meryl Streep had been cast in the role of Sophie's mum but she was great! Julie Walters was a blast as per usual - she could quite have easily stolen the show but the filmmakers were clever. Pierce Brosnan's singing would probably appeal to an audience somewhere...? bless - shall we say a good attempt? The end credits were a hoot and Colin Firth's costume had me in fits. If you don't come out of the theatre singing and smiling, there's something wrong with you! 10/10 and easily the best film I've seen in an age.

Wednesday morning, John and I went to see my Nan who had a fall a few days beforehand. She's been having dizzy spells (she is a long suffering vertigo sufferer) and she fell against a stool which had an exposes screw in one of the legs; unfortunately she caught her leg on it and now it's all bandaged up. She has paper thin skin as it is so any damage to it is really bad. Nan didn't look well at all; in fact she's looking very old and frail now. However, her mind is as active as ever and she'll always have enough strength to give her opinion (and the only opinion) on current affairs.

The rest of the day was spent looking around DIY stores for a replacement for the rotten wooden shelf around our raised rockery - I wanted slabs but couldn't find anything suitable. Typical. They probably don't make what we're looking for. We bought a few more plants and then did the food shopping. Boring but essential.

We went into London on Thursday afternoon. The weather wasn't great so visited the Science Museum first of all before heading to theatreland, having something to eat and then taking our seats for the evening performance of Les Miserables. I haven't seen this show since 2000 when we were in New York, whereas John is probably in double figures. The seats were great - 4th row right in the middle. Great! It's such a brilliant show and the music is fantastic. I enjoyed it so much more than previously and found myself getting really tearful at the particularly sad parts.

With the weather a bit grotty on Friday, I started make a list of people to invite to my forthcoming 40th birthday party on 27th September. Also, I started designing invitations on the laptop, including making suggestions for fancy dress which has a theme of TV and film characters. I spent hours scouring the net for costume ideas for me; there are so many sites dedicated to fancy dress it's unreal! So much choice - too much in fact. I'm not really any closer to making a decision - I think it will be best to go to a few shops and actually try stuff on first. If I find the perfect costume using this method, then I will hire one, otherwise, I will buy one online.
In the evening, Tina and the kids came round for a couple of hours, at the same time, collecting some empty cardboard boxes for her move to Pitsea in August. Dave will be staying at the house and renting out a room to a mate to help with the mortgage. Shame the kids will be further away, not just down the road like they are now but Tina doesn't have much of a choice. You should see Ronnie playing on the wii - he comes straight in and asks to play 'boxing'. He doesn't know exactly what he's doing but does the motions and thinks he's knocking down daddy even when it's him that has been knocked down by Kasey! Kasey always wants to play hide and seek with my fake fruit and she always forgets where she's put it. I found a peach amongst my soft toys when I was dusting yesterday! (yes, me dusting!) lol

I spent most of Saturday in the garden reading and falling asleep and reading and falling asleep. Well you get the picture. A very lazy day.















Today, John and I and my Mum and Dad went for a day out visiting Scotney Castle near Tunbridge Wells. Not so much a castle but an old house with a rotunda and a fairly large pond all the way around it (not really a moat). This was really pretty and looking even nicer when the sun came out. There was also an old house in the grounds which you can also have a nose around - it wasn't anything special. As it was only 3pm when we'd exhausted this site, we travelled 20 miles down the road to Battle in Sussex (1066 and all that), and had a cream tea. It was the biggest scone I'd ever seen and only managed half of it. Stuffed for the rest of the day, I only just managed to eat a jacket potato at my parents' house on our return. The rest of them had a roast dinner!

So that's it; a fairly uneventful week. Back to work tomorrow.

Double booking

Thank God, it's all done at last - our flight to Australia is finally booked for the evening of 3rd October (my birthday), together with the internal flights. So the itinerary will be as follows:

Arrive Melbourne early 5th Oct
Fly to Sydney 12th Oct
Fly to Townsville QLD 14th Oct
Fly to Darwin 21st Oct
Depart for home 25th Oct

It's only cost £5680 for four people. ONLY! John and I are taking my parents this time (we were previously there in 1994) but of course, it will be the holiday of a lifetime for them and for my Mum, extra special because she will get to see her beloved brother. It will be lovely to see family and John also has 'rellies' in Melbourne and Townsville. We have a rough idea of what we'll be doing but organising the car hire and accommodation still has to be done. Matt (my cousin) and his girlfriend Suzie intend to travel around with us but they now have the difficult task of trying to get the same internal flights as we've booked. Fingers crossed, otherwise it could get messy.

The other booking I've managed to secure at last is the venue for my 40th birthday party. It was looking desperate as everywhere I enquired was not free on either 20th or 27th September.
If I couldn't get anywhere a week or two before my birthday (as I'll be on the plane on the 3rd October) I was starting to think about having it in November which would have been a bit silly. However, the good news is that Westcliff Rugby Club was free on 27th September so I can relax a bit for now. The hard bit will be getting the room all decked out before the party as we can only get in there at 6pm. We still have all our old disco equipment so we'll use that; we just need someone to do it for us so that John is able to mingle, and we hope that our old mate Keith will do the honours (must contact him soon!) I plan to do the buffet myself - or at least rope a few people in to help. It'll be a nightmare storing everything in fridges beforehand and then getting it there but we'll think of something. I will be a wreck leading up to it but hopefully it will be a success - I'm especially looking forward to the fancy dress part of it!

Gosh - almost 40. I can't believe it, surely that's not right? I still think like a teenager and act like a 6 year old! lol