Caroline and I are now married. Hurray! We had a fantastic day at Burghley House with family and friends. Everything came together really nicely, with the ceremony, drinks reception, wedding breakfast and evening do all great. The band, Shine, were outstanding too. Very good to see everyone on the day. Thanks everyone! The official photos are now online.

We have picked up a couple of kittens to go in the new house. Very exciting. They came from a farm out in the fens towards Skegness. We've called then Rhubarb (the boy) and Custard (the girl) - they are half-brother and half-sister. At the minute they are quite small, with Custard weighing 750 g and Rhubard only 450 g! They like to hide in the wine rack if they are uncertain about things, but spend a lot of time purring if we are around. Photos available.

17th September 2008

Just returned from a trip to Maastricht (via Brussels) with Tim, Gareth and Charlie - we met PGP over there. Maastricht is a very pleasant town to potter about in. Highlights included the Police Fair where we saw a policeman dressed as a chav get repeatedly savaged by a police dog. Photos of the trip are available.

31st July 2008

The Sunderland Air Show is the biggest free air show in Europe and takes place over the sea on the coast at Whitburn/Seaburn/Roker. This year things did not go well. Clear bright blue skies until about 100 yards from the coast, then thick thick fog which prevented most flights and certainly prevented any planes being sighted. Photos available here.

1st July 2008

Just returned from a week in a caravan in Dorset, at West Bay near Briport on the Jurassic Coast. Nicola and Ben were there for the first few days and much fun was had. There were good clifftop walks and plenty of country pubs involved, as well as trips out the the metropolis of Lyme Regis (where crazy golf was the order of the day) and also to Weymouth. There are photos.

3rd February 2008

After much though I have decided to unleash my radical driving innovations on the unsuspecting world. And no, I'm not bitter.

17th August 2007

Plenty of fun today... I walked from Stamford to Empingham via Easton-on-Hill and Geeston/Ketton. Weather was good, nice and sunny in general. The one major problem was a run-in with a herd of bullocks while walking along the MacMillan way between Ketton and Empingham. The track ran along the edge of the field, and just as I thought I had made it past the herd safely one young thug decided to charge me and the rest joined in. I quickly decided to put an electric fence between me and him and the rest of the herd, but was then pretty much trapped hard against a very thick and high hedge, which there was no going over or through. This led to a 30 minute stand-off, with this particular young bullock pawing at the ground and snorting at me. Thankfully his dislike of me was only surpassed by his dislike of the electric fence. I managed to get away after half an hour in a two-step manoeuvre which I finished by vaulting a gate. I took a few photos of the stand-off after things had calmed a bit.

11th August 2007

We travelled up to Edinburgh for Jenny's 30th birthday party, which was very good, and stopped in the North-East on the way up. While in the North-East I took the girl Moore for a stroll out to Penshaw Monument and along the banks of the Wear where we found a load of Himalayan balsam plants. These are great fun as the seed pods explode quite violently when you touch them. We walked out as far as Fatfield and had lunch at the River Bar, then walked back to the car through the woods and up the hill. We didn't take many photos (none in Edinburgh, carelessly), but the ones we did get from the walk round Washington are here.

16 July 2007

Just got back from a trip out to Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire. It's an old partially ruined place run by English Heritage and is about 10 miles from Stamford. We went through Deene and saw at least one red kite circling over the road. Photos are available from the gallery.

9 July 2007

Just returned from a weekend trip to Antwerp with Tim, Gareth and Peter-Gunter-Peter. Tim and I stayed over in London the Thursday night at the Shaftesbury Hyde Park Hotel at Paddington, which was extremely expensive, especially given the room had no curtains! There was a 4:30 am taxi on the Friday followed by a Eurostar journey. Culture included a trip to the cathedral, and we also visited the excellent Kulminator, where I had a 1978 Elgoods Fenman and a 1981 Floreffe Triple, amongst others. Both of these beers were older than Gareth; sadly I couldn't find a beer older than me... We travelled back via Brussels on Sunday, and a very pleasant time was had by all. Photos are available here.