Merry Christmas to you all

I should really start by wishing Peter a Happy Belated Birthday, so from Nic Jen Daniel and Claire, a jolly happy birthday to you.

We have finished the turkey, the mince pies and the presents only leaving the cold ham, fine wines, cigars. We arrived back from Malaysia on Friday and managed to miss all the traffic, spent Saturday doing some last minute shopping and seem to have been eating eversince. The kids all had a great time in the Highlands where the daytime temperature is only about 19-21 degrees, a good 10 degrees cooler than here, I managed to very poor rounds of golf.

We had dinner in Dublin Road tonight where there was quite a crowd. We have skipped the Orchard Road Parade and come striaght home.

Alas we don't dseem to have Cathy's telephone number so on the off chance you may be reading this or may have the insight to ring, I will stay up for a few hours.

Happy Anniversary to Mum and Dad, fantastic and keep it up. And to kate , a happy birthday too for the 27th.

P.S our number is (065) 67373753

Hope to hear from someone soon.

Love Nic, Jen and Claire and Daniel.

Merry Christmas Ever-ree one!

Greetings from a bright and warm afternoon on the beach at Rock.

Gems and Clivo and Will arrived last night in the black bee em and today we all went for a blow about setting off towards Damar Bay.
We're having Christmas dinner tomorrow cooking a full meal for the first time on the Aga.
The plan is for us all to arrive in Wales for Kates birthday so we'll see everyone in Llandewi Breffi then.
Love to all the Bloggers and Happy Holidays to all our readers!

Hello in Welsh

Well, we have arrived in LLanddewi after an easy trip down on Saturday. To make things easy we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Eastleigh and set off just after 0900. we had trouble with the car the day after Julian and Ruth left on Monday and it was running very lumpy. I took it to Harwoods and they finally fixed it at 10.30am on Friady which was the time we had booked to get to Portsmouth to do some shopping. The trouble was not so bad as I had feared - a leaking rocker-box cover which was spilling oil into the spark plugs, thus causing poor firing. a new gasket was installed but the supplier had only sent one (instead of four) seals for the spark plugs. Panic over and we caught the 2.30pm ferry and went straight to the hotel, instead of shopping in the increasing gloom at 3.30pm. The hotel was full of office workers having theirChristmas dinner and it was very noisy. After posting some cards and present for Pete's birhday, we hi-tailed it for Cardiff.
Next day we went towards Carmarthen as we had an invite to see an old friend of mine, John Partridge, who moved down there in 1997. He is very deaf and his wife, Joan is suffering from osophagus? cancer, meaning that she could only receive food via a drip. Very sad, but they were pleased to see us. Since then we have done some shopping, bought a Roberts DAB radio(for me) and a Practica digital camera (for Mum)and spent up. The children have broken up and they are busy putting up the decorations. We are all looking forward to sharing a turkey and a bottle or two on Sunday. We hope to see something of you, Steve as Kate is expecting visitors for her birthday on 27th. We hope the weather stays fine for your travels. Love to all Dad and Mum Love from CathyJohn, Edmund, Thomas and Kate

Which way are we going then?

THE QUICK WAY is a 1500 mile return trip. I've got some new wheels so we could go via the Millau Bridge
Anyone see the episode in which theTopgear guys drove over it? Canary Wharf fits under it and it's on OUR way!











Topgear wanted to celebrate the single greatest supercar of today, but our presenters couldn't agree what that was. Eventually, we decided to let them bring one each.

May brings the Ferrari 430, Hammond picks the Pagani Zonda, and Jeremy just has to plump for the Ford GT. Well, he has bought one. Twice.

Our celebration takes us through France until we reach another example of mankind creating splendour just for the sake of it - the epic Millau Bridge. Prepare for one of the most stunning items Top Gear has ever made. And the shock of James May driving like his brogues are on fire.

Texed Mexed and homeward bound

Jen is winging her way back at this very moment from USA, having survived over a week without her children. I had the honour of looking after them all on my own for the whole of Sunday, we spent the afternoon on the beach, weather was just right, not hot, not cold, not sunny, not cloudy, not bright, not dull. Just perfect.

Daniel says thank you Uncle Steve and Grandad for sending birthday cards. Sorry to say that I have still not gotten around to producing a christmas card list, that will be my New Years resolution.

We are going off to Malaysia on Friday and we should be home on Christmas Eve, probably get delayed by Santa Claus at the Immigration Check Point as we should be arriving back in Singapore about the time he visits.

Hindsight . . . Tiger would...ssss

SHaZZam!

There's a one time free trial pdf link but you just have to loook for it!

A quick visit to the asylum -Sorry meant to read quick visit by the asylum!! Beam me up scottie... Ruth appears miraculously in the new breakfast room

Keep watching this space...

Sorry to say that DiskWarrior was attacking the problem when it decided to hang. Nothing would progress and the keys all went dead for many minutes. I left it going but 9 hours later called it a day. A repeat performance was seen second time around. A quick survey of the manual suggests that I no longer have, or have never had, the correct drivers in the machine. I have tried reloading Tiger from the discs Steve sent but when asked to select a drive to put it on there are no drives available. My hard drive doesn´t appear in the window.

Strangely enough the internal diagnostics say the drive is functioning normally.

It seems I am left with only two alternatives. Find another Mac and try to operate my drive from that using the firewire, or else just erase the disc and loose everything, then rebuild from scratch. I am loathed to do the later until I have exhausted the former as I have very useful files I´d like to keep and photos too on the hard drive...but then there are not many people with Macs around here...at least, none that I know. I will wait until the holidays and then take the machine to a Mac shop that has recently started up in Alicante.

So, until then I don´t expect to send many posts and sorry if I missed your birthdays Steve, Nic, Daniel, Claire et al.

Love to all and Merry Christmas...

Pete

ezappy's Christmas wish list

A Solid Gold Football
A Trip to Venus
Ten Tickets to the World Series
Frank Sinatra's old Address Book


DRUMKIT

and

SPEEDBOAT




but get in quick! . . . . . .
only 2 and a half hours to go!

Snow Globe time....

CLICK

!Happy Birthday Dan the Man!

and here's the Incredibles gang & especially Dash to say 'Happy Birthday Citizen!" Have a great day.
love Gem, Will, Uncle Steve & Clive xxxx




"A Bach Christmas"

Saw this trailered on the beeb and thought it may be of interest to some especially Ruth I think!
Radio 3 will be celebrating Christmas by broadcasting continously over 10 days the complete works of JS Bach. The composer's entire surviving body of work will be performed by some of the world's greatest musicians including specially recorded performances by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Angela Hewitt, Philippe Herreweghe & Tom Koopman.

Full details at http://bbc.co.uk/radio3/bach/

ps Ruth -have recorded you a cd (Seth Lakeman) & will post it shortly. Sorry forgot to leave you a copy at the time.

love G xxx

Ho, Ho, Oh what a naughty boy

What a naughty boy you are Steve, but not as naughty as Ronnie.
Congratulations on your new toy, Clive. We will expect high things from you.

It is Desperate Dan's birthday today (8th December in Singapore) It is now 11.am GMT 12 noon cet and 1900 on 7th December Sg time, so get sending.
Sorry, I got that wrong - at the moment Dan is fast aleep as it is 1300 gmt plus 7 hours = 2000 (8pm). His birthday is tomorrow!!!

Can we be in your Mac gang?

Well exciting news from OX4 is that Clive's iBook G4 has arrived today! Ordered Saturday night, delivered by 10am today & now blogging. And we got it up & running with 10 mins!! It's beautiful....Ta v.much to Steve & Julian's valuable advice for the inside track about which one to get. Um now can't think of anything to put...

Other news...is that after thinking the goldfish were soon off to the big goldfish bowl in the sky what with Kenny changing colour and all, the www has reassured us that it is just old age as he has turned from his usual coppery orange to a distinguished silvery grey. Clive reckons that they are pushing 12 years old since bought at Tesco in Abingdon...is that a good age for goldfish?

The Christmas tree has now gone up at work bit- bit too early? I like the ole week before Christmas tradition myself, but then its just over a week till the office Christmas lunch in Sandford. Ah the office Christmas lunch I bet you homeworkers really miss those - not.

love Gem & Clive

and it's Good Night from HIM!

Well it is Panto Season, and Ronnie Barker was part of Christmas for ages, so when I got this email... see if anyone can read it through without cracking up! This was originally shown on BBC TV, back in the seventies. Ronnie Barker could say all this without a snigger (though god knows how many takes) The irony is that the BBC received not one complaint. Must have been the speed of delivery was too much for the whining herds. Try getting through it without converting the spoonerisms as you read; -- -- --

The sugly isters were right bugly astards. One was called Mary Hinge,and the other was called Betty Swallocks; they were really forrible huckers; they had fetty sweet and fetty swannies.

The sugly isters had tickets to go to the ball, but the cotton runtswould not let Rindercella go. Suddenly there was a bucking fang, and her gairy fodmother appeared. Her name was Shairy Hithole and she was a light rucking fesbian.She turned a pumpkin and six mite wice into a hucking cuge farriage with six dandy ronkeys who had buge hollocks and dig bicks The gairy fodmother told Rindercella to be back by dimnlight otherwise, there would be a cucking falamity.

At the ball, Rindercella was dancing with the prandsome hince when suddenly the clock struck twelve."Mist all chucking frighty!!!" said Rindercella, and she ran outtripping barse over ollocks, so dropping her slass glipper.

The very next day the prandsome hince knocked on Rindercella's door and the sugly isters let him in. Suddenly, Betty Swallocks lifted her leg and let off a fig bart. "Who's ust jarted??" asked the prandsome hince. "Blame that fugly ucker over there!!" said Mary Hinge. When the stinking brown cloud had lifted, he tried the slass glipper on both the sugly isters without success and their feet stucking funk.Betty Swallocks was ducking fisgusted and gave the prandsome hince a knack in the kickers. This was not difficult as he had bucking fuge halls and a hig bard on. He tried the slass glipper on Rindercella and it fitted pucking ferfectly. Rindercella and the prandsome hince were married. The pransome hince lived his life in lucking fuxury, and Rindercella lived hers with a follen swanny.

tiny little Wood-henge

tiny little woodenhenge
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

we had tears running down our faces trying to perform this flukey trick. What a laugh!

Marseille Bouillabais for Hughie

We've tried it so now we can make it!

Gite Deposit

Cheque for €1000 sent today so we're going!

I want to do it!

Good Game

Dad......!
yeah..
you know canvases....?
eh?
for paintings?
yeah..
Well you know the corners?
yeah..
those little wedges?
...yeah..
well...
...yeah...
Look!

Diskwarrior arrives!

Cheers Julian, the disk warrior arrived today by a convoluted route. I shall set it in motion and see what comes of it. What are you doing new year? Shall I bring the disc to you personally? The kids want some snow to go skiing. We have the coolth but not the snow. Also finding wood doesn´t last very long!

Also got some cds from you Dad so thanks for that although I have yet to play them. Once the Mac is back up and running I will enjoy some music. Playing through the TV speaker is still my only option at present and that doesn´t do the Beatles justice.

Saying that, I watched the George Harrison memorial concert at the Albert Hall the other night on Spanish TV. No doubt you all saw it ages ago but these things take time to come round. What a great show. If anyone wants to get a DVD for Christmas for their beloved brother, that´s the one! I was quite moved by it all. Dhani Harrison is the spitting image of his Dad. Funny old world.

I´ll blog again soon, assuming the warrior is on my side!

DiskWarrior part umpteen

Your disc has been dispatched Pete, good luck. J

Peter

Thye DiskWarrior debacle continues... Amazon have just said that there is a delay of 1-2 weeks.. ouch ... hold on. j

Happy Birthday little sister!

Happy birthday Claire,I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow.
I surpose you may be missing your front teeth as all six year olds are.
I do hope that you will be able to come and see us next spring if you are adventurus and come as far as Wales you will be able to sleep in Kates bedroom (if you would like that)and Edmund has a huge box of pockamon cards that he doesn't need anymore,and you may like although I think that you may well be far beond any level that we understand!love from us all xxxxxx

Thursday night snow fell,so friday morning we woke up to a white world,and joy for the children as four hundred and fifty school in the area were closed(inclueding theirs)because of bad weather,so the day was devoted to sledging and snow balls,followed by numb feet and dripping clothers,hot chocolate and soup!And it looks like they are going again today.

William,Jemma and Clive,I don't know if I have said this before(so much of my relationship with my family goes on in my head and doesn't get voiced sorry),but we would love to see you for Christmas if you felt brave enough,but no pressure I know it a long way!
Lots of love Cathy

It's Booked! Dad

The week of 22nd July (Saturday to Saturday) is booked at the Gite and we're having all four.
The Eurocamp is posh caravans normally on the beach but I've not checked. Skype say's you're busy.

Eurocamp 2006

Is this us and do we have to book separately - or have you confirmed our booking in Meze. Daddy

Nic's email

I missed out the most important two letters - sg Many thanks

Happy Thanksgiving

A month to go before Crimble.. a salient word from our sponsor
CLICK
Hmmm Paxo!

email addresses

Dear Dad

You'll find everone's addresses on the blogger dashboard.
When you sign in at http://www.blogger.com/home
go to settings
then members
and you'll see a list of everone's email...

Also if you click on any address on that page, your email application
should open and be ready to send a mail.

Or, to save typing mistakes, try cutting and pasting the address by
1) putting the cursor on the end of the last letter in the address
and hold down the mouse and move back the cursor, lighting up your text in blue.
(If you mess up click on a blank bit and start again).
2) When the address is all blue, release the mouse and then hold
down the apple key and press c for copy.
3)Release both keys.
(Up on the top bar , 'Edit' flashes as you're doing it)
The text is now saved in RAM memory.
It is saved there until you 'copy' something else.

Place the copied text (which has been temporarily saved) in your document by holding down the apple key and pressing the v key.
This works for large text files too.

Anyway, it's far too cold for plastering so am testing my brain with HTML computer language and picking Julian's brain for web-site tips.

Snowed here yesterday briefly and we're getting through the logs!

ps from google
Bounced Email and Other Errors

Sometimes an email message may not actually reach its destination because of an incorrect address or some other error. Just as postal mail may come back to you stamped "Returned to Sender," you may get a bounced message back wrapped in an error message that gives you some clues as to what went wrong. Most often the problem is something you've mistyped in the address. One common error message is User unknown: the message is received by the computer specified in the address, but the local part, or username, doesn't match any username or mailbox on the computer. Most often, the cause is a typo or a misspelling, but if you think you typed it correctly, then you should contact the person you're trying to reach by other means to find out
the correct username.
Another common error is Host unknown; in this case, the hostname is wrong. Again, check for typos first. Sometimes parts of the name are missing—for example, perhaps you forgot to include part of the domain name. Other bounced messages—such as Network unreachable, (the computer) Can't send for several days, Connection timed out or Connection refused, and Bad file number—usually have something to do with problems on the network or at the destination computer. These
problems are usually beyond your control, so you should contact your system consultants for assistance. Most of the time, if you type something wrong or have an incorrect address, you will get a bounced message. Sometimes, however, your email will simply disappear into the elusive black hole, the place where lost messages go and where they'll never be heard from again—or at least that's what it feels like. There are several possible causes of this phenomenon. The message may arrive at the intended destination, where an error is detected, but because your own return address is incorrect, the bounced message can't be sent to you. Or the message may arrive safe and sound, but your friend never reads it or decides not to respond to it. Usually, trying again, using another addressing method, or contacting your friend by other means to find out if the message was received will help you figure out what went wrong.

Email address

Can you send me an email to my merrow@wight365.net as I am having difficulties getting your pacific.net address. That will tell me if I have got it right. Love from Dad

hi folks, my email has not changed at all. Claire's at that age where she looks under the door (our mail comes under the door) each day. Last night she got a thrill because I had purchased something for her online and had asked the seller to address it to Claire Merrow-Smith, so she received a small package yesterday which she has set aside for Sunday.

Hi Cathy & family, lovely to have you back. Sorry to say your birthday falls in the school term here, so we will have to pay you an early visit in May or June next year. Dashing Dan is looking forward to having the space to chase cats, dogs, birds, etc. - been watching too much of the Incredibles

Bye Bye

Nic

Claire's birthday card

I tried to send an email to you and got a maler-daemon non delivery. Have you changed your email address as this is the 2nd or 3rd time an email has been returned to me??.
I have just found a website www.123greetings.com/birthday/kids and I wonder if I could ask you to sort out a suitable singing card for her as I don't know how to send it from here to Claire. It contains many singing birthday cards and it only needs the addition of our name.
We are sending her a card today, but in case it does not arrive in time the singing card would be a bit of fun. Love from Dad

Another lovely day.

Just a reminder that Claire will be 6 on 27th November - just one month after Nic's birthday. Daniel will be 3 on December 8th and for the record, Mum's brother Peter will be 80 on 7th December. If anyone feels like sending him congratulations his address is Dowland House, Harborough Hill Road, Messing, Colchester, Essex CO5 9TZ.
Steve tells me that he has some work to do in Provence and will travelling to Marseilles today. Julian is planning to block off the hole at the back of his kitchen cooker - I wonder if the two are related - Not Steve and Julian, but Stev, Julian and the hole. Good luck fellas. love from Dad

Wall to wall sunshine

Just like Spain only 11 degrees instead of 22. Thank you Jessica for your Blog. We miss you all too. We really enjoyed our visit to you (second in one year). We were able to do so much by hiring our own vehicle. Trouble with driving on the Island is the low sun can sometimes make driving difficult. We have turned our no. 3 bedroom into a breakfast room and now we face the same was as you with the sun coming over the horizon directly in front of us. It is lovely because we can imagine you all facing the rising sun (and getting blinded by it) just as we are. We do not have natural heat though and we sit quite close to a very hot radiator
We have been out and about this week, enjoying the sunshine. Last Saturday was Reg's 80th birthday meal in Arreton. Then on Monday Ryde, to have the films developed. They are very good. alhough we did not take many. Tuesday Newport to see Nana's Urologist. He says she is alright now and the 'down below' operation seems to have done the job. We have also seen our GP and told her about the fun we had before boarding the plane on 16th Oct. Seems that it was something to do with Nana's underactive thyroid, which caused the blackout. Anyway, we made it to the plane and to Alicante OK. Wednesday we had a lovely meal at the Woodvale in Gurnard, sitting by the window and watching the yachts on the Solent. Gurnard is a place that I would miss if we ever moved away! After lunch we sauntered through an empty Cowes. Friday we chanced on an afternoon in the cinema. The film was The Libertine, but it is not worth trying to describe it to you. It was certainly not what we expected. A very 'black' film set in Charles II reign. Friday evening we watched the Save the Children Show on the telly and that was very watchable. The BBC newsreaders did their customary act. This time it was their rendering of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - very entertaining. We had hoped that we may see part of the Benidorm show where Amy met Pudsey Bear on stage, but there was so much to see. We appear to have a very full programme of dinners and parties before we hi-tail it for our Christmas visit to Nythfa. Hope the weather keeps reasonably drivable. Love to all LOL Dad and Mum

Air miles

First - get some airmiles. Then phone airmiles up and say I want to hire a car. They do Avis and they will debit your airmiles account (perhaps not with full balance). I hired an Opel Meriva diesel 1300hp for 23 days at 50% off full price of £361. We have a Merrow-Smith household account and I expect we could add you to it and so have a bigger balance to hire next July. If you were to get a Tesco Clubcard everything you buy with that card gets you Airmiles. Get online to Airmiles.co.uk and quote our account balance - we have only got 15 miles left. Quote our number 3081471012002324 and see if you can get on to our household account. If you come down next wekend, Steve we could talk about it. Meanwhile get a Tesco credit card. Weather here is glorious until you step outside - then brrrrrr.

yahoo

aside: (just to labour the point, this one is from my
Yahoo account)

Can Dad tell us more about getting car hire using Air Miles?

__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com

proof indeed

that it can be done from gmail!
I get the bulk of my wording sorted and onto the blog, and then edit it and upload photos afterwards off my desktop or wherever you've got them from this page...

And (heaven forbid!) even if you do lose it, you've still got your original email text on your compu'a and you can go round again.... (oh brother) so there we are.
I've had my say..

haaaa Ley Lulia

great to get all the news everybody..
I was on about Windows users might like to try
Blogger for Word

Unfortunately it seems to be
a bit cr*p.
The other idea to save your blogs from crashing and getting lost, is to email your posts in.

To set this up, go go go go to this page->













and click on "Settings"













Click "email" and this page comes up!













You'll see "Mail-to-Blogger Address", and here you have the opportunity to create a unique email address to send your blogs to via Outlook Express or any mail account or even from your Yahoo account. (Don't forget to Save your Settings! hep hem....)

The advantages are that you can prepare your postings "off line", and fiddle about with them without costing your dial-up account:- then send them in when you CAN get on-line or from any other computer - in an internet cafe for instance or from someone elses even!

As we used to say in the Army..
"Are There (pause..2, 3) Any Questions?"

Back in the world of communication

Steve,i thought i would get right onto it straight away,so you will be pleased to see i have managed to get onto the blogger within the hour thanks to the new invite. but I see that you have to hit some of the keys realy hard and some more gently on this the stone-age-UPSTAIRS COMPUTER. haven't looked at the blogg since the wweeeekend so i don't know what news there is,i will look now. much love to all Cathyxxxxxxxxx

hi!

I'm on the school computer at the moment so I cant stay long. Nana and Grandad, thanks for your visit and we miss you already. I miss you all (can't wait for next summer!) LOL. miss the computer too! haha. talk again soon! xxx j

Thank you Singapore

What lovely photos of the children, Jen. You are now an expert at blog photography! Thank you so much for looking after my baby sister. I know she would have been thrilled to see you and your parents and loved meeting the children. Time for a quick view of your wonderful city. Did you go into Father Flanaghans bar in Chijmes. I expect Singapore is building up to Christmas and to hari raya also. Does that always come at the end of the year? I hope you are not both away at the same time - you in San Antonio and Nic in Shanghai. I am sure that you will have got that all sorted. Thank heavens for Mary and for parents who are not too far away. Love to you all from Hugh and Margaret Nice to hear you on the phone, Nic - I hope you get a good bonus this year.

Sunshine smiles ......

Hiya all,

After months of 'faffing' about, I've just about learnt how to take pictures with the phone, infra-red it over to computer, mess about with the dimensions and upload them onto the blog!! Here are the two terrors trying their best to smile nicely.....after countless pictures of 'monkey' faces etc!

We're fine down here..... both Claire and Dan have almost gotten over their flus etc....... we've all had the flu vaccine so they weren't too badly laid up. They're both preparing for their end of year school concert and graduating ceremony (Claire). Nic and I can't believe that she's entering primary school next year! Dan on the other hand is loving nursery (I think) and is a 'typical' boy! Nic and I have been pretty busy with work, usual rush at the end of the year. He's got another Shanghai trip coming up and I'm off to San Antonio from the 6th to 13th though I'm not looking forward to it at all. This is the first time I've been apart from the kids since they were born and my phone bills are going to be horrendous plus I'll miss Dan the man's birthday.

I had a lovely time with June. Picked her up from her hotel and we managed to fit in a visit to Chinatown, the Orchid Gardens and a city tour before she saw the kids. Had a good dinner with her and my parents later on in Chijmes. I hope she arrived safely in Australia.

Hope everyone's well and will post again.

Jen

Hello all from..

.. rainy provence, very busy trying to get the kitchen fireplace built and everything else. Cats are a joy but they don't like rain or pneumatic hammers. A belated happy birthday to Nic - what a terrifying age ;-) Pete I somehow lost my Diskwarrior CD between going to Italy for the weekend and coming back perhaps I put it on the car and drove off or something it was already to send, anyway we have ordered you one from Amazon and hopefully it will be with you this week (and do the job). Lots of love to all, j

Hello all

Yes we still exist out here but have not yet received any Disc Warrior discs to try to unscramble the Mac´s drive. I´m doing this post during a free minute at school. I´ll keep checking at the post office but am a little confused by what dad put into his blog the other day.

Glad you had a good time, mum and dad. You´ll be happy to know that the rain only came after you left. It´s been pretty poor ever since you flew out actually. All cricket was cancelled this weekend the weather was so bad. Apart from that, all is well. The house doesn´t leak and the car is still going although I had to prop the electric windows up with a bit of wood!

Love to all

Pete

Welcome to Rebecca

Had a phone call from Nic only half an hour after he had landed back in Singapore after a business trip to Shanghai. Unfortunately, he had to be away when June arrived but Jen and her parents met her at her hotel and took her out to dinner. I gather she also met Claire and Daniel, Nic and Jen's two children. You may by now have heard from June by phone. At least we know she got as far as Sg. Nice to hear from you - keep blogging with any family information. Love from Hugh and Margaret

Hello from Rebecca

Any news about the Flying Granny?

Hi Steve
I was wondering if mum caught up with Nick & Jen when in Singapore.
Turned 50 in September had a small family get together, good time was had by all or so I'm told. Ruth pushed the boat out and brought some spectacular fireworks woke the neighbourhood up.
Hope you get this fingers crossed
loads of love
Rebecca

Now we are back home

After three weeks without my Apple, I switched on last Monday night, only to read that I could not get online. Great sucking of thumb and wailing - so I rang up the man and he said they were having a bitta trouble and he would come out on Friday AM, unless I had managed to get online in the meantime. As luck would have it I came online on Friday at 3am but he turned up anyway and checked things over. I was back. I was particularly sorry as I wanted Pete to have the DiskWarrior that Julian thought might unscramble Pete's hard disc.
Back to my Blog - Lovely to read all the latest news. We hadn't realised that Steve was doing a Guy Fawkes in Wales, but glad nevertheless. We had a lovely time on the Costa Blanca, visiting all the local must - see beauty spots and partaking of the local paella and mariscos (seafoods). Also Rioja and the local brew named Sangria (cold sweet red wine). We had wall to wall sunshine for all but one (or two) mornings when spots of rain hit the windscreen of our hired 1.3cc diesel Opel Meriva - a smaller version of the Zafira. We watched Pete play cricket in hot sunshine we went to Benidorm, Benimontal and lots of other Beni's. We climbed over the Sierra Bernia - their local mountain - and had a lovely lunch in a German Restaurant way up on top of the mountain. Also went to the beautiful Guadaleste. a small town entered through a hole in the rock. We went to a concert of an English Choir from Birmingham in the local super Palais de Culture, which was super. We met Pete and Jan's friends from Church we saw Beth win the Lions International painting competition which will get her to the regional finals, then the Country finals in Madrid, then to New York and much more. She is not very hopeful of getting to Madrid??, but someone has to win. We went to a Children In Need Concert, run by the BBC in which Jessica was in the opening scene (about 20 14 year olds doing a modern dance routine.) She is so confident especially as it is her first time facing an audience of 2500 in the Benidorm Palace. Amy continues to delaight everyone with whom she comes into contact. She is such a doll.
Our flight was very easy as Southampton is only just across the water from us. Reg met us in Cowes on Monday and we were soon back home

Blogger supports Word Cathy!

Perhaps you Windows users could try Word for blogging to help avoid losing your postings.

Welcome home

Welcome Home in Welsh from Wales!
whitecoat
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Steve & Thomas

S&Thms
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

then of to Yvonne's for a swift half!

spooky

spooky
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

poo we're looking for the sticks, which is THE best bit actually

LLandewi's alight

bonfire
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

well at least these pallets are, poo diesel fumes!

We like bonfires we do..

C&Ed
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

..especially after the young farmers have finished driving their digger into it and gone off to the pub. This, is the best bit!

kate

kate
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Kate say's Welcome home Grandma and Grandad.. we're all going to France with Uncle Steve, are you coming too? I hope so. Did you have a lovely time? Tell us all about it, but have a cup of tea first if you want one love Kate

Gite latest..

Julian's latest.. phroar!
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

I'm booking all four Gites and so those of us going to France, I've set up to receive your Gite deposits..
acc no :- zero seven, five zero, five nine, eight five @ branch sort number eleven eighteen eleven.

Cathy's Birthday Bash

browsing
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

"Minutes from the center of Meze,"it say's here, "... with it's numerous shops and restaurants blah blah blah, the gites are situated in a peaceful position amongst the pines & vines. After a day at the nearby beaches you can chill out by the pool or under the pines, light your barbecue and sip the local wines, listening to the cicadas. All along the coast, an enormous golden-sand beach stretches out for twelve long kilometres, uniting sea and sun ; a gentle slope of pale yellow sand against a blue sky."
"Too good to be true?"
"There's only one way to find out..".
"I'll nip down there!"

In a vineyard?

voila and vines
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

There are 4 separate spacious gites to choose from, three sleeping six to eight and the large one sleeps eight to ten which the Oxford and Isle of Wight 'chapters' plus any additions will be booked into.
It consists of living room / Kitchen : 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with WC's, one with a bath and one with a big shower.
Outside is a terrace with barbecue, table chairs and parasol. Swimming pool covered and heated in winter.

Too good to be true?

Through the square window
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

In fact the large gite is the upper floor of this building accessed from a terrace to the rear. Below is a 6-8 gite on one level suitable for toddlers..no stairs! CLICK (to see Michel's website in English).
All the gites have built-in kitchen, fully equipped with dishwasher, oven and hob, big fridge freezer and extractor hood.
There's also a washing machine, TV DVD player, air conditioning, and a wood burning stove for winter

Nearby is theEtang de Thau and the port of Sete (also known as the Venice of Languedoc), and it's magnificent beaches.

stairs

stairs
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

open plan stairs

open plan stairs
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

fully equipped

fully equiped
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

dining area

dining area
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

dvd and woodburner

dvd and woodburner
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Courtyard

CLICK to see website in English.
The photos above were all taken by me and I think we ought to book it.
We want to be there from Saturday 22nd July and it's 850 Euros (£576.39p) per week. €1000 for the big one.

Who's coming then?

Get your 30% deposits ready for the next instalment

love from Steve

Many Thanks

Thank you for your birthday wishes, I'm sure if you are anything like me and use your immediate family's particulars for passwords, you will have remembered my birthday, thank you.

I was at work yesterday but woke up to find a brand new bicycle in the house! wow. Never happened to me before. No stabelisers or anything, big nobbly tyres and thousand of gears for all those mountain tracks we have. Actually, Jen and I are thinking of making some changes and spending more time venturing into Malaysia with the kids. We have bought a large Honda CRV with sort of 4 wheel drive and much better for touring. Big enough to get the bikes in.

Last night Jen took me out for dinner, a Japanese barbeque with fantastic beef you grill at your table. Next wednesday, to cap things off we are going to the Esplanade, Singapore's answer to the Sydney Opera House, to see a performance by the Vienna Boys Choir.

Still playing golf, got addicted to pokemon cards, (all Jens fault) . Heard on Capital Radio it was really warm in London on my Birthday. We now subscribe to BBC Prime so get to see all those re-runs of Black Adder and the like.

Hope you are all well, Mum feeling much better, Dad enjoying the clean mountain air. Steve, thank you for the call, we will look into scype but I must warn you all, when I would be scyping, it'll be 2pm in England, so not really sure of the advantage.

Dad, can you let me know Auntie June's tel. number and I will give her a call.


Love to all,

Squashed Tomatoes and Stew

..and I wanted to be retired by the time I was 30!

Happy Birthday Nic love from skypey Steve.... (45 blimey) Big Party at yours in 2010, by which time, we'll all be miW-YONaires

Happy Birthday Nic

Hi Nic, have a good day. Mum and Dad wish you a very happy day too. They are having a good time here and mum seems to be feeling better daily. It must be the winter sun. Looking forward to seeing you next year perhaps

Pete

All is well(ish)

Dear all,

Mum and Dad arrived more than a week ago and are well established in our room with Jan and myself upstairs in the lounge on the sofa bad (very comfortable to be truthful). The weather has been fantastic in the last few days and we have seen bright sunny days well up in the twenties. It´s cool at night and mum got a stiff neck sitting out on the balcony the other evening but she has a cream to rub in now so is more comfortable. She seems to be very well considering she has had an operation but of course she tires easily so we have to treat her kindly. The stairs are a concern what with no bannisters and being made of concrete but she is coping admirably. It is a real pleasure to see her getting the giggles. We have had a few laughs and last night some culture by going to a concert by a Birmingham based choir who were doing a charity gala night.

The down side is that the Mac is still failing to start and so Dad has no way to post to you all. I´m doing this from school having just recovered my password because I´d forgotten it (having automatic connections by my Mac). I´m going to try to get the machine to Alicante to a Mac dealer there to see if he can buzz it with whatever it needs. Unlikely to be this week though so I´ll wait for the salvage discs to arrive to see if it will start up from them Steve. Not looking good at the minute, I must admit.

Off home now to see how they are all getting on.

Love to you all

Pete

Let us Prey..

(ing Mantis)
Let us Prey(ing Mantis).JPG
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Decent shot of the local wildlife..

Here's one for Ruth

we laughted and laughted at this hotel in Carpentras and thought of you Ruth!
cockard
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

french think this is hard!!!

Thankyou for my present....

merci a toute le monde qui m'a envoy les Birthday messages.
Yesterday while the artist was working, I set to work in le petit toilette, and stripped off the tiles with Julian's power-hammer, much to Manon's chagrin!
(It was a blowy grey day and she'd taken refuge on Ruth and Julian's bed only to have her afternoon nap somewhat disturbed by yours truly. A desperate scratching on the bedroom door prompted me to open it, which was followed by a brief and swift flash of grey fur as she fled down the stairs.
We are forgiven now I think, as a peace offering in the form of a live doormouse was presented to Julian in the middle of the night to the sound of "Grrrrrrr....", presumably in time for him to have it gift wrapped pour moi?!
However J thought better to release the stunned creature into the vines whereupon it hopped off into the night.)

Anyway.. zut alors, I got to patching up the loo area with some light weight terracotta blocks and packed about 50 litres of Chavre, the revolutionary organic concrete mix behind making the whole wall secure and solid.

Ruth has kindly telephoned M. Michel and we will view the Gite on Tuesday afternoon next week. Perhaps if we have a think about next July we can firm up the reservation for Cathy's 50th in Sete.

Hi Everybody

Nic. after removing from heat, stir in sugar and then the flakes until they are well coated. -- sorry about that. Love to the children - wet kisses all round.
According to my calendar it is only 12 days to your birthday so, as we are starting our holiday TODAY by travelling to Southampton - there to stay the night at the Express Holiday Inn, before catching the 0835 Flybe to Alicante in the morning (Sunday) Happy birthday for the 27th. What is that? - 45.? Takes me back to my days in the bank at Aylesbury.
Yesterday I went to the dentist in Ventnor where he relieved me of two teeth 3 & 4 top right. Having previously taken impressions of the 'before' and sent them to the dental mech to prepare, he just slotted in the improved plate and bob's your uncle. Trouble is, this morning the gum is sore where he injected it prior to taking out the teeth and I cannot yet wear the plate. I look like the wicked witch in Snowhite!. Time will heal, I hope.
Mum is improving and with the ?warm sun of Spain and nothing to worry her, I hope she will improve quicker.
Pete tells me that his Mac is u/s at the moment so when we can read the blogger or write to you all again will depend on if he can get it fixed.
Love to all in Provence and Wales (if John's computer is working). (Cathy has invited us to LLanddewi for Christmas. Will we be seeing you thereSteve?) Pete's phone is 0034966896368 where we will be until 7th November. Cheers Dad and Mum

Corn Flakes

Dad, I throw the caster sugar in the bin or i mix it in with the syrup and the marg'?

Nic

Birthday Wishes

Steve, happy birthday again, rang you on 13th at 8-9 am your time then hung up because I thought you may have been driving all night still. Forgot you were probably hung over on wine. Chateau Julien appears to need a fair bit of work, how long were you planning on staying? You could always pick up 2CV down there when you are done, then head off on the silk road from nothern Italy, and come pay us a vist via Central Asia, Vietnam (good place to get your froggy car serviced).

Lots of love and big wet kisses from Daniel (he's good at them), Claire, me and Jen.

DAD, thanks for the recipe, we'll give that a go. Love to Mum and you

Nic and the team,

Recipes for Choc Flakes and porridge

Nic - this is the recipe that Mum uses: 50g of corn flakes, 25g of cocoa, 25g caster sugar; 50g golden syrup; 25g margarine. Melt margerine and syrup slowly in a saucepan - do not boil! Add the cocoa. Remove from heat and add the cornflakes until they are well coated. Spoon into 9 or 10 portions in pastry cases or ice cream scoop, and leave to cool. Eh Voila. Of course you can use any other breakfast cereal like rice crispies or puffed rice as a change! Double the amount requires double the ingredients, I suppose.


Pete.-Porridge is simply 1. weigh out 100g of rolled oats, a large pinch of salt, add 1 pint of water and stir. 2. Put in microwave (high) for three minutes, 3. remove and stir to remove any lumps, 4. put back in m/w and cook for a further two minutes. Should be done. Depending on whether you like it runny or stodgy, add or reduce oats or water. To make it more milky you can add milk at the final cooking. Let cooked porridge rest for a minute before serving. To make double the amount double the amount of oats and water and cook for same times. You can always adjust times from 4 above and use either honey or syrup to sweeten it. Dad

! Happy Birthday Dad!

Lots of love and a big kiss on the head fromWill & Gem. Saw Will yesterday evening and he couldn't stop smiling (yesterday was his last day at Borders). He is having a leaving do on Saturday night.

See you soon! Birthday presents to follow!! love Gem & Will, Clive (& Kenny & Louis)...off to work (boo) but 2 days to holiday (yeah).

Gem xxxx

Happy Birthday to Steve

I am sitting here on my way to bed and can see that it is Your Birthday Steve and can imagine you all sitting in the lounge trying to finish off the last three or four Cotes de Rhone/Gigonda/Vayqueras/Chateau Neuf ot whatever.
Mum has just gone up and to be truthful, she is looking better than she has done for a few days now. I have got to keep her interested in travelling. She spoke to Pete while I was at the dentist and she seems better for that. Perhaps you could spare her a few words!
Well, lovely boy, it seems more than a year since we were all at Le Manoir, but no doubt you are having a good time in the sun. God Bess you all and lots of love from us here.

Celia's Birthday Today

so we went over to Sandown to wish her a happy 71 (50years after). Considering the cards she has been dealt she is marvellous. She sits in her wheel chair laughing at Richard as he tries to make us some tea. He is not much better, but he too keeps wonderfully cheerful They are going round to Eddies for a birthday tea followed by a bevy or two. We had a lovely Sunday beef roast at a garden centre in Lake, noted for its food and we are now home. Lovely to see the sunshine with Mont Ventoux forming the horizon. It looks as if you are plastering in the kitchen. Plenty of spaces to fil!! LOL Dad and Mum

ezappy

sitting in the sun after a coffee waiting for plasterers inspiration... getting sweaty doing nothing yet, well it is Dimanche!

Whats my name?

Courtesy of Mandy

"Follow the instructions to find your new name.
The following is an excerpt from a children's book, "Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants" by Dave Pilkey. The evil
Professor forces everyone to assume new names......

Use the third letter of your first name to determine your new first name:
a = poopsie b = lumpy c = buttercup
d = gadget e = crusty f = greasy
g = fluffy h = cheeseball i = chim-chim
j = stinky k = flunky l = boobie
m = pinky n = zippy o = goober
p = doofus q = slimy r = loopy
s = snotty t = tootie u = dorkey
v = squeezit w = oprah x = skipper
y = dinky z = zsa-zsa

Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half of your new last name:
a = apple b = toilet c = giggle
d = burger e = girdle f = barf
g = lizard h = waffle i = cootie
j = monkey k = potty l = liver
m = banana n = rhino o = bubble
p = hamster q = toad r = gizzard
s = pizza t = gerbil u = chicken
v = pickle w = chuckle x = tofu
y = gorilla z = stinker

Use the fourth letter of your last name to determine the second half of your new last name:
a = head b = mouth c = face
d = nose e = tush f = breath
g = pants h = shorts i = lips
j = honker k = butt l = brain
m = tushie n = chunks o = hiney
p = biscuits q = toes r = buns
s = fanny t = sniffer u = sprinkles
v = kisser w = squirt x = humperdinck
y = brains z = juice

builders are in

quiet night as all exhausted.
Mont Ventoux yesterday went a bit stormy in the afternoon but back to gorgeous today.and I've got all plaster in me hair!

So can I

Holding both forefingers in front of your face make the right finger describe a circle clockwise i.e. towards you and the other finger a circle anti-clockwise (going away from you). Both circles should be made at the same time. I think 20 circles in 20 seconds is about par for the course. Steve did you watch the speed drumming competition the other day. Richard and Judy's man hit the pad with two sticks, 950 times in one minute. The record (Not Buddy Rich) is held by an American (who else) with 1020 beats in 1 minute. All done on a timed pad! Dad. Steve - where are you?? Wot no blogs

Doh!

You're not supposed to be able to do it...urm...perhaps its the other leg and other arm??

Said in the papers this morning that the creator of Merrow-Smith kids favourite 'Mr Benn' admits to being on magic mushrooms when he came up with the stories...and then the shopkeeper appeared. What next - 'Bagpuss' was on dope and 'Ivor the Engine' was on speed - get it?

Nice one England - but we've scraped a win against Austria this afternoon at Old Trafford...How come these spanish refs keep picking on our Becks?

G x

I can do it!!!

and Mr "Spud" the-mousy-finger-bob can do it too! Been building today but it's not finished so no picture yet. This IS a potato by ze way!