marc.vic.max.elliot

It’s been a while since the last update and not a lot has happened.  Here’s the few things that have…..

? Max is starting to support himself really well when sitting up now.  It’s amazing how things can change over three or four days. At the beginning of the week he would last about 5 seconds before toppling over – now he sits quite happily for minutes at a time and can recover from minor off-centre incidents

? The weirdest thing happened while I was driving along today. A small dog (maybe a Terrier of some sort) walked up to a crossing some distance in front of me and paused to look my way. When he saw that there was quite a distance he started to walk across. When he got to the island in the middle of the road he paused again, a car stopped for him and he crossed the second side of the street! Cool dog

? Try going to Google – type in “weapons of mass destruction” and hit the “I’m feeling lucky button” Take my word for it, it’s worth it )

I finished Harry Potter – Order of the phoenix at 12:48am this morning **yawn**

What did I think? Typical HP really – the story brings the main characters along in life a bit, Voldemort’s up to no good, you spend a while figuring out who the bad guys are, someone dies (very disappointing!) and there’s a big battle at the end.

I enjoyed reading it and I wanted to get to the end so it must have been above average……..

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Not a whole lot happening at the moment in Cramerworld.  Still no luck on the job front and nothing even on the horizon….. luckily, after a 10 week stand-down, my unemployment benefit started last week Not a lot of money but enough to pay for the rent and electricity.

Here’s just a few thoughts and things that have happened/are going to happen:

? The AB’s lost to England last weekend – booooo. The ref was a pedantic little shit and ruined the flow of the game.  We have Wales this weekend so we’ll see if we can make amends.

? Vic has another driving lesson today.  She’s feeling more and more confident as time goes on (which is the point) and I might even be able to talk her into driving our car soon

? Vic is leaving me! – But only for a few days, phew!  Her Mum is going in for an operation on Friday for her carpal tunnel syndrome. She’s having her left hand done this time and Vic and Max are going to stay with her for a few days.  I’ll miss them 🙁

? David Beckham, one of the worlds most famous footballers has left Manchester United for Real Madrid for GBP 25m.  This now gives RM the following players

Clockwise from top L, David Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo and Luis Figo. What a line up!

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Vic, Max and I went for a walk around the bays to a local cafe today. It is a lovely day with just a hint of a southerly to remind you that it’s winter

I took a load of pics and I’ll post a few here over the next week or so.

…. nothing to say.

It’s grey, it’s raining, it’s chilly and it’s bloody 28C in London – bah humbug!

Vic has her second driving lesson today and hits the streets of Island Bay! I was going to take Max for a walk around the coast but Vic suggested that I stay away from all public thoroughfares

Did I mention that it’s grey, it’s raining and it’s chilly?

Max is stirring so best be off……..

Update: One nice thing that’s happened over the last 24 hours is that I’ve had IM conversations with the 4 UK based members of the super six which was really nice A big Hi to David, Claire, Richie and Fi **wave**

Yesterday was a holiday Monday so me and the family traveled North 2.5 hours to see our friends Ali and Al (and kids Jack and Abbey) in Feilding.

It was really nice to see them and in the afternoon Al and I took Jack and Max for a walk to my old High School Feilding Agricultural High School (now without the agricultural it seems)

I haven’t been for a walk around the school property for 20 years and whilst it doesn’t seemed to have changed that much it just seems so small! Another thing that has changed is the boarding sections.  My four years there were spent as a full-time boarder and the building that we lived in was called Rangitane House.  This building slept about 65 students and was laid out in a “U” shape around a central lawn.  Here are some of the major differences:

? We had 8 boys per dorm (now they only have 4)

? We had wooden floors (carpet now)

? We studied in a communal room (they have individual workstations by the beds – which is why the number of beds per dorm is halved)

? We only had 3 1/2 walls (they have 4 walls now – and windows!)

The last point is true! The house was built in the 40’s then TB was a real killer and fresh air was king.  When they built they designed the dorms so that the wall on the inside of the U was only 1/2 height. I spent 4 years sleeping, showering and dressing in the same temperature as it was outside.  The amazing thing is hardly anyone got sick……..

All in all a great trip down memory lane

Oh yeah – I forgot to tell you that Vic’s driving lesson went really well the other day.  Vic and the instructor went to this massive, empty car park and just drove around so that she could get used to changing gear, throttle control etc (she didn’t stall once )

So she now feels a bit more confident about the upcoming lessons and will no doubt attack them with great vigour and enthusiasm

Mum came visiting today and bought some slides from when I was just a wee one This one was taken when I was about 8 months old. The scan is pretty good seeing that it’s from a moldy 37 year old slide!