Well the Christmas countdown has begun. On Friday we went down to Southwold to see Santa turn on the lights, eat lots of scummy food, and Helen sampled some of the Christmas spirits in the Adnams shop. Saturday was Christmas tree day, it’s one of our Christmas traditions, so we drove to Wrentham to pick our tree. And it’s a monster 10 feet tall, and stands proudly outside our home. We’ve put gold and white twinkly lights, and now all it needs is a little snow.

It’s just over a week till Halloween, and Helen and I have setup the outside of the house. The rickety fence is up, Eleanor is back in her crypt, the grave stones have been erected, and the coffin is glowing nicely. We’ve even got a gaggle of ghosts flying round the house! We’ve still got loads more to do, especially for the party on Saturday night, but here are a few pictures of the garden graveyard to whet your appetite.

This years party is going to be a shocking, very interactive, a little electrifying, but most of all, damn scary, so are you up for the challenge? We’re going to have a house, full of spooky, ghoulish, and bloody odd things. There’s also going to be a . . . . . . . Well to find out, you’re going to have to wait till the party.

The Asylum awaits you! and your appointment time is 7:30pm Sat 29th October, Fancy dress compulsory . . . .

Hmmm, I wonder whats going on in here?

. . . you’ll just have to wait and see!

The graveyard and coffin

The graveyard with Elanore in her crypt

The inside of the Asylum!

I dropped my iPhone 4 a couple feet on Friday onto the floor and it landed on its face, cracking the glass quite badly. It was still pretty usable, but I thought I’d take it to the Apple store in Norwich to see what they could do. I’d pretty much resigned myself to paying £100 to £200 for a new screen, or at worse £500 for a new phone, a bad day indeed!

So today I called into the Apple store, went to the genius bar, and waited a few minutes, and when it was my turn, I told them what happened, and Chris (Genius) stated it was an out of warranty failure but he’d look and see what he could do.

I’d agreed that the damage was my fault, and imagine my surprise when he came out with a new phone, and told me they would be taking care of it! No charge at all! It was some of the best customer service I have ever received, and I’m the proud owner of a shiny-new iPhone.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s a year since my little Grandson Joshua was born. It still feels like yesterday. He’s growing up so quickly, and he’s a lovely little chap, who brings happiness whoever he goes.

Happy First Birthday Joshua

This weekend my Grandson Joshua came round to play with Grandpa, and it was wonderful. He’s almost a year old, in fact his first birthday is the coming weekend. Josh is walking now, and was tottering all around the house, open doors, and cupboards, he even tried to escape out of the cat flap. I’m really looking forward to his next visit.

Have you ever wondered about the hygiene of a top restaurant’s kitchen? Or how safely the pub-grub you are about to tuck into was prepared before it reached your plate? Well, Waveney District council think you have the right to know the food hygiene standards of food businesses you use.

‘Scores on the Doors’ is a scheme which allows the public to view the latest hygiene rating following a food hygiene inspection carried out by the council’s Food and Safety Team (Environmental Health). The score will be in the form of a star rating.

The star rating lets you see at a glance the hygiene standards in the business at the time of inspection. One star will be fair, but still safe to eat and five stars will mean excellent standards of hygiene were demonstrated.

The hygiene rating given to premises on this web site has been based on the latest Primary Inspection carried out and as such represents the situation as found by the officer on the day of that inspection. The score may not be representative of the overall, long-term food hygiene standards of the business and should not be relied upon as a guide to food safety or food quality.

And I’m feeling kind of proud as I’ve designed the certificates you’ll see on display.

This is what each star score means:

5 Stars (Excellent)
Very high standards of compliance with food safety legislation. Demonstrating best practice in managing and achieving this.

4 Stars (Very Good)
High standard of compliance with food safety legislation. Robust food safety management.

3 Stars (Good)
Good level of legal compliance. Only minor safety issues not addressed.

2 Stars (Broadly Compliant)
Broadly compliant with food safety legislation. An understanding of food safety and standards being maintained or being improved.

1 Star (Poor)
Some non-compliance with food safety legislation. More effort required.

No Stars (Very Poor)
A general failure to comply with legal requirements. Little or no appreciation of food safety.

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Today was one of those days as a father, you know is coming, but hope it takes double the time to get here. My daughter Katie finshed school and headed off to her prom night. She arrived in a lovely vintage car and wearing a stunning pink dress, and I must say she looked amazing. Prom night feels like a huge milestone, she’s no longer my little girl, she’s grown into a very beautiful young woman. I felt very proud watching her go off with her friends, about to embark on the next chapter of her life.

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I had an amazing day at Alton Towers with my daughters yesterday. Our day didn’t start so well, unfortunately, after waiting in line for over an hour for the new ride Thirteen, it broke down. However, this turned out to be a bonus, as the ride operators gave me four free “fast-track” tickets, and on the way out, Bex and Katie managed to get another four tickets! So with tickets in hand we spent the rest of the day without queuing, which was great as some of the queue’s were over 70 minutes long.

It was so good to spend the day with my daughters, they always make me smile, and remind me not to take life to seriously. It’s lovely watching them laughing, enjoying themselves, even if a little scared at the time.

We did all the big rides, and some of the smaller ones, like Charlie and the Chocolate factory boat ride. The best bit was the ride in the great glass elevator after! A group of riders were put on a hydraulic platform and 3D projections display to give a convincing illusion of the elevator flying around and smashing into things

Oblivion, our first, was spectacular. Hanging over the edge and waiting for the vertical drop through the misty hole was breath taking. There’s a sixty-metre climb, a turn at the top, three seconds hanging over the edge of a two hundred foot vertical drop, and then, we were plummeting into the ground, before exiting the hole at the other side

Nemesis, a bit like getting inside and Alien, was incredible. Billed it as ”the ultimate thrill ride” and it certainly lived up to this statement, with bodies and blood everywhere. It’s an insane ride, where you just don’t know where you’re heading, and it just kept spinning everywhere till we reached the end

Hex, The Legend of the Towers, really spooky. It felt like we were being pulled by some weird power towards the tree branch. Very disorientating as the room spins, or was it us?

Air, we got to fly through the air like Superman, a great experience even when we spent half the ride upside down. There were a lot of pavement pizza’s here.

Rita, Once the Queen of Speed. A long abandoned raceway, where we were launched from the station pulling 4.7g’s straight into a banked turn and then around Dark Forest via airtime hills and steep turns.

Thirteen, the new coaster was well worth the visit. It’s a fairly standard ride at first, until the cars end up in a derelict wooden shed. The lights darken, and the cars drop vertically, which was a great surprise I was not expecting. A backwards stint followed which added more unexpectedness, and we came back to the station grinning from ear to ear.

We were very pleased with the day because we managed to get through all the roller coasters and all the thrill rides!

Last weekend Helen and I, along with another 125 guest, celebrated Mum and Dads 50th wedding anniversary. We spent the day in the pretty little village of Terling, in Essex, where Mum and Dad met over 50 years ago. In fact, Dad helped build the hall where the celebration party was held. I was a wonderful day, with a lovely surprise, as Auntie Mary came over from Canada especially for the event. She was one of the bridesmaids 50 years ago, so it made the day even more special.

It was so nice to spend the day with family, and I think it’s great that we get together to celebrate important days such as these. Seeing so many people happily reminiscing, laughing, and enjoying themselves.   I for one am looking forward to the next family get together.

The hall after Helen, Paul, Tracy, and I decorated it

Auntie Catherine, Dad (Chris) and Auntie Mary fresh from Canada

Mum, Dad and the bridesmaids

Getting ready for the toast

The wall full of memories

Mum and Dad cutting the cake, and a very nice cake it was too.

Eleven of Mums fourteen brothers and sisters

The celebration in full swing

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I spent a wonderful afternoon with my grandson Joshua yesterday, it’s great to see him, and he always makes me smile. He’s been a little poorly, tummy problems, but it’s great to see that he’s on the mend and looking so fit and healthy.

He’s sitting up now, and loves playing with his toys, which end up being chewed as he’s also just started teething. Here’s a few pictures of his beautiful smile, just wish I could capture his little baby chuckles.

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Today Helen and I went the Wings and Wheels festival at Henham Park, where we enjoyed seeing a wide variety of planes, cars and motorbikes amongst the other attractions. I particularly enjoyed looking at the older cars with a touch of nostalgia. I’m thinking I might like to get one too. I can just see us driving down country lanes with the wind in our hair, with a picnic and champagne in the boot. Maybe one day when we buy our cottage in France.

The aircraft were stunning, and watching the Hang gliders loop just before landing was simply breathtaking. I spent ages at the Norfolk Hang Gliding club, while they tried to encourage me to have a join. However, I have trouble flying in a plane with engines, so they had no chance of getting me in one without them!

It was great to see the our friends new business the Big Red Hire Engine (click here) on show, and Jonathan, you can take the helmet off, lol. That said, you did look very smart in your fireman’s uniform. Good luck in your new venture guys. And if you need a fireman, don’t call me, I only start fires, lol.

Here’s some pictures of the day.

Wings and Wheels Henham Park 2010

My iTunes has been pretty much broken these days with the notification message:

One Moment Please.
Connecting to the iTunes Store.
Loading

If iTunes doesn’t open, click the iTunes application icon in your Dock or Windows Task Bar.

So iTunes does not itself know it is in iTunes. Very philosophical. I tried logging out of my iTunes account and cannot log in back. I can log in using iTunes for Windows on my Windows machine but not iTunes for Mac. I have also reset everything.

Signing in to iTunes give me the following:

[iTunes We could not complete your iTunes Store request. An unknown error occured (-50).]

I can’t use iTunes Store any more and Apple Support doesn’t seem to have a similar problem listed.

Okay actually, I sort of solved it accidentally a few minutes after I write this. I just randomly delete some files that says iTunes such as the cache and I chanced upon the right file to delete. There appears to have been some problems with iTunes preferences. I don’t exactly know which particular setting is incorrect; I don’t recall editing my preferences in the past couple of months. Anyway, I deleted the preferences file. Mine is found in:

This causes iTunes to launch the set up wizard for iTunes where you have to click through all over again, as if it is a new installation, and the iTunes Store is working again.

A few weeks ago I did my training, and tomorrow I’m going to be a poll clerk for the upcoming General and Local Elections! How exciting is that? I’m in a station that is out in the wilds of Suffolk, with . . . wait for it . . .212 homes, yep, just 212 households!! Even if I have 100% turnout, somehow I think I’m in for a long and quiet day.

That said, getting £50 for two hours training, and £138 for sitting in a village for the day makes it worthwhile.

I’ve had enough of he said, she said rubbish, twisted tales, and wishes that people would be brave enough to speak face to face. Remember, after all the stories are said and done, the truth always comes out in the end.

Unfortunately, I’m suffering, what I believe to be, a carefully orchestrated smear campaign, of twisted tales attempting to undermine my character. However, my family and I have discussed it, realise what’s been going on, and have put safeguards in place.

If you’re reading this post, you know who you are, so please stop the twisted tales. You are making yourself look silly, nobody trusts you, and you’ll gain from continuing your actions..