Watsy's Blog

Trees on the A40

2008-08-26T09:18:00.001+01:00

I've noticed recently whilst driving between Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield just how many dead trees there are - masses of them - especially near Wapseys Wood dump. All very strange.

They are also the majority of the way through the new service area off Beaconsfield M40 roundabout - well the road amendments anyway - and it is amazing how much green environment they've had to rip out to upgrade the roads. I'm still surprised we actually need a service area - still if you pay enough money you win the appeals I suppose.

I still think about when the sports club tried to get advertising hoardings up round the ground yet it was objected to by the parish and chiltern council. Yet GX Golf club (who also used to have members on both councils but never declared an interest) manage to get huge great silos up and Wilson Bowden massively rip up countryside installing larger roads, massive (still empty) office blocks and dumped huge amounts of spoil on a green field at the old British Alcan place but were all granted ok.

I'm back on the astro project again - so will be looking forward to being blocked at every turn again as we haven't got people in the right places.

Rebecca's Last Day

2008-08-22T09:04:00.004+01:00

What a sad day - Rebecca's last day at nursery today. Off to school in a couple of weeks - which is a whole new world for her. We are also wondering what Jamie will make of it without her being there - as they are very close.

Had a busy but great weekend last weekend. We were off to Odd's Farm on Saturday morning for a birthday party which was very good as usual - then we went to Eastbourne to see Mum and Dad. Rebecca has been wanting to go to the beach / sea most weekends every time we say what do you want to do she always says beach. It was a bit cloudy but mostly ok - James and Rebecca played really nicely there -
James loves throwing stones in to the sea. From 1pm there was also a Red Arrows display which Jamie absolutely loved - excellent display as it happens.

I found an old family album at home as well - so gradually uploading a load of photos to my Facebook space.

Been extremely busy this week - feeling a bit rough today as it happens very sore throat. Looking forward to the weekend though - I've got blackberry picking on agenda if the weather is half decent :-)

Fun Weekend and Busy Week

2008-08-13T22:05:00.003+01:00

Although the weather was wet again - it seems to have been raining non stop this 'summer' - we had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday I managed to fix the front guttering round the porch so it stopped leaking - though there are loads of other leaks to fix I noticed - and on Sunday removed the shrub root on the patio outside the back door - with the chain saw and axe - good fun. We also went out to a bar-b-q where rebecca and james had a good time - there was a sunken trampoline - it was a fantastic idea - they were completely wiped out by the time they arrived home though!! Fortunately the weather held for the bar-b-q all day which was nice.

Been really busy with work again recently. Had trouble with a couple of domain names I now manage and used to manage. Bit of a palava. Also been sorting out some CSS menus which has been interesting.

IIS on Vista

2008-08-09T22:59:00.002+01:00

Now i'm only a basic web site designer so why on earth do I want to set this up on my Vista machine. Well if you run .asp files then you have to upload them to the web server to see what you've done. So in the past on xp i'd set up a local server to preview them.

Anyway, I couldn't see how to do it simply like on XP (of course) but just so I can remind myself in case I need this again - I need to :

Go to Control Panel
Load up Programs and Features
Left had bar go to Turn Windows features on or off
Add as many Internet Information Services as possible (I think you'll need to do a reboot here as it didn't seem to work straight off)
Then to go run and inetmgr
Then add the virtual folder you want to - fine turning where the physical site is (ie where you actually hold the files)
Then assign an IP address as if it is on network
Then you can now view the .asp web site

I know this will probably be blindingly obvious to some of my mates but hey ho might not be if you've come across this on a google search... now to get actinic working on it!

Having a good weekend - as you can tell!!

Chris off to Australia

2008-08-08T09:44:00.003+01:00

My old friend Chris from Connexe Peripherals dropped round on Wednesday evening for a meal and to say farewell - as he is off to Australia with his partner Pete at the weekend.

Chris is an I.T. god and also very good at photography - so i'm sure he'll have no problems getting a job in Australia - he already has an interview with the top software company. A very pleasant evening was had talking about photography and what his plans are and what he's been up to.

Maybe when r & j are a bit older we'll pop over and see him. Quite a few of our friends are moving or have moved to far away lands. What is wrong with this country?

More Wildlife - Muntjak and Bat

2008-08-04T15:09:00.002+01:00

A very rare treat at the end of our garden on Saturday morning was a Muntjak - i've only ever seen one once before in our garden. I took a number of photos from the house and this is the 'best' one.

I somehow managed to catch this bat in mid flight during the pitch black of night - it isn't a great photo as i guess the flash just bounced straight of it. Still it was lucky to pick it up at all!

Messenger United - Windows Live Messenger

2008-07-29T21:24:00.001+01:00

This is quite an interesting link - combining facebook and msn messenger.

I guess that now MS have bought a stake in the company they'll be looking for various ways to tie up - with an ultimate goal of somehow loosening the Google stranglehold on the Internet...

Busy Busy Week

2008-07-23T22:01:00.003+01:00

Wow, what a week we are having. It started last weekend when Rebecca had her birthday and we had the family round and Auntie Annie. We went for a lovely walk to the picnic table at the back of the NSE - and had a picnic - James and Rebecca loved it - great fun - lots of pictures on Facebook later tonight.

This week i've been flat out with work and about the place. Suspect I'll be clocking up about 60 hours in five days - got to be careful not to overdo it though.

Sarah's mum and dad popped round tonight as they are having a new kitchen put in and we cooked for them - hopefully we are getting our new hob and second hand oven put in early next week :-) Hopefully out at Cape Fish tomorrow night in Chalfont St Giles with a couple of good friends. Did I mention we were at Charlie and Annalisa's for a Bar-b-q last weekend as well?

Odds Farm at the weekend where Rebecca will meet up with a lot of her nursery friends to properly celebrate her birthday. My old college friend Ash and his family are down this weekend too which should be good fun.

Wrote a 4,500 word report today on a web site I help with and how to get to number one across their search terms! Created a new web site yesterday, fixed another one earlier in the week as fasthosts seem to have mucked up their Windows server scripting - i'm guessing via the php upgrade they've done.

Lots more going on which I can tell you about when I finally get down the pub!

Human League on BBC Breakfast

2008-07-22T09:43:00.002+01:00

The Human League are embarking on a steel city tour in the Autumn with Heaven 17 and ABC and to promote it they appeared on BBC breakfast this morning.

I was amazed that they clearly had underaken absolutely no research on the topic - the lady presenter asked if they had ever bumped in to the other two bands and had some rivalry when they were in they hey day in the early '80's - which is a surprising question because Heaven 17 and the Human League were the same band until 1980 - until they split in two - so that was a genius of a question....

Greenhouse Progress

2008-07-16T21:46:00.002+01:00

Good progress in the garden overhaul, with the greenhouse leading the way. We picked our first tomatoes today - Rebecca loved her one - Jamie gave me back his one - i'm sure mid July is quite early for me to be harvesting them already. Had quite a few cucumbers already as well which is good.

The veg patch is looking pretty good - picked the first french beans yesterday and had in a chicken risotto with some home grown broad beans - very tasty.

Yes, that's a green tomato James...thank-you...

Feeling Very Sad

2008-07-15T10:17:00.002+01:00

I just dropped off Rebecca for two hours at her new school - and she didn't want me to leave at all - not seen her that upset for a while.

I'm feeling very sad about it - i'm absolutely sure she'll be fine though.

*** Update *** All fine - she loved it :-)

Fantastic Weekend

2008-07-13T21:39:00.002+01:00

I've had a great weekend - I was looking forward to it after quite a hard week working.

On Fri night Sarah was out, so I carried on working until midnight. I've got so much to do and learn at the moment I need every minute really. Saturday morning we were up early and after watching another round of Mary Poppins, we messed around in the garden and about the house.

Saturday afternoon was the highlight - Catherine was unbelievable and held a fantastic bar-b-q and put on some special things for the amassed children to do. The food was unbelievably tasty as well.

Saturday night I went off to Penn Street beer festival with Chris and Charlie - and was drinking some 7.5% + cider they had on. Sunday morning I didn't feel great - but did have a lovely evening.

Sunday has been very relaxing and pottering around the garden getting a few jobs done which is good - and a really nice sunny day - which is always good :-)

A really busy week coming up - including a parent's evening for Rebecca's new school - Sarah has also collected her uniform already. I cannot believe she is going to school in about 8 weeks - makes me want to cry that time is speeding past to fast - but at least it is really good fun with the family.

Catherine's fab party:

Cake Making with Mummy:

More images coming soon on Facebook...

All going on.....

2008-07-02T08:44:00.002+01:00

Sometimes lots of little things seem to happen all at once - and start getting on top of you. That seems to be happening at the moment with us...

Mum and Dad came up over the weekend which was very nice. They babysat for us on Friday night whilst we were at Pilch and Emma's engagement party in London. It was a very pleasant evening catching up with a few people we haven't seen for a while - most of whom were on very good form indeed.

We then did some gardening on Saturday morning - I even picked the first of the season's cucumber which was good - picked another one yesterday as it happens. Mum and Dad were like whirlwind round it and achieved more than I have in the last few months!

We then went off to the Little Chalfont village open day thing - Dr Challoners girls - where Sarah went - and the rest of the village - we only really caught the end of it though. Rebecca and James were pleased though as they got an ice cream!

Then on Sunday our oven packed up as we were about to do a Roast dinner for everyone, fortunately Sarah is brilliant and improvised and we had an equally tasty meal. We were hoping that the cooker / hob would last a few more years until we can afford to have a new kitchen. We still have a gassy smell in Jamies room which is rather annoying - i'm not quite sure what to do about it - we have someone popping round on Thurs to look at it. Jamie also had an allergic reaction to something over the weekend and developed urticaria - so Sarah took him to the Doctor who said it was nothing to worry about - and it has almost gone this morning thankfully.

I also heard that my Uncle died yesterday which is very sad - only 60! I hadn't seen him for a long time but still...

So anyway, best get on with some work!

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | Caretaker wins ladder fall case

2008-06-27T13:30:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | Caretaker wins ladder fall case

This kind of story makes my blood boil - how absurd.

On a different note - I noticed yesterday whilst I was crawling through the village in a traffic jam that a substantial number of people seem to think wearing a seatbelt is optional these days...

Local Wildlife

2008-06-25T22:04:00.002+01:00

We've been encountering quite a lot of wildlife in the back garden recently. There has always been plenty of birds there - including a black bird that is breeding for a second time next to our porch and some blue tits who have breeded twice this year.

I caught on camera just outside my home office a chaffinch with a beak full of food for some young i assume as you can see below.

At night i have seen a fox wander round the front of the house at about 10.30pm. This evening by the back door I found this dead bat - i've never seen a bat close up before - we can see them flying around the house at dusk but they are too quick to see. I was surprised at how small this was. It was surrounded by mice droppings which isn't great!

I also remembered what the rare tree was in Foxdell wood - well I think I have its a Wild Service Tree - i've never heard of it!

Gardening / Winds

2008-06-24T09:11:00.002+01:00

They said it was going to be a windy weekend - and my plants didn't take to well to it. Whilst the greenhouse is already much more productive that last years dismal effort, outside isn't doing nearly as well - i don't suppose it helps that I was very behind because I was ill for so long and couldn't do anything.

The runner beans are not really bothering to grow this year, the french beans are being blown over, and the caugette plant decided to lose 90% of itself in the wind. I did have my first ever crop of broad beans at the weekend though - the ones in the ground were poor but the ones in pots are very good.

We had a very nice weekend - fairly quiet after the busy week we had - r & j are so tired after a week in nursery that it is good for them just to chill out a bit. I didn't take any photos of the weekend either so nothing to post here. Aunty Fatty and Uncle Crispin did pop round with Olivia and William which was very good entertainment.

This is an interesting article from HMRC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7468863.stm if I am reading the figures correctly and the article is correct, so far this year receipts from stamp duty are down about £9 billion. Surely that cannot be correct as the government was spending £40 billion more than it earnt last year - so this would be a massive hole in their finances and the BBC would have picked up on that in the article - especially as the figures are only for 5 months.

Whipsnade Zoo and Swings

2008-06-15T22:23:00.004+01:00

What a splendid weekend - though I am really looking forward to sleeping this evening.

Monday night went down the White Hart for a pleasant evening, then spent all day with R & J as Sarah is revising for an exam. We went to the Chalfont St Giles swings at the cricket pitch - they are so much better than any of the ones in St Peter - I guess as they are all in one place.

Rebecca and James on the climbing frame - which after some aprehension they soon got the hang of!

I also managed to do a little bit of gardening done on Saturday - mowing the lawn and planting out some more things in the veg patch. I was going to reclaim another flower bed that has gone wild - but there are a few frogs living in it so cannot really do that at the moment.

Here is James helping me to mow the lawn!

James and I were also given a tour of Foxdell wood which was very interesting - saw some rare trees that are still quite young, badger sets and much more.

Sunday we popped along to Whipsnade Zoo - I haven't been there since I was a very small boy I guess, and it was a great day out - it was a party for one of Rebecca's friends who was 4. We left the zoo at about 6 and they / we were all thoroughly worn out. It was a great place to visit though - so much better that the Zoo we visited on holiday in Spain.

James was fascinated by the Otters:

A busy week coming up - plenty of work and things to keep me busy.

Welcome Back from Spain

2008-06-13T14:38:00.003+01:00

Back from our first hot holiday since we went to Drew's wedding in Italy about four years ago. Click the headline and you will see where we went - one of my customer's villas.

We actually spent the first night in the Hotel Ayalaya as we forgot to take the villa keys with us. Which was quite nice as it happens as the hotel was well stocked and had a great pool. Breakfast was also very good there.

We then lost all our credit cards, which forced us to go to Estepona and r & j loved the beach there.

We also visited the Zoo - where the photo of them having a lolly was taken. Some close ups of tigers, rhinos, cheetah and more. Rebecca's favourite was the Peacock though!

The villa itself was absoultely fabulous.

I'll post up some more pictures on Facebook when I have time.

Bank Holiday Weekend

2008-05-31T14:14:00.002+01:00

Had a great weekend last week for the bank holiday. We decided as I am sort of mobile again to do a bit more and be a bit more interesting for Rebecca and James. So we went to Sarah's mum and dad's boat - a bit of a surprise as we didn't tell them we were coming! Had a lovely time though it was quite windy so we couldn't actually go anywhere....

The rest of the weekend was pretty wet though we did venture up to the Chalfont Fair at St Josephs School - very wet and windy there though and very empty as well - very few people compared with sunny years!

Been pretty busy with work recently as well. Launched a new updated web site for The Stapling Company, Abbeyfield Chalfont, TES as well as continuing to work on Trading Depot and CSE's web sites.

Still getting a load of grief from my body unfortunately - though i'm hoping i'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this bout...

Gardening

2008-05-21T15:14:00.003+01:00

I've been rather immobile recently so unfortunately for R & J we haven't been out much at weekends. So to keep them entertained, they planted a whole load of seeds for me the other weekend - and they are now flourishing. These photos are from them planting and the the inside of the greenhouse. They are now quite keen each evening to go in the greenhouse and see how they are doing each evening - and they are all doing very well.

Driving in my car

2008-05-08T13:46:00.002+01:00

For the last two fill ups i've been driving my car rather slowly and carefully - mostly due to my dodgy knees and now right hand. I normally get 220 miles out of a tank - the first careful fill up I managed 280 and the second one 307 - that's almost 50% more - a staggering amount. Makes me wonder how much money i've wasted - but then again its pretty dull driving like an OAP.

I'm almost feeling a bit better today - i'm rattling with the amount of pills i'm taking - 10 this morning! The cortesone injection seems to have done the trick though - for which i'm grateful as I've been agony for most of the week.

Not got much on this weekend - so I have bought a whole load of garden seeds for us all to plant and watch grow - should be a lot of fun. Some of the tomatoes in the green house are already knee height and the broad beans outside are in full bloom.

I've got a Vista problem which I cannot find the answer to on-line anywhere. Everytime i open a new window up - for example on Messenger, it always goes top left above the viewable screen - i can move it ok but it is really irritating having to do it every time - anyone know how to fix it so it doesn't keep doing that...

Here's a photo of the family at the weekend at home in the joys of spring that has finally arrived. Lovely week this week.

Good news and bad news

2008-05-05T21:11:00.002+01:00

Well i can walk again, both knees are now movable. Its a shame its now switched to my right hand - agony!

Visit to Bekonscot

2008-04-24T12:33:00.003+01:00

Welcome back!
Been rather busy with work and trying to repair my immune system recently. Today is the first day that I can just about walk ok - though i'm still hobbling a bit. I have an appointment at the hospital in 10 days so its bound to be better by then!!

Looking forward to a quiet weekend this weekend - not really doing anything - so the garden might receive some welcome attention. Planted a few broad beans out in the garden that have been in the greenhouse and some growbags now have tomatoes in them.

My parents and sister and clan came up last weekend - and we went to Bekonscot in Beaconsfield. Here is a photo of Sarah and R & J on the mini train they have there. It was a freezing cold day!

Below is a photo of Uncle Martin who brought round a football goal and mini football for James's birthday.

Quiet Weekend

2008-04-14T16:07:00.001+01:00

A quiet weekend was had - well relatively - as I couldn't actually walk as both knees are so swollen - so spent most of it on the sofa - eating anti inflammatory drugs.

Aviation spy revealed as airhead - Management Today

2008-04-09T13:07:00.000+01:00

Aviation spy revealed as airhead - Management Today

This is a great story - made me laugh out loud - whilst sitting here with red hot knees which are sweling up radidly....