New door

As part of my house updating, Ive now got a new front door. It looks great. Even the postman commented that it was a very nice door! Its not wood, and its not uPVC, its a composite door that looks a bit like wood and is as energy efficient as uPVC. Its a rich shade of blue and it doesnt need painting. It has lovely shiny, chrome, contemporary door furniture. There is a glass panel above the door, which I designed to be frosted glass with a clear, large number "12" showing, but unfortunately the window company got it the wrong way round (I did suggest they send a proof, but they said it was unnecessary as it was so simple......!!!). They have promised to replace it shortly, and add the spy hole they also forgot, but for now Im very happy with my new door. Before and after pictures shown. Need to paint the front window now...

Why aye man!

(Before)

Very well done to my sister Toni who completed the Great North Run (half marathon) on Sunday.

Leaving home around 6am on Sunday morning (don't even ask....) Mia and I drove Toni to Newcastle and dropped her off at Gateshead metro station to take the final journey to the starting line. (after - with medal!)

How she ever managed to (or why she agreed to) run over 13 miles is beyond me, but I must admit I am completely in awe of her task, including her 4 weekly visits to the gym for training. Despite the fact she thought she would brisk walk her way around, it seems like she made a whole host of new friends, and both they and the enthusiastic crowd along the way spurred her on to complete the course in around 3 hours!

Mia and I, on the other hand, had an energetic day of our own, shopping in Ikea, browsing around the Metro centre, stopping for coffee and cake, listening to Stephen Fry podgrams, and having a thoroughly lovely day.

Well done, Toni! same again next year??!

MASTER BLASTER

Friday 3rd October

Opening song at the Stevie Wonder concert was ‘Master Blaster’ and then it was 2 ½ hours of pure musical extravaganza. Fabulous! Stevie was on top form for the last night of his European tour in Manchester, and gave an absolutely fantastic performance. Lots of fun, lots of music and dancing. I was suffering from a nasty cold and had been feeling completely ill and sorry for myself Thursday & Friday, but once the music started playing, all thought of illness was gone, and I was just lost in the wonder-ness of Stevie! Unforgettable.

(no photos allowed, but I did take a couple with the camera on my phone, although yet to download them - and we were about a mile away so may not be worth the wait!)

BIG FUN

Sunday 28 September

Liddi organised a joint birthday party at Big Fun in Hull for 80 friends aged 17-18, which was a great success. It’s a children’s indoor adventure playground – suitable for “all ages 2 – 82 !”. We hired the whole venue for a couple of hours, which really was great fun. The usual concerns of “does my hair look good…is my outfit cool” went completely out of the window, as we ended up with loads of very sweaty, exhausted, red faced youngsters who clearly had enjoyed themselves a lot.

Mia and I were there as token adults (no, of course 18 year olds are not adult!) and decided to run around and have a go on everything. Well, why not? When in Rome…..(or even Hull….). We climbed, jumped, lifted, rolled, slid, fell and squeezed through just about everything possible. We threw balls. We went on the trampolines. And the slides. After a while, we were very hot and sweaty and were just not very ‘slidy’. (no, Mr Spellchecker, I did not mean “slimey”!!).

Although much of the play area is suitable for small, energetic, agile young children, there are a few areas that are obviously aimed at the more adventurous, bigger people. The big drop slides for example. After some persuasion, I tried the medium drop slide where you sit on the top edge and let yourself fall down into a sheer drop for 20 ft(?) and then end up in a pool of balls. It looks ok from the ground – fun even, but when you are sat on the top edge, it looks terrifying. I lifted myself off slowly and then completely lost my bottle. Unfortunately, I was at the point of no return by then, so I just had to drop down the slide. I must have had arms and legs flaying in all directions and I sank quickly to be completely submerged by balls in what can only be described as a near-death experience. When I emerged – shaking and relieved – I found Mia and birthday boy Braggy collapsed in heaps of laugher at my less than elegant attempt at the slide. By the time I was able to move, and they were able to speak, they urged me to try the larger slide (they said it’s because I’d love it – I think it was because they wanted more to laugh at!). Well, if this was near death, then the large slide was certain death! What do you take me for ? A coward?? YES !! I did watch the young people flinging themselves off the top of the big slide in wild, carefree abandon, and yes, it did look like fun, but I still couldn’t bring myself to try it.

After about an hour of running around, and a drink stop, Mia and I remember that we were supposed to be ‘supervising’, rather than playing. Oh well, they all looked fairly well behaved, or as well behaved as they were supposed to be in this type of wild, having fun environment, so instead we had another run around the soft play area!!

Before we knew it, 2 hours was up and it was time for home. Big fun was indeed had by all – including me! Happy Birthday, Liddi (& Braggy & Alex). (Maybe next year I will try the big slide?)