Homage.........

The following is a homage to Sally. Seen on the beach this very morn.

Stormy weather.......

Here, as in lots of places we are in the throws of a major storm. Wendy and I have just returned from a walk on the beach. The sea is magnificent when she is angry. Our walk was quite short as the wind was blowing us over. Good to be back indoors, Wendy's watching Sex in the City on dvd. I will have to find something else to do.....

It has finally happened..........

We have finally got married. After all the bru ha ha we stood up in Eastbourne Register office and said our vows. It took around ten minutes. We had a nice little bash at home for my family and some wonderful blog friends that came down from London. The weather was fantastic so we could use the garden.

Who would have thought that when I started reading Wendy's blog those few years ago she would end up being my wife........ o that sounds strange, I have a wife. She is upstairs feeling a little fragile must have been a dodgy sausage roll.

Lovely......

Yesterday was lovely. Up nice and early 4.45am. Hurried beans on toast and into the car and off to Gatwick airport. I checked in online so straight through security and onto the plane.

The same old flight and routine at Basel. I went to collect my hire car and was told that it was on the other side, that being Switzerland. It seems that my booking agent (Wendy) had made a mistake on the form and I had to cross over the border. This is not as hard as it would seem, it means going up some stairs and through a door. The man at the desk was very helpful apart from telling me that I could not go to France in the car, then when I said ' Do I have to go back and book it there' he said 'Yes'. Then he proceeded to offer me a Golf or Passat. I said that I was going to cancel it and book it in France and he said 'Why?'. 'Because I cannot go to France in it, and I need to' I said. 'Who told you that?' he asked. You did, no I did not he said. My head was hurting at this point, so I can go to France in it?. You can go anywhere you want, so long as you bring it back.

Paperwork complete I got the bus into Basel, and had a coffee and a walk around, I took the little ferry across the Rhine just for a laugh which was nice.

Then back to the airport to collect the car and find my way back into France. Last time Wendy and I tried to do this we ended up in what looked like the meat packing district of Basel,lost. I had the sat nav with me and this made the whole process mush easier. Before I knew it I was at Auchan in Belfort. I had promised to get our French neighbour some tins of Cassoulet as she loves it. Only two tins in stock, so with those onboard I headed off to collect the boys.

We left the house and started on the way back to the airport. We would have to cross the border again, as we were slowing down a border guard waved us down. I put the window down and he started talking in French. I asked Nathan to talk with him and after a while heard Nathan say 'Le Cassoulet' the guards face was a picture as he waved us through. When I looked in the rear view mirror he was shaking his head as he talked with his colleague. I asked Nathan what he had said 'He asked if we had anything apart from clothes onboard, so I told him about the Cassoulet'.

I laughed till I cried, international stew smugglers.

The plane was delayed by forty minutes, Wendy was at Gatwick to collect us. Another 19 hour day logged up. Going back next Wednesday, bring it.

The start of a wild week......

Well it's here at last, the week of the wedding. We had a last minute hitch with yet another missing piece of paper from France. That has arrived, 150€ for a letter from a lawyer. Robbers.


I am off tomorrow on the 8.15am flight from Gatwick to fetch the boys back. Some shopping on Tuesday and Wednesday, then getting married at 2.30 on Thursday.


It has taken an age to get here, but we are so glad that we will finally be married.


Here we go.............

How times change......

First of all many thanks for your good wishes about the wedding. I can't get into my comments to answer, I forget the password, must be age.

I watched a docudrama on BBC3 called 'Micro Men' it was about Sir Clive Sinclair and how he lead the way in home computers before anyone else. I forgot that he made the first calculator and the first digital watch. And the first small screen TV. What a guy. It was a good account of the conflict that took place between him and Acorn computers which was started by a former employee, they went on to win the BBC contract for home computers. Alexander Armstrong did a wonderful job of playing Sir Clive, while Martin Freeman proved yet again that he can play any role, as long as it's Martin Freeman. But I am off course. What was amazing was the actual machines that were being sold. I remember having a Sinclair Spectrum and having to plug it into a TV and hook up a cassette machine to load the programs. And then fighting to get anything to work.


How things have changed it such a short time. This morning I was laying in bed looking at a square in Narbonne France through a camera that I was controlling by my Iphone. Zooming in to see people having coffee in a cafe in the south of France. And then looking at guys loading luggage onto a plane at Stuttgart airport. We owe those pioneers of computers alot.


His latest invention is a folding bike see it here.

I'am getting married in the morning......

Well not in the morning, but on October 29th. At last everything is in place for us to tie the knot. We have booked Eastbourne Register office as it's easier to get to than Brighton. It is in fact much nicer. We are getting married in The Mayor's Parlour. Swanky or what ?

I will go and collect he boys so they can be at the wedding, the good thing is that Wendy can come back with us now she has a multi entry visa.

Then the next round of forms to get another visa. O well we must enjoy our day,it's taken a long time to get here.