Thinking of the boys

Let me share, without comment, some recent photos of my sons.

Youngest first





and then the older lad.

On the Eleventh hour....

As some of you know, my late father was a veteran of World War II, going over to Normandy on D-Day+1 and making his way up through Germany - at one point as one of those who discovered a wooden stockade outside a town called Buchenwald.

I also have a brother who derved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for all I know (we haven;t spoken for a while) is still out there.

For those sacrficied their lives and their youth, and for those who continue to do so today, to allow us the freedom fo thought and expression that places like this allow, remember them at 11 am today. Here's a song on the subject.

Money, money, money, money...

If you're going to spend, spend wisely, or so they say. Maybe, but last Saturday we spent, or committed to spend, a lot more money than usual...

Item 1 - Doreen accidentally cracked our bath a while back, so we've decided to take the plunge and re-do the entire bathroom. Last Saturday we got and accepted the quote, so with luck by Christmas we'll have a new bathroom fitted and in use.

Item 2 - we've also decided to end our self-imposed technology exile, and ordered a new television. A modest little number, only 32 inches, but HD ready, and freeview built in. We also ordered a new multi-region DVD player - now I can order from Amazon with total confidence, especially those hard-to-find Venture Brothers and Harvey Birdman season sets....

Item 3 - about two weeks ago our computed died on us - no power, zip, bupkiss, nothing. Turned out the motherboard had shorted out, so £100 and three days later I collected it with a new mother board fitted, Vista re-installed and new accounts set up. I then spent most of Sunday afternoon re-installing MS Office, my internet driver, Ad-Aware, the printer, other stuff - and enjoying the fast new speed. The guy who did the work installed AVG at no charge - I never realized just how much Norton slowed things down...

On other news - Doreen started her new job today, as a teaching assistant in the local RC primary school. Apparently, the assembly today was around All Souls Day, so the talk was of Purgatory - one of my favourite debating points with the See of Rome. She enjoyed it - the job that is.

We also bought some new DVDs, and watched the second Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates Who Do Nothing. Good clean fun - really, it was funny, especially the version they do of a B-52's classic at the end. We also went to see Stomp int he West End, and enjoyed it immensely.

Now, back to work!