As I said before, geoff and I went to spain for a few days last week.
Two years ago we went to Santander and we loved it. We always wanted to go back.
This was an unexpected holiday with love from Laura.
Laura had booked three days in santander for herself and martin, her husband. She has just finished her treatment for breast cancer and thought a few days away will do her and martin good.
Unfortunately, martin, who is a director, could not get the days of work and although laura was devastated that he couldn't get the time off work she ran geoff and offered the holiday to us. Needless to say we said yes please.
So off we go.
We were to catch the ferry at 4.00pm on sunday at plymouth and we would arrive at santander monday morning at 11.30am.
I have been on a ferry before for a couple of hours to go france. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
But when we got on the ferry something happened to me and I felt so ill. I did not feel sick but so dizzy, almost as if I was drunk. I hated it. The sea was so calm so I don't know why I was feeling the way I did but the first thing I did was check how many life boats there were.
There was many of them, but it still didn't make me feel any safer.
We took our luggage to our cabin and then went on deck to get some fresh air (and to have a ciggie).
After about an hour of watching the sea which was still so calm,we went into one of the many bars and had one glass of wine, that was enough. My head was even worse than before. Thinking about it logically, I suppose you could say I should not have one drink but at the time it seemed like a good idea. Geoff does not drink hardly any so he just had the two.
Later on we felt hungry and went into a cafe, and had a lovely ham salad. That was all I wanted as I wasn't particulary hungry but felt I should eat something.
Still my head was spinning.
We went back into the bar and had coffees this time and I did feel better.
The entertainment on the ferry was really good.
There was a couple of singers and then a magician came on. Well, I'm not a lover of magicians but I must admit this man was really good. On one of the acts he stood behind a see through curtain and his assistant (a young lady) went behind him and she pulled and pushed her way struggled 'through him'. It was very good and everyone clapped and cheered.
It took my mind off the way I was feeling I must admit.
The magician finished and suddenly we realizes how tired we were and went to the cabin.
The cabin:
One bed and another on top with a ladder.(bunk beds in other words)
Small toilet and shower but you had to be about 4ft nothing to get in it.
A very small table top with a little lamp on it.

Guess who had to get up the ladder and sleep on the top bunk bed???
Yes, thats right.

I am claustrophobic and that cabin did nothing to relive me of that.

Climbing up the bloody ladder I nearly fell off as the boat swayed a little, and I grabbed the sheets on top of the bed only to pull that away from the mattress.
I screamed and geoff pushed me up by my buttocks, he did it that hard I banged my head and wobbled for about a week.
I held on to the mattress even more.

Got into bed and slept on my side rather than my back as geoff said it will relive me of feeling dizzy.
It did not.
We kept the light on as I didn't want to drown in the dark.
I also kept my clothes on as I didn't want to drown in the nude.

Tossing and turning for most of the night eventually I dropped of to sleep. we both woke up about 5.30 am.
We got up and went out on deck for some fesh air (and to have a ciggie)

The cafe didn't open for breakfast until 7.30am so we got some drinks out of a machine which we had found after wandering around the ship for an hour.
Sitting down eating our breakfast geoff asked me if I was alright and did I feel better. Well, yes I did feel a little better and said so.
Good he said. You didn't hear the crashing and banging at 4.30.am this morning then? He asked.
I choked on my coffee and said no I hadn't.
He smiled and explained that for about an hour the bloody ferry had been rolling from side to side up and down and there was a lot of banging and crashing going on. Even geoff admitted he felt uneasy about it.

Many people were talking about it at breakfast because it had scared them although a lot of them sailed before.

I had slept through it all.

At 11.30am we left the ferry and I couldn't be better for it.


Next:
our 3 days in spain.

Ice on Mars

These pictures are from Phoenix the spacecraft that landed on the planet Mars on 25 June 2008.

Phoenix will also bring back some martian soil.

There has always been speculation about whether water is or ever has been on Mars and these pictures, hopefully confirm that.

That means that there could be micro organisms on Mars.

What else may we find?

We have always called mars our 'sister' planet because she is so much like ours although she is devoid of life. Or life as we know it anyway.

But now, after months of speculation could this be the proof we are looking for? Was there some form of life many, many years ago, or has she always been barren?

It looks like that there could have been a possibility of some form of life a long time ago, that has now dried up.

I can't wait to hear what the scientist find out. I find it fascinating.

Isn't it wonderful that we are able to send spacecraft up into space to find these things out, what else may we find out about our neighbouring planets?

As you probably know the four soldiers were flown home yesterday. My brother, bob and my sister-in-law Rosaleen (Seans mum and dad) were there and although the T.V. were there filming this they did not show sean coming out of the aeroplane because the pall bearers are SAS as well and they cannot be recognised.
We still do not know when the funeral will be held or even where, but I will let you know as soon as we are told.

I would like to say a big thankyou for your very kind thoughts and prayers. I do not know what I would have done without you at this time.
I have read your comments over and over again, it gave me such comfort.

Thankyou again.

Geoff and I have just got back from a short holiday in Spain, when my mother, Ruth, phoned us to tell us some sad news.

The photo is of my nephew Sean, who was one of four soldiers killed on 17th June 2008 during an operation in Afhanistan.

He is 28 years old.

He was over there for 6 months and was to return on Sunday 22nd June 2008.

The other three who also lost their lives are:

Corporal Sarah Bryant

Lane corporal Richard Larkin

Corporal Paul Stout

He leaves behind:

His father Robert and his mother Roseleen his brother Neil and his sister Heidi.

My brother, bob, lives in Brighton and my sister yvonne has gone down there with her daughter Dawn and her son Darren.

We will be going down next week.

No words can describe our grief.

These pictures are of Mars our neighbouring planet.

The photograph on the right is Mars in it's natural place from the earth.

The one on the left was taken back in August 2003.

This was the closest mars had been to Earth for over many, many years. Mars has always moved in a 'boomerang' fashion, coming close to the Earth and then moving back out into space. But on this occasion it was so close you could actually see a red glow on the Earth's surface and many photos was taken of this occurrence. It was so unusual.

Normal distance from Earth:

173 million miles

On this occasion it was only:

34.65 million miles away from the Earth.

No-one really knows why it came so close.

It will be a long time before this happens again.

A Joke for Dickiebo.

A young indian wondered how his chief decided what to call all the young ones.
So, one day, he went up to the chiefs tent and asked if he could speak to his chief. He was allowed in and the chief told him to sit down.
"My son," he said. "what do you want?"
The boy looked at the chief and said: "I wondered chief, how do you decide what to call all the children?"
"Aaahhhh, my son." The chief said smiling. "let me tell you, it is an old warrior way and we have been doing it for years. When you become chief you too will do the same."
The chief looked at the young boy and stared at him.
"My son, when a child is born, I name him/her the first thing I see. If a child is born and I see a stream then I call him/her 'running water' If I see the moon then I name him/her 'moon' If I see a bear then I name him/her 'running bear'."
The chief stopped and looked at the young boys face. The young boy looked taken aback.
The chief leaned forward and said:
"Why do you ask 'two fucking dogs?'

Air guns - Pyramyd Air Report: Diana 27 - a golden oldie

Air guns - Pyramyd Air Report: Diana 27 - a golden oldie

Dickiebo, Is this the 'diana' gun you mean?
Tried to get the actual picture on my blog but couldn't, well, you know what I'm like!


Geoff did have a 'diana' gun, and he loved it.
Apparently, every kid on the block wanted one and he was lucky enough to have one.
He loved it.
But was yours so hard to use? Geoff said you had to push the barrel down to cock it and it was very hard to do. Also the gun was so bent it shot round corners!!!

Thanks Dickiebo.

Thought it time to lighten things up a bit, now that the sun is shining.

So, here's a few pics for you.

Is this what they call 'sleeping policemen' ?

These are 16 pandas from China.

Aren't they so cute?

Thanks for sending me these pictures, David, I've just got to show them to everybody.

I went to work this morning, now since they stopped paying double time for Sundays I must admit I have stopped working on Sundays. But with a hefty dental bill to pay I said to geoff that I would have to do some overtime.
So off I went.
I started at 10.00am and finished at 1.30pm. I find that 31/2 hours is just enough hours to do as overtime, so I was happy with that.
As I was leaving I asked geoff to put the meat on about 12.00pm and I would see to the rest of the meal when I came home, as I usually cook the roasts on sundays. This he agreed.
Arriving home about 1.30pm. I went into the kitchen and sure enough the meat was cooking lovely. The veg had been prepared and the potatoes were waiting to go in.
"Don't touch anything" Geoff said. "I'll cook the roast today as you have been to work."
Great I thought. I didn't argue with him.

I made us a drink and sat down. Suddenly I looked at the time and realised that the potatoes should have gone in. When I said this to geoff he agreed and just sat there.
So I went in the kitchen and put them in the oven.

I then realised that the veg should have been cooking and said so to geoff so he went in to the kitchen and put them on. We had sprouts and cabbage.
Time went on and I got a bit worried when I couldn't 'smell' them cooking. I asked geoff about it and he said he only put them on a low light.
I walked into the kitchen and sure enough they were, on a very low light. They hadn't even boiled yet. Knowing that the meat and potatoes where cooking I turned the veg up and got them to the boil. I then turned them down to cook slowly.
Time went on and I asked geoff to check them, which he did but did not look in the oven at the meat. Realizing this I went into the kitchen and opened the oven door and turned the meat and potatoes.
I saw the gravy had been made but when I asked him if he had put some of the meat fat into it he said no, so I did that.
I came into the kitchen and geoff asked me if the meat was alright I explained that it only needed another 10 mins or so.
10 minutes later goeff asked me to get the meat out and leave it to rest.( We always do this.)
So back I went and got the meat out of the oven and left it to rest. In the meantime I had put the gravy on as geoff seemed to have forgotten about this. A roast is no good without loads of gravy, is it?
10 mins later goeff went out to prepare the roast and after another 10 mins I asked if he was alright. He said he was but needed a bit of help. I went into the kitchen and as he was cutting the meat up I realized he hadn't seived the veg, it was still cooking.
I got the collender out and seived the veg and at the same time got the potatoes out of the oven and put them on the plates.
I put the gravy on as well.

Geoff brought the dinner in and with a glass of wine we had a lovely meal.
Afterwards, geoff looked at me and said:
"That was a lovely meal I cooked wasn't it?"

"Er, yes dear." I said.

Oh yes, and guess who washed up?

Yes, thats right.....me......of course.

Bah........men.