To finish our day we had a mini barbeque, with steak, sausages, corn on the cob, salad and new potatoes. We’ve also been clever and put some jacket potatoes on to slow cook, so we’ll be enjoying them over the next few days.

Lets hope that the nice weather continues, and that this is the first barbeque of many this summer!

This year we are off to Tom and Charlotte’s with Clan Palmer for the day. We are looking forward to a Marks and Spencer Christmas lunch!

Happy Christmas to you all!

At last – after over 2 years of struggling to find the time to do it, it was such a relief to be posting off my nicely bound dissertation project. Could be a few months before I know if I’ve passed or not, but at least I get to breathe easier in the meantime. I’m really looking forward to having my life back!

Jen and I both feel strongly about supporting this campaign after seeing the appauling conditions in which Chickens are farmed. Whilst we have no problem eating chickens or eggs we would at least like to see them enjoy the same life style as other farm animals and for them to be able to live as they are meant to as free roaming animals.

Please support the campaign at www.chickenout.tv

Part of the excitement of moving to a new area is getting to explore what’s about. We’re very happy that on our doorstep are lots of beaches, the countryside and places to visit. We’re not big ‘tourists’ but on this occasion it was nice to walk down and explore Ogmore and Merthyr Mawr. We got pretty muddy but it was a beautiful winters day.

It’s unusual for us this summer to have seen more or less all of the immediate family. With the exception of those up in Scotland that is. This last weekend we saw my side of the family including my Grandparents which was really nice. I was glad they were able to visit us as they don’t get chance to come down very often. Hopefully we’ll get to visit everybody else soon as well as we don’t really meet up enough and I enjoy it a lot now I live away from them.

Any way, at the risk of making my Mother cry I’ll stop there…

We also were able to feed them from the garden which was cool. Most of my family aren’t really that bothered by it to be honest but Dad enjoyed it!

Our summer went something like this:

July 2007

Ian and Viv’s Wedding somewhere near Silverstone/Oxford in a little village I forget the name of! We had trouble with the hotel and ended up having to drive back after wedding and eventually got home at 1am. Still, nice day overall.

Then we went off to Camp and it rained a lot. I think you probably all remember the rain. Still on the plus side there were no arcade games this year which was a definite plus in my opinion and the week went very well overall.

August 2007

August saw another wedding but this time for Bethan and Chris. I have to say that of the 3 weddings I have been to this summer I enjoyed this one the most. No offense to the other parties concerned but I really enjoyed meeting up with my family who I don’t see as often as I would like to.

During August we escaped for a week to a small town in France to stay with Jen’s mum and dad. Like last year we had a very relaxing week and enjoyed being spoiled by Eira! There aren’t many photos to show you as I didn’t take any!

The last event of the summer was the wedding of Ellen and Tom. (Photo soon!) Once again we enjoyed ourselves and were very impressed with the venue and the food on offer! I think they win that prize this year!

My new job is going well and I have already been in post for 5 weeks. I have made the most of being able to walk and cycle to work and have only taken the car out of the garage a handful of times. Hopefully it will start to pay off soon both financially and physically.

Jen is well. Busy as usual. Perhaps I’ll let her add her own update…

The new job is going really well. I’m really enjoying it, despite the fact that the hours are longer and it is an incredibly busy job. It is nice to have a bit of a challenge, and to feel as though I am developing more than I was towards the end of my last job.

We’re absolutely loving the new house, moving here has definitely been the right thing for us. It is beginning to feel like home now as we have been making an effort to do things like put pictures up and grow plants! We still need to do a bit more before we have our proper house warming party (such as putting carpet down on the stairs), but it shouldn’t be too long now.

Very excited to have received my new car today! Just been for a drive around, and it is pretty nippy! Looking forward to taking it for a real ride over the next few days.

Things have been a bit tough with trying to juggle the new job with a new house and with my dissertation, as there are so many things vying for my attention of equal priority at the moment. I’m hoping to get a short extension for my dissertation so that it gives me a bit of time to settle in to my new job, which should make life a bit easier for the time being. So many things going on at the same time – but at least it keeps me out of mischief, eh?!