Half term projects

Thursday afternoon already. Had a great holiday in London and Norwich, will get round to blogging that later. For now I need to get on with some jobs and some projects.

One project has already been completed. I have finished a LEGO movie. Not the ATAT walker I'd intended, but the Time Machine that I got in the LEGO shop in Stratford.

Must stop trying to clear the Sky box (at 0% again when I got back) and start tackling this instead..

Drat.. having to tackle the biggest project that I intended to deal with over the summer first.. the fact that my MacBook is completely full, in desperate need of back up and terribly out of date. Nuts.. right.. made enough space to upload photos from iPhone...

Now, I know me, so I know that none of this will be tackled. Some of it might end up being sort of looked at as procrastination.

Anyway... the projects. First is the summer/winter clothes changeover. This time its the one that makes me sad... shorts away, thermals out. Boo Hiss.

Second project is the sorting of my own personal library. I need to make and paint the bookshelf I got at Ikea back in August, then I need to have a sort through all my books, catalogue them, and hopefully find shelf space for those that are just in piles in the loft.

Time to crack on.. nearly 2pm already.. washing machine first.. still got to unpack from holiday.

4:30. The plan works. Have sanded and put two coats of paint on one side of the spare shelf and it looks good. Also had a jaffa cake/QI break and given Gladis a bath. Towels boiled, now drying. Must stop texting Kris. Sooner or later I annoy him.

Predictably, failed to complete any projects and failed to tackle any of the messy flat issues. I did make a start on this..

And the bedroom is dusted, hoovered and clean duvet-ed. And I made it to Soup Kitchen.

Where does time go?

Friday:

Work with Clare, then 2 hours helping Slim sell some stuff at Cash Con. Then dinner. So thats most of the day gone, it's 3pm already. Pondering deep thoughts today.. like if you know (vision/premonition/whatever) that something bad is going to happen when you set off to do something christian.. are you allowed to not do it?

So, by Friday night I'd sanded everything and painted the three big bits. Hopefully having figured out correctly from the instructions which surfaces need painting. And had a nice book and crisps break, and looked for a friend online, and watched the start of Tomb Raider 2, remembered it was crap then watched most of Born on the Fourth of July,

Saturday:

Finally watched the end of Cars 2 on the iPad (must keep job so don't lose iPad) then run. Feeling old as I seem to lose fitness so quickly... 7.5km counted as a long run today. Hopefully I will be better by the end of Series 1 of Dr Who! Now I need to stop procrastinating and do more painting and bathroom cleaning.

.... bathroom done. One coat on the shelves. Promised Slim I'd meet him for coffee, so dinner in McDs. Today's procrastination was getting sidetracked by a couple of charity shops. Got a cool suit (trousers and waistcoat) that actually fits in BHF.. must get a pic.. and yet another Quiksilver tee in Barnados. Then finally back to painting. Did most of the clothes swapover while coats were drying, but finished later than hoped.. was still in Tescos buying tea at 9:45. Don't think supermarkets count as 'going out' on a Saturday night!

Probably says a lot that I have 16 Star Wars, 12 Harley Davidson, 14 Bike, 19 sport, 17 Animal, 13 geek, 8 football and 12 gig t-shirts. 138 t-shirts in total. Plus the 4 polo shirts that I'm actually allowed to wear for work!

Sunday:
Writing this watching the GP.. currently Lorenzo first, Rossi second... let's hope it stays that way!
Oh Bum... Rossi you twit.. just went wide and lost two places.
Nuts.. just went even wider and is now waaaay back. Who changes brakes 5 mins before the race?!?!

Appreciated the extra hour's sleep. Then up to meet the CMA guys at Texaco to go for breakfast before a church visit in Enderby. Porridge a good choice methinks. Trying to pull out of a layby in third not a good choice methinks. Bad stall. That's what I get for waiting for someone! Church service good.. great band, then straight out to do the CMA bit with the youngsters. Felt useful. Spoke to Jack for the first time, she is a drummer.. looking forward to her gig in December. As usual, got left behind on the way back. Sigh.

Oops. Fell asleep watching GP so 4pm again by the time I got started. Rapidly wished I hadn't bothered. Firstly even Ikea want to tell me what a sad loser I am:

Put that one on Facebook. Instead of a supportive, reassuring comment, cousin Jo said it made her snigger!

So glad I bothered with the masking tape...

Started to go really badly wrong when I tried to fit it all together. The dowels did not fit in the holes. So I tried persuading it with a hammer, which is normally required. Not a good idea...

Nothing fitted together. Ended up using pliers to scrape the dowel to make it smaller. Then the weird plastic bits wouldn't fit it. Naturally the back wouldn't slide in either. Not having fun by now.

All for this.. a few piles hidden in the loft..

Amongst a whole load of other piles..
 

This was pretty much the final straw. I was only trying to check the shelves would be in the right place.. 

Had a bit of a rant on Facebook. Even fixing it to the wall was a total pain in the arse. Pained over all the damage and went to bed.. after attempting to cheer myself up trying on my new suit. From a charity shop :-)

Monday:
Last coat on the damaged bits. Looks ok in the end. So not worth all the hassle though. Should have spent the money buying the Kindle versions of the books instead!

So, holiday over and the books are still in the loft, and there is now even more of a mess in that room.

And I haven't done any of my school work. Time to turn off Game of Thrones and get working.

Sunday 3rd November.
Still no books on the shelves and still an absolute tip in that room. I have done school work though, and I played drums Friday night. Not done that in ages. Far too lazy yesterday, but managed 8.5km, a furrow free selfie haircut, and have a clean kitchen, and done all the ironing. Got up early this morning and did all the faffing with finding wellies, making coffee, moving bikes and vans etc to go to the car boot. Only to arrive at an empty field. Drat. So. Now drinking coffee and blogging and trying to make space on Macbook hard drive, listening to kd lang (Happy Birthday) and Johnny Cash CDs. No doubt I will manage to be late for church now.

Was late for church.. even though me and my bike got a lift in Phil's flatbed truck hehe. Not the most amazing service ever but hey ho. Food and last bit of ironing to Ghostbusters (fell asleep and missed the end). Then cleaning.. I can now see the carpet and through the windows in the 'spare' room.

Promptly made a mess again..

Finally..

London Town

Half term holidays started as they always do.. me belatedly chucking stuff in the van and heading off down the A14! No-one told me it was going to shut.. luckily I made it there just as they were putting cones out, so didn't have to do the huge diversion. New carpet in the back room, so had soup for tea sat on the floor by the back door. I know what happened last time they had a new carpet.

Repacked ready for an early start. This is all I really need!

Remembered how much I actually like long journeys.. when I don't have to drive! Kindle and a bag of popcorn.. I'm happy! Had to go the really long way to London.. via Colchester! Managed to find the Travelodge. Disappointing how little my navigation is trusted (a theme repeated throughout the holiday) yet Pops had no idea where he was at any point.

Anyway.. City shirt on, tube into London, Ma sorted with a theatre ticket, grub in a Spoons (full of Arsenal fans.. eek! Tube to Arsenal.. impressive stadium, but not compared to the Olympic Park or Wembley... or indeed Carrow Road!

This has to be the best photo I have ever taken. I was genuinely trying to do a panoramic of the whole stadium, but didn't move fast enough. About wet myself when I looked at the screen...

Having not been able to remember which tube station, then only finding the stadium by following people, Pops then had to ask 2 different policemen before we found the pub. Aspie hell in the pub, loud and packed and sticky floor. Fought our way out with our two pints of shandy (shameful, I know) to meet Jon and Jamie and Daniel. Well. Daniel was lucid at least! Most drunk I have seen Jon, which is good. He seems less embarrassed by me when he is drunk. Quite how anyone can drink two pints and one Jaeger bomb in less than ten minutes is beyond me! I scored a world record for managing my shandy in that time!

Off to the game.. how exciting!!

Must be the warm up... only time we got the ball!

Maybe they should have stuck to doing the hokey cokey!

Oh dear. 4-1. Still had a great time, and it could have been worse (like yesterday when we lost 7-0 to Man City)

Back to the pub. If possible, Jon and mates got even more drunk! Very entertaining walk back to the tube station.. on the way Jon turned into Alan Sugar and talked the Burger Van man into doing "One pound cheeseburgers for all!!"

Flip... 8 minutes in to Meet Joe Black and I'm crying already.

Abandoned by Jon and mates at the tube station. Met Mum at another one. Had tea at the Harvester. Salad City! Had desert in a doggy bag. Was very yummy eating Sundae in bed watching Cars 2 on the iPad hehe.

Sunday: late start thanks to the lack of sleep caused by 5 separate lots of drunk people arriving back at the hotel, shouting obscenities at each other, banging on each others doors, banging on our door then, as we found later, throwing up in the corridor. Nice. At one point I thought Ma was going to go out in her jammies and shout at them. Brief visit to the shops at Piccadily Circus first, can't resist Lillywhites, even thought it's just a massive Sports Direct now. Expensive, but could have been worse. Mooch round Trafalgar Square..

The Empire are taking over! 

He must get fed up with that happening..

 Got a geocache then went to the  Portrait Gallery. Happy to see out Judi, and there were some very cool ones by Jonathan Yeo, and a massive one in the same room as the head made of blood, that looked like a photo until you got really close. Pret lunch sat out in the sun, then Covent Garden were Mum bought a multitude of scarves from some mental Australian woman, then back to Leicester Square.

Just ambling down the street wondering what to do when we noticed a throng forming, and then some noise. Intruiged I ran over to investigate... and ended up seeing Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson at the Premiere of Saving Mr Banks! Admittedly this was through a gap in the security fence, while being shouted at by security guards.Still.. bloody amazing though! I have seen and heard real live famous people!!!

This would be Mr Tom Hanks...

If only I'd had my Nikon with me..alas. Ah well.. the lovely Ms Emma Thompson..

Unfortunately the best photos I got were of the producer or director, and I have no idea who he is..

All the stars went in for their movie, while we went into the Chiquitas next door for grub. Had an argument with the manager over military discount on a young person's meal. Pops said he was suprised they let me have the meal with all my grey hair. Git. The churros made up for all the abuse. mmmmmmm. We left at the same time as the crowd from the premiere (thanks to poor service) and I made a guys day as he walked past and I said "that would be me.. tuxedo and all stars.. looks cool man" .. he turned round, grinned and said "hey, thanks". Unfortunately there were no opportunities to chat up Thompson.

Tempting to stop for a Blackadder supper on the way back to the hotel.. Baldrick had this poor guy marinating in a puddle for two days..

Awake very late, but got ourselves sorted at record speed so out before ten. Hoping it would brighten up later for the O2, so wondered how to kill time in the morning. I must have been decisive, as we did my choice and went to the Science Museum. Followed Ma upstairs, stopped halfway when we realised the Red Arrows thing was in 3D, and not free. Carried on anyway, and I am sooooo glad we did.

Ma went in to see the 3D film, while me and Pops had a go in the Typhoon jet flight simulator. We seem to have developed a theme for leaping into things in a 'that looks cool, let's do it' way, then sitting there before it starts wondering if we are going to be sick, or, in Pops' case, wet himself. We did lots of flying upside down (some intentionally) and a couple of celebratory loops and barrel rolls. Don't know what we were celebrating as we didn't hit anything.

Had a look round the history of medicine bit, so now I know what an iron lung actually is. The kids bit, Launchpad, was awesome. Loads of cool stuff to play with. Bagsy-ed bringing JJ. The thermal imaging camera made it obvious why I'm always cold. My glasses look like sun glasses as the don't let heat through, but my whole head was white... oozing heat.

Had to make ourselves leave (via the gift shop) so we could make it to the O2 in time. Only just. Sat through the b*ll*cks talk at the start trying to set the scene of some halloween style monster murder. Was mostly wondering if I could nick any of the mountaineering equipment decorating the place. Then got kitted up. Seemed a little over the top for walking over a dome on a trampoline, but I guess H+S is the boss these days. Annoyed I wasn't allowed to take my Nikon, that I'd killed my shoulders lugging around all day, but at least the outfits were good for a giggle..

Another safety talk telling us what not to do (which I ignored completely because they were the fun things to do) and then onwards and upwards..

In answer to the usual question... yes!

Should have brought the stove, brew up a cuppa..

You can see why I ignored the instruction to not bounce. Tiggered my way up, and slid most of the way down.. curse the stupid ratchet safety system!

Was a small breeze... not sure what he's playing at!

Greenwich Observatory..

Lighthouse through the (fake) snow..

Emirates sky ride thing..

Slid most of the way down. Tried to do it without the 'instructor' seeing, until he confessed that all the instructors had tried it one day when it was raining and really slippy, and had made it through three junctions before the system had caught and yanked them back. Amused all the guys that had already carefully walked down anyway. Ma was too busy trying not to do it accidentally to notice.

Didn't dawdle in the O2 after, and certainly not walking all the way around it again to get the geocache. Had to stick to the plan and get to Westfield. Someone wanted to go to a particular shop hehe.

Was fairly restrained. Very tempted with R2. Couldn't resist the BTTF DeLorean though ;-) and almost forced to go and spend another pound or so on a minifig to get a free christmas set. Have trained my parents well, they just sat down and played with the Lego while I failed to be decisive for quite some time, then helped to find parts of a mini me minifig.