Long day with too much work

It was a long day today with lots of work needing to be done.

What made it worse was that I also had to work when I got home. Can't say I was overly impressed at that LOL. The only saving grace was that one of the jobs I was supposed to be doing got cancelled so at least I didn't have to keep going until the wee small hours.

I only went and cooked today!

Hold the front page, I only went and cooked today! Work was busy but I got to leave early to meet Toni for an appointment that she needed to attend. When we got hime she was feeling absolutely knackered.

I had to work for a bit when we got in and Toni was napping and also feeling hungry. Once I'd finished I headed to the kitchen to offer to cook..... and I did. We had mushroom dogs, courgette, broccoli, spinach and mash. It was bloody lovely. It doesn't happen very often bit it's nice to know that I can still cook when I need to.

Our evening was spent having a Preacher binge as we plough our way through season two.

Late start, productive day and QI

It was a struggle to get up this morning and as Sam was off for another week I decided to go in later. It was nice to not have to rush. My throat was still a little tight but the rest of me felt fine.

It was a good day, busy but productive and as the hours rolled on I started to feel better and better which was a great relief.

Got home to find that Toni had been suffering from the lungs all day which was less good.

We spent the evening eating Indian food, drinking tea and watching many episodes of QI.

Feeling meh, recover day

Woke up today feeling a bit meh. Throat was a bit croaky and I felt cold and tired.

Fish fingers for breakfast helped a little bit and we watched some Jack Whitehall standup with was funny. I crashed out part way through.

Toni had to take some bit over to Jade and Aaron's so I helped her load the car and while she was out I ended up putting on extra laters and an additional heater to try and make myself feel a bit better.

I indulged in a nice cuppa and some sweets and then watched some NXT rasslin' and part of a horror film called The Landlord (which I'll have to finish another time as Toni came back LOL). I was feeling much better by the time Toni returned though which was a good thing.

We breezed through Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father which turned out to be quite an amusing set of shows. Some of it was cringeworthy but it also carried some fun and emotional bits too. Well worth a watch for a travel series with a difference.

We finished the day by giving the Netflix series Borgia a go. Not to be confused with the excellent The Borgias show this one gave a different spin on the same subject matter. It wasn't a great spin so we probably won't be seeing that one out LOL.

Sam returned home from a trip to Nottingham so we had a catch up, watched some Hell's Kitchen and Marvel's Runaways.

By the end of the day I was feeling much better thankfully so it looks like I'll be back to work as normal tomorrow.

Sega fun day

Sam and I had a Sega fun day today.

We burned out way through World Of Illusion and then had great fun with the Golden Axe series. We don't really get much opportunity to game together so this was a welcome bit of time together.

A proper day off, secret stuff, Ziyafet and Pitch Perfect

I had a day off today. It was a proper day off with no sneaky bits of working. Just a full day off! Woohoo!

Toni and I went out for the day to do something quite exciting that will be revealed later. We had a great time though :)

Toni and I went to Ziyafet with Jade, Aaron and Ryan for a yummy dinner. Can't go wrong with the food there and we had a good time.

On our return home Toni retired to the bathtub and I indulged in Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2. Toni was not a big fan of the first one so watched it alone. Zoe came back from her role playing club we watched the second one together. We don't seem to be able to convince Toni that she needs to come and see the third one at the cinema though LOL.

Didn't want to get up, busy day, lasagne and TV catch up

I really didn't want to get up today. I was pretty tired after School Of Rock and could quite happily have stayed in bed. Sadly this was not an option so I dragged my carcass off to work.

It was a fairly busy day but I was slowly winding down as I am off tomorrow. New team is slowly coming together and processes are starting to take shape which is good.

Got home to a massive lasagne for dinner so I was delighted.

We then caught up with Lucifer, The Blacklist and the new series of The X-Files.

School Of Rock #SchoolOfRockUK #SchoolOfRock

I scored a serious win today as dad sent me a text saying that they had a spare ticket to see School Of Rock tonight at New London Theatre due to Joy no longer being able to make it!

We had excellent seats:

The show was absolutely brilliant. It was much better than I had expected it to be. The songs and lyrics were very clever and the whole cast were great. The kids play their instruments for real which was most impressive and the final 'gig' was just like being at a rock show. They even let you take photo!

Rocking out before we said our goodbyes:

Here's what it's all about:

Back to work and a meal with dad and Stephanie

It was back to work today which is always the least fun part of nice break. New Year and new beginnings are we start to put in processes for interfacing with my new team.

Thankfully it wasn't a crazy day as many clients were easing themselves in gently so things ticked over at a nice steady pace. It would be very nice if the rest of the week could be like that too.

After work Toni and I met up at Waterloo East to go and have a meal with dad and Stephanie at Tas Ev. It was really nice to spend some time with them, have a catch up and enjoy some good food. Star Wars, musicals, family trees were some of the topics of conversation during a very enjoyable evening. We won't leave it so long before we do this again.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my friends and family whether we meet face to face or just know each other online. May your wishes be granted, your hopes be fulfilled and you all have much health and happiness.

...and just for Sam as I know how much this wording annoys him:

Best laid plans, Ziyafet and a quiet News Year's Eve

The plan had been to get up earlier today and do stuff. Best laid plans and all that LOL. Stuff can always wait right? Oh well, we are hurtling towards 2018 so who cares.

Toni, Zoe and I went out for lunch at Ziyafet and then did a little shopping before heading back home to chill.

We aren't party animals these days so we had a nice quiet night in. There was not even a drop of alcohol involved, we just drank tea and enjoyed some nice nibbles as the clock rolled over into 2018 in the company of Stephen Fry touring America......

Getting up late, The Last Jedi, Ziyafet and We Are Twisted F***ing Sister

Today was another nice getting up late day. I am enjoying these although the days of having to get up at work time is rapidly approaching which I am less happy about LOL.

When we did get up we grabbed a cup of tea and then picked up Jade and headed out to Bexleyheath to watch The Last Jedi as she hadn't seen it yet. This was number five for me.

I still don't get why so many people didn't like it, I think it is great. I love the character development, I love the interesting twists in story arcs and I think it has set the whole final trilogy on a very healthy course for the final instalment. Thankfully Jade enjoyed the film too so it was definitely worth the wait.

After the film we then went to have a lovely meal at Ziyafet and chilled out for a couple of hours. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon/evening.

We finished the evening off watching We Are Twisted Fucking Sister, an amusing documentary on the early days of Twisted Sister. If you are a fan or have a passing interest in the band then this is well worth a watch.

Say-Gah, Fantastic Beasts and fun with the Lowes

This morning was made of nostalgia. Yesterday Toni bought me a Sega Megadrive all in one console with 85 games on it. Today it was activated! Oh the joys of starting up Sonic The Hedgehog and hearing that wonderful Say-Gah (Sega) sound.

My starting point was brief sessions on Sonic The Hedgehog, Kid Chamelon, Columns, Chakan and Bonanza Brothers. Oh so much fun to be had here. This console also has an active cartridge port so I can pick up a few other games over time (Cool Spot and Aladdin are top of my list).

Breakfast of bacon and eggs was accompanied by the most excellent Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them to round off our Harry Potter and related viewing. I'd forgotten how good this film was and can't wait for the sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald next November.

Our evening was spent in Essex in the company of Helen and Keith. The plan had been to play games but we never got that far as we were just having too much fun chatting and messing about. It was a fantastic night with great company. Shadow also entertained us with his wacky bag antics.

The only bad thing today was Zoe throwing up as soon as the car pulled up at home at the end of the night. Thankfully she'd managed to hold it together for the last part of the route. Not a very pleasant way for her night to end so we settled her down and got her to bed.

This excitement over it was time for a cup of tea and some New York Rangers v Detroit Red Wings action.

Up early, lunch with Jade and the final Harry Potter run

It was up bright and early today to get loads of stuff out the front ready for bin collection. It was cold and it was early and I am not sure I was that impressed. We had a lot of bags to put out and to make matters worse the bin men didn't come early LMFAO

Next stop was a cup of tea to try and kickstart the day and then we watched Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets as we continued our run through.

We took time out to go and have lunch with Jade at Ziyafet which was really nice. It was good to spend some time together and do a little shopping.

We finished off our day with Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 to close out our Harry Potter quest. Might have to pick up on Fantastic Beasts tomorrow LOL.

Bananaman The Musical take two #Bananaman #ManOfPeel

It was back to the Southwark Playbouse tonight for round two of Bananman The Musical. Sam and I were back for more this time accompanied by Toni and Zoe.

Once again it was a wonderful show. There were a number of little tweaks that have been made here and there to make everything work a bit better. It is still a fantastically fun production that once again had me smiling from ear to ear and oh those tunes, they just elevate me.

Marc Pickering and Carl Mullaney are just THE best villainous duo as Doctor Gloom and General Blight. They work so well together and it produces comedy gold. You couldn't ask for a better evil pair! Jodie Jacobs is great in her role as crow and has a great voice and provides the perfect sidekick for Mark Newnham  as out hero Eric Wimp. Eric's alter ego Bananaman is handled by Matthew McKenna who hams it up in a delightful manner. Emma Ralston plays investigative journalist Fiona Mullins and oh those vocals, she's a real powerhouse and her solo number Pretty In Pink is a joy to the ears. TJ Lloyd handles the role of bumbling police Chief O'Reilly wonderfully, Lizzii Hills is great as Eric's mum Mrs Wimp and Brian Gilligan makes a mean Mad Magician. Big shout out also goes to Chris McGuigan and Amy Perry who complete the Ensemble.

I've said it before and I shall say it again, Leon Parris is a musical genius. The tunes are fantastic, the lyrics and VERY clever and the whole damn ridiculous thing just carries you off into a place where you can't do anything but have fun.

It still gets 5 stars from me, or should that be bananas!


So that's two down. I suspect there will be at least one more before the run ends!

Boxing Day and Harry Potter

Well here we are in Boxing Day and another day of waking up late. Sheer bliss. We got up, had some breakfast and then decided to revisit the Harry Potter films, this time of the extended variety.

Not only was it great starting to work our way through the collection again but it was also fun seeing scenes that we hadn’t seen before in the standard releases. 

As we watched we indulged in pickies and nibbles to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Christmas mead and more Rattler Berry kept us from getting parched.

Three films down and the hunger started to grow so we prepped up some of yesterday’s leftovers for another marvellous feast.... and there’s still enough for tomorrow too :)

So in the end we managed the first five Harry Potter films. We had another fantastic relaxing day just spent with no stress, good company and good food. Life is good :) 

Relaxed Christmas Day

We had a really relaxed Christmas Day. For the first time ever we didn’t get up until noon. There was no rush to do anything so we had a cup of coffee to kickstart the day and watched The Grinch.

Such a great film to mark the start of our Christmas. I love the way they perfectly captured the look and feel of the wacky world of Dr. Seuss. It’s the only Who I need on Christmas Day LOL. This was accompanied by toast, smoked salmon and some Rattler, om nom nom.

At 3pm we started to think about prepping our Christmas dinner. It was going to be a late one but we didn’t care.

Next up on the old gogglebox was Disney’s animated A Christmas Carol (this wasn’t an intention Jim Carrey fest LOL).

I’ve always loved this take on the Dickens classic. The spirit of Marley is amazing and the ghosts outside when he departs truly convey the despair of leading your life the wrong way. 

Presents were had and then we started putting the finishing touches together for our Christmas dinner. It was actually nice to eat much later in the day. It was gone 7pm by the time we actually ate. Toni worked miracles in our tiny kitchen and served up an amazing spread.

In a bit of an odd one we watched an episode of UK’s Strongest Man with dinner. Go figure LOL

Suitably fully up we then embarked on The Muppets Christmas Carol.

You can’t beat a bit of this musical classic at Christmas time. Sam, Zoe and I were singing along. 

It was an absolutely brilliant Christmas Day. It was great just having it with no plan or expectations. Eating late in the evening was a genius idea and there’s still plenty left over for the next day or so.

Merry Christmas, Yuletide Wishes & Season's Greetings everybody

Merry Christmas, Yuletide Wishes and Season's Greetings to all my family and friends. I hope you all enjoy your holidays and time off no matter how you celebrate! Le anpetu ki wo waste yuha (There is goodness in this day). However you celebrate (or even if you don't) have a fantastic day. Peace, light and love to one and all.

Twas the night before Christmas.....

So here we are on Christmas Eve and I get to post the same old stupid videos I always do because it's like tradition right? These always make me smile and hopefully they'll have the same effect on you. Before that though I'll start off with a few nice pics of how nice our living room looks.

So here we go, in no particular order, some Christmas videos:

A Star Wars Christmas Carol


Next up we have the wonderful Oh Santa from Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer


...and last but not least we have one of my favourite songs from A Muppet Christmas Carol