Two weeks in and all's well...

Well we've been back a couple of weeks now and the heating and hot water have only just been mended.
Huzzah!
However, the entire boiler had to be replaced, after they had tried to mend the old one - so two bills to pay for the price of one.
Huzzah!
On the plus side, the wife brought back a kitten-cat from work. Cute and black. I did moan but the family called me a grumpy old goat - so at the risk of there being even more animals in the house, I yielded.
Huzzah!
Names suggested = Kit Kat, Ninja and Wilfred. At the moment he's being called all of them and only manages a pathetic squeak back.
Next on the family TO DO list are loft insulation, oh and er Christmas.

There and back again

Got back home in the early hours of this morning, after a drive through dark and empty roads from Gatwick. An easy drive but still kernackered when I got in. Seats too cramped and uncomfortable to sleep on the plane, so I only got a couple of hours...

Turkey was great, a relaxing time was had by all and the weather was reasonable too. Bodrum was a good town for shopping and eating out. Bartered ourselves out of all our money. Girls came back with rings and scrarves and bags and cushion covers and lamps and... boys got a bird whistle each...

But they did go on this Fly Fish inflatable - pulled off of the back of a speedboat so that it lifted us all into the air. Hope to see some good photos of that later. Also took some underwater snaps off the end of the jetty near the hotel. Spent a lot of time swimming in the sea - much warmer than the pool would you believe. Boys jumping in like loons - the wife paddling serenely -daughter avoiding all contact with sea, under any circumstances.

Hotel fine- 4 star but probably not quite as 4 star as you expect. However no real complaints about the free beer and food. Though the kids ate quite a lot of rice and pasta as it was very European food - salads and ratatouille type sauces. I didn't mind though. The desserts were quite an adventure too.

Excellent rooms and fab views meant we all relaxed into the laid back pace - followed by locals and staff alike.

Nice bit of 'istry at Bodrum - local town. The castle built by the Knights of St. John in middle ages. Eventually bombed in WWI and so on. Turkish incredibly proud of their nation and it's history.

Also did trip to Dalyan to bathe in mud then wash in eggy hot sulphur spring. We smelt good! Impressive rock tombs in cliffs on the way to seeing sea turtles too.

Anyways, had a good family holiday, though I fear that the kids will have caned their phone bills...

The evening before...

Off on Hols tomorrow, weather forecast not great, but who cares. It's a change that'll be as good as a rest. Going via Gatwick to Bodrum, all inclusive and relaxing. Hope to get a bit of warmth in the old bones before winter really sets in. The last few months have been a bit stressful so it feels like we've all earned it.

House-sitter all set. Car MoT'd. Travel paperwork sorted. One more sleep, as we tell the kids.

Haven't been abroad with the whole family for a few years - not since the great Paris/Mimizan trip of 2004. Normally we head, avec tents, in August, down to the South West for a bit of summer body boarding/castle action. I don't think there are many sandy beaches where we are going but I've heard there are some turtles.

Nice.

Job done.

Here we are, two jobs done -hair cut and this...

Big up Diablo Ink. Nice job Tex.

MoT booked. On a roll...

Busy Bee

So, off on holiday to Turkey week after next. Means we're all getting set. I've managed to avoid any preparations so far, except filling in passport forms, which is one helluva job. They even got one passport wrong at Peterborough so we had to go up there to get it changed.

I don't think I'll escape the wide avenues of the town centre this weekend, I fear the wife has a shopping trip up her sleeve. Someone mentioned swimming shorts, but I drew the line at flip-flops...

Meanwhile, and more importantly, I'm going to get a tattoo done tomorrow, the car needs an MoT, and I need a haircut. Will be busy at work next week - all sorts on - so will try to get everything squared away before I go. Helpfully we fly back in during the night and I go back to work first thing in the morning afterwards. Huzzah. No fatigue there then.

Looking forward to it all though. Kids haven't flown before and we haven't been abroad for ages -all inclusive - free drinks - happy days!

A little balance required.

So while I didn't walk out of the cinema seething with rage, I did wish I'd seen District 9 instead.

Here's something good I liked to balance it out.

Flash-Forward. Complete nonsense. And, a bit like Lost or Heroes, all the better for it. The acting is decent - the action spectacular enough - both reminiscent of most good TV dramas - but the key thing for me is that it's in bits and you have to work out where they all go. The pace is good, there's a little cliff-hanger at the end that you weren't quite expecting and an appropriate tone of tension and menace threading through it.

"Nonsense!" I hear you cry.

Mmmm.... nonsense.....

Not quite a Brucey Bonus...

Went to See the new Bruwillis filum 'Surrogate'. Bruwillis, cop in the near future where people can use robot surrogates to live their lives for them - but someone is out to sabotage this cushy little number!
Not much cop I can report sadly. A mangled mess of crass acting and stilted dialogue with an uncomfortably similar narrative to i Robot (including the same 'nutty professor') . More - a tangled crush of poor FX and limp action done in a hurry and without much regard to the poor audience who have to witness this lacklustre effort. The trailers were more enjoyable. Really.
But the worst thing about it was that there were points when I thought 'Ooh, sort of interesting that!', but then I was suddenly clumped from behind with the 'that was crap' brick that was shoddily lobbed in my general direction by the Director.

Rating -probably wouldn't prevent the Sunday afternoon snooze following your large roast dinner.

Mmmm....large roast dinner....

...and rest.....for now.

Added pic..Huzzah...
Had to change date so it came out below the 'I'm going to add a pic' comment.
These blogs blog in the wrong order I think.
But I suppose that's the way it is.

October 11th 2009

Welcome to The Monkeyreado Vision.

A sort of family blog in a sort of 'I'm avoiding Facebook' kind of format.

So here goes. I'm going to try a pic.

see my vision! October 11th part 2.