Friday, April 17, 2009

Time to catch up post!

Not having posted for rather a long time - I don't seem to feel inclined but rather tend to favour reading all of my favourite blogs instead - I thought I would do a bit of a catch up.

Redundancy / Retirement
The saga of the official paperwork (or should I say lack of it) continues so I still do not have a final date yet. The departmental reorganisation has completed so I don't have any official work to do and am on 'Gardening Leave'. Suits me, getting paid to do what I want to do which is .........

Guitar Playing
It is improving my playing no end having some additional free time to get practice in
Current pieces under the cosh are Highway to Hell, AC/DC, Pride & Joy, Stevie Ray Vaughan and getting to grips with some music theory which I didn't ever think I would enjoy but is adding to my practical work. It's amazing how much better it is when you understand how it all works :-)

Golf
Managing to get out 2 or 3 times a week now instead of the lone Saturday morning round and boy does it show. I'm still nowhere near threatening Tiger but hey he better watch out, I'm coming

Not all idle play
I have also been working hard on the allotment and after turning it all over, digging in masses of compost and rotavating it, I now have 5 rows of potatoes in, a row of carrots and a couple of rows of beetroot. In addition to that I have some 60+ seed pots sown in the greenhouse of cabbage, brussels, artichoke, runner beans, dwarf beans, some of which have already germinated and are beginning to put on some good growth.

Some more idle play, visiting our local Young Farmer's Club Lambing Day with Mrs DeeJay (and yes we did order another one for the freezer)

was culminated last night with a trip to Folkestone to see Gary Moore and Buddy Whittington (see my good friend Furtheron's Blog for an excellent review).
I have commenced a rather eclectic mix of shows/gig for this year with a visit a couple of weeks ago, again with Mrs DeeJay, to The Royal Opera House to see Swan Lake performed by the Royal Ballet. FANTASTIC! Gary Moore last night and to come are Carmen, 10CC, an organ recital at The Royal Albert Hall with youngest son and his girlfriend and of course Status Quo in November. Watch this space for additions. I am considering the Download Festival to see ZZ Top

Oh did I tell you about my 'Dumper Truck' racing? An activity voucher bought for me by my sons as a birthday present. No, well perhaps that's as well as I didn't actually cover myself in glory, although finishing 8th out of 18 wasn't too bad I suppose. It wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be as it consisted of lots of manouevering around tyres etc in a vehicle that is controlled by two joystick controls (skid steering they call it).
I was actually in the lead at this point!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

This made me happy today

If only this could replace wars, economic and geographic disasters
And why did it bring a small tear to my eye - its only people dancing after all?