where has my blog gone?

And why did I not go wtih my first instincts yesterday and stay in bed because I felt rubbish??

Mops and knees

Well i'm still alive after my cableski debut, and my arms are still joined to the rest of me, although only just! Very amusing evening. As a novice you are required to go on a knee-board (just to make you look even more ridiculous next to the pros) before they let you upgrade to wakeboards or skis. As someone who has been before - as in for half an hour last week - the boy went straight for a wakeboard enabling me to laugh at his face-planting skills for an hour or so! Although by the end he could make it down the first straight and actually look reasonably competent. He even had a go at some backboarding, although I am not sure if this was deliberate. He fell over backwards, but for a few seconds managed still to hold onto the tow and keep going.

I wasn't brilliant either. Its very bouncy on a kneeboard, and the first go I only managed about 10m before falling off, however the second and third gos I got to the second corner and my last try I made it to the last corner. Corners are tricky because unless you swing out far enough, which assumes you have some sort of control over your craft, the cable goes really slack and then jerks you forwards again, generally in my case off the front of the board. Reckon my arms are 2 inches longer. It also seems that if you are rubbish you spend more time walking than boarding - if you fall off, you have to swim to the nearest lake bank and walk back. Given that the straights are the easiest, this is generally from one of the more far-flung lake corners. Still it was all a good laugh and I reckon next time I'm going to try some face-planting on a wake baord.

Today I randomly have a day off, for no particular reason. Its great. I did play the good girlfriend and get up to make the hard-working boy brekkie, but then went back to bed with my book. Generally loafing around, reading, house-hunting (a regular past-time even though I have nothing that resembles a house deposit) and watching the mop preparations. Even though it is only a common-or-garden funfair, it is more exciting when it is happening in the middle of the street right outside the house. THey have just let the lorries in and they are starting to try and make rides from all the bits inside them! Going to hit the fair again tomorrow night...

Here I am!

Oooh look at me back in the world of blogging! My friend Clare has just set up a blog to record her trip to NZ (sorry Nic!) and I wondered whether I should warn her that blogging can change your life, but decided it would be way too corny. Blogging, of course, changed mine in a good way which i suspect is why in the last 18mths my commitment to it has waned drastically...

So, whats new?

* Still working as a coastal scientist and loving it, still struggling with the commute, especially as my car is an endless stream of problems. Grrr

* Still happy living in marlborough with the boy, laughing at posh people trying to park cars as close as possible to waitrose blah etc.

* Had fab holiday to Crete (including a 2day trip to Santorini for geography geekiness) which involved muchos drinking, a Greek wedding in a cave with lots of pigeons pooing on people, hiking down a 16km gorge and not being able to walk down stairs for the next two days, swimming in hot springs, climbing a volcano, snorkelling and general lounging/foolishness

* Still going surfing, and regretting living so far from the surf. Now being much more careful about strapping boards to roof rack after a regrettable and v stressful incident on the Severn Bridge that resulted in the motorway being closed and the roofrack (+ 4 surfboards) ending up on the central reservation, but fortunately no accidents or knackered boards!

* Enjoyed Marlborough Mop at the weekend - big funfair all down the high street (i.e. right outside our house - we had the ghost train right outside) This was cool although we hadn't thought that the cash machines would all run out of money, so only had 3 rides. Not so much fun when they spent all night packing up the fair so that the high street could be open again on sunday. The Mop is on again this weekend - plan is to drink more and stay up later to deal with the noise.

* Become an aunty again with the birth of baby Jack at the end of August.

In future events, we are going to cableski on thursday, which should be entertaining.

Right-oh that's an epic post....

Herbie rides again....

... hmmm.. not a good night on the car front, although could be a hell of a lot worse! I came home from work, parked my car outside the front of the house on the High Street (wide road with a row of diagonal parking spaces down the middle, one of which I parked in) then pottered around the house for about 45 mins, tidying and washing up, during which time the boy came home. On finising washing up, I happened to walk past the lounge, glance out the window and spot... an Audi TT in the space where previously had been my car.... Oh f*ck. Panic. Walk over to the window, and spot my car no longer int he space in the middle of the road, but at an angle over this side of hte road, with its rear corner parked into a 4x4 whose owner was undoubtedly in waitrose. F*ck.

So. I made Andy come outside with me cos I was afraid of what carnage closer inspection would reveal. Luckily we made it outside just in time as the owner of said 4x4 got there about 30 seconds after us. I did some grovelling in a flustered fashion, then moved my car out of the way so we could inspect the damage. Hard to see in the fading light but didn't appear to be more than just a few scratches luckily, and the bloke was very nice about the whole thing.

And no. I didn't leave the handbrake off. It was most defnitely on as I tried it as soon as I got into the car. And the car hadn't rolled backwards immediately as the guy had only been in the shop about 10 mins and I had been home much longer than that so something must suddenly have gone wrong. Not sure what though as we tried the handbrake afterwards and it seemed fine.

Lesson: Leave the car in gear. Difficult for me to remember - I was taught to leave the car in neutral adn so only remember on really steep hills.

Other car news... my parents had a copper turn up asking for me and about the Safari Micra. Who I had sold it to etc. Guessing that isn't good for the poor micra and thinking whoever has done whatever it is to it hadn't registered ownership otherwise they wouldn't have had to come asking us who had it....

Broadband

Yep we are now connected to the big wide world here in Marlborough, so it may just be that I start writing on this thing again. Had to confess to a posh Marlborough-ite yesterday that the boy and I met on the internet - she is a friend I have known since school but haven't spoken to for about 3 years and she was somewhat surprised.

In other news, we are now bona fide Marlborough residents as we have started socialising in Waitrose! It is apparently when you know you live here when you pop in for some milk (or in our case £70 worth of veg, beer, wine, posh cheese and gin) and meet people you know. Hurray!

Dizziest blonde in .... Marlborough!

Well I'm no longer the dizziest blonde in Swindon, now residing in Marlborough (old market town about 10 miles south of Swinedown). It is much nicer than Swindon basically. Was definitely time to escape. And Andy and I are now officially cohabiting, in a lovely old 3 bedroom flat above a jewellers on the High Street with a roof terrace! Its all good apart from the market stalls which set up at 5am on saturday mornings, and the sadistic street cleaner who thinks that 5.30 am is an excellent time to clean streets on sundays!!

YAWN.... Yay!

Up at quarter past 5 this morning, and now apparently for no reason. Due to pick Andy up from 'Frow at 7ish, had a shower got dressed and made brekkie... then turned the puter on and his flight not expected till half 9. Grrr. The traffic on the motorway will be much worse then too so it will take loads more time.

But - yay! Andy is coming home. I have been missing him and been most envious of him swanning around in NY - although I am obviously really glad he is enjoying himself and that he survived the marathon. But boo. This arvo he has to take a train to Blackpool for a conference and won't be back from that until tomorrow eve. Boo.