Evening everyone,

I think I should start with my bit of bad news. My aunty Pat passed away last night. She had been fighting an illness for quite some time. She was ever such a lovely lady. She was in her 80's and used to live next door to my Granparents. They had all lived next door to one another for over 48 years and were very close. Think my Gran will really miss her. I just hope that where she has gone now is a place where she can be with her husband Ron and is happy and no longer in any pain.

On Monday I went out for the evening which was lovely. I had such a great night out. I went to the theatre. I went to see Evita. I finished work early and went into the West End. I didn't really know much about Evita and the whole story but I managed to keep up (I think). It was at one of the theatres in the Strand. It was funny actually because my Dad and Maureen had been to see it a few weeks before and sat only two rows in front of where I was sat. We were right at the front in the stools which was really good. The place was packed and the time flew by very quickly. The music was great and the performance was good. It has been ages since I went for a dinner and a show so it made a nice change. We at at Wagamama's which is a really good restaurant chain. I think you probably have one near where you are? I had the chicken katsui curry. It was delicious but i couldn't manage it all.

Doesn't London look great even after dark? This is the fountain in Trafalger Square. It was really cool walking around there that evening. I then went to visit the Queen after at Buckingham Palace. all the lights were on but she weren't home.

Well it looks like Autumn is finally here and it has been so cold and rainy this week down in London and Essex I just want to hibernate! The woods nearby my house are so pretty this time of year.

On Tuesday night I met up with Chris. It was nice to see him. He is back for good from China now. He has some new job opportunities to look forward too. We went out in Soho and had a few drinks. We went to the Village and chatted for a couple of hours. It's great to have him back in the UK. Chris has always been my cinema buddy and holiday buddy and since he left for his posting abroad I don't have anyone close to go with. So I hope we can get back to going out regularly again.

On Thursday I had a complete disaster. I decided to hook up with Jamie and thought I would be clever and go after work. So I finished work a bit early managed to get the train and get home. I quickly got showered and took the dog out and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Hoping to get into town for about 9. I got onto the motorway at about 7.30 and hit the longest row of red lights I've ever seen. The traffic jam was really long and by the time I got back to Chadwell Heath (where I started from at work) it was too late to meet Jamie so all I managed to do was a complete circle and not even get into town. So I'm sorry Jamie for letting you down that night. Hopefully I will get to see you next week.

So all this has been going on and I'm still trying to recover from the flu. Which incidently work are sending me off to have the flu jab on Tuesday. Little bit too late if you ask me but never mind. If it's free I'll have it....

I laughed on Friday so much. To cut this long bizarre story short I managed (don't ask me how) to break the headphones to my ipod! As some of you know I am always listening to it. When on the train, at work, doing the ironing? No, I take that one back....Sorry Mum.......Doing the washing, walking Bobby. So I am a bit lost without them. Norman who I work with thought it was be nice to bring me in a set he had at home....It was very sweet of him but they weren't exactly what I expected..........I was as nice as I could be about it but he gives me a lift to the train station most nights and I felt a bit obliged to wear them so I didn't upset him. What do you think? I don't think they did my street cred any good??? Sexy or what? Don't all go out and buy me a new pair now! I managed to get to the Apple store yesterday and buy myself a new set. Although they cost me £20, which I know Raks agrees is a little bit pricey! LOL....

On Saturday. I met up with Tom and Guy. We went to Bluewater. Tom's brother James has just had a little baby girl called Brooke. She was 7 pound something. So we had to go shopping for a card and balloon and all that stuff that goes with a new baby. It was so busy at Bluewater. I guess most people are now deep into there Christmas shopping! As you can see from the picture below Jade Goody was there signing copies of her new perfume. She seemed nice enough and even found time to pose for a picture on the Blog. Thanks Jade...x

Tom had thehugestt cup of hot chocolate I've ever seen. What do you reckon?

I had a serious drama on Saturday night. I was all rested andcozyy after watching x-factor and to be honest the weekend off I had so been looking forward too had been pretty awful anyway. Actually I think any guys reading this might want to turn away or skip this paragraph as it's a bit painful for us all... I had some bad pains in the water works department and when I went to the toilet I was bleeding. It was so painful. It was ten times worse pain than having teeth pulled out! When itdidn'tt stop bleeding I was getting a bit worried.Welll more than a bit. So (don't ask me why) I thought I would go to bed and hope it would be alrite in the morning. LOL..Ittwasn'tt much better. My boxer shorts were a bit blobbed with blood by the morning! I went to the toilet and OMG it was like pissing razor blades...Excuse my language. So I thought I should go to the hospital. Not that I mind going. It's just on a Sunday you have to sit there with all the footballers and being sobering up from the night before. LOL....I went to our local A&E which is Basildon Hospital.

I waited for about 4 hours and eventually got to see a doctor and he had a good fiddle about. Which is verydemoralizingg especially when it involves those kind of things. I gave a sample and he thinks I have scratched the insideurethrar which is the canal that takes Urine and that out of you. He tested the urine and still found traces of blood. I am a little bit worried but I have to go back in 7 days to give another one. Hopefully it will be all gone by that time but if not I have to go see aUrologistt. I am OK though. It just hurts right now when I go to the loo. LOL....

Do you think I should audition for the next Superman movie?

So the weekend I was sooooo looking forward too turned out to be a complete disaster. I should have just gone to work. I would have got into less bother I think. I'm on an early shift next week so I hope I will get to have a rest? Maybe???

Well I don't think I have much more to add apart from I hope Eileen gets better soon. I hear on the grapevine that she's been off work? So Me and Bobby send you lots of well wishes. Other than thanks for reading the Blog for this week. Stuart is in bed right feeling sorry for himself so I am filling in for him this week.....Lick Lick...... Bobby.

Evening everyone, I have had a bit of a funny week. I seem to put that in all the time now? I think my life is a bit bizarre......... Anyway. I hope your all ok? I guess you've all got into your cosy offices by now sitting down with a cup of coffee?

I've had a really bad week. It all started on Tuesday. I'm sure you all remember that i was due to see the nutritionist this week on Wednesday. I got home on Tuesday afternoon from work as I was on early shift. Settled down, got myself some food and then sat to watch Deal or No Deal when the phone rang. It was my nutritionist, I had only gone and got my days muddled up. Which is very out of character for me. I was really embarrassed. So that was the start of a bad week really. It cost me £35 in a missed appointment fee ( that'll teach me!) andIi was looking forward to going really. I even swapped my weekly rest day to Wednesday from the Tuesday so I could go to the appointment! Doh! So the moral of this story is "please can someone e-mail me and remind me when my next appointment is!"

I had a day off on Wednesday because I having to work over the weekend. My Dad was kind enough to come over and help with the bathroom decorating. We had a bit of a drama (as usual) with getting the bathroom sink off the wall. Some idiot had cemented it all so theydidn'tt have to fix it to the floor the proper way! Typical. So it took much longer than we originally thought. Once we got it off the wall we could tile the wall behind and it looked really good once we had finished. We only have about 12 or so more tiles to put on the wall. Then allthat'ss needed is to put floor tiles down. It will really look nice once it's done. I can't wait to get it finished. I went out the other day and got my mirror and the other bits and pieces. It's all starting to take shape.

On Wednesday night me and Nas went out. We ended up going to TGI Friday's in Enfield. We had a lovely evening. The place was dead due to the England footie match going on. So we had the restaurant to ourselves. LOL.....

Vegetarians please turn away NOW!
I had a lovely fillet steak with cheesie mash and vegetables....mmmmmm....Itt was lovely. Nas had some vegetarian Nacho's which looks ok butIi like a nice bit of red meat once in a while. Afterwards we decided to get desert from Krispy Kremes Donut place across the road..Ass you can see they were very nice.


Don't let my Dentist see this picture or he will go mad at me...

Do you think me and Nas could get jobs or even advertise for the company? We look really enthusiastic about our donuts don't we?








On Thursday night I popped into London's West End to see my mate Jamie. I'm not sure if you remember him? He is the actor who was performing in the play in East London. Anyway, we met in one of the bars in Soho. He was very drunk by the time I got there. I think he is having a few relationship problems but we had a nice evening chatting. I haven't seen him in quite a while but we had a laugh. It wasn't very busy in Soho. I was surprised for a Thursday night.

I past Oxford Street on my way home that evening and thought you might like to see the Christmas lights of London. He he, enjoy.... The weekend has really flown by. I have been working for both days which has been a bit harsh but I had no choice in the matter really. I was working today until 7ish but by the time I got home and did my dinner and came on line to chat with you guys it's time for bed. Bobby is there already keeping the bed all warm and snug for me so I'm gonna say good night and speak to you all next week....

Stu

x

Who you lookin at punk?

Good Evening everyone. Hope your week at work has been an uneventful one. After the last few weeks of my life I have been glad of a week of nothing going on. I was on a late shift this week and it really seemed to drag on. I had to work until 7.30 most nights which means that by the time I get the train home it's gone 8pm and after cooking dinner (as I am no longer allowed microwave food!) it's gone 10pm and time for bed.

My Gran has got better sooner than I thought she would. I have been checking on her throughout the week. She visited the Doctor on Thursday and he checked on her foot. He has referred her to a specialist at the hospital so who knows what he will do? For the time being though she is fine. I went out on Saturday and did all her shopping for her which turned into a bit of a drama. I spoke to her the night before and asked her if she wanted anything and she gave a me a list over the phone. I thought I would be smart and head out early on Saturday morning to beat the rush at the supermarket. So I got all my shopping and hers too and went home. When I got home she had rung and left a message for me telling me that she had a list of things she needed! Ahhh I wanted to pull my hair out. So I had to go all the way back to the supermarket just to get a few extra bits. So that just goes to show if you try and be clever it can blow up in your face.

The traffic in London this week has been horrendous. I'm not sure why but getting anywhere has just been a complete nightmare, with plenty of accidents going on all over the roads. I dread to think what it will be like by 2012 when we have thousands upon thousands of people coming into London for the Olympics. I am not sure the services will be able to cope. I'm sure that the emergency ones won't be able too. I don't think anything will ever dissuade people from using there cars.

Today (Sunday) I went to Bluewater to get some Christmas presents. I know you probably think I'm mad and that it's still a bit too early but trust me their were about 30,000 people with the same idea. The car park was jam packed with cars. I didn't have much to buy really but got a few pressies. It's quite good at Bluewater at the moment because in the M&S car park they have got Auto Glass repairing chips. I have had a bad one in the middle of my windscreen for some time now and it's been bugging me. It would be a definite MOT failure so I needed to get it fixed. I was amazed how easy it was to get it done actually. Normally anything that involves cars is always a hassle, right? But this was easy as making scrambled egg. I think I got the most annoying technician I could though. He seemed to think his job was saving lives or something!

I asked if I could watch the whole thing and see what happened and they were more than happy to let me. Maybe I shouldn't have seemed so interested in it but I thought I would ask for your benefit. He He.
There are several forms of impact damage when it comes to chips on windscreens, these are:-
'Bulls eye' - a circular indentation
'Star break' - small cracks radiating out in all directions
Other combinations of the above with names such as, 'cloverleaf'

What causes these stone chips? I hear you all ask? Well a few things really. Mostly from gritter lorries, loose stones on the road surface oh and idiots chucking bricks off the flyover...lol.

And finally what makes it turn into a crack?
Shock, vibration, extremes of temperature (such as turning the air-conditioning on full on a scorching hot day), driving time or factors such as frost, dirt and moisture getting inside a chip can all contribute. I didn't realise this but Glass doesn't have much strength in it. So no ability to resist outside factors. Once a chip or crack appears, external stresses like heat, vibration or movement cause it to expand

It was amazing to watch the whole thing going on. They attach this tool to the windscreen. This tool is designed to control many of the variables in the repair process. The vacuum is used to remove the air from the break. This is done with the resin held in the capsule, so no resin or liquid is over the damage. Once the air has been removed from the break, the pressure or filling cycle is accomplished in the most efficient manner. There is little need for manipulation of the break to remove entrapped air. It is filled and repaired in about 20 minutes.

So now we are all experts in the art of windscreen repair who wants to come setup a rival franchise with me? If any of you have chips on your cars then send me a picture and maybe we can have a competition to see who has the biggest chip?



I know I always talk about Bobby but I'm not sure if you know that I have Guinea pigs too. I thought about getting a Rabbit aswell but decided to stick with a couple of guinea pigs first to see how I got on with them. I have had them since they were tiny little fluff balls. They are called Orlando and Olivier. They are real characters, they aren't like dogs though that want to be cuddled but they do let you sit and watch them play and occasionally let you stroke them.

The one on the left is Olivier and the big fat brown one on the right is called Orlando.
Unfortunately they only have a normal life of about 3 years but I think after that I may go and get a few more, possibly breed them as they are really nice little creatures and I have plenty of room for them in my garden.

I had a nice surprise at the beginning of the week. A parcel came from Selfridges with my name on it! I thought great someone has got me a little pressie but then I remembered Todd 'Becks4Me' as you might know him had sent my Mum a gift for her birthday.

It was a really nice gift and she really liked it. It was cute. As you can see it was really well presented with a basket and that. Inside was a small bottle of fine wine, fine jam, finest chocolates and some breakfast tea bags. If any of you want a nice gift for someone and you don't know what to buy them go on the Selfridges web site and get them something like this.

Talking of Todd. I thought I would put this picture on here for you as I know you love Marks and Sparks. He He just a little teaser of the big superstore they have a Bluewater shopping centre.

Seeings I have talked about the Guinea pigs in this blog I thought I would leave you with a snap of Bobby. Before you ask where he is right now? Just look at the pic below as you can see he is fast asleep keeping my bed warm for me, he he. Isn't he cute?

I wonder what he's dreaming about? Ok well enough rambling on for this week. I need to be up at 4am tomorrow so I need my beauty sleep. Hope your all well and happy that your back at work for another week? But don't worry it'll soon be Christmas and that means times off. Yipppeeeeee.....Hope you'll be back next week.

Stu.

x

Hey there. I hope you all had a great week and managed to keep yourselves out of trouble and worked hard. If I hear that any of you are ALREADY in the Christmas mood I will be coming to wherever you are and chasing you round your workplace!

It's been a busy week for me. There has been plenty of drama, excitement and worry but lots of enjoyment going on too. So overall I can't complain really.

Firstly I should get on with telling you all about my Mum's birthday. It was on Monday and if I say she was 5x10+8 I hope she won't e offended? The family got together and we went to a nice carvery pub called the Artichoke in Brentwood. The food was really really nice. I had a lovely roast dinner. Everyone came, my sister,brother, brother in law, Keith, me and my Mum all went. It was a fun evening. We don't often get to mix up like that as a family very often. I am really the only one who still lives in Hutton. We all chipped in and brought my Mum a digital camera so I am expecting to show some of her handy work in the coming months for you all to see. Which will be very interesting I'm sure if you like pictures of cookers and kitchen cabinets...










I have been on an early shift this week at work which always kills me! By the end of the week I am so tired all I want to do is sleep. I wish I could hibernate like a bear for the winter. It must be lovely for them all wrapped up warm in there big furry coats. I had Monday off as my weekly leave day but I didn't do a great deal. I was still recovering from my dental op. Thankfully I am back to normal now.

On Tuesday I went back to the dentist to have my remaining stitch taken out. I managed to eat the other one which I must say wasn't very tasty! Andrew (the dentist) is really pleased with how my mouth has healed. He reckons I have had 2 weeks worth of healing in just 6 days. So I am a good healer apparently. They took some X-Rays and everything looks good in my mouth. I have to go back for another check up in a month's time. Then after two months I go again, if all is well after that I should be ready to have the final part of the procedure, which is putting the porcelain tooth on the titanium post. So fingers crossed for me that it continues to heal up and grow into my mouth.

Thursday was a bit of a bad day for me. I got home from work as normal but was feeling pretty tired from lack of sleep so decided to get some rest. I made my dinner and then went and laid on my bed. The next thing I know is that I get a phonecall saying that my Gran has managed (don't ask me how) to cut her foot badly. So I went round there to find the scene of a mass murder! There was blood everywhere. I won't go into too much detail but she had managed to cut a vein in her foot and it was spurting blood everywhere! It is a bit in dispute as to whether it was her main arterial vein or just a varicous vein. I personally (as I am an expert when it comes to fatal injuries!) think it was the artery due to the way it was pumping out blood. We called for an ambulance and just managed to stem all the bleeding. As you can see from the picture below! Yes, oh Yes I wouldn't leave you out with the graphic details. So if your a bit faint hearted look away now!
This was just in the hallway. As you can imagine it was everywhere and it spurted like mad! Up the walls all over the bathroom.

The ambulance came and we all went off to Basildon A&E department. My Gran looked very ill for a while and jokes aside I was really worried about her. I held her hand while we waited for the Doctor to come and see her. After about 2 hours we eventually saw a doctor and by that time when he looked under all the dressings the blood had stopped. It had sealed itself up which was good. By this time my Gran had a bit of colour back in her cheeks and I was feeling a little bit more relaxed about her condition. My Mum came and sat with us and helped out too. I am very glad she was there. The doctors and nurses kept asking me all these questions about my Grans medical history and I didn't know anything. So it was nice she was on hand to answer questions and help get my Gran back home. The nurse dressed her foot and at about 1am we got home. Got her into bed and relaxed. I was glad it was over.....Anyway I had to be up at 4am the next morning so needless to say I was like a Zombie on Thursday.

On Thursday I went off to work as normal. When I got home I went round my granparents again to try and clean up all the mess. My Grandad had tried his hardest but it didn't really look any different from the day before. I managed to use a carpet cleaner and scrubbed the carpets. after about 2 hours they are kind of back to normal. It made me realise though just how murderers get caught. It is impossible to clean up every speck of blood. I went round that house so many times and still I missed bits.

Yatin invited me out clubbing on Friday night but I my bed was far more persuading than him.

Saturday I had a lovely evening and Tom's place. It was Firework night and he had a few friends and family over for a BBQ/Firework display. Tom's Mum & Dad put in an awful amount of effort to make sure that everyone had a great time. As you can see from the pics some of the fireworks were really loud and exciting. I do like this time of year. It is crisp in the mornings and really clear in the night time. I can go out into the garden and stare up at the sky and watch all the beautiful stars. It's amazing if you just take a few moments one evening to go outside and look up. You'll be amazed after a few minutes just what you can see.

Tom made his traditional Tiffin and also he made a delicious Banoffee pie which was just so nice I can't describe it. The picture on the right is of Tom and his Mum.

Sunday has been such a nice day. I got into London early as I wanted to do some Christmas shopping and I also had to meet Aaron in the afternoon but it was such a nice day I put Oxford street on hold for a few hours and took a walk. I thought I would show you all the sights of London. If any of you are ever London way then please e-mail me and I would love to show you round. As you can see from the pictures below no expense has been spared to show you the delights of Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery.....

.....Even the changing of the guard!

I did lots of shopping eventually though. I managed to get to all the big department stores down Oxford Street before it got too busy. I went in John Lewis, Selfridges, Marks, House of Fraser. It's really nice at the moment. Most of the shops have got their Christmas displays out. I know you'll probably all groan when I say this but I am only a few pressie's away from completing ALL of my Christmas gift list. He He I hate to leave it to the last minute.

I met up with Aaron early in the afternoon and we did a bit more shopping before going to Soho for lunch. We decided to eat at Balans down Old Compton Street. It was delicious food. I had a Thai Green Curry and Aaron had Soup of the day which I think was tomato. It was quite busy in there with loads of old queens LOL but they always make me laugh waving their cigarettes around like it's some kind of magic wand.

Soho always makes me laugh. I saw this poster in one of the windows of a shop and thought it was hilarious. How on earth can you have a universal game and then all of a sudden make it appeal to a group of people who probably play it anyway? Do they think that it will make it more attractive with pink skittles or something? Check it out it's really funny!

I got home a little while ago. Cooked myself a nice piece of steak and thought of you guys and had to come upstairs before I got round to eating my desert and type up the weeks Blog. I am feeling very tired now and it's getting late so all that is left for me is to put on my silly picture of the week. He's a bit of a hunk? I do like a bear in uniform.

Oh and before I go I need to apologies to one of you fellow bloggers who I was supposed to meet but due to my Gran almost bleeding to death I never got round to it. So to my friend Ali. I'm sorry about that and I hope to see you next week mister.

Also thanks to Todd for ringing me today but as you just read I was out all day.

A big shout out to Raks and everyone on Team 4.

Take care to you all and hope you'll come back next week. Enjoy your week.

Stu

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