Good evening everyone...Well what a week....I am so tired this evening. I've been working all weekend which has been a bit rough on me. Right now I have my eye lids pinned open with a couple of match sticks. So excuse me if I don't sound like I'm 'with it' right now but that's because I'm not.








I've had a bloody cold week. I think I got it all wrong. I mean I had most of the week off and then ended up working the whole weekend! First thing to go wrong on me was the heating. I had two whole days without any warmth in the house and I really feel the cold anyway so it made matters worse not being able to get the radiators on. I'll explain what I'm going on about....I was busy cleaning the windows of my house (as you do when you don't have a window cleaner) when I was upstairs cleaning the bathroom ones, hanging outside sitting on the window ledge scrubbing them with soapy water. I looked across the side of the house and to my horror I noticed this poor little ball of fluff and feathers stuck in the boiler flu pipe. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is the piper that comes out of the central heating boiler and goes outside the house, taking all those nasty gases and smell and bad things it produces and chucks them outside into the open air. With it blocked the gases and that can't escape and you can end up with them inside the house and ultimately dying of poisoning! On closer inspection I saw this ball of fluff had a head, wings and a beak. It was a dead little blue tit, don't ask me how or why it got stuck in there. I know they are nesting in my neighbours garden so why on earth did it get stuck up there? I guess it will remain a mystery (unless any of you know why?). So I thought I would be clever and try and get it out myself with a stick or something but that didn't work. So I thought I would be even smarter and try and get it out using my hands. I put on some rubber gloves and went to work....Unfortunately the birds head didn't want to stay attached to it's body so that was the first thing to go....then a wing until I finally got a big puff of feathers come blowing into my face. At this point I gave up with the removal attempt and decided to call in the experts. Unfortunately they couldn't come out straight away to fix it and needed to order parts and the usual kinda story! So I had no choice but to turn off the central heating and freeze to death! They finally came on Friday and fixed and replaced the bird stuffed parts and now I have a lovely warm house again but it certainly makes you realise just how good central heating is. I don't know how people used to cope without it!














On Saturday night I met up with Tom and Guy. They were at the theatre in Charring Cross area of London. They went to see a new play starring Billy Piper called 'Treats'. They both seemed to enjoy it. It made a real change to see them in town and to go out for dinner. We went to this lovely restaurant in Covent Garden called Fire&Stone. They serve Italian style food, kinda pizza and pasta dishes. We stayed in town a couple of hours before they had to go back home. It's a shame they live so far away from me or we would do this sort of thing more often.

On Wednesday due to my poor gran being ill (hope she gets better soon) me and my Mum had to take my Grandad to his hospital appointment. He had to have a camera inserted down his throat and into his intestine and stomach. It must have been very uncomfortable for him. The procedure is called a 'Gastrophopy' they use it to search for things inside you like cancers etc...Thankfully the test came back all clear. He was so brave though. Normally they would knock you out for this kinda thing but they didn't have enough beds so they asked him if he minded having it without that. I can't even stick a toothbrush down my throat without gagging let alone a camera!



As you can see Bobby has started to read...It may only be a copy of the Shenfield monthly magazine but it's a good start. I think (with some practice) he will start to read the classics such a Shakespeare and possibly the Bible. He is such a clever little dog...

On Tuesday evening I went to the Dentist. I was due my last checkup before I have the second part of my operation to get my implanted tooth. I'm very excited to get it done and finally see the end result. Andrew (my dentist) showed me the tooth which has already been made.... and explained to me the rest of the procedure. It seems very straight forward compared to the last op. All he will do is cut open the gum to reveal the titanium post and then screw the tooth on. Then after three weeks I will go back again for the final fitting and that's that! Thank God! It was typical though. whilst I was there he decided to give me a checkup (blow some air round and look with his mirror) and charged me £38! I tell ya I'm in the wrong business! All you careers advisers out there need to get me a new job as a dentist!

On Wednesday night I went to the cinema. It was a fun evening, we went to see 'Music and Lyrics'. I must say that I was really suprised how much I enjoyed the movie. I mean once you've seen a Hugh Grant 'romcom' you've seen them all but this one was different' I found it really quite funny. The story was good and very believable too. I would deffinately recommend going to see it.

Finally I was working today as I said and all weekend! It's been an interesting few days. I hope this coming week is a quiet one. Wednesday is pay day and then I'm off the weekend so hopefully I can go out maybe meet up with Tom.

Remember to leave me some comments and ideas and mail me some pictures if you do anything interesting this week. Thanks for coming and don't forget none of this Blog is worth it without you guys......

Stu
x

Hi everybody. Hope your week has been cool? I bet most of you got cards on Wednesday. I didn't have ALL your addresses or I would have sent one to each and everyone of you. I got two bits of post on Valentines day. 1. Sky credit card bill, 2. Capital one credit card junk mail. I was over the moon...... Not even my mother sent me a card! Shame on her! LOL..... I wanna know who out of all of you got cards and how many? I bet their is someone out there who got loads?

I spent Wednesday evening being pampered. I finished work early and hopped on the train into central London where I met Nas. We had an appointment at this very trendy bar, it's not just any old bar though. It's called the 'Ice Bar' and yep you guessed it, it's made totally of ice. It's amazing. You book a place on-line and you get given a specific time to turn up and can only stay for 40 minutes (that's plenty of time!) and you get a free drink whilst your there. Even the glasses were made of ice. It was so cold I came out with a red nose (not through drink) but because it was freezing inside! It's OK though you get to wear a lovely and warm furry cape which is provided and gloves. We had such a laugh I would definitely recommend it to everyone. It don't matter how old you are to go. It's very down to earth and relaxed as you can see from the pictures everyone just has fun.

Then that evening I spent the evening relaxing and being pampered at the St.Martins Lane hotel (sister hotel to the one I showed you all last week). It was lovely inside and such a nice surprise. Nas used to work there so he got an expensive room, cheap! It's an amazing place. Very much designed in the same style as the other hotel. I had only been in there five minutes and already I bumped into one of the girls from Atomic Kitten (Don't ask me which one!) I hung out there for a while and then went out for pizza express but because it was Valentines evening it was packed! I had a quick meal and left and in true rock and roll style I jumped on the bed and fell asleep watching Sky t.v.

The next day I was off work which was cool. Unfortunately my sister had a car accident and managed to duff up her car. Don't worry though she is fine. The car isn't so fine though but as long as she was OK it don't really matter. So we all need to wish her well and hope that her back and neck ache goes away asap! I visited her on Thursday and she seemed alright. She is a bit shaken up as you would expect. Get well soon Suzy! I remember when I had my car crash it was horrible and to this day I am still very reluctant to go down that road. I will always try and avoid it. I must say though that I'm disappointed my sis didn't take me a picture for the blog. That would have been first thing on my mind! LOL......If any of you have your car crash pictures then please send them to me (Especially Raks...I know he likes to hit things!) so I can put them on the Blog and we can judge who did the most damage.

On Friday I went back to the Doctors. My ears are still playing me up so the Doc had a good look inside and told me that I got fluid on my right ear. Which would explain why I keep getting this weird feeling inside like something is moving about. So I am now on the pills to hopefully get rid of it. I also am taking a nasal steroid so I just hope my nose don't get BIG! LOL.....

On Sunday I went to visit Tom and Guy. I haven't seen Guy since Christmas and we had a lot to catch up on. They have been away to the USA since I last saw him and lucky for me they got me this wonderful (I think) present. It's supposed to be lucky. I arrived early and we all had breakfast together and then went for a nice walk with Charlie (Guys Dog) and then they took me to this lovely local pub near their house called the Swallows Return. It's like an old converted barn type theme pub. The food was very nice and I even managed a dessert. Just take a look at this really nice (sarcastic voice) present they got for me from San Francisco....Aren't I lucky! A waving cat! It's supposed to bring me luck or something?

Before I go I have to tell you about poor little Bobby. He was getting very smelly. Due to all the bad weather we have been getting I think he had rolled about in too much mud n snow. So I decided to give him a bath. He likes all the rubbing and massaging and shampoo bit but when it comes to drying off he gets the right hump! LOL...I chased him around the house for about 20 minutes before I managed to get hold of him and towel him down...Cheeky little monkey!

Thats about all for my average week. I hope your all OK and have a great week. Hope to see you next week...

Stu.

x

Hello everybody. I have been receiving complaints about my blog for last week. I haven't checked it out but I think half of it got knocked off for some strange reason! I have been having trouble lately with the Blog site and I guess that's what happened. So those of you who weren't enthralled by my week I apologise. The trouble is I still have dial-up. I know what your all thinking. Yes I probably am one of the only people left in the world but I thought that the more people who turned to broadband the less people would be using dial-up and so in the end Dial-up would be quicker than broadband because only I would be using it! You see my logic? any IT genius's out there must know where I'm coming from? LOL.......

Anyway what a week it's been. I think most people reading this week have had a certain amount of snow. I love it but I hate it at the same time. It was typical that on that day I had to go to town for some work. I thought "well I need to leave early in case the trains were bad" OMG were they bad! I left the house at about 5am in the morning. I had to be in Covent Garden for 8am. I managed to get there for 07.55am! I only just made it. Those of you that don't wanna do the maths, it took me over 2.5 hours to get about 20 odd miles. Firstly I had to trek down to the train station which was a total mission. I think we had about 5 inches of snow here in Brentwood. I was slip sliding all over the place. The fast train from Shenfield normally don't take long to get into London but that day it took over an hour. I hate trains anyway and the thought of being trapped in one with nowhere to go makes me distraught so I was climbing the train walls. The underground was just as bad. I think everyone had the same idea about leaving early for work. I got to Stratford and the Que's of people were long. They were 4 person deep waiting at the platform for the tube. OMG I let about 3 trains go past me before I attempted to get on one. It was one of the most traumatic (don't wanna sound too dramatic) events of my life. We were rammed into that tube carriage like sardines. I had to go over 10 stops crammed in with more and more people trying to get on at each station. It was really horrible! I eventually decided to get off at Tottenham Court Road and walk from there. It was weird walking through the West End. It was absolutely dead. No one about at all. I think they were all either in bed or on the tube below my feet.

I do like Covent Garden. It's a great place to go and I think it's quite romantic. Lots of old buildings and a good atmosphere. If you've never been then I recommend you give it a try. Thankfully I was only there for a few hours and was finished by 12 o'clock. Coming out of the big square I noticed a familiar looking man sat in this big glass box. It turned out to be Richard Branson. I think he was launching his new Media enterprise. He is (for his age) a very well groomed looking man in real life. Some woman who was stood next to me at the time said to me "Why is he so orange?" I think it's all those days he spends on his secluded private island.

The next day I got up as normal the next day for work at 4am and was reluctant to get out of bed. I managed to drag myself into the shower and get ready for work. Luckily I had done this because five minutes after I got out the whole of the house was in darkness. The entire village decided to run out of electricity! Thank God I have a torch by my bed. So I had to make my sandwiches in the dark which was an unusual experience I have to tell you. The other bad thing about it all was that it's dark enough as it is as that time of the morning. So you can imagine what it was like walking to the station without any street lamps. I felt a little bit uneasy about it all!

On Thursday evening after work I met up with Nas and his friend Matt. We fancied going out and hitting the town. There was this nice little Thai restaurant that Nas had mentioned to me before which sounded good. So we drove up to town and heading to Thai Metro. It is just off Tottenham Court road near Warren Street Tube. I was a bit pessimistic about it when I saw it from the outside. But believe me the food is really great. The service is good and very friendly. I would definitely recommend it to you guys. I had a lovely Thai Green Curry and the boys had similar dishes. It wasn't too spicy so I was happy. It is quite a small restaurant but I didn't quite realise JUST how small until I went to use the toilets. OMG I have seen bigger aircraft toilets. I know Asian people are generally small (Sorry to stereotype) but they were tiny! LOL as you can see form the picture this is me trying to cram myself into the toilet! It's worth going to this place just to have a laugh getting into the loo!

Afterwards we had a short walk around to a very swanky hotel just around the corner. My mate used to work there so we managed to bluff our way in. It's a very swanky place. Normal hotel rooms there are over £700 a night. The concierge there was a really nice girl who was kind enough to take me up to the penthouse suite. She was telling me that a lot of famous people have stayed there. The likes of Beyonce. We went up in the private elevator and I felt very special. To think all these famous men and women had been staying there, using that very lift. The hotel has 2 penthouse suites each costing about £2,500 a night! LOL...It was very luxurious once we got inside. With a large balcony overlooking London and the London Eye and the Thames and all those beautiful landmarks. I couldn't believe that in one of the penthouse suites an Arab had been staying there for over 2 weeks! OMG he must be mega rich! Afterwards we went to the bar which is called 'the long bar' for a few drinks and then headed off home. It was quite an experience.

I had to work this weekend. It was OK though. The day didn't go to slowly. Tracy has been looking after a friends dog for a few days and she bought her in to see us all. She is a 3 month old bulldog called 'Molly'. she was a really lively little (well, not so little) dog. I couldn't believe how 'in your face' she was. Compared to my Bobby she was mental! I don't think Bobby would have liked here that much.

Today I took myself off to the cinema. I was'nt too sure what I wanted to watch but in the end I chose to see 'Hannibal Rising'. The critic's have been hard on this movie but I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of questions about Hannibal Lectures childhood and how he came to be the character he is today. I enjoyed it. If you don't mind a bit of blood and guts then go see it.

I'm off to the gym now. So I'm gonna sign off here. I hope you all manage to read the whole Blog this week and not a few bits that managed to upload. Don't forget to leave me your comments and idea's. I hope you all have a great week. See you next week.

Stu.

x

Hey everyone. I hope your all back to work and rested after a lovely weekend of nice bright blue skies and stars at night? My week has been average really. I have been working hard. Spending lots of time all over the place! All over the country. The week has been long though and I'm glad that February is now here! yippeeeee.....

My week started off in London with various meetings. It was such a nice day. London is just perfect to be in when the sun is out. I love it.

There was something big going on this week. As I passed Westminster Abbey the Queen was there and the bells were ringing out.

Bobby has been naughty this week. I couldn't believe it but on Wednesday evening I got home from work and went out into the garden to play ball with him as usual and I saw this thing laying there. I thought what on earth is that? So I approached it and to my horror it was one of my favourite teddy bears. The little git had gone up to my bedroom, onto my bed and picked one of the toys and decided he was going to play with him all day! OMG I went mad! (Not for long) he gave me that little I'm upset face and I had to forgive him but only after I ignored him for a few hours! Naughty Bobby! Luckily the poor bear was savable (is that a word?) so after 40 minutes in the washing machine and a few days drying on a radiator he is back to normal. As you can see both Bobby and the bear have made up and hopefully he won't be making another mistake like that in a hurry.

You'll all be happy to know that the floor has now been layed in my bathroom so you can all expect a bathroom warming party invitation in the post soon. It's only been about 5 months coming but we are on the last leg of this epic decorating journey! LOL As you can see though it's looking good!

I was busy for most of Saturday. During the morning i managed to get my car washed and it was such a nice day I managed to do some weeding in the garden too. After I went to Tesco's and did my shopping.

On Saturday night I met up with Chris. We had a great evening. We went out to dinner in Clapham and decided to eat Japanese which was lovely. I must wish Chris luck with his new job which he starts fully today. His first official duty is a conference and he has to fly to Mexico, he is probably in the air as I speak. So good luck Chris!

Yesterday I finally got to meet up with Tom. I haven't seen him since Christmas so it was really good to catch up and spend the day together. Guy was at work but I'm hoping to see him this week sometime. Tom and I went to Bluewater shopping centre and did some window shopping. We didn't buy much but it was an excuse to go check out the shops and grab a nice meal out too.

That's pretty much it for my week. It's been kinda a boring and non eventful week. The weekend has been good and I've enjoyed having a bit of time with my friends and family. I hope your all OK and that you have a great week whatever it is your doing. Make sure you come back next week. I have lots planned!

Stu

xxx