It’s been months since I posted anything here, and I see that we are all flagging when I look at the others’ diaries. So here goes.

Christina was over here with Mike for 10 days just after Easter. We had a great time, though really hectic, as we tried to see all of England, including the Habberjam clan in Pontefract, in that 10 days. Actually it was great for me to be able to visit all the places that we went to. It’s been years since I managed to do any tourist things in the UK. Most memorable was probably the visit to the Tower of London, and the Ravens coming right up to us for “finger pie”, if you believe the Beefeaters. The weekend in Pontefract was great. Managed to do the pub crawl around the town centre with my folks, including starting off at the pub of my cousin who is the largest contributor to our clan at present (lots of boys too – just to keep the name going). We Canadians wimped out at about 1 AM and went home, but a couple of the family were out till 4:30 AM!!!

In summary, we visited Stonehenge, Salisbury, London, York and Windsor, plus other bits. No doubt the rest will tell more eventually. All in all “toute la gang” had a great time during the kids’ visit, I think.

I have had a lot of time off work over the last 3 weeks – what with Easter, then another public holiday 2 weeks later, and the days off with the visitors. Unfortunately, that’s put me a bit out of touch at work, so I now have to work my bu . . . . off to catch up. On the positive side though, I’ve built 2 sheds in my garden (garden tools and bikes) and finished off the shelves and everything in my garage-based workshops – feel good about that. I have also cut the grass twice in the last while, and it needs doing again now (when does it turn brown here?). The garden looks terrific though, and we appear to be still going through spring – it’s all the blossom trees that are giving us colour now. Stunning blooms all over the place.

I was supposed to be in Taiwan this week, but cancelled out at the last minute. Taiwan was upgraded re the SARS risk last week, to #3 hot spot in the world now. I was looking forward to going too, so I hope they solve this soon. I have been spending an increasing amount of time in Plymouth recently. That area is really nice at this time of year (as long as the sun stays out). I just wish it was good news as to why I am down there – but it’s not. My project there is in the dumper and doesn’t seem to be getting better. Still, they wouldn’t need me if all was fine?

Trish is getting busier with the Church, the Women’s Institute, and volunteer work. She also worked one day as a Poll something or other during recent local elections. That’s £100 in the bank, which will last her for years no doubt. I know the $3000 (or so) that she earned in 21 years in Canada certainly supplied her with lots of wardrobes over the years, and still left her with ” . . my own money . . “.

Ya gotta love it eh?

Well, gotta go now. Have to go out for dinner tonight, from work. It’s a lousy job, but someone’s gotta do it eh?

Byeeeee.