Tony Sutton’s Blog!

Hmm, looks good. Their own TV channel (channel 31) on Free to Air box. Why can’t we, the UK people, have something similar to this?

See http://www.deaftv.org.au/ for more info.

Good luck to them!

Yesterday was good, relaxing day in the house. Left the electric heater on almost all day so it was cosy and warm.

Presents was good. Had a nice, big roast dinner and ate pudding too.

So full up, we still have the “full up” effect this morning.

Can’t believe we’re going back to work tomorrow & Friday.

Today is going to be another lazy day too. Not bothered about the Boxing Day sale out there, don’t think we need to buy ay more stuff apart from a new digital camera for myself which I badly need as the current one is broken. Going to hunt around online…

Hope you all had a nice Christmas!

Got here at 7:50am and its only me here at work. I hope there’s more people coming in…

Pretty heavy fog all day today. And the frost is starting to form now - the roofs along the houses are almost white.

I’m wearing two T-shirts and fleece with thick socks. Similar to the missus too. And blankets in the living room. We’ve turned on & off the heating now and then. Going to turn it on when we watch Top Gear at 8pm.

Parents been & gone - was good to see them. We swapped presents and we chatted about what has been happening from the past few weeks.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow - blah. Hoping the big boss will give everyone a half day…

Currently cooking dinner and getting ready for tonight’s TV. Oh yeah and we watched The Great Escape -a great Xmas TV show!

The lack of hot water is starting to get me. I can’t have a nice, hot bath. Yes, we do have electric shower but it’s so old, the pressure isn’t that good. I can’t wash my hand in nice, warm water, I had to use the cold water tap and it’s so cold, my hand goes stiff. I had to warm it up afterward.

As you guessed, no luck with bringing the date forward for the repair and it’s still on 2nd Jan.

Last night, we was so cold, we had to wrap up with blanket when we was watching the TV!

Christmas Day is going to be cold for us. Need to find a portable heating or something… but it’s going to run up a big electricity bill. :/

Ah well, things to do today, clean up house, washing our clothes at the local laundry as our washing machine needs hot water, which we don’t have. Then in the afternoon, my parents is popping round. Hopefully they will wrap up warm.

I forgot to mention about my Christmas card which I got for you all.

But not an actual card… instead of spending money on cards which will go waste afterward, I have decided to use the money I spent toward Oxfam Unwrapped and here’s what I got for them.

Mosquito nets

In Mali, where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are an everyday danger, Fadimata protects her new-born baby with a mosquito net.

School dinners for 100 children

In pastoralist areas in West Africa, the presence of a functioning canteen is probably the single most important factor in a parent’s decision to keep his or her child in school during acute food shortages. Having school meals available often determines whether a child learns to read and write.

I feel they should get more attention. We spent lots of money by buying presents and/or Christmas cards for our family & friends and if you have any spare change, please consider buying something through Oxfam Unwrapped - http://www.oxfamunwrapped.com

Thank you for reading this.

… until Christmas.

Did most of the Christmas shopping almost done this afternoon when I had a half day from work today.

Then wrapped them up.

Tomorrow morning, deliver the presents to families. Then do our weekly food shopping. And relax in afternoon. Sunday - my parents is popping round, so need to clean up the house a bit.

And on Monday… I’m going to work! I’m hoping they will give us half day. I don’t think many people will be at work anyway… so I really hope we will get a half day.

The boiler has been off since Monday and we are now starting to find it hard to be without hot water. It won’t be fixed until 2nd Jan. So we need to wrap up warm over the Xmas period. Bah, humbug!

The funny thing is… on the boiler’s website, they say they will come round to fix it on the next day. Yet the can’t do it. Hmmm! I think we will give them a call tomorrow and see if they can come round sooner…

This afternoon was my 3rd Xmas dinner. I’m full up!

And no more Xmas dinner planned for now, apart from Xmas Day where we will cook our own Xmas dinner!

The missus reminded me to finish my Xmas shopping and I said to her that we have loads of time. She reminded me it’s Xmas Day next week. And she was right. It *is* next week!

Compared with last Xmas, the year before and the year before that, I was always prepared for it, etc. But for the first time this year, I don’t feel like Xmasy. I feel like something is blocking me from knowing that Xmas is nearing.

Maybe it’s just because I have been so busy this year compared with before. Or maybe it’s a sign that I am getting old? lol

Anyway, that would mean I need to sort out Xmas shopping as soon as possible. I have already missed the 2nd class post’s deadline with the 1st class post’s deadline this Thursday. So I need to do Xmas cards soon… or not bother? I duuunnnnnnnnoooooo! *mumbles*

We did have our Xmas tree up last Sunday but not as big as last year

Just a simple tree, the lights and some decorations. That’s it.

In other news, the new boiler system is making a lot of noise and we have someone coming round to check it out tomorrow morning at 7:30am - hopefully he will find what’s wrong with it. God damn modern kit.

I need some food. And drink.

Last night, we had work’s xmas dinner (just us ITS dept) and it went pretty good. Good food, lots of drinkings (not me as I was driving) and good laughs.

And I have another dinner do tonight and then pub crawl afterward with the deafies group.

Then another xmas dinner next Tuesday at work with other support staff. Im going to be full up! ;P

This morning, we had fog and HARD frost! And very cold… So cold my black car turned into white.

All over.

That’s how cold the frost was.

Took a while to scrape the ice off the windscreen and the ice scraper broke! So had to use hot cloth to thaw away the ice.

Need to buy a new ice scraper someday this week… And don’t tell me to buy anti freeze spray… It eats away the paintwork so im not touching it anymore.

Got to work a bit late because of this. Need to find something to cover up the windscreen.

Renewal paperwork arrived today… it’s an price increase of almost £35 from the cost of last year. :/

However for the past two weeks I have been getting some quotes and found one which is a saving of £107 compared with the new price from my current insurance.

So looks like I will be switching insurance once again as soon as they answered my questions and am happy with the answers.

The joy of car ownerships.

Well, that didn’t take a while… the brand new, almost 2 weeks old boiler is making unusual noise and lots of vibration & banging.

Called Heatrite this morning and they said they think it’s faulty. Have fired off an e-mail to them, with more details and will wait to hear back from them to see what the next action is. Maybe fix it or replace it.

Which means we need to arrange some time off from work yet again. Or find someone who is willing to stay in for us… maybe my mum or someone else.

Good thing its under warranty!

In other news… has anyone used System Center Operations Manager 2007? Is it worth it? I’ve installed the trial version at work this afternoon and from what I can see, it’s a very complex software. I guess I need to do some RTFM.

I’m hating the cold weather…

I hate Xmas shopping. Too many people in shops & streets. Think I still need 3 or 4 more pressie to go before I’m all done.

Xmas tree is still not up yet - no time! Maybe next week or so…

Today, we are going to cook some cake, and the roast dinner and also watch Star Wars at 4:10pm today. Then Top Gear at 9pm (remember, everyone - not 8pm!)

And the weather sucks.

… we’re home!

Left Bristol at 2:45pm, got home at 8:40pm  - rush hour traffic WAS bad! And heavy rain.

We’re glad to be home now… but not looking forward to work tomorrow.

Night time view.