APPS

Last day at work than four days off although i don't think the weather is going to be that nice  , as it is grey and dull today and it  is considerable colder.

Latest purchase of Ebay are eighteen Apple I- phone app ,  fridge magnets i will have to get a magnetic white board as our fridge is housed in a wooden kitchen unit with ho exposed white bits .
Will be a few days before i get them through the post .

CHOICE OF THREE

Always nice to get Monday over with specially when the weather is as hot as it has been , and i have only to work three days this week .

Hopefully we will get another barbecue in whilst i am off and maybe one on Sunday as well.
Alfie the kitten is growing so fast he still is suffering with the last stages of set flu but hopefully this will pass in the coming week or so , he is lively eating and he is full of himself so i don't think we need to worry.

I have Thursday and Friday tagged on to the weekend so its a case of working two days to get four off which totally goes with my way of thinking , its a shame when all you work for is the money and time off , but that's the way i feel i do what i have to so i keep getting a pay cheque every month but its not ideal , but the recession and my age certainly don't help.

Hopefully i will meet up with my son this coming Saturday and either go around York for a drink and food or drive over to Scarborough to see how much it has change since our last visit might even go to Robin Hood's Bay.

York Minster 

Scarborough Harbour 

Robin Hood's Bay

Least if we go to the coast we are guaranteed some decent fish and chips crab sandwiches and waffles and ice cream among other fine food and drink specially if the weather is going to be hot .

WERE COOKING

FRIDAY
Bought a table top  or wall top because that's were we are going to be using it a Anthony Worrall Thompson barbecue as we don't have enough space for a full blown barbecue this one should do us fine and should be able to cook enough food for four people over , the space of a few hours it is easy to store and should be good for a few other summers.

A extra bonus  there was a whole  ten pounds of the original price so the cost was less than £20.00.
we already have the charcoal and the gel for lighting it we just need to add food i think i am going to buy some duck legs . lamb for kebabs and maybe some fish to go with this some green peppers and onions and of course some pear cider , if it as hot as it was today it will be ideal .

SATURDAY
We went food shopping we bought three types of peppers green red and orange and two types of onions and four types of meat , and three different types of kebabs that were already made up on skewers .

The barbecue i bought is assembled with no missing pieces it all fitted in to place as per the instructions  and to go with this we have a extra large bag of charcoal which will be enough for at least four burnings We do need to try and get out go out again and buy some ice to go in the drinks pear cider apple cider and lager ,  along with lemonade and lime cordial and two tubs of strawberries and seeing as we have not got a calorie counter a tub of double cream .

The little barbie did it's job in fact it was better than i thought it took a full bag of charcoal as would a normal sized one no one got food poisoning we invited Charlie and Beth round they brought some chairs round and sat on the roadside the food cooked perfectly .

SUNDAY
Went to Harden reservoir whilst Helen had two people in for readings after we ordered a Indian takeaway with onion bahjees and poppadom's , i am back at work Monday for three days than i have for days off.

HOT THAN HOT

The weather is still hot this has to be one of the best summers we have had over the last five years and we are still in July brilliant the world seems a better place when the sun is blazing down and the skies are blue.

Helen got her pay out she received a cheques when she was hoping for a BACS transfer either way she got paid out the full amount which she is happy about , she can buy herself some new jeans .

My I-phone seems to be getting worse the apps take longer to load the phone takes longer to power up and down the wi-fi button is greyed out so i can't connect to wi-fi and the charge lasts about seven hours in to the afternoon i need to recharge which is no go , and all because i updated to the latest apple IOS.

Trying to get next Thursday and Friday off from work all i seem to do is go to work its annoying specially when its so hot , starting at two in the afternoon does not help  , and with no air con or water cooler our working environment is just hotter than hot.

AND ANOTHER ONE GONE

SATURDAY

Woke up at four am to the sound of rain then it stopped and restarted at around eight looks like it will be grey and wet all day hopefully it will clear for tomorrow if not the weekend will have been a waste of time might as well have been at work.

Bought some steak mushrooms onions and baking potatoes which we are going to cook for tea i also bought some southern fried chicken and some hot chicken pieces which will do me for the rest of next week , i bought a Lazar chaser pen for the kitten to chase he loves it.

Alfie the ginger tom kitten fell out of the bathroom window last night  its only a small cottage that we live in but even so i am not  quite  sure how he did not suffer major trauma or broken bones i reckon he used one of his nine lives as  he seemed fine , he did have a bloody nose and i thought he might have suffered internal bleeding but he seems fine when he got up Sunday Morning .

SUNDAY
Helen;s son came visiting this afternoon we drove over to The Strines Inn at Strines mainly to see the peacocks again just had a pint of cider its a really nice drive with steep winding country lanes that meander down and up the afternoon was hot it was nice to sit outside and wait for the peacocks to strut their stuff.

Cooked Lambs liver in flour with pork sausages onions and mushrooms for tea with oven chips.

went out with Charlie and Beth with their collie dog Mollie and Pip our Jack Russell  to Hades edge it was quarter past ten at night when we got back it had just gone dusk

I was watching on Ebay a listing for a Apple power mac G4 446MHZ 128MB 30GB CD-RW which was manufactured in 2001 it has never been used it was bought and put away it was on for £50 with no bids and no reserve it did not sell and has been  re listed it is for collection only  , and it would be a 320 mile round trip if i was to buy it i am tempted mainly because it is brand new and its a iconic piece of computerising engineering.

Which is great but what i really wanted was this bad boy below with Harman Kardon speakers.

In fact what  i am bidding on is a brand new 2nd generation 32gb Google Nexus 7 .

Well that's another weekend gone forever at least Sunday was hot we had some nice food and got out for a pint Pip and Alfie have not had a major bust up even though Alfie as small as he his is no way a little Angel even if he is small cute and lovable and ginger.

Watching - "Edge of Tomorrow" and  "Reasonable Doubt" .

Listening to - David Grey "Mutinee".

STORMY WEATHER

There is supposed to be a storm coming to day with torrential rain with hundreds of lighting and thunder storms across the U.K so i  can't see the weekend being that sunny or hot getting out might not be a option will have to see.

Alfie our ginger tom cat is doing fine his flu is nearly gone and eats three meals a day he constantly runs up and down the stairs , so far the dog and cat are getting on .

Helen as been offered a pay out for the accident which was the highest offer she was told to expect a few weeks back mine might take a few weeks longer.

DECISIONS

I am considering doing one of the following options either buy a small house for £50k this is viable and is possible i know in a lot of cases i will be looking at only a one bedroom town house but the advantage in doing this is no rent repayments and no mortgage repayments to make each month and i have 100% equity when it comes to resale plus my wages will be to buy food and pay the bills.

The other option is have 15 year mortgage if possible for around 10k - 15k so the repayments are a third of the cost of the rent we are currently paying now .

i have to decide by next April what i want to do the other option is to carry on renting but move to another house and keep my money intact , decisions decisions.

BACK MONDAY

FRIDAY
Last day off of a  two week annual leave it's back to work on Monday.The two weeks i have been off have been hot and sunny i have picked the best two weeks by far.

We never made it to the coast or beach not sure why it just did not happen i do have another five weeks holidays left to take and i reckon we are going to have an Indian summer , so i do plan on  having another  week off in September i reckon the weather will still be good. i will book it when i go back to work Monday.

Cant say i have missed work one little bit and even though on my two weeks off we have done very little walking in the sunshine mainly we have just been sitting outside on the worlds smallest patio so it  is never really too boring and i am still looking forward to the weekend .

SATURDAY
Alfie our ginger kitten is making vast improvements he is eating like a little orange tiger and his eyes at least  are no worse  and do seem a little clearer his sneezing has virtually stopped and he is lively chasing his bell bell around the room he is also very loving and likes a lot of hugs and cuddles.

Helen manage to trap her finger closing the car boot she was in agony as her finger continuously throbbed away not very pleasant , she might even loose her finger nail , she was expecting money going in to her bank for the insurance pay out for the road traffic accident we was in going back to last March,

Collected 250 Nectar points tonight watching ads online sad or what , to top that we won a whopping life changing amount of £3.10 on the Euro Lottery.

SUNDAY
After Helen trapped her fingers in the cars boot yesterday she is still suffering discomfit and pain she manage to take off her nail varnish and her nail is turning a lovely shade of black , as a result she now hates the car , she is accusing the car of attacking her .

Cooked my self a full English breakfast at around dinner time today although i  did not cook any black pudding or baked beans but the rest was on the plate then i made it disappear magic.

Alfie had his first taste of Whiskers Kitten food he has been having chicken breast and mackerel and sardines but the out of the packet food well he wolfed it down like a proper little tiger.

Listening to - The Antlers Familiar album 10/10 some really top tunes and lyrics album cover above.

Watching - "Sabotage" Arnie just gets better with age and "Need For Speed"

C'MON GINGER

Alfie seems to be a bit better today he has eaten some sardines and was out in the sun catching some rays hopefully he will continue to improve each day and that he is now over the worse of it.

We bought him a collar with a bell mainly so we hear him before we stand on him and also a nit come to go through his fur and remove all the dead fleas and flea droppings ,from his flea treatment  we have been bathing  his eyes and we have drops to sooth his eyes and  his nose is drying up his breathing is better than what it was  and he is now less stuffed up and his breathing is not as wheezy .
He has had loads of hugs and he is a great little cat very affectionate and he has took to me as much as i have to him you just can't help but love him he is very tiny but has a big heart.

The weather has been hot went for a drive over to Uppermill to buy some scones for tea .

Listening to - Elbow,s new album and David Grey,s new album.

Watching - Tour De France. 

ALFIE

We have adopted a ginger tom kitten called Alfie he is only just eight weeks old if even if he as old as that , he came from a near by farm close to where we live and he is very lively and loves cuddles  we have took him to the vets and he as now  been wormed and had flea treatment  the main trouble is he as developed cat flu but fingers crossed hopefully he will fight this off and be fit in a few days he is already a  proper little character and he is already part of our family .
Pip our dog seems to be alright with him although we wouldn't leave them alone together they seem to tolerate one another as in that there is no apparent nastiness hopefully they will become best friends .

LE TOUR

Walked down from our cottage to the main street of Holmfirth its a fifteen minute walk down the steep lanes we was going to wait for the riders passing through stage two in the Tour De France .

We waited around a hour before a load of publicity vans came through followed police bikes and other vehicles five helicopters appeared in the sky a few minutes later the first group of break away  riders passed a few seconds later the rest of the pack came through in just over thirty seconds it was all over and the entourage and riders gone .

After we had food load sod outdoor catering vans and stalls where selling everything from fish and chips to Mexican and Indian and Pakistani food , i had a chicken tikka chicken wrap very nice but pricey .


First picture is City Square in Leeds City Centre the yellow jumper supporting the TDF .
the second Holmfirth earlier today after the bikes had passed through.

GINGER

We have the chance of getting a ginger tom cat well it is a kitten from a farm near to where we live literally down the lane around the corner  ,  how Pip will take to him if we do i i am not sure about ,  she is not a dog that does not automatically goes for cats and she is and can be quite friendly with them , usually she just sees them as a buddy or playmate but sharing our affections for one that is constantly with us well she might view it differently.

well it's  Friday and the weather as changed it is grey and blustery with rain likely just in time for the start Of the Tour De France .
It was on the local news that one farmer was expecting 8,000 campers with tents to be camping out in his field over the coming days , how many turn up will see very soon.

If you follow Humans of New York http://www.humansofnewyork.com , well  someone is photographing people from my home city of Leeds  http://humansofleeds.tumblr.com so far i know no one who as appeared will have to see how long it takes before someone appears who i know.

MIDWEEK

This morning i went to the doctors to get some tablets and nasal spray to help and control my hay fever symptoms yesterday was a bad head day .

Went to back Wentworth garden centre we are nearer to it now we have moved from Leeds , we have been there before and we again went around the historical walled gardens.

After spending a few hours we then went back to Strines Inn , sat out on the picnic table had a pint of cider and we saw our Peacock friends again they must be at least thirty of these birds scattered around the near by grounds .
If ever i had a big enough garden would buy a couple of these birds to strut around the grounds .

Listening to - Ed Sheeran -X

Watching - Her

A FAIR CUT

Tuesday

Finally got my head down to The Mensroom hairdressers and had my haircut it is the first time i have visited this hairdressers and it is as good as anywhere end of the day it always going to grow again so why worry , The first thing i do on reaching home is to shower as i always get loads of hair down my t-shirt and it irritates me ,  but not as much that my hay fever is causing me after a few years  of being under control and keeping it at bay it is now back with a vengeance , tomorrow i will buy a nasal spray and stronger tablets , it is day two of my two weeks of and i am not happy with my sore , red streaming eyes and nose.

The cd's i ordered and the credit card wallet arrived today from the Ebay sellers that i bought from both was zero postal and packing charges both arrived in Jify envelopes amazingly fast turn around .
The cd's i could not have bought them any cheaper in fact i would have more than likely would have had to pay at least an extra £10.00 if i had bought them from a retail outlet in the city plus petrol and parking charges depending where i wanted to shop .

I have been looking at the Oppo Find 7 smart phone my current contract is up in a couple of months and if the iPhone 6 is priced stupidly in the £600 bracket it be way too expensive and i don't want another two year contract that will cost me sixty pounds a month to run.
The Oppo is boosting  a 13 megapixel camera and films in 4k with memory upgrade to 128mb the screen is the highest resolution of any phone currently on the market at two thirds of the cost i am guessing of a new i-phone one a downside it won't be able to mirror it to my Apple tv .

YELLOW BIKES

Monday

The first day of my fortnight off the sun is out and it is quite warm which will do for me .

The tour de France hits the streets of Holmfirth Sunday this weekend  , there are yellow bikes every where , i reckon people will start to arrive midweek to set up tents on fields and camp sites near buy to get ready for the grand de part and ride through and i guess it is going to be chaos for a few days before  luckily i am off work for two whole weeks starting today.

Saturday we do have to drive over to Leeds some of the roads will be closed but we should be ok .

Had to go buy some Piriton tablets as my hay-fever seems to have started up again i also need to go get a hair cut as my mop seems to have gone a little bit wild and unmanageable but where i wanted to try was shut so i will leave it until tomorrow .

Ordered 50 cd's for Helen's further readings i bought them off Ebay my second purchase in as many days .