IT COSTS A LOT

Took the car to the garage this morning i was told it would be a all day job i though i be looking at three hours to four hours max . Thought i would go for a big fried  breakfast the full Monty with a couple of mugs of coffee to kill the time i was even planing on buying a couple go magazines Rollinstone and Stuff .

Instead i drove my car back home with a mechanic who was then driving the car  back to the workshop once the work is done he will drive it back to me i will then drive him back ago the garage and pay for the work that as been done .

The car cost me £533 i was expecting it to be £355 that's me budgeting for the rest of the month .
Think i will go to the farm shop and buy a few trays of chicken legs and bags of  frozen fries .
At least the car is happy it got its oil and filter changed for £50 and new spark plugs costing £15 each that adds up to £60 just for plugs the pair of new wishbones cost me  well over £230 plus labour it all adds up .
Cars and women are always going to cost there is no getting away from these facts either walk everywhere and stay single or pay the consequence's .

DONE FOR TEN

Last day at work be nice if I get a parking space be a nice touch  to the end of my working week , other wise I will have to go out two hours in to my shift and move the car , which is ok if it is not throwing it down today looks quite sunny.

I did get a parking space so i was happy that's it now until 8th of February then in March week commencing the 14th I have the whole week off  , and I still have one day left to take before we get our new holiday entitlement in April.

Bought a new case for my iPad it looks really nice it is black and it is coming from China cant wait , I am also bidding on a Sandisk  cruiser  orbit 32gb usb flash drive which I can use for the tv's and dvd player anything larger is not recognised .

I am also bidding on a Ninja key holder which is quite a good idea i have looked at other makes this one caught my eye will see if i am the highest bidder the day bidding ends .

Listening to - Charlie Puth album new release

Watching - Hyena Road

THE WEEK

Another Monday gone i am only working until Thursday night then i am on leave for a whole ten days brilliant comes to mind i cant wait i hate work , it stops me doing things i want to do life is too short to waste it working but like the rest of us i have no choice i have bills to pay .

I have some lamb steaks to cook for supper with sweet corn and peas i am cooking it whilst i am writing this .
Have been watching some blogs on you tube of people from the America working in Japan how nice is Japan the streets are so clean , no graffiti no rubbish it all looks like its just been hosed down.

Tomorrow is pay day once again it as seem ages since we last got paid on Christmas Eve ,  i have to pay for the car fixing which is going to cost £350 ouch it is also my daughters birthday and my sons birthday before the end of January i could do with getting two pay cheques into my bank account.

TUESDAY
The wind and rain is back the van is moving and things are rattling got to remember we are not in a solid house with foundations we are tied down with hooks and webbing and metal supports i doubt we will move far fingers crossed.

Have been looking at a Marshall London phone as a music player it is supposed to be excellent it also has a removable battery and an upgradable memory card slot.

WEDNESDAY
It is my daughters tweet five birthday how time flies i remember taking her home from the hospital where she was born it had been snowing i remember trekking through the snow to the chemist  for essential items we did not know we would need i thin it was the start of the Gulf war scary times its no better now for her son who is nearly one do we never learn apparently not.

Its also payday yippee i got extra cash for working Christmas Day and Boxing Day every penny counts this month the car is going in for repair work Friday to the tune of £350 .

Tomorrow I break up for ten days result i cant wait chill out time hopefully i plan on doing nothing much .

RETRO

SATURDAY
Cooked breakfast totally fcuked up the sausages I over cooked them in the oven and they where too hard not good for us but good for the dog .

Need to but a new case for my iPad the one i have is disintegrating rapidly on my list for when i get paid .

Need cake and need something nice for dinner we will be out later will see what takes my fancy Indian I think .

Went over to Helen's parents it was her mother's birthday we also called to see my nephew he was converting a video tape on to dvd for Helen it was her wedding thirteen years ago , I went to the night do with my then wife , I have know been with Helen since 2007. I watched the dvd with her it did not bother me in the slightest we both have past that's why they are called the past .

On the way back home I got some petrol nice to see the price of a litre has dropped by another 2p e bought some Chinese lemon  chicken pieces and special fried rice and some crispy pancake rolls to say it was all off the shelve at Sainsbury's it was surprisingly good.

Watching "Life " film about James Dean and "Adulterers" based on true events.

SUNDAY
Got up and showered had a bowl of porridge for my breakfast I bought another family box of  twenty packets Friday night on leaving work.

Liam Helen's son came with his girlfriend Nicole they have both bought his and her cars , by buying two identical cars they opted for two Seat Ibiza's  hers is in white and his is in red you really cant beat getting a brand new motor  its worth it just for the smell , i do miss the Juke.

We had dinner that we had cooked in our van's kitchen , we had three meats turkey , chicken and gammon with mash , veg and Yorkshire puddings of which i made and mixed  the batter for .

I am watching a retro record deck on Ebay i like the idea of buying a selection of vinyl records i had loads of records years ago i sold them all be nice to start and buying them again .

Anyway hoped everyone had a great chilled  out weekend , i know a lot of people are being effected by the bad snow fall and blizzards and icy conditions in the U.S.A hope all are home and safe in the houses , we might get some snow next week but no way as bad as you across the pond , i doubt i get out of the van never mind to work.

FRIDAY FEELING

Well over the mid week hump its Thursday today  which means that it's all down hill until the weekend .
The M1 motorway is beyond a joke why does it take so long to convert the hard shoulder in to another lane , fcuking hell it is so run over it's end date i would not like to guess the penalty clause on the over run ,  to say it is supposed to be a smart motorway they should have got smart contractors to do the road works , instead of the tossers that  they have  currently got the contract ..
What it has cost me so far  in the extra miles detour i have had  to do when they close junctions off is unbelievable plus the extra time  i spend behind the wheel i should be well compensated .

Anyway a week to day i will break up for a whole ten days off work and i cant wait why because i hate my job i hate the time i have to put in i hate how boring it is how they always want us to do more work i hate we always get a crappy rise every year of a massive 1% wow thanks a lot.

I started using my iPhone 5s head phones that i got with my phone  i was using the older type ones until i wound the window down the other night and threw them out of the cars window whilst driving home the other night they made a high pitched howling noise , not for the first time well this time i took action and wound the window  threw them out of the car the was no other cars or vehicles in my vicinity.

A work mat just took delivery of a Samsung 56 great camera and great speaker quality not sure if i get one end of the day but they are a great quality phone I need to find someone with a Oppo plus 2 .

Friday
TFIF need to get some pear cider when i leave work tonight i break up in six days and have ten days off cant wait no work is pure bliss .

I checked my health app on my I-phone today i had it with me most of the day mainly to see how many steps and distance that  i had walked during the day it was  6.09 miles which in turn calculated it as i had done over 11,000 steps

Watching - 7 Minutes and Criminal Activities

Listening to - David Bowie

Eating - chilli beef and jalapeno pizza

TASTE OF SUMMER

MONDAY
Woke up  asked the pots from last night we made a fresh apple pie and custard we ate it watching the film Mr Holmes .For breakfast I  made some porridge and a pot of coffee i also  feed the tow cats and feed Pip our dog.I need to press a black polo shirt for work and i will have to  shower that won't be for a few hours yet .
As much as i hate going back to work after the weekend off i know once i am there i will make the effort its just so boring to think i am doing this until i retire is mind boggling , i am so looking forward to summer so we can sit outside and get some rays get a barbecue which we never did last year .

We need to get to the coast which is something else we never did last year and hopefully also head up north to Scotland .

TUESDAY
Tried to draw Captain America's head using the step by step guide was ok did it again a bit better then went on to Spiderman too fcuking hard it jumps to much from one stage to next it would have been easier if the used an easier character like a 50,s Superman , don't think i will continue getting the magazine.
Dropped Helen off at the hairdressers in Leeds before driving on to work , will pick her up tonight from her parents house when i finish work at ten.
Had to do a detour on the way home part of the motorway was closed by the time i git home and eaten it was after midnight another day gone another nail in the coffin.

WEDNESDAY
Had the gas board out the boiler is some how leaking water they were out to us  before dinner time the boiler is a condenser and there is a trap that collects water it was full and needed emptying there was also three wasps in it which had come down the flu hopefully problem sorted.

It was really foggy this morning early on but the sun came out mid morning and it was quite warm .
A taste of summer hopefully the rest of the week is also supposed to be quite warm for this time of year.

SNOWS GOES

Just finished watching "Heist" what a great film one of the best i have seen for a while Robert De Niro at his best.

The snow is laying it's amazing it does not take for it to get quite deep if it carriers on it will be difficult driving , bet it won't be long before the gritting crews run out of grit after all it happens every year this year won't be any different .

Coffee and Jack Daniels sure makes for a warmer me hope we don't run out of coffee never get to the shops in this snow not sure if i will even get to work Monday .

SUNDAY
The roads are not that bad we drove over to the Trinity Centre at Wakefield bought some sausages and lambs liver , i also bought the first issue of "Draw The Marvel Way" for 99p you got a free metal ruler pen , pencil and putty rubber i might continue to buy it whilst you are getting free gifts after that will see its issued every fortnight .
Went in to the options trying on glasses , its like hats they just don't suit me i never really looked cool in sun glasses unless it's just me , think i have a funny shaped head and ears having short hair does not help too.

Unless we get an avalanche of snow during the night then  i guess i am back at work tomorrow i do  have Friday the 29th of January and the following week off work annual leave which i am looking forward to plus i have a week in February off as well then i get my full holiday entitlement in April which is around eight weeks yippee.

Went to look in KRSC Apple store if i was to get another iPhone i would get either the 6s+ or if they do one a 7+ thats if i stick with Apple .

Listening to -  the radio an hour of Bowie .

Watching - Steve Jobs .

SETTLING UNSETTLING SNOWING

THURSDAY
This morning we had a sprinkling of snow it never settled i went to the supermarket and bought bread milk cat food and some braising steak for a stew along with three giant Yorkshire puddings starve we will not plus the freezer is full .

FRIDAY
Took Helen to the doctors for her blood results so is very anaemic her count is only eight and her thyroid medication needs doubling up to 100 mg tablets .
Went to work i got a parking spot on a narrow back street near to the hospital which was lucky even luckier was getting out of the car and finding a twenty pound note on the floor.

SATURDAY
Did nothing exciting drove to Leeds with Helen passed two houses where we used to live on the way to Farsley Helen wanted more wool for her knitting addiction latest craze .
Me  i bought some onion bahjees and a couple duck kahti kebabs and some  jalapeno red sauce for my tea below.
Its just before 18.45 and its started to snow and this time it is laying if i continues we will be snowed in yippee no work Monday.
Don't think my two cats will be venturing very far if they go at all .

HIDDEN MEANINGS

The value for the van came in at between 65 k and 72 k , that's nearly a whopping fifty percent profit in only six months , that's if we were to sell up and move on.
We would have more money in the bank but we be back at square one where would we go where would we live a mortgage would still be a big no and renting would be until the day we die which is a big fat know so i guess we stay where we are at now .

Got up early had a shower then drove over to Holmfirth to my favourite  hairdressers which i have been using for the last couple of years as  i was in dire need of a haircut , it was empty and within half an hour i was back in the car driving home .
Middle of the week all down hill to the weekend i found out i have still ten days holiday left to take before the end of March before we get our new holiday entitlement also because good Friday and Easter Monday fall in March we will have to days to carry over if i work them both.

Bought a 128gb usb pen flash drive i received a 256gb i am guessing they had sold out , hence they sent me the next size  available.

Helen is trying to convince me that David Bowie was in to the occult and the prove is hidden  in the lyrics and videos  ond the meanings of songs on his last album Blackstar . Such as Blackstar  , the eye of Horus and references to the  gates of Janus just to mention three.

Watching "The Last Witch Hunter" and "Creed"

NIGHT NIGHT MR BOWIE

Learnt this morning about  the death of David Bowie whom was fighting a battle against cancer at least he had a well travelled interesting life and will be sadly missed .No doubt he is now a proper star man may he R.I.P.

All day most of the news on the net has been concerning David Bowie ,  he had respect throughout the world his newest album has been a smash hit the reviews have been great which he will have known about before he died .

Mondays are never good , first day back at work always sucks and its always nice when it is ten o clock and i can make the journey home tonight is the first time there as been ice on the windscreen roll on summer.

WEEKEND DONE

SATURDAY
I cooked a full English breakfast for Helen and I minus the baked beans the than that we had everything else including hash browns and mushrooms .

Between us Helen and I  did five lines on tonights lottery it stands at nearly 60 million if six numbers do not match then its down to five and the bonus ball which will win the jackpot the chances of getting six numbers correct is  48 million to one , but like they say got to be in it to win it .

The little black cat Minnie went out this morning when we got up she did not even wait for her morning food , and it has been raining all day we have called her numerous times and she failed to show . Helen was worried that she had been either abducted run over or locked in someones out building it got dark and the rain got heavier still no show we sent George our tom cat out see if he could find her and bring her home but he returned by himself .
Helen posted a missing notice on Face book for people to share fifteen minutes later she arrived home and surprisingly not that wet , that's cats for you.

SUNDAY
Bought fresh pork pies some baking potatoes and a tin of Stag chilli for me tea .Went to Laura Ashley  shop in Huddersfield bought a cream ceramic measuring jug which had 40% off .

The original van we were going to buy is back on the market its priced at £62.500 the owner got it for £56,000 , Helen's parents are going to view it , in my opinion it needs a new roof which i reckon will cost around £7,000 , Helen still likes the van it has advantages over the one we live in and it has it's disadvantages too , the bedrooms are small the garden is tiered and there is no out building but the view is better and the kitchen is bigger another issue is i cant stand the twats that live opposite to the extant i cant even speak to them.


Watching - "The Hateful Eight" and "The Revenant." and "Solace"

Listening to - David Bowie "Blackstar" and My Morning Jacket various albums

FIRST YEARS TFIF

It's the first TFIF of the new year although i was working last Friday New Years Day  i guess that did not count .

I need to buy a couple of 32 gb usb drives for watching films on the tv or dvd player both have a usb port  n ideal way for watching films.
I still need the usb to lighting to use with my iPad and iPhone  will make life a lot easier i seem to be transferring fits and tv episodes  every other day trouble with only 16gb of storage minimum amount Apple should do is 32 gb a iPad Mini 4 with 1tb of storage would sell like hot cakes be absolutely brilliant marketing ploy .

Going to have a quite weekend watching films need a bottle of coke to go with the bottle of Jack Daniels i have yet to open should make the weekend a bit more interest mainly because i am not really a big drinker anymore if things get even more boring i have also a bottle of Scotch .

Hopefully we will be cooking a big pan of lamb stew and dumplings if we throw enough lamb in will have food to last the entire weekend might even do some pancakes as well .
Maybe the weekend will be fun after all lazing about doing nothing much is sometimes a ideal way to relax .

ALL PAID UP

All the direct debits hopefully have come out of my bank i checked online and i think everything that needed paying is paid some came out late due to the bank holiday so whats left is mine which is not a great deal .
I do have some gas as well hopefully its enough to manage on until next payday i did want to save some for the repairs to the car looks like it's not going to happen .

Work was all right i thought was going to have difficulty parking but i manage to get a parking spot which is always a blessing means i don't have to worry about going out of work to re park it elsewhere after two hours.

The weather is still wet grey and foggy we have been told its been the wettest December since records began i think we all knew that after seeing all the flood reports , the floods are still happening parts of Whitby is cut off this happened in the last couple of days Whitby is a fishing port on the east coast of England we have been there loads of times it's a quaint little village with a great fish and chip restaurant Magpies ,will have to revisit in the summer time .

ANGEL WATCHING

The Christmas tree is down the decorations put away until the end of this year the pair of blue lighted reindeer away the icicles that adorn the guttering need taking down but typically it started to rain .

We vacuumed all the van and  fitted a couple of new bulbs in the kitchen and hallway and a generally tidy throughout .

I have the complete box set , season's one to five of The Games Of Thrones to watch i have already watched season one previously i need to catch up with the rest as well as continue to watch TWD .

Went to Meadow Hall at Sheffield it was raining and there was quite a lot  of back spray from the tyres of other traffic using the M1 . I bought Helen a 2016 diary and a scrapbook from her favourite stationary outlet Paper Chase , she is going to start and do a keepsake moment come scrap book i hope she does its always fun looking back on ideas , days out and general events. I also bought a small ceramic faceless angel on a white ribbon to hang in the window of our van hopefully she will be our guardian Angel and watch over us the amount of candles we light some nights might not be a bad idea .

Went to Compo's for fish and chips and baked beans first time  e have been this year  and first time since it has been refurbished all new flooring tables and chairs and lighting looking good . We have not had our favourite dish for ages and seeing that we had not eaten all day it was a guaranteed way to fill us up.

NEW LIGHT

SATURDAY

The car passed its M.O.T thank fcuk although it was advised that some work does need doing but i can leave it , I did book it in for the end of January along with a mini service mainly the oil and filter and the spark plugs changing . i should have my holiday pay which will help towards the cost and some money i will save from this wage.

I bought this brass looking gothic candelabra for Helen's birthday along with this Yankee Candle shade and dish from a local garden store the candelabra had 70% off its mark up price of £49.99 and I only got charged for the dish and not the shade which also had discount of it all in all the there items cost me £11.50 a true bargain , the Yankee Candle items along should have cost £22.00.

LAST POST 2015

I cant believe its the last day off 2015 and we are both ill not the start to 2016 we hoped for Helen is still in bed poorly i started with the symptoms she has whilst i was at work by the time i had finished work at ten I had been sick and been to the toilet numerous times not good.
I manage to get home without incident but went straight to the toilet , and went straight to bed Helen  slept in the spare bedroom i was up numerous times either  being sick or to go to the toilet or both .

At half past eight i called work to say i would not be attending technically we are supposed to be 48 hours clear of any sickness or diarrhoea but if i feel better i will go tomorrow it is New Years day .

I managed to get out to the shops bought four fresh containers of tomato and basil soup along with tiger bread , milk coffee and brown sugar  , a tray of pork chops  packet 16 rashers of smoked bacon and pork  sausages.

I stripped the bedding of our bed and washed it I also cleaned all of the bathroom sink and toilet with bleach . The floor sink taps and all of the door handles i also threw the floor mat in to the washing machine.

Helen wants the Christmas tree taking down i cant be bothered doing it today although it does seem like Christmas never really happened .

Happy New Year to all. and  here's hoping that 2016 will bring more joy and peace  , less or no wars , a end to  terrorism world wide and for everyone to be thankful and to stop polluting for this beautiful plant we call Earth.

ROLL ON 2016

Helen is still not 100% but is better enough so i can go to work ,She still has had nothing to eat no soup or toast or has she even had a cup of tea , although i have made her a raspberry jelly which she might have later , but what is stranger she has not had a cigarette in over 36 hours it would be a very good time for her to try and stop , but i doubt she will.

The winds have returned due to storm Frank and looks like parts of Scotland and Cumbria are going to get more sever warnings with more risk flooding.Leeds where i work seems to have recovered and water has drained away but we have had the worst floods in the city history something as altered we never use to suffer with flood water so what as change should be the question on every ones lips.

I have driving on this road loads of times in my life it is Kirkstall Road it takes you from Leeds to Horsforth .Once a friend was driving his old car with me as a passenger we were in our early teens the car was more or less a classic and his breaks failed .He was talking about crashing in to this viaduct to stop but we didn't have to the car came to a halt on its own we did go through a red light but came away unscathed .

I have to take our  car in for its M.O.T on Saturday i reckon it is going to cost me a few hundred quid which is the last thing i need after Christmas but i need to be road legal .

Cooked steak pies and roasted sweet potatoes for my dinner was absolutely gorgeous simple yet filling and tasty with English mustard forget the rest you cant beat good old English mustard.

Watched - Legend The story of the gangster twins the Kray,s both of the  twins are played by Tom Hardy . Also tried to watch Spectre the latest 007 James bond film  to be honest i couldn't get in to it will try later.

HELEN IS ILL NO WORK

Helen was  up in the middle of the night with the runs she was also violently sick similar but worse than what i had a few weekends ago , the smell was horrendous i work in a hospital it was bad  poor Helen the day after her Birthday she is so unwell it is not good. If it was me officially i could not return back to work until it has been  forty eight hours clear from any sickness or diarrhoea .She does not want to eat or drink leaving her on her own is not a good option even though there is very little i can do for her .

I called the doctors surgery for advice they reckon its a bug and she should be fine in another 48 hours to feed her nothing but to give plenty of fluids and she should be fine , Rang work don't think they are too impressed but what the heck i worked Christmas Eve , day Boxing Day and I will be working ON New Years Eve and New Years Day , and all is well i should be back tomorrow .

Whilst Helen slept i watched a couple of films cooked a jacket potato with beans and cheese and at Helen's request made her a raspberry jelly.
For my tea i will have beef burgers egg onions and chips .

It will be 2016 in a few days this year we have done lots and made big changes hopefully more changes will be made in the coming 12 months but at this stage we can can only guess we all know nothing stays the same .

WET STUFF

Merry Christmas everyone hope we all had a great day looking forward to 2016 so  bring it on.
I was working at the Hospital it was very quite which is what every body wanted no major dramas .
I had my Christmas dinner micro waved first time ever i have had it nuked instead of eating it out of the oven.

I have a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bottle of Bells to get through and a chocolate orange .

BOXING DAY
Leeds and near to the city centre is under water due to flooding from all the rain  we have had over the last 24 hours ,The hospital I work at is now on its own emergency generators we have the capability of going of grid.

EVE OF CHRISTMAS

My wage went in to the bank just before one a.m  ,as soon as I could see the money in my account we jumped in the car and drove to the supermarket , the roads all the way was quite a good sign .

it was quite empty in fact it was less busy then a normal shopping night , lots of the things we required we got ,  all 2 litre bottles of semi skimmed milk had sold out so we got two one litre bottles , they still had turkeys i knew they would everyone gets them early so they never sell out to say we only wanted bits and pieces we spent the best part of £200.

We got home at around half past three .a good chunk of my wage already out of my account , i also filled up with petrol just under thirty pounds it 99p a litre at the moment i reckon i did have gallon or two already in the tank a full tank will do me over the festive period i should get about 360 miles driving .

We got up just after nine also less than five hours sleep we went to the farm shop we dropped  lucky and got a parking place  ear to the entrance it was raining again . We bought a cheese and bacon quiche  freshly made pork pies and some salad stuff and more milk , Helen panics because we cant get frozen sausage rolls , Christ  the shops are open on Boxing day ,  what we don't have why worry.

My sister Irene rang me just has we got back home to the van . She told me that she is putting some money in to my bank account paid out  from any old pension policy my parents or my Dad had and for some reason he and my mother never surrender  its like a belated Christmas gift from my parents from beyond the grave .
My  Father died over  twenty - five years ago my Mother must be ten years  , so it is a very nice time to receive it , it will go towards the M.O.T for the car due 2nd of January .