Day Three Hundred and Eighteen

Its okay everyone, my sister is keeping us safe. Manning the guns down at Gunwarf Quays in Portsmouth, she's keeping Zee Germans at a distance!

Day Three Hundred and Seventeen

Good work Nathan! I'm down visiting my sister this weekend and my brother-in-law and knocked up a pukka curry tonight....

Day Three Hundred and Sixteen

Love a bit of fish on a Friday and nothing beats the best Fish & Chips Wooburn has on offer, regardless of the fact its the only Fish & Chips Wooburn has to offer.

Day Three Hundred and Fifteen

(for you American's reading this, it works out as 12.5 gallons for 97 dollars)

Without a doubt the most I've ever spent on a tank of petrol. Who is to blame? Greedy Arab nations? Speculative bankers in London and New York? The Government for re-introducing the Fuel Price Escalator in a recession? Answer: I have no idea, but I'm going to blame all of the above.

Day Three Hundred and Fourteen

It probably wont be long until I've photographed my whole route to work. Today I stopped in the hamlet of Holyport, deep in the very English countryside.

Day Three Hundred and Thirteen

I couldn't resist taking my camera back to Cookham today, its such a picturesque village. This is Cookham common, with my back to the side of village this is the old road leading right into the old village centre.

Day Three Hundred and Twelve

My current office, I'm contracting at Avis in Bracknell at the moment. Fortunately the job is more interesting than the office building.

Day Three Hundred and Eleven

Easter must becoming! It still a long way off from Good Friday, but we can already buy Hot Cross Buns at the bakers. You can only buy these in the period between Christmas and Easter and the cross is symbolic of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It also good luck to share your hot cross bun with someone...

Half for you and half for me,

Between us two, goodwill will be

...but mine were so tasty I ate them all myself

Day Three Hundred and Ten

Curry Night! No better way to follow watching Wycombe win at home than enjoying a curry with friends. Tonight I caught up with Martin and Dean at Mr India in Loudwater.

Day Three Hundred and Nine

On my way home from work today I stopped by The River Thames, the natural border between Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. Don't worry i didn't hold up traffic on the bridge, but took a little walk instead. The river was so calm it looked like it had stopped flowing, as still as a painting.

Berkshire, the Royal County, is on the left riverbank and Buckinghamshire is on the right.

Day Three Hundred and Eight

On my run I passed through Cookham High Street. Cookham is full of little gems and historic buildings. This is The Kings Arms pub, a 17th century inn, now hosting a beautiful restaurant.



I've also been informed this is where my Christening party was held way back in '83!

Day Three Hundred and Seven

Today I visited Maidenhead for the first time in a while only to see a ghost town. Now I'll admit I haven't been there in probably over a year and it is January, the worst month of the year for retailers. But Maidenhead was once a very pleasant place to go to, maybe it still is and I caught it at a poor moment, but today, it was empty and in decay.

High Wycombe gets a lot of criticism, particularly the relatively new Eden Shopping centre. To me this unjust, the Eden Shopping Centre is something that Wycombe District Council (EDC) got very very right and signs in closed Maidenhead store fronts directing their customers to Wycombe are a symbol of its success.

Opening at the beginning of the credit crunch, Eden and good Conservative lead WDC policy has helped High Wycombe to ride the recession better than most towns, the comparison to nearby Maidenhead is proof of this.

Day Three Hundred and Six

...I turn the corner at Cores End and there it is, the home stretch! This week I'll run the other way down the Wye Valley. Today I passed through Bourne End and to Little Marlow before returning, about 5 miles. This photo is from the final half mile of my run looking across the River Wye, and Slate Meadow.

Day Three Hundred and Five

Eggs are fragile!

I'm not sure who's idea it was to balance them high up in the fridge door, but its only to end in tears!

Oh, did you spot the peanut butter twix? Its waiting in there for someone special!

Day Three Hundred and Four

The coolest envelope ever? You bet!

Day Three Hundred and Three

Maybe the were melting down all the unsold Terry's Chocolate Orange from the Christmas stock (my favourite by the way!) or maybe they're just trying a new flavour to add to the milkshake range down at Tesco. Either way I was sold. I love Chocolate Orange!

Day Three Hundred and Two

Its Friday and after a hard working week (cough cough) its time to unwind. I'd poured the beers whilst Dad picked up the Ruby*. The Ruby Murray was just too tasty to stop and take time to photograph, sorry folks!

*Ruby Murray means curry in Cockney.

Day Three Hundred and One

I love this ornament that my mum has in her living room. I think, but I may be wrong, it was a gift from my sister to her.

Day Three Hundred

A day of building new furniture for my bedroom, and watching a bit of Twenty20 cricket on the side! Here's some of my completed work...

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Nine

Garbage day? No, its recycling day. I know its an alien concept to some people, but in the UK rubbish for landfill is only collected once every two weeks. In the alternating weeks, recycling is picked up. Government targets are for between 50% and 80% of household rubbish to be recycled. The percentage varies on the product, eg paper is higher than plastics, because its easier to recycle.

So here's my message from me, the little man, to Obama, the big man. This is what a recycling policy looks like when implemented successfully. Oh, hold on a moment, sorry I forgot, you don't know what any policy looks like when it implemented successfully. Oh, hold on a moment, sorry I forgot again, you don't have any policies...

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Eight

The greatest thing ever? Its not just Marmite, its squeezeable Marmite! No more excuses for getting little bits of Marmite back in the butter dish now.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven

This is our new cat, commonly known as Leo, also answers to Guppy. He's found a new place to sleep...

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Six

Take me home,

Al Fayed,

To the place,

where I belong,

Craven Cottage,

By the river,

Take me home,

Al Fayed

Where were sat in the Riverside Stand, with an excellent view of the action. This photo of the River Thames is taken from the back of the stand.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Five

The local school children appear to have been busy making welcome signs to leave around the arrives area at Heathrow.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Four

Amanda, Landon and me.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Three

Winter Scenes in Cedar City

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Two

In the early hours of the morning, when driving to work through a fresh layer of about 8 inches of snow, I saw something I had heard about but hadn't ever seen until recently. Outside shop fronts owners were shovelling snow from the pavement, outside houses people were beginning to clear their driveways and the pavements in front of their home.

I'm in Cedar City, Utah and it is common practice here for two good reasons. Firstly, it means they are able to use their pavements, from which everyone benefits. And secondly, it saves on the city council services and money being absorbed on this task and that, instead, is able to be concentrated on keeping the roads clear.

Its a far cry from the state dependant society 13 years of Labour has grown in England!

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-One

He sure is growing and here's proof. We've been measuring Landon's height each month on the kitchen wall!

Day Two Hundred and Ninety

After giving myself a 'month off' from training in December, I've started once again....this time with my new NikePlus running equipment! So far so good, despite it being minus 9 Celsius outside and running at almost 6000ft, I've managed a few miles.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-nine

Happy New Year!

Imagine what it could hold in store....

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-eight

Its been snowing for the past couple of nights, making everything clean and fresh just in time for the new year!

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-seven

Roses are red, Violets are blue, these are a week old and still like new!

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-six

Who shrunk the TV? The television cabinet which Amanda's Dad fetched out of storage for her dwarfs the TV a little...

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-five

Everything is bigger in America; houses, cars, food servings, and even it appears drinks. This one I picked up when getting a Chinese takeaway. "What size cup would you like sir?" "Oh, I'll take that two litre one thanks". Needless to say we (yes we shared it) didn't finish it.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-four

Keeping warm and snug with a glass of red and some cranberry and vanilla scented candles.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-three

The snow is falling! Just a day too late for a white Christmas though.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-two

After attending Midnight Mass here last night, but being rather ill (why do I always get sick at Christmas?) and unable to recall much of it, I came back again today for the Christmas Morning service.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-one

This is St Jude's Church in Cedar City. Its the closest relation to Church of England to be found in America and in fact formed out for the CofE. When America gained its independence, clergy of the church were unable to continue to swear allegiance to the Monarch of England who is the head of the CofE, forcing the formation of the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles, the Episcopate Church.

Tonight I'll be attending Midnight Mass here.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming....

You know the Coca-Cola Commercial you see every year? Well today it came to Cedar City!

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-nine

Christmas is just a few days away now and everyone's house is full of decorations. These are at Amanda's parents...

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-eight

You gotta love Netflix! In fact internet tv altogether. In the middle of 2010 (April to September) cable and satellite companies lost over a quarter of a million customers. Actually its not just the growth of internet programming but also the boom in digital TV.

Amanda and I don't have cable or digital TV and in line with many other twenty-somethings in America are taking preference to internet tv because of the flexibility it offers. Never miss a show because its there waiting for you, we don't even need to hit record. Free shows are available (legally) all over the web, from The Amazing Race on cbs.com to Sunday Night Football on nbc.com in America and BBC iPlayer and ITV Player in Britain