Nearest and dearest are further east and west

Inspired by the Extreme Dreams TV programme with flesh-eating bug contracted adventurer, Ben Fogle our Peru plan went into action as we decided to look for a worthy challenge before April. I've got to say though, however interesting the challenges are on that Fogle show (usually 6:30pm BBC2), they don't half string out the content with their every 5 minute summary of what's just happened followed by a preview of what's coming up for 5 minutes. The end result is about 10 minutes per episode and 20 minutes repeated highlights and countless reminders of why, where and who.

Ok, rant over and we're going to Snowdon for our anniversary in March. It's about 4 times smaller than the heights we'll be encountering but if we can survive a couple of peak visits we'll feel a little more confident about it all. Found this place to stay to rest our weary hoofs called Penmachno Hall.

Getting a catsitter is proving a little tricky and feel we've asked our saintly neighbour too many times with the past weekend a trip to see Kerry's sister, niece and nan in Plymouth (bowling and pizza was a joy as well as entertaining 7 year old Morgan with my dancing Egyptian mummy impressions). Kev and Karol have booked their Brighton holiday over Easter so that's some kitty sitting time down but before tonight the Snowdon trip was doubtful.

Rest in peace Nan
Some very sad news received last night. I hadn't really been expecting it as I thought she had at least a few years but at 98 my nan passed away over the weekend. She had a fall over Christmas breaking her ankle and things got worse after that moving from hospital to a nursing home and losing her independence. I felt I had a special connection with her sharing the very same birthday. Funeral has been arranged for 12th February so a trip back to Norfolk is planned.

Cat relief
Best mates Em and James have said they'll look after the cat for our Snowdon trip. Good luck to them as they try and find some jobs after their return from Oz and NZ as it sounds tough out there with some agencies no longer accepting CVs.

Stanton Da Scratch
With memories of VirtualVinyl causing me a headache when setting up at mates parties, this new piece of kit looks like my prays have been answered. The Stanton Da Scratch is a small USB unit with a touch sensitive circular pad which you can emulate cueing and scratching. It can also replace the need for a mixer. This YouTube video gives you an idea of what you can do with it.

Having committed to VirtualVinyl/VirtualDJ, I was worried that this wouldn't be compatible with non-Stanton software. Checked out the Stanton website's knowledge base and after some lengthy set up it does! Looks like my shopping list has got longer.