Ginger DJ Rob

So, that was an interesting week. I wish I was feeling better to appreciate it more to make snowmen and other things. A snotty cold I'd picked up couldn't be shaken off so grumpiness was at maximum. Cabin fever also increased as the week progressed particularly with Kerry as I was (un)lucky to be able to get into work. Lucky as it was warmer than home! Caught up with a lot of TV recorded over the break as well as some good DVDs borrowed. Can recommend The Wrestler and Step Brothers . Forgot to mention we saw Avatar 3D between Christmas and NYE which was excellent, though a little too long. Tried to move the car from its frozen position on our road Saturday but failed which scuppered my plan to go snowboarding at Stanmer Park. Saturday night was a catch up with good friends at the Globe then a carry-on at Sukey's. Sunday was more successful with the car as temperatures seem to be rising. I found our old shower duckboard and re-constructed it as a sledge . Packed the sno...

Not sure I'll get enough time to update the blog before the big X so Merry Christmas readers. Little Big Planet has launched a season special update pack on the PS3. Quite a cute costume if you want your game to look all Christmasy. We finally caved in and bought ourselves a Wii Board . Argos Santa is delivering it tomorrow. Can't wait to get into the Shaun White Snowboarding game. It's an in-law Christmas this year meeting at Kev and Karol's. On the 28th we'll be in London to see Monkey: Journey to the West at the O2 . It was extended to 4th January and they had 2 for 1 ticket deals on . Otherwise we'll be fighting over the Christmas Radio Times. Luckily I bought a HDD DVD recorder for those schedule clashes.

I’ve had two punctures in the space of a week. Wasn’t too bothered about the first one but the second one was halfway home in the pouring rain to meet a locksmith for the front door lock which I thought had broken. Turned out that I’d left the spare key in the other side of the door and it took just the locksmith to use a ‘U’ shaped bar to turn the handle open. That was an easy £80 down the drain. Icesave and Orange are officially my least favourite companies. In order to reclaim my inheritance, for the past two weeks I’ve been trying to get my password reset and after the 5 th attempt it was down to Orange blocking my emails, who their Indian call centre won’t admit or understand. The Plumber issue has finally been sorted – his emails actually got friendlier when I mentioned complaining to the Chartered Institute. I can't say I'm happy with the final amount but glad to get rid of the man. Socially, we've been keeping it local. We entertained Paul and Sarah with som...

What should have been a day of extreme highs turned out (for me) a bit of a downer. We had to be picked up for the skydive at 8:30am. Kerry had been building up her nerves all week whereas I was eager to do it. Arriving at the private airfield both me and Kerry would be the second group to go. We both met our tandem divers. Kerry got a friendly, caring ladies man who looked after her, consoling her all the way. I got Chris, a California guy who’s breath stunk of booze and not too chatty or bothered. After the first group had come down ok we packed ourselves in the cramped plane and flew up to a planned 15,000 feet. We were warned we would need oxygen past 11,000 ft. The 2 seconds of actually jumping out of the plane was ok for me but the rest of it I’d rather forget. Either I didn’t have enough oxygen or Chris didn’t warn me properly, I panicked and couldn’t breath gasping for air. Then the pain in my ears built up as the air pressure took its toll. The freefall and picturesque descent...

Image by Ginger DJ via Flickr Just picked up the latest listing for Komedia and spotted Potted Potter (not the one pictured). Its two blokes acting out all 7 Harry Potter books in 60 minutes. Shame we're on holiday. Not much to report this week. New Zealand holiday is shaping up. The snowmobile adventure trip is off as we arrive too late in the season. Slightly concerned that there'll be a lack of snow for boarding. Capoeira is going okay. This week I went to the slightly more advanced class ending the night with some clapping and singing. I thought I had rhythm but clapping three beats then singing (more like mumbling) to a 4/4 beat is well tricky.

I realised I haven't had a proper holiday since last year in Ibiza so with the pressures and stress of the house move, job responsibilities and planning the actual holiday, I'm am so looking forward to it. Hopefully this will recharge me because as soon as we get back we're moving out of the flat and into the new house - the very next day we fly back. Not looking forward to the 11 hour jetlag from a 24 hour flight but at least I've sourced a cheap removal bloke by a chance meeting through ebay. Our landlord, Stav took the move out news rather well, in fact he should be nominated for the nicest landlord award 2007. We invited him out for a pub drink and agonized over how to break it to him with half an hour of cheery, subject-avoiding chit-chat. At least last weekend was an extended bank holiday one starting off with Trev's bbq party. Nice to see some different people including some German guy who worked on colour effects of movies. His latest work is on the new Batm...

Not too much happening lately. The accommodation honeymoon period is over and I'm now worrying about where to live when I move to Brighton. Notice I've used 'I' instead of 'we' as playing with the idea of being a lodger or doing student digs which could be fun or not. Our uni harbour side flat can be rented longer helping the flexibility. House chain still stagnant and we considered being unfaithful to the Brighton house we love. Saw two places on Saturday and although they were cheap flirts they didn't match our high demands. We also saw a place for summer rent found on Gumtree but the lady jacked the price up to £1500 a month. Somehow I don't think she thought it through especially saying bills worked out as £300 a month! TV cold turkey Starting to deal with 5 channel tv tedium. I've actually found myself switching it off as if the addiction's wearing off. Rediscovered reading (Rant by Chuck Palaniuk) and playing the Gameboy (Pheonix Wright 2) ...

Image by MacQ via Flickr Saw three places for big Brighton move last week Saturday. 1st was great with an amazing garden but under offer, 2ndwas in scabsville with views of teenage-chav smoking in an old garage, 3rd was a flat on the seafront but on 5th floor and pokey small rooms. Sunday was spent cleaning the place into showroom standard and house junior doctor, Kerry adding finishing touches. We must have had more than a dozen viewers nose round our gaff without even seeing it on Rightmove.co.uk . Saturday morning was a 2nd viewing and by the end of the day we received 2 offers from the same couple. Wasn't until today we found out we made the price we wanted! Bit paranoid about the speed of turn-around and busily applying for jobs. Brighton houses are looking thin on the ground as well for a fair price. Other than all this excitement, I dragged Kerry up to Milton Keynes bribing her with cinema tickets then subjecting her to watch me snowboard for 2 hours. Hot Fuzz - It...

Too much food and too much sitting on my arse over the holiday (blame Zelda and the Wii). Some great presents from the missus and a nice surprise from the old man. Just booked our NZ holiday flights. Christmas and Boxing Day were in Norfolk. Treated my mum to a posh pub lunch and spent a very quiet evening with my dad watching possibly the worst TV ever (next time I'm bringing a DVD). The next day was travelling down Ipswich way and catching up with my nan and two aunties. Other highlights were the snowboarding all-dayer - passed with flying colours. After 6 years of the board gathering dust brother-in-law, Kev and I had booked the Milton Keynes lesson. Shame Kev decided to give priority to Steve's birthday celebration the night before. After 30 minutes he gave up after hurting his shoulder from falling over too much. By lunchtime I had impressed the instructor so much I was allowed on the proper slope. Bit of a wrong move really as it was one icy bastard and took a tumble or t...