Andrew's diary

Monday, 31 December 2001

Reasonably pleasant (but long) drive home followed by a shopping trip into Winchester where Mel bought the first three Harry Potter books and we got Evolution out on DVD to watch in the evening.

Had a letter from Tesco when we got back asking us to call a freephone number about another fault on the telly. They're recalling them and so we're getting a nice new replacement, delivered to our door. FordInsure also wrote to us - it looks like, once again, they've buggered up what they're supposed to be doing.

Had pizza and a nice bottle of wine for dinner, followed by the film and then Big Ben. The film's not as good as Ghostbusters and there seemed to be large chunks missing which were shown on the trailer and the "behind-the-scenes featurette".

Sunday, 30 December 2001

Went to lunch at Mel's aunt & uncle's house - was a lovely dinner and they're a nice crowd of people. Unfortunately, a bad head got worse and I had to come home early. Was still in bed when Mel, Allen and Carol got back at 10pm.

Saturday, 29 December 2001

Went to Port Lympne Zoo today. It was nice, but a little chilly and not many animals. But given they'd slashed the entrance fee to only a pound each, it was worth every penny.

Also set up Allen his own homepage of links & search engines and reconfigured his Bush IBX-100 Internet Surf Set to use it as its homepage. Having used it again, I must still admit to being impressed: it's a very cool bit of kit.

Friday, 28 December 2001

Went down to Folkestone to stay with Mel's parents after watching Scrapheap Mega Challenge and the second part of The Lost World on video. It was a long drive and by the end of it I just wanted to go to bed. It didn't help I've now got Mel's cold (even though she's getting better).

Thursday, 27 December 2001

Went to Coventry this morning: Robert wanting some electronics supplies from Maplin and Mum & Mel wanting to go shopping. Bought 50 CD-Rs so I won't have to scrape about for them anymore. In the afternoon, Robert built a fuse tester for Mel (with a little help from me) and then played more Unreal (a consistent theme across the holiday for us ;-))

Dad bought Mum Bridget Jones's Diary on DVD for Christmas and we watched that in the evening - good film, if a little predictable.

Wednesday, 26 December 2001

Grandma and Grandad went back to Macclesfield and Mel and I decided to stay in Stockton until Friday. Mel's Dad is chuffed to bits with his Bush Surf Set, which is good :-)

Got another phone call from David around lunchtime and he's splitting up from Jon and Esther. It seems like she wanted to either go home or her or Jon go off on their own (two's company etc.). Jon didn't really have a choice and so David's left in the company of Graham, another Birmingham alumni they met up with whilst out their. So his trip's probably been cut short as Graham's wasn't planning to go to New Zealand and he's running out of money!

Watched Mel's new Shrek DVD and I'm glad I bought it: it's a fantastic film and I'm already looking forward to watching it again.

Tuesday, 25 December 2001

Christmas Day: Mel doesn't wake me up until 0645 (which is an improvement over last year), and by 7 o'clock everyone's up and awake and eager to get downstairs to see what Father Christmas has brought (ahh, the willing suspension of disbelief). It's unbelievable (I was gob-smacked last night as the last present-deliverer): the underneath of the tree is smothered in presents (and it's a big tree); Robert has a pillow case and stocking full of gifts and Mel's homemade stockings are all full or overflowing.

Mel got a lot of chocolates etc. from her class and she loves the Furby which I bought her (clever little device, that). I got loads of little bits and bobs, including a couple of DVDs and Chinese Worry Balls - you've got to wonder what Mel's trying to say about my temprament!

Robert got a whole load of electronics stuff from Mum and Dad, and seemed to like the subscription to Everyday Practical Electronics from Mel and myself.

Two hours later, we'd opened all the presents (phew!) and had a simple breakfast before getting dressed. We got a phone call from David and I think he may be a little homesick. The TV hadn't yet been on and the morning was spent listening either to Christmas carols, Dad's new Anastacia album or his new Abbey Road CD.

The rest of the day was fairly traditional: champagne before dinner, a lovely Christmas dinner and then collapsing on the sofa. Watched The Great Escape and then, after a buffet tea, played Articulate which Mel and I bought for my family. It's very similar to the the Name Game in They Think It's All Over and Mel, Dad and I beat Mum, Robert, Grandma and Grandad.

Monday, 24 December 2001

Christmas Eve: Grandma and Grandad arrive and the house gets even more manic. Mel's full of a cold, hopefully she'll feel a little better by tomorrow.

Sunday, 23 December 2001

It's the Sunday before Christmas, and Mel and Mum want to go to church. Dad gets out of it, but Robert and I go too (Robert didn't want to do his French coursework ;-)). I'd never been to Stockton Church before, and it's fairly small and pretty, but the vicar's not particularly good at public speaking. Which is probably a problem for him.

Saturday, 22 December 2001

Watched Dr. Who in the morning before driving up to Southam with a car full of presents, most of them to me and Mel. Arrived, played some Unreal Tournament, had a meal etc.

Friday, 21 December 2001

Last day of work for most people on site (as far as I can tell) so I took some doughnuts in for our team, which went down well. One of the reasons was I didn't give out Christmas cards to my work colleagues: I don't see the point of giving a card to someone you see everyday - they're supposed to be sent to people you don't see often.

Wednesday, 19 December 2001

Today, about 5 people were arrested without the right to a trial under the new Anti-Terrorism legislation. Why weren't they arrested before? Lack of evidence. Well, if there wasn't enough evidence to convict them "fairly", why should the law be changed so they can be arrested "unfairly"? Apart from undermining innocent-until-proven-guilty and contravening the European Convention of Human Rights, it probably violates the Magna Carta!

Free mince pie & coffee at work - very Christmassy.

Tuesday, 18 December 2001

OK, I must get back into the habit of updating this. Today not a lot happened, but we got a voucher for a free family portrait session in Reading. We're going to have to coordinate two sets of families from different ends of the country to do it, though.

Monday, 17 December 2001

No updates for absolutely ages, and UltraEdit just crashed after a large update - so now I'm pissed off. Highlights below:

Birthdays: me (jumpers, Fawlty Towers and Alien on DVD); Mel - a trip to The Bear Factory: whoever came up with that business model must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Christmas night out with Young Visions. Office move (new office is too cold, though). Christmas departmental lunch: driving, but still good fun.

I think I sold a few Bush Internet STBs to people at work, through sufficient advocacy. And the bargain price ;-)

I'll try and keep it up-to-date in future, but both Dave and Justin's diary have gone quiet too. Perhaps everyone's busy... ;-)