General: “Old Photos” project

On July 15th 2012,  embarked on project to digitise my old 35mm films and slides. I've got around 100 films, mostly 36 shots per film.  Estimated will take 5 months and actually finished it just now, so was spot on for my estimate.

Was quite monotonous at times, but was fun to relive some of the events in my life, a few I had totally forgotten about !

Here are a few pictures thought would be interesting to share, in no particular order:-

I’m the one on the left !  New Year eve 1981… had hair back then…

From 1993, but no idea what’s going on…..

One of my earliest photos of Aldeburgh High street, not sure when but probably 30+ years or so…

Where were you when Live Aid was on (July 1985)  I was in this holiday cottage and watched it from midday to midnight.   Probably only remember the first three or fours hours for some reason though

I seem to have a lot of photo’s from Aldeburgh This time Carnival time in 1991

Also seem to go to Brooklands Motor Museum a lot… this one what it looked like in 1995 (there’s an industrial estate at the bottom of the hill now!)

and one of my many trips to Goodwood Festival of Speed

My first Lotus (1998)

Many trips to our timeshare at Carihuela (Costa Del Sol) always lovely weather of course….

Our old neighbours party (2000) – 1970’s theme in case you’re wondering…

It’s not all holidays, cars and parties…. went to Rome for a long weekend for some culture in 2005….

The fish is definitely fresh in Aldeburgh… this from circa 1980, although the fisherman is probably still going strong now….

You don’t often see gigs like this “True Life Confessions” one back in early eighties anymore… think they call them something else nowadays

My love of gardening started with my first house in 1988……

 

That’s all for the moment.  Will doubtless get the urge again to post up some of my more recent digital photo’s, but there are even more of those to trawl through !!

General: Fitness Review 2012

During 2012 my Keep Fit regime changed completely, so can’t do a direct comparison to my 2011 fitness review.

In June, we decided to get in a personal trainer for a couple of private sessions at home, mostly to get Lynn a suitable regime but also to give me some more motivation.   After looking around locally, decided to get in Carl Bradshaw   It certainly worked, in that it got Lynn back into a fitness routine and I now do a wider range of activities.

This is my weekly routine now:

 

	Warm up - Exercise / Time	Intensity 0 –easy 10 -Hard	Main Aerobic session	Intensity 0-easy 10 Hard	Resistance	Stretch
Monday	Running 5 min @5mph	4	Cycling 25 min 14mph level 12 (6.0m – 1.2)	7	Yes	Yes
Tuesday	X/trainer 10 min Level 2 @57 watts	4	Rowing 25 min @30spm	7		Yes
Wednesday	Cycling 5 min Level 10 @11mph	4	Running 25 min @7.0mph (2.8m)	7	Yes	Yes
Thursday	Running 5 min @5mph	4	x/trainer 25 min Level 3 @80 watts 19-16 & 8-5 back	7	Kung Fu + Weights	Yes
Friday	X/trainer 5 min Level 2 @57 watts	4	Cycling 25 min 14mph level 12 (6.0m – 1.2)	7	Yes	Yes

I have got into this new routine, but have recently been a little sporadic.    Will make sure I get back into the proper routine after Xmas of course

I don't have much in the way of analysis but for the main exercise have done a couple of measurements:

Monday heart rate peak at average 138 and peak 147
Tuesday 144/151
Wednesday 154/168
Thursday 133/145
Friday 140/148

Of course the regime is totally different to last year, but overall I think the results are pretty good.   I’m still able to avoid chocolate, cakes and biscuits Mon-Thur and not going too mad Fri-Sun… and my alcohol intake is worrying low recently  

For 2013 it will be to stay with the current programme, and try to increase the time to 30 mins for the main exercises, whilst also increasing the Resistance training a bit over the year as well.    We’ll probably get Carl to come in and do another review of our progress in the new year, so will give an incentive to make sure we keep to the schedule !

General: Redecoration–COMPLETE!! (well…..)

It has been a surprisingly long time to get two bedrooms redecorated… but at last we are finished…!

Small Bedroom

Main Bedroom

It all started the end of September, so has taken two months to complete.

The final part was getting the curtains installed by Curtain Flair.  The one tiny bit we are still missing are a pair of tie backs for the small bedroom, but can live without that for a few more days.  Apart from that, we found Curtain Flair were very efficient and took time to help us decide what we needed and gave suggestions on what would go and what may not be such a good idea.   The main issue with them was they are horrendously expensive, but have been very happy with their service

Of course we are not quite finished in the small bedroom, as we don’t have any furniture, but that was always the plan for the moment.   Next year we will be buying a bed and cupboard for the small bedroom and also table and side board for the living room, then that really is the whole house done for the foreseeable !!

Looking back, it is quite interesting to see how it all progressed, so to summarise the different stages, here are the previous reports:

Phase I completed – stripping out and painting

Phase II – furniture installation

Phase III – Carpet

Phase IV – Bed delivery

Phase V (this report) – Curtains

So we’re both very pleased that it’s all finished and can now move back into our main bedroom.    I’m really glad I didn’t have to do any of the work myself, as just project managing it all was hassle enough for me

In hindsight, we could have done things differently to get everything in quicker, but timescale wasn’t really a big deal for us.    The lead time of both the bed and the curtains were a bit of a surprise, so maybe should have thought more about these items earlier in the process, but otherwise it was all OK really.   

So now the house is just as we want it and plan to stay here a long time…. why does Lynn keep looking at house prices in Devon….. ?

General: Redecoration–Phase IV completed

It all seemed to be unravelling slightly two weeks ago, when it seemed Furniture Village had let us down badly over the bed delivery.

Today however, it has all come together and the bed is in and ready for use !

After complaining to the sales manager, in fairness he did come up with a solution that was acceptable to us.     It still wasn’t perfect, in that he promised delivery the next week and someone would ring us early in the week.  When no one had rung by Wednesday, I called in and was told I’d get a call back.  Ten minutes later I was called and given a delivery date of a week later.    After that it was plain sailing and came together as promised, so all’s well that end’s well I suppose.

I still think their customer communication is appalling as it was always me having to chase them….. not sure I can recommend Furniture Village, and will certainly think twice about dealing with them again

Having mostly moaned about the bed delivery, it didn’t delay us moving into the bedroom, as we are still waiting for the final element being the curtains.

Hopefully they will be in next week and we can finally move into the bedroom

Update: 16th November 2012

A few days ago, I got email inviting me to give feedback on our purchase from Furniture Village, which I duly did

Got call today from Furniture Village to discuss the issue and try to placate us.    We are basically happy now anyway (although could have done without the hassle at the time) but is good to see them taking the trouble to follow up on bad reviews.

General: Redecoration–almost there !

Why can’t all redecoration be this easy……

1.  Ask decorator for quote and date.

2.  Decorator turns up when expected and takes as long as he said

3.  That’s it

OK, so it was only a bit of painting in our conservatory… but even so, all jobs should be this easy

This is before:

and here is after:

from the photo’s, the difference is subtle, but closer inspection it looks a lot cleaner and fresher than before.

Just got to get the bedrooms finished off and that is the whole house done in the three years we’ve been here !!

Now it’s all done…. shall we move house, or just start redecorating again

General: Redecoration–Phase II completed

It’s been a while since Phase I was completed, so was nice that Phase II has been completed quicker than expected.

The small bedroom hasn’t changed, except I have put the Broadband routers, etc in an existing cabinet so they are out of the way and tidy.

The main bedroom has now had the furniture supplied and fitted by Oakwood Bespoke in Camberley

The fitter was very quick and efficient, so was finished in just under two days.   All looks lovely and Lynn can’t wait to start loading the cupboards with all her stuff… not sure I’ll get a look in

We won’t be doing anything much with the room until the carpets are fitted, which is Phase III next week.   The bed is due the following week, then hopefully the curtains the week after that.

To be continued….

General: Bedroom redecoration–phase I completed

After starting the works last week, the first stage has now been completed.

So the decorating of the bedrooms is now completed, and although they look very different already we still have the cupboards, carpets, bed and curtains to go.

The next big phase is getting the cupboards (and other bedroom furniture), which will hopefully be finished by this time in two weeks time.