So I didn't manage to blog during my holiday... never mind. I had a chance when I was staying with Ali's family, but it would have been something of a lost cause as the PC I was attempting to fix kept on re-booting over and over. So, there you go.
So, holidays, huh? We drove up on Easter Saturday to my parents. We called in briefly to see some friends at the pub, including my esteemed, and married, friend Pete Myers, who is doing well. Saw a whole bunch of other people, too, which was groovy. Went home for lunch with my family, including my aunt and uncle, who I haven't seen since my wedding. Great to see them again after all this time. Went to Church Of The Good Shepherd (who don't have a website for me to link - curses) on Easter Sunday which was good - always nice to share communion with churches far and wide, especially the one where I spent most of my teenage years. Also went to my dad's church in the evening for a confirmation service with the Bishop Of Birkenhead, my namesake David Urquhart, who was altogether excellent, as he was the last time I saw him. On Easter Monday Alison and I had coffee with my best man and best friend, Laura, which was a good chance to catch up, and talk about the impending baby, jobs, houses and so on. All good.
Then... we drove over to Wales for Holiday: Part Deux. We stayed in a cottage in a place called Picton, which is very near Holywell, on the coast of Wales. The cottage was very nice, though bizarrely it was situated in such a place that had I had my binoculars with me I would probably have been able to see the house I used to live in, which my parents are presently trying to sell. The cottage also had various cats . We were there for 4 nights and we had a great time. I think we both slept better than we had in a long time, if nothing else! We got out and about quite a lot and saw:
We even joined the National Trust while we were out there, proving that we are decidedly middle class, and are quite possibly turning into our parents.
After our trip to Wales we headed up to see Ali's mum and sister, with a brief stop for lunch with my family, which gave me a chance to show them all my photos from the holiday. We spent the weekend with Ali's family, which was good. Nice to go to church there too, and see people I've not seen since I was married there just over 18 months ago. We headed back on Sunday evening and got back in good time.
So, that was our holiday, really. It was very welcome - I was seriously ready for it. It was good to have heard about my BDO job before the holiday, as it meant I wasn't worrying about that all the time I was away and could actually relax.
I'll try to get some of the photos from the holiday, among various other things, up at some point, though I am wary of the image gallery software I tried last time, as that was what led to the accursed porn popups a few months back. I'll give it another shot sometime, and try to keep an eye on it.
Also, if anyone can tell me the link between the titles of this and my last post then I'll... say "Well done" to them.
I'm so tired, it's not even funny. I'm really, seriously very ready for a holiday. With that in mind, it's a good job that Alison has arranged a few days in Wales for us. Not sure how sunny it'll be, but so long as I get a bit of rest, it's all good.
I've had a fairly busy time since I last wrote. Here's some stuff that's happened:
- I went to the hospital so they could have a look at the aforementioned cyst in my mouth and decide what to do next. Apparently it's not doing much, but they reckon it's best to get it out before it does start doing something. So in a few months I get to have a lovely operation. Still, at least it's done under general anaesthetic.
- Alison and I went to see my brother on Sunday night. He fed us pasta and salad and stuff, and then we watched Spirited Away which was pretty cool. It's an animated (it would seem cheap to call it a cartoon) Japanese film, sort of similar to Alice In Wonderland or The Wizard Of Oz. It was pretty good really. Very nice to look at, and the story was intriguing and quite engaging. The film won Best Animated Film at the Oscars a few years back, and I'd say it deserved it. My brother fell asleep watching it, but there you go. It was good to see him and catch up. It's been a while.
- I went to my assessment day at BDO in Manchester. It was good, but pretty hard work. It was quite a high pressure thing, but I rather enjoyed it. There were 5 of us there - three for Tax positions in Manchester, two for Audit in Leeds. We had to do some group discussion work, then prepare and give one to one presentations based on the discussion; as well as doing some logic puzzle type tests and having further interviews with partners. It went well, on the whole. The downside was staying in a hotel the night before with probably the worst bed I've slept on since my wedding night (ironic, huh?), and trying to sleep next to a big main road.
- I had a telephone interview for a sales job with RM yesterday. The woman was rather baffled that I was applying for sales, rather than network support, which I'd clearly be better at, and to be honest it's a fair cop. I'd only gone for sales because it's in Manchester, and network support is in Oxfordshire, which doesn't really fit with the moving-north-when-the-baby-is-born plan. However, that may not matter any more as...
- BDO have just called me back to say they would like to offer me the tax position. They'll be sending me some more information so I can make a more informed decision, but I think there's a good chance I'll take it. Woohoo!
So, there we go. What else has been happening? Well... Not a huge amount. I'm very glad to be off on holiday, which will begin in about 20 minutes actually. I've got a fairly busy day tomorrow, but then on Sunday we're off to my parents, then to Wales, then to see Ali's mum. It'll be nice to have a rest. We'll be having a bit of a reunion at my parents house, as my siblings should be there too, as should my aunt and uncle. As usual I have to do some computer fixing, but that's par for the course for these trips really! I'm also hoping to see some Wirral folk while I'm back, so that'll be a good thing as I've not seen them in ages.
See you sometime over the weekend, probably, if I blog from my dad's PC, which I probably will. See you then.
Man... I'm busy. I'm tired too. I've been sleeping terribly just lately, so I'm knackered.
There's been a fair bit of stuff going on. I've got my BDO interview coming up on Tuesday, so I've been researching stuff for that, and I've got a hotel booked and so on. Should be an interesting experience. Hopefully that'll all go well. I'll be able to tell you by this time next week if I've got anywhere with it.
I saw The Constant Gardener last week. It was really good. Very well written and well acted. Ralph Fiennes was brilliant. The plot was good in a very yarny, rambling sort of way, but it all followed along very nicely and it was comprehensible, which was good. It was pretty challenging stuff too. On the whole, very good. Alison and I just want to see Walk The Line and Goodnight And Good Luck, and we'll have caught up on our Oscar film watching.
In other film news, I must have been quite bored last weekend as I watched The Scorpion King on the TV. It was pretty silly, and seemed a pretty blatant ripoff of Robin Hood to me. Still, it kept me amused for an hour and a half till CSI:NY came on, so it's all good.
In yet further film news, I honestly can't believe that a film like Snakes On A Plane can get made. For those of you in the dark, here's a plot summary: Samuel L. Jackson plays an FBI agent escorting a former mobster to a trial where he will testify, but someone doesn't want him to testify so they hire an assassin to kill the mobster, only for some reason the assassin attempts the kill by unleashing a whole load of poisonous snakes on the plane, and Samuel L. Jackson has to fend them off. Now, honestly, do they not have "What the hell are you talking about?" meetings in Hollywood? I mean, I despair of the films that Hollywood produces at the best of times, but this is just insane. What kind of a plot is that? The mind boggles, to be honest. All that being said, the odds are scarily good that I'll go and see it just out of some sort of crazed curiosity that someone would make such a film. More info at Wikipedia, of course.
Well, I didn't mean to end up writing about films, but there you go. I'm due to go home now, so I think I will. I've been chilling out playing some old skool Amiga games just lately - Dizzy in particular. Who knew solving puzzles as a cartoon egg could be so much fun? See you all next week.
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