New Forest Part II

The daddies reading a bedtime story...who is more enthralled???

One day Adrian and Gary went sea-fishing and didn't do too bad...

Whilst mummy and Tom went cycling...the excitement of it all was just too much

Lauren seeing "if Thomas likes butter"

A weekend with Uncle Paul

Last weekend Uncle Paul visited and given the sunny weather we took a trip out to Hampton Court. Our aim was to take Thomas into the maze....but first of all there were numerous benches that Tom wanted to sit on....

And then lots of Daffodils to ohh and ahh at....

And finally we got to the maze and then there were lots of bushes to poke at...

And then when we (finally) got out of the maze we found the best thing of all - a doggy!

Biker Tom

As Daddy has a new job and has to commute into Central London, he has decided to buy a scooter to cut down on traveling time. To prepare Tom for this, Uncle Greg came round so Tom could try his helmet on for size.

And on 7th June Daddy passed his CBT and bought his bike home!

Thomas's Christening

On 18th May Tom was Christened at St Edmund of Canterbury RC Church in Whitton. Here is a photo of him being dunked!

And here is one of Tom with his Mum and Dad and his Godparents: Claire S, Charlotte, Paul and Steve

My time in Austin Texas

Last week I spent the week in Austin Texas for work. I only took a couple of photos after hours and here they are .....

The 'Dillo - I assume some free public transport. I kept seeing these meander around.

This was the location of my hotel

American cube hell - what you want to work in cubes. I think the EU open plan office is a far better way to work - what do you think?

The Team

My hire car was big, and very much underpowered. Plus, couldnt turn the lights off !

This is what I should have hired

Austin is the state capital (not CapitOl) of Texas and from many roads you can see their parliament building. Yep, its the small one in the middle.

Cottage Weekend

In April 2008 we went to a cottage in Nottinghamshire with Claire's housemates from University. Whereas these used to be rather more raucous affairs, nowadays there are 6 children in tow. Here are some photos from the weekend.

Lauren and Chris feeding the horses on the farm

A photo of all the girls with their kids.


Sophie tucks in!

Adrian with Lucy

Andrew and Adrian on top of the landrover

Andrew taking aim at a clay pigeon

Just the one clay please!

Couldn't hit a thing but apparently had the 'best stance'.....

Under attack from the swans at Clumber Park

Rugby World Cup - our holiday

Here are some photos from the trip to France to see the rugby world cup.

We traveled over to France on the Eurostar and moved in to our delightful Parisien hotel right next to the Gare du Nord. On Friday the other match goes arrived and we prepared ourselves with a pre game warm up !

At this stage we were still happy and excited about the England Versus South Africa game.

The wife and I ready for the game. The Stade de France is an amazing stadium.
We were given the flag the second before by a Bok fan - its not ours!



Here are some photos of the stadium.

Tenby, South Wales - an excellent beach resort

.... I never thought of holidaying in South Wales would be so good.

Four of us went down after work on a Thursday and spent the long Bank Holiday weekend there. Our cottage was in a great location just off of South Beach.

Here is a photo of the harbour. Looking overcast - but all four days were brilliant sunshine and hot!

Tenby is so famous it has a Wiki entry ! On the Saturday three of us went out on jet bikes. It was a safari tour around an off shore island. It was a great opportunity to test these powerful machines, oh and see some seals !


And not to be left our - 'little monkey' saw some beach action too!


When you need a barbeque you need the right tools - Steve flirting with the sun with his favoured method of transport!


Aswell as the beach we went on some great walks down the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, and we had lunch one day on top of Giltar points (not sure of the spelling). From this vantage point we could see the island with the monestry, passing boats, jetbikers and rock climbers; plus a fair few walkers. We were more content with drinking wine and relaxing.

But no beach holiday would be complete with out a beach fire.



I was really impressed with Tenby. The beach was clean, big and space available. The people lovely and not full of tourists. Reasonably priced and everything was walkable. The pedestrianised town centre made it all the better.

Bring on Wales.

Toby Hartley

This bloke I know, well he has won a very prestigious award. He is now famous ! But I knew him before he was famous !

See the full article >>

Steve is now old !

Is this the behaviour of a responsible member of society in a late night london pub?

Well it was his birthday..... !