Long time no hear....

I am pissed up as I type this and tash has gone to bed stroppy with me, well I assume she has, i haven't seen her for the last 40 minutes and I am sat here in the dark trying to type this message!!!

Not quite sure what she is funny about - it is FA Cup final day and I have sat through a load of dross drinking my tinnies and then fell asleep - how is that different to any year?

The final was shockingly bad - enough said.

What else has been happening? i am doing my level 2 coaching course and also agreed to be u7s manager next season for Summertown which I am looking forward to. I played in the veteran's final last week against a team from Liverpool who we completely played off the park but just couldn't score which we then lost on penalties.

Work is buy!

We came runners-up for the summertown team and are about to go to Holland next weekend which should be fun.

Well, I am too tired to carry on typing, will try some more later.

Cheers for now

Weekend for the boys.

Very proud parents this weekend, Lewis and Jack had their Karate gradings and both passed. Jack is now an Orange Belt with yellow stripe and Lewis is a full brown belt - he passed with Distinction which is quite unusual - it's as high as you can get at a grading.

Lewis has to go through the routine of his combinations and then a long kata but this is nothing to the end where he has to fight two opponents at the same time. He'd taken a bit of a battering in a different fight and wasn't feeling too good, so when he had to fight we were a little anxious but with encouragement he got through it. It's all good for the character building though so he will certainly benefit in the long run. I have now been uploading the video of the fights onto Youtube and these can be watched now on http://youtube.com/juliandark01

We're really proud of them both - so well done boys. Checkout Youtube anyway, there's a funny video of Jack and some geese!

Sad end to the day...

Well they found Ben last week after about three weeks in the river, it wqould have been awful had they just given up. Today was his cremation and then a celebration of his life at the local church near his school which we went to along with half of Wolvercote and all his scholl mates.

It's all incredibly sad what has happened and there is no way to ever imagine how you would act as a parent to the event of losing your child so young. Liz and Rob have been incredibly strong and even today with the service, speeches by them and the school mates and a tribute PowerPoint display was testiment to that strength that I just wouldn't have.

It was all capped off with tons of free donuts which were Ben's favourite. I hope I never have to go through something like that, it was bad enough losing Grandad.

Golf Lessons

Well, it begins...Natasha it obecome a golf widow shortly, but it's her own fault it has to be said. For Xmas she advised my mum to get me golf lessons for my present and I had the first lesson this morning.

Went really well, although it started a bit ropily to be honest. I said I was left handed and we tried the warm up and swing and hitting a couple of balls left handed and it was pathetic to behold. So we tried right handed, first three shots pinged as sweet as you like. So we reverted back to left handed and guess what, first three shots pinged as well. The pro just looked at me and said we should spent half our training time on left and then right handed work!!!

We plumped on deciding I am left handed though...I got more consistent as the time went on and stayed out with some remaining balls at the end of the session. Enjoyed it and hopefully will take it further. I have more lessons booked but need to get some practice in before the next lesson. My body is killing me though, my shoulders are going to be stiff in the morning.

Let it snow...

It only lasted two days but is was brilliant snow - well over 6 inches deep and perfect for snowballing. As expected the whole of England ground to a halt and the kids were off school. It's all gone now but they loved it and we got some good photos of them playing in it.

Managed to get over to the meadow as well. Snowmen everywhere! It's all gone now unfortunately and we are back to normal.

Playing at the park

Something tells me that Jack isn't going to make it as a goalie if he is to become a football player...

This was him and Lewis messing about up there the other day and me trying to hone my skills (non-existent skills) as a Sports Action photographer. I went down to Oxford City at the weekend as well and fared no better to be honest.

At least it was an hour well spend as I appreciated the difficulty in planning where the ball would be and making sure I had the focus and shot as I wanted it.

Should get better with practice, that's the idea anyway.

Long old day

Not much to say about today really, was woken up by Tash running out of bed to throw up in the toilet - so not the most pleasant way to wake up in the morning...for either of us I guess! She seems to have come down with this bug that is going through the family and she spend the whole day in bed being sick or complaining of a headache, or both.

Not often she is laid low so you know it is serious, although she was up and about late afternoon so she'll be back to normal tomorrow.

I have spent the whole day, and evening just working. Been productive though so no complaints, got loads done and got a lot of things I wanted to be organised sorted out.

Anyway, enough of me typing just for the sake of it...

A week to forget

I didn't mention it earlier in the week but this week has been awful for the Wolvercote community and one family in particular. On Sunday coming back from Madam Tussaud's we heard over the radio that a boy of 15 had fallen into the river in Oxford and drowned. It was only when I was up in Edinburgh that Tash told me it was Ben Halsey-Jones who are a family that we are friends with and live only a matter of doors away on our street. Tash would often look after his younger siblings and Ben would crash out on our sofa watching telly so she got to know him well enough to be really upset by this - as are the rest of the community.

There was a prayer evening for him today at the local church that pretty much all of Wolvercote attended, I didn't make it as I was playing the Vets football match, but when coming home near the end of it I could see all the cars drawn up. Apart from the obvious tradegy, the police divers still haven't been able to locate Ben's body from the river, this just doesn't bear thinking about and you pray each day that he is found so that he can be buried properly.

I don't even pretend to imagine what the family are going through, there is great local support as it is quite a close-nit community here, but the thought of losing your child in any manner however serious or innocuous (he rode over a pothole and lost his balance from the towpath!) just leaves me cold and no words would get through to me.

It just drives home to you how fickle life is and how important little things are and not to be complacent with any of it.

New Year

Well, it's a new year and all the usual promises have been made with no intention of keeping them. In saying that, when very drunk on New Year's Day watching MTV with my nieces I said that I could get as fit a body as the lads on the videos - so that has been my challenge for the summer - oh dear. I have made half an effort to get into shape with some running up to the school and things, but so far it isn't really paying dividends.

What have we done since the last blog? Went to Lapland before Xmas, fantastic, had a brill Xmas and New Year, have been busy with work and was up in Scotland this week, been out for Gaz's 40th Birthday and went to Madam Tussaud's the next day.

We have a veterans game this Sunday at Flackwell Heath - should be interesting as none of us have played since the last match. Although I did have a run out the other day for Gordon at one of the colleges against Chalgrove - interesting match that was. Was called an old fat bastard at one point, couldn't really argue back on that point, it was concise and fairly made...

Looking to keep this a bit more up to date this year, haven't started well but we'll see what happens.

Where does the time go to?

Busy, busy, busy. Haven't hada chance to update the blog in ages it seems.

Work is keeping me tied up again but we had a busy weekend as well. Went to Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday and watched Robbie Williamns - enjoyed the show. But the support act was Basement Jaxx, now there is a band! They were quality.

Next day I played in a charity football tournament - five a side - it was okay and we got to the semi-final, but our legs just went and we couldn't continue. Although to be fair, the two finalists were decent teams!

Still aching now though

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Climbing trees is for the young

Not much to update really, I have been quiet as I have been working on my website the last few days with the intention of getting it up to date and more popular.

I have used these blogs that are available so that every team in the club have their own page now for me to add notes and match reports and the like to. I am pleased with the way it looks although I might tinker with the template soon to customise it even more.

We are now getting the last burst of decent weather here in Oxford, I thought the Summer had finished but it is having one last flourish before letting the leaves drop. Talking of which, I was up a neighbours tree on Sunday cutting down huge branches from within it.

'When I was a lad....' climbing trees wasn't a problem at all and there wasa huge oak tree in the field behind my house that was a challenge, but climbing 20ft up the Magnolia on Sunday was enough for me - in fact it was more like 15ft - how things change, I was nervous as anything. Thankfully there was no accident, but my arms are still burning from the strain of holding on for dear life.

Well, that is an update for now, busy with work at the minute, but I have been experimenting with the video camera to try and create my own .mpegs/.wavs - having a bit of joy so might be able to get something up here one day soon.

Testing some new software

This is a photo the kids on holiday in Menorca before we went out to the local hotel for evening entertainment.

Not sure if they know about the Blues Brothers yet but will have to get Lewis and Jack to watch the film and then show them this photograph again! 

All grown up

Lewis has started school at Cherwell today (Jack and Charlotte went back yesterday). He is the first one to go to 'Big School'. He was a little nervous, as he rightly should be, but he has loads of mates there so it won't take him long to get settled in and enjoy it. Makes you feel old seeing the kids going off to Secondary school, especially as you remember what you were like at Secondary school and how quickly it passed - I don't want my kids growing up....

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him this morning as I was working away from home on a problem that is best not talked about - suffice to say I was working on it at 6.30am yesterday, drove to London to sort it out with my manager, drove back to his house near me after a fw hours in the office and then sat at his desk working through it until 3.45am. Only to get up at 7.30 this morning to test some more of the reports. I am writing this at midday as I need to think of something different for a few minutes. I don't mind so much as long as the problem with it is sorted, somehow I am not over confident.

Well, I am back home now working so will be here to hear his news on his first day - any bets on it be 'Alright'.

All the fun of the Fair

Oxford's biggest fair is on today and tomorrow and is down the main (and very wide) street of St Giles. Not sure of it's beginnings but it has a long old history and is alway the first Monday and Tuesday after 1st September.

Having waited for Natasha to come back from her first day back at work in 6 weeks - she gets the holidays off! - we then all cycled the 2 miles to the City Centre. We haven't been for a couple of years so the kids were very excited about getting down there at last.

Jack loved it, and to be fair they were all good and didn't ask to go on every single ride, which was just as well as they are all £1.50 and more these days! Charlotte proved herself to be the dare-devil of the family wanting to go on some strange Twister-type ride that bounced like mad and then on the Waltzers. Don't think that she has been on the Waltzers before - they are certainly not like the Tea-cups as I heard Lewis describe them...

Lewis and Jack went on some tame roller coaster and then they all had a go at Hook-a-duck and proceeded to win bows and arrows with those window suckers on them. Which has meant hours of fun ducking arrows flying all over the place this evening, thank god they have gone to bed, although my desk chair has an arrow stuck to it!

Got some candy floss and some donuts and still feel sick now...oh well, all the fun of the fair.

Funniest memory was seeing Jack trying to climb some stairs in the Fun House when they moved as you try and walk up them, he couldn't figure it out and get taking loads of steps and getting nowhere. (You had to be there...)

Fine Wine

Have been drinking some French red wine that one of our students brought over having found it in the garage a couple of days ago covered in about 6 years of dust!

Absolutely stunning wine - even Tash enjoyed it....

Chateau Grand Mayne - St Emilion Grand Cru - get your hands on some.

A Normal Sunday

Busy day today.
The boys won their football match in the morning against Oxford Irish. About 8-1 or something like that. Only a friendly game but a good run out for them.

Came home and worked on the garage - will post some before and after photos - will look great next year I hope. Intend on converting it to an office and games room. Can't believe how much I have thrown away. It goes completely against the grain for me to bin stuff but I want the room now so it all has to go.

Have built a new work bench in the stable so that will get some use in the coming months I hope.

Finally I have updated the website with a load of photos from the Abingdon Utd programme chap.
Nice to see some old names from my days as a player - Rich Pierson, Jermaine Ferreira and Andy Ballard - good players so no surprise that City were pushed all the way and only got a draw.