Lakeside Xmas Grotto

Popped up to Lakeside today for some last minute xmas shopping and a look round. This was part of the Xmas Grotto which looked fantastic. I miss taking Julia to see Santa, it's part of the tradition of Christmas when children are small. Though alot of kids these days freak out about seeing Santa. My nephew is still not happy about going and he's almost four. Still I have the photos of Julia and Santa to put up along with the rest of the Xmas decs so will have to be content with them for now!

First sign of winter.

Snap of the first sign of winter this year. Done using a new app from android called camera zoom fx and one of the built in effects. The app is on their 10p list so well worth it plus the addons are free to download.
Hoping that this don't last though as we've missed the linedancing club do twice already due to the bloody weather! I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and wanna be dressing up for the Xmas celebrations. We've also got to put the decorations up today as Julia was busy last weekend doing her college work so feel bad that they are not up yet. We were gonna go to Lakeside today but the weather has put us off so will see what it's like on Sunday instead. Besides Julia is still up near Writtle with James and won't be back till lunch time. They were out celebrating Tom's birthday last night. Anyway best go washup the breakfast things no peace for the wicked!

Mum (1939-1987)

24 years ago today I lost my Mum and my best friend and today I still mourn her loss and all the things she's missed, namely her granddaughter Julia and her grandsons George and William. She was a beautiful person inside and out and the hub of our family. Quite simply life has never been the same without her. RIP Mum xxx

Another foggy Monday

The start of another working week and still foggy though I guess that's better than ice or snow. Am getting onto the Xmas wavelength now as seen the odd Norad post on Facebook (the peeps who track Santa) and found myself humming the odd carol now and then. Most of the Xmas shopping is complete and am seriously looking forward to my extended Chrimbo break especially as there's no tattoos booked this year so we can just chillax and soak up some Xmas movies! Hoping we might be able to get semi up North to visit my brother and the kids though that will depend on what Mother Nature has in store for us this winter. Be good to spend some time with my girl as she's often busy with her uni work. In fact she's still there so better sort some tea for her return !

Random Ramblings

Yay another fun day again in paradise - not. Now the dark evenings are upon us once more it seems like the only time I see natural daylight is at the weekends. It's dark when I get up for work and dark when I come home. Not very conducive to a happy lifestyle. Still I suppose given the current climate one should be grateful to still have a job. Mind I do wish I could afford to work a few less hours a week have more me time at home. That said I'm looking forward to my Xmas break hopefully with less of the white stuff this year! The Texas Moon have to keep cancelling the Xmas party due to bad weather and although they rehold it in January it's just not the same. It kind of marks the run up to Xmas for us so fingers crossed we make it this year. Also we'd like to try and visit my bro' and the kids most likely in the gap between Xmas and New Year. Got most of the Xmas shopping done just a couple of people left to buy for then it'll be Xmas card writing. They say a woman's work is never done !

Julia's Leg Tattoo

Here's the finished leg piece, last four hours done today at Diablo Tattoo by Ray Hunt. It's looking so gorgeous and will lighten up as it heals. I'm so proud that she sat for the two four hour sessions that it took to extend the tattoo from just below the knee up to her thigh. It's a wonderful piece and will look awesome once it's healed. Well done Julia !

Chatham South 1981 Class Reunion.

This is me and some of my old school mates from the classes of 1980 & 1981. The lovely Anita Bray organised it for us and we had a good evening catching up on old times. Let's hope we don't wait another 30yrs before doing it again !

Our revamped pond.

This weekend Julia persuaded me to revamp our pond. We've dug out the weeds, laid some weed preventing material followed by coloured gravel. Looks infinitely better than before plus we've replaced the tub plants with some new stuff which Julia's promised to water so all good. Am totally knackered now time to freshen up have some lunch and put my feet up!

Paddington Bear Tattoo

Here's a photo of the latest tattoo, done to celebrate the latest nephew William. It was taken straight after it was done and after a couple of weeks it's lightened up quite a bit. Its located on my right leg below the tatt of Eeyore and George, my first nephew. As it's healing it's getting quite itchy so try to air it as much as I can hence wearing a skirt tonight to the line dancing. Looking forward to seeing Julia's leg tattoo finished next month. She's had the one on her left leg extended up onto her thigh. So far a lot is just outlines but will be shaded in and completed in August. Two 4hr sessions it will have taken so it's a massive piece but will look awesome when it's done!

Leeds Castle

Have just spent a lovely day here with Julia. We went earlier in the year so now we can go as often as we like for a year. I love this place , it's on the door step for us and is a good place to just wander round or chill out. Now we can go whenever I'm hoping to visit out of season so we can see what it's like in the Autumn and Winter. Today we took our car blanket so we could find a shady place to sit and eat the wicked ham sarnies we bought in Asda. Still pretty busy even for a weekday before the school holidays , a couple of school groups and lots of foreigners wielding cameras. We went inside the castle again and the dog collar museum which is fascinating. Looking forward to the rest of my week off work especially as got my Paddington tattoo on Wednesday morning , hoping that where I scraped my leg in the garden yesterday has healed before he kicks off on Wednesday !

Julia & James at Lynton.

Here's a quick snap of Julia and James sitting outside a shop in Lynton. We visited Lynmouth and parked up before having a wander round. Then took the cliff railway up to Lynton. Out of the two places Lynmouth was the more picturesque I think. The railway is water powered and actually travels fairly quickly. Its been a lovely sunny day and we're just chilling out back at larkstone before having a wander around Ilfracombe. Just waiting for Julia as she's cat napping !

Relaxing at Larkstone.

We arrived at Larkstone just after 3pm after a fairly uneventful journey. The apartment is beautiful and has lovely views looking over the cliffs and harbor. Hopefully if it's dry later we can go explore.

New Smart Phones???

Headed off to Vodafone on Friday after work to re-new Julia's contract and add myself for a couple of brand spanking new smart phones. After much deliberation we had opted for the HTC Sensation for Julia and the Samsung Galaxy S2 for moi. Although I currently have a rolling monthly SIM only contract with Tesco’s I thought it might be time to treat myself to some new technology before I fall too far behind! I've been practising using the QWERTY keypad on Julia's i-touch and am slowly getting to grips with it, she's already used to a touch screen phone but this will be the first time we've had what are deemed "smart" phones so should be pretty damn cool! Think for both of us usage will mainly consist of Facebook updates, email and web browsing so shouldn't be too taxing on the data monthly allowance and both phones have Wi-Fi so can use them at home for free. The Galaxy S2 also came with an offer of a free boxed set of Pirates of the Caribbean so all in all a good deal. Both phones get rave reviews and are at the top end of the smart phone market, Julia just preferred the look and feel of the HTC whilst I thought the Galaxy looked very i-phone-ish.

However having decide to go back to the Savacentre Vodafone it transpired that whilst they had the HTC Sensation in stock they most certainly didn’t have any of the Galaxies for moi :-( I’ve set up my contract, got my SIM and the free DVDs but sadly no new shiny toy for me to play with. I’m on their list for when they come in and hopefully I won’t have to wait too long but the warehouse was only showing ten units and so far I’ve dropped a quick email to Vodafone but am still waiting for a reply. Hope it arrives before we go on holiday, was so looking forward to having it this weekend to play with so my disappointment is quite palpable.

Leeds Castle

This is Julia and me at Leeds Castle, we went there yesterday and spent a good day walking round the Castle and its grounds. Admission now covers a whole year so though it seems alot at £18.50 per adult, over a whole year that's not too bad really and Julia got in a bit cheaper on her Uni Student ID. Hopefully we will pop back reasonably often and see how the place changes over the course of a year. Had a few hiccups getting there after the satnav sent us down to the golf course entrance but the chap on the gate re-directed us back to the main entrance, we've always gone by bus before and even then it was a long time ago. Not sure the bus still runs by there anymore which is a real shame 'cos its a good place to visit and is just on our doorstep.

You are free to take photos in the Castle itself now (apart from the Chapel) which I'm pretty sure you weren't allowed to when we were there last time. Grounds wise I think there may be a better selection of flowers later in the summer time and this late we've missed the spring bulbs, so opportunities for floral displays were thin on the ground. I've visited in the summer time before and seen loads of lovely dahlias so I know there's more to see later in the year. The Great Lake is being drained and repaired so even that looked a tad sorry for itself but I'm sure once it's finished it will look impressive once more.

We walked as far over as the maze but didn't go in, I've only been in there once and got completely freaked out as I lost my way. Think they have a member of staff in the centre and at the time I went in he helped me find my way to the centre and then out through the underground grotto but I'm reluctant to go in again! We sat on our car blanket and enjoyed some Spring sunshine albeit a bit too windy to be really warm. Still we watched the birds of prey show from a distance and enjoyed munching on some sweets from the small Maze Cafe that's located at that end of the grounds.

It will be good to try and go back in the Autumn and maybe even the Winter if we dont get too much snow this year. I've never seen the Castle at those times of year only on their postcards so would be good to get some photos of my own.

The photo above was taken using a new tripod I've just bought, a Hahnel Triad 30 Lite with ballhead, and a radio remote that my Dad bought me a few years ago. The tripod was pretty easy to carry round for the day, better than my new camera strap which allows the camera to hang to one side, but should be easy to bring up to your eye for shooting. Only real trouble is that the strap gets in the way of my glasses when the camera is up to my eye so most of the time I ended up unclipping one side. It's a cheaper version of the Black Rapide strap so wondering if that's why it doesn't work so well. Will try and persevere for now as it's a bugger to attach to the camera but if I cant hack it then it will be resigned to the cupboard and my old neck strap will have to go back on. Not sure I really want to fork out over £50 for the posh version of the strap and find that it's no better!

Anyway more photos of the day's visit can be found on Facebook.

Easter Weekend and All Those Bank Holidays...

Have been enjoying the time off work following the Easter Weekend and the extra bank holiday this Friday for the Royal Wedding. For the first time I booked the extra days off in between giving me a nice long break away from the daily grind of work. With Julia being home too, her Uni holiday was better timed around Easter than the local schools, its been good being at home with her again. Mind she only has about 8 days in total until she packs up for good for the first year so she's looking forward to that.

We've done some retail therapy while she's been home, shopping for prom dresses for her summer ball. Bit of a headache really as there's lots of styles she don't like and not many that she does. Like me she's not really a dressy girl, more jeans and leggings, so it's proved a bit of a challenge. Not made any easier by the fact that we printed out lots of possibilities off the web for our trip to Bluewater only to find that most of the shops didn't stock those items anyway. Ended up back in reliable Maidstone where we ordered one and bought another to give her the option between them. Suffice to say that we got there in the end and a prom dress hangs in my wardrobe awaiting it's debut. On the other hand I had to shop for another pair of shoes and sandals after both are pretty much falling apart. I HATE buying footwear of any description and Julia will vouch for the fact that I probably tried on every possible shoe/sandal combination that Bluewater's more old fashioned shops had to offer. Ended up over Maidstone in some new shoe store where they display various styles and then all the sizes are there in boxes for you to try on yourself without the need to ask an assistant first. Much more my style of shopping as I'm so fussy about comfort that I know the shop person would be well fed up keep getting out all sorts of wrong 'uns in my search for shoe Nirvana. Sandals were from BHS in the end and again were probably the last style I tried on. All that remains is to see if they are as comfortable in real every day wear as they were in the shops, something that sadly is not usually the case when I buy footwear. Julia put on a very brave face as she sat on various seats waiting for me to trawl round the shop trying everything on, kind of made up for me waiting for her to try on prom dresses so I think on this occasion we were pretty even.

She's had some uni work to do so we've not done much else yet but might pop over to Leeds Castle at the weekend. Bought myself a new tripod which I'd like to try out so that will be a good opportunity.

Not really looking forward to getting back to work next week, the time goes so quickly, but our summer break won't be long coming round and where we are staying is fully paid up now so looking forward to seeing the place in the flesh and hoping it lives up to all the photos we've seen of the place. It has a sea view so at least we won't be stuck out in the boonies again this year!

Texas Moon Fancy Dress - Hawaiian

This is a collage of some of the images taken of us at the Texas Moon 18th Birthday Party in April 2011. This year's theme was Hawaiian as you can preobably guess and Julia and I pushed the boat out this year by buying our outfits online well before the big day. The sunnies came from Primark but without my varifocals I couldn't really see anything with them especially when we got to the club and the lights were dimmed! The other good folks in these pictures are Julia's other half James and his family and of course my Dad and step-mum Margaret.

It was a good evening all round, most people came along in fancy dress or at least wearing bright colours and flower garlands. And the gazebo went up again over our table along with the hawaiian wall posters. We took along a table palm tree and with Julia's coconut cup and my tikki mug we were well into the spirit of things ;-)

Arty Crafty

Was having a play around at the weekend with Microsoft’s montage program which I had forgotten about since buying the new laptop. James’s mum Annie reminded me about it when she brought along to the club, some photos of her and her sisters that she had run through the program over the weekend. I first came across it when James used it to make a montage of photos of him and Julia for a song CD case that he was preparing for Julia. He used the trial version which leaves a watermark over the final image but for the princely sum of £18 you can buy the full version which is what I ended up doing. It’s a bit tricky to get used to in that you don’t have a lot of control over the final montage apart from ranking the top two images, selecting the level of overlap and the number of images used, the program decides what goes where based on its or your ranking. However it produces pretty neat results and if you try out face detection (there is a manual option too where you can draw a box around a face or faces) it will then try not to overlap faces or important details. I know that as an avid user of Photoshop it shouldn’t be too hard to create my own montages but as with all things, it’s easier said than done and this little program does it a lot quicker. You can save which ever creations it makes or just keep selecting “Create” again to get another combination.

I also got carried away making some arty pictures out of a few photos I took of some ice patterns that were on Julia's car the other morning. The car had a leaf-like pattern of ice crystals all over the black roof which looked quite interesting so I grabbed my trusty Panasonic and took a few snaps before the sun started to melt it. Of course the final images bear no resemblance to the original shots as is usually the case when I get carried away in Photoshop but I think they look good nevertheless.

Looking Back...

As I was walking home last night I passed a young girl "scootering" home from school with her Mum and a baby brother or sister in tow. Her uniform told me she was in Horsted school so at least no older than Junior level and it got me thinking back to my time when I was her age. Life was idyllic, we didn't even have homework then like they do now, life was one long round of playtime and endless fun. No worries or responsibilities, just lots of time out playing in the fresh air and making the most of being a kid. Long holidays that stretched out before us like a lifetime and plenty of them. We'd spend Saturdays at Nan & Grandad's and Sundays out with my other Nan and Mum & Dad. All sorts of special people there to make us feel warm and safe. Life fit for a child just as it should be. Would I want to go back to then if I could? Maybe, sometimes, just for a short while, see those special people again who are no longer here and leave life feeling a little more empty now. Forget for a little while the worries of work, paying bills and the rest of the baggage that we generally carry round as adults. Maybe thats why retirement seems such an attractive place to be? It's kind of a second childhood for grown-ups, time (and hopefully money) to do as we please again, the only downside being older, not necessarily wiser and wondering if our health will still be good enough to allow us to do all the things we put off "till we retire".

Winter Back Again?

Getting well fed up by now waking to fog every day so far this week, it's not too cold really but cooler than it has been of late. Where's all the sunshine gone? We've been spoiled of late with bright, sunny, Spring days and now it feels as though we've been plunged back into Winter :-( Mind at least we've not got snow, they were forecasting it for Scotland over the weekend. Thought we were supposed to have a week of drizzle so with that in mind the fog is a better option as far as I'm concerned, I don't get wet in the fog!
Still the daffs are slowly beginning to come out, we have loads planted on a road island opposite the old Mid-Kent College site, the crocuses have been there a while already but the daffs flowering is a sure sign that Spring is on its way! Bought some tulips the other weekend at Asda when we went to get some flowers to take up the crematorium for my Nan's birthday. They were really nice indoors, flowered for the best part of a week and cheered the place up a bit. I'm not known for my green fingers when it comes to plants so we don't have any live ones indoors, strictly dried or silk only.
The downside to Spring and hence Summer coming of course is the garden... It means I shall be forced to go outside and initially tidy up after the Winter and then keep it tidy over the coming months, not my most favourite of chores let me tell you. Still it does leave one with a sense of achievement when you come indoors after a session and see the lawns looking tidy and less weeds lurking among the plants in the side beds. In my line of work I don't produce anything tangible so to be able to so obviously see the fruits of my labours is a pleasure even if I do balk at going outside in the first place ;-)

Retired Piercing

Its been almost 3 weeks now since I retired my nose piercing and in that time not one single person has remarked on the fact that its no longer there! I guess it shows just how little notice we take of the appearance of someone we know well.

Anyhow it has healed well with no obvious signs of scarring so that's good.

Visit to see William (11/03/11)

Here we all are at my brother's place when we went up to see baby William.
(Back row, l-r) Dad, George, William, Jo, Darren
(Front row, l-r) Margaret, moi, Julia

We've had a good visit, can't believe how much William sleeps, he could sleep for England! George has had a good time playing with his Grandad and we've stuffed loads of good food whilst we've been here. The Appleby Inn Hotel that we've stayed in is real nice, rooms are comfortable and tastefully decorated, plenty of food in the bar and for breakfast and free wi-fi hence this posting! Anyway after getting up early this morning to be ready in time for brekkies I am suitably knackered so it's time to sign off the laptop and go get ready for bed...

Quotations...

Sat this lunchtime and watched some AV's that I got from a photographic couple who visited our camera club one time. Some of the quotations in one were really good;

“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.”

"Don 't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So take time to stop and smell the flowers."

"Whilst others strive for brief power and ambition, I will be stretched out in the shade relaxing"

They remind me that life's too short to spend it rushing about, fussing over things that in the end dont really matter.

Family, good health, good friends, those are the things that are important when all's said and done.

RIP Mid-Kent College

These are a few recent snaps of Mid-Kent College (Horsted) where I studied for my A-levels and my HND in Computer Studies many moons ago. Since the college packed up its belongings and relocated to the new campus in Gillingham the buildings have fallen into disrepair and vandals have left it looking forlorn and derelict. There was a time when I used to look down the main entrance and believe it was a another world (when I was little!), we used to go past it on the way to my Nan's house, now if Countryside Properties get their planning approval it will be replaced by a new housing estate, the first phase (nearest us) to be finished by Summer 2012. It seems so sad to see the place falling apart now when I spent several years there improving my knowledge, I had my first experience with computers during my A-level course when I joined an "after school" club using Commodore PET machines, in a way it was this introduction to the mysterious world of computers that prompted me to do the HND. That and the fact that I didn't fancy leaving home for Uni and the course was sponsored by what was then Marconi Avionics so unless I was completely crap at it or annoyed anyone important I'd be offered a job, which I was and I'm still there. Whilst I'm not enamoured by the prospect of seeing a new housing estate on my doorstep, albeit that we will just see the edges where the existing footprint of the college is, I appreciate that this once proud campus cannot continue to be allowed to decay under our noses possibly attracting all sorts of unsavoury creatures during the process. So these images will remain a reportage of what was once a valuable learning facility in the Medway Towns.

Inside Animal Minds

Read about this gorgeous border collie "Betsy" in an article about animal minds in an old copy of the National Geographic Magazine that someone had brought into work. A really fascinating read into how the minds of several species of animals works when compared to humans. of course there were the usual ape characters but it also followed studies into birds, parrots and jays to name a few, elephants, sheep, octopi, dolphins and of course dogs. Both Betsy and another border collie, Rico, have learnt hundreds of words and can retrieve said objects from name or in the case of Betsy, a photo of the object. She is said to have a vocab of 300+ words and counting! It was amazing to think that animals other than apes have almost human like traits and the following quote will probably stay with me:- "This is the larger lesson of animal cognitive research: it humbles us. We are not alone in our ability to invent or plan or to contemplate ourselves - or even to plot and lie."

The other edition of the mag that caught my eye, someone has brought in a large collection of these old mags, was on "Unmasking Skin". It was an amazing insight into something that covers our entire being and which we probably take for granted most of the time. It dealt with the mechanics of skin, apparently it measures pressure, pain and temperature but not wetness, it's our brain that interprets us as being wet in the shower not our skin and touch is the most important thing of all especially for young babies. Denied human contact they can withdraw into themselves and even die. It covered the layers of skin and our defences against the sun, tribal tattoos, burns and our desires over the years to be lighter/darker depending on fashions.

All very interesting stuff which whiles away a lunchtime in paradise ;-)

Spring is Coming!

Its been confirmed, Spring is defo on its way! I've seen it for myself in new buds forming on the bushes I pass on my way home and in the clumps of daffs pushing up through the ground all over the place ready to burst into riotuous colour before too long. And for the first time today I didn't need the light on when I got ready for work, though did succumb for putting on my slap, its takes alot of money to look this cheap ;-) Dont know about you but the emerging light in the early mornings and evenings is making me feels a whole lot brighter and whilst we are still not outta the woods as far as the threat of snow goes, we are certainly edging away from it with every passing week. Which after the truckload we had dumped on us at the end of November and over Christmas, is a real blessing as last year I can remember having to go back to work after the Chrimbo break IN THE SNOW :-(

Mothers Day will soon be upon us too, April 3rd for those of you who want to know, make sure you take the opportunity to tell that special lady what she means to you. My Mum's been gone now for 24yrs this November and I still miss her, its easy to let things slide what with our busy lives but you never know when one day she wont be there anymore.

George Jumps for Charity!

My little nephew George (he's only 3yrs old) took part in a week of fundraising at his nursery and yesterday completed 119 jumps. They are supporting Birmingham Children's Hospital as I believe one of the children at the nursery is receiving cancer treatment at said hospital. Can't believe they managed to hold the kids attention for that long 'cos at their age it flits about all over the place, but my bro' posted on Facebook how proud he was of his son's efforts :-) And at that age the thought that they might actually be faced with the harsh realities of life is pretty damn scary. I remember Julia going to a birthday party for a boy in her class whose sister was suffering from cancer, leukaemia I think it was. They were all only in the Infants school and she sadly passed away after moving up to the Juniors, so no age and I couldn't believe how difficult it must have been for him to have to face the death of a sibling at his tender age. But sadly life is very unfair at times and all we can ever do is to protect our kids from such things for as along as we can.

William Henry Letley

Here's a wee snap of the little fella himself, even got his eyes open this time to prove that he IS awake some of the time ;-) Am liking his "boxing gloves", Julia had a pair when she was little, in fact judging by just how badly she scratched her arm the other week when it was itchy and made it bleed, she could do with a pair right now. Probably will end up leaving several scars, that's how bad it was :-(

William is the dead spit of his older brother George, they'll be like two peas in a pod growing up. My bro' and his significant other will certainly have their work cut out with two adventurous boys on their hands, there are definitely times when I'm relieved that Julia was an only child!

Baby Letley Now Official!

Baby Letley was officially registered into the family on Monday 21st February as William Henry Letley :-) William after Jo's grandad and Henry after our grandad, both names appear in the Letley family tree so EXCELLENT choice!

He's also put on half a pound (keep wanting to say half a stone but that's pushing it!) in the last 3 days so seems to be finally getting the hang of this feeding lark. Must be so hard for them to adjust to "life on the outside" and bless he shouldn't even be here yet so not surprised he's a bit freaked out by the whole process of birth and feeding ;-) He seems to be more active in demanding food during the night so think he could be turning into a night owl already like his dad.

Hopefully we'll pop up mid-March to say Hi, Julia's swamped with Uni work this weekend and has a study week coming up so be ideal to pop up there and check the little man out. And see his big bro' George too who I'm sure will be there to "supervise" us and drag his grandad off to play cars.

Oh and the nose piercing seems to be settling down OK after deciding to take the stud out for good. It's scabbed over a bit but hoping when that goes there should be no scarring. Pity cartilage piercings aren't like ear lobes where you could just take the jewellery out for a rest but unfortunately it heals over VERY quickly.

Nose Piercing Retired

I have taken the steps of retiring my nose stud after many weeks of putting up with it bleeding and generally playing up big time. Almost ripped it outta my face the other week after washing it which did not help one little bit so thought rather than leave the lump around the edge to get bigger and maybe end up leaving a scar I thought it might be time to let it go and allow it to heal properly. Hopefully it will be OK and the lump will diminish as it did when I removed my ear rim jewellery. I like the stud but after nearly 4yrs of it playing up periodically the novelty is wearing thin and i'm more interested in my tattoos, trust me they are by and far much easier to look after than a piercing and once healed need no further fussing. Julia was just saying over the weekend that the ear lobe piercings she had done with a needle still play up on a regular basis and yet the gun piercings are OK. I know everyone advocates needle piercings and I'm on that wagon too but somehow there must be some difference that can cause one to play up much more than the other. I am defo gonna stick to tattoos from now on...

Julia's New Tattoo

Here's Julia's latest tattoo, done last Friday by the awesome Ben Shaw who will be winging his way up to Derby at the end of Fenruary to start at a new tattoo studio up there. Guess there must be something about the Medway Towns that keeps putting him off :-( Anyhow, the piece he's done for Julia is real nice, it's fairly "old school" if you're looking for a genre, swallows, keys and hearts, but she loves it and thats the main thing. Just waiting for it to finish shedding and itching and then it will be done and dusted.

Reminiscing

Having browsed through my few photos of life at Chatham South it feels that my time spent there was a lifetime ago. I look at the young me and wonder "Where did she go?" Now at 45yrs, flying solo since my divorce, with a grown-up daughter who's just started at University and sporting my first pair of varifocals I don’t necessarily feel middle-aged but at times my body confirms that indeed I am! However its not all doom and gloom, I am the proud owner of an ever-growing collection of rather cool tattoos acquired since I entered my second childhood.

Almost the end of the week...

Almost Friday again, where does the time go? Julia is getting her next tattoo tomorrow, courtesy of Ben Shaw at Tattoo Medway - Gillingham, though he's only there till the end of February and then he leaves for Derby. Popped round Dad's last night to wish him a Happy Birthday for today, had a good natter which passed the evening along quite nicely. Baby William has come home again from hospotal having been taken in on Sunday due to him not feeding properly. They topped him up directly through his tummy whilst checking him out for various ailments but in the end admitted defeat and sent him home again. Not sure whether it will be a battle of wills getting him to feed, he can when he wants to, or whether there is still some underlying problem that they've yet to find. Better that its the former really but time will tell. Anyway gonna try out my first pot noodle for lunch so wish me luck ;-)

Sunday Morning...

Hey its another Sunday morning, not sure where my weekends go these days :-( Still we had a good time at the club last night, bit bizarre celebrating a late Xmas last week what with this week being Valentines, wondering if next week could be an early Easter ;-)

Planning to go up and see the new nephew at the end of the month if that's cool with them, think the little chap is gradually settingly in to life on the outside! Must be quite traumatic for them really, they spend 9 months (or less in his case) all nice and cosy in a water filled bubble, then get evicted out into a strange world full of weird stuff like clothes, nappies and having to work to eat! No wonder it takes them time to sort themselves out and I dont think people like health visitors and the likes help as they get all obsessive about weight measuring and percentages and babies are not all the same. I'm sure we didn't get obsessed over when we were born like they do now. Freaks new Mums out, at least Jo's been through it before with George so is less likely to be sucked in to their frenzy but still I'm sure she can do without the "life under the microscope" and just get on with taking care of William. Be good to see the little chap in the flesh and of course to catch up with George. He was very entertaining at Christmas, playing with all his cars and toolkits and chasing after his Grandad to come play! Very full on at 3yrs of age, they just dont come to a stop until they fall asleep. Wish I had some of his energy :-)

Paddington Bear

Booked a new tattoo in August with Ray Hunt to celebrate the new nephew. This time it's gonna be Paddington Bear (unless I have any radical changes of mind between now and then) with his name underneath. It'll be on my right back calf under Eeyore and George and was aptly chosen because Paddington is looking upwards and will therefore be "looking up" towards his big brother - cute or what?

Posted the proposed tattoo design on my website if anyone fancies a look.

Julia has booked more ink with my old artist Ben Shaw before he disappears back up North again, must be something we said? She's getting a swallow low down on her hip so should be cool, the kind of tattoo that is reserved for special people's eyes only ;-) be good for her to experience a different artist and she was relieved that Ben could fit her in before he leaves at the end of the month. Was good to see him actually, his appearance is rather "scary" in a way and yet he's such a nice bloke. Just proves that looks can be deceiving.

Posts by Email?

Thought the ability to post to my blog via email would be a useful thing but it's proving trickier than I thought. All sorts of issues with font sizes, extra stuff being added to the post such as company declarations and my signature for starters. For now I think I'll stick to the old fashioned way!

Hot Chocolate?

This is a bit of a test post I guess but if it works it’ll be the first sent via email!

Just been to get a hot chocolate at the canteen, not the best use of a pound I could have found. I’ve now tried it with hot water and then with milk and either way it’s a very insipid drink. Too much liquid and not nearly enough chocolate. They used to sell the most amazing hot choc I’ve ever tasted, like liquid heaven but it was too time consuming to make and the machine kept breaking down so we’ve been relegated to the instant variety :-( Even Aero make a better deal of instant choc, at least it pretends to be thick and bubbly so think I’ll skip the liquid refreshment next time or maybe buy a bottle of cold drink instead…

Worked reasonably well except for the crap added to the bottom of works email ;-)

Macbeth Soliloquy...

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

I remember having to learn this off by heart when I was at school, can't remember much of it now but the thoughts behind it have stayed with me.

Busy Bee

Been a busy bee in Paradise today, been putting the data into a monthly planning report that "analyses" the latest schedule update and hopefully proves useful to those that read it.

Better than yesterday when at home I almost ripped out my nose piercing when it got caught up on a loop on the towel. Considering that my nose is playing up big-time anyway this was not a good thing to have happen :-( Dont wanna have to consider retiring it as I quite like it but it's the longest that its been "iffy" for. Dont think it was this bad when it was pierced!

Baby William is gaining weight again, after a bit of a panic about his weight loss since birth it looks like he's getting the hang of this feeding lark. To be honest I think everyone worries a little too much, babies are not a science and they are all different, all this micro-probing does is stress everyone out which is definitely not good for the baby! It must be pretty traumatic for them being born, they go from having to do nothing to get nourishment to having to wear clothes, nappies and work for their food, enough to freak anyone out! Anyway Mummy Jo seems to have him under control now so fingers crossed he settles down into life in the Letley family :-)

New Letley Addition!

Let me introduce the latest addition to the Letley family, William Henry Letley. Born on 1st Feb 2011 almost a month early and weighing in at just over 7.5lb he is George's new baby bro'.

Named after Jo's Grandad and our Grandad, the names William and Henry appear prominently in the Letley family tree.

Congratulations to Jo, Darren and George on the newest arrival. x

New Year 2011

Here's Julia & James celebrating the New Year at the Texas Moon. We all had a good night especially as the Xmas do was cancelled due to the snow. Hopefully it will be re-held before we get too far into the new year although there's always the continued threat of more bad weather...

Updated Back Tattoo

This is my completed back piece, finished at Diablo Tattoo on Friday 17th December 2010. This was taken about a week after it was done so is already looking less red and the black and grey is already lightening up nicely. The piece is somewhat of a cartharsis for me, the "betrayal" refers to my ex's infidelity and the subsequent demise of our marriage. Finally this piece has helped me to put the past to bed and move on from what has been a long and painful part of my life. When someone you trust implicitly betrays that trust it is one of the hardest things to come to terms with whatever the circumstances, you think you know them and suddenly they are a stranger. The fact that this piece is on my back also helps to signify that this part of my life is now behind me. I am so pleased with the final outcome and will wear it with pride.