Spaghetti... ::)

Last night, being Friday, I usually make a Curry for Tea....however, the kids have got off with the tongs, and I will not make a Curry without the tongs - it takes three times as long to make the Poppadoms! So, I decided to cook Spaghetti with Sausages & mini-meatballs, on toast. Easy; one would think! However, I reckoned my eldest son would happily eat it, the way his parents do... not so; he loudly complained that I'd put the Spaghetti on top of the Toast (he likes them separate). So, Mrs.Nev scraped the food off the toast, for young Master Fussy.... meanwhile, a hungry Nev had been hoeing in to his meal...it was only when Margaret started on hers, that she loudly exclaimed, "Hey! I'VE got the one with Peanut Butter!!!" "I envy you," I said, in all seriousness (I eat spaghetti, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, & most things on Toast, with Peanut Butter). I got the two adult plates mixed up...next time, I'll put a few sprinkles of grated cheese on top of my one, so the Peanut Butter doesn't go down the wrong cakehole :D)

Thursday

Today was fairly Quiet......I got up, kept my usual vigilant watch on the Mailbox...eventually, a parcel came (my 4th this week!). The first three were DVDs from the UK; this one was an old Dr.Who book from our Auntie Elaine. She found it in her attic, and for some strange reason, she thought of me...! She wrote, "If it's one you've already got, you can give it to someone else..." No way, Jose. Looking inside the front cover, I saw it belonged to her son, Connan, who passed away many years ago, while climbing a mountain. They never did find his body......

I went to Northtown shopping centre, & got my last pay from Pizza Hut. I really am better off, outta there. I feel a lot less stressed. Went to McDonald's & had a leisurely breakfast; then went home & had a little kip...then drove to pick up the Twins. A while later, I picked up Jamie; once we got home, the 3 kids happily watched "Piglet's Big Movie" while I made Burgers from a recipe out of the Dr.Who Cookbook. This time, the meat patties held together a lot better, and the burgers were generally much improved.

Wah-Wah

Tonight, I went to see Wah-Wah, a film written & directed by Richard E. Grant, about his childhood in Swaziland, in South East Africa. It is a warm, bittersweet story; about a boy whose life is torn apart when his mother leaves his Dad & him; and his father begins drinking heavily...a bottle-a-day man, you could use his liver to sole & heel Army boots... the boy's Dad soon remarries, to a lovely American woman, who loves her new husband; but can't stand the whole toodle-pip, tra-la-la, jolly good old boy chat that she called "wah-wah;" hence the film's name.
The movie helped me to understand Richard E. Grant a little more.

Movies, Movies, MOVIES!

On Sarturday, I took Jamie to see Garfield 2: A Tale of Two Kitties. It was amusing; and good to see Billy Connolly in a comedy role...nice to see Lucy Davis (The Office) too! When I bought the tickets (I always like to buy them at least several hours early), I also bought one to see Mrs.Palfrey at the Claremont. I saw it last night; it was a good British drama. I seem to have caught the bug....tonight, I'm gonna see Wah-Wah, a story based on Richard E.Grant's childhood. Watch this space for a brief review, tomorrow.....

Launch Interceptor! :)

Last night, Jamie & I played with my "new" Dinky Interceptor toy (it's 35 years old; I bought it on eBay). This is a model of one of the craft seen on UFO, the fantastic series seen on TV in the early '70s. To see Jamie's little face light up when he saw the Interceptor was just great! We had a great time playing with it, and the other UFO toys.

Computers........

Excuse me if I was a bit EXUBERANT on my last post; on Friday that was the very first time I ever bought a Brand-New Computer......

...our last 2 Computers were hand-me-downs from Margaret's Dad; the last one had a 6 Gig hard-drive, and could do most things...until its brain melted......it didn't do too bad, when you consider that we took it to the repair shop last year in March - I was offline for 3 MONTHS (some folks thought I'd stopped talking to them), and when we finally got it back 12 weeks later, the guys there said "We couldn't find anything wrong with it" ::)

...the one before that (our second 'puter) had a 500Mb hard-drive, and was as slow as a wet week on the Isle of Wight.....to boot up our Home Page, I'd click on it, & go & make a brew (& drink it) while waiting for it to do its thing.....

...our very first computer was a Mac, which we bought at an auction for $100.....it had a soft-drive of just 1 Meg.......it did me for word-processing, for University......

The New Computer has a hard-drive of 80 Gigs, and is pretty good for such a cheap model - it was just $899 (300 pounds), plus $39 for an anti-virus deal.....

Hup, Hup, HUZZAH!!!!!!!!

Well, today I bought a NEW COMPUTER; I'm so excited! At least, I THINK I'm excited...I banged my head earlier, on an overhanging roof... hope I didn't just imagine buying the new PC package ::)......

It comes with a combo Printer-Scanner-Copier, which will be handy, as our printer hasn't worked for ages! Also, it'll be good (hopefully) not to have to worry about computer reliability for a while......!

Playtime...

....with Jamie! Just before going to bed, Jamie & I played with my old (and "new") UFO toys...both of them fire little tiny Missiles....we enjoyed knocking over my "Kyle" (Southpark) little soft toy! Jamie's now in bed; he's been singing, "UFO's the Best, UFO's the Best....!" :D)

RED ALERT!

...the Interceptor has Landed! ....in my Mailbox, that is! :) My classic Dinky UFO Interceptor arrived this morning, complete with its missile! I carefully put it away; away from prying little eyes......

I visited our Russian friends this morning, it was good to catch up with them. Their baby boy is growing fast. Tonight, I visited some elderly folk, & showed them the Peter Sellers' movie, The Party, on DVD...

UFO Battle!

Tonight, Jamie & I had our first battle with my classic UFO toys; what FUN! I was 10 years old again! :D) My "new" UFO toy cost me about 30 pounds, but it's worth it to me! Grins!

"It's Been A Funny Day..."

....as old Arkwright used to say! ;) I got up this morning, switched the 'puter on - does anyone else do that before anything?....even before going to t'loo? Anyway, I got up, & not TOO long after, discovered THREE wonderful things in the Mailbox.....the very latest Dr.Who Magazine; the rarest Dr.Who book (The Wheel in Space) - AND it's the one, that was formerly owned by '80s Dr.Who Producer, John Nathan-Turner! :D) - and ALSO, a classic Dinky Toy, from the Gerry Anderson programme, UFO!

I was well-pleased. The Twins, however, got up to mischief...& gave me some worries! We've taken steps to have a more secure front gate...!

Did 15 deliveries tonight, which will help to pay my Mastercard bill... more tomorrow; sleepy-time now.....Zzzzzzzzz....

Quiet Thursday

I had blogged earlier this evening, but then the jolly 'puter crashed...Grrr! ...oh, well. I watched another Ripping Yarn today; and late last night, I watched a little doco that traced Michael Palin's comic roots. He even interviewed Spike Milligan, a man of great comic genius...so it must've been filmed a few years back! Michael was a huge fan of The Goon Show.

I like the fact that Thursdays are nice & quiet; it gives me a chance to prepare for Friday night...6 hours of delivering hot Pizzas! Joy! ;)

Across The Andes by Frog

Tonight, I watched a classic Brit comedy, "Across the Andes by Frog," one of the Ripping Yarns stories by 2 of the Monty Python group, Michael Palin & Terry Jones. Ripping Yarns were based loosely on Boys' Own stories; with a hefty dose of satire, a sideways nudge at the British way of life, and a fair amount of social comment. Tonight's example, Across the Andes by Frog, takes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the very earnest nineteenth-century explorers, with a ridiculous idea that highly-trained frogs could traverse a couple of hundred miles of mountains, escorted by a group of soldiers...the explorer didn't count on local opposition, however, from the sports-obsessed native indians, who wouldn't lift a finger to help him until after the FA Cup Final - and then, of course, it was Wimbledon Fortnight, so he was right out of luck! He REALLY upset them when he shot the only radio in the village...! Michael Palin clearly enjoyed himself as the Explorer, a role he was well suited to (I'm sure you all know why...), and good performances were put in by Denholm Elliot & Don Henderson.

...the first episode of this series, btw, was Tompkinson's Schooldays; this really reminded me of my old school, what with the uniforms & the old stone buildings.

UFO

UFO was my fave of ALL the kids' programmes I watched, while @ primary school...although it was different, as it had some adult themes, & it wasn't like other Gerry Anderson programmes (ie Thunderbirds, Joe 90, etc) in that it had real people, not just puppets! For more information, see the link:
http://ufoseries.com/

Monday

Well, Monday was a much better day than most of the previous 5 days were; it was quite restful, and began with 4 parcels arriving at once...! There was the latest Dr.Who Calendar from Amazon; and three DVDs...Little Britain 3; Dr.Who - The Mark of the Rani; and Neville's Island. This last one, I admit, is pure vanity...but why not?? ;) It stars Martin Clunes and Timothy Spall, so it should be funny.....I'll probably let you know......

...Last night, I went to see the Old Couple, Stuart & Tricia...I showed them some Peter Kay, doing his live stand-up show....also, they watched a special feature on the new Dr.Who DVD...
AND they indulged my current UFO mania, by watching the opening episode of Series 1 with me!....anyone remember watching UFO in the early '70s?......or were all my readers born after Band Aid?

Not-quite-so-restful Sunday...

I usually like to take things easy on Sunday; Church in the morning...lunch, followed by a leisurely Snooze....then Tea, followed by Church again; then home to see my family, and Bed. Not so today......well, I got the two church services, but not without pushing for one of them!! I got a call from a Pizza Hut driver, which woke me; "Neville, can you work for me tonight?" "No." Tried to get back to sleep.....then the Whophone went, & my boss said, "Can you work from 4 - 8pm?" "No, I wanna go to Church tonight..." "You'll be off in time to go to Church." So, very reluctantly, I went to work for 2-and-a-half hours...got a HUGE bollocking from the Owner, because I forgot to give some punters their chips last night (has she never made a mistake?) - did 2 deliveries....finished work, had a quick Tea @ KFC (I get staff discount there)...and went to Church. I tell ya, I'm switching my mobile off next Sunday! :D)

A Funny Old Week....

Haven't been feeling very well this week; which accounts for my lack of blogs....
...plus, even though I've been ill, I've had to keep going to work; which is...well...
- I have to admit, I resented that a bit...I mean, I COULD have stayed home, to get over my virus/temperature; etc - but only if I could find someone to take my place!! No-one was available, so muggins ploughed on.... ::)

Father's Day Part II

On Sunday morning, we went to a service at the New Life Church, to celebrate Father's Day... I went up the front with 5 other Dads (ones with school age kids) - we were asked to take off our shoes & socks, and we were covered with blankets, except our Feet...then our kids were asked to choose which feet were their Dads! :)

Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day here in sunny New Zealand; and my children have given me a nice, sweet card, and a battery-assisted blade razor! hup, hup, HUZZAH! I like my buzzy gadgets...I've already got a battery-assisted toothbrush (as well as the electric one), AND a Hummingbird! :) ....this is a buzzing, battery-assisted flosser. Very cute, and practical. I'm happy to be at home today, with my Family.

Busy week......

It's been a very busy week, with lots of work, my first pay (YAY!), my rejection for a role in the next Mill Theatre production (boo!)....and my new (temp?) obsession with Gerry Anderson's UFO! ...I've put a bid on Trademe for a 1970 Dinky Shado 2 Mobile, so my eldest son & I can play with one each. It 'll cost a lot, but not, I suspect, as much as if it was on auction on ebay in the UK, where UFO is much more popular.....the auction ends in a few days; I'll let you all know if I get it.