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Goodbye old friend
Last night I turned off the UKChat server.
UKChat was a chat site that I co-ran and has been running for 10 years. It's been a part of my life after work and at weekends for a long time, so it was a bit of a wrench to turn it off.
Why did we do it? A number of reasons. Chat has had its day. IMs and Social Networking sites have taken its place, and the amount of effort required to keep it running was getting beyond that which we had available.
It was good while it lasted. I made a lot of friends and even had a couple of good relationships as a result of it, but nothing lasts forever, so it was good going out on a high.
Malta
I've just recently returned from 11 days in Malta. Photos here.
It was a relaxing holiday, the weather was variable, but with enough nice days to be not too disappointing.
The main stories of the holiday are the travelling.
I was due to fly out with Alitalia via Milan. I checked in nice and early and was halfway through my breakfast when I heard my name on the tannoy..... My flight to Milan was cancelled!!!! I had to got back through immigration and collect my luggage before queuing up at the Alitalia desk..... Much to my delight, as I was a transit passenger, they re-booked me on the direct Air Malta flight, and apart from the frantic dash from terminal 2 to 4, it was excellent as I arrived two hours ahead of schedule... two more hours to my holiday.
On the way home I was flying via Rome and Milan. Plenty of lost luggage opportunity there! The first two legs were fine, then for the last leg I was bumped up to business class!! Result!! We then sat for an hour on the tarmac at Milan as they had one more passenger on the plane than they had seats! Eventually they persuaded someone to get off.
When we arrived at Heathrow, so did my luggage!! second result!!! As a final quirk to the holiday, on the luggage carousel was a large pink suitcase from the previous flight, very noticeable. Imagine my surprise when I got to my local tube station, there waiting for the bus was the guy with the pink suitcase. He then proceeded to get on the same bus as me and off at the same stop!! That was a big coincidence.
The End of Blogging
As you will have noticed, I haven't blogged for a while. This is for a couple of reasons. One, not a lot of major import has happened, and two, I am working long hours at the moment.
I'm not complaining about the hours I work, because I love the work I do, it's just that given my position, it is not appropriate that I journal even some of the things at work. And what with work being the majority of my time, that leaves very little else to blog.
Another factor is that the majority of readers of my blog were (or are) family and friends, and the vast majority of these are now on Facebook, where it is a lot easier to stay in touch and keep up with all the goings on.
I don't intend to shut down this page, but rather keep it for major announcements etc. I will continue to publish my holiday pictures (and others) in my album, so there will still be plenty to see here, and I will leave the archives here of course. Oh, and the WebCam stays too.
New Trousers
I have had to buy some new trousers.
Why is this news? It's new because the new trousers are a 34" waist!!
Those of you who know me in person know that I have never been the slimmest of people. However, for the last year or so I have resolved to loose weight and set myself a target weight of 11½ stone (161 lbs). Last week I achieved that weight!
So to encourage myself to keep to this weight (or loose just a tad more) I have bought new trousers that just fit.
Hurghada
I have just returned from my annual diving holiday, this year in Hurghada.
This is my first visit to Hurghada, all my other Red Sea diving has been in Sharm el-Sheikh.
How does it compare? As a resort, Hurghada is just hotels.... Very nice hotels, but it does lacks the character and atmosphere of Sharm/Na'ama Bay. If you want a holiday in the sun with lots of sitting by the pool, then it's fine. But apart from the water sports and diving, there is not a lot to do.
The diving....... The diving is excellent!!! All the dive sites are off shore, so haven't been destroyed by land based tourists like in Sharm.
Two items of note about the diving.... First, on one dive we encountered a small school of dolphins while we were underwater. There were five altogether, including a mother and child that I managed to get a picture of. and second I did two dives with a Semi-Closed Rebreather, which is a device that recycles exhaled carbon dioxide. The advantages are much longer dive time and less/no bubbles to frighten off the wildlife.
All my pictures are in my album here.
A big thank you to Euro Divers and Sublime Diving and Tours for organising a fantastic holiday.
lookalike...
How about this, my neice, Carly, dressed up as Audrey Hepburn for a party.
And the real Audrey...
Soooo Old.........
My knees hurt, my joints creak when I move, I'm getting old......
45 today to be precise.
As with past tradition, I took the day off work to do my own thing and ended up with a nice meal at my parent's house.
Not a lot more to say, except that I'm starting to feel as old as I am.........
Gone to the dogs...
I've lived here for nearly 21 years. Not very far away is Romford Greyhound Staduim, and I've never been there. Tonight my company was sponsoring 6 races, so I went along (all expenses paid of course) and had great time.
I've always heard how much fun going to the dogs is, and now I can add my voice to it too. The facilities are excellent, and the food was great too. The only down side was that I ended up out of pocket (bet £24 and won £5).
Oh, and yesterday was exactly one year since I started this job.... how a year flys by......
