The following day, Christine was off visiting a friend and I took the children off to Manor Farm. We topped up our buckets with bird seed as usual although there seemed to be few in evidence in the farmyard. Duncan seems particularly wary of the animals. At one point he let out a prolonged ‘oooooooo’ which transformed in to a scream as a hen approached him. After a picnic we headed down to the playground in the park which was advertising some new equipment. Some was a bit dubious. There was one triangular piece that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a dog agility course which Duncan seemed to love as it had carpet inside and mirrored walls! There is a fantastic new swing though which is a very thick rope suspended from something resembling a Newton’s cradle which seats/stands about 10 children. After about 10 minutes of watching, Emma eventually deigned to get on. She didn’t stay on for long though!
Animal Encounters
August 19th, 2011Family wedding
August 14th, 2011The ceremony itself was at the Orleans House Gallery and passed off very smoothly. Emma got a laugh when she asked rather loudly ‘can you pass me a book please?’ just before the service started. At least she was polite! The gallery has some nice grounds for the kids to burn off some energy in and thankfully the rain didn’t come to anything. Duncan seemed particularly taken with the classic car in which James and Emily departed.
The festivities then moved to a hotel in Richmond. Once again, the children were well catered for in every sense of the word. When I came in from parking the car on the hotel front lawn (!) they were nowhere to be seen. I eventually found them gathered round a bald guitarist playing amusing takes on nursery rhymes! Then, at the meal, the children were given party bags much to our dismay as we had explained to Emma earlier in the day that you only get party bags at children’s birthday parties. Still, they were a welcome diversion during the speeches (for the children that is!). The food wasn’t bad either. Duncan particularly enjoyed the massive bowl of ketchup that came with his fish and chips.
The children then enjoyed racing around outside under the instruction of Granny Sue and Uncle Ian until it was time to come in again for the dancing. We finally left about 10 o’clock and, not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before Emma and Duncan went to sleep in the car. Thankfully they both transferred in to their beds without any fuss when we got home and everyone even had a reasonable lie-in the following morning.
Bretagne and British Beaches
July 18th, 2011Although the Tour de France departed from nearby Dinan the day after we arrived, we concluded it would all be lost on the kids and we headed for the nearest beach instead. We weren’t blessed with the best weather whilst we were there but the proximity of the sand meant we generally didn’t wander far from our tent. The only trip out was to the impressive Fort la Latte and windswept Cap Fréhel on the other side of the bay. Sadly the rain was back with us in force when it came to packing up the tent but, after a night in Roscoff, we did at least have an uneventful crossing back over to Plymouth.
From there, we headed down to Falmouth to see Christine’s brother and family, camping once again, this time at Tregedna Farm. There followed a fantastic day on the adjacent Maenporth beach. Unfortunately, the weather obviously knew we were due to pack the tent again the following morning as the rain was back. Fortunately it eased off sufficiently that it didn’t spoil our fun canoeing on the Helford Passage (thumbs up for the food at the Ferry Boat Inn too). The huge queue on the A30 the following day as we headed for home was a bit of a downer though! All in all though, it was a good couple of weeks away from the grindstone.
Porcine Pleasure
July 5th, 2011By afternoon, Emma’s confidence had returned and we embarked on a series of roller coaster rides etc. Christine and I were only glad that she wasn’t allowed on any of the really big rides. She’ll have to find a more adventurous relative when she gets a bit older! Despite still being term time, the park was pretty busy. It was a scorcher of a day which wasn’t entirely conducive to queuing. Duncan had the benefit of an afternoon snooze but, as the day drew on, Emma was suffering a bit from the heat. There was one particularly unpleasant tantrum relating to getting a place in the front carriage of the rabbit train!
We did finally escape about half an hour before closing time. The only question now is how long we can put off a return visit!
WebSphere ESB 7.5 available
June 3rd, 2011WebSphere ESB 7.5 is generally available from Passport Advantage as of today (as are WSRR 7.5, WebSphere ESB Registry Edition 7.5 and the 7.5 BPM stack) and the InfoCenter is also live. Having been the Development Lead and then Release Architect, I feel a certain sense of parental pride in this delivery but, as always, the credit goes to the wider team. It shall also be my last as I am parting company with the WebSphere ESB development team and moving on to pastures new. I can’t say more at the moment but all will be revealed sometime this month.
WebSphere ESB 7.5 Preview
June 1st, 2011As announced about a month ago, WebSphere ESB 7.5 is due to be available at the end of this week. Having presented on the subject at Impact, I felt I should provide a little more background to some of the new features described in the announce letter. Time permitting, I’ll cover some of the topics in further details once the product has been released.
Smashing AGM
May 8th, 2011A note on the front windscreen explained everything: “I am so sorry, my little son broke your windscreen by a stone.” This was, however, a very honest chap as it also gave his name and phone number. The following day we therefore had the windscreen replaced under the car insurance and the errant boy’s father has promised to transfer the excess to our bank account. I didn’t offer to return to him the stone that was still resting on our parcel shelf! Other than the sound of glass tipping back and forth when the boot is opened (it will eventually grind itself small enough to come out the drainage holes we were told), everything is now back as it should be.
Longdown RR10
May 4th, 2011Tonight was the first RR10 of the year in which I’m eligible to run. The course at Longdown isn’t a favourite – I don’t mind the undulations, the rutted paths or the tree roots but I do dislike the tight zig-zags and the clouds of midges waiting at the finish. I had no idea how fast to run having only raced once so far this year and only recognising a couple of faces lined up at the start. I probably started faster than I would have done had I not failed to notice my watch was displaying metric rather than imperial! Generally I was pleased with my run though. My legs didn’t suffer any of the tiredness I’ve experienced in past years and I was able to push it right to the end where I cross the line in 11th place.
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