Some shopping

Just went to Bluewater to try and get a telly for the kitchen (but no-one wanted to swap, hoho) and a new coat for Clare. BUT, the telly we had seen online didn't look nearly as good in the flesh, and all the others that did were more than we were thinking of spending, so we came back for a rethink.

Had a lovely lunch in Pizza Express and...

... and that's where I found this half written post this morning, we went out again in a bit of a hurry. We were heading to Dover and there was a big gap between trains. We brought in some tea with us from Carluccio's that was very good indeed too, that would be a great way to cheat if you were making dinner for someone.

Dover was much better than I remembered, most of the pubs were a bit quiet, but one place was so good we've booked in there for dinner next Saturday. It's Blakes, a little cellar bar / restaurant / guest house that Clare found on www.beerintheevening.com. Absolutely recommended, looking forward to going back, they're going to adapt something for me, and Clare's going for a steak after she heard another diner there raving about them.

2007 :: Comment / reply

I was looking for a job, and then I found a job

No posts for a few days, I had something to say but wanted to wait until I got an official confirmation and things. Yes I'm back in the land of the permanently employed, just arranged some final details today and I start at Holiday Extras on Monday! This is a good thing, for lots of reasons.

I've enjoyed having days off, they're nice, this is partly why I've arranged to start next week instead of starting, say, today. The previous days I've had off, when not working, since leaving Channelfly / Popex I've not really been able to put by back into sitting and watching TV and that, as I've needed to be on the phone with agents and things and trying to find the next job. Now it's done, so I have a good couple of days of watching Lovejoy and things (though wouldn't you know, it was one I'd seen today). I'm really looking forward to getting back into working with other people though.

Another good thing about working is being able to spend more money. I've been a bit cautious over the past few months, making sure the freelance money stretched, and that the pay off didn't run out etc, now we can get back into the swing of lighting the fire with handfuls of notes and so on, and buying a new telly. Our existing telly still ROCKS, but it's about time we were a two TV family, we want [froogle=integrated lcd tv]a little wall mounted job for the kitchen[/froogle].

Another good thing about a permanent job instead of contract work is being able to borrow more money. We want to buy a house sometime soon, so now we can get another mortgage and things. I love just looking at properties in the paper, it's going to be GREAT to be shopping for one again.

Another good thing about this permanent job is the travel. No, there is almost none, it is in Folkestone! Well, just outside Folkestone, and with there being one train and hour and things it could still be quite a significant travel, but it will not mean getting home at half eight as I was before christmas.

Another good thing about this permanent job coming at this time, is that I incentivised my job seeking for the new year; I decided no more booze until I got a proper job. So this was three weeks of clean healthy living! This has not been done for a long while. It was OK, except trips to the pub were a little bit boring when everyone around you is getting tipsy and you're not. As soon as I got the call on Friday (and I'd talked it over with the wife) we cracked open a bottle of champagne that we'd been saving since our cross channel trip last year. And very nice it was too.

I will miss the opportunities to meet up with my London buddies, but that just means I have to put a little bit of effort into it. And with not actually having to go into London every day, I'll appreciate the chances to go in, and probably go out even more.

I'm feeling really quite zippy and positive abotut things today, so not only have I done cleaning and housework without being told to, I'm going to share a recipe with you, what I done made today. It's even better than my top secret garlic bread recipe, and it's arrabiata sauce:

Take two chillis, four or five garlic cloves, chop very finely, and fry gently until they go soft. Pour on a jar of passata, a couple of pinches of chilli powder, and some herbs, and simmer over the lowest heat for about two hours. For a special treat, fry a couple of sausages, chop them thinly, and add to the sauce. Serve with cooked pasta and salad.

2007 :: Comment / reply

Didn't get an aerial fitted then...

Guy came, and can't fit an aerial. He was very helpful and has had a good look round, up in the loft and everything, but he says the only place we can get access to put an aerial might not give us a better picture than we're getting now, so it's not worth it. It'd be a gamble putting it int he loft, might give a good pciture and might not, but he wouldn't be able to run a cable down from the loft to us, it's too awkward anyway.

What we can have, and they can do it in the next few days, is Sky Freesat - 150 quid for the dish, 100 quid to fit, access to a few more channels than freeview, and no more to pay. They will fit us up for Sky+ for £360, but I don't think we want an extra subscription amount, we won't have time to watch it all. So Free Sat it is then!

Tellies are COMPLICATED! For example, they have this one in Curry's, the website says at 1500 quid though I think it might be less, Currys website will sell it direct at 1200 and John Lewis also has it at 1500, on it's website. Currys do say it's not wall mountable, but several sites, supply it with a wall bracket... John Lewis is more expensive for most, they will price match, but it's hard finding likely comparisons. They do offer a handy five year guarantee on all tellies, and we could use wedding gift vouchers to buy it, so it's looking like the right place. I think.

There's quite a difference in prices too. Anyway, that's LCD and I think we want a plasma anyway, but just trying to compare like with like... So far I've know we want HDTV Ready, higher resolution numbers are better, and a higher contrast ratio is better, though everyone lies about their contrast ratio anyway. Wikipedia told me that, it's been pretty handy...

Any advice in the next 24 hours gratefully received.

2006 :: Comment / reply