Sandwich Bar and the mystery blonde

Had a great lunch on Monday, well a cornbeef and cucumber sandwich anyway, was joined by a very beautiful lady. Just managed to take the photo on my mobile phone before she dived into the surf, then with a wink, a wave and a toss of her tail she was away. Must have been too much garlic - - - Oh well next time it's a salad followed by a steaming roly-poly

Dumb Bells

Was handed an application form to join the local gym at work! I haven't worked out yet whether it was because I look fit and hunky as I stroll from desk to tea machine or otherwise :-)

Anyway I will investigate the gym, by all accounts they have a bar with with ice cold Guinness!

Chess Draw

Well guys, I played my first team OTB game for what seems decades monday night. The final position is shown above where we agreed a draw. I was black and it is my move in the position. My opponent offered a draw, and it was enough to win us the match, I was also worried about messing up my advantage, so accepted. It was a strange game where I sacrificed a pawn on move 1 and a bishop later to secure an attacking game. A draw was a fair result in this game though I don't think the final position, interesting as it is, offers anymore

Exciting Monday

It is now the weekend and I have 2 days to relax and re-charge ready for next week.

Monday promises to be exciting, the start of my first full week with my new colleagues, playing a "real" chess match in the evening - forgotten where, but some dark and dingy tourist town in Kent no doubt -

My New Job

Started my new job on Wednesday, so have safely completed my first week, albeit a short one!

First impressions are very good, all of the staff are friendly work seems varied and interesting and office modern and only a short walk to a lunchtime bar - non-alcoholic guinness of course lol- Spent a few hours today making CD cases, don't ask, lets just say that I don't have a big future as a Blue Peter Presenter - which is a shame as I love dogs and free holidays.

Oh, almost forgot by all accounts I get paid too!

Exhausting End

Well guys, my car has been repaired - and I have to be honest, I went to Kwik Fit and was very impressed by their attitude, knowledge and price. I know nothing about cars and could have been easy meat for a rogue garage man (Not many of those around !!) But Kwik Fit were friendly, fair and quite cheap, or in TV shopping land speak - "affordable"

While I was waiting for the repair I sprinted into town to pay in some money at the Nationwide BS . . . .OMG what a crazily long queue they had and seemingly in no rush to fill the empty cashier's desk. The queue crawled along with most of us clock watching and fearing that as lunchtime approached the tills would close and the Nationwide employees would be off spending the Christmas vouchers - I made a pledge with the lady behind me to let the cashier have a piece of my mind - alas when I was eventually served she was too beautiful to be annoyed with, the best I managed was a rather feeble "Happy New Year" I didn't have the courage to tell her it felt like it was almost 2008

New Year Resolutions

For 2007 I have limited myself to just 5 resolutions:

1. Play more OTB chess and actually know some opening/endgame theory!
2. Everytime I feel the urge to buy a magazine - resist and put the cash in my piggie bank towards my purchase of a HD ready TV
3. Lose at least 2 stone in time for my 25th wedding anniversary (August 2007)
4. Print some of the digital photos I take :-)
5. Convince my wife and kids that when applied to me DIY doesn't mean " Destroy it Yourself"
   
   
   
   

New Year's Eve

Wishing EVERYONE a happy, healthy and wealthy New Year

Exhaust - - ed

Well, the truth is, I was just too tired to drive down to my friendly exhaust repair guy after work Saturday morning - so am not able to report on the customer service experience - Never Fear though - this has been delayed until 2nd January - will update you all then

Customer Service

In the lead up to Christmas, My family, like many people made quite a few online purchases. Most of these went smoothly but there was one or two hiccups.

• Argos - my son purchase a Nintendo Wii (Great fun btw) and like a lot of people was let down on the original delivery date - However Argos were very good, they kept him informed and sent a good wedge of vouchers as compensation


• Woolworths - I made an order online and was promised an email to confirm when the item would be ready for collection. I picked up the item 2 days later (10th December) received an email 27th December telling me the item was about to be dispatched!! mmmm


• Amazon - I normally love Amazon - but they let me down with an order and left notifying me until 2 days before Christmas- All I have had from them is a poorly worded templated email - boooooooooooooo - I will think carefully about using Amazon during 2007