Smart - Destination Brooklands

On Sat K and I went to 'Smart - Destination Brooklands', a replacement for the old London to Brighton run. We met at the local dealers for breakfast and to see the new For2 for the first time. We then convoyed along the M25 to Brooklands with 30 or so other Smarts. Once there we joined around 1,000 other Smart cars. The actual event itself was not great - the queues for driving the new car were over an hour long and there was not an aweful lot to do. Anyway, we had a nice lunch in the Gull-Wing restaurant, wandered around some static displays and eventually left after 3 hours or so. Still, it was fun to be a part of it.

BTW - we should have won the competition for dirtiest Smart. We must have been the *only* car that was not clean - the shame!

HUSBAND-BEATER!

Last night, presumably as I was bad or something, my wife beat me...with my own car! Yes, it is true - the MINI was used as a weapon to infict maximum damage on me. She waited until I was standing underneath the boot, arms full of shopping, before she *JUMPED* with all her weight and *SLAMMED* the bootlid onto my shoulder. Luckily I didn't drop the wine. Needless to say I had a sleepless night - both through the agony of the bruising and the FEAR of a repeat attack!

'k ok - the image above is not *actually* me. I don't visably bruise much so I had to resort to someone else's injuries to emphasise my own...

Parish Council

The last two nights have been my first official meetings as a Councillor. Tue was a Planning Committeee and last night a Village Hall one followed by a General Finance and Planning. I have to admitt they were fairly interesting - although I am shocked at the procedures and cost of putting up xmas lights in the village. I have been asked to choose which committies to affiliate with and am going to chose the Planning and F&GPC - they appear to be the most interesting and the ones in which I feel I can contribute. Councillor Haigh is enjoying this...

Grand Prix

As I am working this weekend I figured I wouldn't be able to watch the Grand Prix so set up the Sky+ to record it. However, it turns out that the building I am working in has a full on projector - see below. Awesome! Not only that but I got the hear Murry Walker saying "go go go" once mroe time thanks to 5Live. And what a Grand Prix too......

Exhausted - Go Live

I am shattered! Those of you that know me well know that mornings and I do not mix. At the moment I am in Nottingham where I have been since Wed. Last night we went live on a new system which meant I was in from midday until 03:00 this morning. After 3 hours sleep I was up again at 07:30 for another full day....ug! Red Bull appears to only be giving me the jitters and not actually staving off tiredness......maybe Starbucks will work???

Movie: Right At Your Door

I just finished watching a very cool film. If you enjoyed the futility and horror of "Children of Men" then you may well like "Right At Your Door". Low budget but a hard hitter. The reviews are mixed but for £5.99 delivered (link above) I don't think you can go far wrong. Note - not for those who suffer from nightmares!

Router Upgrade

I upgraded my WiFi today to the latest firmware - link in title. Always hassle with these Netgear units as you have to reset to factory afterwards and then re-programme. Annoying as I use a 10.0.0.x network in place of the default 192.168.1.x which means I have to physically connect to it to reconfigure

Parish Council

I received a pack this morning from the Parish Council saying that they have accepted my application for Parish Councillor and have co-opted me in. It's official - you may call me Cllr Haigh :)

Camping

K and I bought a tent yesterday. The reasons were two-fold. Firstly, it was a nice(ish) day and sleeping beneath the stars appealed. Secondly we need one for CheapFest later this year (A's 4x4 weekend thingy). So - we went and bought a very nice 2-man tent as pictured below. It is an exoskeleton design and even has indoor lighting :) Last night was interesting - comfortable enough but the light at 06:00 forced us back inside so we could carry on snoozing.

3-Year Wedding Anniversary

K and I have been married for 3 years today and have just got back from an interesting weekend in Lincoln where we ate, drank and were VERY merry. I think the photo below summs up exactly why I love this intelligent, beatiful woman so much and why 3 years has gone by so very quickly. Happy anniversary ekling! xx

TeamWrangler day out

A invited J and I to come with him on a Jeep 4x4 day. We set off early and spent the entire day hooning around a disused quarry in A's new Wrangler. Had a great time alhough J nearly killed the car through hydrolocking it - a VERY lucky escape and one that I am emphasising constantly in the hope that it will overshadow all my past driving errors. More pic on my flickr account...