Jan 2007 a

Mon 01 Jan 2007
See our previous posting for New Years Day.

Tue 02 Jan 2007
Steve goes back to work. Jen scours the internet for a good used car.

Thu 04 Jan 2007
Jen buys a car (at the right price)! Hooray!!! We are once again proud Honda owners. This time however its a 7 seater auto (but handles like a regular car), with the seats able to fold right down and make it a 2 seater van.

Above: We discover the car is wider than our house! (well longer than it is wide).

Fri 05 Jan 2007
Jen had a stressful day not being able to pay the tax-disc (rego) until the insurance paperwork comes in the mail, and therefore also unable to get a residents' parking permit. Kept on putting the 6 hour visitor parking tickets on the dash with a hand-written note about the tax disc. Somehow avoided getting any parking tickets, or the car towed away!

Sat 06 Jan 2007
Jen & Steve anxiously await the mail delivery for insurance certificate - it arrived! Zipped down to the Post Office and got the Tax Disc, and a bit later also got the 1 year residents' parking permit.
Jen took the car to get the carpets and upholstery cleaned. Then we visited China, who is Dan and Elizabeth's cat.... she's china-white. Fed her while her owners were away at Coronation (SCA event) in Dublin. We decided not to go, as we were spending money on a car instead. Drove up to Cambridge to hang out with Deb and Clancy, and the four of us went out for dinner near Deb's work.

Sun 07 Jan 2007
Went shopping on the American bases with Deb and Clancy. Bought a pair of lovely candle holders, and Magic Cards (trading card game) for Steve. Got home at around 5pm, and immediately went out to see Mel Gibson's new movie, Apocalypto. Interesting enough, but felt it had heaps of untapped potential.

Mon 08 Jan 2007
Jen's holidays are over and we're now both at work.

Wed 10 Jan 2007
Jen does calligraphy for work, writing about 150 names on invitations to an event being held at the House of Lords - no less! Love the gold edging.



Thu 12 Jan 2007
Jen takes the morning off, waiting for the house inspection to happen. The dude finally shows up at midday, looks around, asks if we've had any problems with the place and is gone in under 5 minutes. Hopefully it was all OK.

Sat 13 Jan 2007
Moved the house around. That is, we dismantled the bed in the master bedroom and put it into the loft. The mattress however is up against the wall, and can be used for guests - not as nice as a proper bed but at least we get more value out of the rent now. Brought the computers upstairs. Swapped the wardrobe contents to make the smaller bedroom the one to sleep in - its much warmer due to its size. Steve's computer is now wireless, but we haven't figured the Mac out yet and are using a 10m network cable until then.
Went to newcomer Jenny and Nick's place (15 minute drive) for a yummy dinner and pleasant chat.

Sun 14 Jan 2007
Visited John and Marina at Southend-on-Sea (approx 1 hour drive) to see the Shire's cooking/events stuff, but ended up taking it all. Since we're closer to the centre of the Shire, it'll be easier to take the stuff to events. We're now storing it all in the loft.
The day was clear and bright, and it seemed like everyone was taking advantage of the sunshine while it lasted.

Above: Our hosts John and Marina, who cooked up an early dinner for us later on.
Below: Sunset, walking back from the sea-side pub.


Above: A wren warbled sweetly, and our hosts took this photo while we bird-watched.

Mon 15 Jan 2007
Steve loses job. It was a close thing, but his Microsoft knowledge wasn't quite good enough to keep him on. They did however offer him the chance to come back and have the job again, once those skills are up to scratch. Apparently this offer's never been given before.
SCA Shire meeting night - loads of planning and future direction talks taking place. Jen gets some new tasks, namely to design a recruitment pamphlet to be left in gaming stores.

Wed 17 Jan 2007
Steve's computer dies. Argghh!!! He somehow manages to get his new CV printed out and drops off some copies at the local recruitment agencies. Steve gets a job offer. However, it is nasty full-rotation shift work an hour's commute away, and Jen says NO WAY. Jen is enjoying having her house-hubby back cooking dinners for her again!