It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

Yep if it is’nt one thing its another, on the way to work today my engine cut out on me, luckily I had enough speed built up to allow me to cruise to the curb, where I attempted to start the engine again, but alas nothing happend the starter motor turned, but the engine just would’nt fire up, something similar happened on Friday, which I’d put down to the engine being flooded, but with it happening a 2nd time, thought it best to give the AA a call.

After waiting about 20 mins the nice man from the AA turned up and got me to try and start the car again and yep it started first time, so after feeling like a complete tit for a few minutes I enquired if he had any idea’s, which thankfully he did, but before divulging his knowledge he attached a handy little wireless device to my car’s computer and ran a system diagnostics on his laptop.   After running a couple of tests and finding no faults he consulted what I can only call his online encyclopedia of car makes and their faults to confirm what he thought was the problem . .  I waited with baited breath while he gave his answer . . .

Its your crankshaft sensor he explained, apparently this is common amongst BMW’s as well as a few other car makes, so after following me to work to make sure that I got there safely he got me to fill in his paper work and suggested I contact my local BMW garage, which I have done and they’ve got me booked in for next Monday morning, when they’ll hopefully be able to fix it for me, though at a cost of course, at the moment its looking like £85 for the sensor and then 2 hrs labour at a cost of £55 an hr, so £200 of my wages are taken already . . .  just what I need when I have a vets bills amongst other things to pay for, not what I needed this month to be honest.

Am now sat here wondering what the 3rd thing this month to go wrong will be, cause as you know these things never happen in two’s . .

Those of you who read my blog will no doubt have come across posts about our Cane Corso (Italian Mastiff) Blue, well I’m sad to say Blue’s been a little bit under the weather these past few weeks due to damage to her cruciate ligament in one of her hind legs.

She developed some lameness in her leg in May which was prescribed anti-inflammatories for and this seemed to do the trick, however at the end of June, beginning of July her symptoms came back, so after 2 visits to the vets and a set of x-rays we were told that she’d most likely torn her cruciate ligament and were referred to a Consultant Vet at North West Surgeons nr Frodsham.

So along came the appointed consultation where we were told that from what could be seen from the x-rays it appears that Blues ligament has indeed been torn, this was apparently obvious from the x-rays (not a vet myself, so have had to take his word for it), the next step we’ve been told is surgery and at present Blue is booked in to have the operation on the 13th August 2010.

We’ve been told the operation has a 96% success rate, but this all depends on how her recovery is managed, so for the first 6 weeks, Blue will be crated confined and only allowed out for her constitutionals and that’s it, then after the 6 weeks its a case of very slow, gentle exercise, which will gradually build up to a manageable 20 minute walk, and then over time hopefully build up to longer walks and fingers crossed semi-normality.

I can honestly say I am very nervous about Blue going under anethisia, as thats probably the most dangerous part of the whole operation, don’t know what we’d do if anything every happened to Blue, so fingers crossed, wood touched everything will go smoothly.

Will endeavour to keep you all updated on how our little Princess is getting on

Was in my opinion the shittest Giant Bradley Day I’ve been to . . .

This year they decided to hold it on the football field and charge everyone £1 to get in, so why was it shit ?, well apart from the 4 food stands, 1 beer tent (not even being run by a Market Weighton Pub), 6-7 tombola stands, a small funfair, the live music and Punch & Judy there was fcuk all else to keep you interested for the 5 – 10 minutes it took you to walk round the field, though we did hear that the birds of prey would be on again this year, but as I say after 5-10 minutes you’d seen everything, so you could either go away and come back later on just sit around twiddling your thumbs until the time came for them to come on.

There was’nt even a Fun Day Dog Show this year, which was a big disappointment for us and a few other dog owners . . .

I think we stayed for about 20 minutes which was more than enough time to see the “Sights” and then we drove back to Manchester, what a wasted journey that was, just thankful my mum still lives in Market Weighton, so at least the 160 mile round trip was’nt a total waste of petrol.

Why they ever decided to take the celebrations off the High St I’ll never know, but if they want it to be a success they really need to be doing a bit more to make the new site of the event a little bit more than a Tombola meet or bring it back to the High St

We won’t be going next year

Only a couple more hours left of our holiday in Whitby, wishing we were here for another week to be honest, its been a good time at Squirrel Acres Cottage, had enjoyable evenings just sat on the sun terrace/veranda listening to the sounds of the wood and its many inhabitants, I’ve even shared my breakfast with a few of them.

I think I can say me, Mel and Blue have enjoyed the cottage more than the days out, its been so relaxing here, definatly helped recharge our batteries and destress from work, I’ll take home some nice memories, even the ones that involve being awoken every morning by the dawn chorus at 4:30-5:30am.

We spent our last full day here exploring the coast to the North of Whitby and found a very dog friendly beach at Sandsend and an even dog friendly pub the Hart Inn, which by the way serves the nicest piece of Gammon I’ve had the pleasure to consume in a very very long time, well presented as well.

After Sandsend we spent the last few hours of yesterday wondering round the shops of Whitby once more to see if we could pick up any last minute bargains, which I’m happy to say I did, and once again they were all from the local charity shops, I managed to get hold of a few graphic novels, some DVD’s and a couple more computer games, all of which were priced between £1.99 to £2.50.  In total I’ve come back from my hols with 3 graphic novels, 2 DVD’s and 6 computer games and I’ve spent a sum total of about £12, whicch aint bad considering most of these games were originally £20 odd pounds each, and they are’nt even that old, maybe a year and half at the most.

Think my mum has the right idea about charity shop bargains and I will now be sure to check them out more often

Anyway where do we go from here, well were heading to my mums in Market Weighton for Sunday’s Giant Bradley day celebrations, where we’ll be entering Blue in the Fun Dog Show and hoping that she gets another top 3 place like she has for the past 2 years, then on Sunday night we’ll probably head back across to Manchester for one last day of chilling and then alas on Tuesday its back to work, but less thinking of that and more thinking about booking this place again next summerb

P1060571, originally uploaded by BagRat.

Well were now into the 4th day of our holiday and we’ve managed to cram in visits to :

Whitby Abbey, which was a pleasant couple of hours spent walking round the remains of what at one time must have been a very imposing structure (still is I suppose) for such a small coastal town of the times, the views from the hill its built on give you some very good panoramic views over Whitby and the surrounding area.

Filey which once you’ve seen it you’ve seen it

Goathland, again a pleasant little village which seems to be making a living off the back of Heartbeat, just about every shop there is a gift shop, which is a shame, as I’m sure it would be nicer/quainter if it actually had some proper shops.

Becks Hole, home of what must be Britains smallest Pub, The Birch Hall Inn, nice place to stop off in for a beer and one of their hearty sandwichs and home made Pork Pies, dogs are welcome as well.

Grosmont, the place where the steam engine line starts and home of the steam engine workshops, you can go for a ride on one of the locally restored Steam Engines and experience a time gone by, theres also a nice little pub there just by the railway crossings that serves a very nice Beer battered Cod and Chips.

Pickering, which is a quaint little Market Town and also the end of the line for Grosmonts Steam Railway, theres a rather nice little bakery there that does lots of home made sweet and savoury pies.
The day we went there was a flea market on which had quite a few nice antique stalls for those who like that sort of thing, you’ve also got the remains of Pickering Castle, which sadly we did’nt get to explore as it not open on a Monday or Tuesday.

Probably going to have a drive to Scarborough today as it looks like its gonna be a sunny day indeed . .

Heading across to Tatton Park today to take Blue for a bit of a dog walk and see the deers, went there for the first time on Thursday and loved the place, so intended today on spending a good few hours walking around the Mere and looking for the deer.

Photos to follow

Yes today was the day on our annual apprasial at work and for the first time in years I actually feel that I was apprasised . .

Spent nearly 4-5hrs discussing my job role with the company I work for with my new manager and how to move forward from the wilderness I feel I’ve been in, it felt good to be able to talk to someone and actually feel as if they are behind you, instead of previous apprasials where it just felt like we were going through the motions.

Thank you

Thats what we were after visiting the Valentines Market in Piccadilly Gardens today, it was really just the Farmers Market with a few extra stall’s, nothing you’d want to write home about, though the Farmers Market in itself is fine, why try and dress it up as something else.

Anyway after spending about 1/2 looking at stalls we’ve previously seen we went for a bit of a wander round Manchester doing window shopping, no spending money this month, to skint for any of that malarky, we headed to Chorlton and Electriks for a Latte and a beer, as usual Blue got lots of compliments from the clientele old and new, it’s nice how Blue gets people talking to each other and it’s pretty cool have everyone say shes such a beautiful dog (I sound like a proud father, maybe I am in a dogchild sort of way).

Spent about 2hrs there surfing the net and just generally people watching, Mel saw a friend from work so had a bit of a natter with her then headed home so I could catch up on last nights LOST, which by the way gets more and more confusing every Season and with this being the penultimate season its getting even weirder . .  whats with the crossed reality’s bit . . just gonna have to wait and see how it pans out I suppose.

So not to much of an exciting day today I’m afriad, but at least we got out of the house thats the main thing, can’t be staying in on one of your days not at work can you . .

Time for bed now so sweet dreams and all that other bollox people say before going to bed and farting the night away . .

 

This weekend what with it being Valentines day, Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens will be hosting a new Market, this time selling all those things that you might need to ensure that your Valentines day runs as smoothly as possible, there will be stalls selling the usual Valentines fare flowers and jewellery and chocolates, but along side it there will also be fashion and clothing stalls selling all those outfits ready to buy for the lady in your life.

The Market runs over 2 days, the 13th and 14th of February, were going to be heading there ourselves on the 13th to see what bargains we can get, so if your there be sure to keep an eye out for me the missus and our dog Blue.

that’s what I am, just not had the energy to post on the blog on a regular basis for quite a while now, think its been the winter blues that have been causing it, all these dark nights when I’ve been getting home from work’s to blame.

I shall attempt to remedy that by telling you about things that I’ve done int the week that’s been and gone . .

Sunday was spent walking Blue and then heading over to electrik bar in Chorlton for a most enjoyable night of Sundays 1 Deck Session where the DJ on the deck that night was the wonderfully moustached Andrew Weatherall . . . and boy what a moustache he has . .

Over the course of the evening he played everything from Rockabilly, the Clash, the specials and just about anything else that took his fancy, thoroughly nice man and thoroughly good entertainment was had by all who attended, these 1 Deck sessions at electrik just get better.

Should also point you towards @undeleted’s Blog were you can find a much better write up of the evening and who is the man responsible for this pioneering new camera interview technique “The Chest and Chin”

Monday through to Wednesday weren’t all that exciting just the usual drudgery of work and wondering if we’d be hit by another white out with the snow, the only highlights were watching the new series of Survivors starting on the BBC, which gave me and no doubt a few other dotted around Manchester the opportunity to play spot the Mancunian location, the most obvious was the exterior of the Midland Hotel, where they took Tom to operate on, didn’t recognise anywhere else, but that’s probably down to the fact the BBC have moved production of the new series to Birmingham, so expect to see local shots around there in the coming episodes.

Also spent some time uploading a few more videos onto YouTube . .  yes and they were of the dog Blue, but do you blame me, she is after all the prettiest dog in the world

First up in her new video adventures is the quilt sucking episode, it seems that when you leave Blue alone in the bedroom she has a habit of bunching up the quilt and grabbing it in her jaws and just  “Sucking”

She treats it like its some sort of security blanket or something, anyway here’s the proof and just check out the so serious face when she clocks the camera filming her

Next up there’s Blue enjoying the summer in Longford Park, filmed this earlier on last year, but just never got around to uploading it

Then came Thursday and today, not much to blog about I’m afraid.

As for tomorrow there might be more to blog about, as I’ve instituted #DogClub on Twitter and will hopefully have a few peeps joining me and Blue on our Saturday morning walk around Ivy Green, though this might change to another location as yet undecided.

Also I must say hello to Adrian or to his friends Eddy Layton, who I’ve recently discovered reads my blog from time to time, so Eddy if your reading this say hello to my mum next time you see her and say hello Mrs L and Paul for me.