Happy Birthday to lots of people, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter.

'The following takes place between 2 August 2010 and 22 April 2011....'

So what's new I don't hear anyone ask or care.
I've been on holiday - and managed to avoid injury.No bumps no scratches, no hospital visit and more inportant no stiches. Even manages to do some 3 mile runs.

I have a new Bike Thanks you to Evans Cycles for making the price affordable meaning I was allowed to buy it. I've been out lota of times to Cannock Chase (fell off 3 times), the Chevin at Duffield (fell off once) and general riding anywhere off-road (no really fell off).

One fall at Cannock bent the front wheel which also changed to an oval shape, therefore new wheel was required.

I have a new Camera
I seem to have a run of bad look with cameras, my first Sony was a cheapy that I decided to sell and upgrade, my second Second was left in a pub, my third Sony went pop, I gave up on Sony. My first Panasonic Lumix went pop-whizz-bang, I gave up on Panasonic. I know have a Canon...... Surely not a bad choice.
I have a new phone It's an iPhone 4 - no Pictures necessary I guess

I have a new Bike
Not content with falling off my mountain bike, I thought I would try and fall off onto tarmac, so bought a road bike, at first I thought of a Hybrid but decided they were a 'neither-here-nor-there' bike and went all out. It's a 2010 model but £300 quid off so can't know it, especially when the 2011 model probably has a different coloured stripe (and nothing else).


I rode to work for charity
There I was, watching Chris Moyles do his bit for Comic Relief and made me feel guilty about how lucky I am to have my life, then I thought, 'I need to do something.... fun for charity' I then decided I would ride to work, and back again to try and raise some money. The problem is, this was decided on Wednesday, Comic Relief was Friday.....

I did it 18.5 miles each way and £280 raised from family and friends, you are all great people. Thank you x

I rode to Matlock to see if I could
.... The long way round, 44.5 miles on a Saturday morning with no stop for Fish & Chips... Not good.

I had a Christmas Card from my eldest children
This has got to be the highlight of last year, a Christmas card from Lauren and Ryan. This might not seem important to some, but is very important to me.

Lauren, Ryan - if you read this. Love ya lots and see you soon xxx

There, 8 and a half months summed up in 1 post written in around an hour, I really should update more.

The Holiday

I'd get round to it in the end and yesterdays' news prompted me.

After 3 weeks of worrying wether or not our flight company would still be around to get us to Tenerife, we managed to get there, the weather was great, the restaurants were nice as usual and the nightlife was...

...Dead.

Tenerife must be going through the credit crisis along with the rest of the world. the usually busy Veronicas strip was empty, the pubs were pumping out music but had no-one in them, the people that usually hassle you to death until you go into their pub for a "buy one - get one free" were standing around talking to each other, occasionally asking "where you were going later".

I'm not sure whether this was down to the recent problems with holiday companies and airlines going bust, prices in most of the restaurants increased, the Euro dropped from 1.6 to 1.2 meant this is not the cheap as chips holiday it once was.


Thanks to the in-laws though who take us with us at extra expense to their timeshare, this means we managed to get a rest when they took Leah on their daily walks, as well as an on-call babysitter.

... 2 weeks after returning to the UK, our flight company (LTE) went bust....

Holiday

I am due to go on holiday soon, this is just the break I/we needed, a couple of weeks in Tenerife with the "missus" the "little-un" and the "in-laws".

At first, I though the main issue would be the credit crunch causing the exchange rate dropped from an average €1.5/£1 to €1.2/£1. It has just got a whole lot worse.

A Serious XL Crash

XL Leisure Group, the 3rd largest tour operator in the UK has effectively gone bust, all flights and package holidays are now non-existent, although we have not booked with this company, following the recent collapse of Zoom, Silverjet and only yesterday Futura International.

Even football is now affected

It is very worrying hoping company we are flying with will still be operating when we do go (and come back), we are not on a package holiday as the in-laws have timeshare, we are still relying on the flight company to get us there.

There is no alternative, alternative flights are 4 times the price we paid (and ours weren't cheap!!!).

This was the week that the rain came down, holiday companies went bust, the world ended and the channel tunnel closed, on a positive note, petrol came done 1 pence....

Question: What is worse, getting to Tenerife and getting stuck, or not going on holiday

Back in Blighty
.
Arrived back yesterday to not so hot weather, a wait for a bus to take us to the airpark followed by a 45 minute drive and we were home (2.30am).

What a fantastic holiday, it was completely different to the usual holidays previously with both the lads and SWMBO, although it wasn't that much of a holiday for SWMBO as she stayed in the shade for a lot of the time feeding Leah, more of a change of scenery.

The In-Laws were great though, taking Leah for walks when she needed to sleep, babysitting while we got ready and generally giving us some together time so thanks for that.

I did manage 1 lads night though on Sunday, and boy did I regret it the day after, out drinking till 5.30am, unable to finish my breakfast the next day and generally feeling shit for the whole of the day. Great night though.....
My knee managed to behave, I managed to walk 2-3 miles a day without too much pain, although stupidly wore a pair of flip-flops for a couple of days, this was stupid as my knee gave way due to the extra work it was having to do to keep the flip-flops on.

The flight home played hell with my knee, as it was only 4 hours I decided I'd be ok.

So back to reality and Physio told me that the usual holiday time has taken me a step back, not only do I need to do extra work, but its's highly likely I'm going for manipulation sometime soon.

I can go back to work on Monday and have a rest....

Ola Mi Amigos

Bloody hell it's hot....

We managed the luggage, packed the travel cot with a ton of stuff so to keep our normal allowance downthe travel cot ended up weighing 22Kg, as well as each of our luggage also being over the allowance of 20Kg, luckily we managed to get away with it. Who'd have thought you'd need so much suff for a baby, and we're using it all.

Middle of September and it's around 34 degrees in the daytime and 24ish at night. I called home and my mum told me it's wet and cold.... YES.

Leah covered in suncream, with a hat on, in a baby tent, under a tree,
in the shade, in the sun.... Protected and happy(ish)

Leah didn't like the heat on day 1, but is now used to it, Father-in-Law still doesnt like the heat but unfortunately won't fit in the baby tent. Although he seems to have re-found his youth here, listening to Hed Kandi on his my iPod and reading Harry Potter.

Listening to Fat Choonz on MY ipod

I can see the sea

The Apartment is great, 2 big bedrooms and 2 big bathrooms with living space and a sea-view balcony, what more coul you ask for.... well for the next resort to turn the bloody music down that's what. Apparently the music goes on till 3.00am, I don't know cos I'm fast asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

The Vodafone coverage is great here too. super fast 3G (7.2Mbs) from my 3G card, not to mention the daft spanish that all seem to have unsecured wireless networks. No need to be without my internet....

That's enough for now, I'm off to tend to my sunburnt shoulders..... and have another €2 pint, (where the hell is the euro sign on the keboard).

Tenerife -

As Peter Kay said, we've booked it, packed it and now we're 'Kin Off

Yes, the day is finally here, we are going on our "summer" holiday, 12 days in wonderful Tenerife for I think what is my 5th time and SWMBOs 12th.

This time will be slightly different however, as we are taking our little Leah I'm going to do some proper sightseeing, so rather than Tramps, Linekers, Valentinos, Yates, Harleys etc, it would be nice to see some proper Tenerife stuff. for this I have found a nice site - Secret Tenerife which is aimed at "discovering the real nature of this beautiful, sub-tropical Canary Island".

Don't get me wrong, as soon as we've put Leah to bed with the babysitters grandparents, we'll be hitting Tramps, Linekers, Valentinos, Yates, Harleys etc just found a pub called "Bikini-G's" so will have to try that out, (don't worry, I'll get photos).

In the meantime I have my ipod, book and PDA so I won't bwhile topping up my tan, I just hope the weather stays good for us.

See y'all soon.....

Web Links
tenerife-uncovered - secret-tenerife - tenerifeonline

Knee Update

I thought everything was going fine, my physio was helping improve my flexion (bending) up to 120 degrees and my extension (straightening) was at 0.

Today was my consultant appointment and have shown a different story. He says my flexion is 95 and my extension is only 0.
This has crushed me...

2 days before I go on holiday and I haven't been doing as well as I thought, it seems the Range of Movement (ROM) is based on the amount you can actually move of you own free well rather than being "forced" by someone.

I have been advised told I will need even more physio (I am currently having 2-3 days a week) and if things don't improve within the next 4 weeks, then I have to seriously consider MUA Manipulation under anesthesia before my knee stays like it is... Permanently.
Most people requiring this kind of procedure do so as they have had a total knee replacement (TKR), I can't seem to find anyone that needs a MUA for a "Normal" problem such as mine.

Found a great site about a woman who had MUA, in particular, this post. She couldn't bend her knee past 90 degrees (110 at a push) it seemed to work for her. At least it's given me some hope, if only as a last resort.

I will definately be doing as much as I can over the next 4 weeks, even if 2 of them are while sunning it in Tenerife, who knows, maybe the sun will help too. (I know the large measures of JD & Coke certainly will)

A Bargain Expensive Holiday

The countdown is almost over, we are a few days away from our long awaited holiday. Fortunately SWMBOs' mother (affectionately known as Monster-in-Law) has timeshares meaning we can use these whenever they are free... So we're off to Tenerife for sun, sand, sangria and more sun

Unfortunately - the In-Laws are coming with us
Fortunately - We now have babysitters.
Normally we save hundreds of pounds using Monsters' timeshare, however with Leah now here, this saving has disapperaed and instead, replaced with "Expense"

As we all know, baggage handlers enjoy throwing luggage as far as possible, so to save our £400 "travel system" that Monster bought for us, we have bought a "cheap" buggy at just £70.

Babies cots in apartments are less than appealing so we have bought one to take with us.
The sun in Tenerife is bloody hot se we have bought a "shade a babe" and a beach tent.
For playing around the pool, we have bought a play nest

There, I think thats it...

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get away and am really excited at taking our baby on her first holiday, it also helps "limit" our luggage, as babies don't get extra allowance for luggage we need to travel lighter. Normally I take a few pairs of shoes, shorts, etc. as well as my gadgets (camera, camcorder, laptop, ipod etc), and SWMBO - hairdryer (it has a cold setting apparently), straighteners, crimpers, curling tongs, shower, bath, sink, spare sink - in one case, and clothes in the other, we are both normally at the 20Kg limit EACH ... there and a bit more back (with the alcohol).

Our only real worry is what type of water to use when making up Leahs' milk, Leah is still being breastfed but sometimes has a top-up when necessary, as you can't use the water in Tenerife, and most people advise if you must use mineral water, then only use Evian. The best option is to use spring water, so we'll spend some time looking for spring water (as soon as know how to say it in Spanish). DJs Dylan and Darren, if you're reading this, let me know as you might still be over there .

* I do really love my Mother-in-Law - couldn't eat a whole one though