On the beach

Our job today went a bit sour. We did all we could until just after 11am, then got told we couldn't do the final connections until after 1pm (which turned into 2pm) So being near the seaside we headed for the beach. It was just above freezing but the sun was shining brightly.

Heavy rain

The last few days have seen some monster rain, hours and hours of downpours that have left roads flooded and fields swamped. This is the flood plains adjacent to the A33 doing their job.

Full moon

When I got in from work today, the moon was looking spectacular. Huge and bright and dominating the sky. There were some spooky clouds around it too, but by the time I'd got my gear sorted they had cleared. Still its a nice view.

Massive tablet

In a customer reception today they have installed a Microsoft Surface, a table with a funky touch screen PC built into it. Sadly they were only using it displaying a non interactive over head view of a pond.

I'll take both please

The A4 into London became a lot more interesting a few months ago when Landmark Cars opened a new classic car showroom. The stock changes quite often so you get some good spotting whilst sat in the traffic.

I'm so dizzy

Its very nearly December, so I'm not too annoyed that Christmas is being plastered everywhere (it has been since mid August!) Wokingham held its annual Winter Carnival today, closing off the streets and allowing stalls to sell crafts and food as well as a funfair. For the first time, Lily was asking to go on the rides and for treats. I know its going to get worse in the future, but she asked so nicely! A ride on the whirling chairs was treated with slight suspicion and then she spied the teacups ride. All the way to Cafe Nero, along all the stalls, at the cash point and whilst buying a Peppa Pig balloon all she kept asking was "I wanna ride teacups Daddy" So for £2 each, Kim and Lily spun round for a few minutes and loved it.

Do you know where I can get felt?

Its an old gag and answer is the haberdashery department! Or from the crafting table of my wife who knocked up this little felt heart as a practise run for a Guide activity she's planning on doing this week. She's a talented one.

Reaching up

For the last few days the rain has been hammering down, the wind gusting along. At last the sky is blue and the sun is out and its nearly the weekend and time to go home.

Big laptop screen

This has been my life for the last few days. Arrive, unpack kit, bolt to wall, align, test. Repeat until home time. The only amusement we get is putting random songs on the speakers and films on the boards.

Village Peoples newest member

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Theres nothing exciting to see on site! However, some PPE and a bit of signage. All I need is a cowboy, traffic cop....

Machines

Day two on site, this appears to be the middle of a digger graveyard. Machines with flat tyres, caked in mud and site debris. Abandoned in a corner of the carpark.

Zero Harm

Another week, another building site. We're back up to a school in Derby for five days. Five days of pointless H&S rules, five days of mud, five days away from home!

Houston...we have a doughnut

Kim and Lily popped into town this morning to see a friend. They brought me a treat back in the form of more LEGO. I'm amassing quite a stash now from various places (I may have to go and collect all my old stuff from my parents loft soon!) Once built I was driving it round the sofa (as you do) when Kims lunchtime snack blocked my path!

Autumnal fun

For the last few weeks the leaves have been tumbling off the tree in the front garden. Theres little point in raking them up every few days so I've left it until the tree is completely bare and then done all the work in one hit. I had help from Lily, who was happy to gather them up one by one while I hauled dozens at a time in. Once the pile was complete she then made her own game of running and kicking through the middle of the pile.

Old Farm Pond

I use to live in Earley before moving down to Lower Earley over a decade ago. When I was growing up it really was "all fields" then the houses started to be built and the largest housing estate in Europe emerged. Several parts of the old land survive including cottages and the pond that was in the grounds of Old Farm. For safety its now fenced off with coppiced trees and its full of reeds, but if you peek through the gaps you can still see the pond. As children we always thought some boggy beast roamed around under the surface, kind of like Lower Earleys own Nessey!

Polish Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

In the 1980s, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Reading was scheduled for demolition. The Polish people of Reading took it over and just recently its started to be renovated. Its like a brand new building now as the decades of grime have been removed to reveal the golden stonework beneath.

 

Kennet Walk gasworks

Having no work van to get home in and a bit of time before picking Lily up, I decided to take a few snaps on the way home then catch the bus. The first bus was full, the second never came so I walked the five miles home, the first part along the banks of the canal. Towering over the back of Newtown and the point the canal joins the Thames is one of Readings gasometers. Being late afternoon in autumn is almost empty!

The Blade

Continuing the Reading theme this week. The Blade is the most modern building in the town, built a couple of years ago and stretching almost 130m into the sky. Some pour scorn on it and claim it as an eyesore, I actually quite like it. Its something different and the first part of a huge redevelopment of the town as it fights for city status.

St Marys Church

When I first started this photo a day blog, I wanted to capture some local sights. As I have a week based in Reading I thought it best to use it wisely. On route from the pie shop I passed a building I've never really noticed before. St Marys Church on Castle Street. It looks a bit intimidating  as a place of worship, but thats because its an old gaol. In 1798 the Bishop and some local parishioners fell out and they decided to start up a new chapel nearby in this building. Adapting it from a place of confinement to a place of worship.

Another party

During the week it was my big brothers 40th birthday. Today he organised a big get together for family and friends at a nearby pub. As the man would be late for his own funeral I thought I was safe arriving half an hour early to put some balloons up, but no, he was already there!

Party food

Its a weekend of birthdays, today we went out for lunch to celebrate my father in laws 76th. Lily had loads to eat and a run round the garden and finished it all off with two huge scoops of icecream!

He's making a list

I treated myself to another LEGO minifigure. A new series of them is out with characters from an alien to a deep sea diver and, as its nearly that festive time, Santa. Guess who I got? Anyway I've just started thinking about Christmas and what presents to get. I'm making a list and I'm checking it twice....

Setting the scene

We were working in the town hall of a town in the Midlands. When I first went to site there was a curtain up, but today the back wall of the place was on show. A massive mural of the street painted in the late 1980s.

Ship shape

Built in the 1860s as a tea clipper, the Cutty Sark has sat alongside the Thames at Greenwich since the 1950s. Its recently had lots of restoration work carried out including this frankly hideous glass base thats been built around the dry dock. The work has been slated and named as the worst building in a few surveys. The vessel is magnificent though.

Roadside memorial

I've driven past it hundreds of times but never knew what it was. Finally today I had the chance to pull over and take a proper look at this unusual little castle that stands by the side of the road just outside Nettlebed. Its a memorial to the 343rd US Army Engineers who were based nearby during the war. There always seems to be fresh flowers next to it when ever I pass by.

Christmas is coming!

Its only just November and already the festive decorations are going up in town. Theres some lights and this rather odd silver tree. I guess it looks better at night!

Hairdresser

Lily had her first haircut this week and for the first time she was happy for Kim to tie her hair up and put some slides in. Looking super cute she then helped Kim with her hair!

Night rally

My brother and I made another visit to the local Tempest Rally, usually I'm home in doors by mid afternoon but this year we explored a few stages and stayed till it got dark. Photography was pretty tricky in the pitch black. This is an Escort doing what it does best.

Work in progress

On a driveway near to site today, someone was trying to create a rear engined Clio V6. Sadly it seems they are not being all that successful. I look forward to the huge wheel spacers needed to fill the arches!

Chillaxing

While I was slaving away at work, someone was putting their feet up and taking it easy before bedtime!