The next big building project

Following the fun I had with the LEGO Camper I got for Christmas, I decided to treat myself to the massive Unimog kit they do. Kim went halves as an anniversary present too. We headed to Westfield as it has the closest LEGO shop and after a wander round snapped it up, with a voucher and some VIP points to spend it was cheaper even any online price. Once back home and with Lily safely in bed I set too, unwrapping the bags of pieces and the five instruction manuals. The estimated build time is around 12 hours.

Cool Prom ride

Every so often we get approached by people asking if the Camper is for hire. Sadly insurance prevents this from ever happening. But for friends its not a problem. Kim got a knock on the door earlier in the year from a friend of a neighbour of ours. Her daughter was due to go to the Prom at the end of term with three friends and they wondered if the Camper was available. SO on friday evening with the van washed and clean I drove round the corner to pick them up. The van was duly decorated and we headed off. Loads of cool rides were spotted on route and at the venue, from 50s Americans to a brand new Bentley. For our troubles the girls gave us a bottle of wine and some lovely flowers. The looks on their faces as they arrived was one of delight. Happy to help.

Belated presents

I'm never sure what to get Kim as an anniversary present each year. Sometimes I stick to the traditional ideas, but wool wasn't inspiring me much. However she did mention about some new charms out for 2012 to celebrate the jubilee and Olympics. So the first chance to be in the office and able to nip into town, saw me heading to Pandora to pick up the Union Flag styled version.

Which came first.....

The crane or the crane yard? Ever since I've been heading up and down the M1 for work theres something that has always puzzled us engineers. Near Sheffield there is a crane storage yard. There are dozens of sections of crane in there and one massive crane to lift all the parts around. The question we always ask as we pass by is how did they build the massive crane when they only had a yard full of parts? It passes the time on the long drive north.

Customer service

Good customer service is sometimes hard to find. If you get treated well you go back there. Today I needed to buy some bolt cutters, not the sort of thing an IT engineer needs often, in fact I can't think of the last time I needed a set. As I only had about 10 "snips" to make to remove some old cable basket it was going to be an expensive tool. As I was getting a price from the shop I remarked that it was going to be a wasted purchase for the 10 minutes work. "just take them as its only round the corner, make sure they're back by the time we close up today" the chap on the counter replied. Thats what brings customers back.

Happy Anniversary

Seven years ago today we tied the knot. We've done so much since that day, bought some old Dubs, moved house, started a family and generally just enjoyed life together. We have our ups and downs. But we love each other.

Happy Campers

This picture is slightly cheating, but we've done nothing today apart from break camp and come home to lay on the sofa watching TV. So I'm using this brilliant group shot of all our friends that made this little campout so much fun, it was taken on saturday evening after the mammoth BBQ.