Archive for the Major event Category
Posted on November 14, 2009 by jonners99
I would continue saying its nerdy but there was quite a crowd (of two) as I entered the lap data (how is that interesting). I also apologise for the poor quality of my deodorant, it has now been replaced.
For extra information about the track you are best off going to my previous post first:
August 09
The track seemed wider this time around, I guess we (the 4 who had been before) had experience which made it seem less forboding. That said, Vicki was terrified.
Posted on August 16, 2008 by jonners99
This morning we awoke in my flat bright and early and I finished my Ted Dekker trilogy. While there may have been times when it didn’t make much sense to me and where it seemingly didn’t make much sense to him either it was a good series of books and I enjoyed reading them. Seems to be the way with Ted Dekker that his books confuse him at some point in writing them and they lag a bit in the middle as he works it out. Enjoyable though and I will keep reading. At 9:30 Beth and I left my flat for the penultimate time to go to the Home Office in Croydon. We started our journey with the 170 to Clapham Junction and then took the train to East Croydon leading to a five minute walk. I was nervous about this trip, we get it wrong and Beth gets deported and I am stuck with a flat in Canterbury I can’t pay for. We had heard many people talking about how difficult it would be for us to get the visa.
We walked up to the building and queued with others to get into the building. Once inside we went through security who checked we had no bombs or whatever and then joined another queue which took 25 minutes. We eventually got to a desk where we registered our intent to get a visa and were then told to go upstairs for billing. We paid our £595 for the application and then registered again with another lady. Next Beth had her biometric information taken. Basically from the end of our time queuing to this point took 20 minutes. We then had to wait in a reception for twenty minutes before we saw a case worker who just took some of our information to be photocopied and then said we had the visa, no questioning, and no checking of finances, no asking about my employment just a simple photocopying. We went and got lunch and by the time we had finished eating Beth’s passport was completed and we could leave. It really was that easy. Two hours after entering we left again.
When we arrived back at my flat I cleaned the kitchen and my room to the best of my ability (which isn’t that great) and then my parents arrived and I moved out of my flat. On arriving home we played Boom Blox with my parents and waited for Beth’s dad to arrive. He eventually did and so we showed off our Paris pictures to the assembled parents before retiring to bed.
Permanent link to this post (435 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)
Posted on May 20, 2008 by jonners99
Done me some catching up today, I have written the 17th to the 20th of May.
I had a weight on my head for most of this morning what with Beth today finding out for certain if she got the Canterbury job, sure she was the top choice but it all came down to whether the minister was satisfied with her answers on the subject of her immigration. Work was good and I had a busy day with Esther who is essentially Assistant Manager but has a silly title instead. It was quite quiet on the customer front but we had quite a lot of other stuff to do but at least the day went quickly.
At the end of work I got an email to say that Beth had been confirmed to have gotten the job from Canterbury so at least now we know where we are living in September. I now get the task of finding us somewhere to live in Canterbury. Pasta night was good tonight as we had seven which is more than the last couple of weeks. We followed it up by finally watching the third Indiana Jones film and then I had to relatively rudely (sorry) get everyone out of my room so I could have some me time watching the BTCC highlights from Thruxton and trying to get hold of Beth (something I annoyingly failed to manage). The BTCC stuff was good though and I am really getting into the championship again after a couple of seasons of not being too bothered. Today was a good day, I was able to answer a number of questions in my head about our future and the problem now is on Wednesday I have a job interview for a job I don’t particularly need. As fun as commuting from Canterbury to London would be, I have looked it up and it would mean getting a 6:40 train in the morning and then getting back at 8:50. As nice as that would be normally I can’t help but think that would be even less fun as a newlywed.
Permanent link to this post (352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)
Posted on December 28, 2007 by jonners99
On Monday I put up a list of my top 5 games of the year (I almost wish I held back now as Guitar Hero is very cool), this list comprises my top experiences of the year. I figure this has probably been the most important year of my life so far, I have achieved a lot, spent time with some wonderful people and had a really good time.
5. Les Miserables with Beth
I have always loved Les Mis, it is easily the best musical around and it was great to take Beth there for valentines day last year. We had a lovely evening which began with a Chinese and ended with a terrific show. The front row seats we had were just the icing on the cake.
Posted on December 26, 2007 by jonners99
Once again this is pretty much the same as the other Christmas Day posts I have made for the previous 2 on this blog. This is because tradition in our family dictates we always do the same thing. This means that I got up at about 7 and opened my stocking and read. Then at 8 I went into my parents room, gave Hobbit her present and my parents theirs and then went downstairs (thanks hobbit for the dvd and book). I had my shower and breakfast and then we opened the rest of our presents. At 10 we went to the Christmas Day church service where the songs are good and everyone is full of cheer. Christmas Lunch was preceeded by my parents presents and the food was brilliant as always. After food I played Helen at guitar hero and she was immediately better than I was which was very annoying. At about 4 I headed out and walked around town with my father on the way to Nanna’s where I got the rest of my presents in the company of the wider family.
On getting home I played singstar with my family, I wasn’t very good apparently my voice is too operatic for the kind of songs that came up. I also got to speak to Beth twice during this Christmas Day which was lovely. It was very nice to hear from her and I wish all of the American’s reading this a belated Merry Christmas. I went to bed relatively early at 11pm.
Permanent link to this post (257 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)
Posted on August 4, 2007 by jonners99
Yey this morning I turned twenty to the sound of an alarm. Apparently the power went and so this shorts the alarm system and we didn’t have a clue how to turn it off. Somehow Beth and Helen managed to sleep through it. I woke up a quarter of an hour in with my parents pushing buttons. I tried but couldn’t get back to sleep when the alarm went off, instead I decided to write blogs and a couple of other things. The plan had been to open presents at 9 but seeing as only the alarm party were nice enough to get up for that time it was delayed until about 10. I got more presents than I was expecting, I usually just get cards with money in. Although to be fair most of the presents were from Beth. Best present so far is a T-shirt from Cathy depicting Darth Vader doing topiery on a bush to make it look like a Death Star. Beth got me a book, an Aston Martin Vantage and a shaving implement, oh and Top Gear magazine. Hobbit got me a HMV voucher and the parents got me two books from the Amazon wishlist I forgot to mention on here. Thanks to Nanna for the racing horses and to Andy and Paul for the beach ball and changing bag thing (thanks for the description, I wouldn’t of had a clue). My mother made me a breakfast brunch of sausages and bacon and beans and then it was off to the Maize Maze. I have wanted to go to the one in East Grinstead for a number of years but we have never really bothered which is a shame as this one was great fun. Beth and I managed to get there first although mainly by misleading my parents. It was a good length maze and took us about an hour to solve. It was a good use of some birthday time and was followed by my playing football with my father for the first time in years. They had a tiny goal set up you see and so while the girls were talking on a bench I went into goal and stopped most of his shots, at times I think he though he was Wayne Rooney and it was all a bit of a laugh. Beth then went and beat me a chequers (yey, losing).
In the afternoon we went for a walk out towards a large piece of land called the worms head that just juts out into the sea a couple of miles from where we are staying. While there we got plenty of time to study rock pools including a very loud noise coming from the ground after some digging through dead clams the sound stopped so we decided it was air rushing through the rocks. On the way back up the hill to a coastguard station I got an idea, an idea for a novel. You see I have been reading the book On Writing by Stephen King and it got me excited by this idea. It follows on from a film I am writing and asks can a killer find redemption. It’ll be good I will see if I can write it without getting annoyed and then who knows.
We had dinner in the pub that Beth, my father and I had drinks in on Wednesday. We had a pie with minted lamb in and it was gorgeous, the puff pastry was heavenly and soft and the lamb tasted amazing, it was definitely my best meal of the week (not bad for pub food). When we got in from dinner (after fog had descended upon the hills) we had my small victoria sponge birthday cake and then I talked to Beth’s mother on the phone for a little while before going to bed. Happy Birthday also to my Uncle Mick and Father-in-law-to-be Craig!!!
Permanent link to this post (655 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)
Posted on July 19, 2007 by jonners99
Craig arrived nice and early and we did very little until about 11 when we got the bus to Putney. We walked about for a bit trying to find my landlord (Louise’s directions that it was near Putney Methodist Church were wrong). We found Paddy who had just arrived by train before we found the landlord and so I left the two of them outside whilst I went in and signed the contract. I am now officially still living in my flat next year… fun. Next we went into Maplin so Craig could get a sound thingy for the film tonight.
Next on the list was to sign my new work contract so into the new club shop I went with the release of the kit it was quite busy. The manager (who it turns out wasn’t sacked after all) was not in and so Jamie gave me my contract to sign… whether she is allowed to hire employees or not is beyond me. It chucked it down with rain while I was signing and so we had to make a dash into Putney when it eased a little. Craig and Paddy got lunch whilst I got a free smoothie. When we got back to the flat and now joined by Beth, we spent the afternoon playing computer games. At 5:30ish we headed to chapel and set up the projector whilst ordering pizza. Mama’s was good as always and so was gaming on a large screen… I want a projector now. At about 8:30 we started the film and bar a couple of idiotic freezes by Craig’s Mac (who says Apples don’t crash, stupid thing even my crappy laptop can play DVD’s… just) it was enjoyable. We were, however, unable to finish the film due to its length at 160mins long. Craig and Paddy had to leave at this point and seeing as its Craig’s Mac we packed everything up and went home. It was a good evening and the film looks pretty good for an independent film too.
Permanent link to this post (340 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)
Posted on June 18, 2007 by jonners99
This morning Beth and I met with Demelza and Louise and we went into Putney to go to Putney Methodist Church. On arrival I spotted in their order of service that they were looking for a webmaster for their website. The service was a good one and they were rewarding their young people for their presence. After the service we headed back to my flat and waited for my parents. They came on time (near enough) and so it was off to Richmond for lunch. Due to the low speed limit in Richmond Park and a slight detour we were running late so I hopped out with my sister and fiancée and we went to pick up our reservation. My parents arrived 10 minutes later and so we ordered. We had a lovely filling meal and had a great time. We stayed about 2hrs and had a three course meal. After eating we walked along the river for a short time and then headed to the Richmond shops.
After my dad had browsed Waterstones and I had gotten my small weekly shop we went back to my area and went to Froebel where we took pictures at the spot where I proposed to my lady. We then headed back to mine for the grand prix. Once again Hamilton on pole and once again Alonso had no answer for him. Ralf was a bit daft into turn 1 which was annoying and the race was on and strong till the 2nd round of pit stops where the laps started passing very slowly and tediously. Hamilton drove perfectly to hold Alonso at bay all afternoon with Alonso getting a run at him at one point after they had gone past back markers. Another brilliant win for a breath of fresh air for Formula One and a nice chap, well done Lewis. My parents left early in the race and Beth left soon after it, I played a little FIFA but got an early night.
Permanent link to this post (333 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)
Posted on June 5, 2007 by jonners99
This morning Beth came round and we headed into Putney. We got the tube into central London after sitting by the Thames for a little while. The tube was quick and we were soon at Embankment. We walked over Hungerford Bridge where I asked Beth out a year ago.
Now would be a good time to explain the two little codes I put into the blog recently. I had hoped someone would pick up on them but no you are all lame. In the June 1st entry I put the words Mmm potatoes. The snippet of blog this cut out goes like this:
After leaving the Centre I walked through town and asked in FHinds if they had a pretty little ring from their window in a size J, the rather cranky looking woman said that Size J is very small so she doubted it. She was right, they did, however, have a size K so I decided that may be alright. I bought the ring and purchased a box for it. It has taken me about a month of looking in shop windows to build up the courage to do this but now I have in my possession a beautiful ring for my special lady. When my parents arrived home after the food shopping I waited until my mother had unpacked the shopping and then unveiled the ring to them. They wished me luck.
The second came in the June 4th entry when I wrote It must go to Mordor:
When I got in I talked to Cathy who was back after spending the day with her boyfriend on Saturday. I turned my computer on and my finger hovered on a button. The button to call Craig Blomberg. Of the four parts (buying, telling my parents, telling her parents, proposing) of proposing I anticipated this one would be hardest. It did not start well as my microphone was helpfully set to mute and so while Craig answered he could not hear me. I therefore had to call back after fixing it. The conversation was friendly and he was very happy when I told him. I was expecting a more difficult time but he made it easy on me. I greatly appreciate that.
Back to the present, when we were off Hungerford bridge we went to the shops that go with the British Film Institute. Beth looked for books for her course while I just pottered around. We walked along the bank past the London Eye. We picked up leaflets at County Hall for the Star Wars show that they have on at the moment (which looks amazing and I will just have to go to). Next we crossed Westminster bridge which appears to continually have some form of building work taking place on it. We walked past parliament and through St James’ Park. There were a lot of flags around and railings and stadium seating had been arranged by the horse guard. We went to Trafalgar Square and waited for my parents. We were there for about 10 minutes before they showed up and we took them to the Chinese we had gone to on our Anniversary, it was lovely food again and it was good to see my parents. After eating we all went off shopping and soon separated. Beth was once again looking for books from her list. We ended up at Picadilly and I went to HMV and Virgin, when we left Virgin Beth appeared ill so we hurried home. When we got to Hammersmith we were lucky enough to immediately catch a 72 bus. We got home quickly and Beth had a nap. After 45 minutes she awoke and I took her out for a walk around campus. The item that had been in my bag for the whole day now got promoted to my pocket and saw daylight on the grass by Froebel Lake. Beth was turned away from me looking over the lake as I took it from my pocket and opened it “Beth will you marry me” was pretty much what came from me as I sluggishly went to one knee. She said yes and took the ring from me. We did not have long to celebrate as our friends needed to be let into Beth’s flat for pasta. We made them wait a little while but I do not feel guilty about it. While in London I had many perfect times to propose but I could not build up the confidence to do so with so many people around. I came very close at Trafalgar Square but then Beth needed the toilet so I couldn’t. Also Hungerford and St James’ Park were prime opportunities. Surely, however, the University is the most fitting place, it is where we met and where we have spent most of our time together. It was a brilliant moment, every bit as romantic as I could have hoped for. It was just a shame that the sun was not shining on the ring.
When we turned up everyone was happy and excited for us both. We had pasta and made S’mores (sandwich with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate which are melted over a BBQ). It was a lovely and magical evening. At 8:30 Beth and I went with Shelly to Whitelands where we told Anna and Demelza who gave us cake and orange juice (poor persons champagne). We were there about an hour and Beth spent most of the time discussing with them dresses and flowers and the like. The girls were both overjoyed and Anna in particular was bouncing off the walls. We took the photos above from their flat. When we left theirs we walked back to mine and I called my parents who were very happy for us. Apparently my mother had been fretting about it all afternoon after finding I hadn’t done it before we all met up for lunch earlier in the day. I got to talk to Nanna as well which was nice and she had kind words for Beth as well. When we got to my flat we tried to call Beth’s parents but got her sister instead. At 11 I took Beth back to Froebel and kissed my Fiancé goodnight for the first time.
Permanent link to this post (1046 words, estimated 4:11 mins reading time)
