A terrific night!

Well, last night was terrific. We had a good run down to London, despite the roadworks on the M11 and an accident near Stansted that had been cleared before we'd got there. It was typical as we'd decided to go that route to avoid all the roadworks on the M1 and M25! We arrived at about 4pm, parked easily and were just bowled over by the O2 and all the places inside that were open for eats and drinks, plus the Vue cinema. The place is huge and already there was a great atmosphere with people wearing (in the main) John Cena tee-shirts and huge gold belts flung over their shoulders that Keith and I did giggle about a bit!

There were so many places to eat, we were spolit for choice! We walked to where our entrance door was and then ambled back looking at menus - it was a bit like being on holiday! We looked at Nandos, Frankie and Benny's, Las Iguanas, Pizza Express and Garfunkels, before deciding on Jimmy Monaco's who specialised in burgers. The food was very good - lovely juicy burgers served with lots of salad and french fries and a really delicious Rose wine. We were early but by the time we left, the place had filled up and there were queues for most of the restaurants.

 The back view of Keith and Mikey in the entrance

Next stop, of course, was the merchandise, and whoever says there's a recession on is lying! The queues were ten deep with most people buying tee-shirts at £25 each. Sophie wanted a John Cena teeshirt while Mikey went for a Shawn Michaels "Heartbreak Kid" top even though he had just retired from wrestling, but it was what he wanted...

We still had a while to go, so we took some things back to the car and then watched a group of children enjoy the Aqua-globes, something I think would go down well at work. They were big bubbles of air with the children inside which floated on the water and looked really good fun!

The whole area is being developed with lots of offices to lease and a lovely skyline of Canary Wharf to gaze at. I didn't take my camera as I didn't think I'd be allowed to take it into the arena (I wasn't) but I wish I'd taken some photos of the Dome. I took a couple on Sophie's phone, but haven't yet managed to download them to the laptop!

The O2 was now filling up so we had a couple of drinks in a bar before making our way to the entrance gate which was heaving with people. This was the only worrying moment as the people at the back could quite easily have pushed us forward and into the glass wall that marked the barrier to the arena itself. My bag was searched, our tickets scanned and then we were in! I had been worried about the tickets as we'd bought them from an online ticket service and I was terrified they would turn out to be fake, but they were fine and were very good seats! We had a fantastic view of the ring and the atmosphere was electric. The arena is huge and I wouldn't have wanted to be on the top tier as it was very high up indeed.

The show started at 7.30pm prompt and I won't go into all the details as I'm not really into wrestling! The main event was the live WWE Raw event, hosted by David Hasselhoff and of course, the children didn't remember him in Knight Rider or Baywatch, but he had the KITT car with him, plus the Baywatch babes! (But not Pamela Anderson!)

The childrens' favourites all appeared, including John Cena and Randy Orton and their screams and shouts just mingled with all the other screams and shouts from the immense crowd. It was a bit like Mad Max meets the Roman Gladiators as the crowd booed, chanted, screamed and shouted their heroes' names! The event was filmed live so we had pauses in the action for where the adverts would be and we filled in the time with Mexican waves and more action on the huge screen. It was tremendous and even though I've been to music concerts in the past, nothing comes close to the atmosphere I experienced. It was amazing.

It was all over at 10.30pm with a fantastic finale starring John Cena, much to Sophie's delight. He took a little boy out of the crowd which was lovely and brought home to me how much of a family entertainment this is as there were hundreds of children there all having a lovely time.

 Not my photo...sadly!!

We had one last drink (well, Keith did!) before returning to the car and it was a good move as most people had gone and we were out of the car park in minutes and through the Blackwall tunnel. Ironically, going home via the M25 and the M1 we had...yes! Roadworks and an accident between Junctions 14 and 15! Luckily the accident had gone long before  we reached it and we were home just before 1am.

Today has been quiet! Of course, first thing, we watched the wrestling which was on last night at 2am. It was really strange seeing it all again on the television and catching things we weren't able to see in the arena. It'll definitely be one to keep! As the weather has been so lovely today we had a walk into the village, a quick pint at the pub and a lazy afternoon. After all the excitement, we certainly needed it!

Off to the O2!

A quick blog today as we're just about to set off to London to see the wrestling - the childrens' Birthday treat.  We're going to have a leisurely drive down and then have something to eat before the show starts at 7.30pm. I have no idea what time we'll be back as I've heard that getting out of the car park can be a nightmare!

Just pottering.

Today has been spent pottering. I asked Keith to move one of the mirrors in the garden to the gravel garden which he did and it looks a lot better than it did stuck on the fence. We've also taken down the other one as it wasn't really working. I spent the morning tidying up the gravel garden and removing all the dead leaves which has made it look a lot better. We're just waiting for everything to burst into life now but sitting on the love seat, the top of the garden looks a lot more balanced than it did last year when the bush by the double doors dominated everything. We also moved the "leek" into the gravel garden but we're a bit worried about it as the new leaves look a bit mouldy. I do hope the frost hasn't got to it over the winter.

We decided to shelve the trip to Sudborough as neither of us really wanted to go and it meant we'd be spending out money on lunch just for the sake of it. I was more than happy to sit in the conservatory with a cup of tea and the Sunday papers and then carry on pottering all afternoon.It's been sunny today but the wind has  been on the chilly side and I think it was a mistake to venture out into the front garden and try and sweep up the dead leaves that were left over from the winter!

Whenever I ventured out today, both cats would accompany me. Monty is the strangest cat. He hates being cuddled or picked up but loves being near us and he would quite happily follow me around the garden miaowing and keeping me company.

It's been a lovely weekend and I'm so pleased that I've got everything done that I wanted to do. Tomorrow will be taken up with travellling to London and the O2 Arena for the wrestling which the children are getting very excited about. We've decided not to go into London after all, as it'll be a long day and there's always the worry of something happening on the tube and not being able to get back to the East End!! I don't think the children would be too happy if they missed seeing their heroes!!

Spring cleaning!

I feel very smug as I've achieved everything I wanted to get done today and the weather has been gorgeous. We had a leisurely breakfast in the sunny conservatory while picking our runners for the Grand National, then Keith put a bet on at Ladbroke's.

We tackled the garage first and what a mess it was. I actually cut my arm on the lawnmower as I went to put some washing out, so it was a case of having to do it as I'm sure if we hadn't someone would have tripped over something and maybe had a bad accident.

We made three trips to the tip and it was very busy! Obviously everyone else had the same idea! The good thing was that most of our stuff could be recycled so I didn't feel too guilty throwing it away, but I did have a pang of disappointment when I left Mikey's Dareway that I bought him for Christmas and which he has used maybe once or twice...

Keith put together a love-seat ensemble that has been gathering dust so we now have another seat to put somewhere in the garden. The only problem is that it shows up our very weathered garden table and chairs, but they looked a little better after I gave them a good wash and put the cushions on. While Keith was busy assembling, I sorted out the mess behind the garage - old chairs, two old barbecues and millions of plastic plant pots that I can recycle at a local garden centre. I had heard from neighbours that they'd seen a rat in their garden so I was very careful as I gingerly removed things! There had been some digging but that could have been the cats, and I was worried about disturbing a bird's nest as some robins had made their home there a few years back, but luckily all I found was snails and spiders! Phew!

Last thing, I took Keith's car through the car wash as I could stand it no longer and then it was home for a hot shower before mum and dad came around for a glass of wine. Dad was in pain and dreaded the thought of his arm in a sling for six weeks, but he's hoping that the pain he had will go away and he can use his arm more freely when he's recovered.

So, it's been a great day today and tomorrow we plan to tackle the gravel garden and tidy it up a bit. I'm just hoping that the weather will be kind again!

Phew! The end of the week!

I have that Friday evening feeling and I'm hoping that the weekend will be fine so we can get some long overdue jobs done in the garage and garden.

My dad went into hospital this morning for an operation to his shoulder and everything went well. He'll be home tonight but will have to wear a sling for six weeks so will be mostly out of action when it comes to anything physical at work.

Talking of work, the fine weather has meant we were quiet but it was good to catch up on some more jobs even though both children were in with me. Mikey lost his mobile phone in one of the ballponds and I was furious with him as I was having to use it as mine is still playing up and phoning random numbers and making  a nuisance of itself. Thinking that some older boys had found it and kept it (I'm so suspicious!) I immediately phoned Vodafone and barred anyone from using it and then five minutes later someone found it! Now, I'm not saying the two are connected but it now means I have to wait 72 hours to get it unbarred to keep the same number (or something like that!). I'm just glad it's found, as although not an expensive phone, it was pretty annoying!

Anyway...bring on four days off!

First cut of the year.

Thankfully, today was quieter at work and I managed to get a lot of work completed, most of it in the two hours before we opened! The weather was beautiful - sunny and warm and as soon as I could, I was off home and into the garden. I persuaded Keith to mow the lawn and we had a really good look at the plants, a couple of which, on closer inspection, haven't survived the winter.

This weekend, if the weather is still good, we're planning on clearing out our garage which is full of "stuff", dealing with some old garden furniture that is hanging about behind the garage, giving the gravel garden a good tidy and even washing the cars! Phew!! I think a trip to the Vane Arms at Sudborough on Sunday afternoon (where I'm taking on the mantle of Black Owl again) will definitely be on the cards!

 Another photo of last night's beautiful sunset.

Monty admiring the tubs

Noise!

I love getting into work early and having an hour or so in complete quiet! Today the noise got to me in a big way, so much so that I couldn't concentrate on anything. As well as the sounds of children enjoying themselves (which is what we want, but it's still loud) I had Mikey and his two mates continually popping into the office at every opportunity. It's a madhouse in the school holidays and the Easter break often coincides with the end of year payroll that I was still grappling with today. I dread making a mistake with someone's wages so it's a fraught time!

Back at home and in relative peace, we all had a game of cards in the conservatory and it was lovely to have the children join in. After dinner we had a stroll around the garden to inspect the plants and see if anything was budding, which a lot of it was, including the poor pruned apple tree that is looking very good. Maybe there's hope after all!

 Interesting skies again tonight - it looked like there was something big on fire as all the clouds were a smoky, peachy colour. Very pretty!