Time to relax

We are off to Florida now for a couple of weeks holiday. I doubt if I will blog whilst I am stateside. Hope everyone has a great New Year. We'll see ya when when we get back!

I just converted to the new version of Blogger......what a pain the butt. I now have to use Explorer again as with Firefox logging into Blogger crashes my PC. Enter your own expletives here!

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Florida, Blogger

Last Post

Last evening my mother flew in from the UK (her arms were very tired) to spend Christmas with us and to accompany us on our holiday to Florida. Luckily she flew in from Bristol and not Heathrow, as the London airport has been fog bound for days. Many flights have been cancelled, creating havoc, and causing heartache for a lot of travellers over the festive season.

Our travel problems started when we returned to our car and it wouldn’t start. The engine turned over lovely, but it sounded like none of the plugs were firing. After flooding the engine a couple of times we resorted to calling the ADAC to come help us, but they reckoned they would take an hour to reach us. I didn’t try to start the Octavia again for 30 mins and at the next attempt it fired up ok. Mrs H promptly cancelled the call to the ADAC and we headed home to Marburg. Whilst leaving the car park the engine idling speed was extremely high for about a minute and then settled down, so I suspect the engine management unit is starting to get a bit flakey. Fortunately the new car arrives in February, and this one is effectively (traded in) sold already.

This is probably my last post before Christmas, so the seasons greetings to everyone, and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Technorati Tags: Travel, Cars, Skoda

Fitter, but only just!

Last week Mrs H & I went to the fitness studio for a fitness check and a change to our training program. I was still suffering from a heavy cold, but still thought the fitness check would be a good idea. I have learnt a lesson here - its a lot better and easier when you are feeling well.

Mrs H's fitness levels approved dramatically, but mine barely improved. But at least the trend is in the right direction. My blood pressure was bad, my flexibility a joke and heart rate a bit high. But I was pleased with my weight loss and decline in body fat. Personally I doubt the accuracy of the fitness check as I know I am a lot fitter than I was earlier this year.

The new training routine is quite interesting and seems to be targeting different muscles as we were both hurting a lot the next day. Hopefully at my next fitness check my fitness levels will improve a bit more. As the trainer pointed out to me I need to workout more often. Honest! it's on my to do list........

Technorati Tags: Fitness, Marburg, Gym

The Juniorette's big day

Juniorette with Makelele, J.Cole & Ballack

The photo CD finally arrived this week with the pictures of when the Juniorette was a Line Up Kid at the Werder Bremen v Chelsea Champions League game last month. Above is a cropped picture of the line up, showing the Juniorette in front of Claude Makelele (French international player who played in this years World Cup final against the winners Italy). Also pictured are Joe Cole (England International player) and Michael Ballack (Captain of the German national team).

We are also finally in possession of a DVD of the game. I would like to try and edit the walk out scene that shows the Juniorette, but I will need to acquire further software for my PC. I have to do this anyway as we have just bought a DVD Camcorder and need new software for authoring discs and editing footage.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Werder Bremen, Football, Champions League

Brasilien Magic

Last Saturday Werder Bremen played Entracht Frankfurt in a Bundesliga game at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt. The Haddock family were there, as were some friends of ours from Bremen and some work colleagues of mine from Frankfurt. Before the game we met our friends from Bremen at the Hauptbahnhof and went into town to visit the Weinachts Markt. This was my first time to the Frankfurt Xmas market and I enjoyed it. After some Glühwein and something quick to eat we headed out to the stadium for the game.

It was a great game with Werder winning 6 – 2. Naldo from Bremen (and Brasil) scored a hat trick which for a defender is quite unusual. It was a quick open game which was very exciting. Frankfurt played well up front, but at the back their defence was a bit ropey. Werder played some fast one touch football which at times was a class above Frankfurt. A good victory which made the Haddock family and our friends from Bremen very happy!

Technorati Tags: Bundesliga, Werder Bremen, Football, Frankfurt

Thinking of spring

As we all know it’s been a bit of a weird autumn so far. Very mild for the time of year, and it seems to have confused Mother Nature somewhat. I have seen butterflies and bumble bees in December, migratory birds heading south much later than usual and plants flowering which really shouldn’t be. Climate change is happening, but not for the first time in the planets history. In fact I think that the planet is in constant change, it’s just that we humans are probably accelerating the natural cycle of change by over polluting.

The seeds that I ordered from the Real Seed Company arrived this week. With the weather as it is I’m almost tempted to sow them now (not really). This year I will grow some heirloom varieties of tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergine. I have tried to select plants that fruit early, so therefore extending the growing season. After the great chilli glut of 2006 I intend to grow a lot less chilli plants this year. I have some in pots over wintering in the cellar. I am also trying to over winter sweet peppers & aubergines as well. In theory it should work as they are perennials, but in practice I shall have to wait and see.

Shown above is the Plum Lemon variety of tomatoe which comes from Russia, that I will be trying to grow this summer. It is shaped shaped exactly like a lemon, right down to the point on the bottom!

Technorati Tags: Gardening, Marburg, Seeds, Climate Change

1st Advent

Today is the first advent, and since the first of the month many children around the world have been opening there advent calendars with glee each morning. There is now a new advents calendar marketed for Men!

Technorati Tags: Humour, Beer, Advent