It gets worse. Spent another week in Genova. Left home at 05:45. Once again, we missed the connecting flight in Munchen. We spent over 2 hours queueing for a replacement flight, missing 1 to Milano while we were waiting. Ended up flying to Milano Malpensa, after much fun and games retrieving our luggage, then getting a taxi to Genova, finally arriving at the Sheraton hotel at 22:30. Over 15 hours travelling without a proper meal. We insisted on a direct flight back, Milano Linate to Birmingham, which was a relatively pleasant experience. Still tiring though.

Managed to do a little OU reading in the hotel room. Got 82% for TMA02, which was nice.

Still can't get those mp3 files working.

Added a bit about the 1988 holiday in history and pictures.

Spent most of another week in Genova. Much better travelling experience, although taking a hire car from Milano to Genova in the dark was a bit of an adventure.

Geting behind with the OU reading now.

Bought the Cardigans Gran Turismo CD, which is quite pleasant, if a bit mainstream.

Bought the Blondie No Exit CD, which is very polished, but ultimately a bit boring.

Saw a video by a new (?) band called Furslide on TMC2 in the hotel. I heard enough to want to buy it. I Found a bit of info about them on the Virgin Records web site, but no trace of it in the shops (or their databases) at Coventry.

Finally settled my mum's estate.

Bought myself a mobile. A Nokia 5110 from Carphone Warehouse on a 12month inclusive package.

The Nokia 5110 mobile is great. Voice quality in Genova is a bit naff, even though signal strength is good.

Next weekend is my last chance to do TMA03. I've made a start. I'm a couple of weeks behind with the reading. I don't need too many marks from the TMA, as the exam (end of April) is going to be the big problem, especially if the sample exam paper is anything to go by.

Managed to crash my car yesterday. Went round to visit my dad. Reversed into an unlit skip. Rear light cluster destroyed and tail gate took the job of stopping the car. I took some photographs - maybe I'll put some up next week.

Finally finished reading Captain Correlli's Mandolin. Bleak or what ? It had a few flaws, but was a gripping read. Now... what's next...

Finally received the robotwars club information pack after about 2.5 months wait. No sign of the detailed regulations for building a robot though.

I've posted off TMA03. I've only done about half of it !. Still, I don't need too many marks from it. Next the exam...

Replaced the light cluster of my crashed car yesterday. Got 2 quotes for repairing it properly - best part of £1000 !

Started reading Under a Tuscan Sun.

We've had an offer accepted on a house. Mortgage application tomorrow.

Went to see the film Thin Red Line last night. What a waste of space !

Got this web page registered with altavista and excite. altavista now finds it, but the excite doesn't seem to work ?

I've had a rest from OU this week.

Read a bit more of Under The Tuscan Sun (not "a" as I called it last week). Rich Americans are so annoying, but the local detail (Cortona) is nice.

No movement on the house, but mortgage is thought to be OK.

Excellent new comedy on channel 4 Smack the pony. Friday 21:30. Don't miss it.

Nice to see the return of Lee and Herring and the Curious Orange. BBC2 Sunday 12:15 (but a different time next week).

The Furslide single Love Song has finally arrived in the UK. Adventure CD due end of March. It was released in America 10/06/98. Its about time we ditched this staggered release business.

Bought senza pieta by Anna Oxa. The title track (that I saw on TMC2) is still good, but a lot of the rest is rather tedious.

I actually got my bike out today ! Got a bit wet - weather in Italia is a bit warmer than England.

I've sorted out some of the font problems - everything should appear in arial now. I had to go in and edit the html direct - flippin' FrontPage Express !

Got only 30% for TMA03. That's terrible and well below a pass (40%). However, its not too bad considering that I only had time to do half of it. That gives me an overall score of 50.8% for the TMA work, which at least allows me to pass the course, provided I can get through the exam.

No movement on the house.

Bought the new Skunk Anansie CD on the strength of the heavy 2nd track On my hotel TV.

Bought a couple more Italian CDs, but I haven't had time to listen to them properly yet.

I actually went swimming today ! I need some exercise, and to lose weight.

Added a few more pictures, especially 1991 holiday.

No movement on the house.

Finally got the Furslide CD Adventure. It is wonderfully quirky and diverse.

Went to Oxford today. For a change, we parked down past Magdalen College, and visited the botanical gardens - very hot and humid. Loads of unfamiliar shops and cafes.

Nice long bank holiday weekend. I've managed to get a bit organised.

No movement on the house.

I think the sound files work now ? Spent a lot of Sunday sorting this. 2 new files as well.

I've added a black page.

No movement on the house.

Saw the film Plunkett and Macleane. It was nicely made, but suffered a bit from having to get most of the standard plot elements in ie. good guy, bad guy, love interest etc. Still, worth a look.

Went to the Long Mynd again today and flew the stiletto, and... it's still in 1 piece. Actually, a very nice landing on top of the heather.

I'm fairly sure that I will fail the OU exam which comes up week after next. I haven't done about the last 3rd of the course work. Being in Genova (and travelling) has just used up too much of my spare time. It's a bit difficult to get any enthusiasm up for revision. Still, it's worth turning up I suppose.

I've decided to put dark things on the black page eg. the war etc.

No movement on the house.

The dreaded OU exam is on Thursday. I spent an hour revising today. I still think I will fail it, but I will turn up.

On advice from the terrapin, I've changed all the file and directory names on this site to lower case. I think everything should still work OK, but if you've saved a bookmark to 1 of the files inside a directory, you may have to revise it ie. just change all of the characters to lower case.

I've added a few new links, including The Puma Shrine.

No movement on the house. It appears the present owners are having trouble finding somewhere to go.

Got my bike out today, just down to the shops, but it was nice anyway.

Now that the exam's out of the way, and I'm not travelling to Genova so much, I finally feel as though I can get on with some jobs. The sunshine helps too.

Added some extra fotos to the Oxford section, and some in a new aerial photography section.

No movement on the house. It may be that the problems that the present owners are having finding somewhere in Devon may be to do with the money making possibilities of the total eclipse that will be happening down there later in the year.

I've been commuting by bike this week as Carol's car's tax has run out and the new low rates for small cars don't start till next month.

No movement on the house.

Recovery day today. Back to work on my bike tomorrow.

No movement on the house.

My bike passed its MOT this weekend. Rather embarrassing to note that I did less than 400 miles on it last year.

Added a link to the Coventry model aircraft club site.

No movement on the house.

Looks like I may be off to Genova again soon.

At last, the house is moving. It seems the current owners have found somewhere with vacant possession. We've requested the house buyer's report. Completion could be July.

Found out how much this year's bonus is today - better than last year.

Fixed the BloodRunners link, which had stopped working. Seems he's taken out the .co.uk domain name.

Added the amazon online bookshop link. I haven't bought anything from there yet, but might do soon. Good discounts and easy searching, but you can't leaf through them.

Should get my exam result soon.

Added a how to... page about setting up a web site.

We've had the home buyer's report on the house, which was fine.

Should get my exam result soon.

Bought the Witchblade Covenant graphic novel. WHS sold out very quickly, so I got it from Forbidden Planet.

Revamped the web site a bit. All pages (except pictures) now have their own update dates.

Tidied up the how to... page a bit, adding a link to the freeserve help.

No change on the house. Just waiting for the next link in the chain to complete.

Still no sign of my exam result. I have checked last year's result letter, which was sent on 22.06.98. So it shouldn't be long now.

A busy weekend, working Saturday and Sunday.

Added a bit about 1989 holiday to history and pictures.

The house has progressed a bit, in that we've received contracts to sign. No completion date yet though.

Got my exam result 45%. My lowest mark so far (previous record was 47%), but still a pass by 5%. Only 1 more module required for the Diploma.

The Fiesta clutch ratchet went this week, so I've been back on the bike again.

The house is due to complete end of July.

Nearly bought some books from amazon but the discounts get mostly wiped out by the delivery charges. Still, better than the waterstones site, where most of the books don't seem to be discounted.

New sounds file this week.

At least I've had this weekend off. Probably lots of overtime next week.

The Fiesta clutch now sorted, and passed its MOT, so I've got my car back.

Flew my electric model this morning. Coventy club powered glider event tomorrow at Wolston, but I may be too busy to go.

Had a tiny pay rise. I'm told it is roughly in line with inflation. Anyway, it should help a bit with the new mortgage.

Updated the projects page quite a bit.

Configured Winamp to play .wav and .mid files as well as .mp3. Such a cool piece of software.

Went swimming this morning.

Added a bit about 1992 holiday to history and pictures.

A lot happening at work, with me working overtime and both days this weekend. Some of the Italians have been over here recently. It sounds oppressively hot in Genova at the moment.

Went to see the new Star Wars film. We both thought it was very good and probably worth a 2nd viewing some time soon.

I finally got the aerojet back together again after shifting the radio battery pack. It's now 6oz (150g) lighter. Must get the nerve to fly it again before the club electric evening.

Finally finished Tomb Raider III, with a lot of help from the cheat guides of course. I couldn't access the bonus level as I only found a few secrets on the way. TR4 coming soon no doubt.

Ripped the furniture and carpets out of the main bedroom at the new house. The natives in the village are quite friendly.

Must get the car serviced soon.

Reformatted the old news page. Now in chronological order and smaller text to fit more in.

Ripped the kitchen out at the new house. Got most of the paper off the walls in the main bedroom. Had lunch at the local pub today. More friendly natives.

Car serviced at great expense.

Finally saw The Last Dragon.

Spent some time at the new house today. Carol gets more time on it than me. Coving fitted where the old built in furniture was in the main bedroom. Wiring for the new uplighters in. Some paper on. Cut the grass (again). Had lunch at the other local pub today. More friendly natives.

Car serviced at great expense.

Went to see Star Wars episode 1 again last night.

Spent most of yesterday looking at kitchens, tiles, furniture etc. for the new house. Got almost all of the main bedroom paper on today. Lounge partly painted.

Coventry open glider competition at Warwick next Sunday. We've gone all hi-tech this time with a laptop. I'm trying to get to grips with the software now. Probably run the Spectrum in parallel, just in case.

Added a cds page.

Spent most of yesterday looking at carpets, furniture etc.

The Coventry open glider competition at Warwick went well today. I was there 08:00 to 18:00. Even managed a quick flight with my electric model before we got started. The low turnout of 26 meant that we got 4 rounds in. New laptop and software saves a lot of time, but is a bit buggy - needs a bit of getting used to. Glorious sunny cloudless weather. It was stupidly hot inside the tent. The new remote radio link PA worked well. The unusual wind direction put us down the end of the field. 2-3 people managed to hit the rugger posts, announced by a resounding ding. 2 people managed to get stuck in the trees. No mid airs this time though.

Spending lots of time on the new house including 3 evenings last week, and all weekend.

Most of the kitchen is now in. The finish and attention to detail are good. We've finally chosen a hob unit. Carol fitted it yesterday. A bit weird to see the elements glowing under the ceramic. Fridge/freezer shoud be delivered today. Still some grouting to do on the floor, plus the wall tiling etc. Should be moving in in 2 weeks.

All kitchen fitting done now, but still missing a couple of accessories. Fridge/freezer delivered at 2nd attempt - apparently the van broke down. All carpets in. Bought some trees/shrubs this morning. Took the cats over for a preview. They were not impressed. 1 week to go now. It's going to be stressful..

Back to work tomorrow.

Apparently most of the bells last weekend were for a wedding. Much quieter this weekend. Moved the bikes over today, in the pouring rain.

The next Witchblade book is out now. Read it already.

When I bought the Witchblade book I was distracted by a Durham Red book. Read it already.

Finally got my scanner connected up again.

Had a drive of Carol's MGF today. A bit cramped for space in these sports car things. Goes quite nicely when you get the hang of it. Needs to be revved to get the best out of it.

Finished reading Sophie's World at last.

Hopefully sorted out all the mixed up fonts on site - all should be arial now. Added some pictures of the fallen tree.

Started reading Taking Wing.

Ran out of space on freeserve last week - the tree pictures wouldn't fit. I've opened an account with virginnet, where there is another 10M of space. Shifted the sound files over to there, to leave more room here for pictures etc. There is a home2 page there, but it just links you back here. Go and have a look if you like. Access to the sound files works as before.

Added a link to Paul's new site. Nice little rhyme there.

Got xmas presents sent off to Portugal. Sent a few cards. Put the tree up. It actually snowed here yesterday. Maybe we'll have a white xmas at last ? Put a few seasonal t midi files on the sounds page.

I've more or less moved back into my old software job at work now. We're supposed to be moving next week, to somewhere with windows, where we'll be able to see the sky !

Bought Tomb Raider 4. That's going to keep me busy this xmas.

I've tidied my desk at work, but haven't actually moved yet.

Made some progress into Tomb Raider 4. At least past the training level, and found a secret.

2 weeks to xmas.

We've all moved to the new office, although not actually to the right desk yet.

Had a look at Brinklow "castle" today. Not much more than a bump in the ground to look at, but good all round views.

Made some more progress into Tomb Raider 4. I'm afraid I had to cheat, even on the 1st level,after getting trapped.

1 week to xmas.

Treated myself to a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI graphics card. Tomb Raider looks much better now. I must be on about the 4th level now, and haven't had to cheat again yet.

xmas. is here.

Back to work tomorrow to help pick up the pieces, if any have fallen.

I'm keeping the java snow effect for a while. It is still winter. I might use some others from the javaboutique later.

Played a bit more Tomb Raider over the holiday. Now in the sacred lake area. I had to cheat a little while ago, when I got stuck. In fact, all I had done wrong was leave the jeep behind. I'm a bit stuck again now.

We've started feeding the birds in the garden. We had a squirrel there today. The cats were impressed.