Another day where nothing much happened.

I started work on another task at work - validating an uploaded file, not overly exciting it has to said!

Nikki and I went to the gym in the early evening and then managed to get another episode of 24 watched, getting through them - slowly!

Not much of note today, we were awoken by Postie who had a couple of parcels for us - namely windscreen wipers for our cars.

I did a bit of documentation at work.

Nikki did a bit of studying in the evening, I did the finances and watched a couple of bits from the TT that I'd recorded when it was on in June.

I spoke to my mate Kevin to see if he would be able to come and have a look at our dripping shower, which he said he'd do on Friday. Later Andy rang up for a bit of a natter.

A bit later we managed to get another episode of 24 watched.

First thing I gave Coral Windows a call to see if somebody could come to look at our front window that keeps getting condensation in it. They said they could send somebody next Monday, which was fine by me - I'll just have to go into work a bit late.

I needed some petrol for my car so I popped out to get some at lunchtime.

We did the usual gym and keep fit in the evening and just watched a few little bits on the box.

We didn't get much of a lie-in this morning as we got up to go to the gym. We were there for an hour and a half - it was relatively quiet.

Once we'd got home and had a bit of lunch, Nikki set abut cleaning the en-suite while I sorted out the shelve in my studio to make room for some CDs (we've run out of space on the ones downstairs!), It took me quite a while, there was a lot to sort out. I binned some stuff, others is going to the charity shop, the rest into the loft. At least now we've got some empty shelf space for any new CDs!

We had tea quite early, then I made some fresh fruit salad (which I'm going to have for my breakfast this week) and Nikki did some ironing. Once all that was out of the way we managedd to get another couple hour's worth of 24 under our belts.

We had quite a bit to do today so we got up at 9am. First thing was to go into Pudsey as we needed to pick up a package from the Post Office (a replacement shower head) and to send a gift to Dan & Tracy or their new baby.

From there we went to the BMW garage to see how much it would cost to have both MINIs serviced - they said under £400, so we booked them in, Nikki's is due to go in next weekend and mine the week after. While we were there we had a look at the new MINI Mayfair special edition, which was really rather nice, but at a starting price of £18,000 it is a bit on the expensive side!

We then went to have a look in TK Maxx, but it was a bit of a let down so we didn't get anything. After lunch we decided we'd better wash our car. I needed some air in my front tyre, but when I tried pumping it up nothing happened. I gave our usual tyre place a call and they said they'd have a look at it so I drove down. When they got the wheel off it was obvious why I couldn't get any air in - the tyre was split all the way around the inner rim! Consequently it was a new tyre.

By the time I'd got back Nikki had pretty much done her car. It took me just over an hour to do mine.

We had some bits to burn so we burnt those in the early evening before coming in getting showered, having tea and then sitting down to start watching Series 7 of 24 that we'd recorded from the beginning of the year. We managed to get through five hour's worth so not a bad start!

Due to my flat tyre, we went to work in Nikki's car today.

It actually wasn't a bad day for me, I had quite a bit to do, not just some CSS work, but other stuff too. So the day went quite quickly. There was a staff sale, but I didn't bother going and apparently I hadn't missed much.

In the evening I went with Nikki to do the shopping which made a bit of a change, from sitting at home watching television or perusing t'internet!

Once we'd done that and had tea it was a bit late. We watched a few bits on the box and that was about it.

I may have mentioned this before but Nikki's early morning meeting has been swapped from Friday to Thursday and that meant us having to go in a bit earlier.

The front tyre on my car that appears to have a bit of a slow puncture had gone quite flat so it was making a bit of a noise. Thank goodness it's a run-flat! We called in at the garage on the way home to get some air in it, but the air pump didn't appear to work very well and so it was a waste of time! I'll pump it manually up over the weekend, so we'll have to go in Nikki;s car tomorrow,

I did some CSS work, there were a few screen that needed tidying up.

It was gym and keep fit in the evening. I spoke to my mum on the phone and then sent an email to our friends we used to see when we went to Hotel Haselsberger in Kitzbühel to let them know how we'd got in in Saas Fee.

I did manage to finish the renaming work today, although I had a bit of merge hell in the process. Nevertheless it's done now. There was then some styling work that needed doing so I got on with that.

We finished early (around 3;50pm) as I had an appointment at the dentists. Usually he tell me off for not flossing enough, however I've obviously been doing it enough recently because this time he noticed a marked improvement in the health of my gums and complimented me - in fact he said that I didn't need to come and see him every six months, I could leave it a year now if I wanted. I said I'd leave it as it was for the time being, as I've got an appointment with the hygienist in December.

Our early finish enabled us to go to the gym much earlier than usual, in fact we were there for 5;45pm, that meant we had a good part of the evening free.

I spent the time replying to some emails and Nikki booked some train tickets so that we can go down to the Ski & Snowboard show in London next month. We're going to meet up with Rachel (and possibly Sandra) from our ski group which will be nice.

The morning was spent on another estimating meeting - however it didn't last all this time - in fact it was all done by just before lunchtime.

Out in the main office I'd had to move desks, so I spent a little while sorting things out. Once I'd finished it was back to the Java world. I picked up a task that involved quite a bit of renaming - quite a chunk of work but I should have it hopefully tomorrow.

Nikki had a text from our friends Dan & Tracy out in New Zealand, Tracy was going in to have the baby today (by Caesarian section). Well she had him (Joshua) but things didn't go quite as well as hoped. He was laid in a funny position inside which meant his shoulder was dislocated and one of his legs didn't work as well as the other. Consequently the poor little fellow is in intensive care (probably more as a precaution than anything else). Hopefully in a couple of days he should be out. We both truly hope everything is all okay for them all.

Nikki did some ironing and we watched some more bits that we'd recorded including the Hairy Bikers Tour of Britain, which was really quite entertaining.

So back to work today, which is always difficult after a good holiday! The traffic wasn't too bad especially given that the schools are all back now.

I had quite a number of emails to sort through and then eased back in gently with a small amount of Plone work. That was all going swimmingly until I upgraded the development environment to the latest version, then I had an issue with some incompatibility. Thankfully a quick search on t'internet came up trumps - it was a known issue and there was a simple fix for it.

The chocolates I'd brought back went down very well, but there were several birthdays in the office which meant lots of cakes, which meant the chocolates didn't go down as they might have done - in fact I've still got about half a packet left!

In the evening Nikki went to her keep fit class and I to the gym, Nikki said she'd found it hard going, I had expected to find it hard going - especially having not been for two weeks, but it was fine.

We had to be in reasonable time because like I mentioned earlier we were off to Nikki's nephew's baby Lennon's christening.

It was being held at Pudsey Parish church. Now it's a long time since we were at Pudsey Parish (in fact probably just over 17 years ago - when we got married!) and how things have changed. All the pews have been removed to be replaced by chairs, plus the pulpit and choir pews have gone too.

I can't say either of us has been to a church service quite like it. Aside from the noise - people talking, kids screaming, etc. which must have made the vicar's job very difficult there were people just milling about - both kids and adults. I know they want to try to appeal to the younger generation, but for us it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience.

The do afterwards was at Fulneck Golf Club. We had a few drinks and a buffet lunch, then Nikki's dad and his wife came back to ours as I needed to finish off installing Skype and some updates on their laptop. As these things always do, it took a bit longer to do than I'd anticipated.

As it's back to work in the morning , we got an early night.

We had a bit more of a lie-in this morning.

The weather was rather nice, Nikki spent a bit of time doing some bits in the garden. I spent the day sorting photographs from our holiday - there are quite a number of them, so it took me a good part of the day!

Again we caught up on some more television in the evening - nothing out of the ordinary...

Again we had another tiny lie-in this morning, and then, after breakfast decided to head to Junction 32 at Castleford - two purposes really. One to have a look in Ellis Brigham at the new season's ski gear, the other to try to get a christening present for Nikki's nephew's baby whose christening we'll be attending on Sunday.

There are some tasty looking new skis, but the clothing was a bit disappointing (not that we need any more!). Much to my surprise we did manage to get a christening present - from the Wedgwood shop.

We then spent the evening watching more stuff on the box.

We afforded ourselves a small lie-in, but we had to pick Indie up from the cattery and we like to get her home sooner rather than later.

She seemed quite content when we got there, unlike after we'd been to Munich when she looked as miserable as sin!

As is usual when she gets home she likes to re-familiarise herself with the place,namely by running around and then dashing inside and out!

Nikki went out and did the shopping a bit later on, while I caught up on emails, etc. that had arrived while we'd been away.

It wasn't the most eventful of days really, in fact it just seemed to pass us by - the of reality setting back in I suppose.

We spent the evening watching a number of things we'd recorded and that was about it.

We got up early to drop our luggage down in reception in order that it get to the Post Bus station for 8am. As we didn't have to leave until 11am we went back to bed! We got up at 8:30am, had a fairly leisurely breakfast.

It was very miserable weather wise, in fact it was raining and the mountain was closed completely. Goodness knows what the ski group did, but we didn't see any of them so we never found out!

The wet morning of our departure

We said goodbye to the hotel staff - who it has to be said were excellent. Right from the owner and his wife all the way down to the most junior member. Nothing could be too much trouble and they always had a smile - they could give hotel staff in this country a few lessons!

Very wet - a far cry from when we arrived!

We had a bit of a walk round town before heading up to the Post Bus station to get the bus down to Visp and then the train up to Zurich. The journey was uneventful although it did seem longer than it did coming! We got to Zurich aiport in plenty of time but we weren't sure what we were to do about our luggage. We asked at three desks before we were told that we should just pick it up in Manchester - Nikki wasn't hopeful!

Once we'd got checked in we had about a 2 hour wait before boarding. The flight was uneventful, though we did have to circle around Manchester before landing. All we needed to do was to wait to see if our luggage came off - which it did no problems, So that's quite an efficient system really, not sure it would work in this county though!

It was around 8pm when we finally got home after picking the car up and driving back. We got unpacked and then it was just about time for bed.

The weather was again cloudy today, but the mountain wasn't closed. However looking at the webcam it did look pretty grim up at the top, We therefore decided not to bother with skiing.

A cloudy view up to the Fee glacier

We had a wander round before heading up the Plattjen gondola. It was bracing at the top - chilly and windy! We stayed up there for around 20 minutes or so before heading back down to the relative warmth of the valley. We had planned to walk down, but didn't have our sticks and it had been snowing up there so we got the gondola back down. We then walked around the path that goes around the perimeter of the village, which was rather pleasant.

Plattjen - bracing!

It was our last night so we got packed up, found out about what to do with our luggage so that it gets sent on before us - apparently it doesn't need to be down in reception until the morning.

Speaking to some of the group afterwards they said the snow was good, but visibility was poor and it was rather cold! As neither Nikki nor I particularly enjoy skiing when we can't see it was a good job we decided against it!

Tonight was meant to be grill 'n' chill on the terrace, but due to the weather we had it indoors. Afterwards we had a drink in the bar, some of the other were going out into town but we didn't fancy it, so we then headed back to our room.

Well we did hope to do some more skiing today, but when we got up it was very foggy, so much so that the mountain was closed for the first couple of hours so we didn't think it would have been worth it. The ski shop were very good, they let us return the skis and only pay for yesterday's hire.

A friendly marmot

Instead we did a bit of walking. We got the Spielboden gondola up and walked back down. It was quite a nice walk down and we came across a few marmots along the way. They were incredibly tame, not frightened at in, in fact if you put out your hand they'd come up to you!

Another friendly marmot

Along the way we passed the glacial lake which was pretty impressive. It was also interesting to read the information signs on the way down.

View up to the Alpin Express middle station from the Speilboden path

'Cowboy dog' at the glacial lake

The new group didn't have their video analysis, as the mountain was closed first thing they were given today as their rest day. Nevertheless it was still fondue night in the Feeloch restaurant (although we still opted out). We sat with some of the new group and they seemed pleasant enough.

Afterwards we went out for another walk before retiring to bed.

The weather was kind to us again today, so we got up went across to the ski shop, hired some skis, got a one day ski pass and went up the mountain.

We did a few runs, the usual warm=up exercises, then practised some braquage and some turns. We even attempted to get down the steep and bumpy section we'd done with Tom on Friday. I managed to get down twice successfully and Nikki managed it one and a half times! So ir was great to end the day on a high. Not sure how I managed it, but shouting "forward, forward" to get my body forward must have helped!

Just because the rest of the gang had gone home didn't mean we were about to slack on our stretching. We did that once we got back to the hotel. There was a festival on in town so we went for a walk around. Unlike in Austria where it would seem people mainly drink beer, it seemed to be mostly wine on offer. Needless to say we didn't sample any of the local delights - opting instead to have a drink on the hotel terrace.

The vehicle used by the local constabulary - I could run faster!

Again we joined the lads at dinner time. We didn't eat as late as last night, so we went out for another walk later on before getting an early night.

We had a bit of a lie-in and so didn't manage to see some of the group who left at 8:30am. We did catch David and Rachel at breakfast and then hung around to see them off at 11am.

From there we had a bit of a wander around town and then decided to walk down the Kapellenweg to Saas Grund. It was quite a nice walk down, a bit rocky in parts. There isn't a great deal to do on a late summer Saturday afternoon in Saas Grund, so we more or less came straight back! Interestingly it was a quicker walk coming back up!

The largest chapel on the path to Saas Grund

When we got back to the hotel we had a drink in the bar. The new group arrived today and we were dining with them so we had to wait ntil they'd had their team meeting - which wasn't until around 7:30pm. So we didn't dine until quite late. We sat with the instructors as we knew them! The new group is about three time the size that ours was - more the norm apparently.

Afterwards we had a wander round town and then off to bed. Depending on the weather we may well go skiing tomorrow.

It was the last day of the course today, but by no means did that mean we could relax or have an easy time of it - oh no, Tom had plenty in store for us!

We did a few runs before the warm-up, then some other runs, developing our turning skills a bit further, then from there it was onto the steep and bumpy section! We managed to get down the first run, but then the second run wasn't quite as successful, in fact both Niki and I both fell - I lost a ski and Nikki a pole. Tom was just stood at the bottom shouting "I've got no sympathy, it's your own faults, you didn't listen to a word I told you!". Nikki was getting a bit frustrated with herself, so Tom had another go at her, to stop behaving like and eight year old! It's usually me that's getting annoyed with myself, but despite everything I was enjoying myself. The next run down, I'm not sure what happened, but I set off and just headed straight down the fall-line, coming a right cropper on the way! Nikki's run was slightly better. we had a break for a bite to eat before attempting it again.

The last run was fairly good, I managed one turn and half another before falling, Nikki made it all the way down. Sandra from Robs group had taken a bit of a fall and so joined us for the afternoon session. She managed to get down okay though, so it hadn't knocked her confidence that much.

We were all congratulated by Tom on finishing. Back at the hotel the usual trio did our stretches before meeting up with the gang for a drink on the terrace. In fact Rich got a round in, on account of his minigolf hole-in-one on Wednesday. Some of them (that's David, Paul, Sandra and Rich) were going to do the zip wire across the gorge, but Sandra didn't feel up to it so the est wandered across while we finished our drinks. However when we approached the gorge, we spotted the boys at La Gorge having a drink - apparently the gorge closed at 4pm (it was around 4:30pm). So we joined them for a drink.

Team Saas Fee - Rachel, Rich, Mhairi, Sandra, David, Nikki, Tony & Paul

We had another drink before dinner and then a couple in the bar afterwards (even Rachel had a beer, her first of the week!). By about 10pm everyone was flagging, however another drink and everyone got their second wind! So much so that David and Rich convinced us all to go across the road to the Alpenpub. Saas Fee was deserted, no wonder everyone must have been in the Alpenpub - it was heaving! We had a couple of drinks in there (and david demonstrated his Sambuca party trick - which looks rather painful it has to be said!) before heading back to the hotel around 12:30pm.

Nikki and I had Tom for the whole day as Mhairi didn't show, apparently she wasn't feeling too good.

We concentrated on some more turns and a bit more braquage. Thanks to the practice we did yesterday we found it much easier, in fact we were both able to turn almost on a sixpence! A far cry from Sunday when we started where I didn't want anybody down slope of me in case I went flying into them!

When it came to free-skiing Tom picked me up on the positioning of my arms, they were too close in to my body.

It was the second part of video analysis, the braquage was pretty good, but both our free-ski runs weren't the best of the day, but Tom was happy enough with them because he knew that we knew where we'd gone wrong.

Watching the videos back it was really interesting to see that Nikki and my braquage was the best out of the whole group! Although that can't be said for our free-ski runs! My arms although in the correct position looked way too rigid! That said it wasn't my best run and by the end of the day my arms had freed up. Overall we were both pleased with out performances as was Tom, which was good to hear. A definite improvement.

Like I mentioned yesterday, we were able to have a lie-in this morning, a whole hour's worth! Most of the group were going skiing, only Mhairi didn't fancy it. Mind you some wanted more of a lie-in than others! That meant only me, Nikki, Sandra and Rachel meeting at 9.

When we got to the top of the mountain, Sandra headed off as she just wanted to ski rather than practice, that left Nikki, Rachel and myself. We did a few runs and then the usual warm-up exercises, From there we practised some braquage, doing two lots, it was well worthwhile because we could all managed it pretty well.

Ready for the off, Nikki, Tony & Rachel - the Teapotters! (photo courtesy Sandra Graham)

After that we did a few runs forcing our hips into the turns - one arm out-stretched, the other pushing the hip, almost in a teapot shape, so much so that we renamed the drill 'teapotting'! We even videoed one another using Nikki's camera, but as there is no zoom facility it was difficult to get a good enough picture to be able to analyse properly.

We then did some general skiing around and headed back down to the hotel just after 1pm. We did the usual stretches on the lawn and then five of us headed off to play minigolf.

At the minigolf - Rachel, Tony, Paul & Rich, Nikki's taking the photo!

It was an 18 hole course, some of which were rather tricky and some not so! It took the five of us an hour and a half to get round! Some of us (me mostly!) had terrible trouble putting the ball! In the end Rich won with 55 shots and I came last with 90! Oh well, I'll never make a golfer! As both Nikki and Rich got a hole in one (the last hole, which to be fair was a par one!) they had to buy a round of drinks. So Nikki duky obliged when we got back to the hotel.

Enjoying our post minigolf drink at Nikki's expense due to her hole in one!

It was tea as normal around 7pm, we all then had a drink in the bar before getting an early night - got to be up again tomorrow at 6:230am!

Same routine as yesterday, up at 6:30, out for 8. The weather was glorious again.

Mhairi joined us for the first hour or so, but again was struggling and so Nikki and I had Tom to ourselves again. I thought we might have started from where we left off after the video analysis with the braquage, but we didn't do any braquage at all. Instead we concentrated on turning and getting our hips over.

It was hard going at first, but we started getting somewhere and it was even better once we went across to the steeper section. I can't say we're perfect, but it's going to take some time and practice to master it properly.

Once we'd finished and got back down to the hotel we did our stretching - again only the three of us, not sure what the rest of them do!

It was "grill 'n' chill" on the terrace for tea, we all met in the bar for a drink before taking our seats out on the terrace. It was a pleasant evening weatherwise and there was plenty of food to be had, all of it very nice.

There is no tuition tomorrow, it's a day off, however most of us are going to do some skiing - putting into practice what we've learned so far - it's the second video analysis session on Thursday so we'l need to be red hot for that!

Consequently it wasn't a late night, but we've afforded ourselves a bit of a lie-in, we're meeting at 9am.

Up again at 6:30am, breakfast at 7 and out for 8. Even though we are in Tom's group today we still gathered with Rob's gang to to up the mountain.

Looking up to the top of the Allalin from the piste

We skiied a few runs and then did some warm-up exercises before splitting off into our relevant groups. The day was spent practising some more braquage and then moving on to trying to carve some turns. I had a couple of falls, banging both my right hip and elbow.

View of the T-bar from the bottom of the piste

Mhairi was struggling a bit and so Tom called one of the other instructors (Stefan) to see if he wouldn't mind coming up to work with her. That left Nikki and myself with Tom.

Tom and Tony having a quick bite of lunch

Later on we were videoed doing both some braquage and then some medium radius turns, this was the first part of our video analysis.

Once we'd finished skiing it was time to do the warm-down stretches, however there were only three of us that did them - that was Nikki, myself and Rachel from Rob's group.

The video analysis session started at 6pm. Mhairi hadn't been videoed so there were only seven lots to go through. I have to say I was pretty disappointed with my performance. My braquage was poor and my whole body stance when I'm skiing is just awful - a complete A-frame. It looks like I've got some work to do this week! Nikki was still using her upper body quite a bit when she was turning and she skis with her legs too far apart, and she doesn't lean with her hips enough, so she's got something to work on as well.

Team Saas Fee cheese fondue (Photograph courtesy Sandra Graham)

It was cheese fondue night in the Feeloch restaurant, but Nikki and I didn't have the fondue, opting for the chicken instead, we thought the fondue might have been a bit too rich!

We were up at 6:30am and down for breakfast just after 7am. There was still no sign of our luggage when we went in for breakfast and we were getting just a little bit anxious! The rest of the group were thinking it was doubtful that it would show up, however as we came out of breakfast the porter was just bringing it down the corridor! We made a quick dash upstairs to get changed into our ski gear and then across the road to Derby Sport to get our bindings sorted,

As a result we we about 10 minutes leaving the hotel - but it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

It takes around 40 minutes to get up on to the glacier, two Alpin Express gondolas and a then the Metro Alpin funicular railway. The weather was absolutely glorious when we got up there.

All eight of us in the group had Rob as our instructor. It was a pretty intense day, starting off with a small amount of skiing, then some warm-up exercises followed by some techniques, including braquage - which was pretty tricky - especially when he had us doing it on one leg!.

Once all that was over at around 1pm, we headed back down to the hotel to do some warm-down exercises and stretches.

It was evident that some of the group were better skiers than others, Nikki and I were slightly weaker and so tomorrow we along with a lady called Mhairi (pronounced Mari) will be in another group with Tom as our instructor. The rest of the group will be continuing with Rob.

We got unpacked when we got back to the room becuase obviously we didn't get chance this morning!

For tea it was an Italian buffet, which was nice and it was quite interesting trying to work out what flavours the ice cream was from the colour! Beetroot anyone?

It was another early night as we were both rather tired. We'll be meeting at 8am again in the morning.

Two things happening today - first off it was our 17th wedding anniversary, secondly it was holiday time! This year we were going to Saas Fee in Switzerland to attend a Warren Smith Ski Academy course.

We were up at 4:30am to drive across to Manchester to catch our flight. We left home about 5;15am, The flight was slightly later than we'd thought at 8:50am as opposed to 8:30am. All went well, the flight to Zurich only lasted an hour and a half. We didn't have to pick up our luggage at Zurich as it was being sent via Fly Rail and so would be transferred to the hotel for us (hopefully in time for skiing tomorrow!) we just had to make our way across the road to catch the train to Visp.

The journey took us via Bern and then down to Visp, having watched quite a number of Swiss Railway Journeys on the television we were looking forward to a nice scenic journey though the mountains, but that wasn't to be. The journey from Zurich to Bern was rather flat, it did get a little better from Bern to Visp, but there were a huge number of tunnels.

Once we got to Visp we then had to get the Post Bus to Saas Fee, which was about a 40 minute ride. Once we arrived in Saas Fee (around 4pm) we were met by the Inghams Rep, Jenny who showed us to the Hotel Du Glacier where we were staying. I think she had hoped we'd be wanting some walking maps and the like from her, but as we were skiing we wouldn't be needing any!

It was only a short walk to the hotel from the bus terminus. Warren Smith was in reception when we got to the hotel, so Jenny introduced us and we had a bit of a chat with him while we enjoyed our welcome drink. We asked him where the best place to hire some skis would be, he directed us to Derby Sport across the road. We paid them a visit and got sorted, we don't even have to pay for them until the end of the week! Obviously the bindings will need setting up for our boots when we get them. Thankfully the shop will be open at 7:30am tomorrow morning.

Our room at the hotel is rather nice, it's quite large, with a separate sitting area complete with sofa, it's got a nice balcony with a lovely view up onto the glacier.

One thing that hits you in Saas Fee is the size of the mountains - they are enormous!

View of the Fee glacier from our room

Around 6:30pm we had a briefing about what to wear and to take with us when we start skiing tomorrow. It's only a small group - eight of us in total so it was a quick meeting and then in for tea where we met the rest of the lads that form Warren's team.

Another view of the Fee glacier from our room

As it was our wedding anniversary the hotel had kindly left us a bottle of sparkling wine, so we had that once we'd finished tea.

We're meeting at 8am in the morning so we'll probably have to be up at 6:30am, that coupled with the fact that we got up at 4:30am this morning meant we had an early night - although by the time we went to bed our luggage still hadn't arrived! I told the girl on reception that it was important because we needed our ski wear. She said she'd get the porter to go up first thing to see if it had arrived.

We were both off work today and so were able to have a bit of a lie-in - which was really nice!

I was expecting somebody to come and pick up the MINI bumper I'd put on eBay, they rang not long after nine to say somebody would be coming around 11 to get it, well 11 came and went but nobody showed. So at lunchtime I rang up to find out what was happening and apparently he'd been delayed, I told him we had a couple of bits to do and needed to nip out, he was happy for me to leave it around the back.

That meant Nikki and I were able to nip out to do our bits and bobs, we popped into Pudsey to take a parcel to the Post Office and to get some things from Boots, we had something to take back to TK Maxx so we went down to Bradford to do that, calling in at Aldi and then Morrisons on the way back.

We'd been out a couple of hours and he still hadn't picked the bumper up - in fact it wasn't until 4pm that he eventually arrived! It's a good job we hadn't waited in for him!

In the evening we didn't do a great deal, watched some things on the box and that was about it. Then it was off to bed for an early night as we've got to be up pretty early to jet off to Switzerland on holiday.

Nikki's morning meeting has been changed to Thursday, rather than Friday which meant we had to go in a bit earlier. That accompanied by the fact we had a couple of parcels to pick up from the Post Office - a pair of jeans I'd bought on eBay and a top that Nikki had also bought on eBay.

At work I carried on with and completed the logging stuff. I then did a bit of work on the documentation, then, a bit later on some work around message handling. We had a team lunch at Oriental City (above the Chinese supermarket on Roseville Road). We've been before. The food was nice, but the service left a lot to be desired!

Nikki had to work over a bit, so it was a bit of a rush when we got home, as Nikki's keep fit class starts at 6:30pm. I was still a bit full from lucnh and so didn't go too mad at the gym.

I emailed the person I'd bought the jeans from as they weren't in the condition they'd been advertised at... We'll see what they say.

I carried on with looking at logging today, but I didn't get as far I would have liked, mainly due to meetings... Plus I refactored some redundant code and tests. Anyway I should manage to get the logging finished tomorrow, then all that needs doing is the documentation side of things.

The weather was a bit grim later on, rain, rain and more rain! It didn't stop us going to the gym mind you. Neither of us was quite as breathless as we had been on Monday, it wasn't quite as hot, thankfully!

I spent a good part of the evening trying to work out why the wireless had stopped working on my laptop only to realise the problem was that the switch on the front had been knocked into the 'off' position.

Back to work today after the Bank Holiday and so were a number of people who'd been on holiday.

I picked up a defect and worked on that and then did some more minor styling adjustments. Tomorrow I'll have a further look at logging.

At lunchtime I had another eBay package to send off which meant another trip to the Post Office and when I got there they were queuing out of the door! Consequently I had a bit of a wait!

In the evening I did the finances and Nikki did some cleaning in the bathroom and afterwards we just watched a bit on the box.