Getting old

Us 40 year olds suffer from our health don't you know?!

I was back from Venice 2 days before getting a killer migraine.  It meant I was in bed all day Wednesday and most of Thursday.  Today I am just a bit bluuurrrgghh, but did some work all the same.  Aren't I good to my employer!?

I have just got back from the knee Consultant (though  I assume he has a far more interesting title) and he says that I do not have a torn cartilage or tendons, which is good news.  I appears that the fatty tissues in the knee are getting trapped in the moving parts and he suggested a steroid injection then and there which I immediately chickened out of.  So I need to take even more inflammatory pills and ice the knee for a couple of weeks.  If that doesn't work, it's needle time.  My mum has had it done and has just told me that it hurts - that didn't help.

Some random Venice photos

Venice

The surprise 40th birthday trip ended up being a weekend in Venice. It's a place that I've always had on my "mental travel to do list", so Pete chose well and kept it a secret right up to the last minute.

If you have ever been to the city, you will know that it's an amazing place and very alien in so many ways - no cars, tourists outnumbering locals, huge churches, canals at every turn and tiny pathways everywhere.

We started the weekend on Friday morning leaving my Mum and Dad's house at 5am with my parents dropping us off - they had arrived back from Cyprus a day before. Pete had gone overboard as he sometimes does and booked us British Airways Business Class tickets, which meant access to the lounge - Magazines, juice, pastries and good coffee.

At the gate, my parents appeared and were coming along (though they left us to explore most of the time and were in economy class!). It was only a slight shock. My friend Sonny should also have been making a surprise appearance, but due to the volcano fun, wasn't in Milan on business as he should have been.

On the plane, you get a full breakfast in Business Class and much bigger seats. All very nice. We landed and got a water taxi. Basically they speed across the lagoon which was great fun.

The hotel was plush and the room huge. Hotels in Venice are not the usual chains, so what you get for your money can be a bit random - we got lucky.

Venice has some stunning buildings which are even more impressive when you know some are 500 years old. To build on some mud flats would be mad today, but doing this hundreds of years ago with wooden piles and ancient techniques was simply crazy.

We spent the next 3 days just looking at the sites, visiting the various islands using the water buses, eating and drinking. We has some rain on Friday, but by Sunday the sun was beating down. It's a great feeling, sitting and relaxing looking over the lagoon and drinking a well made Espresso in the sunshine.

On the way back, we ate snacks in the first class lounge (having just had a 2 course meal) and then had a meal on the plane along with 3 small bottles of Champagne each. The teenage couple opposite/behind us were almost having full on sex and the sunset was beautiful. And... I treated myself to a watch. It was my birthday weekend after all.

I would recommend a trip to Venice to anyone. Pictures to follow when I get on my home PC.

Who can pronounce Eyjafjallajökull?

The volcanic ash cloud from the volcano that no-one can pronounce has severely disrupted lives around the world. My brother and his family are stuck in Florida - he is losing income from not working and the 3 kids are missing school. Though I am sure that 2 of them wont be too upset at that.

Here are some witty comments from the 'net on the ash cloud - of course it’s probably a bit early for Icelandic volcano jokes and we should wait a while for the dust to settle (!), but here goes...

It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe.

Iceland goes bankrupt, then it manages to set itself on fire. This has insurance scam written all over it.

Iceland, we wanted your cash, not your ash.

Waiter, there's volcanic ash in my soup. I know, it's a no-fly zone.

I came out my house yesterday and was hit on the head by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau and some fish fingers. I realised it must be the fallout from Iceland.

Woke this morning to find every surface in the house covered in a layer of dust and a foul stench of sulphur in the air. No change, I’ve been married to that bone-idle slob for 20 years.

I should be away in an aeroplane tomorrow morning as a surprise from Pete. All will be revealed when I post the next blog entry.. at which time I will be 40 years old. Oh my god... I mean God - if you believe in such things.

Me and Torres

I've just come back from my first ever MRI scan at the local private hospital. They have scanned the knee and I have to wait for the results and see the Consultant next week. It's highly likely that the cartilage is torn and I will need an operation. Whether this is before or after the holiday in late May has to be decided of course. By pure coincidence, the hunk that is Fernando Torres also has a torn cartilage and underwent surgery this week.

The scan itself is in a huge white Siemens machine and unlike those unfortunate people who have body or head scans, I went in only up to my chest. The contraption is quite noisy, so they put headphones on you and pipe Radio 2 through. It's a little surreal laying there with this large machine whirring away with Elvis Presley playing in your ears.

In other news... Pete has been planning a surprise trip for my 40th birthday this weekend for months. The plan had been to get a lift to the airport by my mum and dad and then fly off somewhere. Obviously, the travel chaos is likely to mean that we cant go away and as my parents are stuck in Cyprus, the family-taxi would not be available either. Watch this space...

Kai Z Feng

Those that follow this blog will know that I take a lot of photographs. I don't have many favourite photographers, but I recently came across Kai Z Feng and was impressed by the simplicity and the humour in the images and I "used" one of his images of Aaron Johnsn in a recent blog entry. Many of them are presented in black and white which is a skill in its own right - I hope to take some black and white portrait shots of friends and family soon.

Kai Z Feng was born in Shanghai and is now based in London. He started his career as a painter and took up photography aged 24. You can see more here, but these are a few of my favourites (I could have included pictures of young ladies, but I thought... why bother!?)

Falling apart

Good news

The dentist saw me at short notice after 2 teeth crumbled to bits.

Bad news

I need 3 fillings and maybe root canal work and have wait a month to go through the pain.

Good news

I completed my first 10k run 2 weeks ago.

Bad news

I ****ed my knee up and had to see my doctor this week and he wants me to have an MRI scan.

Good news

I have private medical cover through my employer.

Bad news

There is a delay as I have to see a consultant before having the scan and the excess on the medical plan is £100.

Good news

My latest salary has gone up due to a reduction in my car tax after getting my new car.

Bad news

The excess payment wipes out the gain this month.

Vote vote vote!

Yoinked from Andrew's site, Votematch has been designed for UK voters who aren't quite sure who they should be voting for on May 6th. Voting is an important right and although the system can favour abstaining (in safe seats for example where votes can be seen as wasted), anything that can promote casting a vote has to be a good thing to improve on the 61% turnout at the last election.

Votematch has been designed to match individuals views to political parties. You can answer some simple policy questions and highlight the main areas that are important/not important to you here.

My result surprised me a little.

Ha, Ha, Shock, Wow #6

Following on from these previous postings, here are four more random items from the 'net for your pleasure and entertainment...

HA

HA

I lost out on winning the pub quiz by one point.

The tie-break question was,

"Where do women mostly have curly hair?"

I was completely wrong.... apparently it's Africa.

SHOCK

Endorphins released during sexual activity create a euphoria similar to that produced by certain drugs. The same endorphins also act as extremely effective pain killers. So there is no point saying that you have a headache to avoid sex!

WOW

Aaron Johnson is just a cute actor guy with lovely eyes

and an ability to fill out underwear nicely.

300

300 blog entries and counting...

Last night we held a dinner party attended by Melissa and her new boyfriend George and Glyn and Charlotte (who works with Pete).I cooked Lasagne from scratch - a meat one for 4 of us and a vegetarian one (without garlic) for Melissa. As George is potentially the fussiest eater on the planet, I made him a rather plain chicken breast. I had intended making my paprika chicken, but he wouldn't like that and then thought about onions, peppers and some white wine, but guess what?!

I also made a huge rustic loaf of bread, which turned out great - you know how bread making is not an exact science and the results are always variable.
The guests brought desert and Melissa purchased a box of "jelly willies" to put on the cheesecake for some reason (see picture). Strange people!

Now the cleaning up must begin.

This is another tick on the kitchen list...

- Visit the local comedy club
- Go to the dog track DONE
- Cycle into London
- Watch the local non-league football team DONE
- Visit Pete's Uncle and Aunt in Oakham DONE
- Go to both local theatres
- Have more dinner parties DONE
- Poker night
- Go on a photo treasure hunt in London