The site has been up and running for a couple of years but I haven’t really spent too much time on it recently, so I thought I would give it a bit of an overhaul.  I added in a new column on the right hand side for more information links and added in a couple new photograph sections and a news blog.

I have added a page to this site (see right hand side) which gives a bit more information and some links which may be of use.  So please have a look at the galleries and leave some comments, as I would like to hear what people think about the website and photographs therein.

Illfracombe

We didn’t manage to get to the beach which was a shame and only had a couple of BBQ’s on the last weekend of the holiday, but we did manage to do quite a few things, which was great.  The first week we mostly did a lot of painting as we needed to lighten the hallway up as it was way too dark in there, especially during the darker days.  So we painted it all a light sandy colour and I think it looks a lot better now.

Also during the first week, we went off and visited a few places in Devon.  We managed to go to Barnstaple, Braunton, Saunton Sands, Croyde and Illfracombe in North Devon all on the same day.  It was very tiring but highly enjoyable!  The weather stayed good for most of the day, up until about 4pm when we were leaving Braunton.  We had a good look around the places we stopped at.  Barnstaple was like a normal town (like Plymouth really) with nothing out of the ordinary apart from having to walk across a bridge to get from the car park to the town centre!?!  We had never been to Barnstaple before so it was something new anyway.  Braunton was a very small village made up mostly of restaurants and Surf shops.  Nothing much there at all, so we didn’t stay long.  I had been there once before, over 10 years ago and it didn’t look at all like I remembered it.  We then drove past Saunton Sands and stopped on the cliff to have a look down at the Surfers and the rain that was coming in from the sea.  Then we went on through Croyde and made our way to Illfracombe.  By this time it was absolutely pouring down, which was a major shame.  Even so, we parked up in Illfracombe, but Ben in his pram with the rain jacket on and went for a walk.  It was quite quiet there and lots of shops had closed, I guess because of the weather, but we had a good walk from the car park (which was on the cliffs) through the resort-like area and ended up at the harbour.  We did have a nose in some shops on the way and bought some lovely fudge, and finally had fish and chips back at the car.  Unfortunately, the fish was horrible, which was a shame.

Later on in the week we went out to Tavistock for a look around and Ben had a go on the swings, and the weather was good after a heavy shower to start with.

The following weekend we went to Polperro as we had never had a proper look around their before.  I had been there once before for a meeting for work, but Kelly and Ben had never been.  There wasn’t really much to look at but we had a nice walk through the town and out to the harbour.  We then met up with Mum, Darren, Marina, Robbie and Myra at Smugglers Rest at Talland Bay for a meal.  There was also a band playing and they were great, and so was the food as usual.  I had a lovely mixed grill which completely filled me up!  Luckily the weather was pretty good for a change, so we all had a good time, especially Ben who had several people we didn’t know wave him goodbye after he was stood on the table dancing.

During the second week of my holiday, we didn’t really go anywhere at all.  Just lazed about at home.  We did go down to my Grandpa’s house in St Columb Major with my Mum for the day, and took Ben to the park and had fish and chips for dinner.  It was a very nice day, but went very quickly!

So all in all, the holiday was very nice but went too quickly as usual and I didn’t really want to go back to work to be honest! ;0)

Kelly and I enjoyed the day at Bantham Bay as well, as we hadn’t been to the beach for over 2 years (2 years ago the Summer was terrible, and last year she was heavily pregnant) so it was great to finally feel the sand between your toes on a hot day (even though it was a bit drizzly and cold to start with!).

I went on my bodyboard for the first time in years and enjoyed it a lot, even though I was struggling to catch any waves.  I don’t think it was me though, as others seemed to be struggling as well!  The water was cold when I first got in (no wetsuit) but I aclimatised to it after a few minutes, and had some fun.  Looking forward to doing it again, although my ankle did ache a bit after all the paddling.

To end the day we had a BBQ at home which was very nice, and a few cans were downed as well! ;0)

Here are a few photos from the beach. Enjoy!

http://johnny-ong.blogspot.com/2007/10/michael-jacksons-dead.html

Interesting 

Congratulations to them!

Me with Witney

Kelly with Witney

copyright BBC

This is the first time that anyone really famous has passed away since I have been a ‘grown up’ so it is a bit strange how the World is reacting.  I guess it is almost up there with the reaction when Princess Diana, Elvis Presly and John Lennon passed away, but being several years ago, I was not even alive for the last two of those.  I do remember the day Princess Diana died but was only about 14 at the time, so it didn’t strike me as anything much.

However, growing up with Michael Jackson always being in the news and his music being critically acclaimed, this feels a lot closer.  One of the first tapes that I bought when I was about nine years old was his ‘bad’ album, and I thought it was fantastic.  I also remember watching the ‘Thriller’ video when I was about the same age.  He then brought out his film ‘Moonwalker’ and my brother and I used to watch that over and over again (with my brother hilariously trying to recreate the moonwalk and his other various dance moves!).   So you could say, he has always been in the background somewhere.

Even through all his well documented troubles (which he was aquitted for) his music still kept being played, and people still widely recognised him as the King Of Pop.

So farewell to the greatest entertainer of them all and I will be sad not to see him do his famous ‘Moon walk’ live again.

( unless he has faked his death of course, as the conspiracy theorists will no doubt suggest! )

Cup final day came and we were staying at Kelly’s Mum and Dad’s house in St Austell for the weekend. TV coverage started at 915am in the morning so I was glued to the TV from first thing in the morning, whilst playing with Ben. My Dad arrived with Helen and Bec for a BBQ just before kick off, so Dad watched the footy with me as well.

Everton got off to a flyer with Saha scoring the quickest goal ever in Cup Final history and, as you can imagine, I went crazy! I made so much noise that I got told off by Kelly as Ben had just gone for his afternoon nap. So I had to try and clam myelf down after that, which wasn’t easy. Unfortunately, Everton decided to sit back a bit (as usual) and let Chelsea get into the game and they eventually won via a bit of a jammy goal as Lampard slipped when turning with the ball which completely put off Phil Neville, and then unleashed a fierce shot that beat Howard in the goal. What a shame, but at the end of the day, Everton were beaten by the better team. So well done Chelsea……but Everton will be back next season!!

As you can imagine, I was a bit down beat for the rest of the day but the BBQ was very nice and the weather was fantastic, so ended up having an enjoyable evening after all.

Since Christmas we have been coming to terms with looking after Ben, which we love really, even though he needs attention all the time.  He is now 8 months old and is a proper little man! He can sit up on his own, clap his hands, and is generally a very happy chappy.  We just can’t believe it has been 8 month since he was born. Shocking!

Apart from that we have decided that we must live in a different world (Plymouth) as when the WHOLE country was battling with the Snow in early February, we had a light sprinkling, and that was that!  Only 15-20 minutes up the road from Plymouth, there was heavy snow, and if you travelled about 35 minutes up the A38, you would have been caught in a severe blizzard that caused the road to be shut, and many people to abandon their vehicles for a small parish hall for the night.  Amazing.  I love the snow and would have loved a decent covering, but it wasn’t to be yet again.  It is very strange as even as far South West as Penzance (which theoretically should have less chance than Plymouth to get snow) had bucket loads of it.  What a crazy place this is!

We have also had probably the earliest BBQ party in family history, with it being held on Easter Saturday.  It turned out a fantastic choice as it was the hottest day so far of the year, almost a Summers day.  We had a great time and ate and drank too much!  And then had a good laugh on our newly bought Nintendo Wii.  Good fun was had all round!