Our UK Wedding Reception

As you know, My long suffering partner Karen and I got married in South Africa back in March. Not everybody could come and so we thought we would throw a UK Wedding reception for those who couldn't make the 5000 mile journey.

After the usual issues of sorting out a party, We set the date, Sunday August 5th, ordered the caterers - we went for a Hog Roast as just about everybody likes that (and a good friend of our provides catering etc) and sent the invites out.

As it happened, this was the hottest day of the year and luckily our friends Donna of Why Not Jewellery and Steve her hubby arranged a rather odd shaped but very effective marquee for us.
I must say the day started off really well - so great to see so many friends and family turn up - the usual suspects Neale and Sam James AKA Breathe Pictures, Paul and Cathy Rosier. Adam (what no Emma? - she was in hospital having just had their new daughter!) Hillier AKA Verbatim Call Centres , Nigel Morgan of Morgan PR(minus Diane due to holiday), to mention but a few....

As the day moved to evening, after the Hog Roast had been reduced to a bag of bones (this was probably the best Hog ever!) it was time to cut the cake kindly supplied by my Mum.

After this, things get a little blurred for yours truly - we made a big fire on the patio and all the "die hards" sat around talking the usual bull and getting slaughtered - Louis was pouring my drinks (he worked for me as a work experience the week before and Neale James picked on him everyday on his breakfast radio show) and so got his revenge - "Doing me Ugly" on the Brandy and Cokes (not much Coke me thinks!) until I passed out.

The next day I was done for. I don't think I have ever felt so ill on drink - I still can't touch a brandy after 4 weeks!

What a great party - can't wait until our anniversary now!

Picture 1 - The strange but useful tent




Picture 2 - The Catering Team hard at work!



Picture 3 - Cutting the cake - well on the way to being drunk!

Mega House Clearance!

I had a call from one of our commercial customers which went along the lines of:

"We have 3 cottages we need you to take a look at - I think they might be a bit overgrown, but I am sure you can sort them for us".

So I popped over to take a look.......Well I have a Landrover and I struggled to get into the gate way as the grass was so tall!

Normally, this would be a case of just getting a tractor and paddock swipe and off we go, however access was a total problem as the 3 cottages all had small access and low trees etc making this a real problem.

After walking around the site - hoping not to be captured by some tribe that might be lurking - I came up with a solution to this problem - our awesome Etesia Mower with the windrow attachment and our trusty strimmers!

I was advised that the Etesia would not cope with grass so long, however with limited options we just got on with it. Luckily we had a good break in the weather and so the sun had dried out the grass otherwise I would have thought twice. So Ric D was set off on the Etesia, Pete was dispatched to the hedges (again so overgrown you cant believe it) and I set off with the strimmer to uncover paths and cut the roadside banks and boundaries.

After 5 days, we did manage to get this job completed - and the transformation is simply amazing - the pictures, whilst good, do not show the real difference but they will give you some idea.

We have just gone back and undertaken the first maintenance visit and I have to say that it is really looking great with the new green grass growth coming through - now we will be on a fortnightly visit to maintain the hard work.

Picture 1 - The Orchard - What no trees!




Picture 2 - Spot the Patio (and Path)!!




Picture 3 - An English Country Garden - well it is now!



The only casualty was a damaged drive belt on the Etesia which under the circumstances was pretty much expected - a truly great machine all round.

Its been a while.....

It s been a while since I have posted on my blog - we have been totally mental busy as well as taking a week off with the kids so time has just run away with its self.

On the good side, we have done some cracking jobs - all of which I will up date you on as I get the pictures sorted out.

These include:-

• A massive rockery which had totally over grown and we tamed
• A fish pond which was just simply unbelievable - now you can see the water
• A garden clearance to end all clearances - this nearly killed us but now amazing
• An overgrown hedge on a busy road
  

All this plus:-

• Our big UK Wedding reception
• Our Holiday
• Our YTS (Youth Training Scheme as was - now called work experience) Experiences
• Our Dog Attack victim - poor Ric D!

I hope you enjoy reading the next few blog postings..