A Christmas wish from the Royals

Firstly, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (or Season's Greetings to the non-Christian readers) to all. I will be on holiday from work (and blogging as of midday today. I hope you all have a fantastic holiday season!

And to something a little more interesting: The British Royal Family have caught onto the whole YouTube thing and created the Royal Channel where you can watch various videos including the first ever televised Queen's Christmas speech, the Queen Mother's wedding and, on Christmas Day, the Queen's speech 2007!

According to the Google Blog, she's not the only one to jump on the YouTube bandwagon!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

To dine for

Inspired by this article, I was wondering how many people out there have tried ‘weird’ food? And I don’t mean sushi or rabbit, I mean things like deep-fried haggis (tried it - Scotland) or chili flavoured ice cream (tried it - Scotland). Below is a list of some of the other unusual things I’ve had and where I tasted them:

· Deep fried Mars bars – Scotland
· Horse meat – France & Italy
· Pigeon – Egypt
· Giraffe – Namibia
· Blesbok - Namibia
· Crocodile – Australia
· Kangaroo – Australia
· Emu – Australia
· Sheep (various bits incl brains, eyes, heart, liver) – South Africa
· Oxtail and bull’s balls – South Africa
· Karoo Oysters (grilled sheep’s liver wrapped in kidney fat) – South Africa
· Black pudding (pig’s blood) – UK

Have you tried anything weird? Leave a note in the comments section.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Rugby's coaching merry-go-round

A summary of an interesting article on Rugby365:

England: Brian Ashton out, Jake White in?
Wales: Gareth Jenkins out, Eddie Jones in?
Scotland: Frank Hadden, no change.
Ireland: Eddie O'Sullivan, no change.
France: Bernard Laporte out, Marc Lièvremont in.
Italy: Pierre Berbizier out, Nick Mallett in.
Australia: John Connolly out, David Nucifora in?
New Zealand: Graham Henry out, Robbie Deans in?
Argentina: Marcelo Loffreda out, John Connolly in?
South Africa: Jake White out, political puppet in.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Home sweet home

The feel of the new carpet under your feet and the smell of fresh paint. The echo of empty rooms and the unfamiliar sounds of creaking floorboards. These are all the things that come with a new house.

We finally moved in last weekend. The builder had actually managed to get everything done before settlement. Friday night we hung the curtains (most of them) and moved boxes, Saturday we moved the furniture and put up a washing line and Sunday we put up the letterbox!

We had our first home-cooked meal at our new dining table last night. It was a little weird to have dinner and a coffee and then have nothing to do after that – nope, no TV or Internet at home yet. Not even a telephone for that matter!

The bit that I’m not looking forward to is landscaping the garden. At the moment it looks like the Highveld after a good rain! Grass is creeping up over the deck which is at least 3 feet above the ground!

Looks like my Christmas holiday will be a busy one. At least I can get some sun on my pasty quasi-Pom skin!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Thought for the day

If we only ever use bath towels after washing ourselves, why do they get dirty?

Chat soon,
DelBoy

NORAD tracks Santa

A little known fact, but it's true! The North American Aerospace Defence Command has been tracking Santa since 1955!

Check out the article on Google's blog as well as the NORAD website!

You will even be able to download Santa's complete route on Google Maps on Christmas Eve!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Delays!

We haven’t moved yet! The settlement date was meant to be yesterday (3 December) but it was put off until tomorrow ‘cos our ‘friend’, the builder, hasn’t finished yet! All he had to do in the 5 weeks since we signed the contracts was install the oven, hob and range hood (which an electrician does anyway!), the door handles on some of the bedroom doors and cupboards and cut off a strip of wood on the decking which was longer than the rest. He managed to cut the piece of wood shorter!

So, now we’re in limbo! We went to inspect on Saturday only to discover some other issues. Leaking gutters, badly fitted cupboard doors and chipped shelves inside the cupboard.

We’re almost completely packed to move when last night we receive an email from the agent saying that the jobs won’t be done before Friday! Well, Mr Builder Man. Don’t think you’re getting any money before you finish your work. ‘Cos I know it will be even harder to get you to fix things once the cash is in your wallet!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

PS: I just got a phone call from the solicitor. Settlement has now been moved to Friday!!