Looking at the land registry, nothing has been selling on our estate.  So would dropping the price make any difference?  Are we at the point where we’d let it go for pence just to get our deposit out of it so we can get on with our life?  If we could stick on to it as an investment we would, but in the meantime we’re living in a damp basement flat with a neighbour who’s a nice guy but likes sticking on dodgy RnB at weird hours of the morning.

In an attempt to make things feel more like home I’ve been making window boxes for our wall. It really helps.

Tuesday
Took advantage of the weather to cook outdoors at my parents. They have a chiminea, and while Stuart’s played with fire there a few times, we’ve never got it together to actually cook. We spent the afternoon cooking; we decided to have a go making our own burgers, partly because we wanted to have a play with the burger press we got last year. Stuart got a good fire going very quickly (he has a worrying affinity with fire) and we spent the evening cooking and eating. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had what could be classed as a BBQ with my parents, but I hope it becomes a regular thing.

Wednesday
I mention Wednesday only because I haven’t got the foggiest what we were actually doing. It’s not even that we were doing boring things that I (for once) edited out. There’s just nothing. It’s like the day didn’t happen. I’ve decided that we must have been very relaxed.

Thursday
Got an email on my work account from a colleague telling me about some issues at the office. It finished off “Given that it’s the nicest day of the week so far, I’ll be somewhat disappointed if you reply this afternoon. Get a life, woman.” I took this as a hint and logged off.

Stuart fancied actually doing something for once, so we drove down to North Wales – an area neither of us know. We went to Rhyl for the laugh, but were really surprised to find out that a place we’d been told was absolutely dreadful wasn’t at all, really. It had a lovely beach (with donkeys), the people were nice, and while it was obviously poor and past it, it wasn’t as hopeless as some other beach resorts I’ve been to.

Unlike the resort down the road. The locals were fine, but all the tourists were hard. You could see them glaring at you when you walked past, hating you with every scrap of their being. The resort looking unchanged from about 1950, with a weird mix of portacabins and older building that were falling down. Very very seaside – and it looked like exactly what it was; a cheap way to get away. Given the weather, I doubt it was that dissimilar to the Brits Abroad resorts anyway.

Sunday
Decided to celebrate what’s been a fantastic couple of weeks with a trip into Rusholme for a curry (God knows what that’ll do to tomorrows weigh in, but I don’t care. We went at lunchtime, so we were the only people in the place, but we’re rather glad that we went when we did because it’s currently the biggest thunderstorm I’ve heard in a long time. Waddling back to the car getting wet through wouldn’t be the ending I’d hope for.

Don’t laugh, but I’ve had a great time today tidying up the blog. There aren’t too many changes, but the code is much neater and I’ve split out the css prior to playing with different stylesheets for different viewing methods (like over my pda phone). And talking of my phone, I’m just about to upgrade the OS after losing my temper and googling something like “rubbish phone hangs slow crashes” and getting a link to a guy who had exactly the same problems as me until he upgraded the software. A bit nervous though, it involves doing some unlocky stuff with unofficial software and knowing me, I’ll break it.

Work tomorrow. I can’t wait.

Yesterday we managed to get some vegetables from the supermarket, make some great soup, drink a bottle of pink fizz, and go out on the skates. Today, we’ve done the ironing (in the garden, the weather has been that nice) and shredded some post that’s been hanging round. And that’s it.

It felt really good to get out on the skates. The first time I went outside, I couldn’t bring myself to move more than an arms length from the house, but this time Stuart walked me up and down the path until I’d got the feel of the basic movement. I’m now confident enough to go up and down in straight lines without holding on to anything, although I’m really really slow.

When I’ve got Stuart within grab distance, I’m even beginning to get the confidence to start swooshing a little bit, rather than making baby steps. I’ve just got to transfer that to when I’m skating on my own. This weekend’s progress has given me enough knowledge to see where I can get if I carry on trying, bit by bit.

Stuart’s coming on too – for each length of the road I make, he’s zooming up and down four or five times, doing his fancy pants turns at the end. I’m so jealous, even though he’s insistent that he’s nowhere near as good as he used to be.

The most worrying bit of all this is the two kids who are also practicing on our street. They’re about 8, and they could have us any time. God knows what they’re making of the two fat old duffers wobbling around looking like they’re going to fall any moment.

So, for your pleasure and delight we bring you:

• 200507 Sian’s birthday at Akbar’s – The Northern Monkey’s met at Akbar’s in Bradford for our annual curry. Yes, the Nan bread really is 2’ high. The really good news is they’re opening a branch in Rusholme in November.
• 200507 RHS Tatton 2005 – Yes, I’m a garden geek. But look at all this – how could anyone not be inspired unless they’re dead? Stuart was especially impressed with the Dot Com sweet peas.
• 200507 Gary’s birthday at Malham – Gary’s surprise birthday party at Malham Cove. One of the nicest days in the year – so hot that the icy cold water that ran through the cove was an utterly welcome treat.
• 200507 Billing Smart Meet 2005 – It is possible to go camping for the weekend in a smart car – even one with no roof or doors.
• 200506 Peanut’s 18th – My baby brother’s birthday meal, and the next day at our house.
• 200506 Figaro Car Club – When we move and get a garage, I’m sooo getting one of these. Figaro’s are actually based on a 1991 Nissan Micra (ish). Thanks to Kinnie for inviting me along.
• 200506 Grace’s Birthday – at my parent’s house.
• 200503 Winnats Pass – near Hope and Castleton in Derbyshire, and I think the steepest road I’ve driven along in a while.
• 200503 Victoria Baths with Paula & Mark – Victoria Baths in Manchester won the BBC Restoration competition, and we were one of the first groups of the public that got to see the boiler room sections as well as the very pretty baths.
• 200501 Storm Damage – A visit to the Lakes just after the January storms. We were shocked at the damage we found; there were loads of trees that looked healthy but had just been uprooted.

And for people who are after photos of our cats, we bring you:

• 2005

Anyways, one of them was squishing down beautifully as it cooked but the other one was just sort of sat there changing colour but not squishing down. After they had been on for several minutes and turned several times I went to turn the one that was not changing and there was a loud bang and a burning sensation on my leg. The purple sod had just exploded and thrown its fiery hot content in all directions.

Several pieces landed on my leg and I now have some ace blisters just waiting to pop. Fortunately none of them are particularly big enough even they they are quite nasty burns. Even the fence got it and there bits hanging from plants that were in the vicinity.

I saw the funny side of it and ended up laughing fairly hard for a couple of minutes. I think Miriam was a bit more upset as I had just exploded half of the base for a dip she was making, eeek!

So, aubergines are dangerous, be careful people!