I know ‘Big Hero 6’ came out ages ago back in 2014, but I’ve seen it a few times and love it. So I decided it deserved a review. Whenever I write a film review, it’s always published on Sam’s website, Revado. So please go and take a look at my thoughts and if you haven’t seen it then go and watch it!

Also, take a look at my past reviews!

The weather this year has been pretty uninspiring on the whole. The winter saw us on a repeated loop through cold > snow > rain > glimmer of hope from February through to May. In early June, things started to perk up a bit, but with temperatures still sitting in the low teens. Suddenly though, less than a fortnight ago, the sun arrived. Now, my it is scorching! So much so that we seem to be at the other end on the spectrum. Trains are now stiflingly hot, work clothes feel binding and uncomfortable, sleeping is disturbed and muggy.

Seems, in true British style, we go from one extreme to the other. Memories of my childhood make me think of seasons which gradually progressed in to each other. It would gradually get warmer so, when the sun hit, you were better prepared to cope with it. These days it feels as though we go from winter to summer with almost the flick of a switch. Perhaps they are just slightly distorted child memories though. Perhaps it has always been this way.

It is nice to have some sun though and the garden is thriving, if a little parched. I haven’t been out with my camera yet this year. If my memory doesn’t fail me, I shall have to try and take some snaps later on this evening. We went to Hatfield House a couple of weekends ago though and I took some shots there – on revado as usual.

Tree with some stunning bark. It’s like Christmas ribbon!

Sam also went on his birthday present experience yesterday: a photography master class at Whipsnade Zoo. He took some amazing shots which you can also check out here.

Yes, it is that time of year again, year end. That can only mean one thing, my annual review of the year! Let’s see if I can successfully save this one though after last year’s over-writing disaster! This year the format is slightly different – hopefully makes it easier to see the break-up of events over the year.

Continue reading…

Sam and I have just got back from a weeks holiday in the South-West, most of which was spent on the wonderful Brownsea Island. We saw red squirrels!! See our photos on Revado

We may have been back for a week, but fear not, the second (and final) installment of my Brussels blog is finally here. It also conincides nicely with the implementation of my ‘tags’ feature on my website. Using the ‘tags’ tab on the blog page you can now search for entries relating to a specific category, such as Brussels!

So, on the Sunday we got up at about 9 am and after another in-room breakfast of Pain au Chocolate, we decided to go on one of the ’90 minute walking tours’ in the DK Brussels Guide book. The weather had taken a turn for the chillier and whilst the sky was clear as anything it had also got windier. However, we pursevered and on our travels we got to see the Mannekin Pis, as well as some cool Tintin art of the side of a building (which I personally found more interesting than a random little statue of a child peeing). The tour then took us up some cute little Belgian streets and part two different sections of the old city wall. We had a little trip into a fancy cake shop which also sold nice chocolate and things. We resisted the cakes though – well done us!

The next stop on our tour was the Parque du Sablon, right next to the Notre-Dame du Sablon. It was really pretty little park and the church looked very lovely in the sunshine. We then popped round the corner by-passing the Art Museum and instead visiting the Music Museum which was much more fun. Not only did we get young person entry (4 euros instead of 5 for under 26’s) but they gave you a set of headphones so that, as you walked round, you could hear the different instruments playing a tune! It was a really extensive collection of instruments too – 4 floors.

After a sandwich and cookie lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a rest from the cold. By this time it was already about 3 pm so we didn’t feel too guilty! We watched a bit of bbc 1 and attempted to get a photo of us in our hotel room using the self-timer. This is our best attempt (the first one no less) and it’s a bit lop-sided, but oh well!

At about 6pm we went out for dinner at the Grand Place. After three nights of looking at menus we realised that, whilst the food was good, all the menus were the same. So, we settled for a fairly quiet place and had dinner there. I say quiet, but true to form there was a random druken guy in there who was, of course, English. Luckily he departed half way through our main course! I had Salmon with mustard sauce and vegetables and Sam had lamb chops. We then both had a waffler mikado (with chocolate and vanilla ice cream) for pudding – naughty I know but we resisted the cakes earlier! After dinner we ventured to the UGC across the road from our hotel and caught an original version showing of Michael Clayton. Sam is supposed to be reviewing it for Revado (since he hasn’t reviewed anything in years) but hasn’t done it as of yet…

On Monday morning we packed up all of our bits and bobs, took some pics of the room and then checked out. Being a swanky 5 star we were able to leave our bags there, so we took the metro back out the Heysel (near the Atomium) to go to Domaine du Laeken,a big park. Unfortunately we got a bit lost and it was windy and drizzling. Morale was going slowly downhil as we couldn’t find the park but eventually got there. We trooped around for a while and were on the verge of turning back when we finally found the Monument Léopold which is really impressive (aside from the silly fence they’ve put round it). Right down the drive was the Château Royal which was rather grand, although much less guarded then any British royal palace! We wandered past there and back towards the town until we finally found a metro to go back into town.

After our expedition we treated ourselves to a tasty pizza lunch and then went to buy some fancy chocs (for us) and biscuits (to take to work). I then had a small shopping spree in Zara and Mango and bought myself some nice clothes. By this time it was about 4pm, so we headed back to Café Metropole and had a tea and cake (cherry pie), which I was determined to do since we stayed at the hotel. At about 5.45pm we jumped on a tram to the Gare Midi; the trams are not as nice as the metro. We bought some sarnies, checked in, got on the train and 1hr 50 later, bob’s your uncle, we were back in St Pancras. I shall not bore you with the remainder of the journey but that ends our trip to Brussels!  As always, all pictures are on Revado!

Dear oh dear, almost two weeks since my last blog entry.  I fear I am starting to slip into old habits!  In my defence however, the last two weeks have been fairly hectic and have not always left me that much time to blog.  At work I have been getting up to speed with my new project, which I move to a week tomorrow.  (I am also adjusting to the fact I will have to leave my current team in a mere 5 working days which is sad and something I shall not go on about here!).  On the social front, last weekend was quite good fun.  On Friday night Sam and I went out for drinks with some of his work friends.  We then went for dinner with his friend Phil and Phil’s wife Anna.  Despite a fairly late one for us and a few glasses of wine, I felt full of energy on Saturday and Sunday so the weekend turned into a mega cleaning fest!

Last week was slightly more subdued because from Tuesday to Friday I was on a residential course (systems analysis – wooooo).  The course was quite interesting actually and I also got to drive there for the first time ever because it was actually more convenient!  Unfortunately the traffic was awful on the way there on Tuesday (it was raining) but it meant on Friday I was able to leave, do some food shopping and get in before 4.30pm!  Yesterday we had a fairly faffy day buying a few bits in town, including fabric for me to make curtains for the french doors in the lounge.  Unfortunately I was having a fairly emotional day and after having to go back to the shop because the guy had measured the fabric wrong and a fight with the sewing machine, I didn’t get much done.  In the evening we were both feeling fairly deflated so we had a slap-up meal at Nando’s in the Galleria and then went to the cinema – Stardust.

Today I had a successful curtain day, and they are now up and helping to keep the lounge warm.  Sam also airaited the lawn!  I spent a lot of the afternoon watching the Grand Prix (whilst making curtains) and as I almost perfectly predicted, Lewis Hamilton did not only not win, but also failed to get points.  Alonso was also held off second place which meant Riakonnen won the championship.  I said weeks ago at work that would happen – everyone was so sure Hamilton would win, the most unlikely scenario had to happen.  He did some damn good driving though, so I’m sure next year we’ll see him winning in the end!

Anyway, I’m off to write a review of Stardust for Revado.  Be sure to check it out, as well as my one for Ratatouille!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is really good!  I really enjoyed it and you can find my thrilling review on the Revado reviews page.  I’m now looking forward to the final book which is released on Saturday.  Sam was having a look on IMDB earlier and reading up some of the theories people have – including Professor McGonagall being a trator!  I don’t want to spoil it though so I am going to wait and see what happens.  I will of course be dashing out for the book on Saturday morning, well once I drag myself out of bed!

I’m so glad it’s almost the weekend.  It really has been one of those weeks this week.  Monday and Tuesday were fairly rubbish because one of my team was off sick and I had to do a lot of work I wasn’t expecting to have to deal with.  Then to top it off I somehow hurt my knee again last weekend and further aggrevated it when swimming on Monday.

The week improved slightly on Wednesday when I had a really productive day.  We then took an inpromptu trip to the cinema in the evening on Orange Wednesdays to see Die Hard 4.0.  It is excellent – a nice combination of violence, ‘ciber crime’ and sarcastic / witty remarks.  I do love films with a technical edge to them.

This weekend doesn’t hold too much in store.  Sam’s parents are coming over tomorrow late-morning to visit and we’ll probably go out for lunch and a walk.  We’re then going to see the new Harry Potter film tomorrow night – yay!  I booked at Odeon because they still let you reserve seats and we’re got some really good ones – middle of the middle.

The gyming has continued this week, although only two sessions again – not bad though.  Swimming was on Monday and today was the machines.  I also managed to find my personal fitness plan amongst all of the others after it going missing for a week.  Someone must have mis-filed it and eventually found it and put it into C again!  We’re going to start recording our times etc now to see how we improve.  I have plans to make a small site to record it all.  Mads thought this was highly amusing and yet again I’m making myself look like more of a nutcase.

For the past few days Sam and I have been in Edinburgh for my sister’s graduation and, er, here follows the account of what happened (well bits of it anyway!):

So, we’re sat on a train Edinburgh-bound to go to Jenny’s graduation tomorrow. Of course, our luck being as it is, we had to be travelling all the way to Scotland on the East Coast Mainline on the same week as torrential down pours in South Yorks! We have had some luck though in the fact that the trains are running the full line again today; yesterday they were running a ‘limited’ rail replacement bus service between Doncaster and York. Although I’m sure sitting on a packed coach for twice as long as the train takes would have been fun!

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say at 12.06pm on Wednesday. This blog entry may all be combined in the end depending on the WiFi availability at our destination (Jenny may have stopped paying for it). Time for lunch now me thinks – I’m a bit peckish.

It’s now 23:26 on Friday and the Edinburgh trip is drawing to a close. We’ve just got back from watching Shrek 3 at the cinema and we’ve got Jonathan Ross on TV. Pete Doherty is currently being interviewed and he’s an odd chap. He did look drunk/high or something but he’s normalised a bit now it’s 5 mins in. Going back to Shrek though – it’s very good! I shall review it for Revado shortly or tomorrow maybe and will link it to the blog accordingly.

Starting at the beginning of the trip, we arrived only 15 minutes late on Wednesday which was good. I then decided I was fed-up with my hair being so long and scruffy, so I nipped out and got my hair cut shorter again. It’s now just below my chin again as it was for a long time; I much prefer it this way and it’s just long enough to tie back for the gym! On Wednesday night we had fajitas for dinner cooked by Jen and her flatmate Gemma. We also watched the classic ‘Executive Decision’.

Jenny graduated on Thursday and it was a good ceremony, only an hour long and there was a bit of singing! Jenny had a good hood, just a nice white silk. Sadly she had no fur but there were some people with blue/turquoise silk and fur and it wasn’t nice. We then went out for a nice lunch at an italian down near Greyfriar’s Bobby ( I don’t remember what it’s called ). In the afternoon we didn’t do much but we hired some Bill Bailey and ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’. I’m not sure the choices were too popular and sadly the film was awful (I will NOT be reviewing it! ).

Today Sam and I went for a mooch down Princes Street where I picked up some bargin DVDs. We the rendez-vous-ed with the parents and Jenny and we went over the Forth Road Bridge to have a look. Sam took some pics of the road and rail bridges and then we had a yummy jacket pot with cheese and beans in a little pub in North Queensway. After that we went to Arthurs Seat and Sam, Dad and I climbed up the hill. I got a bit scared two thirds of the way up though because it was high and windy so didn’t make it to the best views. Sam has done a panorama though so I will get to see it, sort of…

That brings us up to date; Johnny R has now finished and we’re watching the end if King Pin before bed. Jenny and Gemma are out at their graduation ball so I hope they don’t wake us when they roll-in at 2am!

It’s 14:04 on Saturday and we’re now enroute back to London. Jenny and Gemma were quite quiet last night when they got in and Sam slept right through. I did hear a little bit of giggling when they were making some toast but I think it was the traffic that woke me up and I got back to sleep fairly quickly.

It was really sunny when we got up; the sky was a lovely blue and the sunshine came pouring through the window. Unfortunately (although we weren’t going to be there anyway) the sun went in just before we set off on our walk to the station. Before that though I spent much of the morning helping clean the flat where I could because they were handing back the keys today.

We got the train at 12 but arrived at the station about 11.20 ish so that we could get some food for lunch (we had veggie pasties – yum!). We’re now just south of Darlington and flying along to York. It’s quite sad going through all the places in the North because it is unlikely I will be up here again for a long time now Jenny has finished Uni. Jenny moving out of her flat and finishing her degree reminded me of when I left Durham 3 years ago and it was quite sad as we passed through on the train and I saw the cathedral and castle sat on the hill, same as always. It’s strange to think a new batch of Freshers will be turning up to Collingwood in October, same as I did 7 years ago. It was so exciting and there is a little part of me that is jealous. Of course, if I were back at Uni I would have to work in the evenings again and I do enjoy my films and Wii playing! Ooh, I want a cup of tea.

We’re back home now and it’s actually the time stated on the entry. We got back at about 5.30 / 6 ish and I have successfully managed to make and eat dinner, unpack and watch Dr Who. It was a rather strange episode; not what I was expecting although I’m not sure I was expecting anything in particular. It was quite a sad ending though, not as sad as last year but still sad! I’m not sure what I can watch on TV now though; I only watched Dr Who and The Apprentice, which have both finished. Time to brush up on my Spanish grammar I guess. But for now we’re watching Ice Age so I will bid you farewell.

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night -the weekend has gone so fast, and we had Friday off! Seems to be the way of things, especially when Monday holds in store something you’re not looking forward to. Yes, tomorrow is the day of my…Spanish exam – duh duh duh! It is actually, if we’re being honest, the second part of my Spanish exam because we had the oral exams last week. Tomorrow is the listening, writing and grammar exams which unfortunately means lots of questions on the subjunctive, euch! Anyway, I have almost finished doing the hand-outs our teacher gave us a couple of weeks ago and they have been really helpful. From what I have done so far, a lot of the questions I know just from intuition or experience. There are some areas I’m not that strong on, but sadly I think it’s a bit too late to do anything about it now. I honestly don’t know how harsh the marking criteria is at the school so only time will tell I guess. I just hope you are able to re-sit the exam if necessary if I fail. I don’t fancy doing the entire 15 week course again! I’m planning a break after this course anyway. There is a four week conversation course, or a four week translation course – so I might do one of those…

So, this weekend we went up to Leeds for a friends engagement party. We took Friday up so we could get a morning train, about 11.30 ish if my memory serves me correctly. It was lovely and sunny when we left so we wandered off in sandles and cropped trousers, with only a light jacket each. As the train headed further towards the North, the skies got darker and then we hit the rain. By the time we got to Leeds it was cold, wet and miserable and we looked like two holiday makers who had just got back from Lanzarote. I have clearly been in the South too long to forget the need to check the weather before heading back up the country. Luckily we had trouser in our suitcase, but I had annoyingly left my trainers at home so I was stuck with sandles and the new shoes I had just bought which needed breaking in. Needless to say I spent most of Friday and Saturday with either cold or hurting feet :o(

The engagement party was fun, and we weren’t the only two there who didn’t know anyone else and got chatting to another couple. Some musical mind games ensued trying to encourage people to dance, along with some drinks and finished off with some chips at a random chip shop near Leeds station at about 2.15am. We were, obviously, knackered when we finally fell into bed, and felt just as exhausted the following morning.

For some bizarre reason (which we cannot remember now) we thought it would be a good idea to stay in Leeds until 8pm on Saturday. This meant we had to amuse ourself for the entire day whilst feeling tired, cold and trying not to spend too much money. My friend Jenny lives in Leeds so we met her for lunch which was nice and a nice chat with some food perked us up no end. Jenny also suggested a trip to the cinema so after lunch we mooched to The Light to get tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. We hadn’t been sure whether or not we wanted to see the film; critics did not rate it well and it’s really long. However, since both Jenny and Sam’s sister Sophie both enjoyed it, and we had the time, we gave it a go. It was better than I thought it was going to be, but as always I won’t say much here because I need to review it for revado!

So all of today has been spent chilling at home really. Sam had a good session on the Wii and I did quite of lot of grammar exercises in preparation for tomorrow. My friend Carol was also over from Paris for the weekend so she popped in for an hour or so for a chat (and she brought cookies – yum!). That pretty much takes us up to now. I think I shall end it now before I write another epic entry – I’m in need of some more water or an green tea anyway. åÁHasta Pronto Todos!