...found a bike! Bought myself a Kawasaki ZX-6R, about 5 years old, 8,000 miles on the clock, and a screaming 600cc engine with a red line of about 14,500!!! Haven't been anywhere near that though, have been scaring myself silly just going round corners and up to about 8,000 revs!

Just keeping my fingers crossed for periods of sunshine now, as it's been pretty miserable ever since I got it, in fact I had to ride it home from the guy's house in the pouring rain!

Hope you're all well back home. I've not been too bad, unfortunately, things went as I feared they might at the weekend, guess I knew it all along just didn't want to admit it to myself!

Anyway, happy thoughts, the sun is shining again and the road is drying out, so I'm off out again, helps take my mind off things!

Hope to see you all soon, I'll let you know which weekend in June will be a good one if you want to come and stay in Wales for a bit.

Take care,

Tom

...and for once, it has been sunny!

It's also been a loooong time since I last wrote in this, which is quite poor! Hope you guys are all well back home, Happy Birthday for the other week Andy, sorry I couldn't be around for it, we ended up having to move a lot more stuff than we originally planned!

Have now managed to get the house into a bit more order; bought more furniture recently, so it's actually starting to look like a home, rather than a collection of boxes! Still no internet connection, as the landlord is stalling over getting a phone line installed (one of the many problems with renting a newly built house!).

Not that I've been there much to enjoy it, have been making the most of the nice weather to get out as much as possible. Actually tried surfing for the first time last Wednesday, was surprised how easy it was to get up onto the board, now I just have to work on staying there (and smiling while I'm doing it)!

I've also been coerced (read forced at knife point) into getting a bike by Gemma, so did my CBT just over a week ago, then three days Intensive over this weekend, and the test this morning! Kind of a crash course, although not literally fortunately! Managed to pass with only 4 minors, although 2 of those were due to 'excessive speed'! Oooops! Now I just have to find a bike, so out shopping this weekend! Tim, I saw your last journal entry mentioned going 'out on the bike', does that mean you and Andy have progressed as well?

Apart from all that, work is slightly less stressful than it has been for a while, still fairly busy, but I'm getting more of my own life back now. Looking forward to trying a few other things like wind surfing, and some lessons to get a licence for the jet ski. Trying to make up for last year, where I spent the best of the summer in a cast! :(

I'm going to be passing through this weekend, will hopefully get a chance to see you guys, either for a meal or a drink if you're about.

Take care, see you all soon,

Tom

Oooops, didn't realise it had been so long since my last update, doesn't time fly! So much for New Years Resolutions; one down...!

I hope that you're all well at the moment, and enjoying Croatia for those who are there!

I'm currently offline at the moment, having moved from the Flat to the House that I mentioned before, am starting to get some furniture into it, and settle in a bit. No internet connection at the moment, as good old NTL doesn't do Cable in that area! At least it means I can look at getting Sky for the (currently non-existant) TV, as NTL can be really poor at times. I gather that ADSL companies are also looking at upping the bandwidth free of charge?

So what have I been up to apart from work...? I'm still going to Archery, when I get the chance, went last night for the first time in a few weeks, and wasn't too bad. Am now looking to join the club and buy a bit of my own equipment, which should be, ummmm, expensive!

I also arranged a trip away to Paris for Gemma and myself last weekend. Poor Girl; she knew we were going away, but didn't have a clue where until we got to Waterloo! Had a really good few days, saw most of the sights, wandered round the Louvre, etc, ate Crepe au Nutella, and drank (French) Red Wine on the banks of the Seine on Valentine's Day, while watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. The only big thing we didn't get to do was go up the Eiffel Tower, ran out of time on the Monday (plus we were carrying shopping with 3 bottles of Wine when we walked past it), but at least it gives us at least one thing to do when we go again. Possibly a good thing with my fear of heights anyway, given how I felt at the top of the Arc de Triomphe!

So glad to be back at work after that!!! I think that I managed about 15 minutes of happiness before EPOS wore me down again! Now looking at planning a trip to somewhere like Greece for Gemma's birthday, would like somewhere hot with lots of old things to look at!

Brought myself a new toy for the car as well; purchased the TomTom GPS add-on for the iPAQ, so that now resides on the dashboard, telling me where I should be going. Was extremely useful on a recent trip to Yorkshire, telling me where the Hotel and local fun days out were!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, hope to see you all soon; hopefully I'll get the House into a suitable enough order that you can all come for a house warming!

Bye,

Tom

Hi all!

I've decided to go for the second house that I mentioned in my last entry. I've found out that they've actually finished building work, and the space opposite that looked like it would take a few houses is actually going to be a green, which is nice. Except it means there is no movement in the price. Never mind, it's still cheaper than the flat with lots more room, so I'm happy!

Bit disappointing on the cycling front last week; so much on at work each day at different sites that I had to take the car. :( Only managed it Monday this week as well, as I've needed the car most days this week as well. Fingers crossed for tomorrow though!

Made it to Archery again last Friday; still getting back into it, so every now and then the grouping of the arrows is non-existent, but it's improving again slowly. Would have been a nice place to meet lots of people, but they are all scary-ish, so that's not going to work!

Hope that the play went / is going okay, Tim. I gather from Cat that it's had pretty good reviews. Sorry I haven't been around to see it. Hoping to get home this weekend, but probably only for Saturday evening, if people are around?

Hope you're all well,

Tom

Hope you are all well, and haven't been suffering too much trying to get back into work after Christmas.

I've been keeping fairly busy so far this year, not least at work! Guess that's a good thing though, as it means they won't be looking to send me home anytime soon!

I've found a couple of places to move to when I get kicked out of the flat in February. Hopefully looking at two of them tomorrow, the first is about 10 minutes walk from work, much less by bike, and the second is a bit further away, but is larger and unfurnished, which means I can keep my mum happy by moving all my stuff out of her house! Daft thing is that the second house is still cheaper than the flat, plus building work is still ongoing at that development, so I may be able to get the price down a bit!

Talking of cycling to work being quicker, I actually managed to cycle to and from work all last week, twice a day in some instances (mainly due to embarrassing situations such as forgetting my suit trousers on the Tuesday and my keys on the Thursday - got home, hand in bag, no keys, back to work, keys on desk under paper!) It's only about 3.5 miles each way, and 95% of it is by the river, so I can't complain too much.

I also managed to get back to Archery on Friday, indoors now due to it being dark well before 8pm, and was quite pleased to find that I can still group the 3 arrows inside a 50p area at ~6 metres. Was doing that before breaking my wrist, but haven't felt up to it again until now.

Had a bit of a scare this week, as Gemma's company told her that they'd be finishing her assignment in about two weeks and she'd have to go back home! Fortunately, I think they may now have found something else for her to do, so I'm just keeping my fingers very tightly crossed! If not, I might be back much sooner than expected!

Hope to be home one of the coming weekends anyway, so will drop out texts to see if people are up to anything. Hope the play goes well this weekend if I don't get back for it.

See you soonish,

Tom

...to you all. I hope that you had a really good time at the Fancy Dress thing; very scary picture of Tim though!

I spent the evening in Gemma's company, cooked a nice Roast Pork with Roasted Vegetables, and a Maple Syrup Steamed Pudding for after, and just sat and talked for most of the evening.

Then wandered out along the promenade and looked back over Swansea / The Mumbles at all the Fireworks going off at midnight; was nice and romantic and very relaxing.

I hope to be back around home some time again soon, probably in about two week's time. Will have to arrange something then. I'm not in the flat for much longer, as I've decided I'd prefer something out of the City with a garage / garden for Bikes / BBQs, etc. Hopefully I'll be more organised with a house-warming thing for that!

See you all again soon,

Tom

...sitting on Suzuki GSX-R 600's (titanium valves, electronic ignition, drool!!!) and juicing vegetables (thank you little brother)! Shame about the grit on the roads though, as it means I didn't get a ride on the back of it, but it gives me something to look forward to.

I hope that you all had a nice Christmas, and are looking forward to the New Year celebrations. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm up to that night as I'm heading off back to Swansea tomorrow, hopefully after Pie tonight! :)

As part of my New Year's resolution's I'll also be trying to write in here at least weekly, probably on a Sunday night, so you all know how little goes on in Swansea!

Speak to you soon,

Tom

At last, a weekend without work! Novel for me, and the chance to run away and escape this place!

Spent the weekend with Gemma, which was great fun. On Saturday she dragged me around the NEC to see the Motorbike Show (droool!) and on Sunday I dragged her around Warwick Castle, where she proceeded to laugh at me for my fear of heights and related wimpering noises! Then back to her Dad's in the evening for proper Sunday Roast and lots of alcohol!

I did try to bunk work on Monday, but remembered I had far too much to do and didn't get the sleep that I was hoping for!

Oh well, another chance this weekend, possibly with PIE involved. I'm back at home on Saturday / Sunday, and would like an evening of PIE, either on my own or with people if you're around! I have special orders to bring lots of PIE back with me, as it is now famous around here, following the weekend before last when I brought back PIE and Fireworks! Coz would hopefully have been proud as I proceeded to scare friend's pets, and, indeed, the friends themselves! :p

Hope things are good back home, drop me emails to save me from work! Please!!

Feeling much better now! After a particularly naff day, I settled down to watch Black Hawk Down with a bottle of wine! Great fun with the REL sub that I'm currently demo-ing, although not sure that the neighbours think much of me now! :)

Then decided, after nearly half a bottle of wine, that a bike ride was in order, so disappeared out in the dark for 7 miles or so! Not feeling too bad considering that's only my second time out in a long time!

Looking forward to this weekend as well, as I'm home for various different people's birthdays, including, hopefully, a visit for PIE on Saturday evening!

Hope you guys are all doing okay!

See you this weekend,

Tom

Yay! Finally managed to get back out on the bike today! Only the first time in about 15 weeks! I can tell it's going to take a while to get back into it, as I have almost no confidence, and was shattered after about 10 miles! At least I didn't break anything this time though!

In other news, it's been a bit quiet on here because I'm spending 105% of my life working! I did manage to get away for a few days over my Birthday, getting cold and wet trying (and failing) to walk up Scafell Pike! One for the summer I think, when you can see more than 10 metres!

I've even managed to find a bit of time to get out socialising, although it's leaving me shattered, and when I'm not working at the weekends, I'm sleeping!

Oh well, it can only get better I guess! I've finally found some time to tidy the flat a bit, and will try to keep it that way so it's clean for you guys (and gals) when I re-arrange my House Warming Party!

Speak to you all again soon(ish)!

Well, it was this evening! Went to see Wimbledon at the cinema (against my will, I'll have you know, got dragged along under duress!). And actually quite enjoyed it, especially with Kirsten Dunst looking the best I've ever seen her - was worth it just for that! And for those of you who do watch it, and get annoyed sitting there listening to Peter Colt's Dad and wondering where you've heard the voice, it's Bernard Hill, who played King Theoden in LOTR! But enough of that, I'm detracting from thoughts of Kirsten! :)

By the way, I'll hopefully be home next weekend (9th and 10th), so Pie should be the order of the day to celebrate my getting older! Let me know if you're free on Friday or Saturday evening (hopefully I'm no longer just writing this for Tim's benefit)!

Anyway, off to bed for me now,

Tom

Yay, my first journal entry! My first step towards true nerd-dom!

Not sure what I'll be putting in this in future as I tend to spend my time either working, sleeping or worrying!

Anyway, hello to Tim. And to anyone else who might browse this way! At least now I have a way of keeping you all updated on how I'm getting on in Sunny Wales!

Bye for now,

Tom