Well Christmas has come and gone and we all had a really nice time.  Well by all I mean Ann and I, Gemma Ian and Ryan,, Mary and Alan, Sheila and Chris and Dave and Michelle!  We bought a turkey that was sized like an emu so I am still eating my way through it (it’s a good job that I really like turkey)…

And just because I can here are the latest pics of my grandkids

Kylie @ O2 dome

I am just on the train heading back home after going to see Kylie in concert at the O2 dome. This was Rachael’s Christmas present to me and was well worth the wait.

We met up at the dome … we being Rachael, Rachael’s sister-in-law Helen, Rachael’s friend Sally(?) Bex and I. We all went for a pre-show meal and were in and seated in the dome approx 15 minutes before the concert started.

Kylie was very good (as I expected her to be) and sang over 20 songs. The only slight negative of the evening was that, to me at least, some of her singing was a tad drowned out by the volume of the music. There again I could just be getting old!

My ticket from seeing Kylie at the O2

The finale of her encore was the best song of the evening … she sang “I should be so lucky” and for what ever reason it was the easiest to hear her singing on. I guess someone turned the music down a touch

This was my first concert at the O2 dome and I was surprised at how large the arena actually is. I had been to the dome previously and at that time couldn’t make my mind up if I thought it was very big or not (the dome not just the arena)!

It has been talked about on many occassions in the past but Gemma and Ian finally decided that they would like to try moving to Manchester (well Salford really) to be nearer to Kim and Corinne and the rest of the northern clan.  They actually moved up there at the end of May (so they have already been there for 3 weeks).

Needless to say this is a blow to both Ann and I as we now only get to talk to Ryan (and Gemma and Ian) on the phone and we really miss them all especially the little man.  We are aiming to go up to see them shortly but it is just not the same as seeing them all as we were used to doing – almost every day

We went for a tour around the place that Gemma is planning to get married in, Chilston Park, and very nice it is too. The place is a 17th Century country house set in two hundred and fifty acres of pleasant countryside and dense woodlands … and we will have exclusive use for the day and night of the wedding.

At long last I’ve finally got off my @r$e and got around to sorting out my books … at least partially. I have spent the weekend, with the help of Ian, in assembling some new bookcases and unpacking about 1,000 of my books. I still have about 400 more books left in boxes waiting on me getting the rest of the bookcases but they have to wait a while as the other bookcases are not in stock at the moment.

The thing is, I am not looking forward to getting the rest of the bookcases, as they are going to be narrower units that will be inserted in between each of the large units … so that’s going to involve removing most of the books and then partially dismantling what is there now and rearranging everything

But it will be worth it when it is all finished.