Tomorrow is the 11th of March and it marks 4 years since we all gathered in the chapel by the lake in Hamilton while Andrea and I exchanged vows.  It was nearly as fun as the quad biking.

Last weekend we were in Edinburgh to see Wendy and Dave get married.  They chose a stunning location just outside the city called Linlithgow Palace, an old ruin of a place right on a loch.  The reception was in the equally impressive “Caves” venue in back in the city.  It was our first attempt at a Ceilidh, I’d like to say we did well… and I can!  We rocked the party.  Or at least that’s what I remember.

It was a fantastic wedding, we were so happy to be invited and hope Dave and Wendy are having a great time in South America!

There are a few pics up from February and March, ranging from the unfortunate porpoise that washed up on Longsands to Andrea dressed as the “Cat in the Hat” for school.

Photos from December are up which show Andrea and I cooking at Powburn (and nearly having to eat it all ourselves after the snow moved in…), Christmas day and the first of many card nights with Graham and Beth in the house.

January photos are also up with the snow on New Years day and a brief appearance from our new bay window curtains!

There are a few new photo’s up starting here.

We are still settling into out new home.  Everything is out of the flat now and we are busy with finishing touches…

Happy New Year everyone!

In fact, the only slip was by Graham and he only carried one thing! Cheers Graham

The big old house is feeling like a home now, the tree is up, the kitchen is stocked and there’s beer in the fridge.

Pics will be up in a few days… enjoy your Christmas everyone!

John and Andrea.

There are some new photographs of the house up here, these were from just after the plastering was complete, it looks a lot different now!

A few weekends ago we went down to see Shona and Simon in Birmingham to mark the occasion of Simon’s 30th.  As usual, good times were had and there are pics up here.

The “in by Christmas meter” is currently on a 9.9 out of 10! Current pics to come after the weekend.

We’ve had a great weekend of friends, football, fine food and fun at the house!

Our long-term lodger, Debs, is leaving us on Monday and Julie was visiting this weekend, so today was the perfect opportunity to exploit, I mean have assistance, at the house.

We were all present, along with Graham and Beth, at Newcastle United’s victory yesterday.  Sitting right down by the corner flag where Carroll celebrated his equaliser.

Today we all descended upon the house along with Mary and Dave to continue stripping, painting and cleaning.  We have now had the house 2 months and next week should hopefully see the end to wallpaper stripping.  It’s been a long time coming.

As you can see from the new photos the French doors were fitted last week, we are still waiting for them to be finished.  We now have a consumer unit instead of the old fuse box and the remaining building work should be finished in the coming week.  Plastering is set to commence in 2 weeks.

The “in by Christmas meter” is currently on a 7 out of 10.

This is our wall 3 weeks after our roof was “fixed” and we paid £120 for the privilege.  After rain last week and the damp re-appeared I rang them back and informed them the leak was not fixed.  To cut the story short this then led to 3 planned visits that did not happen and  I have rang them at least once a day, every day since to get it sorted.  Yesterday, 6 days later, he finally got round to examining the roof again.

This morning I rang back  (the promised call yesterday not materialising) and the roof needs more pointing and the gutters cleaned… but it will cost us another £120!

Other quotes are now being sought.

Here are the details you do not want to use…

M Lynch Emergency 24hr roofing, 11 Oxford Street, WHITLEY BAY, NE26 1AE, 0191 251 6312.

John.

The builders are in replacing a couple of ceilings along with a few other jobs and the windows are done.  New doors going into the bay next week.

The “in by Christmas meter” is currently on an 8 out of 10.

Well, after a shameful amount of time has past, we have sorted thought the pics from New Zealand.  They are mostly of Holly trying to stuff things in her mouth.

I have been ill most of the week and Andrea is now coming down with something  so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to sort through all the photos.  We have done very little work on the house in the last week or so with illness and, last weekend, birthdays of Andrea and Ryan getting in the way. We did manage to plant the mighty punga today. We just hope it survives the Geordie winter.

The double glazing is being fitted in a week and the builder has started his work too, so it is beginning to take shape.  We’re still responding with “before Christmas” when people ask when we will be moving in.

Thursday to tonight (Saturday) saw that wonderful spectacle that rears but once a year hit the local area… the Tynemouth beer festival.  Unfortunately, illness has robbed us of all three evenings of real ale pleasure so I will have to rely on reviews from Graham on this years brews.

John and Andrea.

Well we landed back home early on Monday, just in time to pick up the keys to our new house!

The pics from New York start here.

Full post to come at some point…

Now, should I start stripping wallpaper or sort through the New Zealand pictures?…