Sunday 1st July 2007

Snapshots of our life #1

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | July 1st 2007

Monday 28th June 2007

O², M25, MI6...

In reverse order, chronologically..

O². Baz and Emily have gone to the O², formally known as the Millennium Dome to watch Snow Patrol, he did ask me but I was sure he meant last week and not this week so I said no. Bummer. He has Video called me from the site and it does look impressive, and it looked sold out, so I think O² will finally make a good thing out of the old white elephant.

M25. Driving back from work every day I have to negotiate the M1 and the M25, luckily most of the time I have to travel against the flow of the rush hour traffic so rarely get stuck in anything major. Infact when late for work sometimes I'll phone ahead, blaming some fictitious tailback on the M25 for my reason that I'm late that morning. Tonight the entire 15 mile stretch (I know it's 15 miles as my SatNav said so) from J25 (A10 Enfield) to J21(A) (The M1 south) was a complete 3 lane traffic jam. Entirely at a standstill. People were out of their cars and standing  chatting to each other, probably wondering what the hold up was. It was quite possibly the longest traffic Jam I had ever seen, And I was glad I was going in the other direction. Most of the stuck drivers were either on Mobiles phoning ahead out of their cars or looking very peed off. I was tempted to shout out some witty comment to them, but could not think of anything remotely funny to say and wondered whether karma would bite my ass so instead took a picture of the Jam out of my window with my Mobile at about 70mph. Highly Illegal I suspect.

MI6. On Wednesday I had an interview for a job at an Architects firm on the Edgware Road near Marble Arch, Infact the guy said it was locally called 'Little Lebanon'. The firm is just off the Edgware Road on Hatton Street, in the site of an old WWII aircraft parts factory. Very nice indeed. The MI6 link? The architect designed the new headquarters of the SIS (MI6) in Vauxhall. a tedious link I know but still a valid one.

That is all, apart from the fact I'm enjoying a nice glass of Red Frontera Chile Merlot as I write this.

Color: Bright ruby red, very vivid. 
Bouquet: Cherry, ripe pepper and soft cacao.
Taste: Elegant, rounded, good body and persistence.

 
From a huge 150cl bottle I won as my latest Poker prize. Nice.

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 28th 2007

Monday 25th June 2007

Hare Hare Krishna..

Outside Bhaktivedanta Manor.

We'd been inside and seen some of the ceremonies being performed and Luke Saskia & Ryan were all a bit worried about was was going on around them. At the end they were offered some honey/milk/sugar offering which they were supposed to drink. Luke couldn't drink his and thought it highly hilarious. They all enjoyed the visit but were a bit in awe of everything.

We also found that they had a nearly new playground for children at the side of the manor so Saskia, Ryan & Hannah played in there for ages. It's all soft wood, and metal, with a soft wood chip covering. Pictures are in my Flickr account.

Out side we also visited the duck pond and Hannah fed them seeds and it was nice to see the ducks and their ducklings come right up close to be fed, and we managed to do all this whilst dodging the rain which was threatening all weekend. 

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 25th 2007

Thursday 21st June 2007

Weddings.. Weddings..

Got the news (and invite) from Mike Maxwell that he has succumbed once again and is tying the knot for the second time on the 1st of September 2007. He's marrying Kim who he met at the MoD some 10 or so years ago I believe. See their wedding website here. Mike's do's are always something special. On one occasion I forgot how to walk and missed the pavement when leaving. Another time me and Kim demolished a whole bottle of Amaretto, this on top of numerous lagers. And another, at his Mums house in Walthamstow another friend of mine at the time, John Got minging and it wasn't pretty. I suppose it was only fair as I'd bought his ex-girlfriend to the party hoping to kop off and have some 'sexytime'. She spent most of the time in the Kitchen gorging on West Indian Chicken. Mike always applauds me for being the last man standing at most occasions. This is because I refuse to go to bed when a perfectly good party is still in full swing, no matter how wasted I am.

Christ Mike, as you reminded me today I cant believe it's been 17 years! Oh the stories !

And there's Stacey's & Matt's in July too. Weddings Galore..

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 21st 2007

Tuesday 19th June 2007

LuKe iZ a rUdE BOi

Does this picture need an explanation? 

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 19th 2007

Tuesday 19th June 2007

Footy Chicks Cup Final 2007 - 'Madchester' - Ave it

Comment | Posted by Daryl Wilkes | June 19th 2007

Daryl Wilkes is the webmaster of www.wilkesfamily.com 

Thursday 14th June 2007

Narnners & Froggy..

Narnners in the bath the other night. Her eyes were almost violet and apart from the green Froggy in the water, they are the only colour in this picture. 

To appreciate this click the picture and then click the 'all sizes' icon above it when the flickr page loads.

Also on my way to Docklands in the morning for a job interview as my current position is about to end, so I need to get sorted before that happens. I'm not too sure whether the actual job is based on the Isle of Dogs or is Site based around the South East and London. It's gonna be a fair old trot if it is in town. Dusted off the old MP3 player, loaded my new tunes and should be OK. Traveling outside the rush hour is also a bonus.

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 14th 2007

Wednesday 13th June 2007

Before I got old.

Found an old picture of me the other day, taken when I was on holiday in Majorca in 1992, it was my second holiday that year and infact I'd only been home from Corfu with the boys for about 3 weeks before I jetted of to Majorca with a girl. The simple truth was I fancied her she thought of me as her friend. Bleh! So I thought, sun, sea, wine and you know..... 2 Hopes, Bob and None. And It wasn't Bob. Oh well.

Got loads of free time on my hands at work at the moment as the project is coming to an end and the work is dropping off at a rate of knots so I spend most of it trying to surf the web. The problem being the work firewall blocks almost all content so I have fun looking for things I can see. Blogs are one such thing. and have been reading loads and will get around to posting some links to the better ones in the right hand bar of this page, so keep a look out for more blog links.

Facebook is another discovery, its like MySpace but 100,000% better I think. I dont like MySpace much. Also Dizzee Rascal and his wicked new Album, Maths & English are keeping me entertained at the moment. So Bertt and the Doughnut, in the words of Dizzee - suk my dik..

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 13th 2007

Sunday 3rd June 2007

LadyBird

After just about recovering from Friday night, see Drunk & Disorderly, we spent most of the weekend doing not a lot. Sunday was the better of the two days weather wise so we spent most of it in the garden. We took Hannah to a park and played on the swings, roundabout and had a good time, then it was back home, dinner in the garden. I had a burn of some of the last wood left, Hannah hid in the shed. Then a LadyBird landed near her slide and Hannah was fascinated with it.. I got it to land on my finger and managed to grab my phone and took this pic. At this point Hannah's leaning in for a kiss of the LadyBird. It flew away before she could get near it.

More pics of the day are here..

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 3rd 2007

Saturday 2nd June 2007

Drunk and Disorderly - Again.

Boy do I feel old. There was a time when I could drink all night, get up, go to work, come home drink all night, get up, go to work, come home, drink all night, get up, go to work, come home drink all night, get up, go to work. You get the picture..

So Friday, an impromptu night turns into a marathon lager session with Daryl and Erin. Mini pub crawl around the old haunts in Chingford, London E4. Then on to O'Neill's in Leyton. I remember when it was the Cube. Too many lagers later, too much money spent, and a dirty great big kebab on the way home, collapsed into bed at about 3.30am. Up at 8am to be home for 9am. Big Mistake. No praying to the porcelain god. Just Good old fashioned hangover mixed with chronic hay fever = brain death. Cheers!

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | June 2nd 2007

Thursday 31st May 2007

Black & White, with a hint of Colour..

Photoshop is a wonderful thing! After ages using Microsoft Image composer, which is more than capable I should say, I have deceided to teach myself Photoshop 101, 102, 103, etc etc.. I have a copy on my laptop and after some initial hints from Alex who is an old pro (Boom Boom) at Photoshop I was away. Now I have the basics I have now tried some things which I have been thinking about doing for a while and the results are below. These are not perfect and I wont be exhibiting anytime soon. But for an hour or so's work I'm pleased with the results.

Daryl has finally upgraded his Web Developing software and is now in the process of updating with ease his site, www.wilkesfamily.com so if you get the urge click, have a look, have a laugh and tell him about it.

Comment | Posted by Andy Wilkes | May 31st 2007