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Monday 31st
I saw the Clippers come out of the Albert Dock.
Sunday 30th
In the afternoon I went to a barbecue at my aunts.
Late in the evening I watched the German Grand Prix. The Renaults didn't do very well so Michael managed to stand on the top step of the podium pulling back a few points from Fernando.
Saturday 29th
The clippers completed their journey around the world. They arrived in brillant sunshine but there were several heavy downpours which thinned the crowds lining the banks of the River Mersey.
Friday 28th
I didn't sleep very well, my legs and my feet were red from yesterday.
The clippers arrived at Holyhead.
I put some more water in the pond as it had almost all dried up due to the hot weather.
Thursday 27th
I spent most of the day at the beach at New Brighton. I made the unfortunate mistake of not taking sun tan cream.
Wednesday 26th
When I got up in the morning I still had a blister on my right heel so I lanced it with a needle.
The clippers left Jersey last night. They had a damp start to the race.
Tuesday 25th
In the morning I went on a walk and took a few pictures of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake where the Open was held last week. I will have to invest in some new walking socks. The ones I wore today were getting very thin on the heels and now my feet feel tender.
In the evening I went to the advanced motorist meeting and met my parents there.
Monday 24th
I had a relaxing day as it was rather hot again. I did a brief workout at the gym. It was too hot to do a full workout.
Sunday 23rd
I cut the grass which took less time than usual as the dry weather has slowed it down. There were big cracks in the ground near the apple tree.
I fitted a new rubber gasket to the cars sun roof.
Tiger Woods won the golf Open at Hoylake. Usually his dad came with him to each competition. I felt sorry for him when he burst into tears because this is the first major competition he has won since his dad died.
Saturday 22nd
On the way to the local supermarked I was reminded about the golf open tournament when I had to stop at the first round-about. A policeman was waving the cars on to the open so I had to wait. After doing my shopping the traffic was OK in the way I was going but in other directions the traffic was building up because someone had stopped on the roundabout and was talking to the policeman. I saw one of my neighbours stuck in the traffic. I may have to leave early tomorrow to get to church on time?
I had a phone call from my mum from the roof of the camper van in Porthmadoc. Mobile reception isn't very good there and being a little higher helped.
Friday 21st
It was a bit cooler so in the morning I put the last of the paving stones in position. I saw several helicopters flying past, probably tv crews and people getting ferried to the open in Hoylake. I have noticed that the Open has generated lots of road traffic, it is like rush hour particularly in the afternoon / evening but at least the traffic is flowing.
The Queen started her summer holidays on the Hebridean Princess. To discourage gate crashers there was a destroyer on hand.
I can't believe how hot it is this evening in my house. It is almost 11pm and as I am typing up my journal my arms keep getting stuck to the desk and my back keeps sticking to the chair (yuck).
Thursday 20th
I was woken up by a thunderstorm.
The first of the clippers crossed the finish line. They will then motor the rest of the way to Jersey.
The evacuation of Lebanon continues.
Wednesday 19th
I had an interview arranged but it was cancelled. It was the hottest day of the year so far.
Tuesday 18th
I heard of an unfortunate incident involving a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on a cruise ship. There will be an inquest to find out how she ended up in the sea.
Monday 17th
I drove to Wrexham to make sure that I could find the place where I have the interview on Wednesday. It was seriously hot driving there as my car doesn't have air conditioning. Later in the day I drove past the Royal Liverpool Golf course where the Open is being held. There was lots of traffic but I still managed to get a parking space in West Kirby. I walked around the marine lake at West Kirby, I didn't wear shorts because I was still red from yesterday.
I heard that the air craft carrier HMS Illustrious and the landing platform dock HMS Bulwork were heading towards Lebanon to evacuate British subjects.
Sunday 16th
I went for a barbecue at Thurstaston with people from church. It was amazingly sunny and it appears I sat down for longer than usual... I now have a pair of sunburnt knees.
In the Frence Grand Prix Michael Schumacker came 1st, F Alonso came 2nd and P Massa came 3rd. It appears that Michael will be racing next year and not retiring now that he seems to have a chance at the championship again.
Saturday 15th
The liner Crystal Serenity arrived in the Mersey.
I visited my brother at his Warrington home in the afternoon.
Friday 14th
I was busy cementing paving stones together. I finished a bag of sand and went to my shed to get another and discovered cement and stones but no sand. Who used up all the bags of sand? I guess it must have been me. After a quick visit to a DIY store for some more sand and continued cementing the paving in place.
Thursday 13th
The passenger ferry Balmoral is back in River Mersey.
I started cementing the paving stones in place.
Wedneday 12th
I positioned more paving stones. How big is the patio?
Tuesday 11th
I went for a walk around Birkenhead Park. The lake at the north side of the park had been drained.
Monday 10th
I positioned a few paving stones in the patio.
Sunday 9th
In the afternoon I watched the summary of the volvo round the world yacht race. They had lots of drama and some sad moments. One of the teams tore its sail apart at the beginning of the race. A crew man was washed overboard and sadly they weren't able to revive him. The yacht then got very crowded because the nearest yacht "moviestar" developed a fault with its canting keel and it started taking on water and they had to take to the life raft before it sank.
I re-installed the sound card, the network drivers and the Direct X (version 9) graphics drivers and by evening I was able to play a computer game.
Saturday 8th
I had an idea so I got up early and got the "spare" power supply from the loft. Once I had managed to connect everything the pc powered up (hurrah) but windows crashed. The power supply that I removed (see picture below) looked OK, but it smelt burnt. I re-installed windows which proved rather tedious. I couldn't register on-line because re-installing windows "lost" the drivers for the broadband modem so I had to use the phone. That was a long number that I had to type in. By the afternoon I was back on line but the on-board graphics was driving me mad so I re-installed the graphics card.
I didn't spend all of Saturday setting up the computer, I managed to have a cooked breakfast at church and in the evening I went to a baptism.
Friday 7th
In the afternoon I was preparing some more updates to this web site when the computer made an usual noise and attempted to reboot. It didn't sound well and it kept crashing so I switched it off. I looked inside the case to try out find out the cause of the strange behaviour. There was a smell of burning which wasn't very encouraging. I guessed it was the motherboard that had died so on the way to the gym I purchased a motherboard. I also had to purchase a new cpu as the previous cpu uses a different socket. I assembled it and the fan on the cpu was powering up not there wasn't any video output and the hard disk wasn't powering up. I was too tired to work it out so I went to bed.
Thursday 6th
I spent just over an hour late in the afternoon filling up the pond as the hot and dry weather had reduced the pond to a puddle at each end.
Wednesday 5th
I met some former colleagues for lunch in West Kirby. As it was a hot sunny day I went for a short walk around the boating lake with one of them. Towards the end we were walking quite quickly as the sky was getting darker and we could hear thunder. I was quite relieved to make it back to my car without getting a soaking.
The clippers departed from North Cove, Manhattan and headed towards the start line at Ambrose Lighthouse.
Tuesday 4th
I went to the dentist to get a filling replaced as a few weeks ago a filling came out with a chunk of my tooth.
Didn't something happen in 1877? Oh yes, it was American Independance day. I rang up my brother in Boston, USA as it is a holiday there.
Monday 3rd
I cemented some more paving stones together. I gave up at about 11am as I was getting too hot! I heard that I didn't get the job I was interviewed for last week.
Sunday 2nd
It was amazingly hot in church... I wished I had worns shorts. In the evening I went to the Churches Together meeting. Several local churches were meeting together.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!... For there the Lord commanded the blessing - life forever. (Psalm 133 verses 1 - 3).
Saturday 1st
HMS Albion is in Canada Dock and is open to the public this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.
I saw the tall ship Swan Fan Makkum sailing in the River Mersey.
The England football team were knocked out of the world cup by Portugal when the game went to penalties. It was painful watching the game. England didn't seem to play very well. David Beckham limped off during the game. Wayne Rooney was sent off after he stood on a player during a tackle. The final blow was having a penalty disqualified.
Later in the evening I went to a friend's house warming party. The roads were so quiet and there were lots of sad looking people walking around wearing football shirts.
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