Keeping pace with the Joneses

Me and the Parliamentarians

2010-04-17T00:17:00.002-07:00

On Thursday this week, I went down to Naseby, scene of an historic battle in the English Civil war. Walking the battlefields and re-living the key moments of the war with some military historians.

A fun part was when these battle re-enactment folk turned up, to show us the weapons of the day, Pikes, muskets and swords. Here's a snap of me with them.

Igloo...

2010-01-06T13:38:00.001-08:00

Check out this Igloo that Alex and I have built. It's taken some back breaking work....

Merry Xmas from the Joneses

2009-12-25T04:38:00.001-08:00

Here's a lovely picture of Alex in the snow....

Tuscany

2009-09-27T00:51:00.000-07:00

We're just back from a simply wonderful couple of days in Tuscany. We went as guests of a work customer celebrating a trading anniversary. Staying at this lovely hotel in the rolling Tuscan hills (I'll do a seperate review of it on my hotel blog). We lunched at this traditional Italian guesthouse in Montopoli in Val d'Arno, which was exquisite and accompanied with beautiful views. We also visited this medieval castle and tasted the local desert wine with almond biscuits. The highlight of the couple of days was going to the Fattoria di Corsignano vineyard. This is a working vineyard run by Mario Bartoli and his lovel wife Elena Gallo. Set in the Tuscan hills, we spent a wonderful day there learning how to cook Tuscan cuisine, drinking the wonderful Chianti Classico (which Mario makes) and then eating everything that we prepared on long tables, set under a pergola with breathtaking views of the countryside. What made this day so great is that the Mario and Elena were such lovely people, everyone who went didn't want to leave and I'd recommend anyone travelling to Tuscany to go and visit them, we'll go back for sure. Finally, we visited Siena. You may recall Siena from the opening scene of the James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. It's where the horse race is set. It's a stunning City, steeped in Italian history, sitting on top of a large clay mountain. Dinner was at Taverna San Giuseppe restaurant with typical Tuscan cuisine, washed down with further bottles of the local Chianti Classico, I'd recommend you to eat here if you ever go, but make sure you book. We packed a lot into two days, it was however, really worth it.

Classic Car Night

2009-08-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Had an awesome night last night. As part of a 25th anniversary celebration of a trading relationship we took some people to this place. Basically its a warehouse/garage in E1, London stuffed full of classic (and future classic cars). You can look at all the cars, then you get to pick eight of them and take them out for a spin around a pre-determined circuit of the City. The cars I drove were a Ferrari 360 Modena F1, Mercedes ML450 (like Bobby Ewing used to drive in Dallas, a London Taxi, Volvo P1800S (think Simon Templar in the Saint), Bentley Arnage Red Label (which I absolutely loved, huge beast of a car but so easy to drive), Mercedes SL350, BMW Z1, Jaguar E-Type (one of the best looking cars ever made but not that brilliant to drive). My favourite was a toss up between the Ferrari and the Bentley. Two very different cars to drive. The Ferrari (that's the actual car in the picture), tonnes of speed and an exhaust note that you could hear coming a block away. The Bentley simply to wonder at the amount of torque the car had relative to its size, the smoothness of the ride and comfort. I'm lucky to have a job where I can do such great things. Classic night in every way.

Post Holiday Blog

2009-08-15T03:47:00.001-07:00

We've had our holidays. We ended up in Lindos, Rhodes this time round. We had a thorougly good time, weather was warm, sea was stunning, warm and transparent. Resort didn't have many kids in, so Alex didn't meet any solid mates this time round, it wasn't through lack of effort! G is getting very close to here driving test, road confidence has really improved so hopefully Freddy the Fiat will soon have a fully qualified driver. Caroline is doing really well on her diet and losing loads of weight, she looks good for it. I'm really getting into road cycling and have invested in a super new bike (see picture) to give me added motivation to get out and crunch the miles. I'm doing a 100mile charity bike ride on September the 4th, so am busy training for that too (hoping to lose a bit of weight in the process). I've started a new blog to chart my progress and talk all things bike, you can view it here. Angus our Scottie nearly met his maker the other day, he has a aversion to doing barrel rolls in cat pooh and did his party trick whilst out on a field the other day, he whiffed from about six feet away, little bleeder.

Manchester to Blackpool Bike Ride

2009-07-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

I completed the 100KM bike ride from outside Old Trafford football ground to the promenade at Blackpool on Sunday. Took me 5hrs and 15mins to cover the distance along with the other 8000 riders. First 65km miles was pretty easy, balance was much harder. Last 10km was really difficult with a strong headwind, I was very pleased to see the finish line and really euphoric at covering the distance. Raised £3500 for Christies Cancer Hospital, which was a simply stunning result. Piccie is of me setting off at 8.35am.

The Cake

2009-07-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Worthy of its own blog post. The G handbag cake. What's amazing about this, is that the pattern on the cake is made up of hundreds of smaller letter "G"''s". It's tasty as hell and we're (well Alex and I) stuffing our faces, nom nom nom!!

Georgina is 18

2009-07-03T12:48:00.001-07:00

Identity in hand, G is now officially 18. This lovely photo (taken over lunch in Harvey Nicholls) is G swigging a champagne cocktail, in true WAG style. Gifts include a new car, an i-Pod, a new TV, a bracelet, a necklace (thanks nanny Viv), the girl has done well.

Caroline had a caketastic cake made. A designer handbag with a big G on it. It was as big as a real handbag and we're still eating the cake now. Happy days. I'll post a separate picture. G is off to Magalauf on Monday for her first ever holiday with the girls. Police are on standby!

Manchester to Liverpool Bike Ride

2009-05-31T08:20:00.001-07:00

I did it! 3 hours and 10 minutes for the 39 mile round trip from Mancheser to Liverpool. I'm pretty pleased with the time, I wanted to average a steady pace of over 10mph for the whole ride which I achieved (my target was to do it in 3hrs 30 mins). It was a great ride, weather was hot - which made the going hard at times - however the scenery was lovely. Felt great to ride into Liverpool with everyone clapping. It's a good stake in the ground for the Manchester to Blackpool (62 miler) which I'm doing on the 12th July. Here's a piccie of me setting off (excuse the white legs, should have placed an ad in the paper to warn everyone!). Hardest bit of the ride was a monster hill at the 36 mile point, it was a killer! However, benefit was the last two miles were downhill. Overall, a great experience and I'm looking forward to pushing myself on the next one.

Nice picture of Alex and Angus....

2009-04-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Nice picture of Alex and Angus which I took yesterday. The dogs tongue is hanging out as he had been busy chasing the ball in the background for the last ten minutes..

G's new car.....

2009-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

We gave G the surprise of her life on Sunday. Here it is, a new car for her 18th (the car of her dreams), a Fiat 500. She is one happy girl....

See what I mean...

2009-03-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took of Alex earlier....

Alex has got a double...

2009-03-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

We found this picture on Debenhams website and looked twice, he's the double of Alex! Same haircut, same complexion, same figure.

She's no Dragon

2009-03-14T11:06:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd balance of the last posting with a picture of Deborah Meaden and I. I know she has a fearsome reputation as one of the TV Dragons, and rightly so, she's built a successful career on the back of it.

Both Caroline and I though she was such a nice person and great company, we thought she wasn't such a Dragon after all!

Mrs Jones, would you like an upgrade?

2009-03-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Caroline and I are just back from The Red Nose Ball, held last night in London, organised by Theo Pathitis and his team from Ryman the Stationers. We had a really great time. All the dragons were there and I bid for Caroline and I to have our starters sat with Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden.

Carolines always had a bit of a thing for Peter, handsome, debonair, intelligent and totally loaded, we've a lot in common (well three out of the four). My assistant at work had it right when she said, "one of the major benefits of Caroline running off with Peter is that she wouldn't need to change her surname", thanks for that.

Both Peter and Deborah were great company, very attentive and a pleasure to spend some time with. All of the Dragons were auctioned for the various parts of the meal, we by far and away had the best value of the night. Lots of other people were there you might recognise, Des O' Connor, Bobby Davro, Sinitta, Tony Hadley and Max Clifford to name but a few. Caroline was busy with the camera, it was a top night and it raised a stack load of money for Comic Relief.

I've put some more photos on flickr, you can see them by clicking here.

Valet Parking at Manchester Airport

2009-03-07T00:42:00.001-08:00

Rather than park your car, wait in the cold for a car park bus and then have to lug all your cases to the terminal, why don't you use valet parking? It's miles cheaper and much more convenient. You just book it, ring 10 mins before you arrive, someone is there to meet you, you unload your cases and off you go, they do the rest. Coming back, just ring them when you have your luggage and the car is outside. I've used a number of different companies, I like these the best:- Click Here.

2009-03-07T00:28:00.000-08:00

Right, I'm going to use Twitter to update the blog moving forward and will then put additional blogs in for the bits I miss or for further explanations. See the feed above to see what we're up to.

Catch Up

2009-03-01T03:24:00.000-08:00

So, latest from the household: -

G has had all of her University offers in now, so she's pleased. We're going to go to Manchester Met next Saturday and have a nosy round.
Caroline is back behind the wheel of her car, but has been told to take it easy.
We've been to see Gran Turismo (Clint Eastwood) at the cinema, we really liked it.
Alex has been religiously going to a Yu-gi-Oh tournament every Saturday morning and is loving taking on the older boys.
I'm watching Series 1 of 24 with Kiefer Sutherland. I've managed to balance Alex's portable DVD player on the treadmill at home, ace series, I'm going to buy Series 2 on e-bay.
In London this week, Tuesday night for a dinner with work.
My mum is recovering from an operation on her thumb.
We've booked our annual holiday, going to Lindos, Greece.
I'm addicted to the Six Nations Rugby, prefer it to football now.
My favourite little website at the moment is Boffer, does cheap line end deals. They've just sold off a load of stock from Woolies, view it here.

A bit behind...

2009-02-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

With a heavy workload at work recently, weekends have been busy and mostly consumed with catching up with work stuff, so I'm a bit behind with family news. Here's the update: -

G has now had 30 driving lessons, no sign of a test yet, all her mates have passed so she's pushing on to get nearer to taking a test, come on G.
Caroline is recovering, still feeling uncomfortable at times, but still not able to drive.
Alex has had a parents evening, he's doing exceptionally well and is about a year ahead of where he needs to be. He got a £5 pocket money bonus.
Angus has been to the dog groomers and is skipping round the place like little lord boufont.
We went to the Halle on Saturday night (valentines) and had a lovely time. Went to the casino afterwards and came home later than we expected, today we're knackered.
I'm loving the six Nations Rugby and am watching it all avidly. I did some sponsorship on the perimeter boards, which turned out OK, hope you all saw the Brother ads during the game.
I'm nearly finished with series one of The Sopranos and have upped my Lovefilm subscription to keep unseen DVD's coming quicker as I'm enjoying it so much.
Buy of the week has to be a knife sharpener which has made things much easier in the kitchen at home.
G has been flogging stuff like mad on e-bay as she is liquidising her assets so she can go out.
I've been ill. Got a nasty throat infection, took me out the game for about five days (looks like I've passed it on to Caroline - whoops).

So, plenty still going on.

New Land Speed Taxi Record

2009-02-02T04:42:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Frankfurt today, I'm typing this while I wait for my e-mail to sync. I'm lucky to be here really, my taxi driver hit 203km/h on the autobahn from the airport (126mph is the conversion in UK measurement), adrenaline is brown so they say......

It's quite common for these sorts of speeds to be achieved whilst taxing on the continent, Brussels I think was the most hairy I've ever done, as it was a similar speed with zig zagging on top!

One thing I will say is that the taxi's here are immaculate. No rusty old heaps which make worrying noises when you drive, drivers in fleecy track suit bottom/combo tops and cars which stink of cigarettes. Some of the cabs in Warrington couldn't hit 50mph, let alone 126mph.

So, the efficient Germans win the taxi war 1-0.

Weekly update...

2009-01-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

What credit crunch? We went shopping on Saturday and everywhere was busy, apart from mobile phone shops, jewellers and TV shops. Gaming shops were packed, big money passing hands as kids buy new games for their Xmas systems. Alex handed over £25 of his hard earned on a new game, he's cash rich, still hoarding plenty from Xmas and he's had a tooth out, so he's coining it in.

Family are all OK. Caz is still on the mend, she is still feeling some discomfort as everything settles down and thanks everyone for their phone calls, cards and good wishes. G has got university offers arriving now and will be doing her A levels shortly, she's miffed as the place where she works has cut her shifts back (impact of credit crunch), so she's not bringing the same wages home and Alex is outspending her.....

We'll be thinking of a holiday soon, with the £ as it is, everywhere will be expensive, so may have to look outside of the Eurozone this year, I'm not sure where, but so long as beer isn't five quid a pint, the beach is nice, the sea warm and the weather hot. Not sure what the options are, so hours of research ahead.

We went to see Bedtime stories at the cinema today. It's a kiddy film, but it was pretty funny and I enjoyed it more than Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

I've packed all my hi-fi separates away this weekend, held a small private ceremony before they were put to rest in the loft. Got a USB turntable with an amp attached and that's it, can listen via the PC now and have a kicking set of new speakers for the PC, courtesy of my sister. Got the daunting task of converting loads of vinyl to MP3 over the coming year, but determined to give it a go.

Just also installed one of the new printers we've launched at work. What a bit of kit. Does absolutely everything including printing your pictures off of your mobile via bluetooth. No I'm not just saying it's good, it really is. Everyone likes its glossy black look, so it's been approved by those that matter.

On a final note, if you're planning to buy anything. Check out this site. It houses just about every promotional code you'll need. Make sure you stay with the big boys as a lot of the fringe internet players are under real pressure right now. Empire Direct went down last week, I was looking at a TV deal on their site only the week before, so shop carefully.

A busy week....

2009-01-18T13:48:00.001-08:00

Phew, that was a busy week. Caroline is on the road to recovery, still experiencing pain, however feeling brighter in herself. Georgina has had a couple of offers from university, so she's relieved (just got to get some decent grades now). Alex is delighted, as we've upgraded our PC at home and he can now play his Spore game on it. I'm happy as the PC is much better specced than our last one and everyone can stop complaining now!

Thoughts are already turning to summer holidays. Georgina has her eye on a break with the girls once her exams are done. All was going well until they checked out their potential hotel on Tripadvisor and learnt that it was a total dump. They're back to the drawing board. We're having a think too, with the weak pound at the moment, everywhere is going to be expensive.

As an example, I was in Amsterdam this week, a pint of guinness worked out at around six quid a pint. The rip-off moment came when I was charged five and a half euros for a small bottle of Evian out of the mini-bar in the hotel, robbing so and so's. Worst is, I'd drunk two before I realised. More fool me.

We went to the cinema today to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Alex had spotted it in the trailers when we saw another movie recently. Definitely one for the kids, probably more for girls than boys. Don't go and see it unless you've got kids with you, honestly.

Week ahead is really busy, life just seems to be flying by at the moment, are you keeping pace?

The patient returns home...

2009-01-11T13:29:00.001-08:00

Just to say Caroline is now home, took nearly four hours of waiting to get her discharged. Operational control of the house has now officially been taken back over, even though physically she's not really able to cope, the new command and control structure has been re-instated and the washing machine has sensed that it's rest is over.

They reckon it will take six weeks to recover, Caroline can't drive atall during that period, so that's going to be interesting, the taxi firms are on high alert and booking summer holidays on the strength of it. Whether my wallet can take it, is another matter.

The Discs are out....

2009-01-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Caz has had her op. I've been to see her today and she's groggy but in good spirits. I've taken in the essentials, a mobile phone charger, a box of After Eights and some J2O's, that should get her going.

After four hours getting her checked in yesterday, I was ready to do a complete process review with the hospital CEO, there is so much waiting about to do in hospitals, it's organised chaos. Everyone knows what needs to be done, it's just getting it done. The bottom line is that many of the processes - in my view - could be triage based, done by experienced nurses, rather than waiting for an available SHO or registrar to become available. Anyway, let me put my box away or I'll be blogging for hours.

Back to family. G has a cold, she's off college. I'm steering clear and have a date with my Soprano's DVD when I get back from the hospital later tonight. My mum has fallen over whilst on holiday in Oz visiting my brother and I got a flat tyre on the way home from the hospital last night.

If I spot any magpies, I'm looking the other way! Will give a further update shortly.

Hospital here we come

2009-01-06T23:37:00.000-08:00

Caroline is in hospital for an op tomorrow, to get the discs in her neck sorted out. They've been causing her pain for about six months now, so we're pleased that they are going to get sorted at last.

I'm on house arrest for three days, keeping the place ticking over, so watch this space. I'll have a spreadsheet knocked up in an hour with everything timed to military precision, the place will be running like a well oiled machine.

I went to a dinner at Man City last night, Mark Hughes and a few of the players were there and they participated in a Q&A session hosted by Fred Eyre. I thought they were all really lacklustre and lacking personality, what an opportunity missed. I was a bit miffed as Mark Hughes had the same suit, shirt and tie combo on as me, he could have checked with me beforehand, it would only have taken a quick text or call, still if you're a man with his problems.....

I signed up for the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride today, it's about sixty miles and is held in July, so I'm going to get in training on my bike. I like having something to aim for. I went out on the bike last weekend and did about ten miles, my backside ached like billio for three days, so I'll work on my John Wayne walk in the meantime.

Hoping that 2009 is everything that you thought it would be a week ago!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all our friends and family from The Joneses.

The Boiler Gives Up...

2008-12-31T06:08:00.000-08:00

What did I say yesterday. My conspirarcy theory about electrical pulses. Our boiler went down today. It's minus two outside, we're all huddled in the front room with the fireplace on full pelt. The engineer can't come until the morning, so it's a thoroughly miserable day in the Joneses with no hot water or central heating. On the positive side, the Dunkirk spirit has kicked in, we're in a hole and we will jolly well make the most of it. Bring on 2009.

Birthday Girl....

2008-12-30T01:10:00.000-08:00

Caroline celebrated her birthday yesterday. We had a great family day in Manchester (Caroline got a bag she had been hankering after for ages), tea at Croma (where I had the Christmas dinner pizza, mmmm) and then on to The Halle where Carl Davis conducted theme tunes from James Bond movies.

We all loved the concert, Honor Blackman was doing the links between the different themes and our favourite (Alex and I) was Quantum of Solace. It was a thumping rendition by The Halle which made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. How these composers write this stuff, I will never know.

We've a plumber coming later to fix the tap on our kitchen sink, so I'm expecting lots of tutting and headscratching to push up the twenty minute job into at least an hour, with parts, labour, callout and two season tickets to a premiership team of his choice being added onto the bill.

I have a theory that somebody, somewhere, sends out some sort of major electrical pulse, undetected by humans, which interferes with everything in your house from boilers, taps, dishwashers, tumble dryers and washing machines particularly, in order to optimise retail footfall and give all the tradesmen a boost at Christmas. All of our stuff, without exception, always seems to go wrong at Christmas and this years no different. I may have to deploy a "I'm a trading standards officer" when he asks me what I do for a living, always gives them a scare.

I'm going to start re-watching Prison Break today, another one of those epic American TV shows which has become cult viewing, bit like Sopranos, Lost and 24. It's one of those series where I've watched nearly all of it, but missed the odd episode for one reason or another and - as usual - the plot is so complex that tiny fragments of information are often needed to piece together the storyline. So, I'm going to start again, from episode 1 and see it right through.

Battling the Sales...

2008-12-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

Having been in the house for a couple of days, we've done the sales today. Predictably, credit crunch aside, they were packed. It wasn't a good start, Alex spotted a game he wanted for his Xbox and we queued for 32 minutes to buy it, incidentally I didn't hear one moan from him whilst waiting to buy something he wanted!

Today's purchases include: -

A new elmer fudd hat to keep me warm when walking the dog

A new brolly to fit in my roller briefcase

Some new leather gloves to keep me warm at the footie

DVD's - I am Legend , The Da Vinci Code, Inside Man

100 Pop Hits of the 80's

Whilst the shops were very busy, I'm sure the overall sale numbers will be down this Christmas, so the bargins should continue well into the New Year.

Biggest hit this Christmas for me, watching the Sopranos on DVD. Just finished series one, now waiting for series two to arrive.

Twelve irritating things people do at Christmas..

2008-12-25T04:40:00.000-08:00

I read this in a book I got today and thought it was quite funny, irritating things that people do at Christmas...

1. Tell you that you can always take it back and change it if you don't like it (guilty).

2. Bustle around asking where the forks go.

3. Make a big show of singing louder on the third "O come let us adore him" (guilty).

4. Mingle.

5. Insist on trying to revive the art of conversation.

6. Say "bah humbug" in a jocular voice.

7. Say "oh but you shouldn't have".

8. Forget the bread sauce.

9. Keep reminding everyone that Christmas is for kids.

10.Tidy away the wrapping paper the moment it comes off the presents (guilty).

11. Encourage you to join a sing-a-long.

12.Repeat cracker jokes.

So, three out of twelve for me, how have you done?

Xmas Radio

2008-12-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

I was on BBC GMR this morning with a few other folk from the office, getting in the Christmas spirit. You can listen to it here, wind on to 2:48:16 secs to save listening to the whole show.

Xmas Singalongs.....

2008-12-21T01:51:00.000-08:00

We went to see the Halle perform their Christmas singalong on Thursday night at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. They did all the classics. The highlight was the twelve days of Christmas which became an audience participation number and Alex loved it, diligently performing all the allocated hand and body movements, despite the fact that he was busting for the loo, real grit and determination, that's my boy.

It got us all in the Christmas mood and I'd recommend it to you if you want to do something different which doesn't involve video games, texting, dolby surround sound and popcorn. Bit of culture.

Another thing to get you in the mood if you have young kids is to look at the Norad santa tracking service. A great example that even the most serious establishment can get in the Christmas spirit and do something for the children.

On the family front, Caroline has been in a bad way this week. Her ribs took a real battering after her fall last Saturday and whilst a fracture has been ruled out, they are badly bruised and very painful. The car also took a battering this week, less said the better but an unexpected Christmas expense for me!

The kids have finished school and college respectively. Alex had a school disco at end of term, which he enjoyed and G complained bitterly at the poor scheduling of her last day as she only had one lesson mid-morning, which apparently wasn't a real lesson anyway (when she was trying to get of going), however with some persuasion, she turned out.

So, four days to go, lot's still to do. Have two and half days of work still to do and I'll be flat out right until the final whistle. I'm looking forward to a break.

Quantum of Solace (Repeat)

2008-12-14T02:13:00.000-08:00

We went to see Quatum of Solace again last night. We saw it within a week of it's launch, however Alex (bless him) had a bellyache through over-indulgence and we had to go fifteen minutes before the end, so we never got to see the finale.

As someone that loves a good suit, Daniel Craig's wardrobe is simply stunning and I spent most of the film thinking "nice suit, oooh, nice shirt", so 10/10 to the wardrobe people. I had some bespoke suits made a few months back and everyone always comments about how "sharp" my grey one looks, I always feel great when I've got it on and I'm going to get a couple more now.

Mrs J fell over on a pathway yesterday, she gave herself a nasty shock and is a bit battered and bruised. Talking of which, we were at the City vs. Everton game yesterday and the 90th minute header to take the game left us all feeling the same way, so Mark Hughes has (yet) some more thinking to do. Bring on the transfer window as Benjani and Vassell just don't do it for me and £20M Brazilian "Jo", didn't look that inspirational.

We're not far from Christmas now and I'm looking forward to my annual "Godfatherfest". One of the greatest bloke films of all time, the full trilogy gets played back to back. I'm looking forward to watching "The Sopranos" too, as I've got it coming through on my Lovefilm rental.

Talking of TV, I discovered the BBC i-Player whilst away in London this week, it brings a whole new dimension to TV on the move. A really brilliant innovation which I will now use all of the time, particularly when abroad and sick of watching the Sky News or CNN headlines which repeat every 15 minutes. Very fast streaming, plenty of choice, who needs pay TV?

Finally, I wonder how much of your Christmas shopping you've done on-line this year? The shops are struggling (unless there's a sale on) but on-line sales continue to boom, I for one have done most of mine over the web and life is so much simpler than battling through tens of thousands of shoppers, convenient, time-saving and easy to do. Brilliant.

Tea at Croma

2008-12-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

The tree is up, it took six hours from start to finish. To reward ourselves for a job well done, we had dinner tonight at Croma in Prestwich. This is a great restaurant concept and if you haven't been to one, you should go. Think posh pizza's with toppings from peking crispy duck, tandoori chicken, caesaer salad etc. Its our clear family favourite. No-one grumbles when it's tea at Croma, everyone's happy (for a change) and the piece de resistance is the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Mascarpone, which is the best going.

We ate tonight with Neale and Eileen who it was lovely to see. Brilliant people, genuine and great company, thanks for your company guys.

Christmas Party Season...

2008-12-06T10:30:00.001-08:00

We've finished this week off with my works do.

Without a doubt the best one we've ever done. This year the theme was the 70's and 500 people grooved along to the sounds of "Halle Rock" (who are the funky spin offs from the Halle Orchestra in Manchester), followed by a team of disco dancers who really got the crowd going. Judging by how quickly the dancefloor filled up, the theme was a winner.

We held it for the third year in a huge marquee in the grounds of Manchester City football club, the interior was spectacular, so well done to the team at the club who put a great night on for us all. Caroline and I stayed overnight at the new Yang Sing Oriental boutique hotel in Manchester, you can read my review of it by clicking here.

My party evening was mostly absorbed meeting and greeting people aswell as avoiding as much "work talk" as possible. It's surprising how the Christmas party brings out the "work talk" and despite my best intentions, I managed to get collared by around half a dozen people on the night much to Mrs J's disdain.

This weekend we're putting up the Xmas decorations. A massive job. Our loft is full of stuff and my job tomorrow is to get it all down. I love the end result, however it's going to take some grunt tomorrow after a good nights sleep tonight. If you're flying over Warrington anytime in the next few weeks, you should be able to spot our place if you look out of the window!

There's no place like home

2008-12-04T13:34:00.001-08:00

Travelling on business has many great aspects to it. You get to see new places, stay in great hotels, experience new things. Over the years, I've loved travelling and I still do.

But, there are times when it's not so exciting. For example, flying in to a city, staying in an airport hotel, having a meeting, flying straight out again. It can be tiring and a little uninspiring.

Having been away in Copenhagen for three nights, I'm pleased to get home. I couldn't sleep properly in the hotel bed (the pillows were awful, you know the sort, they puff up well but have absolutely no substance to them when you put your head on them). So, I've had three nights really restless sleep which has left me feeling very tired.

Before sitting down to write this, Ive cooked some pasta for dinner, collected Alex and the dog from the in-laws, unpacked and had to send half a dozen e-mails, so I'm still running on adrenalin. Sky+ and the sofa is now calling and I predict a deep sofa sleep!

Donner in Denmark....

2008-12-01T08:27:00.001-08:00

One of the nice chappies from Brother Denmark has today given us the two bob tour of Copenhagen, taking in the Queens palace and the and the amazing "little Mermaid" culminating in a visit to one of Copenhagens best Donner Kebab shops, they call is "Sharwami" out here to make it sound fancy.

Now, here's the rub. The Little Mermaid is one of Denmarks most famous tourist attractions, with 75% of all tourists coming to visit. Get ready, "its little", so don't expect anything too much!

As my colleagues said, "what do people expect, it's called the Little Mermaid". One for the minstry of the bleeding obvious.....

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel...

2008-11-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Born is the king of....Waltham Cross. Happy Birthday to Mr Noel Deady who celebrated his 40th birthday this weekend.

We travelled down to help him celebrate (he's looking very comfortable as the lead singer of The Village People in this photo).

This picture is of Noel and four of his TSG colleagues re-enacting YMCA for all of our pleasure.

Things to think about: -

Why do you look so "at home" in this line-up Noel?

Why do all of your mates look like they've done this before?

Have you been practicing whilst on duty?

Anyway, fab party, wonderfully organised by Noel's hyper efficient wife Jackie who also prepared a world record attempt "biggest ever buffet" for the guests.

Noel spent most of the night having a conversation on the great white telephone when he got home. Great party. Great people. Great to have as mates.

Weekly Wrap Up

2008-11-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy old week and we're ramping up for Christmas. We're threatening to get the tree sorted out over the next week or so our annual Jones Xmas Wonderland will soon be in full throw....

Done some interesting stuff this week, saw David Cameron speak on Monday, went to Man City on Tuesday - to help them out with some photo's which they are using for a new web booking service - Wednesday I was in Westminster all day meeting politicans, Thursday (see below) and Friday travelling back home and catching up.

Thursday, I was in London for our annual journalists Christmas lunch. We had three live performances and one of those was a ventriloquist. If you look at my business blog, you can see the three people we hired. Anyway, I showed Alex the ventriloquist act on youtube and we also found another ventriloquist who is hilarious, see him here Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Alex has been howling laughing, so take a look.

Mines a Large Skinny Latte

2008-11-24T15:23:00.001-08:00

I'm overdue a letter from the CEO of Starbucks. For a man that spends so much on their coffee, I should be in their "top spending customer" lists. Surprisingly, Starbucks don't know about their "big spender" because they don't have any sort of loyalty scheme, which surprises the hell out of me.

Tesco would give their right arm to know what time I buy my coffee in the morning, that I always have it "venti" and "skinny" and occassionally with sugar free vanilla syrup. When I start "Philbucks", I'm going to sort it and bring RFID to the coffee shop. That way I'll know when you're in, what you're favourite drink is and how often you're buying. Technology can even grow sales in coffee shops you know....

Saturday in the City

2008-11-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

We saw City play yesterday. Not a bad show, however Aresenal were a bit lacklustre. I thought we were impotent up front. The partnership of Benjani and Vassell, didn't work. Neither players are prolific goalscorers. The shape looked better when Elano came on. I think Arsenal made us look better than we were.

Today, we've been busy plotting Christmas. Alex has now decided finally on the PS3 vs. XBox360 debate. The XBox360 won, so preparations can now be made by the fella in the North Pole. The traffic and shops are heaving already, it's no surprise to me why web sales continue to grow whilst the stores struggle. I for one am intending to steer well clear.

I'm at a big dinner tomorrow night, with David Cameron of The Conservative Party. I'm going to have a read of their website today. It's funny how the politicians have really embraced the web now, even Gordon Brown is "twittering". I think this might be the future battleground for the parties to win over the disenfranchised younger electorate.

Thank Friday it's Friday

2008-11-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Been a really busy week. Lot's of travel, loads to do, phone has been busy, e-mail has been high. Tonight we're out at a black tie do, nothing special, just a regional event with a hundred or so people there. I won a TomTom satnav in the raffle at the same do last year, so I'm hoping to win again or I'm going home early with my toys and rattle.

I'm pleased to announce that Christmas has officially started on our estate. One house has gone the whole hog and is lit up like that scene out of National Lampoons. FANTASTIC. We're feeling the cheer already. Mrs J is adamnant that strict rules be obeyed and no running out the blocks or you get disqualified.

I got described as "famous" today. That felt nice. It was because my appointment to Vice-President of the Chamber got reported in the Tameside reporter and was spotted by one of the cleaners at the company. Where it goes from there in terms of global superstardom is anybodys guess......onwards and upwards.

To London and Back

2008-11-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Been down to the smoke, there and back in a day. Had the usual "burnt to a crisp" sausage roll on Virgin this morning. For a £300 return ticket, I was expecting an orient express style banquet, Virgin trains always fail to impress when it comes to breakfast.

London was cold, I went to Ladbroke Grove, which was grubby and full of litter. It made me appreciate how tidy the streets are in my locality. My colleague asked me if I would live in London again if offered. My reply was a definite "no". Things have changed a lot, life seems very pressurised, people are very busy, it all seems a bit shallow. Not my cup of tea anymore, I'm now back in the North where life just seems a bit richer.

Amsterdam

2008-11-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

I've been in Amsterdam yesterday and today. It's freezing cold and my hotel is freezing too! Saving grace is that I went into the City last night for dinner, just by the palace (above). Had a juicy big rib-eye steak in a lovely little Argentian restaurant and a wander round. It's a very cosmoplitan place, loaded with bars and things to do. Looking forward to coming back when it's warmer.....

Bicycle, Bicycle....

2008-11-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike....." (remember the queen song). I took it to the max yesterday. Inviting Alex out for a run with his dad (on our fab new birthday bikes, see mine in the pic - WOW), I totally overcooked it and took us on a route that seemed short when I drive it in my car, but it took us nearly two and half hours!!

Alex (bless him) was knackered, his little legs were aching and he was so pleased to get home. He'll do anything for a pound and this was my incentive to get him out. When we get home, he didn't feel he had value for money. I'm inclined to agree as I was knackered too!! Alex is wary of any "let's get the bikes out" enthusiasm now, once bitten so they say!

Northern Soul in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom

2008-11-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

We joined about 1500 other people on Saturday at a Northern Soul night in Blackpool.

It was held in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom which is one of the most beautiful rooms you can imagine (see the picture). Opened originally in1899, it was designed by a chap called Frank Thatcham, it was a beautiful setting to spend the evening.

For true Northern Soul fans, the quality of the floor is everything and Blackpool Tower ballroom is one of the best. A beautiful parquet floor, super slidy and highly complimentary to the dancing style of Northern soul. The do was what's called an "all nighter". It started at 1pm on the Saturday afternoon and finished at 7am on the Sunday. Whilst we made it through to about half two in the morning on Sunday (it's our age you know), the place was still packed and the dancefloor was full from the time we arrived to the time we left. It was a top night. If you want to find out more about Northern soul, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul

We stayed at a lovely B&B called Number One South Beach. You can find more about it at the link below. The owners love boutique hotels themselves and have taken all that's great about what they've experienced and reinvented it as a bed and breakfast concept instead. Think tub baths with jacuzzis and in-built bathroom TV's, 42" plasmas, contemporary decoration and with the added bonus of an interesting owner. Visit them if you get a chance. http://www.numberonesouthbeach.com/

Blackpool unfortunately looked run down. Apart from the walk along the South Beach which has been renovated, the rest of it was stereotypically run down B&B's, stag and hen parties and bars. I hope that the place can turn itself around or it will die in time.