Sunday 3 February 2013

A Busy Week!

Since my last note - the snow disappeared almost overnight  Saturday into Sunday last weekend - the visit from our Norwegian customer went extremely well and a concert at Sheffield City Hall was very enjoyable. (OK - it was Ronan Keating but to be fair - I quite like his music!)
 
The concert meant we missed Belper Towns visit to Chesterfield FC's new stadium for a Derbyshire Senior Cup tie. The Nailers played very well by all accounts, but the result was a 4-2 defeat. Tim Harrison did brave the appalling conditions (rain and gale force winds) and put a nice album  together. It's here - have a look:
 
 
Monday morning - I set off for Manchester airport at 10 a.m. to pick up some visitors from Norway, thinking I'd have plenty of time because they weren't due to land until noon. The Snake Pass was closed by an accident so I decided to go via Peak Forest and Chapel-en-le-Frith but thanks to 4 sets of roadworks and an accident at Styal, the usual 1 hour 15 journey took me just over 2 hours.
 
After lunch and discussions in the office, we treated our guests to dinner at the Manor House Hotel in Dronfield on Monday evening - where they were staying. It was extremely good! The hotel is located right in the centre of the oldest part of Dronfield village and is an absolutely cracking place.
 
Tuesday - collected the visitors from their hotel for more discussion and a plant tour before a quick burger at Frankie & Bennys then I dropped them at their second appointment in Clowne.
 
Tuesday evening - Ronan Keating with the Duchess and that meant 2 late nights in a row for the owd giffer - something I'm not at all used to these days.
 
Wednesday morning - 8 a.m. - pick visitors up from their hotel and deliver to Manchester airport for their flight back to Oslo. Back in the office after lunch then a quiet night in!
 
Thursday morning - Sales Forecast meeting at work, paperwork all afternoon. Another quiet evening spent editing photos.
 
Friday is our half day of course and the morning was taken up with a Qualitty Management Review Meeting. After sorting out the supermarket run, I spent the afternoon trying to figure what was wrong with the computer monitor which refused to display any sort of image and just sat there sulking and flashing the blue "power on/off" indicator light at me.
 
Tried a different "monitor to computer" cable - nothing. We have a TV in the back bedroom which doubles as a monitor of sorts so tried that - it worked but I had problems getting the desktop configuration right - so I could click icons etc - as you do. At least that made it unlikely the cable was at fault. It would have been nice to have a look at the manual but the problem was - the manual is on a disc which I couldn't look at because I couldn't get an image on the screen!
 
Next - tried plugging just the monitor into the mains with no connection to the PC at all - the flashing blue light started immediately. Tried a different power supply cable. Still the monitor sulked. My brilliant detective work deduced that the monitor was knackered so after tea - off to Currys to get as new 'un. Works fine btw!
 
Saturday - our first footy in about 3 weeks and we made our way to Belper for BTFC v Chasetown. We had to head off early - our presence was required at noon for a meeting of the Belper Town "Ops Committee." This is a small committee of volunteers who sort out a variety of match day tasks and help fund the club through various fund-raising events. The Duchess and I were extremely honoured to be asked to join the Committee.
 
Anyway - after an interesting meeting which gave us an insight into some of the "behind the scenes" stuff which ensures match day goes smoothly, we watched Belper secure another 3 points with a 3-0 win over Chasetown.
 
It wasn't as comfortable as the score suggests. Chasetown finished with 9 men and up until the second sending-off, were pretty much holding their own with only 10 players.
 
Still, it's 3 more points and we're still in the play off places!
 
Since it was a bright, sunny day and "sundown" was about 4:40, I decided to give the little 300D a go, figuring I wouldn't be shooting much under floodlights. Coupled with the 70 - 200mm f2.8 - it didn't do a bad job, if I say so myself! Even so - I'll be glad when I get the 5D back - which is Tuesday Feb 5th I am delighted to sayt!
 
Anyhow - see what you think:
 
 
and Snapper Harrisons album is here (another good set - it's getting annoying how he rarely misses any major moment of the game!) Oreight Tim!?!
 ;-)
 
 
Right - not a lot else to tell - I've another busy week next week at work and we are planning to go to Lincoln next Saturday to watch Belper of course. There might be a blog post before then but I'm not making any promises.
 
Oh - and before I forget - I've now got a head cold and a very sore throat so I'm looking for tea and sympathy - any offers?

No comments: