New Toy/New Job

Well, after a frankly dreadful summer, we managed to get out in the garden the weekend after getting back from the Southern 100 in July to do some tidying up. It was the first time this year that it had stopped raining for long enough for us to do weeding, hedge trimming and to get rid of the compost bin that we'd made from old fencing several years ago.

To be honest the old bin had become a bit of an eyesore and was far too big for the space, so I hunted round for a replacement and finally landed on the 'Green Johanna'. This is some kind of miracle pod which can heat the waste to some fantastic temperature and so can take almost anything and turn it into crumbly black compost; or so the accompanying documentation claims, "...bones, bread, dairy, eggshell, fish, fruit, meat, soup and vegetables can all be used and composted, as well as coffee filters, teabags, household papers, egg cartons, wilted flowers and dead pot plants." We'll see. However, it is far more handsome than the the old one, it's huge (about 4 foot high) and was delivered free along with a 'stirring stick' with a folding propeller on the end and a mini compost bin for in the kitchen to collect scraps. It's also worth over £100! When I say 'worth' you'll understand that I didn't pay that much, as I bought it subsidised via the council for less than £25, but I've seen it on the Interweb for prices between £108 and £140 - I'd be wary of buying anything that I'm going to leave out in the garden at that price! I was particularly glad not to have paid that much when the package arrived slightly damaged and all the screws had escaped!

But, of course, after we'd worked on the garden in July the weather and other weekend committments meant that the debris from the old compost bin and the general garden waste couldn't be moved from the patio for another 6 weeks! It finally made it to the dump last weekend.

Oh and I've got a new job. I'm going to be working for the uni rather than a private company and, despite not actually working for the uni at the moment but being based there, I'm only moving a short distance on the campus. Last day in the old job is next Friday. After 18 months I've finally managed to get away from the job which has 'manager' in the title (which I took for several reasons when the organisation was in a state of flux last year and instantly regretted) and I'm back to data entry, phew... Wish me luck!

And this is what we got back to...snow!

There were rumours in Egypt that airports were closed back in Blighty and that we might not be able to get home - oh dear, we might have to stay in the sunshine a bit longer...

But we did get home and above is a snap from the train window on the way back from Gatwick on Thursday 5th Feb.

We were supposed to go to work on the Friday, but we couldn't get off the estate!

Here's what we woke up to. There are more photos of the snow at the end of the Egypt photo album =>

Actually, it was really nice to come home to something interesting, rather than the usual damp grey miserableness of the British winter.