I’m Married

Tell me what you want to know about being married….

New Year's "Wills" for 2008

Hello dear readers.... I doubt I have any left now, but you never know.

Anyway, heaps has happened since I last updated in April 2007, including something involving a huge diamond ring and a wedding in January 2009. But that's enough excitement for now.... lets get down to the nitty-gritty - this boy needs some rules for 2008 and here is the traditional place to list them:

1.) I will not eat more than one take away or 'restaurant' meal in any 7 day period.
2.) I will fail to blog less than once per week for every week from today this year.
3.) I will attend the gym less than twice per week, every week from this day on.
4.) I will be ready to get married by December 2008.
5.) I will take Vanessa to Europe once this year.
6.) I will cycle to work at least once per fortnight.
7.) I will be a better friend.
8.) I will keep my desk tidy at home and work.
9.) I will not eat any fast food or snack from the "sweetie box" at work.
10.) I will read more books.

Lets see how many I manage this year. Last year I think I managed NONE!

Education (This post won't last forever)

Right then, I've decided that I must educate the rest of you in the wonder that is Peep Show. They have just entered the 4th season this last week and of course somebody has been kind enough to put it up on Youtube... so until it gets taken down... make sweet laughter hay:-

Peep Show - Season 4 - Episode 1 - Part 1

Peep Show - Season 4 - Episode 1 - Part 2

Peep Show - Season 4 - Episode 1 - Part 3

What a superb episode! Reminds me of being back in my old Surrey manor. Which incidentally is where I am off to today (fly out of Madrid for Heathrow in 4 hours!)...

What was the best quote from this episode?... it has to be:

"I'm a mummy fu*ker.... that's literally what I am." Class!

PS: It is very annoying that while I am in Madrid, Blogger insists on changing all my language settings to Spanish. The phrase, "too clever for its own good" comes to mind! Bloody AI!

And you thought I was weird....

Check this out..... clicky

And to think, I also used to be a Computer Programmer. I could have turned out like this if I hadn't escaped in time!

Last week was scare week

Two very scary things happened to me last week. I'll leave you to guess which scared me more:-

1) On Monday evening I was doing some mandatory* housemate maintenance with Jo as “we” had agreed I would buy Pizza and then we would pig out and watch TV. This was my punishment for forgetting the previous Monday that I had agreed to the same thing (but with us sharing the cost of the Pizza). Ness is to blame for my forgetful state, but that is another story.

So off we drove in Marvin half way to Chatswood in search of the Pizza shop. After locating said Pizza depository we toddled back out to the car (which was parked under a tree!) climbed in, I buckled up, then Jo passed me the Pizza and then balanced some other crap on top of the box. Then just as she started to put her seat belt on she screamed and grabbed my arm. Before I had time to rebuke her, I saw what the problem was, next to her on the passenger side window, inside Marvin was Australia's largest spider. Was at least the size of my hand (well nearly). Suffice to say it was at least 300% bigger than any spider I have ever seen in real life before.

I, of course, was paralysed with fear, and at the same time quietly thanking God that it was on Jo's side of the car not mine and screaming a lot. Quick as a flash in one smooth motion Jo reached down, pulled off her laced up shoe and nearly hit the spider straight on. Unfortunately, of course, she missed and the little death bug scuttled over at the speed of light and nested itself just above the steering wheel. By this stage I was really freaking out. I had even stopped screaming. As I sat there, trapped and paralysed by fear, Jo kindly hit me and said "do something you idiot", so I replied "what?!". "Open the window and push it out with the shoe"..... well much to my amazement it worked.

Spider safely on the outside of the car we set off home and as I accelerated past a heady 40kph the little scamp went flying up and over the windscreen. Good riddens.

10 minutes later we were arriving back into our complex and I joked to Jo that it was probably still on the outside of the car wait for us to emerge so it could finish us off. So when as I reversed back into our house and Jo screamed, and grabbed my arm and said the spider was on her window, I laughed and said I wasn't that stupid. Of course you all know that actually I am that stupid and indeed the huge beast was there sitting on the outside of her window, fangs dripping with venom, knowing that one pizza would mean that we would only be able to last a maximum of 2 hours in the car before we would be forced to escape in search of more food. 5 minutes later when we lost sight of the spider we made a dash for it. To this day I still have no idea where it went. It is probably still in my car. Now, every time I drive with thongs on I am secretly terrified, the knowledge that there is a "killer" [Note: I later discovered from Jo that it was a Huntsman spiders, well most probably] in my car makes me very nervous.

2.) I came within 12 inches of being killed by a f***ing stupid idi*t mot(*er Fu*c^eR car driver. When you are doing 40kph downhill on a straight clear road with literally no obstructions, parked cars or even shadows and you are wearing your bright green (really bright - day glow) top and a car coming the other wise decides to turn right in front of you at 50kph because they are focused on the car 100m behind you and trying to nip in front of you..... you come the closest you have ever to crapping yourself. A closing speed of 90kph is scary. Very.
I have never thought I was going to die until that moment. It was bloody scary. Just managed to stay upright as I skidded and swerved around the bonnet of the offending car as it finally saw me and threw on the anchors. Of course I was too British to go back and kill or seriously maim the driver, but with the benefit of hindsight I now know that was a mistake. Suffice to say it shook me up for the rest of the day much more than I let on at the time.
I've actually already been hit by a car on the roads here, but at least that time it was 10% my fault, as I happened to look down just as the car in front hit the brakes big time, but this time I swear on my next door neighbour's cat's life that it was 100% not my fault.... and you know what that means.... delayed rage!

* Only kidding!

No more rumours..... I've had it up to here!

Obviously what with Now magazine and other top gossip mags reporting on apparent events in my life I feel it is time I set the record straight.

Yes, one* of the rumours is true, I've gone and obtained myself a real life Aussie girlfriend. How exciting is that? Unbelievably (and I've already demonstrated how shallow I am by explaining this to her) she meets every one of my perfect girlfriend requirements:-

1.) Must be exceedingly** beautiful
2.) Must have been on the cast of Neighbours
3.) Must be exceedingly** sexy

OK, so she doesn't quite meet number 2 but she comes damn close as she is good friends with the Actor who used to place Mal (Susan and Karl's son). But to be honest all I ever wanted to achieve with requirement number 2 was to meet somebody who could give me "an in" with the production crew so I could show them some of my future script ideas and I think being introduced to an old star of the show could just be the subtle approach I need.

Oh and as well as meeting my three requirements, Vanessa has also got a lovely personality so I guess that's a little advantage too! She also unexplainably seems to like me too, which now I think about it is quite a bonus!

But don't worry dear readers I will ensure this new lady in my life will not stop me from blogging. In fact Vanessa is actually already a big fan of NMW, and I quote; "I really like reading your blog", so this must mean we are well suited as every other friend of mine who has ever read this blog has normally described it as a crock of shit.

Also as Bandick has already pointed out I will indeed loose all my readers if this becomes a ‘relationship’ blog, so therefore I promise normal service will be resumed from now on, but at least now you will all know who I am talking about when I refer to the mystery Vanessa.

Note: I am a little worried that my posh Prince William accent I am putting on to woo her might slip soon. Will she reject me the?... For sure, I think the answer is yes. Must get back to practising being English in front of the mirror!


* The other rumours are certainly not true!
** Does this make her sounds like a Mr Kipling cake!? I hope not, she is far classier!

Go, go, go!

Two weekends ago I went on holiday. It was only a little (by Australian standards) road trip, but it was my first foray into the excitement of annual leave since starting my new job.

So bright and early at 7am on a Thursday morning I fired up Marvin and headed up to the Servo to fill him up with Super Unleaded Petrol (he is on a strict but expensive diet), oil, windscreen washer and Pringles. This in theory would get me to Canberra. It worked, by 9:30 I was in Capital city and ready to view the infamous War Museum. Unfortunately two things stood in my way, one; where the hell is the war museum? and two; said war museum only opens at 10am. Eventually after a high intensity cross examination of the tourist office staff I discovered that it was actually known as the war memorial (despite clearly being a museum not just a little statue!). After a quick walk up and down the impressive drive (see picture below) which took a little while as it is considerably longer than it looks it was 10:15 and I could enter the museum. It was very informative and very interesting, it’s hard to understand how any government could decide to send their country to war if they were made to visit places like this on a regular basis. Oh dear, just read that last bit back and I sound like a hippy. Gonzo will be very disappointed in me! Sorry! War mongering Nurton will be back shortly!


Canberra, looking away from the War Memorial.

Anyway, I can now report that Canberra was the only place that I have ever visited that was EXACTLY as I imagined it from how people had described it to me previously. From reading that statement you are right in assuming that that means it's a bit boring! Very quiet.

Anyway, another 800km later I rolled into Melbourne and successfully navigated single handed to Tony and Pauline's house, who once again were very kindly parenting me for the weekend.

Earlier in the week I happened to mention my planned GP trip to one of the principals testers in the office at work. He said that he was also going on the Sunday only with his Girlfriend, he then VERY kindly offered me his two grandstand tickets which were also valid for the Friday and Saturday. Of course I snapped up the offer and subsequently spent the rest of the weekend worried sick that I would lose his beloved (and rather expensive) tickets before I gave them back to him for Sunday! So anyway, Grandstand tickets in hand I met up with my boss (who works at the Melbourne office) and did some serious boss maintenance (read brown nosing!) and we spent Friday in the Schumacher stand watching the practice sessions and the other various events. Best of all was the speed comparison where they set off a BMW 320i road car then 40 secs later a V8 super car then 40 seconds later a BMW Sauber F1 car.... of course the idea is that they all finish at the same time, which means that being sat on the final corner in the stands is pretty damn awesome.


No only do you get a great view of the cars from the stand but also a huge big screen TV showing you the TV coverage.


A Renault F1 car passes under our noses. The noise is just incredible.


Onto the main straight.


V8 Utes. What a silly sport... huge engines, rear wheel drive, no weight over the rear end....a recipe for trouble/fun! Can you imagine what life would be like if they sold V8 utes in Milton Keynes, what with all those rain soaked roundabouts...


The atmosphere at the event was superb. Everything about it was great, including the food (lots of Bratwurst hot dogs!) and the musical entertainment. Pictured above is an Ozzie band called Wolfmother. My housemate Jo is a big fan so I thought I should take a photo to make her jealous. Note the Finnish Wolfmother fans with their flags. I have never seen a real life Finnish person before I came to the Grand Prix. Now I have seen thousand, I think they much just all spend their lives following the GP around!


On Saturday I took Pauline and Tony along with me (again using Jason's tickets to get them general admission). Pauline is a massive F1 fan but had never been to a race before, so she was absolutely stoked by the day. Tony, of course, was being grumpy about the idea of wasting a day looking at cars but was (I think) pleasantly surprised and particularly like the aerial flyover by the Aussie version of the red arrows and then a RAAF F/A-18 jet. See photo below. Above is a video that I took while we watch the Saturday qualifying. The noise of the cars breaking from 300kph+ to nearly a stop is something I will never forget, there is a lot more back firing than you can hear on the TV. Hearing the shear volume and the seeing the amazing deceleration of these cars is reason to come in itself.


A RAAF Hornet which did an amazing display of tight turns over the circuit before doing the best end I have ever seen at an air show, it just went vertical over the crowd and went straight up in the air so far that it was invisible.... now that's a cool job.


Of course by the Sunday (race day) I had given my extra tickets back to Jason, so I was just on my cheapo general admissions ticket. No problem though as once again the internet came to my rescue. About a week previously to this trip I discovered a website called Facebook which is like a cross between MySpace and friends re-united but all free without any crappy ads and good privacy. Anyway, turns out half of the people I went to school with are also registered and low and behold two of them are currently in Australia as well. So being brave I got in contact with Ed, my old GCSE geography desk buddy and extracted his Aussie mobile number. One short call and I had established that as part of his round the world hippy travelling he was currently working for an events company and his next gig was the GP. Super, so we arranged to meet up in Melbourne at the track. Above is a picture of the two of us. Note unbelievably that Ed is not burnt despite his pale skin and the incredibly strong sun shine we had that weekend. I guess he's just spent too long on too many beaches around South-East Asia that his body now thinks this amount of UV is normal!
The important thing to note about this photo is the official event staff pass that I have around my neck. This was Ed's reunion present to me, which he had "obtained" earlier in the day just for me. So thank you Ed, was super cool to feel important and know I could (in theory) go anywhere including the Pit Straight grand stands.


This final picture shows me trying to find a spot amongst the massive crowds to watch the race. I did briefly use Ed’s pass to gain access to one of the stands but it was so busy and I felt very guilty (and naughty) so I settled for watching from a grassy hill. Note bad at all although in all honesty I think watching the race is probably better done on the TV at home. But I would recommend the experience to anybody, the sound and speed of the cars is totally unbelievable. The best mix I think is to come on Friday and Saturday when the crowds are small and the tickets cheap, and get close to the cars. The race would only be really worth it if you had a big group of mates, staked out your viewing spot early and got on the cans as early as possible.

Also the drive…. Would I do it again? Yes, it was not as bad as 2000km sounds, although you really do have to stick to the silly 110kph speed limit as the cops like to hide their V8 patrol cars in every other hedge (I saw 6 over the weekend alone). Would be very pleasant if you had somebody to share the driving with.

Right then this post is now at 1500 words, far too long I know, but hopefully it goes a least some way to plugging my bloging gap.

Where has that Pom gone?

Right then.... firstly apologies....I know I haven't blogged for what must be nearly two weeks now. Totally unacceptable I know. And it also means that I have failed one of my NYR&Es! How sad. However I will endeavour to try and get back on track as the reason I listed blogging twice a week as a NY's resolution was as when I look back to when I blogged regularly at university, what seemed like total crap then, now already only 2 years later gives me a wonderful collection of memories which I wish I had for all periods of my life. It also serves the additional purpose of helping friends I've left in the UK assure themselves that I am still a safe distance away and not on a plane back to blighty, which probably helps them sleep soundly at night.

I will try and get back on track ASAP. There is certainly a lot to write about. I seem to never be in Sydney at the weekends at the moment, which is probably the main reason I’ve been so slack…also there have been some other things going on which have been distracting me, in a good way….. in a very good way.

A brief piss up with some English people....arhhhh, how refreshing!

Grahame, one of my old work colleges, felt guilty on Friday evening that he was coming to Sydney for the weekend but was planning on not letting me know that he was coming. Maybe he finds me tiresome; maybe he doesn't like my smell, either way I don't know. But luckily the shame wore him away and he let on that he would be coming to this fair city, and suggest that we meet up for lunch on Saturday.

His Sydney friends [Lloyd and (I presume) Mrs Lloyd], also came. They took us to a posh sailing club in Manly where we met up with some 'ladies' and slowly ate Nachos and got drunk. Was lovely. Here is the only picture that I took....


Nurton, Chalkie, and Lloyd

Was nice to catch up on some old office gossip.

Normal service has been resumed - for two days only

It has been raining every day this last week which has meant no cycling to work. Interesting I have noticed that my fuel bill has gone up 20%! Which makes perfect (if slightly financially alarming) sense as I have been cycling at least one in every five working days every other week so far this year. Luckily petrol is cheaper (and as it happens more abundant) than water here in Australia. No wonder Jonny Howard has seen it fit to send FIFTY (approx) Australian soldiers to Iraq to help ensure we can continue to drive gas guzzling V8s for many years to come. Good job John!

Anyway, where was I, oh yes the weather, well luckily the weather has got back to normal over the weekend. It has been over 32oC both days which strangely feels 'normal'. When I lived in England and it reached a modest 24oC I would be sweating like a paedo whose address has just been publish on the front page of the Daily Mail. It seems my body is adjusting to this desert weather rather quicker than I was anticipating. Good news I guess.

To make up for my lack of two wheeled action this week I went for a Saturday afternoon ride (in the burning sun – a slight pommie mistake I admit now), I rode randomly, without a map, around the North shore and ended up at the bottom of a huge hill at a suburb called “Castlecrag”. Now it might be my imagination but wasn’t there a computer game in the 80’s called ‘Castlecrag’? Either way, it was a lovely place with some very posh houses. Whether the rich people choose to live there for the spectacular views or the cool address I don’t know.

Brrrrr, so cold

I tried to post this on Tuesday but Blogger was having none of it. So here it is 5 days later…..

As I walked out of work on Monday evening, wearing rather more than my normal t-shirt and shorts, I was shocked to discover I was still cold. Even on the drive home I was cold. I even had to turn the car heater on (a first for Marvin).

And why am I telling you this, well the truth is that it was 21.5oC (according to Marvin's inbuilt thermometer)!! 21oC SHOULD NOT make a British citizen feel cold, let alone 21.5oC. I'm ashamed. Will the queen ever let me return? I doubt it!

Tales from Melbourne

This time last week I was about to fly back from Melbourne after visiting my good friends Pauline and Tony from the UK who chose to emigrate out here at roughly the same time as myself. Tony has been largely responsible for much of the good fortune I have had with my career to date so I understand the importance of "Tony maintenance". Seriously though, in the UK he was a mentor to me in the Railway Signalling Industry and despite shouting at me a LOT in the early days he was probably the best.

Robert and Amy who also knew Tony and Pauline before Australia were also invited so about 2 hours before the sun was scheduled to rise we set off for Sydney airport in Marvin.

I won't write much about the weekend, as quite frankly I'm too tired now and also I'm sure you're not too interested but I will post some pictures.


Pauline and Tony's new house. Has a slight air of Kath and Kim to it, but lovely once you are inside.


On Saturday our hosts took us to visit the Puffing Billy steam railway which is not too far from their house in the outer east suburbs of Melbourne. I have never been on this railway before and was pleasantly surprised. As can be seen from the photo, passengers are encouraged to sit on the open sides of the carriages with their legs dangling. Of course being a safety conscious Brit (with a strong even safer Swiss genetic content) I didn't believe this would really be the case until I saw it with my own eyes and of course gave it a try for myself. I made a couple of observations regarding this practice:-

- The window sill on many of the carriages was quite narrow and despite my ample arse padding I still found it uncomfortable after about 10 minutes, but luckily the novelty blunted this pain to a large degree.

- Despite providing a bar across the window which is "supposed" to stop people from falling out, I experimented in the station and found to my alarm that I could fall out through the gap. So let me put it this way: If one Nurton can fit through a gap, at least 3 small children would have no problem slipping through the same space!

- The retaining bar across the window smacks you across the chest when the track is a "bit wobbly", I didn't notice this at the time, but the bruising I had on Monday morning more than proved it!

Overall though it really is a spectacular railway and can truly be described as 'one of a kind'. A must do if you are in Melbourne, especially the scary pub at the end of the line (filled with Biker gangs) which if you are brave enough to enquire, you will discover is hiding a splendid restaurant behind the bar which is not scary at all!


Nurton, Amy and Robert only half-literally "on board".


And finally proof that I did indeed risk my life, this is a photo you couldn't fake. Sexy pins.


Nurton, Bob and Tony in the Howker's newly paved garden. It is worrying how much Robert looks like my old school friend Tim, who is now a Monk living in (or near) Tibet. Maybe it is the lack of footwear?

It was a lovely fun and relaxing weekend. Can't wait to go back in March for the Grand Prix. I might even drive.

NYR&Es - UPDATE

Well we're now nearly into March so therefore we're all now nearly 2 months through 2007, which of course more importantly means that I only have just over 10 months to go with my New Years Resolutions and Endeavours.

I won't hold you in suspense with the update, despite the NYR&Es being the subject of a NMW competition, instead I'll state it as it is (or at least how I see it) with a point-by-point update on my 10 challenges....

1) This one is probably going the worst, as I must admit I haven't done any fancy cooking this year. I have however been doing lots of simple cooking and probably on average cook enough for lunch on 4 out of 5 weekdays, meaning that the amount of money I donate to the wonderfully delicious 'Pump house cafe' in Lidcombe has substantially reduced.

2) You probably won't believe it, but I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I am achieving a 100% record on this one. Well done me! Before New Years I would visit the sweetie box at LEAST once every day. I'm glad I don't own shares in the company which administrates said Sweetie Box. Although, come to think of it, I am a little disappointed now I have realised that I don't own shares in anything. Maybe that is a NYR&E for next year...play the stock market. Sounds like mathematical fun to me!

3) Well, I probably shouldn’t' say anything here, but dear readers, I know you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't spill the gossip so, I will: I have indeed dated a girl called Anthea (twice - once officially, once not), I have pecked and been pecked by a girl called Anthea, I have been to the cinema with a girl called Anthea, I have had a mild form of a "Noelwich"(TM) with a girl called Anthea and a girl called #######, but alas I have been unable to obtain what is ultimately expected by this NYR&E. Seems now to be a lost cause, but as the old saying goes....there are plenty more Antheas in Australia.

4) Yep... my guns are flourishing.

5) Again, another surprise here. I am managing to beat my target, I often manage to cycle twice a week. Fastest time for the 23km ride (not 24 as earlier stated) is currently 58mins, which as the fastest I can manage in my 150mph Mini is 28 minutes, is not bad. I actually really enjoy the ride now, it has got to the stage where it is no longer painful.

6) I have managed no Maccas, BK, KFC, et al. But the odd take away Thai is definitely more than once a fortnight. So partial credit on this one.

7) I have purchased a GMAT textbook...too scared to read it yet....lots of complex looking numbers and unnecessarily long words.

8) I am still only average at this one. I will try harder in March.

9) This one is looking quite promising. Late last year, I was solely responsible for the technical preparation and production of a large tender, which was a little daunting as I never had any interaction with the customer when I worked for R&D in the UK. The outcome is expect soon, but lets just say...if nothing goes horribly wrong, everything should be very good. But best of all I was personally complimented by some of the high level personnel in our customer’s organisation who said ours was the best technical tender and that they particularly like the writing style!!!! Maybe I should point them to NMW if they are craving a further hit of Nurton prose?

10) Yes I am doing this, but it's still a little forced and not natural yet....give me a few more weeks and maybe things will be getting better.

So overall I must say that I am very proud of myself, I never thought I would be doing this well after two months, however ten months is a long time and I really will be proud of myself if I make half of these by that time. Maybe I should have a reward, any ideas?

Busy, busy

Off to Melbourne this weekend with Robert and Amy to visit our mutual friend Tony. Have volunteered to pick them up to take them to the airport at 0445 tomorrow morning, so defo time for bed now.

I guess this means I won't make my resolution 2 posts this week.....oh no wait, I rule that this counts as a post so I will make it!

Time for a 'Top Ten'

A game I always enjoyed playing when I lived with Steve-o and Chrishead in Botswana was 'Top Tens'. In that house our favourite one was always top girls (who we knew at the time). So I would love to do that but as I don't think I know 10 eligible girls here, so we'll start with something a little more grown up....

Top Ten TV Comedy shows......

1) Peep Show*



2) I'm Alan Partridge



3) Spaced



4) Black Books



5) The Simpsons

No, I really don't think anybody needs a YouTube example of this genius.

6) Coupling



7) Scrubs



8) Family Guy



9) Faulty Towers

Just imagine a man hitting a car with a bit of a tree. Funny hey?

10)'allo 'allo

Afraid I couldn't find a good 'allo 'allo clip on youtube, which maybe explains why it is at number 10. Nevertheless it's still a great comedy. Who would have though a 'little tank' could be funny?

------------------------

I feel I may have omitted something that I really should have in my top ten list. Any ideas what it is that I've forgotten?

*If you are a fan of Peep Show check out the new UK Apple Mac adverts that are done in character by Mark and Jez..... pure genius. See them here http://www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/

Revolution Blues

Hi quick one as per,

Nurton I have succesfully purchased some gifts for both Christmas and your birthday so I have semi completed a NYR. Next step is posting them - this always seems to be where my best laid plans go askew.

What's up in this hemisphere - certainly not the temperature. Panic siezed the nation this Wednesday when a cold, powdery substance began to fall from the sky. The government immediately cranked the dial all the way from:

"What's going on? Did that ethnic fellow just do something suspicious, where's my marmite gone?"

past:

"Drink, Feck, Arse!"

to :

"Oh Lordy the world is coming to an end - I don't want to be Prime Minister any more, make Gordon do it."

Bird flu has struck Bernard Matthews (the company as far as I know Mr Matthews is enjoying a period of exceptional health). See I stop doing sudoku at Defra and the whole thing goes tits up. Amusingly our boys have decided to blame the Hungarians, top whole I say, it makes a change from the usual suspects (France, Germay, Iraq).

Enough timewasting I'm off to hunt down the nearest post office and spit at Vladmir the local Hungarian wino.

GG

Nurton's first foray into Youtube

After watching the Sydney harbour ferry race on Australia day we stayed at the bank and watched as all the private boats covered the harbour. One was playing the YMCA, so we just had to join in (well some people did!)

New Years Eve 2006/2007- A plagiarised update

I know that some people will not count this a "proper" post because nearly all of it is copied from somebody else’s blog. But for the purposes of the latest NMW competition, this does count as a post - why - because I make the ******* rules, OK!

The reason why I am cheating and not providing my own description of what Nurton got up to this last New Year's Eve is because I spent it with somebody else who has already blogged about it on their own blog.

It is, of course, the lovely Amy and Robert who looked after Nurton and his visiting friend, Jemma.

Here is a link to their description of the night...Note: The bit about Gillian and her friends, this was not fabricated, it really happened!

Here are some pictures they took before the fireworks, some of them staring 'Sea Captain Nurton'.

And finally here are some picture Robert took of the fireworks. Suffice to say they were the best I have ever witnessed.

It was a great night - thanks must go to the wonderful hosts. Thanks!