My Mum's Ginger Cat

OK! USA sales so far (day 2) 128 copies, UK 62 copies. Brilliant, just brilliant. Happy, very, very happy.

Off grid for a few days

I will be in Aberdeen until Friday night, so it is unlilkey I will be able to blog until Saturday
Breakfast, cheerios, banana, skimmed milk (yeurk, more like white water)
Catch you later.

Tuesday

OK today I have been messing around with radios again, but I also had my gastric band appointment. It is going well, I am down a belt size and I managed to get my old short combat trousers on again, which was nice. Still got a gut at the front, but it is all heading in the right direction.
FOOD! Lunch was a sub way sandwich, BMT on honey oat bread, no cheese and all the veg except green peppers and cucumber. Wshed down with a diet pepsi and then it was off for a walk to try out the repeater in Northampton from the hand held with the little stubby antenna. Not good. The antenna on the car makes this little chinese radio sing, but the antenna they supplied is really the pits. No good, really not good. I am considering getting an antenna for the house, it would make life a lot easier, and I have permission to put one up, so...... Sadly limited by cash issues still. I still want to get that HF set from Keith, and if at all possible there is a lovely old HF all band receiver for £120 sitting over Northampton way that I have my eyes on also. One thing at a time!
Going to try and get hold of the girly on facebook chat, she is off today so we can have a natter. She was chatting to her little girl this morning, which is sweet, so I did not want to interupt.
Took mum shopping, got some more peanuts and cashews, sorted.

Sunday Night

Last night I had a cheese and onion sandwich with salad cream - Yummy.
This morning I had italian plum tomato on toast with a mushroom that I cooked in the tomato juice and then added balsamic vinegar to finish the lot off. Yummy.
I have no idea what lunch it yet.
Today I going for another Gastric Band appointment, I will let you know all about it.
The cat book is done, it is uploaded and it is priced at $4.50. I don't know why, but my books are now being priced in dollars and converted to pounds. Not that bothered, as long as people buy them, that is all that matters. Current UK price, just checked £3.09. However, from tomorrow that book will be free for two days, a promotion to get it moving.
And yes, before you ask, I have started on the next book, in fact I am in the process of writting 3 books, and I am consulting someone on a book they are writting. I did consider writting it for them, but it is about a time in their life when they were under the thumb of "The Man" and I felt it would be best coming from them. However, I do intend to meddle, or "give advice" as I call it. The only worry I have is that her true story may actually end up being more complelling that the pap I write. Oh well, at least I am having fun with it all. I will let you know how her book is coming along, no details or quotes, just enough about it to make you want to buy it when it is finished. She is the wife of one of my brothers friends and is originally from the Middle East, but holds a US passport. As you can imagine, those two statements are bound to lead to something. Anyway, I am not going to spoil her story, you will have to buy it!
Took mother shopping again this morning. I do have such an interesting life!

Sunday to Monday

OK first things first, food diary!
Sunday breakfast was bread and butter as I did not get home very early as I was baby sitting for my daughter, lunch was a pork roast with mash, cabbage, gravy and apple, sadly I was not allowed any crackling (life is just SO unfair!), and last night I had a chese and tomato sandwich which I ate in my car while I experiemented on my radio up near doddington. I have now mapped out all the local repeaters that I have found and confirmed which I can access etc. I have written down how I want to program it up and sadly left that over at my daughers! I will go and get it tomorrow. Silly boy.
This morning I had a bacon and tomato sandwich for breakfast, with a touch of mustard and a splash of tomato sauce replacing the butter. I see it as swings and roundabouts.
I have found a way to down load all the text messages from my phone, so I will be copying them all later today for use in a forthcoming book about me & my lady. We meet 2 days before my birthday in 2004 and have been dating ever since. Sadly neither of us have the text messages from the start of our relationship, me because my phone was very cheap and only retained the last 20 messages, but she wrote them all down in a journel, which sadly was stolen when she was working at the Al Suwadi Hotel in Oman.
However, I have everything from 2007 onwards, sad OCD person that I am. I have been copying them by hand, but I now know how to copy them automatically, so that is the way forward. I am also digging through all my emails so that we have as complete a record of those as well. The finaly section will be on facebook messages. If nothing else it will give us a record of our courtship, but it may also be interesting to affection starved females the world over. Move over MIlls & Boon, here comes the hotest love affair since one woman gave a man an apple from a serpent infested tree!

Amatuer radio

I have spent most of today on a combination of 2m (145Mhz) or 70cm (433/434Mhz) today and I have loved it. I just wish I had the money to set up a proper amateur radio shack. Maybe someday.
I have had a blast, it has been great fun.
I am off over to baby sit for my daughter again tonight, it is my last night. Tomorrow I am going to a ham radio thing at Irchester Country Park, I just hope I can get there before they finish!

Food Diary stuff again

Last night I had a spam sandwich for tea, this morning I had a slice of bread and butter. I had a bottle of J2O last night, which is cheating, but sod it, I was thirsty.
Tomorrow I will be going to Irchester Country Park to observe a RayNet event, I am considering joining, but my work rotation, 28 days on, 28 days off may get in the way. I will however spend much of the day walking round the park, even after the event it over.
I am up in Aberdeen next week, I leave on Wednesday evening and I will be back early Saturday morning. I am baby sitting on the Saturday night, and then on Sunday I will be over at the Daventry Mueseum for the Northampton Radio Club event celibrating the early years of HF Broadcasting, where hopefully I will get to operate on 10m (28MHz) for a bit.
Come along and see what it is like to be a radio amatuer.
While I am in Aberdeen I am going to ask my company if I would be allowed to take a radio system on the ship with me. Then I will operate as G1GCB/MM for marine mobile, which is a rare call sign, due to the MM bit. I expect to work a lot of people if I am allowed to do it. But, I have to first get permission from my company, then from the marine company that runs the boat, and then from the Master. Fingers crossed.

Today

Last night I was baby sitting for my eldest daughter over in Milton Keynes, I arrived a little late as I was getting petrol on the way (which is £1.369 a ltr!). She got ready and went to work just before 10pm. The kids were already in bed and so I settled down to an evening of watching TV and playing with my chinese dual band amatuer radio which I bought on ebay for £25. I am very pleased with it, it is extreamely basic, but it was only £25 and it does work on 2m and 70cm. It will also tune to the PMR license free channels up at 446Mhz or is it 466Mhz, anyway it sits up their and listens quite happily, and I even had a brief chat with someone and they reported a good solid signal. So I should actually proably be a bit impressed really.
This morning, on the drive back from Milton Keynes, I just listened. I have been away from the hobby for a while and I want to get back into it without looking like a complete berk. Listen and learn.
I overheard 2 guys talking about an event I am hoping to go to on Sunday (tomorrow), but my daughter will be working until 10am tomorrow, and that is when the event starts - so I am going to be a bit late. Never mind, can't be helped.
Today I have written a bit more on the cat, in reality I could publish it, but I want to tidy it up a bit more. I am really happy with it, dependant on how big you have the text, it will be about 80 to 100 pages, by far the longest book I have written.
I will be bunking off writting duties this after noon, I will be helping my brother melt and pour lead on his sculpture. We are writting a book about this as well. But it will mainly be photographs with some explanatory text. The meaning of the piece will be written in the back of the book, and while it is not that easy to do, it should be good.
I am still planning on 10 books this year and I have outlines written for 8 of them.
Catch you later...

Other Books etc

I am not going to write the book for the American lady, but I am going to help her write it herself. I think it would be wrong for me to write it, but I do plan to help her as much as I can, I am going to take away all the uploading and publishing so she can just concentrate on writing it.
While her politics are not aligned with mine, I do think she has a story to tell, and while I may not agree with all the things that she does, I absolutely think she should be able to tell her story. A bit of the spirit of Descartes coming out in me maybe.
Or is it just that I can see she has been messed about and I recognise that from my own life. Anyway, I will be meeting her and her husband on Sunday and will tell them everything I have learned from self publishing and explain how she can set up an account and get her book published. I will show her how to format it and convert it etc, but it will be her name on the book, as she will have written it herself. I may ask her permission to write a dramatised version as I have some really good ideas about it. But I will not do this until she has done hers.

I am still battling through getting the book done that describes how I met my lady, I decided to do it by publishing the text messages and emails we sent each other. But wow. I have over 1000 text messages to sort through, and I have not started with the emails, or the facebook messages we sent each other. This will be the biggest book I will have written to date! I am having to transcribe each text message from my phone by hand, and it is taking for ever! But, when it is done, it will be a real chick-book. I can not believe some of the soppy stuff we have said to each other, all I can say is, I must really, really love this woman deep down. It is real soul mate stuff. But that will have to wait as it is a long way off!

Now, I have had an idea for a bit of a grisley book and I have started the research on it and wow, if I thought the "Bin Laden Lives" was a hard book to research, this one is a doozy! I am looking for information on transplant surgery, if anyone knows of a book or article that takes about how a transplant recipient felt during the wait for an organ, and how they felt phyically and emotionally afterwards, please send me the details of where I can find it, as I need it for the research. I have already read loads on transplant waiting lists, statistics and descriptions of operations and post operative care, I now need to know how someone actually handles it, on a personal level. Any assistance is recieved with great thanks, and you may even get a mention as a research source on the acknowledgement page.
Ta!

food diary, yes boring I know

OK, breakfast was a cheat. I had two hash browns, a fried egg (or an egg poached in oil if your prefer) in a bread roll, and a cup of coffee from a road side food vendor. It was nice. naughty, but nice.
Lunch was two pork sausages, some potato, some sauted (Some send me the spelling) onions and gravy. I also cheated and had a small choc ice this after noon (I Know, stupid) and this evening I had a sandwich, spam. No butter. Yeurk. Next time I will use butter. i again had 100g of nuts, this time mixed nuts, and a few raisens (spelling), but not many.

Ham Radio and other matters

Last night I was baby sitting for my eldest, and tonight I will be doing the same. She works 3 nights a week to help her to pay for her University course, she is taking law. She has two lovely little boys from a relationship that ended up a bit of a disaster, but the kids are great.
For instance, they got up at 5;30 this morning and crept down stairs to play on the computer. My daughter is currently sorting her house out (and boy it needs some sorting out!) so the door on the bed room I was sleeping in is not actually connected to the frame the door should hang in, so while they were very careful to make no noise, the also turned on every light on the way, which woke me up.
I did check on them and then get another 30 minutes before the first mini fight broke out, but that is what kids do!
They are no real problem, in fact they are two little angels who almost look after themselves. All I had to do today was convence them to put some clothes on, which did not work out quite as well as I had hoped, as little one ended up walking around fully dress up top, and naked as the day he was born down below, but we eventually got there.
I did make them a breakfast they absolutely demanded, made from cerealac. It looked like cheese sauce and I did not taste it, but they lapped it up real fast!
Obviously you have to like that sort of thing...
I set up my radio to work on 70cm's, and programed all the local repeater set up's into the memory last night. I made a couple of abortive calls, then realised I had the CTCSS tone set up wrong and after I got that right, a new world opened up before me. I can now use the amatuer repeater network!
Today I set it up on 2m as well, and managed to work quite a few stations through a couple of repeaters. Sweet.
My ex is causing problems. We had an arrangement where I would pay her an agreed amount while I am debt ridden (after the failure of my business - see my book on Amazon "Down but not out" for some of the details). The Child Support Agency decided to check my salary etc and contacted me to get my last 5 pay slips, I said they could get them from my new employer and they went and calculated what I "should" be paying and sent 4 letters to my ex explaining this. Now she is pursueing me for the full amount, and arrears. Despite previously agreeing that I could pay a lower amount until I am out of debt. Amazing.
Thank you CSA, another triumph for our beloved Coalition Government. I don't think.
Any way, not your problem.
Today I am writting the finishing bits to the cat book. Yes, that is right, it is actually  just about finished. I have had all but the last two chapters proof read, I am now just tidying up the final chapters. I will try and get these done, get them proof read and send them off for publishing early next week. So, if all goes well (nice saying, oft used by NASA!), the book should be on sale by mid week, possibly end of next week.
I am going to work out how many pages it is in 12 point Arial text on an e-reader, and price it based on the number of pages in comparison to Bin Laden Lives. If any one has a suggested price, send it in now.
Oh, I am looking into print on demand as an option for the cat book, as it is longer than my first two offerings and several people have said that they would prefer a paper book. Comments please...

Books and matters arising

I have just checked my book sales & I have sold one book in the last 72 hours. This is the weird thing, it goes in spurts. I sold 6 books in the first week after I published my first book, then 4 the following week. The third week about 30 were downloaded, and then in the 4th and 5th weeks it went mad.
Between the two books I have on offer on Amazon, I have now moved over 300 copies (not quite the new york best seller). Now, I am happy with this, it is more than I expected and I thank everyone who bought one for doing so, but it is really weird how it happens in pusles. Most sales happen on a friday, and I suppose there is no surprise in that, but the grouping is what gets me.
On the cat book, which I am days away from finishing, I am going to make use of the downloadable spreadsheet the Amazon let you use, and I am going to see what pattern emerges. I will put the results on here.
Now, Food diary (note I got the spelling right today - so no need to email!) last night I had a cheese sandwich, with a little sandwich spread. I also had 150g of peanuts in the evening.
This morning, I had sugar free pancakes - no I don't recommend them. I had two, 4 inches across. I know they were 4 inches, as my very expensive non stick cast iron pan is 4 inches across. Yes, I did flip them and they did fall back in the pan, but one of them had a crease down the middle.
I am baby sitting for my daughter tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.
Today I will be doing some online training (for my work) and then I will be getting into the cat book. I have still got to finish the last chapter.
bye for now.

Weight

My worst weight was 135kg (yeah!) but my starting weight for the hypno treatment was 118Kg. So, really this is the start weight I should be using, not the 113.5kg I measured yesterday. Some may say that 118 to 113.5kg is not a bad start, but at my last diabetic medical, I was 109kg. Christmas got in the way.
I am working on it.
I will post my weight monthly, feel free to congratulate when it falls and heckle when it does not.

Correction Correction Correction

OK, thank you, Yes. Stop with the emails now. Yes, you are right,  I did not work on any transmitters at BBC Daventry called SWB19, I actually worked on Marconi SWB18 which where commissioned in 1937 and taken out of service in 1986 to be replaced with Marconi 300kw self tuning 4Mhz to 21Mhz beasts. They were also known by one of our Transmitter Engineers as HOC Transmitters for Heap of CR@P, thank you for that memory Roger.
So, Thank you all for the correction, it was a typo, which you should all be used to by now.

Gastric Band

OK, yesterday, weighed myself. 113.5kg - adjusted, I took of 1kg for clothing. I have started on the Gastric Band treatment, I have three more sessions to take. I now have to keep a food diary and so where better to do it than here. I still keep a chocy bar in the car, and a fruit and fibre bar, so if anyone sees them they are there because I am a diabetic, they are not snaking items.
This morning I had poached egg on toast and a slice of toast covered in Marmite. For lunch I am having sweet and sour pork (thanks mum, nice move!), it is home made and was prepared yesterday. I have had a couple of cups of coffee and a sugar free soft drink, which I had in the car when I was over at the gym getting brochures.
The book sales have slowed down to a dribble again, but that is to be expected. I have almost finished the cat book and I am now doing my OCD thing going over the chapters. After the mistake I made with the first book, I am being a bit more carefull these days. I have re uploaded "Down but not out" with the original script that was meant to be uploaded in the first place. I am thinking about doing a rewrite, but then why, yes it has mistakes, but that is how the book is. So, I will look at it after I have uploaded the cat book. If anyone thinks stongly enough about it, comment me.
I have returned the accoustic and electric guitar again, and they are now back in tune. I have a little Roland Micro Cube practise amp and that is brilliant, I love all the effects. I am hoping to be able to go on a camping trip in a couple of months and I will take the amp and a set of batteries and see what it is like on full tilt. I hope my fellow campers don't brain me!

CB Radio and issues arising

OK, I now have the CB not only wired in, not only fitted with an antenna, but also fitted into the dash board like a nornal radio would be. I have also prepared another slot for the radio I am going to buy from the guy at the radio club. I will then have all the radio channels I want. I have also ran a cable for the hand held 2m/70cm set I bought for £25 on ebay. It is not great, but it works and beggars can not be choosers.
I saw some art work from an old school buddy this morning and was stunned. I knew he had done some good work, but the detail and posing of the characters was excellent. I am surprised he is not illustrating for some publisher. Look him up, Andy Grundon. I was impressed. While you are at it, look up a really cool potter who also does some impressive stuff, Douglas Fitch, he has a web site. Even better, buy something from them both.

Sculpture

My brother had me over again yesterday to help with his sculpture. It is a piece that comments on the banks. Essentially it is a granite slab at the bottom, then a stack of stones (actually taken from a now defuct bank building - nice touch!). It is all held together by a central steel threaded bar with a piece of what looks like natural stone on the top. The stone used is of various types and much of it is close to crumbling. He has melted lead and poured it into various cavities and cracks, and it has the effect of melted wax running down a candle.
It is very well executed and has a strong political statement behind it. If anyone wants to exhibit it, he is open to offers. It would need to be exhibited in a secure location, as in addition to its value as a piece of art, it actually has a substantial scrap value as well. If you want to buy it, get in touch now...

Book Review

Well, it had to happen, I have had my first book review on Amazon. It was a very good review from my view point, for although they only gave me a 3 out of 5 rating, the review was positive, which was really nice.
They also did not mention the spelling or grammar mistakes, which was even nicer!
So, if anyone else wishes to leave a review, please do so, all comments will be reviewed positiviely, even if they are negative - if you see what I mean.
I have started using my new radio, it cost £25 on ebay so it is not going to break any records. I made a call while I was in Northampton and got a signal check, and I had a brief conversation with someone in Milton Keynes. G1GCB is back on the air!
The radio club I belong too is putting up a special event call sign on the 3rd of March and running a live radio shack at the Daventry Museum. The theme is the early days of short wave broadcasting.
I will be going along, as some of the kit in the museum was still in use when I was working at the BBC. Particularly the old 1937 SWB19 transmitters, which were finally decommissioned in 1986.
Come along if you are interested.

Baby sitting and radios

Finally got the CB radio working in the car, gave up trying to wire it in, could not find where to attached the wires too, so I have fitted a small 10AH 12V lead acid maintenance free battery under the passenger seat & I will use this to power all the radio. I have to charge it periodically, but that's fine.
When the summer is here, I will look at running a supply in from the fuse box, for now, I will use the battery. Sorted.
I am babysitting tonight for my grandkids, my daughter has a job working nights and I will be watching the little angels for her tonight.

Oscilloscope, hot lead, books

I visited the local amateur radio club last night, the Northampton Radio Club at Northampton and have been offered a really nice radio that does almost everything I want a radio to do. It is £350 and right now I do not have £350, but I spoke to the man who owns it and he will wait until I do, so that is great.
I also got a lovely 20mhz 4 input oscilloscope, it is really nice, a few little problems, but nothing that would put me off. I am really quite pleased with it.
My brother was working on his sculpture today, he is adding melted lead to it, like you get on a dribbled candle. It looks really good. He is going to do me a cover for another of my books, no the one about the cats (will be uploaded in about a week), but the next one. This one has a working title, Organs in A Flat. It is about a time when you do not own your own body and when you die your body is kept on life support as the organs are taken out and used. It also has a nasty little twist where criminals can have their sentenced reduced if they donate organs. It is a bit dark, but I think people will like it.
I am now over the 300 download point, the books are moving and that is making me very happy. I am not heading for a best seller list, but I am really pleased with how they have been accepted. The one about my debt problems is still the best seller. Amazing.

Courses and baby sitting

I have just confirmed my LBL course, a course on position things under water using sound waves, will be on the 1st and 2nd of March. This is good.
I am about to tell my daughter I can baby sit tomorrow and through until saturday. She will be happy.

books sold as of this morrning

Wow. In the US, 73 copies of Bin laden lives
IN Germany, 1 copy of bin laden lives
In Italy, 1 copy of bin laden lives
IN the UK 15 copies of Bin laden lives.
Total Bin laden lives, 90 copies of BIn laden lives world wide.
In the US 98 copies of down but not out
In UK 57 copies of down but not out,
Total down but not out, 155. Add the first 10 from January, and that is 165 copies since date of publication.
A total of 255 of all my books!
Thank you world!

Dentist, Hypnotherapist, books

OK, It took me 4 and half years to get on an NHS dentist list, and when my appointment came round, he fell over and dislocated his ankle! So, I wait again...
I missed my hypnotherapist appointment because I got the time wrong, what an idiot.
I went to the post office (spar) to buy my dad a pasty, when I got home I found a non delivery ticket on the table, so had to walk all the back again.
But, I have had 78 Bin Laden Lives and 86 down but not out's downloaded in the US, 38 down but not outs and 22 Bin Laden LIves in the UK, 1 bin laden lives in Germany and 1 down but not out in Italy, this week. Add that to the 10 down but not outs I sold last month and I am not doing to bad at this authoring!
I am pleased.

CB Radio for car and book downloads

OK. I bought a CB radio a while ago and I want it fitting to my car. Yes, I know I told you I have a Ham ticket, and I do, but sometimes I want to play the wally and that is best done on CB.
I went and saw a garage about fitting a power lead and I have been quoted £97 + VAT. I bit much to fit a power lead! I will sort something out myself.
I have just checked Amazon and between the UK, the US and Italy I have had 194 copies of  my books downloaded.
Not bad!

Latest Book

OK, I am now on the finaly chapter of the third book. I am have arrived at the new cat and that was the whole point of the book. I should have it finished, proof read (yes I know the three mistakes left in Bin Laden Lives, I know then off by heart) and published.
At least bin laden lives had only a fraction of the mistakes that down but not out had.

Girl Friends Birtday

I called the girly on Skype today. It was nice to hear her voice again.
I just wish I could afford to marry her. Things are getting better on the financial front, but it is taking a long time. Fingers crossed she keeps patient long enough for me to get solvent and marry her.
Wish me luck...

Bit of a shock, but happy

I have had a bit of a shock. I decided to use the free promotion offer on Amazon to promote two of my books, so I put them on free download from the 12th to the 16th of February. I expected a little bit of interest, but I have been shocked by what I have got!
both in the US and the UK my book is being downloaded a lot.
OK, 1st in Italy, for Bin Laden LIves, but for the UK and USA it is more.
In the US there have been 35 downloads of Bin Laden Lives and 37 of Down but not out.
In the UK there have been 8 downloads of Bin Laden LIves and 18 Down but not out, and this is all today! Since 0900 thing morning.
I am really very happy.

Very Happy Author!

I have just checked Amazon and I have sold a total of 56 books! I am over the moon!
Very happy

Free Promotion on Amazon

My books are both available for free download over valentines day.

chilly morning

Woke up this morning and found that it was -13 over night. Yes, that is right, 13 degrees below freezing. I was quite impressed.
I also checked and there are no new book sales, which is a little surprising. Anyway, not to worry.
I added several pages to the latest book yesterday and it is progressing nicely, and is still on target to be released this month.
I have also found a flat in Wellingborough that is within my price range and is not to horrible to consider. I have asked the estate agent to arrange a viewing. Fingers crossed. It is actually for less money than I would pay for a council house, sorry, got to be PC, Social Housing.
I got my radio amateur license, and I also got my old call sign back, which is nice! I have the chinese £25 dual band radio and I am now programming all the simplex VHF and UHF channels into it, and trying to get the repeater splits set up. I have been offered an HF radio for £350, but this is a bit more than I can actually afford, so I am going to offer the guy £100 a month until I have paid for it. If he goes for it, great. If not, C'est la vie.
I was horrified reading the paper this morning. The British Government is planning to send body armour, laptops and satellite phones to Syria! Why? It is nothing to do with us. The Arab League is already sorting it out. Why are we getting involved? Look at what is happening after we got involved in Lybia, missles removed from their army are now turning up in Afghanistan. Why do our dumb politicians think they know best?  I wish they would stay out of it and let the local governments sort it out themselves. We never get any thanks for it, all we get is more grief.
We have lost bus services, library services and we are cutting our defence, but we can send money abroard at the drop of a hat. We should only be giving money for humanitarian aid, not paying billions out to three nuclear powers!
Anyway, rant over...

Been offshore

OK, I was offshore for a week. I am back now. I was a bit seasick for one day, but otherwise I was fine.
I have sold no more books, not one. I am a little surprised that the second book has not sold, it is way better than the first.
I have managed to get about half way through the third book, I am quite pleased with it, it is shaping up nicely. I am going to print it out and let my mum add bits to it, as it is about her cat after all. It has been a lot easier to write than I expect it to be, and that feels nice. I am definitely getting the hang of putting thoughts down on paper. My only problem is, my PC is a load of junk as I need to keep a fan on it to keep it running. I have found a little laptop that would be perfect and I am now waiting until I can afford it. It is £189 and it is near perfect.
The company have offered to buy me a laptop and to take the payments out of my salary, under normal circumstances, I would jump at this, but with my finances as they are, I am a bit reticent.
In fact, I am going to have to let the Girlfriend know that I do not think I can afford to go to philippines with her, as I am not going to get paid as much as I should have this month as I only did 7 days offshore, not the usual 28. Oops. She will not be happy.
I hate letting her down, but what can I do?
Anyway, I will try and call her using skype tomorrow. Best to tell her than send an email. It is doubly awful as I have not seen her for so long and miss her so much.
She is perfect for me, and I am just not able to get my life sorted out to take advantage of her being there for me. It is not good.
I am hoping that this year I will be able to shift a few paintings, sell a lot more books, off load all those cables of other items from the company and get myself out of debt.
Fingers crossed.

Going offshore tomorrow

Not sure if I will be able to update this while I am offshore, so if you do not see anything for a while, don't worry.
I have now received a CB radio I bought from Ebay, it cost me £26, I will be fitting it in the car. It was a hobby I used to enjoy and one I will enjoy again.
I have also re applied for my ham radio licence, I applied about  a week ago and hope to have the license for when I get back in two weeks. I am keeping my fingers crossed they give me my old call sign, but I am not holding my breath.
To this end, I have also bought a 2m/70cm hand held from ebay, for £32, and although it is cheap as chips, I have high hopes of this puppy!
There is also a heap of other odds and sods I have bought as well, SWR meters, wave meters, log books, a hand book on the current license conditions etc etc. I am going to get back in to this hobby as well
The third book is progresing well, I am a quarter through it, I was a lot further through it, but I did some editing. If you ever want to write a book, just do it, it is so much fun! My first book was awful, my second book a little better, my third book is not bad at all. I have learnt so much, to be honest, I have learnt stuff I did not know that I did not know! By my 10th book, I should be quite good at it!
The car was a bugger to start this morning, I took it over to the garage to get a quote for a service. £250 for the service, not bad. £382 for a new cam belt. It was done 2 years ago, but I will get it done sometime this year as it has been recomended due to the mileage.
There is now all the paint I need to restart my oil painting piled up in my bed room, so now I am just looking for somewhere to do the actual painting. My ducks are in a row, I just need to start shooting them,
Tomorrow I go back to the ship, I will be on board until the 7th, then I have a HSE training course to attend, which will take 4 days, then a Personal Professional Development Assessment with one of the Directors (should be a good chance to get on some more courses), then I have my dental and hypnotist appointments. Busy 2 weeks ahead.