JEDI July: Day 31 - The last one

All I can say at the moment is PHEW! No, not because we have finally reached the last of the 31 JEDI July blogs, but because for a few minutes there I thought the project was about to fall at the final hurdle - 11.57pm is cutting it fine to say the least!

Although not nearly worthy of the great occasion that is the writing of this final blog post, today was still quite fun. Me and L decided to get an airing in Lyndhurst, where my new digi camera took its debut photos and ice creams were consumed for the umpteenth time this month on top of the hill at Bolton's Bench.

Then, in the evening, I met up with the 'lads' at the pub for a pre-birthday drink in celebration of Jonny and Matthias' upcoming 19ths. Many games of pool were played with much jollity and it was all very good fun, although it was said pub night that oh so nearly prevented me from getting home on time to do this final blog!

Still, all's well that ends well, and what ends in this case is an excellent JEDI July. It's a month that will certainly live long in the memory and, although at times a challenge to write, this blog will hopefully serve as a lasting tribute to a wonderful July 2009.

In a final act of tribute, it's amazing what you can do with a simple roll of wrapping paper and a little JEDI imagination...


Happy JEDI July, dust fans!

JEDI July: Day 30 - The one with the pub quiz

So here we are on the penultimate day of JEDI July...a day which, much like the rest of this week, has been in the most part nothing to write home about. I got up fairly late and, as Mum and Dad were both at work, I had a pretty lazy morning, the height of activity being the highly draining task of - get this - marmiting some toast!

Dragons' Den on iPlayer got me through to midday before Mum phoned asking if I could pop round the shops to get some stuff for lunch (as our cupboard resembles that of Old Mother Hubbard at the moment). Today's weather was sunshine and showers and, typically, I found myself caught in the latter, but made up for it by purchasing some lovely big white baps, sensations crisps and a small treat in the form of maltesers.

After lunch Mum and L galavanted off to Lymington. I was originally going to join them before I heard of the tedious shopping which they had planned, so in the end elected to skip it. My laptop and I therefore spent some more quality time together before Dad arrived home. At this point my eyes were starting to strain after staring at the computer screen for so long, so I decided to take a quick breather and go for a drive.

This took me first to Calshot, where I had hoped to catch P&O cruise ship Artemis passing the spit, but unfortunately didn't quite make it on time. I therefore decided to head for Eling, a mysterious place between Totton and Marchwood which I had heard much about yet only visited on a couple of ocassions many years ago. It was a pleasant drive along the waterside in the now constant warm sunshine, however no sooner had I found and arrived in Eling then a quick phonecall home confirmed that it was time to turn round and come back again - an offer which I simply couldn't refuse with chips waiting in the oven!

Despite running out of time to go exploring, the trip had served its purpose in clearing my head. This was important as, following tea and test cricket TV with Dad, Ernest arrived to take me and Lydia on our first pub quiz outing at the Bold Forester. Apparently the event has been running every Thursday evening for six months, so it was definitely time for us to get our brains in gear and at least give it a go. Ernest bought the first round of drinks and copious crisps, we found a table amongst 8 or 9 other teams and, following much discussion, decided on a name - 'The Dullness' (catchy, eh?!).

The quiz itself comprised of three rounds of ten questions, as well as bonus interval rounds, a celebrity picture quiz and music teasers in between the main questions. The pictures were completed pre-quiz and, having identified 7 out of the possible 10, team Dullness entered into the first set of questions high in confidence. Unfortunately, things began to go downhill from this point, and half marks on the first round kind of set the tone for the remainder of the quiz...

In some cases correct answers were mulled over and then not written down, our knowledge of British Prime Ministers was scrutinised with embarassing results and, despite Lydia's inspired identification of Jeremy Clarkson as the 'who am I?' answer, 'The Dullness' finished on a measly 43 out of 85 - in other words...last place! In spite of this gallant failure, we found ourselves amongst the prizes by scooping the wooden spoon carton of mini creme eggs, which to me seemed more worth our while than the top prize bottle of chardonnay!

An unsuccesful punt on the challenging 'snowball' maths puzzle concluded a thoroughly enjoyable evening and plans are already afoot to repeat the exercise next week in order to - crazy as it sounds - come away empty-handed!

Plans are also afoot for the final fling tomorrow as JEDI July draws to a close. The day itself looks set to be another quiet affair, but its corresponding blog will, I hope, turn out to be something special. One thing I can guarantee...it certainly won't be short!

JEDI July: Day 29 - The one with the soggy sunset

It's amazing to think that in just two weeks' time I will be under the canvas at Soul Survivor - hopefully without the threat of being flooded out of the tent like we were last year. July has proved a pretty poor month weather-wise, though the damp conditions did provide some rather dramatic photo opportunities whilst out on a rare drive with Ern this evening.

With Lydia out on driving practice in Jalopy, I suggested that we pop down to Calshot to see Southampton's latest cruise liner, Celebrity Equinox, heading out of port for the first time. Sure, the ship has a naff name and at first glance appears little more than a floating apartment block, but at least we could say we had witnessed the maiden voyage of the only new cruise ship to visit the UK this year.

Celebrity Equinox had almost reached the spit by the time we arrived, so we were fortunate not to have missed it altogether. The castle area was already littered with cars as many others turned out for the landmark event, regardless of the angry-looking clouds circling overhead. Ern snapped away with his camera as the ship swam gracefully past, using the zoom function to great effect in spying on the privileged first set of passengers! Unfortunately I had left the house in a hurry and had forgotten to bring my new camera on its inaugral outing, though we had a good time reviewing Ernest's efforts once the ship had moved past.

As other cars filtered away the heavens opened. Ern continued to point his camera in every direction in search of atmospheric shots as we made our way back along the spit, though an attempt to capture a spotlight through raindrops on the windscreen proved slightly above our combined photographic ability. The castle and colourful beach huts were snapped against a slaty-grey sky and, after briefly pulling up beside Lydia and Dad in the bedgraggled car park, we found the contast between a hazy setting sun, orangey-pink cloud streaks on the horizon and the leaden scenes behind to good a photo opportunity to miss, even if it did involve braving the torrential rain beneath Ernest's golf umbrella!

These visual weather treats were in marked contast to the rest of the day which, like Tuesday, had proved fairly mediocre. The only real event of note was my weekly visit to Nanny's, where our hour of catch-up chat was accompanied, as usual, by tasty treats, this time in the form of melt-in-your-mouth cheese crackers and a strawberry jam tart. Nan was keen to hear all about Mum's birthday and the secret cake baking (she was in on it too!), while we also discussed last Saturday's Saints match and Sunday's family picnic with plenty of mirth.

My procrastination excuse of the day was retrieving my old box of diecast car models from the loft and, dull as it may sound, I spent a pleasant couple of hours looking on the undersides to find out the make and model of each. This brought back many happy memories of 'garage' games from my school days - and, boy, does that make me sound old! Lydia even challenged me to a series of races on the kitchen floor, with my Ferrari F40 proving unbeatable against the stellar line up of a Porsche 911, a Jag XJS, a Bugatti EB110 and an Aston Martin DB7. Oh what it was to be a child...!

Just two days left of JEDI July...will I manage to catch up on time? Find out tomorrow!

JEDI July: Day 28 - The one with an unwise pudding

Today has been the opitomy of averageness. That's not to say it's been a bad day, just that nothing really set it apart from any other...hence a title which suggests scraping the bottom of the imaginative barrel.

The pudding to which I refer is a block of very tasty-looking vienetta ice cream which Lydia and I bought this morning in Waitrose, only to discover on return home that our freezer was quietly defrosting on the patio! Lydia's plans for a post-pasta pudding were in peril, so a grovelling call to the Boilos was required and the vienetta was soon recovering in Grandma's freezer.

I had driven down to the Boilos' in Jalopy and whilst I was there I took the opportunity to have a peek at the progress of their new bathroom, which currently resembles an unkempt builders yard. The floor is comprised solely of MDF, the shower is simply a hole in the floor and the new toilet lacks an accompanying sink, while most of the walls are covered in plaster and the door stands off its hinges, propped up against the airing cupboard. Overall, not a pretty sight! Come the end of the work Grandma and Grandad should be able to enjoy a swanky modern wetroom, but for now tradesmen will continue to stampede up and down the stairs for at least another week!

Whilst in Waitrose Lydia and I had also bought giant pretzels and jam doughnuts and as these weren't likely to melt in a hurry we enjoyed them for lunch. The afternoon was spent thinking about doing lots of stuff (eg catching up on missed blog posts!) but actually achieving very little, which regrettably seems to be the direction most of these run-of-the-mill days take.

Having helped Dad move the freezer back indoors I drove to the golf course to join Ernest, who had brought a work friend along for a tonk round the nine hole. Before I arrived they had a go on the driving range to get their eye in, though fortunately for me this seemed to have the opposite effect as both Ern and mate Chris (who was indeed 'a good laff') suffered pretty poor rounds. I had been on course for the coveted 'bogey round' of 38 before stuffing up the final hole to finish on 40, though this was still some way ahead of the next-best score of 57!

On the way home I dropped in on the Boilos to pick up the vienetta and was treated to an update of the afternoon's events in the bathroom, as well as two rice cakes, a glass of orange juice and some money for my savings account...so definitely worth the visit!

Tomorrow looks like another day of averageness, so perhaps an ideal opportunity to catch up with those blog posts...?!

JEDI July: Day 27 - The one with the new camera

Today me and L braved town in order to seek out a new digital camera to replace my defunct old friend CX7530, which finally gave up the ghost during Saturday's football trip.

This is the outcome - a 9.2-megapixel Kodak M320:


I hope I've made the right choice - the three years and 11,000+ photos of loyal service by its predecessor is a lot to live up to. Welcome to the family, M320!

JEDI July: Day 26 - The one with the family picnic

In spite of grim forecasts, the rain held off for our annual family picnic in the New Forest...

JEDI July: Day 25 - The one where Saints actually won!

There's now less than a week to go before we draw a line under this month of blogging and, as JEDI days go, this was certainly one of the better ones.

The 'headline' event, as it were, was another trip to St Mary's with Ern, Lydia and Matt - our second in the space of a week - to watch Saints play Hearts. Although I had bought our tickets earlier in the week seats were now unreserved and we elected to sit three rows up in the Itchen stand. This turned out to be both inspired and idiotic as, although we were almost at pitch level and therefore close to the action, we paid the price by having to contend with the warmest sun for several weeks beating down on our faces for the entire match.

Nevertheless, the game was extremely entertaining and, with the roudy Northam crowd (outsted from their usual stand) sitting directly behind us, the atmosphere was electric. From what I could see Saints were all over Hearts for most of the match, though the eventual 3-0 scoreline was still a welcome surprise. The SPL, on that evidence, appears to be of the same level as the Southampton Saturday Football League!

As is to be expected, Ern and I both photographed non-stop throughout the match...that is, until my camera decided that it had had enough and gave up the ghost, just as I was trying to get a picture of the celebrations for Rasiak's second goal.

Upon further examination back home it appears that my three and a half year old camera has finally come to the end of its working life (slow violins please) which, besides being quite inconvenient, of course means further expense that I really could do without. I will try one last attempt to revive it tomorrow morning, and failing that it's off to town (again) first thing on Monday!

Matt and I had arranged the pub for this evening, so after tea and a rest back home, I drove to collect him at 8.30. We stopped off at Tesco on route for me to buy my 'picnic present' (a foody gift for tomorrow's gathering), as well as a huge jar of marmite! At t' pub we had time for a first round, a chat and a couple of games of pool before Lydia and Ern arrived. Ern and Matt sqaured up for a hugely tedious pool match, then we all spent a good hour in jovial conversation, moving from the serious (finances) to the silly ('anatomy' - as usual) with some speed. There was just time for me to tonk Ern at pool once more before convoying home.

Tomorrow holds, for me, one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year - the family picnic in the forest - and, just as in 2008, the weather prospects are not looking great. The BBC seem to think that we will just about get away with it, and I sure hope they are right! Before that we have church in the morning, so my prayers will be for the Lord to keep the heavens well and truly shut, at least until 5pm - surely not too much to ask?!

We'll see you tomorrow sunshine!

JEDI July: Day 24 - The one where I was bashed at bowling

Evening folks. Now, I am fully aware that JEDI July seems to be falling apart at the seams a little this week, what with all the exciting stuff going on. However, fear not, as I still fully intend to 'catch up' on the days that I've 'missed' - especially as they were all so brilliant! For now, however, the best way to tackle the problem is to get back into the swing of things - so hold on tight, here we go...!

Today I enjoyed my first proper lie-in for days, not getting up until gone 10, followed by a beautifully lazy morning watching the CBBC/CITV channels (art attack - woo!) and surfing t' internet. Lovely and quiet also as Mum and Lydia were in Chichester and Dad was at work, with the only interruptions being the phone, the door and my rumbling stomach!

And it would have stayed that way all day had I not previously agreed to help our 83 year old honarary curate with his new computer. I was a little sceptial as I have no experience of computer tuition, nor had I previously spoken with Richard for any length of time. However, my fears proved to be unfounded and we spent a good hour and a half discussing and practicing how to perform many basic PC tasks. He is a speedy and intuitive learner and was particularly keen to get to grips with keyboard shortcuts as using a mouse is a particular challenge. However, the crowning glory has to be fixing the webcam microphone and witnessing an unaided skype conversation between Richard and his son, all of which just goes to show that you are never to old to learn something new!

After tea tenpin bowling was on the cards with Lydia and Ernest, though for once it was I who summoned Ern early, so that we could have a quick bash with the new cricket set. Tennis balls were bowled, tonked - and then lost - left, right and centre for nearly half an hour before, having removed half a bush from my hair, it was time to head into town.

Bowling was - to put it bluntly - a disaster...that is, if points totals are taken into account! We paid for three games at a fairly reasonable £12. In my first round I managed an exceedingly average 104, beaten by Lydia on 106 but ahead of Ern on 99. However, after that I got a shockingly awful 74, with L romping to victory on 112, then in the final game (bumpers down this time), my barely improved 79 was easily topped by Ernest. In other words - teeedious!

Anger was expelled by wolfing down chips, bowling into a 'dead' lane and then whupping Ern at air hockey, and this made the evening predominantly enjoyable as opposed to simply irritating!

I was shipped back home while the others went on to Ern's house for a change. Dad and I enjoyed QI and Mock the Week (hurrah for Dave), then we had a look at photos from the past few days which he hadn't yet seen.

What a jolly old day! Matt phoned this evening and, despite, being ill during the week, he is looking forward to the footy tomorrow...as am I! See you later chaps!

JEDI July: Day 23 - The one where it was Mum's birthday

We celebrated Mum's 44th birthday with lunch at the Boilos', a trip to Furzey Gardens and a celebratory drink at the Heath with Kaye and Eddie!

JEDI July: Day 22 - The one with the surprise cake

Me, L and Ern pretended to have a pub night but instead snuck off to the Boilos' to bake Mum a surprise Birthday cake!

JEDI July: Day 21 - The one where it was Lydia's birthday

Lydia's 18th birthday - no time to write a full post so instead a few photos from the day:

JEDI July: Day 20 - The one with the last-minute rush

It's Lydia's 18th birthday tomorrow, and thus today was proclaimed by Mum to be a day of preparation. As usual, I have foolishly left everything until the last minute and with 24 hours to go had no card, presents or anything to hand over on the big day.

To remedy this situation a dash into town was required and, with Mum and Grandad also needing last-minute purchases, it was agreed that we should all take the plunge and go in together. The birthday girl too wanted to come along for the ride and, although it was possible for us all to squeeze into Mum's car, Lydia and I elected to follow behind in Jalopy so that I could work to my own agenda in terms of timings.

A great triumph (and source of much frantic jollity on route) was keeping in convoy with Mum and Grandad for almost the entire inward journey, especially as they were able to accelerate away far better than ourselves. Once parked we all split up and, following speedy visits to WHSmith and HMV, I was able to tick two out of the three items off my list. Town was fortunately not too busy by its standards, though despite much searching, the third present eluded me and I concluded that I would have to pick it up out of town on the way home. I also planned to stop at the ticket office at St Mary's, having spent most of the morning arranging a trip to see Saints v Hearts this weekend, following on from the success of the Ajax game last Saturday.

Next came a moment of dimness as I arrived back at the car and paid for my ticket before realising that I had forgotten to buy a cheaty chipping net that Ernest had (very apologetically) requested yesterday evening. Fortunately 30 mins of free parking just across the road came to my resuce and I was able to sprint back into West Quay and the madness of the Sports Direct shop in order to fulfill that particular errand.

After these exertions came another dim moment, as having planned to head further into town for the stadium ticket office, I rather foolishly ended up driving along the road leading OUT of town instead! Nevertheless, this proved a blessing in disguise as I was still able to pop into the Comet store in Millbrook and complete my present purchase list - though only after being hampered by an overenthusiastic sales assistant who conspired to talk me through an entire display of bangin' bass headphones!

After this debacle I battled my way back through the town traffic, made it to the stadium to collect the tickets (lower Itchen stand this time) and then had to turn around and come all the way back again! Surprisingly, I was the first to arrive home, though Mum and Lydia weren't too far behind and having reconvened we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch together.

For the afternoon I had planned to make Lydia a birthday ditty, though a constantly-crashing Windows Movie Maker soon put paid to that idea. I'm sure it's even worse in Vista than it ever was in Windows XP...!

Having barely recovered from the tyranny of town, it was soon time for Dad and I to set out to Bramshaw for our fifth church cricket match of the season vs Netley Marsh. With usual skipper Gareth away, Dad was to captain the team, though with a side already put together his duties were fortunately limited to collecting the match fees and shouting a lot.

With the toss won Dad elected to bat first, meaning that we would for once be protecting a total rather than chasing one. Unfortunately, the novelty of this quickly wore off with a pitifully slow run rate over the first 10 overs. I was handed the tricky duty of filling in the score book and, though the severe lack of runs did make the task slightly easier, it was still useful to have the eyes of big JH and Phlipflop to help me along.

The run rate picked up slightly for the final eight overs, though this was in no way helped by my worst batting attempt to date - out first ball! After a mini batting collapse, St Andrew's finished on 89-6, leaving the team with a difficult battle on our hands to record our first win of the season. As it transpired, our fielding performance was actually not too bad, especially with a depleted side, and I was very chuffed to take two wickets - one through Dad catching on the boundary, but the other clean-bowling leg stump and gaining revenge for my earlier dismissal.

Despite a solid showing, our fear that we had not put on enough runs in our innings came to fruition, Netley Marsh reaching their target with a couple of overs to spare (although they were aided by what was, in our opinion at least, a rather over-generous umpire...plumb LBW waved away with 'the bowler was in the way so I didn't see it'!) Nevertheless, an enjoyable match had escaped the weather, been played in good spirit and provided another opportunity for fellowship with one another, which is surely the foundations upon which the team should be built.

Following the match there was much socialising to be had and although I wanted to get home reasonably early, Dad got tied up in working the bar and tidying the pavillion, so we didn't leave until getting on for 10pm.

Once home my already hectic day was far from over as I spent a good few hours drawing, scanning, colouring, printing, cutting and writing Lydia's birthday card, as well as wrapping all her presents and finally crawling into bed at half two in the morning! Despite being totally whacked, I was pleased with the outcome of the card...and the day as a whole has certainly been very memorable. My guess is that tomorrow may well follow suit!

JEDI July: Day 19 - The one where I cycled twenty miles

Today may have been quite hectic, however in order to get in practice for a lack of blogging opportunities over the coming week (likely to be one of the busiest of the year), I'm going to try and keep this one as short as possible.

This morning was church, as always, which I had to rush to get to after my alarm, set for 8.30, failed me when I needed it most! I sat with the Butler family while big JB preached an excellent sermon about us being a church in the New Testament sense of the word - united as a group of God's people, rather than getting caught up in the politics - ie the church building. During communion I found my hand stuffed with a huge piece of broken white loaf, so large that it would almost have done for lunch if accompanied by a sneaky slice of cheese!

Afterwards I spoke with Matt, making plans for a cycle this afternoon, Simmo and also Richard Thomson, who has requested my help in getting him started with his brand new computer. I agreed to pop round on Friday afternoon. My pigeonhole contained information about our upcoming trip to Soul Survivor, as well as the obligitary C of E newspaper for Mum and Dad. I was also asked to write an article for the church magazine about the activities of the church yoof, so a busy morning all round.

Back home Dad made a hash of re-hanging the dining room mirror while Mum treated us all to a lovely Sunday dinner. Matt arrived at 2.30 ready for our cycle ride and, in consultation with my rather battered route map, we carved out a spontaneous ride which eventually led us around both roads and cycle tracks between Marchwood, Ashurst, Totton, Hounsdown and Dibden. The cycle paths between Marchwood and Ashurst proved only to be a good bit of exercise as they ultimately circled an area of forest in a large loop. Fortunately, unlike on our ride a couple of weeks ago, these tracks were mainly flat and thus were a pleasure to cycle on. The path between Ashurst and Totton was also fairly fast, although we did get a bit of surprise after emerging next to the dual carriageway going into town! The only really nasty part of the journey was when the heavens decided to drench me for the third time this week going back towards Marchwood, though the sun soon returned to dry us off ready for the final uphill leg on the way home.

Once I was home and recovering I retraced our route on Google Earth and was surprised to find it totalled nearly 20 miles! Not bad going for just a few hours out on a Sunday afternoon! At this point Mum had gone into work to finish a few things off before her holiday this week, Dad had gone to the evening service at church and Lydia and Ernest were too busy canoodling to be much fun so I decided to drop in on Nanny, having been unable to do so while with Lydia a couple of days ago.

It turned out that Nanny had been down in Worthing visiting Joyce with Sue, Janet and Kevin over the weekend, so she told me all about her trip along the coast while I got her up to speed with events in the McGill family, as well as looking ahead to the birthdays this coming week. Apparently Sue, Janet, Jean and Charlie will all be able to make it to Lydia's birthday on Tuesday, which will certainly add to the atmosphere! French fancies were lurking in Nan's larder, which was obviously an offer too good to miss, and these contributed to my staying for nearly an hour and a half before heading home in time for another popcorn-fuelled Top Gear.

Ern, Lydia, Dad and I all viewed in the lounge together, surrounded by giant bowls of microwave popcorn. Mum arrived home halfway through and, despite being tired from the extra hours of work, very kindly made us all some sarnies for tea. Top Gear featured another cheap car challenge, where the presenters each bought a rear-wheel drive car for less than £1500. The punishment for breaking down was having to drive an old Morris Marina, which was a source of much mirth for us as Mum and Dad used to own one back in the 1980s!

After this I fancied a trip to the pub so me, Ern and L bundled into Nice Fat Motor and headed for the Bold Forester. Here we chatted to the landlords for quite a while about their holiday desires (of all things) before escaping to enjoy a good hours' chat and jollity. Much fizzy and crisps were downed and Ernest took great delight in pointing his camera at anything that moved.

We stayed til past last orders, leaving me hardly any time in which to write this blog. In spite of this, it has naturally overflowed into a huge, rambling mess so I think I shall leave it here for now and maybe edit in the morning, if I have time. Which I won't!

JEDI July: Day 18 - The one with Saints v Ajax

After writing yesterday's post I rather geekily worked out how many words I have done so far in JEDI July blogs and it turned out to be over 11,000! That may sound a lot, and in some respects it is, however to put it in perspective the figure is still way off the pace of Lydia's nanowrimo project, which by this point would have passed the 25,000 word marker. I must therefore conclude that I am by no means a writer but simply a rambler, lacking in imagination, emotion and literary flair. Nevertheless, we are now in the final two weeks and though my technique may be clumsy, ugly and somewhat dull, the important thing is to get the job done...so here we go!

Today was the day of the much-anticipated Saints v Ajax match and for once I was up early at 7.30, awaking to the sound of the front door closing as Dad left to take Mum to the station. (She was catching the train to London to meet up with friends.) Once Dad had returned we both walked round the road for a paper and some sweeties, then watched a bit of Open Championship golf on TV.

Ernest arrived early and once Lydia was ready we were able to set off for town by 11.20. We parked in the Marlands and our first stop was M&S to buy some lunch, which we ate together on the benches outside the shop. I had virtually the same luch as last week (croissants, crisps, cookies) and it was just as yummy as before!

Being a Saturday, town was very busy, but we had about an hour before we had to start thinking about making our way to the stadium. So, after Ernest had talked Lydia round, we all trooped up to the sports shop as I wanted to show Ern where I had bought my 7 iron and cheaty chipper. He ended up buying a ball-collecting device, while I spotted some tennis balls on sale for 39p each. I have been on the lookout for these to use at the family picnic as we are running a bit short and Kaye/Ern are bound to lose a few, so I seized the opportunity and got five of them!

After this I split from Ern and L and had a mosy round a few shops, mainly browsing electrical goods with wishful thinking. By this point the crowds were becoming a bit suffocating and I was glad when it was time to reconvene at 1.15. We made our way back to the car and, once Ern had panicked over losing the parking ticket before finding it again and then forgetting to pay(!!), we drove to Ocean Village. I had done my research which suggested this to be a good place to park and I was proved right as the walk to the stadium from here took less than quarter of an hour, even though the route was in no way what you would call scenic!

Ern bought a programme then we skirted round to the megastore to find Matt and Will, who were already waiting. Will had kindly offered me his nearly new Saints shirt for a bargain £10 (they are usually £40 from the shop), so money and shirt swapped hands and after a quick look in the megastore we made our way through the turnstiles.

I nipped to the gents to don my new shirt, which fitted rather well, then Matt and Will departed for block 33, while me, L and Ern headed for our seats in row FF of block 32, 816 to 818. The pre-match entertainment centred around the dawn of a new era for the Saints, with the recent takeover of the club by wealthy Swiss businessman Markus Leibherr, as well as the appointment of new manager Alan Pardew yesterday morning, a rare opportunity for Southampton fans to celebrate. Both received standing ovations just before kick off and many Swiss flags were in evidence among the bumper 20,000+ spectators - not bad for a pre season friendly!

The match itself was largely dominated by Ajax, although Saints made a game of it in the first half, taking the lead after quarter of an hour before being pegged back by what seemed a rather dubious penalty, the score at half-time being 1-1. In the second half, however, Ajax showed why they are one of the top teams in the Dutch league with a dominant and classy display, taking the lead early in the half before grabbing two more in the final 10 minutes to give a final scoreline of 1-4. No disgrace to Saints, who had done well to keep them at bay for the majority of the match, however it was Ajax's captain and not Saints' Kelvin Davis who lifted the Ted Bates trophy to a somewhat muted and dignified round of applause at the end of the match.

Matt and Will decided to leave quickly but the rest of us stayed behind taking a few photos until there was hardly anyone left inside the ground. Upon making our way out we discovered that it was raining and also rather cold, which therefore necessitated a brisk return to the car.

The traffic coming out of town was horrendous, but this presented us with an excellent opportunity to beep, wave and generally wind other people up as we battled our way through the ever-merging lanes. The pinnacle of this experience was forcing a women passenger into hysterics by attempting to 'hide' behind the tennis balls I had bought earlier, eventually causing her to jovially mouth 'you're mad!' as I attempted to use them as replacement ears!

We made it through after nearly an hour and decided to treat ourselves by stopping off at the chippy on the way home. I ate mine upstairs while Lydia and Ernest watched Doctor Who and Dad arrived home having had his cricket match rained off midway through the game.

I spent the remainder of the evening on my PC, looking through and editing photos from the day and reading the first reports and reaction from the match on the internet. Also broke out an old season review and some of my Saints shirts which I used to wear incessantly in my early teens!

It has been a tiring but enjoyable footy-filled day. Church tomorrow, then hopefully a relaxing afternoon...if I'm lucky! See you later chaps!

JEDI July: Day 17 - The one with an impromptu visit

Today has been dominated by very wet and blustery weather, meaning there wasn't much opportunity to get out and be particularly adventurous even had I wanted to. As it happened, I was perfectly happy to spend the morning at home listening to Ashes test cricket on my laptop in the lounge. It's days like this that I will look back on once I have resumed my studies and find myself envious of such lazy luxuries!

Mum was at home this morning and it was nice to have lunch together for a change, though she had to leave for work soon after. I received a call from Matt Lawes letting me and Lydia know that the CU social planned for this evening would have to be postponed as not enough people could make it - a shame as it is now nearly two months since we saw the rest of the CU leaders, a good group of people who we have enjoyed spending many hours planning and praying with over the past year. Hopefully we will be able to agree on a new date within the next few weeks.

Lydia and I then had to embark on a secret mission which I have to keep hushed about, other than that we briefly visited Hythe on route. On the way back to the car the heavens decided that I had not been punished enough at golf yesterday and began to unleash their watery wrath, so we ended up huddled under Lydia's tiny pink umbrella, probably looking like a right pair of numpties!

After completing our mission we stopped off to surprise the Boilos and ended up spending a good hour and a half catching up on events and chatting about all sorts. Grandma broke out the garibaldi biscuits before nipping out for a haircut and Grandad talked me through his backlog of painting projects that he needs to finish in time for exhibition. Lydia was pleased to learn that she had another mention in the Herald magazine for her poetry achievements. Honestly, I think she'll earn a page to herself sooner or later!

While we were there Will Simmons phoned saying that he had bought tickets for himself and Matt for the Saints v Ajax game tomorrow and we arranged to meet outside the stadium megastore.

Lydia and I left the Boilos at around 5, planning to drop in on Nanny on the way home, but alas she wasn't in so no jam tarts on this particular Friday! After getting back a nasty surprise lay on the doormat - a letter informing me of an increase in my car inurance premium. How lovely.

I spent the vast majority of the evening playing around on the computer upstairs, breaking off only for a soup and sandwich tea once Mum had arrived home. Dad and I spent the final hour or so before bed sat at our laptops at opposite ends of the dining room table, with me having to jump in to offer essential copy and paste assistance on a number of ocassions!

Ernest was lurking about with Lydia and we chatted briefly about plans for the football tomorrow, which I am now thoroughly looking forward to.

Time now to get some shut eye and prepare for the busyness ahead. Night all!

JEDI July: Day 16 - The one where golf became a water sport

So, we find ourselves at the middle day of the month, which means that by the time you have finished reading this there will be fewer JEDI posts to come than have already been published!

That's right folks, July is positively flying past, and the second half of the month promises great excitement. Next week we have both Lydia's and Mum's birthdays to look forward to, as well as the fourth family picnic (weather permitting!). Add into that mix the football on Saturday and the promise of a bowling trip and there is certainly a cause for eager anticipation.

The only downer, of course, is that summer seems to have deserted us. If anyone has seen where the fine weather has run off to, then we would very much appreciate its return!

In stark contrast to the many events lined up over the next fortnight, today turned out to be one of distinct averageness. After getting up at around 9 (I really must get out of that habit), I spent most of the morning and early afternoon catching up with programmes on BBC iPlayer. This may sound lazy, but in reality I rarely watch anything on TV as I am readily occupied on most evenings, and thus it was most enjoyable.

Whilst on the computer I also did a bit of Googling, trying to find a suitable place for hosting the website that I want to build. This was going to be one of my summer projects (along with clearing out the loft and doing my Bible notes every day, to name but a few) and as the holidays are fast disappearing I need to decide to stop procrastinating and get on with things. In fact, I may well write up my list of holiday aims in a future post, so that I have incentive to actually carry them out...watch this space!

The only noteable event of the day came in the early evening. Ernest and I had arranged another round of golf and, despite a threatening sky looming overhead, we made for the first tee at around 6.20. Unfortuately we found ourselves stuck behind a group of three young lads who conspired to be the slowest and most tedious set of players we had ever had the arduous task of following.

To give you some idea of just how slow they were, in the time it took us to play the entire lengthy, 260-yard, par 4 first hole with scores of 6 and 5 respectively, they had barely finished teeing off on the 2nd with no-one holding them up in front. Teeeedious!

The wait between the second and third holes took over ten minutes, during which time it began to rain, and by the time we had finished the fourth the heavens had really opened. The remainder of the round was played in very uncomfortable conditions as our clothes and equipment got steadily more and more saturated. Ern initially claimed that the experience was quite enjoyable, but by the time we found ourselves trudging down the eighth fairway soaked to the skin, having both played dreadful shots and lost some nice golf balls, even he had to accept that it was simply 'an experience'.

The foul weather (and foul players) had definitely taken the fun out of the game, with the desire simply to finish overriding any lingering desire to play well. In truth we both felt a bit cheated, with a lot of time, money and effort wasted on a disappointing round which failed to improve golfing credentials and succeeded only in creating a bedraggled mess of us both.

Back home I gained little sympathy (apparently it's 'just one of those things'), but was glad to rid myself of the feeling of taking a shower fully-clothed. Mum took time out of her and Dad's home group meeting to provide tea, and soon a replenished Ernest returned to finish watching Lydia's 'Becoming Jane' film, which we had all started watching the night before.

As the lounge was occupied we piled upstairs to view part 2 on my computer. Ern had provided a steady stream of nosh (probably too much) and the film - which continually swung between the emotions - kept us quiet(ish) for an hour or so. I thought it was a good watch, though obviously lacking in that 'essential' comedy element - is a jolly ending really too much to ask?!

Considering today was fairly quiet, I have ended up writing rather a lot. I do hope I haven't bored you. See ya tomorrow for the much-anticpated CU leaders' social!

JEDI July: Day 15 - The one with a ticket and a wicket

Yet again it seems that I am the last to post my blog and yet again it will mean I go to sleep late and wake up at a silly hour tomorrow morning. Fortunately, my excuse is perfectly valid, for I have been busy all afternoon and if I had blogged at lunch time then the entire post would have been no longer than this first paragraph!

Yes folks...this morning was, once again, pretty much a write-off, as after dragging myself out of bed, having breakfast, surfing the net for a while and then indulging in a shower, it was almost lunch time. The only real event of note was Phil coming to collect Lydia for a driving lesson and only being allowed in by virtue of me noticing a shadowy figure standing outside the porch. We really must get that doorbell fixed!

I waited for Lydia to come home before having lunch, and walked round Tesco to get some 'supplementary' food as the contents of the larder were largely inedible. After we had eaten Lydia agreed to accompany me to town in order to purchase tickets for us two and Ernest to watch the Saints v Ajax friendly at St Mary's on Saturday. This meant battling our way through the city traffic in Jalopy and, although I knew roughly where I was going, being unfamiliar with the area (ie which lane to be in and when) made the journey a bit more of an adventure!

Upon arriving at the stadium we found parking tricky as the signs seemed to contradict eachother - 'pass holders only - clamping fine £25' placed next to 'visitors and megastore customers only' - very confusing! In the end I left Lydia with the car to tell a sweet story of innocence if necessary and walked round to the box office to collect the tickets. Fortunately, as all of us are classed as 'young adults', I manged to get them for the bargain price of £5 each, which is excellent value considering Ajax are a regular champions league side (admittedly they are likely to tonk Saints but that's a story for Saturday).

Thankfully Lydia and Jalopy had not been seized and, after briefy getting lost due to the one-way system, we successfuly navigated our way onto the familliar road home. Lydia wanted to stop in Hythe so we diverted through Marchwood and once L had made her purchase we bought yet more ice creams to eat on the sunny promenade, which made for an excellent half-hour restbite.

We arrived home with not much time to spare before I had to go to church cricket, so I set up some stumps in the garden and did some bowling practice for around 20 minutes in order to get warmed up. Dad was held up with work and, after getting back late, had to make a quick turnaround for us to be at Paultons cricket ground for the 6.15 start.

The ground is very picturesque, with the only downside being its location - right beside a junction of the M27, with traffic noise a constant presence. Fortunately we were blessed with excellent weather and a good number of friends from church had turned out to support the team.

Gareth lost the toss meaning that we ended up fielding first for the fourth match in a row, with me alternating mainly between the square leg and mid-off positions. I bowled in the 10th and 12th overs and was lucky enough to grab my second wicket of the season, the batsman edging his shot into the hands of wicket keeper James. However, I didn't have it all my own way as the next man in tonked a couple of sixes and I finished with figures of 1-20. Dad also got a wicket, clean bowling his man towards the end of the innings. Overall the fielding was pretty good, with only a few loose balls letting us down. A disappointment was the disruption to the flow of play caused by balls landing in bushes which could then not be found, and as Paultons hit quite a lot of boundaries, this caused a problem on a number of occasions. They finished on 154-5, leaving us chasing (yet again) a large but not entirely unachievable target.

I was put in at no.7 and, with St Andrew's making a strong start, I sat on the sidelines chatting to Sam and Simmo, suspecting that my tonking 'talent' may again be surplus to requirements. However, after the departure of the two openers, wickets tumbled fairly quickly and I found myself in bat alongside Dad with four overs remaining. The very first ball I faced took a huge bounce and I somehow manged to knock it away for 4, despite the real intention being to maintain the current shape of my nose! With a high run rate required, Dad was understandably keen to stay on strike and hit three sixes in succession. I added a few more runs to my tally, but knowing that much more was required, I took a final over swish at the ball, which turned, the bat missed and that was me out for 8. A few balls later Dad suffered a similar fate and we finished on 140-7...a 14-run defeat. Again we had come so near, yet so far, but the team had once more done itself proud against 'proper' cricketing opposition.

A post-match drink was in order (though two cokes may have been a little excessive), after which Dad made like we were heading for home, but in fact spent quite some time phoning round the Bramshaw side trying to patch up his team for Saturday!

We finally made it back by around 10 and found Ern and Lydia, fresh from table tennis escapades, watching a 'Becoming Jane'. I joined in the viewing and also aided them in the consumption of tooty frooties and yet more popcorn. Dad also stuck some highly nutritious potato wedges in the oven to top it all off! The film proved too long to finish in one sitting so we shall continue tomorrow evening after me and Ern have played golf.

After all that I think my current state of tiredness can be justified so I shall draw this glorified match report to a close. Farewell, friends!

JEDI July: Day 14 - The one with my final Holy Smoke

After just over two years being part of the St Andrew's 'yoof', this evening I attended my final Holy Smoke session. Despite becoming involved with the church youth group at a fairly late stage, I have been lucky enough to experience many memorable events over the past couple of years and have witnessed many changes, none more so than the change of youth leader, a gradual process which has taken the best part of this year.

I also have Holy Smoke to thank for helping me to become involved in church life, which has in turn done wonders for both my faith and my confidence. Before I started I was the silent Christian and generally quite a shy person, whereas now I feel able to share what I believe with others as the key principles of what it means to be a follower of Jesus have been confirmed and reinforced within me. It makes a lot more sense and has become real and relevant, something which had not always been true in the past. Being part of the church has also, I believe, shaped and strengthened my personality, helping me to go about my day-to-day activities with joy and without fear. For this I shall be eternally grateful.

For my final session - and the first since before Easter due to the Just10 event - we looked at whether Adam and Eve had a choice when they ate from the tree in the Garden of Eden. Due to our small numbers we were able to have quite a fascinating discussion, with many theories put forward and questions raised.

We decided that Adam and Eve did have a choice whether to eat the fruit or not, as God has granted us free will, and even though he knows the choices we are going to make this doesn't mean he has forced us to make them. This is difficult to get your head around, however if we were meant to understand everything then in the end Christianity would rely more on law than faith - something which the New Covenant was intended to reverse following the resurrection of Jesus.

I'm aware that I'm waffling here but I think it is important that we shouldn't feel obliged to understand everything before we can believe - that's one of the key lessons I learned from my time in Holy Smoke.

As well as the discussion we spent an enjoyable session catching up with eachother's news, praying for eachother and having a good old laugh. Hopefully the same will be true when I move on to the CU at uni next term (though there is still Soul Survivor to come before I offically leave the group).

Outside of HS, today has been refreshingly quiet. I enjoyed a blissfully peaceful morning to myself while Mum and Lydia were in Lymington (though they did bring back a delicious lunch) before accompanying the girls on a trip to Hythe this afternoon. Here I had another ice cream on the prom and managed to find myself a BOGOF deal on fanta. Bonus!

I have also been trying to improve my bowling in preparation for the next church cricket match tomorrow by aiming at some rather tiny plastic cricket stumps in the garden. In some ways this helps to achieve accuracy, although full size would ultimately be more realistic. I do have my eye on a kwik cricket set from Amazon, but I don't know whether I'll be able to afford it yet. In regards to success of the bowling...let's just say there is still some way to go!

Apologies if you have stayed up late waiting for me to finish this (though I'm pretty sure no-one is that bothered). I'll attempt to organise myself better next time, but Mock the Week on Dave was too much of a lure! Nighty night folks!

JEDI July: Day 13 - The one where the shed was revamped

This morning I made the startling discovery that this isn't the first time I have done JEDI July! Back in the days before Lydia and I were lucky enough to have computers at our disposal, we both used to keep written summer holiday diaries. These diaries usually began on August 1st and continued until whenever we ended up being too far behind to bother catching up. However, for some reason back in 2000 I started one in July and this goes right the way through from the 4th to the 31st.

Naturally, I shall therefore take an extract from the corresponding 13th July for your reading pleasure:

"Mum picked Kevin, Lydia and I up at 3.10pm. We went home but, once again, me and Kevin didn't play football. We watched fifteen-to-one before we watched 'the worst witch' at 4.35pm, which was the programme we really wanted to watch. Kevin went home at 5.00pm and then I went upstairs to play with my electric train track. No sooner than I had done this, Lydia called for me to play skipping with her. I had tea, played more with my track and packed it away. Mum put gel on my verruca, bed at 8.40pm."

I am pleased to report that nothing from this extract (apart from tea) now forms part of my day-to-day activities!

Having had a very quiet Monday morning at home, Lydia and I drove down to the village at around 2 as L wanted to have a look in a few charity shops for books on her uni reading list. Despite not being able to find the ones she wanted, we spent an enjoyable half an hour searching, and even I flicked through a book or two (shock horror!). After this we were going to get an ice cream but it seemed a little too cold so we instead bought some candy sticks and strawberry laces from Martins and ate them on the prom. While we were sat there it became a lot warmer so on our way to the library I decided to pop into another newsagent to get some ice creams after all. Lydia had a quick skirt around the library for books without success then joined me in eating our ices on the bench outside.

We then went for a mad drive around Blackfield and the surrounding area, during which I was delighted to be the recipient of a wave from some random dude by the roadside! After so many occasions where Andy, Lydia and I have been surprising innocent bystanders with our beep and wave antics, it was fantastic to have the message returned for a change (albeit minus the beep)!

On return home I decided to begin the daunting task of clearing out the bottom shed. (I had intended to make a start this morning but had become distracted and ended up procrastinating, as always.) As there were so many cobwebs I thought the best course of action would be to get absolutely everything out, so that I could purge the shed and its 'furniture' of all undesirable ming. This not particularly well though-out idea led to the creation of the scene below...

That's right - a huge pile of muddled mess. And there was more rubbish out of shot.

Naturally, when it came to putting things back in place after tea, everything I wanted to access seemed to be at the bottom of the pile. There was also a rather a lot of old toys and battered equipment that we no longer want or need that seemed always to be in the way of the useful stuff. However, after much huffing and puffing, hoovering, lugging things around and trying to arrange stuff so it all fitted, I finished up with something noticeably more organised than it had been before I started, which surely means it was worth the effort.

The question now is - will it last???

Anyhoo, I'm off as getting to bed on time last night was actually very satisfying and I would certainly benefit from repeating the exercise. Catch you later dudes!

JEDI July: Day 12 - The one where Kev played golf

I was on visuals at church this morning, which meant a hurried breakfast and speedy shower before a brisk walk round the road in order to be briefed by Richard about the service itinerary - thankfully nothing too complicated. The focus of the service was 'Being Adopted', with Reverend John discussing our adoption by God out of our slavery to sin and into His kingdom. The visuals ran smoothly and, despite having a duty to fulfil, this didn't stop me from enjoying the worship and engaging with the message. I spoke briefly with Wendy after the service and also Matt, who was off to Reading in the afternoon to see some uni friends before returning to Swindon tomorrow.

Back home Dad and I had a go with my bumper blackener on Jalopy. We found this worked well in abrasive areas, though on pieces of trim that had been smoothed out we had to resort to using shoe polish, which actually worked just as well as the spray can. As a result of our efforts the wheel arches are no longer a nasty cream and the car is looking that little bit more loved than it had done before.

After Mum's delicious Sunday dinner Ernest called and we went to collect Kevin for our pre-arranged round of golf. A rather dazed-looking Kev was surprised at the amount of equipment that Ernest and I had brought with us, not to mention the luxury of trollies, and thus was not best pleased at having to walk around the course carrying six weary-looking clubs in an overgrown smarties tube with 'HIRE' emblazened across the front. Upon reaching the first green we also discovered that the dopey dude in the club house had given left-handed Kevin a right-handed putter, so me and Ern treated our golfing guest by watching him run all the way back up the fairway to fetch a replacement.

In spite of all this, we still enjoyed a good couple of hours thrashing around the sunny course and I was pleased to finish on 40, four shots ahead of Ern and with two pars to my name. Kev made it round in 49, which wasn't at all bad for a beginner (49 is what I got on my first nine-hole round and I had already been playing pitch and putt for a couple of months previously).

By this point it was a very warm afternoon (26 degrees from the car's temperature reading). Once Kevin had been taken home, Ern dropped me off then I sat out on the patio with my laptop listening to Ashes test cricket, Mum kindly bringing me some picnic tea.

I was supposed to be going to a youth service with Holy Smoke however when I walked round the church to meet in the car park there appeared to be no-one around, so I returned home to listen to an exciting conclusion to the cricket. After a tense final few overs, England managed to scrape a draw against Australia - no mean feat having been 70-5 and still 170 runs behind at lunch earlier today. Apparently it was a match that will live long in the memory, so I felt privileged to have been able to hear it out.

Plainly in a cricketing mood, I decided to bat a ball around in the garden for a while and when Ernest arrived to watch Top Gear he bowled me a few balls and vice versa. We paused to join L and Dad in the lounge, finding the slow one watching the conclusion of the cricket highlights on Five (showing only continual boundaries in between tedious crowd shots and advert breaks). Top Gear was accompanied by two bowls full of popcorn, together with drinks kindly served by Lydia, and featured an interview with 100m record-breaker Usain Bolt, as well as the usual high-octane, testosterone-filled fun.

After this Ernie and I returned to the garden to see out the fading daylight by smashing a few more tennis balls about, with Ern's powerful batting out-smashing my more considered stroke play. Charlie turned up talking about Mike Shelley (yet again), then Ernest retreated upstairs to see Lydia, leaving me to clear up the garden.

To try and put a stop to my recent trend of rather late nights, I made an effort this evening to turn in when everyone else did and am writing this on my laptop whilst already in bed. It means I'm already half way to getting some shut eye, as I find that sitting at my desktop PC distracts me from wanting to get ready for bed. I hope no-one minds!

To round off...today, as I'm sure you are aware, is 12th July. This means three things...

1) It is a month since my final exam (though it seems a lot longer)
2) It is one month until Soul Survivor (yay!)

Most worrying of all however...

3) It is six months since my last birthday, meaning that in just half a year I will no longer be a teenager!

And on that bombshell, I shall have to end. Thanks very much for reading. See you tomorrow!

JEDI July: Day 11 - The one where it rained all day

Evening dudes. It's been raining pretty much all day long, meaning today's activities have been fairly limited. It's only on days like this - raining from dawn til dusk - when you don't actually feel guility for wanting to stay indoors, and while in the winter they tend to be many and frequent (consequently being written off as 'another dreary day') post-April they are a treat to be savoured.

However, despite being the perfect day for sheltering inside and getting stuck into a cosy project such as clearing out a drawer, this morning I did have errands to run. Lydia finally nagged me enough to get her birthday invitations printed and for those that didn't need to be posted, I ventured out on door-to-door deliveries.

I called at Nanny's (for the second day running), the Butler's and the Boilos, each for about an hour, and at each location I was treated to a welcome drink and a friendly chat. It was definitely a 'weekend' sort of thing to do and zipping about like this really makes me appreciate the freedom having a car of my own brings.

While I was at Matt's we arranged to meet this evening at the pub with the two Mikes.

Arrived home at 2ish for lunch. Ernest soon arrived and he drove Lydia and I through the rain to Carlo's Ice Cream Parlour, on the way to Romsey. He we enjoyed servings of strawberry and vanilla ice cream, topped off with a 99, though because of the wet we had to savour these in the car as opposed to on the usual picnic benches. Such sacrifices!

On our way to Carlo's Ernest had discovered that his driver side headlight had gone so we had to stop off at Halfords on the way home for him to get it replaced. While he was sorting it out I had an oggle at the various car maintenance stuff. I had wanted to try out my new bumper blackener this weekend but the weather has so far prevented it. We also popped in to Tesco, where Ernest purchased some rather smashing flowers for his best beloved.

After popping home for tea, Ernest later returned with Beth for our second film night. We had planned to watch two movies the previous night, however, it was felt that the excellent (if slightly harrowing) 'Miss Potter' may be slightly trivialised if followed by madcap kiddies animation Jimmy Neutron. The rather substantial food food pile had also proved too much even for yours truly, and thus we had decided to move the second film over to this evening.

Last night we instead went for a very noisy drive across the forest, venturing down the dark and eerie roads of East Boldre, speeding through pointless Pilley and storming through the fords of Brockenhurst. We were, in fact, so loud that Ernest commanded a vow of silence on our way home, breaking up the headache-inducing northern accents, frenzied waving contests and girly chatter in the back for at least a little while.

Back to this evening...and Jimmy Neutron was, I have to say, probably the most nonsensical film I have had the 'misfortune' of witnessing! I will admit that it was funny in places, and that it did provide a good evening's entertainment (not to mention a fine excuse for food consumption) though this hardly made up for the deep sense of weariness that we all experienced at its conclusion! The film genuinely wore me out, so we were certainly well-advised to have a seperate (very spesh) film night, otherwise I think I would have been completely drained of emotion come the bitter end!

Once we had cleared up I drove across the forest to the pub, where I met up with Matt and the two Mikes. As they had already been there a while, we launched straight into several games of pool, first single matches and then doubles. Mike A proved to be pool master supreme, though I didn't think I did too badly either (despite twice conspiring to pot the black!).

James Page was there with some of his friends and I chatted to him for a while, mostly about cricket. He was trying to pursuade me to join the Hythe team, though I in turn assured him this was not a good move in view of my recent church performances!

A final tonking by Mike signalled the end, and I followed Matt home across a very dark and wet forest, making it back safely and in good time to finish this blog.

I'm on visuals at church tomorrow, me and Ernest are challenging cousin Kev to a round of golf and there is a church youth service in the evening. If the weather holds up it should be a good day. See ya then!

JEDI July: Day 10 - The one with Miss Potter

I'm going to try and get this done now, as Andy and Beth are coming over this evening for a film night and I don't think my body clock will thank me for yet another late finish. Since the start of May I have been keeping a record of when I wake up and also when I go to bed, and at the moment it doesn't make for pretty reading if you consider yourself a morning person - something which I can sadly no longer claim to be.

Today has been perhaps the quietest of any JEDI day thus far. I got up around 10ish and spent the morning watching telly and surfing the internet. Lydia and I were going to sit outside but the sunny morning soon gave way to cloudier conditions and rain looked likely, so we elected to remain indoors. A rather nasty surprise was finding out that Tesco had taken the first £70 car insurance installment out of my bank account when I had been under the impression that this wouldn't happen until next month. This somewhat put a plug on my plans to splash out on a lightweight cricket bat for the girls to use at the family picnic.

Mum arrived home baring chips for lunch which were very much enjoyed. I then relaxed for a few hours (as if it were necessary in this leisurely lifestyle) before driving down to Hythe to visit Nanny. Arthur was there doing the crossword when I arrived so Nanny and I dug some tasty food out of the ever stocked-up cupboard and chatted in the lounge for about an hour, discussing last week's wedding and the Saints takeover amongst other things. Arthur then joined us and the two began to reminisce about their childhoods and what life was like in the local area back in the 1930s. This went on for around three quarters of an hour and, though in the most part interesting, by 6.30 it was definitely time for me to make a move.

I now look forward to this evening's films, with Andy and Beth already overdue. I think we are watching Miss Potter and Jimmy Neutron?

I can't believe we are in double figures already - 10 down, 21 to go. It's been an interesting project thus far and I have really enjoyed reading everyone else's blogs, as well as authoring my own. Long may it continue.

There goes the door bell! See you tomorrow chaps!

JEDI July: Day 9 - The one where it was Grandad's birthday

Gosh, today has been shattering, I've been running around like a headless chicken for most of it.

OK, so it's not like I have achieved anything of great magnitude but I honestly have barely paused for breath since I woke up this morning. And now I am obliged to see out the day with this ninth JEDI July entry before tidying my room, which has become, by my standards, very messy as a consequence of having no time in which to clear up.

This morning I had arranged a cricket session with Jonny and James, so after getting up late (even after setting the alarm - curse that snooze button!) and wolfing down a quick breakfast, I went to collect James in Jalopy. He had also invited Jamie along for the ride.

We practiced for nearly three hours, with everyone having a go at batting, bowling and keeping wicket. With church cricket lined up for the evening, I tried hard to smooth out some rather rough edges with both the bat and ball, though not always with great success. This was in general really good fun, though consequently towards the end I got a bit tired and frustrated at a lack of progress and was pleased when, after some cacthing practice, we decided to call it a day.

Having dropped the boys home I set about making Grandad's birthday card, which ended up taking a good couple of hours. This year I have been illustating my cards - drawing out the picture in pen, then scanning in to colour in paint. I feel the technique works well and gives the finished article a more 'glossy' appearance than if I coloured by hand - you can judge for yourself...!

Once I had finished I had to quickly wrap the presents I had bought in Lymington on Tuesday (several different bags of nuts), then it was straight down the Boilos with Lydia to celebrate with Grandad, who is 74 today. Unfortunately, due to the later cricket match, this would be the only chance I would have to see him, though we still had a good hour chatting about recent and upcoming events and taking some group photos in the garden. Grandad seemed delighted with his cards and gifts, while Grandma catered for us all marvelously, with juice and biccies in seemingly constant supply.

Sadly, I had to be round the church for 5.15, so we had to make a speedy exit, though the Boilos were due up at our house later in the evening for cake and more prezzies with Mum, Kaye and Eddie. Dad and I loaded up the car and, after meeting other team members at the church, we convoyed to Bramshaw, where our opponents, Burseldon, were already ready and raring to go.

Having been narrowly beaten at Burseldon earlier in the month the team were keen for revenge, though captain Gareth lost the toss and we were put into field first for the third time in as many games. I was slightly out of my comfort zone, having been directed to mid-off as opposed to my usual square-leg, but at least it meant I hardly had to move between overs!

The team made steady progress, taking a wicket from the first ball and a couple more soon after, however the wickets then dried up and Burseldon battled to 116 off their 18 overs. I was put in to bowl for two overs and, despite being a little disappointed with lack of pace (delivering to the batsmen what Dad would call 'pies'), I wasn't clobbered about the park which can only be interpreted as a success.

Next it was our turn to bat and I was allocated the no.8 slot, which I can't deny being a little disappointed about after all the practice put in earlier in the day. Nevertheless, the team were off to a flyer, with Dad reaching the maximum score of 25, as did his opening batting partner. However, after this the run rate slowed, one of our players got hit in the head with a ball off his own bat, and we struggled on to 97 off the 18 overs. As suspected, I remained unused. The good news, however, is that I am in the team for Wednesday, so more frustration no doubt beckons!

Drinks were then downed as both teams stayed on at the pavillion bar for some time. I helped to wash up and tidy the clubhouse and we finally headed for home at around 9.30, dropping Gareth back along the way. Unfortunately our late finish meant that we just missed out on seeing the Boilos and the Teddies, though Ernest was still around (of course!) and Mum was kind enough to offer up toast and birthday cake as neither me or Dad had earlier manged any tea.

SIGH! Gone midnight again, plus I still have the room to tidy AND an uncomfortable 'popped' ear. Not fair!

At least tomorrow looks quiet...twenty to twelve again, anyone?!

JEDI July: Day 8 - The one where I woke up in time for lunch

OK, so I woke up a bit late this morning.

In fact it was so late that I almost had to break out the word 'afternoon', which surely has to be taboo territory. I think I would had to have typed it through the journalistic equivalent of gritted teeth.

Thankfully, twenty to twelve is, and will hopefully remain, my record for laziness...though I do highly suspect that this blog may have had something to do with it, given my recent late-night authoring excursions.

Having even missed elevenses I opted to combine these with breakfast and lunch, feasting on banana, crackers and rolls whilst watching Top Gear on Dave to see me through til two in the afternoon. The height of activity after this point was re-instating our wii console which Holy Smoke had borrowed last week - exhausting, eh?

Dragging ourselves away from Ashes cricket updates, Dad treated me to a tonk round the nine hole at Dibden, which actually went quite well up until the end of the 7th, at which stage the dull one was only winning by one shot. Unfortunately, despite accompanying surely the slowest man on earth in one of the most tedious games ever invented, we were still held up by some bumbling novices in front, to whom I apportion all the blame for my consequential stuff up of the final two holes. Nice work chaps.

As a result of these golfing goons we were also late home for tea, which was enjoyed over an argument.

Ern rolled up and we were speedily conned into watching the second Bridget Jones film in my room whilst consuming vast quantities of microwave popcorn. Sadly, I cannot lie and say I didn't enjoy the evening - and not just beacuse of the presence of the popcorn.

Busy day tomorrow dudes, with Grandad's birthday and church cricket to look forward to. Can't wait! See you soon!

JEDI July: Day 7 - The one with the art exhibition

Evening folks. Apologies for the change in title style, but it was getting rather arduous trying to connect the events of the day using alliteration, even with the help of Word's synonym finder. I hope you're not too disappointed!

Temperatures continue to plummit to a lowly 20 degrees, which really isn't on now, is it?

With meanacing shower clouds looming overhead, Lydia and I this morning convoyed behind Mum, Grandma and Grandad (who in turn followed a tediously slow tractor) for our second trip to Lymington in the space of a week. I found two new tops in Peacocks in the company of Mum and Lydia for a bargain price of £9, then left them to it and went to buy Grandad's birthday present and some bumper blackener for Jalopy. Skillfully avoided getting drenched by making it back to the car just as the heavens opened, then sheltered cosily inside whilst waiting for the others to return.

As it turned out, no-one else seemed to have got done all they wanted to do, but as we were short of time we had to make for home. This time Mum and the Boilos managed to break away from our convoy, leaving Lydia and I to get stuck behind every conceivable obstacle on route.

Lunch was soup and sandwiches, after which I felt very tired so rested upstairs for a while. (Unheard of for me!) At 3 Mum drove Lydia and I to Brockenhurst to have a look round the annual art exhibition, at which Lydia's work was exhibited. It was plain to see that many hours of hard graft had been put in for every piece on display, though Mr traditionalist here may have failed to fully appreciate some of the more contemporary exhibits. As I was in Brock for what was likely to be the final time I also took the opportunity to take a few photos of the college campus for posterity (I'm a sucker for sentimentality).

On our way home we stopped for an ice cream in Beaulieu under increasingly threatening clouds, admiring once again the ducks and swans in the river whilst I snapped away for yet more pictures of our beautiful surroundings (Mum and Lydia included!). How could I resist these wonderful cloud formations?

Thankfully we escaped the downpour which inevitably followed.

Back home and after a delicious tea of roast potatoes I helped Lydia to make invitations for her 18th birthday celebrations before Ernest rolled up. We all congregated in my room to play an extremely manic game of pass the bomb, which ended up going on for quite a while and resulted in a win for L and a loss for yours truly (surprise surprise).

That's your lot for today. No plans as yet for tomorrow so I hope I can entertain myself sufficently or else JEDI day 8 may not be so great! Byeeee...

JEDI July: Day 6 - Town and Tonking

After the busyness of the weekend a return today to normal mediocrity was, in fact, very enjoyable. Even the weather seemed to comply, with a cloudy sky and frequent gusts, offset by intermittent showers, creating conditions more reminicent of early April.

After a really quite wonderful lie-in, Lydia and I bravely made the trip into town in Jalopy, where I unearthed some bargain golf clubs (a seven iron and a 'cheaty' chipper) to add to my set, as well as a golf glove, which I thought was well worth £3.99. Other than that it was nice simply to browse the shops with freedom, so it seems it really is only looking for clothes or being in the company of others that makes shopping a stressful experience.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch from M&S, which for me included a small bottle advertised as 'lemonade' but tasting as if it contained 100% pure lemon juice - which was actually rather nice! Come to think of it, do you reckon that would sell well in cartons at Tesco? Worth a thought...!

I had an early opportunity to break out my new golf gear as Ernest and I had arranged an evening tonk around the nine hole. At first the glove appeared to be working well as I got two pars from the first three holes, however as is so often the case it all went rapidly downhill from thereon in. Dodging the showers, I made it round in 41 - an exceedingly average 12 over par. The two new clubs will take a bit of getting used to but the cheaty chipper was the target of much jovial conversation on the way round, so at least it's good for something. However, I can no longer mock Dad for having one too!

There - I think I've finally managed to get it right this time...short is the new long!

JEDI July: Day 5 - Canoe and Cuisine

Yesterday's blog did, I admit, get a bit out of control and was nearing novel proportions by the time I had finished blah-ing. Owing to the fact that I am also even more tired than I was 24 hours ago (for reasons which will become obvious), it's time to keep things brief... (Edit: Fat chance! Will I ever learn?!)

The dawning of the first Sunday of the month meant two things: 1 - I needed to get ready for church and 2 - there would be action songs to endure when I got there. Breakfast consisted of a banana and a few cream crackers, then I had to haul myself round the road half an hour early in order to rehearse a drama with Andy Williamson and Richard Merritt about Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus. Happily, I was Ananias, who only had to remember two lines and 'do what God has sent me to do' - lay hands on Saul's head. The service, being an all-age affair, was very hectic as, along with our drama, there were also baptisms, videos, prayers and the inevitable action songs to get through. Matt also gave an excellent testimony about both the conversion of a university friend and his own coming to faith. Afterwards, we both helped to tidy away chairs and tables from the hall as people were finishing coffee, passing less-than-subtle hints that it was time to make a move by removing chairs almost as soon as people had risen from their seat. Luckily no-one made the mistake of sitting down again! Just before I left Matt and David talked me round to having a go at kayaking at Calshot in the afternoon and we arranged for Matt to collect me at 2.

Returned home for lunch and saw Mum for the first time in over a day, our paths having never crossed in all the recent busyness. Matt arrived on time and we made for Calshot Sailing Club, where the Butler's surprisingly heavy kayak was removed from its perch and readied for the off. I squeezed into some gear loaned from Matt's dad, then we gingerly carried our vessel down the slipway and into the sea. Despite a bit of trouble actually getting into the boat, once we were off we made good progress away from the shore as I slowly mastered the rowing technique. I thought the boat was a bit unstable, though we managed to keep upright despite a strong wind and current pushing us back the way we had come. Following a toilet break (back on dry land I hasten to add) we swapped seats so that I was now in the front and this seemed to make our good ship even less stable than it had been before, eventually resulting in a capsise as we rounded a protruding sandbank. Fortunately due to the shallow water we were able to right the kayak and get moving again, though after a good hour or so I was getting quite worn out from all the rowing, as well as feeling ever so slightly seasick from all the bobbing about! We made for land, hosed down the boat (and eachother) then lugged it back to its stand, where I wacthed on as the supposed expert Matt failed to master tieing a rope around the vessel. For someone who has hardly even been near the sea I thought I did OK and, despite having a mouth full of seawater the excursion had certainly been an experience and a great way to spend the afternoon.

We showered and changed, then it was time to head for the forest to meet up with Ernest and Lydia for a 'healthy' picnic. We had originally planned this to be at Anderwood though as we were running late a quick phone call to Ern whilst calling in at Matt's house to drop off the sailing kit resulted in a change of venue to somewhere slightly closer to home. We convened at 5.30 following a slight confusion over our actual meeting point and unwisely made for a shady area which turned out to be on a slope. Nonetheless, a large supply of food (not all of it entierely healthy) and chat kept us busy for at least three quarters of as many a joke and inappropriate conversation topic was shared around with much mirth.

Both Lydia and Matt had to get back for seven so we tidied up the half-eaten picnic stuff and got back on the road. Matt dropped me home and Ern dropped Lydia at church for the evening service, then he popped round so we could swap photos of recent events then buy some popcorn for consumption during Top Gear. We had a quick drive round Hythe and upon return we found the parents had arrived home from tea with a homegroup friend. Lydia got back from church and she, Ernest, Dad and I settled down to watch Top Gear for an hour.

Following this we decided there was still time for another brief trip out and, despite waning slightly due to the busy weekend, Ernest drove us all to Calshot, where we sat in the car on the seafront, stared at the gleaming full(ish) moon and informed someone of their flat passenger-side tyre, which I am sure made their day. Ern took a few moon photos with his camera (I know what you're thinking...behave!) and then it was definitely time for home. Further beep-and-wave 'victims' were targeted on route and we got back at around 10.15.

After all this I came to the realisation that I still hadn't done my blog for the day and thus this became the final task of an extremely hectic weekend. Notice the correlation between the amount of activity in a single day which requires documenting and the resulting lack of time in which to blog!

My best-of-intentions mission to condense the day and remove the tedium has, once again and, rather predictably, proved to be in vain, though I shall return tomorrow for a trip to town and my first round of golf for over two weeks. Exciting, eh? See you then people!