JEDI July 2010: Day 4 - Mr Helper

Today the youth of our church up sticks and head for an activity-filled weekend away on the Isle of Wight. For reasons I have since forgotten, I find myself about to board the minibus with them as part of the six-strong team of leaders.

Andy is the church youth worker and main leader, and for the past couple of hours I have been aiding him with the final preparations, providing a taxi service for the collection of a needlessly enormous VW van, which then had to be loaded with everyone's luggage and equipment. It should be noted that the first thing Andy did upon attempting to drive the van was to stall it, though while we were loading up he did appear to become increasingly attached to it. It remains to be seen whether this will remain the case come Sunday night! While we were packing the van another one of our leaders, Ray, arrived with one of the community minibuses, so with another waiting on the Island we are certainly not short on transport.

Considering we are only staying for two nights, there did seem to be a good number of huge and heavy bags amongst the children's luggage. Personally I prefer to travel fairly light, and with the weather set fair I'm hedging my bets on not being caught out, with only two small bags of necessities in tow. I may have only needed one bag, were it not for all the tech and the accompanying chargers which inevitably make the trip also!

Although I am very much looking forward to the excitement and challenge of the trip, one downside will be missing Grandad's birthday celebrations this evening, for the second year running. Still, happy birthday 'Boilo'...75 and still going strong!

Anyway, we'll be off very shortly so I'd better get moving. Don't expect a post tomorrow due to the probable lack of time and internet at our accommodation, though I will try and scribble a quick note in the evening to type up upon my return. Have a great weekend everybody!

JEDI July 2010: Day 3 - Mr Jinx

Today's events have confirmed to me beyond any reasonable doubt that I am indeed a jinx - at least as far as church cricket is concerned. Over the past two seasons the team has competed in a grand total of nine matches, two of which we have won, with every other game ending is disappointment. To the same effect, out of the nine contests, I have played in seven and missed just two. Any guesses which two? See? Told you I was a jinx. (Either that or I'm simply not very good at cricket, which is just as viable an explanation, if not more so.)

Having said that, the efforts of the team in this evening's match did little to help my cause, as having been handed a rare opportunity to bat first in the context of what was originally an 18-over game, we managed just 37 for 9 wickets after ten overs. I had been entrusted with the score book, and the unrelenting rate at which wickets fell pursuaded me on several occasions that I must have made a mistake. Sadly, my scoring was completely accurate and this meant that the match had to be modified to two innings of ten overs, otherwise we'd have all been home in time for tea! For my part, I had come in at nine and defended the first ball before launching one towards the boundary. Unfortunately, at this point somebody decided it was their duty to ruin my day and appeared out of nowhere to take the catch. Thanks for that.

In the field things improved slightly, though I declined the chance to bowl given my dismal recent record and the tight run chase, preferring instead to stand wherever I was told to and make vain attempts to block anything that came my way. After restricting the opposition to 50 in their first innings, the team put in a much stronger batting display to leave a run chase of 53. This was billed as a potentially close affair, though the fact I was on the field meant the outcome was all but certain in my mind. True to form, the target was achieved in the final over.

In spite of my personal apathy the game was played competitively and in good spirit, with both teams taking advantage of the pavilion bar at the conclusion of play. My mood was improved through an enjoyable chat with another one of our players about subjects ranging from golf to greenhouse gases, though it was of course left to Dad and yours truly to wash up and tidy the pavilion. This was not aided by Dad shattering a pint glass all over the floor. Nice one pops.

Other than cricket I enjoyed a fairly quiet day today, preserving energy for a hectic weekend away as a helper with one of our church youth groups starting tomorrow.

As an aside, prizes have started to be distributed in our family world cup sweepstake, and who would have thought Uruguay would make the semis? Good news for Grandma, but bad news for Ernest, Lydia and Kaye, whose potentially strong picks of France, Portugal and Italy all bombed out early. Never mind guys...there's always 2014!

JEDI July 2010: Day 2 - Mr Overambitious

To all who didn't have the faintest clue what was going on in yesterday's post (that would include me then), a belated warm welcome to the second year of Journal Every Day In July. This is a month-long blogging challenge which, as you can see, I have already failed, having missed the first five days of the project. However, fear not, as from this day forth you can follow me, along with my good friends Beth and Lydia as we cast an eye over the many (potentially) exciting events of the month to come. If you still have no idea what I'm rattling on about, I would suggest taking a look at my first post from last year, and should you still remain clueless then we must conclude that you are a super spesh space monkey and send you back to Bebo with haste.

I made a special effort to be up at a reasonable time today, as looking back at previous blog posts the night before had made me aware that my recent trend of rising at 10am was not helping to make the most of the day. Mum and Dad were therefore justifiably surprised when I arrived downstairs at just gone 7!

Today's itinerary included a trip to Hythe with Lydia to buy such essential items as nail varnish, as well as birthday presents for Grandad. We also attempted to drop in on the Boilos to collect Lydia's keys but their house was vacant upon arrival and we assumed they had gallivanted out for the day. It was therefore onwards to Tesco car wash, and with the Jalopy making its first outing in nearly two weeks after the first the holiday and then a flat battery, a good scrubbing was long overdue.

Lydia and I had brought a picnic lunch with us, so we drove out to the forest and ate in the car park opposite Beaulieu Road Station. After several days spent indoors it was nice to be out and about, even though the many days of recent sunshine had given way to cloudier conditions.

Unwisely, I had earlier arranged to play badminton with Jonny P at 3pm, just a few hours before my two-hour club session at 7. I went into the first match full of confidence, though this quickly evaporated upon realising that my low stamina would always prevent me from moving up to a higher level of play. While Jon and I played out fairly even games, when it came to executing winning shots he was evidently shaper than me. Definitely something to work on, as badminton is undoubtedly my strongest sport and upping the fitness levels would certainly improve my all-round game. After a 5-1 tonking (albeit with several tight games) it was home for a light tea and the news that Ernest had bullied his way back from Manchester in time to collect me for the 'second round'.

In the DP Badminton club we play doubles games, so the going is a bit easier. That said, there are still some very good players among the 10 or so that turn out each week. On this occasion we welcomed two new members and, as usual, I remained on court almost solidly for the entire two hours, playing both with and against virtually every other player. Despite feeling that too many of my smashes were hitting the top of the net, I didn't think I played too badly overall and it was encouraging to have commented that both me and Ernest had tangibly improved our games since joining the club.

By the time 9 o'clock came around I could definitely tell that I had played three hours of badminton in one day, and for this reason bed is now currently very high on my agenda!

Night all!

JEDI July 2010: Day 1 - Mr Late

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Dominic."

"Dominic who?"

"Eh, what...? No, it's not a joke. It's Dominic here. I'm sorry, I got held up - holidays n' stuff, you know how it is. Please let me in."

"Oh, I'm not sure we can allow that, Sir. JEDI July participants must be dedicated time-keepers, and you, I'm afraid, evidently appear to lack this fundamental quality."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but..."

"There's no point in arguing, Sir. After last year's dismal showing the JEDI Council launched an enquiry into your work, with the verdict being that you are entirely unsuitable for inclusion in this project. Your posts are named with little imagination, the content itself is dreary, your grammar is cumbersome and that's before we even mention the length..."

"Please, Sir! It's not my fault. I was young, naïve and slightly spesh back then, but I'm much wiser now. Please give me a second chance, I'm begging you. Lydia will have my guts for garters otherwise."

"Hmm...you are very pursuasive man, Sir. I shall have to speak with my superiors. You promise not to mention dust or rattle on for ages about tedium?"

"Yes, of course, indeed, no problem, affermative..."

"It appears you may have to work at it...Tell you what, if you were to give me a ride in your courtesy sleigh then we may be able to strike a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain, my friend, but luckily for you I'm a desperate man."

"You may therefore proceed, but I'm warning you - step out of line and you'll be out that door quicker than you can say 'cheese roll'. Got it?"

"Cheers, thanks, sorry, cheers, sorry, ta, thanks, sorry, ta, cheers, thanks, sorry..."

Welcome to JEDI July 2010.

Apologies and Updates

Greetings, faithful readers.

I have to confess, though you have no doubt been faithful to me throughout these long winter months, I have without any question neglected you. Worse, up until the last few days, I barely even considered the idea of writing a new blog post. For this I apologise profusely.

Joking aside, I can't tell you how great a feeling it is being able to write this without an overhanging guilt that I should be otherwise occupied tackling coursework, typing up lecture notes and the like. The last few weeks have been pretty manic with many deadlines to meet and exams to prepare for. Thankfully, my first semester at university has now drawn to a close and with it I have a much-anticipated week off in which to catch up with the so-called 'less important' matters in my life.

My last blog was, of course, posted on the final day of July, bringing to a close the JEDI July project I had shared with L, Ern and Beth. Six months on, it's great to be able to look back on the summer in such good detail and the blogs serve as an exellent record of what turned out to be a very memorable month. Sitting here strangled in the dark depths of winter, they also provide a good deal of hope for the months ahead!

With university now dominating my day-to-day activities, life is no longer the luxury that played out back in July. In hindsight however, having faced up to the change in circumstances and settled into new surroundings, I am glad that things have finally moved on. Life stalled a little during my third year at college, and it's good to be back on track in full-time education.

Uni has, so far, been hard work but great fun, and I feel very fortunate to have a place at such an excellent institution. I have learned a lot this first term made some good friends, though it's still great to have the best of both worlds and be able to nip home whenever I feel like it!

The jalopy continues to run smoothly, pub quizzes are still regularly attended (and failed) and Ernest continues to grace our humble abode nigh on every night. Some things never change!

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!