Matt's Birthday

Today was Matt's 19th birthday. We like to have a bit of a family celebration at least but Matt's not one for partying anymore. We had to surprise him last year and this year he said he didn't want 'a fuss'. But we liased with Alex and decided we had to mark the day. It must have been meant to be because everyone had the day off. We booked for 8 of us to go and see the new film Twilight and then on to Pizza Hut. Of course this meant having to invent some ruse to get Matt into Nottingham in the first place. At first he said he didn't want to go out because Joe was coming round. Joe was in on the secret but came round with Matt's pressie to keep up the pretence. It took all of us to persuade Matt into town after that. He should have been suspicious but he wasn't.

The film was a very well made vampire/human love story. Peter and Hannah have read all the books and were determined to see the film as soon as it was out. So this was 2nd time around for them. Anne was disappointed there wasn't more gore but seemed to enjoy herself. By the end of the evening the youngsters had made quite a lot of pizza disappear. Matt said he felt guilty about being so reluctant to come out but had a nice day.

When Matt was born back in 1989 we were discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve. With a new baby in the house, Christmas almost passed us by. Hard to believe just how many Christmases have passed since then.

Pete and Hannah

Matt and Alex

Joe and Anne

School etc

I've never been one for publishing my thoughts for the entertainment of others. Having never kept a diary, I was quite adverse to the idea of "blogging", but under pain of death, I have finally surrendered my deepest, darkest thoughts to the internet.

I am now 17, my birthday a few weeks ago now, and have just come to the end of my first term at The Joseph Wright Centre, part of Derby College, no more than a 10 minute walk from the city centre.

I left my secondary school, Saint John Houghton in Kirk Hallam, Ilkeston, with an A* in Additional Science, a B in RE, and straight A's in all my other subjects. To the surprise of both parents, I have developed a strong creative and artistic side over the last couple of years, resulting in a grade A Art and Design GCSE after only being predicted a grade B by my teacher.

As requested by mother, the ring leader of the blog, here is a photo of my final Art piece that I made during my 10 hour exam. My entire project was based on music, and this piece is inspired by Roy Lichtenstein, famous for his Pop-Art comic book strips. You can see more of my work here.

This has now led me on to study A Levels in Graphics, Photography, IT and Environmental Studies. For those who don't know (and there seem to be a fair few), Environmental Studies is, surprisingly enough, the study of the environment. It's basically a cross between Geography and Science, but to give you a better idea, so far I have learnt about conditions for life on earth, wildlife conservation, life processes and land resources. I am pretty confident in the subject and my GCSE grade A in Geography has been a big help, getting me a grade A in my Environmental Studies mid-term assessment.

I also achieved a grade A in my IT mid-term, dropping only 8 marks out of a possible 60, a result I am most pleased with, having only done a short course IT GCSE, but again achieving a grade A.

Graphics is a very fast paced subject and I have just completed my second project. As yet I have no actual grade, but have had some positive feedback and am on target for my ALPS grade of A/B, a traget grade for all of my A Levels.

I chose Photography as it combines creative and technical elements which i thought I would be much suited. As it turns out, it is the subject I am struggling in most, but that's not to say I'm doing badly. Having recently taken over Matt's part time job at Yeoman's Outdoors in Long eaton, I'm left with little free time to go out taking photos which has reflected slightly in my first project, entitled "Habitat". I am currently workink at a high C/low B grade, which I am pleased with, but I know with a little more effort and better time management, I'll be able to improve on this throughtout the year.

My "other job"

I'm continuing to enjoy my time with the choir. I started singing with them 16 years ago last month! and I've been their Musical Director for 11 years! How time truly flies. They're a good bunch of blokes to be with ..... and the singing's not bad either. No, seriously, they sing really well and it's a pleasure to be standing in front of them at concerts. It's a very rewarding experience, particularly when the audience genuinely appreciates the end result and takes the trouble to tell you so.

Last year we had a fantastic and truly memorable trip to Rotenburg an der Fulda in Germany on a local council twinning visit. The trip was perfect in every way: weather,hospitality and friendship, good food and drink (well, beer!) and some great concerts too. We are really looking forward to hosting our German friends over here next August.

Mirek's first ever blog

Yes, I know, what a boring title for this momentous leap into the depths of modern technology, but there you have it -- hello, world! Unlike my wife's (hereafter known as Jo) busy life of card-making (or rather constant experimenting) and blogging, my existence is much less artistic.


My work in the registration service continues (at the same office for the last 12 years) but things are constantly changing and there is rarely a dull moment. Apart from the daily stuff of legal preliminaries to marriages and civil partnerships, conducting of such ceremonies, issue of certificates, generally dealing with the public at large, attending meetings (oh yes!), vetting premises for ceremonies, solving people's computer problems (sorry, typo, trying to solve), conducting staff appraisals (yuk!), not being able to balance the monthly imprest account (I have acquired many new grey hairs), I also get to mess about a bit on the council's public website by writing text and supplying images about the registration service. Oh, and occasionally I also vacuum, sweep the main entrance, change the fluorescent tubes and, just this month, help hang the new 10 feet long curtains in the ceremony room. If' I'm lucky, I have an hour for lunch on a Friday. Well, it's varied!