Lots of birthday fun over the weekend - spent most of Friday with Ali, which I don't get to do so often these days. Mum, Dad and brother John turned up in the evening and we all had Chinese takeaway. Played Guitar Hero World Tour a bit, which was a present - so far doesn't seem as good as Rock Band, but maybe that's just because it's different. If that makes sense. :)

Saturday we did various things including visiting a farm shop, having lunch at a garden centre type place and looking round a music shop for a ukulele. My family are buying me a really nice one for my birthday, made from Mango wood. We did see it in the shop we looked in but Dad's ordered it from somewhere else where it's a bit cheaper. So that'll be interesting, I'll have to practice more! (Looking forward to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain playing the proms tonight, woo!)

Sunday we went to Donington Park to watch Formula 2. It was fun, though I kind of enjoy things less when I'm not sure if the people I'm with are enjoying it. I know Mum, Dad and John did, not sure about Rob and Rachel! We sat in a grandstand by the start/finish straight for a while, which was good because you could see in the pits and (obviously) see the grid, but not so good because you couldn't hear the commentary so didn't know what was happening most of the time. Then we sat near Hollywood, where you could see a lot of the track and hear the commentary. I will have to watch the races (I recorded them on Eurosport) to see what actually happened - going to see it live is more of an experience than an informed sporting event!

And then Monday it was back to work. Today I went for my yearly dental check-up, a very cheap and relatively painless event that cost £16.50 (including a clean/polish), guess I'm lucky I have an NHS dentist. She suggested I think about having a retainer type brace thing to try and straighten my teeth out a bit, but not sure how that would work unless they took more of my teeth out. I already have 4 less than I should. I think she might just be trying to make me spend money, I hope so anyway, if it was needed to keep my teeth healthy then I might think about it. I'm not so bothered from a cosmetic point of view.

Weird bus-related thing of the day was that there was a ticket inspector! First time that's ever happened to me - apparently we might be seeing more of them. Just like the old days...

posted by Fiery Fred @ 6:42 PM