Belated Roundup 26/08/2007
Wed, 29 August, 2007 – 9:02 am
Sorry for the delay on the weekly roundup. It was a bank holiday this weekend here in the UK plus we've been away from home since last Tuesday and only got back Monday evening.
This week's been pretty busy. Last week, as just mentioned, on Tuesday we travelled down to my parents. My Mum was due to come up to us for the week however with my Dad's car still waiting for a new engine (since he took it for a swim) I told them it'd be daft hiring another car so she could come here. So we drove down there. My Mum has been having major problems with her ADSL connection since about June so once we'd unpacked I set to work looking at the connection and equipment. A Speedtest showed a speed of 168kbps download. Pretty poor for an 8MB line! I discovered that it wasn't the ADSL in the end, but the wireless part of the router. Connected via cable gave 6000+kbps. So after trying various settings and getting nowhere, I restored the router to factory settings and that seemed to kick the wireless into life again. However the reach for wireless is pretty poor from it so I'll still probably need to get another router to help boost the signal downstairs.
On the Thursday my Mum and I baked cakes! Yep, haven't done that in years with her. I'd been given a large jar full of muffin mix (all measured out dry ingredients) from Dave's niece for Christmas, and finally got it cooked. However, soon after using the mixer, it blew up right in front of us. Nothing was happening with it at the time, and something blew inside causing a great deal of smoke and a horrible stink. Must admit it scared me into realising how easy a kitchen fire is started. I've taken to unplugging everything that isn't in use, when I remember. Plus it uses less electricity. But I'd rather not wake up to a fire in the kitchen!! However, the muffins came out pretty nice. There are a still a few left too 
On Friday we headed up to London for a meeting with a new client of Dave's. We'd never met them before so it meant smart clothes and heels (yuk). We first met Martin as he lives in the same area as the client (purely coincidental!). So we grabbed lunch with him beforehand, saw the client (bit of a awkward meeting to be honest) and then met Martin after for a few drinks in his favourite pub and then grabbed some Chinese. My thought after was icecream, so I managed to persuade them both to go to Leicester Square for some Haagen Dazs 
We finally got home soon after 10pm. Had a really good day.
Saturday I filed my self assessment for 2006-2007 tax. A few years back I wrote my own web based software for my Mum to do my accounts on. Have to admit, it's good as it's absolutely accurate! 3 years in a row it's been right on the figures which I'm really happy about. Plus the outcome was that I have to pay £200 less tax this year. As I've already paid the tax for 07-08 I get a £200 reduction on January's payment, so it's actually £400 less than the last payment. A welcomed sight, especially with January being straight after Christmas, the most expensive month of the year!
Sunday we headed up to a small village called Stilton, in Peterborough, for the yearly family BBQ. The weather was great and we caught up with all of my Dad's family. Plus my brother came over for it this year so I got to see him and his girlfriend. We stayed up in a Travel Inn just by Stilton, and must admit, I was impressed with it. It was so modern and clean. It even had a swimming pool! Much different to the usual Travelodge that we stay in. We all stayed there – my parents, my brother plus girlfriend and us. It was nice to be able to sit and chat to them all. Something we don't do that often as we live so far apart. Oh, and Sunday's sunset was gorgeous 
You were a busy lady! I had a very boring week compared to you!
By sara on Wed, 29 August, 2007
It was busy last week yep. This week isn't much quieter, but I'll save all that for Sunday
By Sarah on Wed, 29 August, 2007