Another busy period has found me at Barnet last weekend for BBC London and BBC Kent, all good fun, fair amount of travelling, which leaves me a little knackered on a Saturday night!

This weekend was exceptionally difficult as I had the CAFC press office and various others on the phone a lot as a journo at the BBC had been feeding me some info about potential takeovers at the Club, as it turns out the info I had was spot on, and the said takeover did not happen, after a weekend of silence from the Club on the matter, despite intense speculation, the Club finally released a statement this morning and its as you were chaps!

This coming weekend its a well earned break from football as we head to Wales for Rally GB, promise to be fun but bloody cold and very possible wet....photos will appear here after the weekend.

Brace yourself, the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team are off on the rampage in a matter of weeks, more news to follow, needless to say it will involve alcohol, fine food, bad behaviour and the odd walk here and there.

Poor young Finch is in for a hell of a shock very soon, more on this soon!!!

Been a busy time lately, work has been manic and Radio stuff for Charlton has really taken off, unlike the team who seem to be heading the wrong way and for a management change.

Last weekend after the Charlton game Young Finch had a Jambo Fundraiser, Wingit played and we raised £460, a good night and thanks to the band who played for free.

Sunday night I was back at The Valley for Charlton Live, with guests Derek Hales and Garry Nelson. A great evening with those two, and lots of emails from fans irate following the 0-4 against Brighton. This weekend see's me heading off to Carlisle at the request of BBC to cover the Charlton game, a very early start is required followed a very late finish......

A busy time lately, been doing match summary for Charlton games on BBC London and BBC Kent, quite enjoyable but very difficult to remain impartial! also working on Charlton Live, a radio venture with Charlton Athletic, which is about to expand to provide a full matchday service for the club. Yesterday before the game I was so lucky to meet with former Charlton legend Lennie Lawrence and interview him for tonights show, in the short time i had with him his love for the club came across, and he was genuiely not sure what reception he would get whe introduced to the crowd at half time, I did reassure him it would be fine, and it was !

Been a busy few weeks again, working for Charlton Athletic on matchdays as a commentator for there internet service, and I have been asked to do some stuff for BBC London, so thats all good news. SHe who must shop has decided that I need some new suits, of course I have no say in the matter, but hey ho!

She has taken to trying to get one over on my brothers at various times on Facebook, sadly being the blonde she is it is clearly not working for her, bless.....

Young Finch has broken another poor girls heart, callously dumping the poor lass when she dared have a go at one of his mates!

We are off on our Holidays in two weeks time, cannot wait, I got myself 3 books to read on holiday, read all three last weekend!

New Year this year is being spent in the Lake District, we have a cottage booked with a log fire in the middle of nowhere, I cannot wait, perfect way to end the year.

Off out this afternoon to the Staff Summer Party, we are being collected at 3pm and taken by coach to a stately home for an afternoon and evening of bad behaviour.

Sorry its been a while since I blogged! Young Callum is getting bigger veeryday and cuter and more smiley!

Sinch my last blog its all been happening, the company I work for was taken over, other than having to travel to Essex its all good for us.

Been on a sailing trip, had a great and drunken time with the boss and some contractors whose boat we were on, I have never drunk so much on a work night in all my life! the following morning was quiet until I convinced everyone Liam Gallagher was on the yacht next door!

Been on a few camps, been elected as District Chairman for Scouts and now also have a new appointment at County level.

We had a trip to Wales, myself, Mark and old big nose, we made another bold attmept on Pen Y Fan, same route we tried a year ago same problem, driving rain, 20 metres visibility but somehow we made it to the top!

Off to Wales again in 3 weeks with the now rampant Young Finch who views every 16 year old female as a challenge and is doing rather well at it! And at the end of Aug we are off 0n Holiday for the week, somewhere nice and warm! Denmark looms in October for more whiskey drinking.

Oh and from this Saturday I will be heard via the Charlton Athletic website providing punditry and interviews and a radio show for the Valley failthful, if you really want to listen you will have to pay! it is beuing announced on the clubs website tomorrow, so exciting times ahead!

Another busy weekend, Saturday morning shopping for clothes with young Finch, then my first game of cricket in a while in the afternoon, sadly we lost, after 5 weeks out with a buggered hand I got eased in by our skipper, "Pete fancy opening the bowling" I was a tad rusty but unlucky not to get a wicket! Saturday evening was a race night to raise money for the Jamboree, I appear to have drunk a fair amount!

Sunday dawned with an invite to my nephews for a BBQ and to watch England (we shall gloss over that bit of the day) I decided it was quite clearly Pimms o'clock...

Woke up with a nasty cold this morning, no warning, just woke up with it!

Its a busy time at work at the moment, I am out of the office two days a week visiting branches, these are surprise visits, mostly I am welcomed, with the exception of Chelsea, where the manager could not have been more frosty! still he got the report he so richly deserves....... Hampstead I was warned about the Manager, was told she would give me a hard time, having been there and sorted the smelly sewer out I knew different, and so it proved, except young Holly who works there makes the worst cup of coffee in the world!

Friday afternoon saw us having a stroll round Hampstead Heath, and sitting on Parliament Hill I pointed out to she who must shop that in the distance Shooters Hill could be seen, she was convinced I was wrong so much so she said unless I proved it was I had to pay a forfeit, so when we got home I very quickly proved I was right...... now she has a forfeit which I am very much looking forward to.

We are off on holiday at the end of August, looking forward to that, and heading to Denmark in Oct for a few days break. I have a few days sailing looming in a stunning looking racing yacht, setting off from Hamble, I am so looking forward to that! The boss has invited me up to have a go on his Laser, a tiny racing boat, so that needs to be organised asap, it looks terrific fun!

Driving lessons going well, Test is soon, as soon as I pass I will have a shiny new VW Passatt to play with.

This is Callum. He loves football, honest....

I was due to return to cricket action this weekend, but my hand is still not right, I cannot grip the bat with my left hand, so thats me free all day Saturday, now do I mention this to she who shops? I may end up in Bluewater if I am not clever, so I am hastily arranging some Scout stuff to do!

Young Finch is off on a Jambo trainnig weekend at Frylands, his 2nd weekend away on the trot, and then the weekend after we are back down Frylands for our crew weekend. I am seriously tired following last weekend, which can make me a moody sod as my ex wife discovered last night when she dropped in to pack Young Finch's stuff for the weekend, my claims that at 14 he should be doing ith himself were met with her laughter, then she proceeded to pack 3 pairs of my brand new socks, which were purchased for me, if she had bothered to slacken the jaw muscle and gone to his room she would have found plenty in his drawer, I raised my objections, which she dismissed, so once the old bag had buggered off home my son and I repacked his bag properly and replaced my socks with his......cheeky cow.

She who must shop is a shocking cook, she admits it quite openly, it appears she is intent on going on a cookery course......god help us! She is an amazing baker though, her lemeon drizzle is stunning and extremely popular at work with my colleagues, she nips up to the office every other week and delivers us cake....now thats dedication!

She is currently claiming that I accuse her of sitting on her arse all day, I have never said this to her, but her days do seem to be filled with cathcing up with last nights soap, Jeremy Kyle, This Morning and coffee at Starbucks with her friends....I have never accused her off this, but.......
She just text me to tell me she is loading the 3rd wash of the day into the washing machine! which takes maximum of 5 minutes, we will have to look into what she does for the rest of the day!!

Had a good weekend at Gilwell with the District, lots of fun and young Finch was about being chased by more females, all of them older then him.... Got home Monday to find my nice new shiny full time contract from work! happy days are here again, Young Finch is already asking for an rise in his allowance, this from the boy who is having 2k shelled out on his trip next year!

More good news today, I am off at the end of the month sailing on a racing yacht for a few days, if all goes well its the Fastnet Race for me! dangerous I know but man alive what an experience, one of the most challenging races in the world.

The little fella in the previous pics is called Callum and is just gorgeous with a fabulous set of lungs! and he seems intent on not sleeping at all....

Right have to go I have a driving lesson! would tell you when my test is, but I have decided to keep it quiet!

Isn't he lovely

Turned out to be an eventful night last night, I was just getting off the train at Woolwich when the pone went summoning me to The Valley to play the music at the game, as their usual man was not going to make it! A very exciting game that went to penalties, sadly we lost, never felt so down in my life, absolutely awful.

Had a funny old weekend, the gig Friday night at Langley Park Golf Club went very well, even with a stand in drummer! The audience were well and truly up for it, and after several encores we managed to escape to our very plush dressing room, the club looked after us very well, providing food and drink and the play off semi on the tv! got home about 2.30am.

Saturday's cricket was a painful affair, I attempted to take a catch, and wrecked my left hand in the process, but was still able to bowl, sadly this did not go too well either, after some yes, no, Wait! confusion by the oppositions batsmen I was at the stumps to recieve the a throw in for a run out, just as the ball arrived so to did the batsman, the largest player on their team known as 'The Tank' the ensuing collision was apparently very funny, to the rest of my team, but not to myself and Tank, he was flying when he me pushed us both onto the stumps, and whacking my left knee with his bat on the way through, absololute agony... he then dusted himself down ready for my next over and hit me to all parts, by this time I was a mess, my left hand was swelling up and my knee was throbbing away, frankly I wanted to get off the pitch as soon as possible. After making 176 -4 off 40 overs we thought we could do the business and get a win, several dropped catches proved very costly as last week 3 were off my bowling, 1 by the skipper, 1 by our guest player, one D Finch (who retired hurt with a pulled thigh muscle later) and one by myself, sadly my knackered left hand stopped me gripping the ball off my own bowling.

Wow it seems to get better and better, was working on a fixed term contract, which ended and now on a week to week (bit like an out of contract footballer) as they are taking me on full time, sat down with the boss last week to discuss salary, I made my opening offer and he laughed, I was a bit concerned until he stopped laughing and said add 8k to that figure and we have a deal, best negotiation I have ever had! So thats that sorted, off to Dubai and India with work soon followed by Casablanca and Milan and Rome, and once the driving test is done I get a nice new shiny VW Passat in red of course!

Away from work I have a new Scout Appointment, cant say nothing til July but its a corker! Played my first game of cricket for Footscray CC last week and bowled very well and took my first wicket for them, less said about that batting the better I think.

Young Finch is doing well at school and having a great time with Scouts, has some top notch friends and away almost every weekend it seems.

Just booked a holiday in August to the Kent Coast and then in October we will all be off somewhere warm for a week, cannot wait, life has never been better.

This is Young Finch on his first Jambo training weekend, the once little horror is 6 foot tall now! I have a weekend without the little horror, so do I get a nice quiet restful weekend? no.....I am up to my eyes in DIY, the carpet on the stairs has gone, to be replaced with gloss paint, or so I am told. Was looking forward to catching up with some stuff on BBCi but I had to sit through Britains Got Talent, I may get in trouble saying this, but it's crap....

We are up at 5.30am as Wingit are playing at the London Marathon in the morning, somewhere around the 4 mile mark, yours truly has to belt out his song I am told.... Jesus those poor runners.... so its an early night for us.

Morning all, long time no blog, been a tad busy at work and having the builders in donig the kitchen, happily it is now finished! Looks good except the floor which I do not like. Work is going well, keeping me veru busy with lots of projects on the go. She who must be obeyed is working on plans for the living room, it will I am told have a feature wall, whatever thats is! she has the ideas, I seem to have to do the work, as well as being absolutely useless at cooking she cannot do DIY, unlike most of the Finch family, I can!
Its the marathon this weekend, so Wingit are playing at the around the 4 mile mark, they will feature a guest vocalist at some stage in the morning, beltin out Chantilly Lace to the poor hapless runners, I mentioned to the boss that we were doing bacon butties before the Marathon Sunday, apparently she was surprised when I mentioned that they would arrive at 6am, being blonde in outlook she thought we just got up went to 4 maile mark and played, oh dear, poor lass was a tad put out when she realised we will have to be there for 7am as it takes an hour and a half to set the gear up!
She is also a tad cut up that I have organised and evening out Saturday, apparently this means she will miss Britains Got Talent, I believe I am in actual fact doing her a favour, this appears to be lost on her, strange woman.

Young Finch is doing well, the Scouts had a Jamboree fundraiser the other week and raised £2000, thats one of the four going, just £6000 to go. Yours truly is growing his hair long (i have more than other Finch's) so I can have it shaved off to fundraise in July!

Having a few issues with ,my left hip, the medical term I understand is that it's fucked.... but regardless, I am now a member of 2 cricket club, having been tapped up by Footscray Cricket Club during the week, first game on May 1st, cannot wait, best get my sorry arse into the nets.

Me and my temper are usually pretty well behaved, only a few things really set me off, one of them happened to stray into my sights last night. Last night was a parents meeting for the Jamboree, very important to remember, parents! I arrived before in a very good mood, my ex wife attended as well, just as we were about to start my ex wife's other half entered, what the fuck he was doing there is anyones guess, it was a parents evening, he is not my sons parent, he just happens to be the arsehole my wife left for! so I was not best pleased, its fair to say I was steaming mad, I managed to get through the meeting without incident, luckily he made an arse of himself with his pathetic ideas, then they went, and then I exploded, luckily a few good friends were there to sort me out, so far I have said nothing to the pair, slept on it and I am still seething, I will wait til tonight then politely ask her what the fuck is she thinking......

Made a huge error last night, tried to have a kickabout with my son, I must start realising I am 47 not 27, on the way to work this morning my hip started seizing up, its very very sore now and walking is an issue, but I battled bravely to Tesco and grabbed some Pea and Ham soup, it was seriously nice with some fresh bread.
Miss W wants to meet for coffee, been a while, if she could just get her arse in gear I would treat her to a cake as well!

Been a busy time, spent Easter in Wales with Young Finch, nephew and his partner, on Easter Sunday we headed home via Bristol to see the hordes based there, very fruitful trip as I came away with a box of my Aunts home made cakes, sadly Young Finch was wise to this and promptly scoffed half of the box! luckily work is taking me back there in May so I will have all the cake to myself!

The weekend saw a rare thing, the mighty Charlton Athletic managed two wins on the spin, we went to the game on Monday, and Charlton werent good, luckily Carlisle were worse.

Last night saw me back in rehearsals with the band, next gig is London Marathon on April 25th.

Very strange journey home from work today, very strange indeed the 17.39 was visited by a bona fide nutter full blown loony, although to look at him he looked reasonable, aged late 20s smartly dressed, seemed quite normal, just this side of London Bridge his phone came out, and rather than stick some headphones on he played it loud so the whole carriage could hear it, just what you need after a day of deadlines! one of our more fearless carriage dwellers politely asked him to turn it down, which was his queue to reveal his less than friendly nature, the poor fella who asked him to turn it down was treated with a tirade of abuse, and was threatened, when others in the carriage stuck up for our man, the nutter announced to all in the carriage that he would take al; of us on, now looking around there were some big fellas in that carriage and our nutter was asking for all sorts of trouble, it was only as we passed though Maze Hill we noticed what this violent and threatening man was actually listening to, Iron Maiden? The Killers? Marilyn Manson? no.....Brotherhood of Man, by now the carriage had twigged there may be a few sandwich's missing from this particular picnic, and the titters started, now I don't like tittering ( i dont like any coastal town) but this evening I was beginning to chuckle a tad, the chuckles from all and sundry burst into loud laughter when picnic fella started to sing along with Angelo every few lines he would spit out obscenities at anyone who looked at him, its a shame Woolwich Arsenal appeared, I was keen on finding out what was next on his playlist!

Oh and whilst we are on the subject of food emporiums, can I mention the local Beef Clown (Macdonalds to you) I go in there for breakfast now and again, never lunch though, but I there is a manager that works there, I shall not tell you his name (Ali), but if he were my boss he would have had a right hander very quickly, watching this twat in action is everything you should not do as a man manager, he is loud, bullying and this morning I saw him push a member of staff, I am sorely tempted to contact the Beef Clown Head Office and complain about him.

Across the road from my office is a Greigs Bakers, very handy for as pie muncher such as myself, so far so good, so I can nip out of the office across the road and grab a sandwich and obilgatory pasty/sausage roll, great so far, sadly it all goes tits up once you attempt to purchase anything from the imbeciles that work there, now I would have thought working in a shop in the City that a reasonable grasp of the English language would be useful, not here in Eastcheaps very own Greigs, oh no ask for a pastie and you get a cheese and onion melt (whatever that is) they really do struggle, but that is overcome with a bit of pointing and smiling! sadly the customer service levels are appaling! they are rude, and snappy and I have never heard them ever be nice to anyone, there rude behaviour is met with knowing smiles from all of us regulars of this place, today after a stressful morning I decided to fight back, having ordered my items the female at my till ushered me along to the next till to make a payment which had a queue already, I had been in her queue for 10 minutes at this stage so I did not take kindly to being told to queue again, so I said no I will pay here just as your last customer did, she did not take kindly to this at all and told me, and anybody else listening that i was holding the queue up, i stood my ground and said i was not prepared to queue again and would pay here, she told me she was busy, I proceeded to let her know that I too was very busy and just wanted to pay for my items and get back to work, and just for effect I added a magic phrase which galvanised the poor woman into actually doing her job and operating her till, i said "chop chop then" and lo and behold she took my money!
So when faced with poor customer service, make your request then add the words chop chop.....it works!!!

Morning all, work is going well, my role is changing slightly, I will be spending only 3 days a week in the the office in the City, the other two I am off out an about, next week I am in Marlborough and Bath, the week after it looks like two days in Bristol, which may give me a chance to pop in and say hello to my Aunt and Uncle, and the Tuesday after Easter I am off to Dubai for 4 days work! The boss has told me to get a move on and pass my driving test as their will be a nice new shiny VW Passat when I pass! Young Finch is quite keen on me getting a car for some reason! She who must be taken shopping has also declared I need to be driving, so that's me told...

Had my new double glazing fitted the other day, house is so much warmer, and I have designed my new kitchen which will be in by the end of the month.

Young Finch has selected his options for school, Geography, Triple Science, English, Maths, History and French, he seems happy with that little lot, and is determined to get himself to Uni.

She who loves to shop is not good in the kitchen, she will admit that herself, she is awful, this is a regular topic of discussion at work, we look forward to the text telling us what she is cooking, and then try and work out how it will go wrong, Mark my admin fella is a keen cook, we sit and swap recipes a fair amount, yesterday he sent me a recipe he thought she could manage which i publish below, for some reason she did not like it!!

4 - 5 lb. Chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing
1 cup uncooked popcorn
Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brush chicken well with melted butter salt, and pepper.
Fill cavity with stuffing mixed with popcorn.
Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.

Listen for the popping sounds. When the chicken's arse blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room and lands on the
table, it's done and ready to eat.

Wow what a week, as you may recall, young Finch was placed on the reserve list for the World Scout Jamboree 2011 in Sweden, well Monday he was invited to attend!! the little fella when mad with joy! and as a result he is away this weekend on his first training camp, leaving me and she who must shop to have a quiet weekend. I was told Monday lunchtime that he was going to be invited to attend but was not allowed to tell him, had I been at work all would have been good, but I was at home recuperating following a knacker related issue that saw me at A&E with Mr Blackett Sunday night, anyway the teenager arrived home at 4 in a mood, I could have lifted this mood instantly but was not allowed to! it was torture until the call came at 7.30, when he took the call his face burst into a huge grin, he put the phone down and of course wanted to jump and dance around with the old man, sadly my knackered knacker would not allow this! so he jumped on his mother who was visiting! So he is away on his first weekend as I write, and will be coming to terms that he is not allowed Ipods or mobile phones on the training weekends or in Sweden! so as yet he has no idea that Charlton actually won last 2-1 last night!!!

Had a brilliant week in France, staying in Conde Folie, we visited New Foundland Cemetery which still has bunkers and shell holes, and some impressive memorials to those that died. Amiens was well worth the visit, a lovely city with a wonderful cathedral. Friday we drove north to Fromelles, to see the burial of soliders from the battle of Pheasants Wood, where 5300 Australians and British soldiers died in 24 hours, a mass grave was discovered in 2008 and over the past month they have been conducting military funerals, Friday saw the last of these. As yet they remain unidentified, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are carrying out DNA tests to find out who they are.

The service we saw was very emotional, and a rare chance to see what will probably be the last of theses burials, the coffins were carried by both Australian and British soldiers, the kids with us were visibly moved by what they were seeing, as well as us adults. We managed to talk to 3 retired soldiers who were happy to talk to the boys and us and pass on all sorts of information. A long drive for us but well worth it, something I will never forget. I will post more pictures shortly.

Had a great weekend with the Firepower Explorers on Crew at Frylands Wood. Going to bed each night at 3am and then getting up at 7am is not something I should be doing! Young Finch had an early birthday celebration, smashing cake and a card from everyone, he is very at hone with this lot, very pleasing, and a change of Scouts Groups is on the cards for both of us, Young Finch because his mates are at a different group and me for entirely different reasons, but thats not for this forum!

Off work this week, had anew boiler fitted this morning, the heating is ticking over very nicely now!

Had a visit to the Dr first thing as a result i am off for x-rays on my knee, shoulder and elbow on my return from France.

I seem to be very happy and content lately, no moans and groans, aint life grand!

Off to France in the morning til the weekend, cant wait to get there for a break.

The new job is going very well, working up in the City is a new experience for me, which I am quite enjoying, despite an incident with a Brompton rider last week. For those who do not know a Brompton is a folding bike and is it appears the choice of Accountants, I say this with some authority, Older Finch has one and is an accountant, neither Middle Finch or myself have one! I was nearly run down by one of the beasties last week, the rider decided a red light for him was to be ignored, I did offer him a full and frank appraisal of his abilities. I discussed this in depth with my admin assistant and my boss, it was my boss who announced that they were all accountants! I have noticed how things are slightly different in the commercial world, I have been up to now working in Charities and Local Government, and the big difference seems to be birthdays, in previous jobs the cakes were all home made and a bit iffy, here in the City we are extremely close to an outlet selling Krispy Kreme doughuts, I approve of the commercial sides views.

It seems things at home will change very shortly! I appear to be under instructions to get the paint out and curtains are to be replaced by blinds.... god help me

Morning all, Started my new job this week for an international property company, this week was all about settling in next week I start out on my travels with visits to Andover and Newbury, with plenty of travelling required over the next few weeks. I seem to quite enjoy the fact I am working in the City at the moment, we are moving offices soon, either Pimlico or Grosvenor Square!

Got to get my self back into finishing the panto script, and then off I am told for a shopping trip, I am not buying anything, just got to be there to hold the bags!!

There were tears in the Finch household this morning, Jamboree selection was made and Young Finch did not get in, but he is reserve and still stands a good chance of going. Poor lad was devastated, as was I, but he was very quick to say well done to his mates who did get in, very very proud of him for that. But fingers crossed the little rascal should still get there.

Off away to France on 16th Feb that should be good, and there will be some news after Easter!!!! its big!!!

Went to the Valley last night, the game was poor despite Charlton winning 2-1, the highlight to be fair was the young man who entered the field of play with minutes to go, I cannot describe the young fella as a streaker as he was wearing a Borat Mankini, from our angle he looked cold. Young Finch was rather taken with a female supporter sitting behind us, apparently she is Da boom ting, whatever that means....standard.

I would like to point out the pic of the streaker is from Charlton's Press Officer's phone.

Young Finch is in a nervy state as he has to wait til Sunday morning to see if he got into the Jamboree, poor lad so keen, and will be heartbroken if he does not get in. They will telephone me on Sunday morning with the news good or bad! Its going to be a long few days.

Disco is getting bigger by the day, still dancing and now appears to be boxing judging by the latest scan! Charlton Baby Grow's are on order.

Well its nearly 3 weeks since I stopped smoking, definitely feeling better and tasting food, the pills are working well.

Finally Miss White has joined the real world and at last joined the fun on Facebook, whenever I mentioned it to her she has turned her nose up at the idea, I now think she is rather enjoying. Facebook can, though get you into trouble, take this status from a certain family member in Wales "I'd better go and get my wife back from London I suppose. She's cheaper there mind, no internet shopping access" I did speak to him briefly last night, and he reckoned she does not read Facebook so she wont see it, so that's good, Oh!!! hang on, she reads my blog!!! oh dear, sorry!

Young Finch is a bundle of nerves ahead of his selection weekend, he desperately wants to go, I really hope he gets through we will find out a week Sunday. It could be a long week for him and his parents.

Had a phone call Wednesday, which means only one thing, it ,means dust down then ralgex, find the knee bandage, up to the loft, Net practice begins next Friday evening at Avery Hill, which means my post a week today will be me writing how much I ache! the first session is always good, the quicks spray the ball everywhere, batsmen think they can hit every ball for 6 and the added bonus this year is Middle Finch with his newly repaired shoulder bowling his trundlers...

Its now 11 days without a fag, starting to feel better, breath a little easier, and smell nicer! The snow has caused havoc with Young Finch's school, they opened everyday but sent the kids home at 11am each day, the young un is a strange beastie as he was not at all happy about his school closing. Big weekend looms for him, Sunday is his selection weekend for the World Jamboree. 49 scouts and only 36 places, fingers crossed for the little sod, he desperately wants to go.

Young Finch has picked a good weekend to go to his mothers, I gave up smoking on New Years Day, using Zyban and its been going ok, had a few wobbles but on the whole its not going too bad. In fact mood seems positively chipper!

New Years Eve was as usual spent and Stephen and Julies, making the most of this one as next time we will be in Switzerland enjoying the Ice Bar! I was invited to the Scouts NYE bash, but I much prefer going to Stephen and Julies, its a good night in with food and plenty of red wine and a very relaxed family atmosphere, after midnight had come and gone Stephen and I murdered a few tunes on Sing Star, and by god did we murder them. Young Finch and I headed home around 4am, another very good night.

The Panto script is coming along and we have a good team now in place to help, so its all coming together well.

Spoke to G the other day she was in the bath as usual, a very good chat as per normal with G, she was very pleased with my news! must meet up with her in the New Year.

Disco is getting much bigger and is a hell of a mover!