A few days off

Jayne and myself had a few days off for rest and relaxation. It was nice. Friday was hassle because the exhaust on the car disintegrated - the pipe going into the silencer broke away, resulting in a ridiculous roar from a 900cc engine. Fortunately, my local garage got it fixed for £65. They're great. A proper old-fashioned garage, where they have matching overalls and treat you with respect.

On Saturday we looked at conservatories, and organised getting a quote done for replacing our exceedingly knackered porch. This was done on Monday, and came in at £5300. On Tuesday I got them down to £5000, and the work should take place in early to mid December. (Things are never right in December. Last year the boiler went and the year before Jayne's sister was in hospital.)

On Saturday we also went down to Cardiff on the train. Big mistake, given that there was a rugby international on that we didn't know about (because we have no interest in the game), as well as being a Saturday with Christmas shopping going on. We had to wait for ages for a train to get home because the ones that came had no space on them - as it was, the one we eventually got on had some standing room without it getting like a rush-hour tube. It's arse, really - the train company knew that there was a match, and that it was a pre-Christmas Saturday, and still they only dispatch two-carriage trains.

Lie-in on Sunday. Always a treat.

Monday saw us go to Castell Coch for a drive, then the new big Asda for a look at Christmas decorations (and not much else), and finally we saw The Grudge at the cinema. It's based on a Japanese film called Ju-On: The Grudge, which itself is based on a straight-to-video film called Ju-On; both of which have spawned sequels. And we've seen the lot. It could've been awful, but Sam Raimi knew what he was doing by getting in the original director, and keeping it set in Tokyo with some Americans there as exchange students and people posted there by their companies. All the best bits from the four originals were rolled into one, and it was rather ace. We're in a different position to a lot of people by knowing the originals and being into and understanding Asian horror, so maybe we're not really the target audience, but hey - it didn't disappoint us. Less ace was the cinema itself, which was freezing cold, and the staff there seemed more interested in each other than us customers... sods.

Tuesday - Ikea. Always nice. Another glowing rubbery ghost for the collection, a cuddly weasel, a recorder, some fairy lights and some AAA batteries (because they're dead cheap in there). Then a relaxing evening in front of the telly, with Little Britain and Most Haunted, and a bottle of wine.

And now we're back at work. Hey ho.