06/07/2006 - 06/26/2006

Norwich International Airport

Although I've flown from Norwich International Airport quite a few times, it has always been with work and within the UK. I've always been impressed with how quick and simple it is but then again when it's only to Scotland I also kinda expect that.

However, last week Ellen and I flew from Norwich to Bordeaux for a short holiday and to be honest it felt like we'd chartered our own private jet. There was no long drive to Stansted or Gatwick, no airport parking, no queue for check in, no need to get there 2 hours before, no queue for security, no train or 2 mile walk to get to the gate and no bus to get you to your plane. I know these are all only small things but when you add them all up it really does make a difference - we arrived in Bordeaux feeling really relaxed and having saved 1-2 hours on our normal journey.

And as for the way back, we were at home within 45mins of landing :-D

I'd highly recommend it, well if you live in Norwich that is!

How domesticated am I :-)

It was Ellen's birthday this week, happy birthday E, and so I decided to get out the cook books and make her a cake. Good reports from everyone who had some on Saturday night and so far no reports of any bad side effects.

What is it with me and supermarkets!

I only went in to get supplies for a BBQ on Saturday and a picnic on Sunday!

Surprisingly the novelty factor hasn't worn off...

I played some more XBOX 360 online last night and I have to say it is still awesome, particularly the first person shooter Ghost Recon. I powered up my XBOX and was just about to start playing when I got a message saying one of my friends had just signed in, two button presses later and we were chatting, full voice over IP, and what's more this was all whilst my friend was playing another game online.

Later in the evening I went searching for some other matches online and ended up playing with a cool group of guys from all over the world. We had one guy from Portugal, one from the States, a good few from the UK and a couple of silent guys who as a result I suspect were from Russia ;-)

One slight drawback I experienced for the first time last night was that if you play people who are considerably better than you, and they turn off respawns can find yourself stuck watching the rest of the game from where you died :-( This can be quite; a) boring, b) humiliating and c) just a little surreal as you watch the battlefield from the eyes of your dead soldier.