Phil Spray

For reasons I don’t really want to go into I have left my job.  This will probably come as much of a shock to you as it did to me but the future is bright and there are lots of things I’m looking into. If you happen to know anyone who is looking for a freelance journalist over the next few weeks then don’t hesitate to get in touch.

There is now only three full weeks until our wedding.

In some ways that’s quite scary because it’s you know a life changing event, but I’m not nervous at all probably because it just feels like a natural progression. I know some people weren’t sure about me and Sheri to start with, and they might have been right then, but now it’s just the most normal thing in the world waking up with her and making time to spend with her.

The plans are pretty well organised, and most things have been quite straightforward, although I can’t really take any credit for that as Sheri has been the one making sure everything runs smoothly and I know it’s given her some stress at times.

Among the things that are left to do is the writing of my speech, which I’m sort of having a think about this afternoon and hopefully by the end of the week I might even have a full page of ideas but I’m not going to write it out script style because otherwise I’ll end up reading it out like a news bulletin and no-one wants that!

I’m really looking forward to the big day, mainly because it’s just an excuse to party but also of course for the life changing significance that it has. I’m glad we chose the venue well and all it needs is the weather so I’m going to pop along to the Cathedral and have a word with the big man to see if we can to a deal on that.

I had an email from O2 earlier this week, informing me it was time for an upgrade of my mobile which means I’ve now had it for the required 12 months.

During that time I haven’t been impressed with my handset, in fact I tried to send it back to them in the early days saying it was faulty but their procedures were just so complex that in the end I just put up with the frequent freezes. A software update a few months ago actually improved things and the number of times I’ve had to hard reset my phone has decreased but the interface is still fairly slow.

This led me to consider a different make of phone when it came to upgrade time, and I looked at a number of options including the Blackberry Curve and even an iPhone but in the end it looked like the Nokia N95 would offer exactly what I was looking for, while all the others included some sort of compromise, either no wi-fi or just a really expensive tariff.

So now I’m left thinking the Nokia is the only way forward, but having spoken to O2 I’m left wondering if I’ve made the right decision, so much so I’ve looked around at what other networks have to offer, I like the look of Vodafone’s tariff which includes unlimited text messages, something that would appeal to me but I’m not sure I want to go through the hassle of cancelling my O2 agreement and moving to Vodafone.

For those of us in the UK this weekend was extended owing to a May Day bank holiday, I always enjoy bank holidays even when I have to work as everyone seems more relaxed and the holidays in May always signal the arrival of summer which is the best time of year.

Today I spent sometime doing retail therapy with Sheri and managed to buy a new summer shirt from River Island which will do well to replace some that made their way to the charity shop a few weeks ago, while Sheri bagged some new wedge sandals as we all know ladies love to buy a new pair of shoes every few months.

On a less happy note, on Sunday night we visited the Harvester in Basingstoke, I haven’t been to one for sometime especially for a meal but I always remember the salad cart and giant ice-cream desserts from my childhood along with the characters of Worzel Gummage and Aunt Sally. Sadly the latter 2 have long gone and the salad cart is a rather unhygienic shadow of it’s former self. Perhaps when I was younger the restaurant had the same awful tiredness about it, but I was just too young to notice, or I suspect, a lack of investment due to a general downturn in the pub business combined with lower than expected profits have led to a decline in standards.

Apologies for the break in service, I decided to move hosting company, but little did I know the process would be less than straight forward. Hopefully everything around here is slowly getting back to normal.