Take these chances to turn it around...

Been out doing more work in my garden. My fruitpatch is coming along tremendously, the fruit bushes are looking really healthy and my first batch of strawberries are budding, some of them are starting to redden...

Before all the back breaking work...


and after...

There is still a hell of a lot of work to do, not least building a fence at the back and installing a big assed wildlife pond, gonna stock it with some fish and let it attract whatever water based creatures feel the need...

Band rehearsel the last few weeks has been amazing. Bought an effects unit for reverb on my vocals and a new microphone and boy do they make a difference! We've lost a guitarist (very careless of us, wonder if he is behind the sofa?) and learn't 2 new songs, Funeral for a Friend - Into Oblivion and Bad Religion - Infected (yay for guitar heroes!). We are looking to gig pretty soon and are looking at options for PA equipment and a screen to project some kind of light show behind us... getting serious about this now!

Tonight is a big old experiment for me. I am a self confessed alcoholic, well, a self confessed drunk because i've never been to a meeting. Today I have had a 35cl bottle of vodka and I am now drinking pre-bottled shandy - a basically alcohol free drink. My reasoning is that I spend so much time in front of my PC that I have gotten used to having a drink at the ready... hopefully this will help me turn that part of my life around. I have lost so many friends down to my drinking it is unreal.

Had my bathroom plastered yesterday. It was fully artexed (artex is a textured surface, very 80's, very annoying and ugly) and was an embarresment to a non too special home to begin with. I've stripped 2 rooms ready to remove the dado rails and then I can get to painting and laying my laminate... hopefully soon.

Not been out for a while, every penny I get seems to be going on the house... at least it is going to something useful and not 2 litres of vodka a day!