The building I used to work in is in the background. We were never allowed back in…god knows what happened to all the claim files that were in there…

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Yesterday, Sam, Terysa and myself sang our Christmas set a total of 4 times throughout the 6 hour Christmas Fair at Hylands House in Chelmsford. The set we had rehearsed was an hour and fifteen minutes long and we had to cut a few sets short as my voice was starting to feel the strain.

We did two sets outside in the Stables visitor centre, and two sets in the entrance hall of the house.
We had a bit of trouble with feedback when were in side due to people moving around and affecting where the sound waves were being deflected – it’s not something I’ve ever really thought about as I’ve never been miked up to sing before!

Because of the feedback issues, we also didn’t have our own sound monitor set up while we were inside which made it really quite hard to hear what we were supposed to be singing!

Interestingly, Sam and I had a chat and decided we probably sounded better outside – we preferred singing outside anyway. But the comments we got about our performance in the house was that it was so much better! The sound radiated around the house and there were people stopping to listen to us on the stairs and balcony – all rather gratifying to hear!

At the end of the day someone approached one of our friends and asked if he was our agent! Us? Agent?!
Anyway, we have been asked if we would consider doing after dinner singing – how amazing is that?!

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I have been worrying a lot recently about the level of programming that was going to be required of me for a forthcoming project that will connect our websites at work which are hosted out there on various servers in cyberspace, with our own database server held locally here at work behind a firewall, all via a SOAP interface. Our local database will have to be updated in real time from each of our websites (we have a few…).

I installed a copy of our chosen CMS on my local machine. It all works fine – except that my XAMPP installation doesn’t have a configured SMTP server. Unfortunately, I need the SMTP server to work as due to the fact that there will be various SOAP calls made from links sent in emails from the CMS (such as email validation), so I need to be able to send mail on my own PC. FUN!!

XAMPP comes with MercuryMail but it is not configured – why would it be? Every server setup will be different. After spending an entire day trawling countless web pages to find a way to configure MercuryMail, I stumbled upon this gem http://www.zoe.vc/2008/mercury-mail-transport-system-fur-externe-mail-konfigurieren/?lan=english and hey presto, I now have a working SMTP server on my PC! The thing to understand here is that not every email host will allow relaying through any port. Luckily, anyone can sign up for a Gmail account, and so far, as long as you use port 587 and NOT 25, all seems to be good!

I am actually quite proud of myself for setting up MercuryMail as this kind of thing is not my forte!

Once this was setup, I was able to test the first part of the extension I had written for the CMS in readiness for adding my first SOAP call. And hey presto! The basic form of my extension worked!

So, today was a good day…and long may it last!

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A week ago I went to the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford to see Fascinating Aida, a singing comedy act made famous on YouTube because of their song Cheap Flights, all about budget airlines (although probably more so RyanAir).

The evening didn’t start well. The police had shut the main road through Boreham which meant I had to go via Little Baddow and had to run the gauntlet of the Army and Navy roundabout which I really didn’t want to do. I hate being late and so started to panic that I wouldn’t be there on time. Got there about 10 mins before curtain up – not enough time for that leisurely drink I was planning.

I was going to the show with some in trepidation.  Although I love the 2 songs I know of, Cheap Flights and Dogging, I was wondering if they would be the highlight and the rest of the show would be below that standard.
I needn’t have worried!

The show used topical news and general life stories, the first song being about Companies Utilising Nifty Transaction Systems (I think) – work that acronym out for yourselves!

I spent the whole evening laughing with tears rolling down my face. I would happily go and see them again. Very clever songwriting, very funny, and you should all go and see Fascinating Aida. They are touring now!

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The first weekend was pretty chilled out and I didn’t do too much – which in itself was lovely! I had dinner with Keith and we had a good old catch up! The following day I did a bit of tidying up (almost negligable) but was mainly spend watching the rugby and F1, followed by a quick visit to Hyland Park. I wanted to check out one of the places I will be singing with Sam and her sister in December.

On the Monday I got up and packed for my few days away in the New Forest. I don’t really like going on holiday on my own, but why should being single be a reason to sit on your arse at home? I had a clear trip to Lyndhurst and did it in about 2 and half hours, so by mid afternoon on Monday I was ooohh-ing and aahhh-ing at all the new forest ponies down there at Bolton’s Bench :0)

The main reason for going to the New Forest was to practice photography. I got some great shots (although I still don’t necessarily understand how…). I spent a day in Rhinefield Ornamental Drive – not least because of the ponies who insisted on crossing a wide stream by using the bridge! And stopping for a while in the middle of the bridge to admire the view!

I went down to the Solent and saw remnants of the D-Day launches as well as taking some really cool arty photos – at Lepe. And then went and walked around the largest lake in the New Forest – Hatchett Pond.

I had to come home on the Thursday, and was at mum’s for lunch!

But despite having a nice time away, the best day was definitely last Saturday. Sam had previously asked if I would be OK with her sister coming and doing the Christmas set with us, so we do it in 3 part rather than 2 part harmony, and Saturday morning was out first rehearsal with all 3 of us. Fantastic – I do feel like a bit of a fraud seeing as the other 2 have been in a band and are both fantastic singers. But hey, I’m enjoying myself!
After 4 hours of singing/laughing/chatting, I thought I’d best go home and get ready for the girls night. In the end, it was just me and Sam, but I cooked (properly) for the first time in ages and didn’t give anyone food poisoning, which is always a bonus!

All in all a good week, and I really didn’t want to go back to work yesterday – but then, how’s that different to any Monday?

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Now, everyone says to me that as I can sing and play musical instruments, I must be able to dance. Well I have a whole amateur dramatics group who can confirm that that is not so :0)

Luckily the class is based on aerobics but with dance type moves added in so it’s a bit less intimidating for someone like me.
I got a bit mixed up at times where my co-ordination failed me epically, but all in all, I think I did pretty well!

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At present it is still very much a basic site, but I decided to launch with some content now to get the domain noticed by Google, while I am still working on the feature rich side I will be implementing.
I may even launch in stages to gradually improve the site, or I may wait until all the features are complete and launch with a big hurrah!

If you know of someone who owns a B&B, or is looking for bed and breakfasts to stay in, please direct them to my new website!

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It probably helped that I know the play pretty well, having played Hero in The Blackmore Players’ version in 2007, so I could enjoy the acting without wondering what the shakespearian words were all about!
Eve Best as Beatrice, and Charles Edwards as Benedick were both immense. Their ability to show the comedy of the play was a joy to behold and easily makes them the best two leads in this play that I have ever witnessed.
Matthew Pidgeon as Don John was also very good, as was Paul Hunter as the odd Dogberry…but you know what, everyone was great and I enjoyed the show immensely!

The staging at the Globe allows for natural movement instead of having to work to a rectangular format like most theatres. And on a bright sunny day as it was on Saturday, it is an amazing experience.

If you haven’t experienced the Globe theatre, you should!

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