tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195109352009-12-20T06:11:18.490ZSome stuff that reflects my interests, amuses me, as well as me rambling on about things.Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-44440723807519105752009-11-14T19:11:00.002Z2009-11-14T19:42:14.689Z

Today saw the opening of the new art gallery. It officially opened to the public at 10 am. The local press warned of major queues and roads being closed. We went along at 10.30 and walked straight in. The gallery was crowded but not so much that you couldn't see the art works on the wall.I enjoyed the David Hockney stuff and will probably go back for a longer view. Frances Stark's combination of

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-10563460383735693362009-11-04T17:52:00.003Z2009-11-04T18:13:27.231Z

We've had tickets for ages to see Mitch Benn do his comedy/music thing at the Lakeside, so it was shame that Sonia came down with a headache that afternoon. Luckily, it was my nephew Edward's birthday and he had no plans, other than getting to a new level in some on-line game that the young people distract themselves with these days.I dragged him along (he didn't take much persuading) and we

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-73990202854924213592009-10-27T17:12:00.007Z2009-10-27T23:28:11.271Z

We had our usual autumn break in the little Shropshire village of Ironbridge, yet another World Heritage Site. We stayed at a wonderful Bed & Breakfast called The Library House for 3 nights to give us two full days to visit most the museums in the area. WednesdayWe arrived late on Wednesday morning to be greeted by Lizzie who helped us unload and gave me a residents' parking pass for the local

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-74555607472499339122009-10-12T21:52:00.004+01:002009-10-12T22:28:28.942+01:00

Well it's been a few days now and I think I can remember what a good time I had, based on feedback from others...Friday night was wet on the outside so I met up at 7.30 with Bill and Chris to get very wet on the inside, thanks to the nice people at Nottingham CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and the City Council. We paid our £10 which got us into the festival at Nottingham Castle, a souvenir half

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-60951492490191234042009-10-06T21:48:00.002+01:002009-10-06T22:06:49.111+01:00

It has been busy few days for going out. After the comedy of Marcus Brigstocke, we returned to the Nottingham Playhouse to see The Bad Shepherds play their brand of punk songs in a folk style.Lots of fun was had by some of us playing "spot the intro", trying to work out what the song was going to be. Those of us of a certain age recognised the songs before others in the audience. The intro of The

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-55304260931106498802009-10-06T21:31:00.003+01:002009-10-06T21:48:13.044+01:00

A Sunday seemed an appropriate night to go to see a debate about religion disguised as a stand up comedy routine. I really enjoyed Marcus Brigstocke's "God Collar" as did the reviewer from the Nottingham Evening Post. His ability to insult so many groups with humour would probably upset those of a nervous or overly religious viewpoint, but the audience was ready to put aside their prejudices and

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-76607286516475943292009-09-27T16:18:00.003+01:002009-09-27T16:22:50.664+01:00

100 miles to LondonOriginally uploaded by bob wattDereham, the town where I grew up and went to school, is in the middle of Norfolk. I still return to visit my family, and we headed over there back in August for my Mum's birthday.This year, the celebrations were combined with Rowena's birthday. Surprisingly for an Aussie, she had never had a barbeque for her birthday because it was usually winter

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-51944461993231331392009-09-27T15:55:00.004+01:002009-09-27T16:11:39.218+01:00

Lisbon Day 5 33 Torre De Belem front from boatOriginally uploaded by bob wattWe visited Lisbon for our summer holiday. Details can be found in the blog I wrote up afterwards: Lisbon Holiday 09.Tuesday 23rd June: getting thereWednesday 24th June: our first day wanderingThursday 25th june: cultural chilling...Friday 26th June: a day trip to Sintrasaturday 27th June: Parque das NaçõesSunday 28th

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-89155671619324612992009-09-27T15:49:00.002+01:002009-09-27T15:51:34.608+01:00

Sunday 24 Tyne Bridges from Sage, originally uploaded by bob watt.19th April 2009 was the 4th Big UK Flickrmeet. This was held in Newcastle.We stayed at the Premier Inn next door to the old Tyne Tees TV studios. It was nostalgic to walk past the entrance that featured each week on The Tube. Memories of student life in Leicester and getting ready for Friday night out on the town...anyway, back to

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-19278813308608511262009-09-27T15:23:00.002+01:002009-09-27T15:27:03.937+01:00

Bristol cranes 01 bw, originally uploaded by bob watt.Valentine's weekend was spent in the wonderful city of Bristol. We booked ourselves into a nice hotel overlooking the the Bristol Bridge and within easy walking distance of the shops, market and other attractions.We also took the opportunity to meet up with Rowena for the second time and had a meal with her at the Mud Dock cafe on the night we

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-91276042697610881432009-09-27T15:10:00.003+01:002009-09-27T15:14:16.034+01:00

Well, so much for my good intentions back in February. I didn't manage to keep it up to date. In my defence I have been busy on Facebook and Flickr, as well as at work.I've just added he ability to post photo from Flickr onto the blog so that might help me post more often (assuming anyone will bother to read it). So the next few posts will be playing with the linking tools...

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-30829555419746127022009-02-23T20:54:00.001Z2009-02-23T20:57:06.063Z

It's been over a year since I posted anything here. Have been busy with work and Flickr. Will have to do something about it.Watch this space.

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-15100800241958900862008-01-30T20:22:00.000Z2008-01-30T20:28:02.094Z

Anyone familiar with the Monty Python film "The Life of Brian" will get the reference...It made me laugh.

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-11627298137090055912007-11-15T19:29:00.000Z2007-11-15T20:30:42.356Z

The good news? I've got the promotion to become the Team Manager at long last.After taking the post on in a temporary unpaid capacity back in Sept 05, I've been covering all the duties except the line management of the team - organising the workload, sorting out IT issues etc etc.When the post was finally advertised a couple of months back I got an interview but they couldn't separate the two

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-50603211103224056902007-10-26T16:39:00.000+01:002007-10-26T17:09:17.574+01:00

The last couple of weeks have been pretty manic at work. The Job evaluation scores came out on 17th October and people now know what the scores they got back in March mean in the pay packet. Those who have lost form a significant minority (that includes me) of just under 20% while 75% will gain and about 5% stay the same. Some of the losers have been very vocal in the anguish with personal

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-64345083420153096382007-10-08T12:54:00.000+01:002007-10-08T12:58:41.113+01:00

We went along on Thursday night to meet up with Bill, and Chris & his kids. Took a load of photos, which got edited down to these on Flickr.com.Got another load to sort out from the Saturday visit with Stephen and Molly, and some more photos from the Sunday day out at the Leicester Space Centre and the Melton food show.

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-67787029710869098022007-10-01T16:50:00.000+01:002007-10-01T17:19:26.709+01:00

Well it's been a while since I last posted anything here. I was drafting a write up of our holiday in Malta (for Flickr pictures: click here) back in March but have been busy on so many other things at work and home that I've failed to keep this up to date.Since then I've been taken away to Bowness near Windermere for my birthday in May (photos here), had my uncle Michael visit from Australia (

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-36165801061481521732007-02-08T13:36:00.000Z2007-02-08T14:04:00.304Z

As part of our get fit regime for the new year, we have started to go out for walks on Sundays when the weather permits.The first stroll was through Sherwood Forest. I took a lot of photos as usual and you can see the results here. I had a go at using a long bow near the Major Oak. The long bow was taller than me by several inches. Managed to hit the target with most of my arrows.Last week we

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1168123868834090382007-01-06T21:54:00.000Z2007-01-06T22:51:08.930Z

It's been a hectic few weeks and this is the first chance I've had to post for a while.We went over to Norfolk for Xmas to see the family. Drove over on the morning of Xmas eve and the roads were very quiet so didn't take as long as the horrendous journey when we went over for Dad's birthday (over 4 hours). Walked round to my sister's after lunch and had a play on the Nintendo Wii. Edward was

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1166474780681167232006-12-18T20:22:00.000Z2006-12-29T11:14:10.796Z

Monday 11th December 2006The week didn’t start auspiciously. Sonia was off sick for the last two days before we left with a heavy cold, and had not had a decent night’s sleep for several days due to the coughing. So Monday morning meant packing and booking a cab from home to Nottingham station to make sure that we didn’t miss our train. We couldn’t miss it as we had booked first class tickets as

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1165070231806539572006-12-02T14:18:00.000Z2006-12-02T14:37:11.893Z

Usually I avoid the office Xmas party as it tends to be a lunchtime do and involves driving (and therefore no drinking). But this year it was different. A crack team of party organisers formed a clandestine committee and got on with the task of organising a very enjoyable event. Here's a picture of the heroes of the day...They booked the the Gedling Miners Welfare on Mapperley Top, sorted out a

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1163365696827114732006-11-12T20:53:00.000Z2006-11-12T21:08:16.846Z

It's been a while since I posted anything in the blog. I started doing a write up of a gig we went to in Sheffield back on 17th October, but that was posted on the One Day in History blog. Since then I've been very busy at work dealing with the restructuring of the County Council, budget cuts, case work, newsletters and even getting some surveying work done.Home life has been just as busy. We

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1160341569526933762006-10-08T21:48:00.000+01:002006-10-08T22:06:09.543+01:00

Thursday night saw us wander down to join Chris, Bill and Chris' kids Rosa and Alex to wander round the Goose Fair. Each year we wonder if this will be the last year that the kids will permit us to come along as they grow up into teenagers and we become too uncool to be seen with. If they do, we'll need to find another excuse to go along. But while they need their Dad to pay for the rides, I'm

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1159822404252274902006-10-02T21:17:00.000+01:002006-10-04T12:15:57.723+01:00

Tuesday morning's sunrise was beautiful and promised a good day.We hit the road south to Seahouses where we got on board Glad Tidings and set sail for the Farne Islands. The trip took us out to the Longstone lighthouse and around the other Farne islands before a drop off at Inner Farne to visit the lighthouse and St Cuthbert's church. One of the islands had the original lighthouse/beacon from the

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19510935.post-1159792726185122432006-10-02T12:35:00.000+01:002006-10-02T21:17:17.300+01:00

We spent last week in a wonderful cottage on the banks of the Tweed in Berwick. It was a great week - no e-mail, no work phone calls, just us having a relaxing time together. We found it via Northumbriacottages.com and can recommend the Old Lifeboat Cottage for any couple who want a quiet holiday. The holiday snaps are online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobwatt/We travelled up on Friday 22nd

Bob Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04494166353165641950noreply@blogger.com0