Comments (0) Friday, 4th May, 2007, 19:45 - Fastest lady!

I competed in my first Autosolo last Sunday, along with Michael and Keith. This is an event similar to an Autotest, except on tarmac, with longer tests at higher average speeds. It was held at Barton Stacey, the same venue as the rally practise day we did a few weeks back. We had 12 runs, 3 on each of 4 tests with the best 2 runs to count.

The entry list was maxed out at 45, so there were plenty of people there in a wide variety of cars, including MGB GT V8s, Austin Healeys, a Clan Crusader, a Sylva Striker, a Peugeot 306 GTi V6, a Rover 220 Tomcat, Golf GTi's, Peugeot 205s, Vauxhall Novas, Lotus Elises, Minis and 2 Clio Renaultsports (myself and Michael), to name but a few.

I had a fabulous day, with a combination of marshaling, spectating and competing in rotations. My times improved steadily throughout the day, and although the competition from the 3 other females in the competition was tough and were were quite close on a lot of the tests, my consistency won through and I was presented with the Fastest Lady award at the end of the day. I achieved 22nd overall, out of 45 which I think is pretty impressive for my first event Michael won 1st in Class for the Over 2000cc class too, so it was a successful day for Team Grubb. Thanks for Dad for his part in organising the event, you made a great Assistant Clerk of the Course!

Where do I sign for the next one?

Comments (0) Wednesday, 18th April, 2007, 00:42 - Jamie Oliver beware!

I've been getting a bit carried away with the old cooking lark recently. Buoyed by my success at Easter (I cooked roast lamb plus veg, pudding and a cake and didn't poison anyone!), I made a Shepherd's Pie with the leftovers yesterday

Now most people will be thinking ...and? But you didn't see how excited I was when I pulled it out of the oven to find that it was not only edible but actually quite tasty! I may gain a little respect here by adding that I had no recipe, only my childhood memories of Mum's Shepherd's Pie to go on. And I think my recreation was pretty accurate. And I got to use my hand blender thingy for the first time!

Oh dear... how old am I?

Comments (0) Friday, 6th April, 2007, 23:23 - You know you're getting old when...

You know you're getting old when... you get excited about buying a lawnmower! That was what I achieved today, I bought myself a new lawnmower and spent the afternoon in the garden. And what a beautiful afternoon it was for mowing. The grass is now back to a normal length and this machine actually collects the grass for me and hasn't left bald patches all over the garden! How novel

I made a cake yesterday, from Grandma's recipe, and it actually worked! Two victoria sponges, sandwiched together with jam and iced with a picture of the Pink Peril (Jane's boat) for Jane's birthday. I believe she was extremely chuffed, and the cake wasn't bad either

Now I have to prepare for Sunday, when I'm cooking a roast for Mum, Dad, Steven & Grandma for Easter. Roast lamb, roast potatoes and lots of veg. Yum yum. Let's hope I don't poison everyone!

Comments (0) Thursday, 29th March, 2007, 15:38 - Downtime

Thanks to those of you who pointed out that my website was down. I've recently moved the domain name from one company to another and hadn't told the new one where to find my website... sadly ESP wasn't included in the package Thanks to Rick for helping me out!

Comments (0) Saturday, 24th March, 2007, 14:16 - Poorly Caroline

I came down with a funny bug this week. I woke up on Thursday morning and my tummy was very tender. As the day wore on, it gurgled and bubbled and was generally quite uncomfortable. I went home sick from work and slept most of the afternoon; I was shivering like I was in an igloo with no clothes on! I snuggled up in bed with a t-shirt, a jumper, trousers, socks and gloves on and I was still cold! Even having a hot water bottle on my feet couldn't thaw them out. And my back was really aching too...

Yesterday I started the day with the cold sweats, but a dose of paracetomol saw me through the day. Dad had exactly the same symptoms, but we've no idea what it was. Maybe a 24 hour bug going around.

Feeling much better today though! Time to get a hair cut I think.

Comments (0) Friday, 9th March, 2007, 23:42 - Singles... no thanks!

Ouch. Ouch ouch. I'm not built for singles. I couldn't walk for 3 days after playing in the tournament! I think I held my own though, I lost both games but with respectable scores. The Ladies was a bit of a disaster, but after 6 hours of waiting around since the Singles while the Mixed event took place, I'm not surprised - neither of us had much enthusiasm by that point.

Comments (0) Tuesday, 20th February, 2007, 23:26 - All decorated out

Well the week is up and I'm all decorated out... I've come back to work for a rest! Thanks to Mum & Dad we got loads done last week: we stripped, re-papered and painted the third bedroom, stripped and painted the downstairs WC, painted the upstairs WC, re-sealed the shower and the bath and got halfway through insulating the loft. Not bad for a week's work! Oh and we got someone round to clean the gutters, and I got a quote for double glazing. A very productive week I feel. Thanks to Mum for all her hard work and unlimited energy, and to Dad too for his hard work and attention to detail I couldn't have done it without you!

So I no longer have an orange WC, it's now minty green. But don't despair, all the orange accessories are now in the 3rd bedroom along with the new yellow walls. Waste not want not!

Now I've got to summon up the energy for Saturday's Middlesex Orbital badminton tournament. Thanks to Heather I've entered the Singles (!) and the Ladies doubles. We got to the Final of the latter last time, let's hope we can win it this time! That might be wishful thinking... I'm not holding out much hope for the singles though, I've never played singles competitively before, let alone in a national event Wish me luck!

Comments (0) Monday, 12th February, 2007, 12:16 - A week off!

I've got the week off work, hoorah! It's decorating time in the house, I've dragged poor Mum & Dad down for the week to help

The plan is to re-decorate the 3rd bedroom, the downstairs WC and clean the gutters. I'm just waiting for them to arrive, then it's time to get stuck in! Watch this space for progress reports...

Comments (0) Monday, 22nd January, 2007, 00:00 - Badminton, badminton and more badminton

So the first of the Year of '98 SWPS girls is getting married! Rachel and Stuart will tie the knot on March 10th, and to celebrate the happy event Rachel had a Hen Day yesterday. And a lovely affair it was too. Heart-shaped home-made scones with cream and jam to start, followed by some pampering (my nails are still a lovely shade of pink, thanks Karen!) then off into Richmond for dinner at Zizzi's, which was scrummy. A very civilised and fun affair, I hope Rachel enjoyed it as much as I did and well done to Jess & Belle for organising!

The only downside was having to get up early this morning to zoom back down south for a badminton match at 11am, followed by a local tournament at 12pm (well we made it before 1pm, which was just abot acceptable!). We won the match 5-1 (Nigel & I lost our 2nd mixed in 3, 17-21, 21-18, 19-21!). The tournament was fun, although I was definitely the weak link in my pair... I kept poaching shots off Steve then sticking them in the net. I couldn't help it! My racquet would appear out of nowhere, often when I was running away from the shuttle... Go gadget arm! But I enjoyed it, although I am knackered now, and contemplating tomorrow evening's match at Four Marks (1 court church hall - it could be a late night...).

Comments (0) Wednesday, 10th January, 2007, 00:55 - Disco 2000

Well this year has got off to a bumper start: I spent last weekend with Emily & Lindsay in Portsmouth. We partook in 'cultural' activities in the afternoon, visitng the Mary Rose and the Victory in the Historic Dockyard. Since having read Master & Commander (which, incidentally, bears very little resemblance to the film, but both are still good) the old historic ship/sailing thing means a lot more. I've got a much better understanding of what life was like on board, and I'm glad I wasn't there! I know I backpacked round the world for 10 months, but I still like certain creature comforts... like fresh (drinking) water, fresh food, showers (hot or cold, if it comes to it I'm not that fussy!).

We then trundled back to Southsea where we settled ourselves in the Wine Vaults for the evening, and chatted the night away. I seem to remember Lindsay & I showing Emily the dance to Disco 2000 when we got back... and drinking tea and G&T at 3am. Emily took us to a lovely pub on Langstone Harbour (near Hayling Island) on Sunday and we had a scenic, if windy, walk along the shore afterwards to blow out all the cobwebs I do like living by the coast.