Saturday 27th February: It's election season

Had to laugh at this Conservative sign in Brighton today, home to their conference for the week ... could it look any more like a dodgy nightclub?

Friday 26th February: Water tap and filter, apparently!

Over the past two years, it'll be near to midnight when my phone buzzes to let me know that I have an email. Usually it's just the latest emails I've signed up to, but every week or so I get an email from my brother who has just come in from the garage after making a part for the steam lorry he's building from scratch.

This picture is of a water tap and filter, apparently! He has to make hundreds of components, while only a handful are ready-made, such as the boiler.

I am always amazed by his stamina when it comes to his engineering projects, more so given that he was paralysed from the chest down just over seven years ago. I swear he does more in a day than an average man does in a week.

Whenever I have a long day in the office and feel like a moan, I always think of him out in his garage, still working away, despite having already been to work that day. Twelve hour days are nothing to him, in fact, if he only does 12 hours then he considers it an unproductive day!

He's hoping to finish the lorry later this year so I'll be sure to post pictures between now and then, not only for the memories, but for the inspiration I need to just keep at it, whatever's thrown at me.

Thursday 25th February: Friday night on the tube

Waiting for the tube at Oxford Circus after a late night at work on a Friday night. Very rock 'n' roll I know, sometimes I can't keep up with the exciting life I lead ...

Wednesday 24th February: Bloody Alice

Anyone who has been working with me today knows that this Alice in Wonderland limited edition palette from Urban Decay has been the bane of my life. I am quite sure that I will be dreaming rabbit holes and colours tonight. Good luck finding one, they're like gold dust, I just can't think why ...

Tuesday 23rd February: Flowers at lunch

When the weather forecast predicts rain for the next seven days and the world just seems like such a dreary place right now, there's always a bit of sunshine going through the John Lewis doors in London.

Inside the doors at the back of the Oxford Street store there are more colours than a rainbow and more smells than a Jo Malone shop.

Every time I walk in there to get my lunch from Waitrose (which is surprisingly good value, btw), the world turns a glorious sunshine yellow and for those few seconds, I float along (could be the low blood sugar before lunch, of course) with a smile on my face.

One day, I might even buy some.

Monday 22nd February: What keeps me awake

LOVING my book of the moment, "The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters. Anyone who read "Fingersmith" will know what a great storyteller Waters is.

I'm not usually keen on the surpernatural, but this ghost story has got me reading way past when I should be.

At the moment, strange things are happening at "Hundreds", is Roderick mentally unstable, or are there darker forces at work?

It's got to be the latter, of course, but I'm hoping it doesn't get too scary, I'm too much of a wuss for that.

Sunday 21st February: The curling Olympics

I absolutely adore watching the Olympics be it the Summer or Winter Games. But this year the Winter Olympics have become the Curling Olympics on the BBC. Whenever I put it on the tv or on red button, it's the bloody curling, AGAIN!

At least I know all rules and the tactics, but when you're someone like me who likes speed and a 'real' athletic sport, then there's only so much sliding and stones I can take.

Bring on the downhill and Bode Miller - now we're talking!

Saturday 20th February: Winter Olympic gold!

Woke up this morning to learn that Amy Williams, who overnight was leading the women's skeleton at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, had won the gold medal.

Williams is Britain's first individual champion since figure skater Robin Cousins won gold in 1980.

Such is the state of our (or maybe just mine?) opinion of British sport, I was convinced she wouldn't win. Either she'd have an accident or a run that didn't go well, either way, the very fact that she's British meant there was a very distinct possibility that she wouldn't win.

I'm happy to have been proved wrong, but it still hasn't changed my perception of British sport: we're often in the mix, and even leading at times, but always when it comes down to it, we crumble.

Amy is obviously made of sterner stuff, I might just go and check she is actually British ...

Friday 19th February: Happy birthday Mum!

The perfect opportunity to wish my Mum a happy birthday and thank her for everything she does. She truly is one in a million and I love her to bits.

Slush over!

Thursday 18th February: It's getting lighter!

Now this isn't the best picture in the world, nor is it very interesting, but for me it marks the beginning of the end of the early morning/evening darkness!

Usually, when we leave the house at 6.30am, it's pitch black, but this week the sky is getting lighter - hurray! Just six weeks to go now before the clocks go back, and I tell you, I cannot wait.

Wednesday 17th February: Eating alone

This isn't meant to be a picture of a bottle of wine (although wine does tend to feature in a lot of my pictures!), it's actually the man sat by himself in the restaurant who caught my attention.

Isn't it strange how someone sat on their own is such a rare thing. Had he been sat with someone else I probably wouldn't have noticed him.

But instead, as I tucked into my lovely curry, I was formulating all sorts of reasons for his eating alone on a Wednesday night. Was he just late from work and thought he'd grab a bite on the way home? But then why not grab something quick (he had a starter too so he was clearly not in a rush). Did he just like the restaurant/curry and treated himself? But then why not take someone with him to enjoy the experience more? Was he just a misanthropic Heathcliff, preferring his own company?

The conclusion I came up with, and it's great how your imagination just runs off with a scenario, is that he is a widow. He lives alone, he doesn't really want to head home to an empty house. He perhaps lost his wife not too long ago so the pain is still raw. Perhaps he doesn't want to dine with anyone else because he loved eating out with his wife so much that it would just be too painful to invite anyone else so soon.

Sympathy set in; I felt incredibly sorry for the man, particularly as he didn't look like he had much to smile about at the moment.

I am probably completely wrong, and I hope I am. How painful my morbid scenario would be.

Instead, I'm now going to pretend that he's a complete anti-social asshole, because that doesn't make me feel so bad and it won't, next Wednesday evening, make me think of him turning up alone at the restaurant again, recalling memories of his wife.

Tuesday 16th February: Pancake day!

I absolutely LOVE pancake day, simply because I can actually make pancakes! I know they're not the hardest thing in the world to cook, and I do what my mum does and just chuck it all in without measuring a thing, but coming from someone who doesn't cook, that's quite a feat!

My favourite filling is lemon, golden syrup and sugar, nothing beats that apart from chocolate ice cream maybe, but we didn't have any of that.

Delicious and I wonder why we don't have them as a dessert every night. Yum.

Monday 15th February: Welcome back

After the rain in Spain, to come home to more rain back here is just depressing, especially when the Victoria Line goes down as well.

Not impressed, London.

Sunday 14th February: The big V

Saturday 13th February: Snowing in Spain!

This is not supposed to be a depressing picture of a black church door, but rather that black background allows you to just ... about ... see ... the bloody snow - in Spain!

This wasn't what I signed up for when we booked the flight. Southern Spain = hot weather right? Ha!

Friday 12th February: La Alhambra

Just catching up on my blog after my hols, short and sweet for the next few posts ...

Thursday 11th February: Roadside toros

Apparently there are around 92 toros de Osborne dotted across the roads of Spain. These are huge metal black bulls held up by scaffolding.

They were originally erected as advertisements for the Osborne sherry and brandy company of El Puerto de Santa Maria. In the 1990s the bulls were supposed to be pulled down after a new law to remove all roadside advertising due to road safety (it's always a health and safety issue isn't it?).

However, there was such outcry among the Spanish that the bulls were allowed to stay and are now regarded as a national symbol.

Here's one of the 92 on the road from Jaen to Granada ...

Wednesday 10th February: The unwelcome Church mat

Spanish cathedrals, the ones I've seen at least, are so magnificent in their dominance of the area in which they stand. But what annoys me is that you just can't take it all in. Over the years they've had so many other buildings placed beside them that you're constantly craning your neck upwards to look at it. You get no real idea of its size or its splendour because as soon as you start to step back to take it all in, you slam into another building.

At least our cathedrals in the UK (I'm thinking Wells and Salisbury here) can be seen both from afar, and once your next to them, you can walk back 500m or so and take them all in. That's how it should be.

But the one thing common among all cathedrals and churches across the world, for me, is that they are so unwelcoming! They're freezing cold, the iconography consists of death, treachery or just plain morbidness. No wonder our generation aren't bothered by the church, why would you possibly want to spend any time in one when they make you feel so miserable?!

Tuesday 9th February: Chocolate con churros

I love the fact you can eat what you want on holiday. Where else would you eat churros, donut-type sticks caked in oil with sugar on top? And no, I didn't lick my lips.

After such gluttony, we checked over the old palace-city ruins of Madinat al-Zahra, but I'm not really a pile of stones person, thank goodness archaeology only made a brief appearance on my childhood 'Potential jobs' list.

Back in the car and off to a castle built in AD740, Almodovar del Rio. More stones, but at least the castle has been restored and is standing, you can at least imagine life here, once upon a time, unlike the pile of stones at Madinat al-Zahra which is really hard to imagine anything.

Does make you think that the life we leave now and the buildings we walk into every day, which someday just be a pile of stones and rubble. What a depressing thought.

Monday 8th February: Cordoba's Mezquita

Heading out of Malaga to Cordoba as I've never been and I really wanted to see the Mezquita, which has both Christian and Muslim influences. The architecture is most definitely Muslin, but the iconography and stained glass windows are very much Christian.

When reading about Cordoba's history, it implies a world where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side and interacted with each other. However, before I got carried away with a belief that perhaps one day people could all live together, whatever religion or race, the same book pointed out that this actually wasn't the case in medieval Cordoba and in fact, much like the world today, the city brimming with racial and class-based tension.

Despite this, you can't deny the sheer beauty of the Mezquita. The arches, so ubiquitous across Islamic architecture, are beautiful; and the mosaics, so colourful and orderly, it's easy to lose yourself. But the marble floors make it so cold, there's only so long you can stay inside before you wonder if your nose is going to fall off.

More exploring tomorrow ...

Sunday 7th February: "Carnaval"

With just several hours of sleep behind us, we grumpily made our way to the airport with just a few grunts between us.

With an EasyJet flight ahead, there was nothing to get particularly excited about.

Like most of you, I do hate the fact that EasyJet can't give seat numbers. How hard is it, really? It's as if people are scrambling for Africa again, not for seats on a plane. Such fuss in order to sit next to the people you're going on holiday with; I wonder if there's such enthusiasm on the way home after a week with said people?

We've hired a car and were under strict instructions from those in the know that you shouldn't leave the departure lounge of Malaga airport in search of hire cars as there's no way back in the building.

Tentatively making my way to the hire car area, I'm faced with all the hire car operators. I make my way to Europ Car and am followed by the most annoying man I think I have ever met. Then his wife, "Sheila" turned up. After 15 minutes of listening to him, I nearly invited Saint Sheila on holiday with us. How she can put up with a man who does a running commentary of his life, second-by-second, with an opinion on EVERYTHING, is absolutely staggering.

Knowing my luck, I'll be sat next to the fool on the way home as Sheila would have realised that if she gets to the EasyJet plane late enough, there won't be any seats left that are next to each other.

Anyway, after a few hours cleaning the apartment we're staying in, we headed in to Malaga and were lucky enough too see a "Carnaval". I can only think of Bonfire Night as something we all do jointly throughout the UK, yet here everyone was out with tired kids, excited grandparents and streams of colour and chopped up paper flying through the skies.

It was wonderful and you really got a sense of family and friendship here, which is certainly amiss back home ...

Saturday 6th February: All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

So, all my bags are indeed packed and I'm raring to go! Spain tomorrow but what a long day getting everything done today!

I am patting myself on the back for having booked a Sunday flight rather than today. I somehow knew that today was going to be a crazy day getting final bits of work done and general sorting out of lives, as Saturdays tend to be in our house.

I've even managed to pack a book that I won't even look at - you can see it in the picture: "2000 essential Spanish verbs". I know, despite learning Spanish off and on over the past few years, that I will still do what I always do and speak pigeon English to everyone. Still, I'm better than him indoors, he also adds a foreign accent to his English.

I'm tempted to put up a photo of a sign to say I've gone on holiday, back in a week, but I know I've committed to a picture a day so I'm going to try and get some hotel wifi action and post throughout the week.

I'm not going to apologise for the late delivery of a blog or two this week, this was only ever meant for me anyway, but in case you are reading, enjoy your week and full service will be resumed next week.

Adios!

Friday 5th February: Pub quiz - which player are you?

Every year, our swimming club holds a pub quiz hosted by our chairman, the picture is of one of our answer sheets, as you can see, it wasn't a great round! In teams of six, we all huddle round sipping wine in plastic cups, munching crisps and hoping that we don't come last.

What I love the best is watching the different types of players taking part.

There are the competitive ones, who can be spotted straight away. They're the ones sat bolt upright peering at the opposition with frenetic head movements as if they've become a bird for the evening.

There are those who just want a night out and a natter. They're the ones who, every once in a while, blurt out the right answer. They occasionally have to repeat it because the others on the team have been ignoring them ever since they mentioned they always come last in Trivial Pursuit.

There are those who take control and grab the pen (there are usually two of these on a team and they play a secondary game between themselves for the whole night as the power passes from one to the other). To be fair, these are the ones who answer 90% of the questions, and are usually the more 'senior' members of the party who know what it was like to live in the earlier decades. These people never actually say the answer out loud, instead they grab the pen from their fellow pen-holder and furiously scribble the answer while developing an annoyingly smug facial expression. Having written it faster than you can say "biro", they slam the pen down on the table, push the answer sheet towards the rest of the team, sit back with their arms folded and wait for the other members to huddle round and take a look at the answer. A number of noises and mutterings follow, such as 'Ahhh, I thought it was that ...', and 'Oh, I didn't know that, that's fascinating'. The other pen-holder feels miffed at this point and seizes the writer and sheet for the next question.

And there are those who just love quizzes and get really excited (ie, me). They're the ones sitting on the edge of their seat as the question is being read out, leaning forward and ready to confidently announce the answer. As the end of the answer draws near, you can see them steadily edge back further and further into their seat as they realise that, just like the question before, they haven't got a sodding clue what the answer is.

Sadly, we didn't win, I think we came third in the end, but I did know the answer to the question right at the very end: "Where shall we go now?" As the question came to an end, I knew the answer. There was no slinking back in my chair for this one.

"The pub!" I confidently declared.

Thursday 4th February: Fondant fancies

You'll have to excuse the crap picture, but these strawberry fondant fancies from Waitrose just have to be featured.

If you've got a weakness for cakes, strawberries and general pig-out 'rubbish', then you must try these. They also come in lemon and chocolate and I can heartily happily recommend all three.

I've reached the point now where I have to have one every day, which will mean I either become obese, or my skin will turn strawberry pink, or both.

Please try and let me know what you think. I don't believe there will be anyone who will not agree.

Wednesday 3rd February: Pub grub and cosy fire

Another long day in the office and neither of us could be bothered to cook in the kitchen as we both had to work when we got home, saddos that we are.

But what could be better than a cosy pub, sat next to the fire, glass of wine in hand waiting for food to arrive? Maybe a dog curled by my feet ...

Was a lovely hour's break before the slog again.

That's as exciting as it gets at the moment :(

Tuesday 2nd February: The wine cliche

I know, not very original, and to be honest this picture could represent any day of the year, but a glass of wine was the only way to really calm me down today - I couldn't put another picture of an angry woman up could I?

Suffice to say that it was a tough day at the office and I now can't wait for my holiday next week.

But it's wrong, isn't it, that I'm already worried about the workload when I get back.

Any ideas how to forget work anyone, that won't turn me into an alcoholic? I'm not one for hot baths and candles either ...

Monday 1st February: Hola!

So, I'm off to Spain on Sunday for the week and this little man, Michel Thomas, is back on my playlist.

A few years ago I went to Spanish classes as I desperately wanted to learn a language. I wasn't good at them in school, and how I managed to get a B in German I'll never know. Just shows how easy the exams were I guess ...

What I got from the evening classes was nothing though compared to the little cheeky Michel. You don't have to write anything down, learn anything by rote, you simply listen and repeat, and, remarkably, you speak Spanish!

He also does a French and German course the same and I highly recommend it if you've got a long commute and can't find the time each evening to study.

I'm hoping come Sunday I'll be fluent (ha!), or at least be able to order a beer and chips!

Beunas noches!