In other news...

The bathroom is almost finished, and the front door and porch have received a new lick of paint, thanks largely to Barry ("Dad"). The traditional Toblerone seemed scant reward for such hard work, but we think he enjoys it!!

Next up, a second coat of gloss here and there and then some work on our 1st floor windows and window sills. Then off to the estate agent for a HIP and putting the place on the market, with only a visit from mum and dad (Reid) and the Allebon/Secher wedding getting in the way.

Jo has refused to take it easy, which has admittedly help get all the work done. She's looking and feeling good and seems no more tired than Tim most of the time (but then, Tim is very tired all of the time...). It's a good excuse to go shopping for a new wardrobe, although Tim is a little confused at why this should mean two new pairs of shoes.... ;0)

Sport and things

Tim is competing in the London Duathlon in Richmond Park on Sunday 13th.

Please click on the photo above to visit his fundraising page.

After several requests, he has decided to accept sponsorship money from those who are determined to give it!

The Rosslyn Park XV season starts on Saturday 12th, but Tim is resting for the Duathlon. On 20 September, Lovells will be competing in the Law Society 7s in Richmond, but Tim and Jo will be in Cambridge, recovering from Toby and Rachel's wedding. The speech is in the pipeline...!

I want you to know that I have added my name to the NHS Organ Donor Register so that I can help someone else to live after my death.

Every year hundreds of people die while waiting for a transplant. I want to help.

I registered my wishes to be a life-saver on the NHS Blood and Transplant website. You can find out more about organ donation by visiting their site:

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

Tim x

We owe you some blogs...

It's been a while since our last update. We owe you some holiday photos as well as pictures from Jodie and Sam's wedding.

In the meantime, did you know that an anagram of Tim Reid is "I'm tired"?

How did I get through 32 years before finding that out?

Newsflash! Jo and Tim are going on holiday

Jo and Tim have decided to escape London for a week and will be taking up residence in a yurt in Devon from Friday. For details, click here. We'll be back next Friday (31st).

P.S. A very happy birthday to mum Reid! xx

Two weddings later...

This weekend, we were in Lancashire for Jodie and Sam's wedding. Once again, our friends somehow defied the weather forecast and had stunning sunshine for the whole day. Photos will follow shortly.

Taking the train was far more civilised than driving all the way up. We stayed in a nice hotel in Lancaster for 2 nights and the wedding reception was at Leighton Hall, Carnforth. Jodie, as always, looked radiant. Sam looked tall. Tim was amazed to find that Jodie's mum remembered him from the days when he shared a house with Jodie in Durham ('97-'98)! Toby, Rachel, Keith and Cath were also there: Cath sporting a 6-month bump.

Tim's only complaint about the weekend was the bride and groom's decision to leave a cask of local beer lying around for guests to help themselves throughout the evening. That idea presumes a certain amount of self-control on the part of the guests, and Tim (amongst others) woke on Sunday with a bit of a sore head and without the brand new £20 umbrella he'd bought barely 24 hours earlier. Thanks must go to Jo for ensuring Tim found his way safely into the taxi with all his other belongings...

Emily and Tim's wedding photos are now sorted and on kodak. Click on the photo for a link to the slideshow.

10 July

Hi everyone

We've had plenty to talk about over the last 2 weeks, but I've been resisting the urge to blog until the photos from Em & Tim's wedding and from our weekend in Chipping Campden were ready. That hasn't quite happened yet, so to tide you over you'll find (by clicking above) a few photos from mum and dad following mum's, er, "30th" birthday celebrations.

Emily and Tim's wedding was great. The sun came out throughout the day and we had a perfect summer's evening by the time we'd moved from the church to the reception. The speeches were brilliant: by the sounds of things Tim was lucky to survive a series of childhood accidents (all of which were entirely his own fault), let alone make it to his own wedding day. We've got some great photos, which will follow soon.

The DIY is painstakingly slow (Tim seems to be doing everything, for obvious reasons), but this Sunday may be the day that the bathroom finally gets a new coat of paint.

Chipping Campden was a great weekend. You were either there or will already have heard all about it afterwards. Poppy was on great form and Peter slept all the way through dinner in the posh restaurant (although that didn't stop a snooty couple muttering under their breath about taking small children to restaurants, miserable gits).

We hear Poppy's not been well this week and Tim and Lucy are trying to persuade her to take some tamiflu... Harking back to our conversation last weekend, I think crushing it up in a spoonful of jam is the traditional route? We're sending her all our love, though, for a quick recovery of her health and her appetite!

Bit of a crazy food week this week.

Having barely recovered from the indoor skydiving at Keith's stag weekend, Tim has been living on canapés all week, culminating in an afternoon at Taste! of London on Thursday with a few clients and VIP treatment (which amounts to one glass of champagne but lots of free cream scones). Tim saw Rachel there, working hard at her flagship event, and then caught up with Toby afterwards (predictably, in the pub with the Investec people). Highlight: the beer and cheese matching masterclass.

Jo is cracking on with the driving lessons. Work is, as ever, for both of us, work. Things are definitely a bit more manageable at GOSHH now, thankfully. Tim has only been out for 1 run this week ahead of the (relay) triathlon, but has improved his performance by giving blood this week: That's 400 calories burned while lying down, and a surplus of new red blood cells.

We're off to deepest Derbyshire tonight, ahead of Emily and Tim's wedding at Matlock. We've hired a cottage nearby and are squeezing 9 people and a baby (Isaac) in for the weekend. Weather permitting, we might go for a long walk on Sunday before heading home.

On the horizon: Tim's mum's birthday in the Cotswolds, Peter Pan in Hyde Park, Calvin Harris at Somerset House and - of course - 3 weekends of fantastic Lions rugby!

Putting the "ahh" into Spaaaah...

Had a lovely weekend at Henlow Grange, including a day off work on Monday.

Both feeling well fed, relaxed and tension-free!

Jo has been appointed permanent Financial Controller at GOSHCH after having to sit through a full interview on Friday - but we never doubted that the job was hers (no-one else could do it!)

Tim was out running on Tuesday afternoon when he and a few others took some clients out for a triathlon training day in Herne Hill, where they have a lido and velodrome as well as a nice little park for the 5k run. The weather has been pretty wet this week, but good running weather. The triathlon is a month away. Tim missed the first of his latest round of dance lessons last night, though.

It's Jo's turn to do the DIY this weekend (snagging work, mostly!), because Tim is off on Keith's long-awaited (and more than a year overdue) stag weekend in Bedford and Birmingham. Indoor freefall, clay-pigeon shooting and the like. Don't expect photos on this blog, except maybe for a photo of Keith in an undersized superman outfit in the indoor skydiving!

Weekend without work...

Lovely weekend at home.

We had lunch on Saturday with Seb and Rach at their place, and went for a walk round Tooting Common to try to get Jacob to sleep. No joy. Cute little wide-eyed fella, though.

Lunch not being enough, we then went almost directly to Toby and Rachel's to catch the tail-end of the Baa-Baas game, and have a barbeque. Home-made burgers and pork-loin, mmmmm. We really have to get our BBQ working this year.

On Sunday we sat in the Terrace Gardens on Richmond Hill and ate ice-cream. I can't believe I've never been through there before. I think mum and dad went there on the weekend of the wedding. The view was something like this.

Next weekend, Henlow Grange, to celebrate the end of Jo's audit, job interview and everything else from the last few months! Looking forward to wandering around in a fluffy dressing-gown all weekend.

Barry, Verity, Daniel and Matthew are all back home in the UK, with Mick. Tim's posted the Concannon family holiday snaps on facebook. Not sure if this will work, but try clicking here to see them. Dolphins, kids, emus and sunshine all round. Very nice.

If that works, try clicking on the photo of Lilia, below, to see more photos of the new addition to the Concannon family and - for good measure - here's a picture of Peter and Poppy too!

J&T x