A most unusual day!

The weather today has been most unusually windy, wet, and grey. Compared to last week's beautifully sunny day, it is most disappointing since we had plans on going out with Rox, maybe to Rabat. Ah well. Back to my Xbox then.

Xbox!

Following many oohing and aahing, I have finally splashed out on a new Xbox360 Elite. Getting home and plugging it into my HD Tv, it is nothing short of excellent.

Good build quality and brilliant games conspire to make this a favourite gadget.

I have always been a Sony fan, so I thought I would progress to the PS3, but an extremely high price tag, as well as niggling troubles with its blu-ray player, has steered me away. Also, I do have plans to mod my box later on... something not possible with the PS3.

A passing away.

Unfortunately, my beloved grandmother passed away this morning just before 6am. Always jolly with a smile on her face, she will be so missed by all of us.

More so by my mother, with whom she lived in Fgura.

Goodby my dear, 'til we meet again...

Very Sore.

Tuesday today, and against my better judgement, I decided to come in to work. My right arm is practically dead, and I feel as if I have been hit over the head with a no.7 size sledgehammer.

I just had to take a half-day off on leave, and go get some rest. It was off to bed at about one in the afternoon, and around 5pm I woke up refreshed and quite stronger.

Still, swimming was off today. Despite not having a fever, my temperature was still a bit on the high side....so better safe than sorry!

In the evening I settled down to watch Egypt vs Nigeria (3-1), and after that, took my trusty Cessna 172 out for a spin..err...on Flight Sim 2004 obviously.

H1N1 jab.

Like many people here, I elected to take the dreaded 'swine-flu' jab. I have heard many things about this, and to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive of taking it.

But with my health problems. I thought I better not risk it. A quick poke and all was done. However I noticed an increase in temperature as the evening wore on.

2am now...and my temperature is still high and I can't get to sleep....

A nice quiet Sunday.

It’s been a good weekend. Good, not great. If it wasn’t for the fact that my old gran is in hospital, unfortunately extremely ill, it would have been great.

Unhappily, there is nothing that can be done any more. When you get as old as ‘nanna’, it’s a chore just to keep breathing….

Saturday was a mad-house, as we frantically made our home ship-shape. It’s unbelievable how much we tend to leave things lying around.

Saturday was a mad-house, as we frantically made our home ship-shape. It’s unbelievable how much we tend to leave things lying around.

In the evening we met new friends, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself.

Then yesterday it was up at 5am to set-up the powerpoint for Sunday’s 10am mass. I really must find a way to do this more effectively! Waking that early is not a joke…even then it is a hassle when I find we are doing new songs and I don’t have a decent lyrics background. Just the text is nowhere near good enough for me…

Ok we gave good account of ourselves, not special, but relatively good. As with the presentation, I’m not happy unless we played at 100%. Happily we had a new guitarist with us. Matthew is a (very) young Guns ‘n Roses fan, so expect something new from us.

Finally by noon, all was settled, and since we had decided to eat out instead of cooking, just dropped (not literally) my guitar home. We went down to Birzebbugia, and the weather conspired with us to make a wonderful afternoon. It was cold and VERY windy… ideal winter conditions as we picked our way on the deserted beach.

Naturally, we enjoyed ourselves hugely. Then it’s off to a nice quiet restaurant, and off home for a nice cuddle in front of the telly!

A nice relaxing way to end the day.

And now it’s back to this damn desk! Bah! Humbug!

End of days.

Unfortunately, despite being Friday, it doesn’t seem to be shaping up to be a good weekend. My grandmother, now 88, is nearing the end of a long battle to survive each day.

We all know that nobody lives forever, and it breaks my heart to see such a wonderful woman leave us. She has now had her last rites administered, and doctors are warning the family to expect bad news from time to time.

I don’t know about other grandmothers, (my kids certainly won’t be lucky with their horrible lot), but ‘Nanna Rit’, as everyone calls her, is a paragon of virtue, love, understanding and kindness.

Hopefully she can manage to ‘cling on’ to life so that I can see her one last time tonight… the doctors say that she is one tough cookie and doesn’t want to let go…

That’s Nanna Rit for you…

It is the 6th of January today. A day that I remember with bitter-sweet memories. Our dearly departed Jade would have been 23 years old today. Struck down in her prime on the 12th November at just 21, she will never be forgotten by my family, and the thousands of admirers and friends she garnered.

Give her oh Lord, eternal rest and favour in your eyes. Amen.

Juve back on the field this afternoon.

Hurrah…after a long break, football is back. Juve are playing at 3pm, an unusual hour to be sure, but a great time nonetheless. This will give me time to go for my swim at the pool later on.

If only we can put up a good match…not so much for the win but for the performance. I’m sure that our opponents Parma will more than give us a good scrap.

I think that the spoils will be shared in a draw…