The major mishap of the day was in the morning. Fi, my little sister and myself all had a shower in the morning (the first time in the new bathroom) only to come downstairs afterwards to find water pouring down the wall in the dining room. No!!! At this point, I was really angry. This was not the time for another leak particularly when you have a birthday party starting in a few hours and especially when you have three house guests staying!  Anyway, I called Anthony and he said he’d pop round at lunchtime and re-seal the shower screen (he couldn’t come immediately as he was in Cardiff). So I spent the morning doing some last minute booze, gas and food shopping until he arrived. It turns out it was just a missing bit of sealant around the shower screen (Dave’s masterful work strikes again) and since he re-sealed it, things have been fine.

The party was great fun.  Fi went as Madonna and my sister pulled out all the stops as Cher (complete with skin-tight leotard and black wig!) and I went as Mario from Super Mario Brothers. I was very impressed by my homemade birthday cake (GameBoy) that Fi made.  One of the many highlights of the party for me was seeing Pauli dressed up as Freddie Mercury from the I want to break free music video. Possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

The night didn’t end too well for me. I think I made it to about midnight but let’s just say my new bathroom had a bit of a baptism of fire When will I learn?

Remember a few days ago when I said that Fi and I had had a few concerns about the chap fitting our bathroom? Do you also remember how the boss of the fitting company came out to the house and personally guaranteed that things would be alright? Yes? Well, things haven’t quite gone to plan…

Fi and I returned back from my awesome birthday trip to London in a very good mood. On the train we had joked about how much we thought David would have managed to get done in our absence. It transpired that in an entire day of work he had managed to reduce the distance between the inflow and outflow pipes to the radiator by about 6 inches. That was it! What a joke. Never mind we thought, perhaps it’s a complicated job – things will start moving forwards soon surely (after all, B&Q had originally said that the entire project would take 5 days to finish and Friday would be the fifth day…).

We’ve been planning on decking a large concrete area in our back garden for a while and so, on Friday, we headed off to B&Q to buy the timber. After paying for the timber and arranging to come back to collect it in a hire van at 15:30 we got back in the car to drive home for lunch. Crunch! That’s the sound of me smacking Fi’s lovely Golf into a metal pillar. I was reversing out of the car park and I just didn’t see it in my wing mirror. Sadly, it dented the lip of the driver’s door and was catching every time the door opened so I took it to Tebby’s for them to have a look at it. The owner took a trusty universal adjuster (aka a hammer) to the door and straightened it so that it no longer catches but it is going to need some panel beating and a re-spray to fix properly. I’ll try to sort that out later in the week.

After Tebby’s, we came home to do a bit of measuring of the concrete plinth the decking is to go on. After a little bit, Fi came out to the garden looking very pissed off. Basically, there was water (again) pouring down through the dining room ceiling and onto the floor. Yep, you guessed it – Dave’s craftsmanship was on display once again.  This was the final straw.  I called Dave down (he didn’t really seem to be too fussed) and asked him what the Hell was going on.  He said not to be too upset and that when he pulled the toilet away from the wall that clean water poured out from the back.  When I said why was there a third leak after he had promised us that the bathroom was water-tight he simply said that it “wasn’t a leak”. Huh?! If water pouring from a pipe above through the ceiling isn’t a leak then what is?!  Fi and I were so angry.  We told him that the paint was ruined to which he replied – “what the Hell do you want me to do about it?  Repaint it?” Er, yes Dave – that’s exactly what I want you to do.  At this point, Fi and I had to leave to go and collect the van from B&Q to get the timber.  I was grateful, as this gave me a chance to cool off.

En route to B&Q I decided to call the company Dave works for from the mobile number on the side of his van.  Mercifully, Anthony picked up and was extremely concerned and apologetic.  By the time we returned home with the van – Anthony was at the house and had sent Dave home.  He told us that he didn’t accept that sort of behaviour and that he would personally finish the job and guaranteed it would be finished by Friday.  To his credit, he came in Sunday and today (the Bank Holiday) and worked solidly.  Time will tell if this is going to pay off for us.  I really hope it does because I’m getting fed up of this.

We arrived in London just before 13:00 and headed to Soho for our lunch reservations at Gauthier (Alexis Gauthier’s Michelin-starred restaurant). We saw Gauthier on Masterchef a few weeks ago and his style of cooking is very interesting. He doesn’t use weighing scales or timers in his kitchen – everything is done by feel and texture. The short version is that his restaurant was great. It’s right by Shaftesbury Avenue and you have to ring a doorbell to get in. We were about 20 minutes late (thanks to some inconsiderate track jumper on the Bakerloo line) but this was no problem.

We started off the meal with a glass of Champagne which was delightful. The pricing structure was very reasonable and we decided to go a la carte. We had a four course meal for £45 a head (excluding wine) which is really good value for a Michelin starred restaurant in central London. I had the most divine garlic risotto to start followed by a couple of extremely succulent scallops. I then had the pleasure of enjoying a perfectly cooked pigeon rounded off by the most amazing (and I mean this honestly) pudding I have ever eaten. It was basically an incredibly posh Wagon Wheel. Somehow, Alexis Gauthier has figured out a way to put every imaginable chocolate/nutty delight onto a plate and make it work – fantastic!
The whole meal was accompanied by a (let’s face it, obligatory) delicious bottle of red wine. I can wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant – it most certainly won’t disappoint.

As has become the norm today, Fi presented me a present at 3 o’clock to tell me about my next activity. This time we were going to the Doctor Who exhibition at Kensington Olympia. Awesome! The weather has been unpredictable all day and we got caught short by the rain which meant that we arrived at 16:40 at the exhibition centre. In theory, the exhibition wasn’t taking anymore admissions and we should have been turned away but the staff were great and let us in which meant we had the whole exhibition to ourselves. It was really, really good. I got to go in the TARDIS for crying out loud!

After Doctor Who, we rounded off the day with cocktails at the OXO bar on the south bank of the Thames. We (again – oops) were late for our table reservation and so they had given it away. No matter, the rain had stopped and so I had my (rather potent) Vespa martini on the balcony overlooking St. Paul’s cathedral. We then walked to Gordon’s Wine Bar (one of my top 10 places to have a drink) before catching the train back to Bristol.

What an absolutely unforgettable day! I cannot thank Fi enough for her efforts. Something tells me that I’m going to have to pull out all the stops for her 30th in a couple of months time…

Im writing this on the iPad on a train to London. Yep, Fi has planned a surprise day of fun for me and it involves a day trip to London! I only found out this morning over breakfast (delicious crumpets soaked in egg and chilli, topped with bacon by the way) and I’m really excited. I’ve no idea what’s in store other than the fact I’ve had to get dressed up in a shirt with cufflinks. I’ll let you know how things unfold…

We knew things weren’t going to go smoothly on day one when the fitter told us he had been booked for two weeks yet B&Q told us the work would be completed in 5 days! I wouldn’t have minded except that my sister, Fi T and Max are coming to stay next Friday for the weekend (for my eighties-themed fancy dress party – awesome) and we absolutely need to have a functioning bathroom. Couple this with the fact that David (our fitter) is not the brightest bulb in the box and the fact that we’ve had not one but two leaks already – we were worried.

I came home early from work yesterday (don’t judge me – it was the last day of my twenties after all!) to find Fi in a bit of a grump. This was all to do with the leaks. Basically, when the fitter stripped the bathroom on Monday, he didn’t cap the pipes to the old sink and toilet. Apparently, the pipes have a valve on them to stop water flowing out of them in just such a situation. Well, ours were old and so one of them leaked overnight. This has stained the paint in the dinning room a bit but nothing that can’t be fixed. After he fixed the leak (and commented on how old and rubbish the valves were) he neglected to cap off the toilet pipe which, you guessed it, leaked and soiled the dining room walls again. What a prat. Anyway – he’s now sorted it and promised that it won’t happen again.

His boss (Anthony) rocked up at about 16:30 and actually seemed pretty sensible and a reasonable chap. He apologised for the leaks, explained why they happened and also personally guaranteed that the work will be completed by next Friday. They’re even coming in on Bank Holiday Monday to get it done. I pointed out to him some of the concerns I have about getting electricity to the bathroom and he seemed to have some good workarounds so hopefully things will go smoothly from now on. We’re off to London now and have left David to his own devices so hopefully he won’t let us down…

10. G&T on the patio at home with Fi (Bristol, UK)
9.   Sharpham Vineyard (Devon, UK)
8.   Rick’s (Edinburgh, UK)
7.   The Mall (Bristol, UK)
6.   Coffee at The Broadway Cafe (Glenelg, South Australia)
5.   The Albion (Bristol, UK)
4.   Gordon’s Wine Bar (London, UK)
3.   Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong)
2.   Le Ciel de Paris (Paris, France)
1.   Plunge Bar at the Hotel Gansevoort (New York, USA) by a long way

10. Le Cafe Notre (Paris, France)
9.   The Manse Restaurant (Adelaide, Australia)
8.   Da Nello (St. Peter Port, Guernsey)
7.   Spice Market (New York, USA)
6.   Bunker (Queenstown, NZ)
5.   Number 7 Fish Bistro (Torquay, UK)
4.   Appellation (Barossa Valley, Australia)
3.   Rules (London, UK)
2.   Taxi (Melbourne, Australia)
1.   Del Frisco’s (New York, USA)

I’m a Radiologist, not a GP, so reflective practice doesn’t come easily to me but I have found myself evaluating the last decade over recent days.  If I’m honest and upfront about things – I’m really pleased with what I’ve achieved and experienced so far.  Inspired by Chris Evans’ two autobiographies (trust me, he does need two!) I thought I would mimic him and compile a few top tens of my twenties over the next couple of days.  I’m going to start with my top 10 favourite towns/cities in the world:

10. Budapest
9. Sydney
8. Las Vegas
7. Hong Kong
6. Queenstown
5. Melbourne
4. Rome
3. Paris
2. St. Peter Port
1. New York

Next up – top 10 bars.

Fi’s off up North with Papa for a week so I’m home alone.  Initially I had planned on trying to start laying the foundations for timber decking in our back garden (after Papa tirelessly weeded it for us last week) but I really think that’s going to be a little bit too much effort for me to do on my own.  Not to mention that it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to fit any sizeable amount of timber in my little MX-5

I’ve been working on an app that I’m hoping to submit to the Mac App Store when it’s completed but development (as always) has stalled, this time because of my first FRCR exams (which I passed by the way).  I was hoping to get it to a functional alpha state by the time Fi gets back from her jolly but at the rate things are going, that’s unlikely.

Why?  Well, it’s down to this organising compulsion I seem to have.  Take this evening for example.  I have spent the best part of seven hours filtering through my iTunes, Plex and Aperture libraries removing all of the crap  and duplicates that have accumulated over the last several years.  I’ve done this largely because I need to backup all of these things to a more permanent media than my (awesome) Drobo, i.e. some Blu-ray discs.

You could equally take this past weekend where I have spent three days hand-coding the CSS for a blog for my fledgling software studio.  Not to mention the ongoing time I’m spending redoing the whole site (expect it to be done by the end of the weekend).

It’s now 00:50 and I have work tomorrow.  Now that the Blu-ray drive is beavering away (thanks to Toast Titanium) one might say that this is a good juncture to get some shut eye…

We arrived in Guernsey on Wednesday and popped over to Dat & Papa’s to catch up. We then went out for dinner at Le Petit Bistro with Cath, Tammy & Dickon. The service was slow but it was probably the best fillet steak I’ve had for a long time.

The highlight for me wasn’t Katie’s wedding (although that was really nice – more on that later) but a day trip to Herm.

We took the Travel Trident from Guernsey to Herm on Thursday. The weather was amazing – not a cloud in the sky. Herm is one of the small islands that are part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey (the others being Sark, Brecqhou, Jethou, Lihou and Alderney) and is generally regarded as a bit of a “playground” in that it has two beautiful beaches and a weird micro-climate that ensures you get a tan whatever the weather!

We walked around the island, had lunch and paddled in the sea. I think I may have found the most beautiful spot in the world on the south coast of the island.

Friday evening was a sober affair as we had to prime ourselves for the wedding on Saturday.

The wedding started at 14:00 at a church in Forest parish and then moved on to the reception at Katie’s parents house. They have an enormous, beautifully landscaped, garden and had erected a posh marquee. We met some new people and were put on a fairly lively table in the evening. I was very impressed with the constant supply of champagne and the free bar all night! I also really liked the wandering table magician. Oddly enough, the speeches were done before the meal with the father-of-the-bride’s being the funniest (and longest!).

When things wrapped up at about 23:30, we headed into town to carry on. We didn’t queue for Folly’s but instead went to the island’s number two nightclub – Fusion. It was OK (we somehow got into the VIP area). After waiting nearly an hour for a taxi (the norm after a night out in Guernsey), we finally got home at 03:30!

Yesterday was a much more sober day. Dat & Papa came round to Fi’s parents house and we had a BBQ Sunday lunch followed by the latest episode of the BBC’s reboot of Sherlock Holmes (well worth watching).

I’m working tonight and tomorrow night as a locum for ENT at St. Mike’s. I think they’re on major take but I’m still crossing my fingers for at least a little bit of sleep…

Officially, I start Radiology on Wednesday but I don’t have to go in that day (as it’s Trust Induction that I’ve already been signed off for). Here’s looking forwards to Thursday when I’ll get to meet my new Radiology peers.