Matthew Dawkins - minipix.co.uk

We were in Tesco the other day, doing our weekly food shop, and a power extension block caught my eye.  Not because it had a million sockets on it or because it had flashy packaging, but because it seemed to be in the wrong place.  The shelf monkeys at Tesco had displayed them opposite the [...]

Today marked a significant transition into the real world for me.  Today I bought a new car.  Not brand new, but it is a reasonably modern, normal car, unlike my beloved Mini with whom I have enjoyed many happy hours.  It’s been on the cards for some time now, for various reasons, and today finally [...]

It seems only yesterday I bought Neddy, my lovely little Mini Sidewalk, unadulterated and raring to get into the Mini scene.  I’ve since added my own refinements, like 5-spoke alloy wheels and a carbon-fibre dashboard and suchlike, but it’s remained essentially the same car.  Cute, friendly, stubborn at times, but a great friend.
Odd, then, that [...]

Well, that’s quite possibly the longest blog post title I’ve ever written.  But with good reason - I have a lot to say in this post.  So feel free to skip bits that you find boring, I won’t be offended.  Just don’t expect me to mow your lawn for free unless you’ve read every word.
For [...]

Today was a first for me. I spent more than £20 on a tank of petrol. For most people I suspect £20 is hardly anything, but my little Mini has a tiny tank and a range of only about 200 miles. But so far I’ve been looking at an average of £15-18 [...]

Firstly, a big congratulations to Ian and Lucy! Welcome to the club of married-folk…
It was a superb day, bathed in glorious sunshine and with not a hitch in sight. Other than that of Ian and Lucy, of course. Getting hitched, I mean. The service at St Botolph’s church in Colchester was [...]

I’ve just received a bill from British Gas.  We’re on paperless billing, so it’s all done online.  I logged into their web site, checked the bill, and noticed that the bill was based on an estimate rather than a direct meter reading.  So I took a reading from our meter, fed it into their web [...]

Avid readers will know that I have been involved in an ongoing saga with BT since December.  Basically, they screwed up and tried to charge us for it, and I’ve been kicking up a fuss ever since.  Well, my next bill came through recently, showing a late payment charge on it that really shouldn’t have [...]

I’ve finally got round to taking some photos of our gerbils, Diamond and Pearl.  Ellie was cleaning our their cage this morning so I had to babysit them both on the sofa, and took the opportunity to whip my camera out.  It’s actually quite hard to get a good shot of something so small and [...]

Work has generally been quite busy recently.  Which is a good thing.  More work means more money.  However, there is more to life than work, and there are a whole load more things I need to squeeze into my week than just work.  I’d like to share just a few of this week’s additional bits [...]