OK, New Year and I will do better at posting into my blog. It's been quite a hectic start to the year. Sarah and I took George for a walk at the White Horse (near Kilburn, North Yorkshire) on New Year's Day. It was cold and wet, but we walked up to the top of the hill and looked out onto the Vale of York.

I've wandered around the Railway Museum in York as well during the Festive season. You would have thought that someone who works for Network Rail would have tried to get as far away as possible from the railways when they're on holiday, but George really wanted to go, and who am I to refuse?

It was back to work on the 3rd January. Nothing has changed. We're straight back into period end and with the budgets due as well, it's been a fairly hectic time. I caught the United / Arsenal game on Sky on Tuesday night. I think it's a bit harsh to dismiss it as a bore-draw. Both sides lack something in comparison to Chelsea but they are still two of the best four teams in England at the moment. United should improve defensively with Vidic joining (and hopefully Evra too), so if we can just sort out the midfield, we will have a good / great side again.

On a sporting note, I'm over the moon that the Washington Redskins have made the post-season. I don't rate our chances at any more than 50-50 against Tampa on Saturday (that should be interesting, since the Glazers own Tampa as well as United!), but it's a major improvement on the last few seasons, especially winning 5 on the bounce at the end of the season to make the post-season.

The Montreal Canadiens seem to have slipped up of late. Things started so well at the start of the season, but another loss to New Jersey last night, and we have now lost 4 on the bounce. With a bit of luck we can turn things around.

Finally, I'm a little disappointed that the Yankees haven't added to the starting pitcher roster. I don't think Wright or Pavano are up to the job. Johnny Damon will add to our production, but we need another pitcher who can win us some games. The Big Unit and Mike Mussina should produce as should Chien-Ming Wang. I'm not convinced about Shawn Chacon but Dotel and Farnsworth add to the bullpen and who can argue with Rivera?

Anyway, back to the plot. I put my house on the market on 4th January with Your Move. It's on for £129,950. The fees that some of the agents wanted were crazy. Why should I give some one nearly £3k to sell my house? It's just not on. There's greed and then there's GREED!

We started back at band on 4th Jan as well. I played like a complete twat. It doesn't help that I've not played much since our CD recording (19th / 20th November) with being laid up, but I should have known better. Anyway, the test piece for the Area Finals (Journey to the Centre of the Earth) was on the stand for a lot of the night. We've got a fair bit to do to turn it into a winning performance, but it is possible. The band sounded like it had had two weeks off for Christmas. Still, I'm sure we will be in top form when we take the stage at Atherton on 15th Jan.

Laters.