Nikki-ann

2007 is just about done, so I guess it’s time for my review of the year.

I think I’ve done well on the family history front this year. I discovered a couple of forgotten family bibles in the bookshelves, giving me a whole generation of birth, marriage and death dates. I found information on a great uncle who nobody seemed to have heard of - He was dead by the age of 20 and spent his last years in a lunatic asylum, poor soul. I also met up a long lost cousin and his wife (found through Genes Reunited) and discovered one or two more distant relations. I discovered I had a rare marriage certificate in my possession (the bride & groom, their fathers and the 3 witnesses all shared the same surname) and it was published in the Family Tree Magazine. I also discovered my Great Great Uncle served in the British Army by finding some military records on Ancestry, when previously I’d only got 1 reference to him in the 1871 census.

This year I ventured abroad for the first time since 2001. Dad & I went on a World War 1 battlefields trip to Northern France and Belgium.

We stayed in Tournai (Belgium), spending some time in the Ypres area visiting the city as well as Tyne Cot Cemetery, Hill 62 and Santuary Wood, Hooge Crater, The Yorkshire Trench near Boezinge, Poperinghe with its 2 death cells, execution pole and military cemetery, and Menin Gate for the Last Post.

We also spent some time in the Somme area (France) visting Historial de la Grande Guerre (The Museum of the Great War) in Péronne, Guillemont Road Cemetery, Delville Wood, Lochnagar Crater, Sunker Lane and the memorial to the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, Newfoundland Memorial Park and Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

It was a very interesting and informative trip, and we were blessed with beautiful weather.

As usual, I attended a few gigs. I saw James Marsters at Rich Mix and Union Chapel in London, Anthony Head in Milton Keynes and Take That in Birmingham. I should have seen James Marsters in Cardiff too, but the floods prevented me from going anywhere that weekend in July!

I also went to 2 or 3 motorsport events this year. I saw the DTM and Superside at Brands Hatch in Kent (Mika Hakkinen nearly ran me over with his scooter that day!). I couldn’t afford to go to the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, so I went to watch the Big F1 Test instead (not as good as watching racing, but it was still great to see the F1 cars blasting around the track). I also went to the Charity Open Day at the Honda Racing F1 Headquarters in Brackley. While there I met F1 driver Antony Davidson and commentating legend Murray Walker - another great weekend.

Work has been very busy this year, especially the 2nd half of it. A colleague was on sick-leave for a couple of months and I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed before! So, I was ever so glad when the time came for my Christmas break!

Christmas was a quiet one this year. Nan didn’t feel up to coming over for Christmas Day, so Mum, Dad & I went over to my grandparents for Sunday lunch and spent Sunday with them instead.

Christmas morning was spent giving and opening presents. Dad & I surprised Mum with a fairy statue/bird bath from us both and I surprised them both with giftbags of goodies - a book about Passendaele and a bottle of whiskey for Dad and a silk scarf, purfume and kitchen bits for Mum. I received a subscription to the Family Tree Magazine, a few books (including Cheshire’s Execution Files by Derek Yarwood, Michael Palin’s New Europe and On The Edge by Richard Hammond), a calendar, money, a gift voucher and some other bits & bobs.

My brother joined us later on in the morning and stopped for Christmas dinner (the best meal of the year!), but my sister-in-law had to work as she’s a carer. The evening was spent relaxing in front of the TV. This year I watched a new-ish Christmas film - The Polar Express - a wonderful animated movie.

Boxing Day was quiet too. More TV and another roast dinner to finnish off the turkey!

I haven’t done as much as I wanted to do with my time off work so far. The weather has been so miserable! Before I go back to work I’m hoping to go over to Melton to visit my friend Lisa (and deliver presents) and make a trip up to Caernarfon. I also want to get out and take more photos, so I’m watching the weater forcast carefully.

This

This might be worth checking out. Tin Man (you may recognise the character’s name from The Wizard of Oz) is a new mini-series about to be shown on the Sci Fi Channel in the US. After spending time looking around the website, I’m hoping it comes to the Sci Fi Channel (or any other channel) in the UK. It looks to be a lot darker than the original book/film, but that doesn’t stop me wanting to sing “We’re off to see the wizard….”!

A colleague recently went to see Wicked the musical in London and has been raving about it, so I’ve got a bit of a feeling for all things Oz at the moment. I’d love to see Wicked and from what I’ve seen and heard, it’s well worth going to see.

That

I’ve been looking through the 100+ photos I took at Take That’s concert on the 17th and decided to upload two or three more.

The rest can be found over at Flickr and here.

What a great weekend this is turning out to be! Yesterday I went to see Take That at Birmingham NEC and today it’s snowing! It’s been snowing for a couple of hours now. It isn’t sticking to the roads at the moment, but it is starting to stick to the roofs, cars and fields.

So, last night… was amazing! Take That just keep getting better and better. They’ve always put on a good show, but they always manage to out-do themselves.

Take That had 2 support acts last night, the first of which was Brown:Music. They’re a talented band and certainly worth checking out (Tash is Jason’s vocal coach). The second support act was Sophie Ellis Bextor. As Sophie is already a well established artist it’s quite surprising to see her as a support act, but she was certainly welcomed. If only we could all carry off the dress she was wearing!

I had a brilliant seat (Block A Row G) made even better by the shape of the stage, but even those sat near the back had a great view because once again Take That had a ‘B’ stage in the middle of the arena. Those in aisle seats had it even better… Take That walked from the ‘B’ stage to the main stage through the crowd. They obviously didn’t mind being groped when they did it last year!

Take That certainly put on a show. They had plenty of dancers (including Gary’s wife, Dawn), flames (they even set fire to various parts of themselves - covered in fire-proof clothing, of course), and sang old songs as well as new. They just keep getting better and better!

I took plenty of photos (of course), so I’ve picked out the best and uploaded them to Flickr.

For ease of use I’ve decided to set-up a new blog (e.g. here). I’m still ironing out one or two wrinkles so do let me know if you find something that doesn’t work as it should. My old blog is still in place as I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with the rest of the website, at the moment.

After the disappointment of not seeing Meat Loaf live at Birmingham NEC (the tour was cancelled due to Meat Loaf’s ill health), I was excited to receive an email announcing Bon Jovi’s 2008 UK tour. I was less excited, however, to discover the £75 price tag for a “Golden Circle” ticket, especially as I’d only paid £50 for one last year! Bon Jovi are an excellent band, espcially live, but I’ve seen them a few times now and I’m just not willing to pay for a ticket that’s had a 50% increase since last year.

I do have good news though. In April 2008 I’ll be going to see John Barrowman at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff! It will be John’s first solo tour and he’ll be singing songs from his new album, Another Side. The album includes songs such as Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ (a favourite of mine) and Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’. John has a wonderful voice and is a true showman, so I’m sure it will be a great night out.

Anyway, we’re having visitors in a little while, so that’s all from me for now. See ya!