Good night all, treasure every moment; you never do really know when you are going to lose the best things in life.

On top of all this, my Grandad Derrick Joynes at the age of 85 was under going his 2nd or maybe even 3rd hip replacement on April 1st of all dates. Something didn’t feel right and my conscience got me to ring him in the afternoon wishing him all the best, in particularly remember saying “are you scared” – simply because I knew I was. The sad thing for me is he thought it was Porl who had rung him! All had gone well over the first couple of days but on the Sunday evening he had taken a turn for the worse and the family were advised to come in; instantly thoughts rush around your head of which I knew this was it “bloody Alex hospital has done it again” I remember saying. I knew he wasn’t coming out, not this time. He later passed away just gone midnight on Monday 6th April. A burning question will lie with me for the rest of my life regarding his last few hours. “What did they do to the poor bloke”?
I have never seen a bloke sweat so much trying to revive a man, I had never seen such a frail, pale old man, that was not just my grandad lay there, that was my grandad with the wrong dosage of drugs or something being pumped around him; I still believe they were desperately trying to flush his system of something they had given him by mistake… The family did not want to pursue any further with enquiries so I felt so low and helpless. People argued “it’s not going to bring him back” but my words meant nothing; “it’s not about bringing him back, it is about helping others from our loss”… If this was a horrible mistake how many other people have to go through what we went through? How many had gone through it before? You never know, but all I feel is I was robbed of the best man in my life that night; he was a brave soldier. RIP.
The death of grandad meant I along with all my cousins had a share of my grandad’s wealth which meant I could now afford to get my bike license; of which I completely passed on Wednesday 9th December… So thank you Grandad.

Friday 6th March saw our lives change somewhat as we were introduced to our first foster children; three in fact all from same family. This has brought significant challenges throughout the year and has brought mixed emotions to all of us at various points. We couldn’t have asked for better children to introduce us to fostering but it still hasn’t been an easy ride. Things could be completely different again this time next year so we will see. Due to confidentiality there isn’t a lot I can say there, it is just an opener to the world and amazes me! Mom you are amazing at what you do, it is a difficult job in difficult circumstances, we are all there for one another so stay strong.

Most of the rest of the year was thankfully far more interesting, as we got heavily involved with our 4×4 plans by registering for the Mac4x4 Challenge 2010, creating our own group; Redditch4x4 and of course breaking our Pyrenees virginity which can be read in older posts!
The 4×4 world has brought me some good friends to date, Porl, Clive & Annie, Russell & Pat, Wayne and Don… Hopefully I can take this even further in 2010 as eventually I want to take an expedition out to Africa which requires good contacts. Seeing as though Redditch4x4 was introduced at the end of 2009 we will see where this takes us in 2010.

Work has been particularly interesting in the past 12 months, with Andy coming back and the general mood around the office really improving I feel like I am becoming a stronger and better person. I really enjoy work when it is there and have been fortunate to work with Aston Martin, Bentley Motors, Honda, Land Rover, Lear, Magna, Nissan, and Toyota. It has been a particularly difficult year with the crunch but being a strong minded and capable team we have all managed to scrape through it with special thanks to the directors. 2010 review is happening soon hopefully so I can see the prospects of the next 12 months, I am hoping for something good to come out of it as I am unsure where I am going to be in 12 months time.
Although it has been a difficult decision for my dad, he finally said fair-well to Protective Finishing where he has been working for over 12 years. He is a very committed man to bringing money in for the family, after all he has been doing it since he was 15; so this has been a big blow to him but I admire his inspiration and determination to stand for what he believes in and I think he has made the right choice in the long run. Best of luck for 2010 and hopefully he relaxes a bit more or finds a job – whichever he prefers!

Wow, just reading my review from last year I started the year on a high! Well, some things were achieved, and some weren’t… In particular my inventions were scarce! That still stands that there is a burning ambition inside me to invent… Maybe this time next year Rodders!

Anyway, 2010… We will be participating in the Mac4x4 Challenge 2010 which will be really exciting and rewarding as it is all for charity. Another trip around the Pyrenees is inevitable and will be some time in June.
My saving last year didn’t go too well, but this year it is a must as I will be wanting my own place in the near future; somewhere closer to work so I don’t spend so much time and money travelling.
But first I want to get a motorbike I think, but that is likely to change as the year progresses, it was a Land Rover Discovery and bike not so long ago, but weighing up my options properly I am not realistically going to be able to buy both and maintain all!

I am to be Dean’s Best Man this year too, on Thursday 7th October we see Sara-Kate Smith wed Dean Sas… Lets hope I don’t cock up like I have in the past with speeches! I am a little scared to say the least! … So thank you very much Dean! Despite my usual moaning I feel highly honoured.

Well that’s it for now, Lets hope I write more this year, it is good reading back on things. This has all been a bit brief really and not entirely reflecting on things as well as I could have as I have been reflecting on things over 12 months rather than the last 12 hours for example.
Keep in touch all. Thanks for reading.
Best wishes for 2010, make it a good one.

The streets seemed very deserted so we assumed it was a national holiday or those parades had some national importance, as we were going to visit the Ikea and Factory Outlet just before the airport but were too closed.
We filled up with fuel and went to the airport a little earlier than planned aiming to go around a few shops and grab a bite to eat before flying in a few hours.
We found a hot food self service canteen where we had some double decker style pizza and salad costing around 45Euros for the four of us. One thing we had learnt this break is that Greece despite its looks is by no means cheap wherever you go! We watched planes taking over whilst eating our luke warm pizza and salad that had tentacles and arms in; it turned out to have a mixture of sea creatures amongst the leaves which didn’t go down too well!

After going back and forth from shop to shop we sat down for another drink where Jodie half tempted a local cold coffee; until she realised the 4 inches of white froth above the coffee was in fact cream!
Desperate for the loo (which happened to be my first time this holiday) I set off looking for a toilet… What a nightmare; a disabled only toilet and a single sit down toilet seemed a little inadequate for a major international airport; or maybe it was just my eagerness that made it seem that way! Finally finding one not in use I felt relieved and set off shopping for the last time before boarding the plane at around 4.30pm.
We set off at sunset which over a murky Greece was most picturesque, it took a long time to go down and it was the most burnt orange look, glistening on lakes and ocean below. Saw little of the mountains before going completely dark.
Food started to be served immediately and comprised of a weird sandwich again and other various sweet compliments.
Well that is me done for now, we are not far off landing at Amsterdam where I can now see a few scattered lit up areas and not much else.
Seems to be a little cloudy but can still see the ground so the landing should be an easy one. We have about an hours stop at Amsterdam and then the last little stretch to sunny side Birmingham.
Landed safely at Amsterdam (obviously), went through the airport’s fast check out as we were just passing through again, this time we seemed to have a little more time so decided to go shopping. Jodie being Jodie couldn’t take the thought of us being late for our flight so the shopping was short lived. Nearly bought some miniature clogs for work, but no disrespect to them, at 4Euros each I decided against the idea. Why has the world become so expensive over night?!?!?
Once more we thought it would be a good idea to grab a snack, this time I decided to try a Baguette Flambee which was a hot baguette with onions, ham and two cheeses… It was nice to have something hot as the Greeks are not ‘hot’ food eaters.
It wasn’t long before we were boarding the final flight and to pass time as usual Jodie and I had a thick conversation with little outcome… If the world is 12 hours ahead towards the east, and 12 hours behind to the west of GMT, what happens when west meets east?
To top this boredom off we thought it would be a good idea to bring the number 23 to topic, our seat row was 23, my lucky number but Jodie’s unlucky – then to find out my seat was loose, the window curtain was bent and Jodie’s tray pin wouldn’t turn it was like a Final Destination moment. Which then led to the point of conversation about why it is sad to watch ‘How it is made’? I like it because I admire how things are made and it’s good to know how, where as I came to the conclusion Jodie is quite sadistic; she like Crash Investigation, Seconds from Disaster and Murder Mysteries – but somehow enjoys watching them because she admires how things are made too! All this because Jodie was called a Pratt by dad for not liking How it’s Made! – Not sure how he came to that conclusion but I’m not going to argue as it has been a good sense of humour to the break.
Just flow over the Norfolk coast sipping water and eating Chocolate and Vanilla biscuits. It’s a little weird I will be landing in Birmingham 10 minutes before I took off in Amsterdam, but that is the joy of travelling east to west!
Not got a lot else to say really other than it has been a great experience, but not one I would be willing to carry out again any time soon. Greece has been ticked off in terms of mainland / Athens.
I have now become a fan of both Florence and the Machine and Kasabian’s new albums thanks to my personal in flight entertainment whilst writing this.
It is now 21.06 GMT, flying over Norfolk and I have to be up in 9 hours for work – DOH!

Going through numerous checks including the near on complete strip down; where I had to get my laptop out of the bag, chain off, belt off, everything out of my pockets, coat off etc etc we sat in the lounge for only about 10 minutes before getting onto our KLM flight to Amsterdam. Set off in sun rise heading over Norwich way with little turbulence and a weird breakfast; 45 minutes later we were landing, 15 minutes later the plane had actually parked. Seems weird that it takes 15 minutes for a plane to get around an airport, 45 minutes to get from Redditch to Birmingham via car yet only 45 minutes to get from Birmingham to Amsterdam via a plane; amazing!
Amsterdam seemed a very rich fertile place with large estuaries all of which was very flat, that was about as much we saw as we had to go straight to our next boarding area.
Jodie had bought a bottle of water at the last airport as part of package little realising it would be taken off our hands soon as we tried to board our next plane. The deal wasn’t so much of a deal after all and didn’t we know about it… Jodie wasn’t impressed we could get scissors, a laptop and mobile phones through but not a bottle of water; whatever happed to our 5 basic needs!
Before long it was time to fly again, this time a 3.5 hour flight to Athens. The flight went smoothly with sandwiches, a chocolate brownie and various drinks. Flying over the Alps it was most picturesque, still with lots of snow on the peaks even though it is end of summer.
Landed at a very wet Athens airport at around 2.30pm local time, which including losing 2 hours through time difference.
Soon found our car in the car park which was a Seat Leon, looking relatively new yt somewhat battered!
We precariously joined the motorway and set towards Athens central where we were greeted with mayhem! Never seen anything like it, cars everywhere but in a lane, bikes going through red lights, horns sounding left right and centre for no apparent reason. Taking a few wrong turns was a big mistake, taking a three right turns you would assume would get you right back on track but that was not the case, it was near on impossible to find the route again. Eventually after asking 2 people who sent us in different directions we found the hotel, or so we thought… Turned out to be the Convention centre, but we knew we couldn’t be far away at all; or so we hoped after it taking some 4 hours to get where we are. We booked in and realised an extra charge was required for parking the car at 19Euros per night. The car park had a Hummer, Maserati 4.2l, Porsche 911 GT; but thankfully several other low key cars like ours too.
The hotel was 5 stars alright, with Concierge, large open areas, glass lifts, marble walk ways and that typical business vibe.
We got our room keys and settled in before going out for a meal, not knowing where to hell to go the concierge got us a taxi to a local Greek restaurant which was family run. Down a back street we were greeted with rain and a typical old Greek man. The food was nice and well priced, or so we thought; our first mistake was asking him to provide us with his recommended house wine, not realising until they has 2 bottled down them it was 25euros a bottle totalling our menu at 120Euros! We had a mixture of salads, lamb special, Mousaka and Bolognaise.
We headed back to the hotel and went to bed after arranging tomorrow.

My career has become challenging, of which I have no idea how I am going to cope, and at the present moment in time I think I need friends more than ever, but that is something else that is changing, our friendships have become weak to the point it feels lost, like a long term relationship it feels a relief, but at the same time it leaves you looking at an empty space within your near future. I have been spoilt for friendships, but never have I felt so alone, maybe because I have been so spoilt and now have nothing it is a shock. Nothing ever seems to come easy or ever rewarding and there is only so much that one can take without there being consequences, uncertain consequences that hurt.

Something must come along surely? Life is never about doom and gloom for me, so what is going on? Bring back the happiness, please!

… but how can you all not get bored of our social life! The quizzes are a great laugh, but I just feel as though real achievements are missing from my life at the moment.

In 5 years time I want something to show for my life, and be able to say ‘I did that’. Now is the time to do it before responsibilities get high.

There are endless things I want to do with my life at the moment but whenever mentioned, people make out that it is all a fantasy… why?

Does it seem so impossible to:

• Go away for weekends
• Go to lots of music gigs / events
• Go skiing
• Get a boat, take up water sports
• Get a 4×4 and go offroading
• Go rock climbing / abseiling

Ok, some may seem extreme, but they aren’t that impossible and what fun we could all have. The more involved, the cheaper it is and more posible it becomes.

When work takes up 58 hrs of a 168 hr week, I need to enjoy myself as much as possible the rest of the time, and only getting about 5-6 hours sleep each night I haven’t fulfilled that time properly yet. I feel the need for achievements but my life is really lacking it at the moment.

Lets get out there and do stuff, despite life being the longest thing we will do, it’s far too short to have lived it and done everything so lets do the best we can to enjoy it explore the endless lists of activities.

All suggestions welcome.

Once again I have gone from having no social friends to having loads, and I have come to realise smaller the better! Too many people means higher chances of there being differences, and differences cause bitching.

To cut a long story as short as possible, jealousy is mans worst friend. I have become quite good friends with Matt, through Dan M (Cousin) or so I thought. Things have gone a bit funny recently despite having everything he could possibly want, he got jealous over a new friendship I had gained… with someone who adored him more than you could imagine, yet he just messed with their head more and more. They say, ‘it’s not that simple’ and ‘there’s more to it’ but isn’t there always! Why would someone get so jealous of something when they have far more from the same person than the one they are getting jeaous of, but turn it down when it is offered to them on a plate. Get your head sorted mate and stop breaking her heart, I would stop all my flirting right now for you two to be together, but for as long as there is nothing more between you, I am going to enjoy myself.

I have never really had a female I can confide in and just have a chat about anything with, and she is perfect for that. Admittedly if something was offered I would take it straight away but at the moment there is nothing and I am quite happy with that and know the situation… If only the rest of you got that in your head and stopped the jealousy, its ruining our nights out!