Merry christmas from the merkins!

[TarmacLady]

Over there in the corner, next to the kettle, I've left an enormous box of my homemade biccies and sweets for you lot -- there's summat for every taste, so hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas all -- may you all have a well-deserved rest with friends and family, and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

TarmacLady

[Suggers]

Dear Amy,
As no-one else has, may I wish you all the best for 2006.
Any new post by the Tarmac Lady has me clickin' away immediately with my little mouse - always funny & informative.
A good friend of ours has just lost the lot in New Orleans, and now de-camped to Florida to join her son. Isn't Florida a bit like Essex, but with taller telegraph poles?
There again, it's only reclaimed swamp?
Love & kisses
Suggers

[Tony McC]

I've had an enforced absence, hence my inability to reply to Amy's trans-Atlantic felicitations.

After failing to take a holiday during 2005, I had to promise Mrs Taz that I would not work on any projects - no manuscripts, no emails, no designs, no new web pages, nothing to do with paving at all - from Dec 22nd until today. I've done my best to be as big a nuisance of myself around the house as is possible, hoping she would, in exasperation, banish me to my study, if only to get me out from under her feet, but all to no avail. She claims to have seen through my dastardly plan and has made me sit in the front room watching endless B&W movies, making meaningless conversation with visitors, and trying to remain vaguely conscious throughout the seemingly endless and mind-numbingly boring 'festive period'.

So for me, the New Year really will be happy and welcome, as it means my sentence is complete and I can sit at my desk without fear of being caught and forcibly dragged, kicking and screaming, back to sit through yet another installment of Sherlock Bloody Holmes with Basil Bloody Rathbone.

Happy New Year to you all.

[TarmacLady]

Ah, Suggers -- telephone poles are the tallest thing in the landscape here. And here in the reclaimed swamp, it's sunny and 22...still thinking it's a bad change?

And Florida women are far, far nicer than Essex girls.

My heartfelt sympathies to your friend -- we've taken in a lot who'd lost everything in New Orleans. I think we all go the extra mile, knowing that next time it could be us.


May 2006 be happy, healthy, and prosperous for all!

[Nigel Walker]

In response to Tonys comments.

I enjoyed being off work for approx. 3 days. Then i got bored and lazy - you know the thing, lying in bed until 10 ish, watching crap on the telly, helping with the daily chores, walking the dog, playing with the kids' games.
Last night ( Monday) i went to bed full of exictement with the prospect of a days work ahead. This morning I had a spring in my step and was happy again
Does anyone think this is a bit sad !!!

Nigel

[TarmacLady]

Not a bit, Nigel -- loads of folks would give anything to have a job they look enjoy and look forward to doing! Good on ya for being able to do what you love and love what you do.

[mouldmaker]

It's good to be back.

I have a question, though... merry christmas from the Merkins?

Did you know a merkin is a pubic wig?

And no, I don't know why anyone would wear one.

[TarmacLady]

Mouldmaker -- Merkin is a play on the way that our fearless leader pronounces the word American. I'm tired of apologising for him, so laughing at him is all I'm still able to do.

And I realise I'm treading on really, really thin ice here, but the merkin you're referring to is spelt mirkin. (I saw a naughty note once at school, just before I left for church).

[simeonronacrete]

Came in on this one rather late, but Happy New Year to all.

I saw the new year in on the beach in the Philippines in a delighful resort called Coral Cove . Weather was hot, diving was wonderful, food was cheap, a manicure (yes I had one) was £1 (for all 10 fingers!), beer is 50p a bottle and the locals are genuinely nice people.

Not much call for paving, or resin bonded aggregate, or cobblestones. They could do with roads built out of concrete rather than mud, shops that take credit cards and houses with toilets however.

Hope 2006 brings you all you wish for.

Sim

[Suggers]

Sim - you sound like the DB's.
Your next stop has to be Cuba.... Unbelievable half-built motorways - with cattle & general livestock wandering about -Flagged down by young boys with serious guns, turns out they only wanna lift 100 ks down the road to see their family for the week-end. Fantastic place - before the Yanks invade..
Suggers

[TarmacLady]

No chance of that, Suggers -- the Cuban-American community here steadfastly refuses to entertain the idea of breaking the boycott, even after Fidel goes to that great dictatorship in the sky.

I'm only about 200 miles north of Havana, and so hear plenty about the conditions and such from those who have made it to our shores (at any time in the last 100 years!)...I'm glad the rest of the world is helping out their economy -- they need it desperately and it's well-deserved.

[Suggers]

Hi Tarmac-Lady,
Sorry to be so slow to reply-
Effin lot of rain here, grounds a quagmire, squirrels eat thru our broadband line - have to say that the BT engineer was brill - (this is not sarcasm) (23 yrs old) told me he had 6 weeks training, 2 of which were Health & Safety. They then give 'em a van and a mobile and go and learn out in the field. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to go up the pole" - fair enough - One week later a good ol' boy (my age - grey hair etc) arrives with cherry-picker on huge truck and totally blocks the lane. Uses my ladder, ready and waiting, up the pole, job done. My point is - why not have the experienced good old boy out together with the young lad and both learn different things from each other as they're doing the job? 2 people but half the time?
Bugger - I wanted to talk about Cuba - gotta go to bed
Yours as Ever
Suggers xxx

[TarmacLady]

I know it was wet and cold last week -- I was in London for a trade show, and nearly froze! Business is fair to good, though, and lets me travel to my favourite places, so life could be far worse.

Ain't it always the case that the new and the old can learn from each other? And they say there's no argument for Apprentice programmes any more...