Twycross Zoo

The weekend of the 24th was sprent down in Coventry with the girls godparents Ben and Anoushka. We set off on Friday after work and arrived down there about 7pm. I had been feeling ok during the day but by the time I got down there I was suffering with a few tummy pains. They stayed with me and I must have past them onto Nikki as we seemed to both have them for the weekend and into the start of the following week. The weekend was fantastic. Ben and Anoushka had arranged to take us to Twycross Zoo which was excellent, not just for us adults but Nyah loved it. They have everything at this zoo, Lions, Gorrilas, Monkeys (and lots of them!) Giraffes, Penguins. The place is huge and it looked like they were extending aswell. We arrived there just after 10:30am and didnt leave till gone 4. Nyah walked all day and was shouting out all the names of the animals, even little Ciara loved it.

I was in my element with my camera. I was using my 80 to 300mm lenses and some of the shots I was getting froma distance of the lions in particular, I was really pleased with. Thanks for a great weekend guys, really enjoyed it and cant wait to do it again!

TENNIS - 1st Feb 2009

Mens Final - Australian Open

WOW, We had plans for this Sunday to get up and visit Atkinsons Fencings to order a Pergola and some sleepers for the garden. I am made up with the garden but before we started the whole extension I had a vision in my head of how I wanted the garden and its not quite there yet. I want it to be an extension of our kitchen / dining room with a seating area and under cover area so I wanted to go and order the parts so I could start on it next weekend.

That all went to pot when I switched on the TV this morning and the Mens Australian Open Final was on between Nadal and Federer. It started about 9am (9pm Aussie time) and finished at . I have never seen a tennis match like it before. When I was younger I used to play alot of tennis, training three times a week and playing in competitons in and around the north of England in which I represented Yorkshire. One of my sporting highlights of the year when I was younger was watching the two weeks of Wimbledon. The likes of Edberg, Mcenroe, Lendal, Bates, Graf, Navratalova and Chang to name a few were all great to watch.

The mens final betweeen Federer and Nadal was just amazing. Federed was playing to equal Pete Sampras record of 14 major wins while Nadal was playing for his first Australian Open title.

Nadal came out the eventual winner but the level of performance was just something else. Points were won as apposed to unforced errors. Total point won Nadal 173 versus Federer 174 over the duration of the game which goes to show how close the two players are. They are both amazing athletes, physically and mentally. The game was just awesome.

Training has been pretty poor over the last week and a half. No excuses really apart from been busy at work. I have been doing PDR's and meeting which has take up so much time. One thing I am happy with is my diet and the fact I have only had 2 bottles of beers this year so far, and dont really fancy any either. Next week, I am back into more of a routine which I have set myself a target of training a minimum of 4 nights. I feel that the increased focused on my diet will really help in my training and I really cant wait to get back into the routine.

We have been plagued with really bad weather over the last week with snow and freezing temperatures. One positive came out of it, Nyah loved it!