The online home of Guy Laister, containing news of past, current and future activities as well as photo’s of trips far and wide. I was born in South Africa with the benefit of Her Majesty’s passport, and I am currently living in Surrey with my wife. I am a civil/environmental engineer and a founding director of an engineering consultancy in London.
Well it certainly has been a bumper festive period in 2007, despite two farewells (one temporary, one permanent). If you like pictures and not text, then simply click here. For the rest of you literate people, please continue and Read the rest of this entry »
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The moment that everyone dreads throughout their twenties, turning 30. Personally, I couldn’t give a monkeys cos there is so much other stuff going on at the moment that all it REALLY meant was big presents! Thanks to all those who splashed out, especially so close to Christmas, it was not necessary but thoroughly enjoyed. Even more so, thanks to those who took the bait, donned the beanies and joined us for a ripper in Budapest, Hungary.
Of all our travelling in the past five years, city breaks have contributed a fair percentage. With a gabillion trips to South Africa and the World Cup in the West Indies it has been a while since we did a 2-day jaunt on a true city break. We have always wanted to visit Budapest, and my birthday offered the perfect opportunity. So the invite went out and 6 lucky souls accepted. Needless to say it was an absolute belter, and we came back having experienced just about everything you can in 2 days - flight delays, hotel misunderstandings, beautiful city architecture, beer, gluwein, Christmas markets, lost comrades and a lot of champagne (some more expensive than others). Read the rest of this entry »
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The big news of late is that Sarah and I have finally made the commitment to purchasing a house! We have been looking passively for about 6 months now, investigating areas, checking travel times, types of places we can afford, etc, whilst keeping an eye on the market. We knew that the second half of 2007 would mean buying at the top of the market and to be honest unless we found ‘the one’ we were probably aiming to buy in the New Year.
During our touring of Southwest London on the bikes, we had decided to narrow our search to Ewell and Claygate, two villages we really liked. We checked out Walton, Esher, Hersham, Molesey, Surbiton, New Maldon, Raynes Park, Epsom, etc but none had the same attraction as Ewell and Claygate. The chances of getting a small place in Claygate are as likely as Liverpool winning the Premier League this season (if I’m to be honest) so our attention turned in earnest to Ewell, a small village just north of Epsom on the A24 and the Waterloo train line.
In Sept/Oct Sarah stumbled upon this place in Ewell, Surrey and it was all over from word ‘go’. The place went on the market on the Monday, Sarah saw it on the Tuesday evening, I saw it on the Wednesday evening, we put in an offer on the Thursday and we had a deal by 3pm on Friday. As all of you who have bought houses in the UK, this is only the beginning of a traumatic adventure. Read the rest of this entry »
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To all the loyal and faithful Chateau Toby readers, as well as passing memebrs of the blogoshere, may I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS 2007. We are off for dinner with Jo and Ryan this evening and then lunch with Rog and Leanne tomorrow. Wednesday will be reserved for receovery and blogging. And a ride perhaps. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day - may you all get EVERYTHING you ever wanted for Chistmas.
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As you all know we recently enjoyed a fleeting visit to South Africa for Bruce and Carrie’s wedding. The service was held in Pinetown, with family friends Gill and Chris conducting. It was an all round family affair with Murray playing all the music live at the church - it was the first time I have ever heard Murray play live and he is the real deal. Everyone (it seems except me) dabbles in some musical instrument at some stage in their lives, but music certainly more than a hobby for Murray. It was incredible watching him play.
The reception was at the Botanical Gardens in Durban, in the visitors/conference centre. I didn’t even know the place (conference centre) existed and it made for a very cool venue, especially as the reception was at lunchtime. In fitting with Bruce and Carrie’s wishes it was very relaxed, informal afternoon, and the reception went off without a hitch. I have uploaded some photo’s here, although no doubt there will be many more to follow once I have seen Bruce’s collection.
Congratulations to Bruce and Carrie, we wish you a lifetime of happiness.
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No, this is not a list of dodgy excuses as too where I have been and not writing on this blog. It is more about where I have actually been in the past few months because it has been a genuine whirlwind, including South Africa (see below), Hungary and Ewell. Not necessarily in that order. And if the three places seem out of sync with each other, I will reveal all. Unfortunately I do not have broadband at home yet (see the story on Ewell) so these posts may either come thick and fast (depending on how much I drink at lunch in a few minutes) or sporadically over the next few days as I visit the office from time to time. I trust you will enjoy………
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