Today was... yet again... an absolutely beautiful day.  The weather since Monday has been gorgeous.  Cold mornings with bright bright sunshine all day.  The last few days I've caught an earlier bus so that I have time to walk up on the Hoe before descending into the hell and no windows of the office.  I feel invigorated by the time I get to work.  Its still isn't warm enough for me to wear my flip flops in to work in the mornings... (way to cold on my toes at the bus stop) but I soon get them on once I arrive in the office.  The weather has even been kind enough to let me walk home with them on.  No doubt the typical Spring weather will arrive shortly... as in... April showers... and I'll be back to catching the later bus and sheltering under my umbrella.

Yesterday I wandered up on to the Hoe to take some pictures and mull around... and was surprised to see it so busy.  It was quite chilly just the few hundred yards away at the office... but once I was actually over the crest of the promenade it was very warm.  HB would have enjoyed it due to the copious amounts of young men (some shirtless) playing frisbee and football.  It was rather entertaining to watch  ^{*insert stalker alert here*} from afar.  THIS made me chuckle.. I had visions of people being pushed off the edge down to Tinside below.  I should explain that during the summer the city council put up a very elaborate (and awfully unstable looking) walkway so that people with wheelchairs and pushchairs can get below to the swimming pool as well.  Some lunatic guys were on the diving board... nutcases... the water must have been freezing.  For a while it didn't look like they wouldn't jump... and then one guy on the lower board suddenly did.  Once he was out of the water he and his group of friends taunted the other guy on the TOP BOARD (these guys obviously ignoring the signs relating to the tide) until he jumped too....

Today I wandered up onto the Hoe nice and early and took some more photos.  At lunch time it was a bit cooler than the Wednesday (wind was coming in off the sea) so I sat at the War Memorial and ate my sandwich whilst reading my book.  Some guys were playing football real close and using the entrance to the War Memorial as the goal.  The ball often went flying through the air into the actual Memorial and I felt somewhat... ugh.. I don't know... maybe annnoyed is the wrong word to use... Surprised at their lack of respect?  Maybe thats how I felt. 

There was a couple with their young son who sat close to me for a few minutes and whilst they sat the father was telling his young son about how important the Memorial was.. and why it was there.  The fact that this child probably had absolutely no comprehension of what he was being told wasn't lost on me... nor the Father I am sure... but the fact that they were taking the time to try to explain its significance made me feel that in later life he might show more respect than the football players.  Maybe I'm thinking about it too deeply...

I've taken quite a few photos over the last couple of days and have now exceeded my account limit on Flickr.  I may just make another account... or bite the bullet and get the pro account I've been promising myself (even though I am meant to be putting off paying for ANYTHING until after my root canal treatment which is costing me £300).  Exceeding my account doesn't mean they will remove anything... the pictures are all still there... it just means that only 200 are available to be viewed in my sets though.  If I've linked to a pic... the links will still work.

I had pc trouble yesterday... which is very unusual (oh man alive.. those are famous last words) and I had to call Telewest for some IT support... my modem wasn't receiving.  It was quite funny because the lady I spoke to is obviously used to speaking with people who don't know anything about a pc so she laughed when I told her I had already rebooted and reset my modem... checked all the leads and checked all my settings.  She still asked me to do it all again which I happily did and after she had sent a signal to the modem everything started working great.  On the phone for about 10 minutes max (FREEFONE!!!!) and that included small talk about the beautiful weather and the up and coming Middlesbrough v Barca game on the tv tonight (her accent gave her away).  I don't knwo how many companies give free IT support but my experience with Telewest tonight was great.