It's no joke - Survival training

We had a a pretty good Christmas even though we are not in the cottage. Nice presents and even Gilly was nice to me. Yesterday though I got a call from Brian Harrison the cadet squad leader. "We are going survival training tomorrow. The snow around Snowdonia looks great. Are you coming Adam?" I explained to Brian that my house was warm and comfortable and that mom probably had loads of important stuff to do. He didn't answer. I just got silence on the phone until I agreed to go. So in 20 minutes time I'm off to the Cadet Hall to get kitted up with winter clothes then we go straight to Snowdonia by coach. He says we should be back by Friday.

Invasion of the cousins

It seems like most of the Cranford tribe and the Telfords on Mum's side have decided to visit this afternoon and evening. I just think they all want to see their "famous" cousin - not. They all seem to know about the Scottish adventure, but thank god they are not so clued in to the drug gang thing. You can see them all wanting to ask me questions about it, but mum has warned them not to be nosy. It's a good job that I swore Bill to secrecy, but I don't know how long he will hold out against Gilly. She can be so devious when she wants to find out stuff.

So tonight I'll be a waiter serving stuff to the greater family, I just hope they go before midnight. After all we don't want to scare Santa and his reindeer away do we. No different from being at the Club really.

Fancy Dress b4 Christmas

The meeting at the Guild on Monday night was just a routine thing. I had to go because of my new title. I got to wear scarlet gown, though I was not at all happy with wearing nothing underneath. All those old ladies knowing I just had the gown on and I was the only guy there. Now I have to tell the Elders about what happened at the meeting, but only what I'm allowed to tell. I dunno when I'm supposed to do that, because I've training days after Christmas.

Today is just wrapping presents and getting ready for the open day party as it is Christmas Eve. We do one every year and mum is insisting that we continue the tradition even though we are not in the cottage at the moment. Dad has escaped with the claim that he has to go to the garden centre staff party today. Gilly has been well skewered by Mum - she has to help in the kitchen even though she wanted to go out with Bill.

No rest for the wicked

I thought it was going to be a restful week, but I've been called to go to a meet of the Sisters this evening. At least they are sending a car so I don't have to travel by rail. I think it is just their elders so I won't be seeing D & S there tonight. I dunno what it is about, but I suppose I'd best live up to my new title. I was going to wrap pressies tonight but I guess it will be Christmas Eve before I do that (as usual).

AC

No hiding place

Going to town and buying prezzies was epic. We got caught in a sudden snow storm just as we came home. The transport system just about collapsed because no one expected the sudden snow. We didn’t get back till 8 o’clock. It was a good job I had a mobile phone to keep the folks calm.

It is real strange living in a temporary house after living in the old cottage all my life. I’ll be really glad when it gets rebuilt. There seems to be nowhere to hide Christmas presents in this temporary house. I had to give in and ask mum where I could hide stuff away from the prying eyes of one sneaking blond haired sister. I do hope I got the right stuff that they will like. I can never seem to think of good presents and the real good ones are so expensive. I know I’ve got loads of money in the bank but I really don’t want to touch that money except for Foundation business.

Still I have got real nice presents for Deepa and Sally. I hope that Darren understands and doesn’t get jealous about Sally’s present. It is just that D & S did so much good stuff for me during the year.
AC

Christmas shopping

I'm free from school for a while. Cool. I'm going shopping today with Bill Hetherington. I've managed to persuade mum and dad to let us go to London around Oxford Street. We can probably get the same stuff in a shopping centre, but just going up to town is going to be cool. Early start today to beat the main rush of shoppers so I'll be travelling with the commuter rats on the train today. Still I'm used to that with the trips to the Club near Pall Mall on Friday evenings. I still don't know what to get for Gilly as a present. I should have brought Simon along because he's an expert shopper.
AC

Chilled Sunday

So yeah, there was a mega party at Sally’s after the Pantomime. Most of the cast from the show turned up and they all went a bit wild. A good job that Mrs B is tolerant. Sally had fixed it so that her folks moved out for the night even though the party was in the old cow shed behind their house. I sent some time with Deepa and Darren too. Simon got a bit wrecked. He is so outrageous at times. I saw him in town yesterday after the party. He did not look well. ROFL.

I actually have a day out from the Cadets. It is so close to Christmas that the leaders decided to cancel today’s meet. I bet they just want to get some extra Christmas shopping done.

Dad, Mum Gilly and me went down to the cottage site this morning to look at the building works. They’ve all stopped now as the builders take their Christmas break, they will be back in the New Year. Before they left, the CM's fixed the trapdoor for the basement in the pantry. It is good because it will keep nosey people out. Even now it is difficult to see the trapdoor unless you know where to look. The re-bar steel work is in place for the upper floor, but they didn’t pour any concrete because it was a bit frosty. Strange to thing that floor is going to be as tough as a bank vault wall. Mum and Dad are please with the work, Gilly was gloating because she got a bigger bedroom than me. We didn’t stay too long as Dad has got his old job back at the Garden Centre and is working today.

AC

Yay - Parti!

Party tomorrow night at Sally's after the School Pantomime. It should be crazi. Simon is well hyped at the moment, almost need to scrape him off the ceiling. He'll be so whacked on Saturday.

A penguin goes to rehearsal

I watched Simon last night during the rehearsal. He looks weird when you see him in the full make-up like he’s made from plastic. He’s really good on stage and singing in front of people doesn’t seem to worry him one bit. He’s such an extrovert at times. I’m just relieved I didn’t have to go through with it myself, after all as everyone know I have a great excuse – Zombies can’t sing very well. Somehow despite my best efforts Deepa has got hold of some tickets and it looks like we'll be going on the opening night.

Someone emailed me about the heat pump system in our new cottage. Concentrate here’s the science bit. – It’s a closed vertical loop system with about 20KW capacity. There are four bore holes (15cm diameter) at each corner of our property. They each go down about 45 metres in depth. The pipes are filled with a kind of antifreeze liquid.

I was right about the rugby. It snowed on us and Mr Roberts showed no pity – we had to play. He said the ground was soft enough and if we kept moving we’d be ok. He wasn’t playing in the full back position like me! By the end of it I knew how penguins must feel in Antarctica.

AC

Green Cranfords

The new cottage is being built to be green. The cottage walls, ground floor and ceilings contain a thick layer of syntactic foam. It is hard like rock, but has mega heat insulation properties. They are a better insulator than a vacuum flask. The windows will be triple glazed so not only is the heat insulation good, but it will be deadly quiet inside the cottage. The builders have installed ground source heat pumps with deep pipes underground in the garden. The heating bill is going to be about a third or less of what it was in the old cottage. In fact most of the heat will come from our PC’s and the TV. Just think all this science and all Gilly is worried about is the colour of her bedroom walls and the curtains.

Today I’ve got rugby lesson in Holliston’s. I hope I’ll be good enough to get picked for the team. There was some talk about snow on the weather forecast. Maybe Mr Roberts the Games Master will take pity on us, but don’t hold your breath. Simon has got final rehearsals for the school pantomime. I have to stay after school and watch him or he will do evil things to me.

It looks like Alaric is having fun in the snow over in Vail in the USA.

Simon is impressed

The CM's have lined the escape tunnel and installed the rails and the electrics. It is kind of early to do that but they wanted to be sure that the pumps were working in case there was any flooding. One thing they didn't tell me about was the standby generator and the battery back up for the cottage. It will be enough to power most things if the mains power dies. It will keep the tunnel operating 24/7 if needs be, but most of the time it will be never used except for the occasional test.

As Simon knows a little about me and the Foundation I've let him see the tunnel today. It is really clean and well lit in there but is pretty cold in there. He's really jealous of me having my own tunnel. If only he knew the full story. The CM's won't let me use it yet until the main build work on on the cottage is complete. They will be sealing it all up in the next couple of days so pretty soon no one will be able to guess that it is there. Even now the exit is well hidden. They have done an amazing job.

I guess I'd best get my homework done before Dad comes home. This temporary house we have got is ok but doesn't have that many rooms so he'll be making loads of noise and stuff later and I won't be able to concentrate. Gilly is out with a friend at ballet right now.

Deepa's weird music

Listened to Deepa’s new trax last night. It was ok I guess. She’d mixed it ok, but I don’t see she what she’s gets out of Indian Blues (Asia by the way). I’m officially a moron for not understanding. I think Sally agrees with me, but she was to chicken to say anything to Deepa. You could see it when she pulled a face when D said she would play some more. Thankfully her Mum was due back real soon so I couldn’t stay too long.

There was a big family row about who goes where in the cottage when it is rebuilt. I’d assumed that we’d use the same rooms as we had before the fire, but I’d forgotten about the Fashionista Gilly. Eventually I caved in to get some peace. She gets my bigger bedroom and I get her smaller bedroom. I just she doesn’t change her mind once the paintwork is dry. Still she is forgetting about my new den in the basement, but I won’t remind her about that.

Ruggers in school today. I hope that it doesn’t snow. At least the mud on the field is soft and squishy. We’ll probly bring half the field into the showers with us after the match. Mom always says my rugby kit will destroy her washing machine.

AC

Music night tonight

Going over to Deepa's place, her folks are out though Sally will be there too. She's been busy compiling tracks with her new mixer software and wants us to listen. She's into Indian Blues at the moment. I guess I'll find out if that's American Indian or Pune tonight.

Visited the cottage again to check progress. They are rocketing ahead. They reckon they will finish the shell by Christmas, but the main builder will close down for two solid weeks so the CM's are not certain. They say at the very least it will be weather tight. Mom was well pleased with the progress though there are two things that she wants changing with the design. Now she tells us that she didn't like the design of the original kitchen!

Just a normal day.

Wow the weekend went so fast. Getting up ready for school. Even managed to get all of my homework done ready for school. Maths today which is a good thing, but Chemistry is a bit of a downer.

Will be taking mum to the new cottage site today. We've kept her and Gilly away whilst the most important underground building work was done. Except for the underground bit the cottage is the same size as the old one except that it is a whole lot tougher.
AC

Cold Sunday

Isn't it cold today with the wind coming from the North East. Mom reckons we'll see snow this winter. Hasn't she heard of global warming? She was brought up in the country and her family have always been country folk. I swear that she has grass growing in her hair at times.

Foundation cadets was pretty routine today, though the film and discussion session was about the plans by the government if the City of London is hit by a terrorist dirty bomb. Pretty scary stuff really. We are going to be trained and do test exercises to do our own part in the rescue if that really happens. The really frightning part is the very limited amount of resources available to the government if things do go pearshaped.
AC

Saturday - freedom again.

Mom and Gilly are off to do their final Christmas shopping. They are going to Westfield shopping centre. I think they are absolutely crazy. It will be packed. I'm going to do my shopping next weekend. Today I'm going to chill with Billy, maybe show him round the work they have done on the cottage. The CM's are trying to get the roof on before the weather "gets too bad" - Lol. If we haven't had bad weather with all the rain I'd h8 to see what they call bad weather. As it is they've been using water pumps on the site. Next week they'll be casting the foam armour on the walls. That will make the walls real thick like the old cottage. I guess that will keep the English Heritage people happy.

AC

School was boring today. For some reason Simon was not in a very good mood. I think he has problems at home or the Panto is not going right. The teachers are kinda winding down for the Xmas holidays but still making nasty noises about mock exams not too long after Xmas.

Visited the cottage re-building site after school before rushing to catch the tube to get to London tonight. The CM’s have mounted a pair of small rail tracks in the floor of the escape tunnel. It is not very large diameter so you’ll have to lay on something like a Luge to use the tunnel.  It will be powered, though they say you can do it manually. I can’t wait to try it out, but even though I’m the boy paying for all of this work (well the Foundation really) they still wouldn’t let me try it out.

AC

ps the Kindle version of Company Mole is on sale here. Alaric has just sms'd me to say some sold today.

Routine night tonight - Foundation Work

I'll be off to London via London Underground this evening for routine servitude at the Club as part of my Foundation duties. I'm beginning to to get used to the journey now, though it is a bit of a rush to get ready after school. The other cadets think I get it easy, if only they knew what it is really like. The members can be really childish over tiny things. You would find it hard to believe that they are important public figures outside of the club.

AC

My first Blog

This is my first web log. Amazing that it has taken so long. I did get a nudge from Deepa who said I should come out of the Stoneage. She is such a geek at times.

Anyhow, just got back from the building site where they are rebuilding the cottage. The secure rooms in the basement have been built, but not plastered or anything like that. The security firm fitted the armoured door to the secure area. It must weigh a couple of tons and they had to leave part of the ground floor open until they had fixed the door. It is all damp down there with temporary lighting and stuff. Pretty gloomy but at least the smell of burnt cottage is starting to go away.

I managed to shine a light down the escape tunnel. It seems to go on forever but the Moles say it not all that long. They will start to put the inner lining on tomorrow. The concrete segments from the burrowing machine are all locked in place.