tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19675383563078278102024-03-13T16:50:13.305+00:00Little Red Fish BowlThis is the story of the Poisson family - mum, dad and 5 little poissonsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-6696763334122859682010-03-07T00:05:00.002+00:002010-03-07T00:51:15.796+00:00UpdateThis is pretty intermittent isn't it!<br />Well since last I was here - Ben has started grammar school (Methody), Beth is in her second year, Megan is in P2 and the other girls are getting on up the school too.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-23376834439141073512009-05-17T14:10:00.003+01:002009-05-17T14:13:14.498+01:00Up to dateAnother year has passed and no entries on the blog!!!<br />I have had other things on my mind, but life has gone on regardless and we all are a year older and maybe wiser.<br />Bethany is now at secondary school and Ben will be starting there in another few months, the dog is now a hulking brute of a thing and Megan has nearly completed her P1 year with great success. And Caitie and Erin are also doing well.<br />Maybe I'll keep more up to date over the next while.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-38303691438055608642008-06-28T14:46:00.003+01:002008-06-28T14:56:03.923+01:00Nearly holidaysWell - we're off on our summer hols tomorrow - to Donegal. And that is with the 5 kids, 2 grandparents and the dog! Of course Ben and I will have an enforced break in the middle - as already mentioned we have to go to Manchester for a chess championship. It should be a nice relaxing holiday - out in the country near the beach and no distractionsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-22929573728444833262008-05-12T18:30:00.001+01:002008-05-23T12:41:16.778+01:00(Ben) "Bobby" Fisher!Ben plays chess at school - he is in the school chess club and also chose chess as his Thursday afternoon activity. The school has been participating in the British Land Chess challenge, in which the kids play against one another, and if they win 6 or 7 out of 7 games they are eligible to go forward to the regional heats. Ben managed this and he has just spent the day at the Northern Ireland Megafinal. He won his first 3 games running and seeing as 4 wins out of 6 qualifies for the next leel - the Gigafinal in Manchester! - things were looking good. He then came up against the 2 best players in his age group (under 10) and lost, partly because they were pretty good. However he managed to win the last game and so he has qualified for the Northern Regional Gigafinal in early July - right in the middle of our hols!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-17791542428806280402008-05-05T08:58:00.003+01:002008-05-05T09:07:39.826+01:00Latest newsIf you hadn't noticed there hasn't been much activity on this blog recently - due to other things on my plate - including a major furniture building exercise (Ikea strikes again). However I had to update the skiing countdown "widget" - seeing as we have been and gone to Alpe D'Huez in March and are now looking forward to Les Deux Alpes at Christmas (we would have gone to Alpe D'Huez again but some creep bagged one of the rooms!)<br />The other change is the addition to the left sidebar - which I hesitate to say is not me but a member of the more extended poisson famille - my bruvver- who has become insane and decided to run the Marathon. So if anyone has any spare money - it's a good cause!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-78561744335141585462007-12-09T23:26:00.000+00:002007-12-09T23:29:41.880+00:00Tara has arrivedWell the kids (and adults!) wait is finally over and Tara came to stay with us as of late this afternoon. She whined a bit as we drove away from her old home but she seems to have settled in very well so far - as I write this she is fast asleep in her basket and we are trying to decide whether to put newspaper down on the floor or get up in the middle of the night for a toilet break!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-63171642305426357372007-12-08T08:03:00.000+00:002007-12-08T08:06:52.130+00:00The latest member of the familyTara is coming tomorrow - we were hoping it was going to be today, but she was a bit off colour and they felt she needed wormed so it has been postponed for 24 hours. The kids however can hardly wait - they have been running around playing at puppies for the last 2 weeksUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-4838107291827282752007-11-24T22:19:00.000+00:002008-11-13T13:14:39.445+00:00Our new addition<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/R0ij1ALjcBI/AAAAAAAABJ0/QNbrRLMp9Oc/s1600-h/littledog0121.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/R0ij1ALjcBI/AAAAAAAABJ0/QNbrRLMp9Oc/s320/littledog0121.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136535505992904722" /></a><br />Meet Tara - our new puppy (although she won't be coming to stay for a couple of weeks yet). She's a cross between a Gordon Setter and a collie.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-88145757528721747042007-11-24T10:12:00.000+00:002007-11-24T10:22:03.209+00:00Now and thenIt's a bit of time since I last posted (funny how you start things and then they sort of gradually fade). Maybe I'll get to fill in the gaps someday but for now here is how things are.<br /><ul><li>Our extension is nearly finished (short of tidying up a few things)</li><br /><li>Beth has finished her 2nd transfer test yesterday so all she (and we) have to do now is wait for the result</li><br /><li>We're going off this afternoon to see some puppies with the aim of getting one! (it's a long story but we were sort of lined up for a labrador cross from a rescue centre -Pippa- but that fell through so we're not sure how the kids will take the change)</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-34410003145061823702007-09-02T10:58:00.000+01:002007-11-27T11:06:44.441+00:00All fall downHave been watching the back of the house being systematically destroyed by the builders over the last week or so. The initial plan had been to clear the boiler house and build up to roof level and then knock through the wall of the study and upstairs toilet when the walls were up, but as always the best laid plans go awry and we discovered that the joists were rather dodgy above the utility room at the back. This necessitated knocking everything down to the level of the utility room ceiling (well actually it looks as though it went down to well below this!) in order to replace the joists. So a considerable amount more destruction was called for and bearing in mind the walls are stone and about 2 foot thick that's a lot of rubble. However we have plans for a patio at the back of the house so the rubble is being used to fill in there rather than being carted away - recycling in action!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-53297660685220187052007-08-16T19:44:00.000+01:002007-08-16T19:49:13.589+01:00Lots of changesWell- after preparing the scene yesterday by moving our hot tank to the upstairs landing, Gerard and his team have finally got down to the major work of knocking down the back of the house! They have removed all the interior walls between the bathroom and the toilet on the middle landing floor and most if not all of the tiles on the back roof are off. Tomorrow, if all goes according to schedule, the roof will come off and some of the back wall may very well be knocked down. We now have a very small landing halfway up the stairs with a large panel of plywood separating us from the builders (and in the near future a large hole in the house!)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-1894359994571354022007-08-15T19:49:00.000+01:002007-08-16T19:53:52.733+01:00IncommunicadoToday the job of setting up to remove the back of the house started. Much concern over the last few days, as we suddenly realised that knocking down the back wall meant that the hot tank wouldn't be there any more - and we wouldn't have hot water!! Fortunately the builders were aware of this and have plans to move it. Hence a delay of a couple of days until the electrician and plumber were available to do the wiring and pipework. They went to work today - and unfortunately they seem to have affected the phone line, as we are without a phone connection (although the internet connection still exists albeit as a rather narrow rather than broad band)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-66763640920061790442007-07-30T10:04:00.000+01:002007-07-30T10:08:07.258+01:00Busy weekendGerard the builder suggested on Friday that they could start working in the utility room and study - seeing as they couild be easily separated off from the rest of the house by closing the doors into the hall and the kitchen. So Lyn and I spent the weekend clearing out the study and utility room - a big job considering that we had used the "study" as a storage facility and over time it had got rather full to say the least! - Now our dining room is over full with all sorts of boxes and other miscellaneous objects. We finally threw a pile of things out into the skip outsideUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-69699033497930577332007-07-23T20:02:00.000+01:002007-07-30T10:03:52.857+01:00The builders arriveWell finally the builders have come - initially the schedule was due to start at the beginning of June, but between having to revise the plans and the holidays, everything got delayed. But they are finally here and have started knocking everything down! I had cleared out the old boiler house at the weekend and it's just as well because by the time I had left to go to work this morning the roof was off and they were starting to demolish the walls. I returned home to find that a significant portion of the rear of the house was in a pile in the back yard. Still it's good to get things finally started. At least the weather is good at the minute - (unlike the South of England with floods) - last week it was still wet and I'm sure it would have interfered with the work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-57093633555434313042007-07-14T16:06:00.000+01:002007-07-14T16:11:16.768+01:00It's rainingThe builders are due to start in just over a week - and I hope the weather changes!!<br />It's been bucketing down for the last 3 or 4 weeks - some summer so far and if it is like this when the builders are working it will be one big mud pile!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-16843793607046136512007-07-08T12:54:00.000+01:002007-07-08T13:00:56.173+01:00New job!I have in my infinite wisdom encouraged the creation of a website for the school - so I have been burning the midnight oil in setting it up - as yet it is pretty empty but it has been an interesting intellectual diversion - for those of you who are into web matters it is created using a content management system called Joomla! - for those of you who aren't - well here is the website!<br /><a href="http://cairnshill.org.uk">Click here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-71226433504131774052007-06-28T22:46:00.000+01:002007-06-28T22:55:06.342+01:00BuildersToday we signed the contract for our house extension! - we started this process over 18 months ago, but due to various factors it is only now coming to fruition. We will get 2 more bedrooms out of this and a new living area next to the kitchen. Initially the work was due to start in early June but we had to redraft the plans as the first tenders were way too much - now work will start in mid July and may last 18 weeks (we have hopes it will be less seeing that that was the time on the first workplans when we had more building work to get done.) It remains to be seen. I will probably use this blog as a running commentary on the work - both for info to anyone out there and also as a mechanism for ventilating any frustration!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-38290348833191947942007-06-13T22:30:00.000+01:002008-11-13T13:14:39.625+00:00The School PlayBen and Bethy were both in the school play (Jack and the Beanstalk) this evening - well Ben was in the chorus and Bethy was a chicken! They also are in the school choir and the orchestra which were performing as well. The kids (by that I mean all not just our two) did really well - there was a lot of work put into it - not least by Mum who supervised and to a significant extent participated in the manufacture of 85 hats for the costumes! Here is Beth in her starring role!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RnBjgisJbqI/AAAAAAAAAig/E0O_ZqinfkU/s1600-h/2007_0613family0029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RnBjgisJbqI/AAAAAAAAAig/E0O_ZqinfkU/s320/2007_0613family0029.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5075666190765485730" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-80073368301182507352007-06-09T13:36:00.000+01:002008-11-13T13:14:39.795+00:00Erins gym competition<table><tr><td valign="top"><p><br />Erin who goes to gymnastics every week (along with her sisters) took part in a competition today - her sisters didn't want to but Erin was really keen. And rightly so too - she came 2nd in the vault and floor exercises (there only were the two disciplines!) and 1st overall. Not bad eh! Here she is with her medals and cup.</p><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="144" height="96" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fpoissonfamily%2Falbumid%2F5074043711034846737%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DHaup9eCVuHM" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/poissonfamily/Gymnastics/photo?authkey=Haup9eCVuHM#s5074044226430922274"> Click here to see the slideshow in full size</a></td><td><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RmqflysJbgI/AAAAAAAAAgs/0GehQZtD3og/s1600-h/2007_0609family0038.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RmqflysJbgI/AAAAAAAAAgs/0GehQZtD3og/s320/2007_0609family0038.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074043401797201410" /></a></td></tr><br /></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-81122137486494646422007-06-02T23:06:00.000+01:002007-06-02T23:13:23.057+01:00N vs S rugby gamesDidn't see it but picked up the scores of the rugby matches this weekend. France, England,Wales and Ireland all beaten. And all the N hemisphere teams were beaten last week too. Still the only saving grace is they were all ? 2nd string teams. Roll on the rugby World Cup in the autumn!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-37551566124040281332007-06-01T22:35:00.000+01:002007-06-01T22:45:04.677+01:00Another hope for the choir!Well - the BBC moved the goalposts - and it was almost certainly the right thing. In view of the fact that the voting was so unclear, between the site crashing, being down and the accusations of tactical voting, it has been decided that the whole 842 choirs are now to be judged by an independent panel. So they will be busy, and I don't envy them - some of the choirs are easier on the ears than others!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-15192238115114575342007-05-26T22:17:00.000+01:002008-11-13T13:14:39.970+00:00Joseph choir search<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/Rlyc79O-LeI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/SxoRzXIF9go/s1600-h/logo.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/Rlyc79O-LeI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/SxoRzXIF9go/s200/logo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070099834375908834" /></a><br />The older two kids are in the school choir and the choir submitted an entry to the BBC Joseph choir search competition (although Beth and Ben weren't in the actual choir that was videoed). So the last week has been a hive of frantic activity as we checked where the choir was in the rankings. They started the week at 490 - by the closing date they were up to 198 (although the rankings didn't change over the last 24 hours because they were locked.) The results are out on the 31st - the top 20 go forward to a final - so there isn't a lot of hope that "our school" will get through.<br />However the whole process has been an interesting insight into the lengths some parents will go to - there has been suspicions of nefarious practice in block voting and deliberately voting down your rivals. It also has left egg on the face of the BBC who completely underestimated the interest and demand - the site was suspended for a while after it got 250,000 votes in 24 hours!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-59804030678874621782007-05-12T21:30:00.001+01:002008-11-13T13:14:40.161+00:00Portadown tournament<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RkcJKKGu0XI/AAAAAAAAAfo/53xWnqFzqu8/s1600-h/2007_0512pdowntournament0038.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RkcJKKGu0XI/AAAAAAAAAfo/53xWnqFzqu8/s200/2007_0512pdowntournament0038.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064026376117342578" /></a><br />Cooke was playing at the Portadown tournament today and Ben was on the P5 squad. They had 4 games - Lurgan (won 4-3) Lisburn (drew 2-2) Portadown (lost 0-2) and Banbridge (won 3-0). Unfortunately Lisburn won 2 and drew 2 so they won. Still the boys came a clear second so that's played 4 tournaments won 2 (Bangor and Lisburn), second today and third (equal) at their home tournament at Cooke 2 weeks ago. The mini rugby season now stops, although Ben is looking forward to training at Summer Scrummage before returning in September.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/poissonfamily/PortadownTournament/photo?authkey=iDTLRJanD4U#s5063746743681601474"><strong>Click here for a slide show of pics from the tournament</strong></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-4934779234587213102007-04-28T19:32:00.000+01:002008-11-13T13:14:40.462+00:00Cooke Tournament<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RjTzDKGuz4I/AAAAAAAAAZc/GTXpc0Ye_gc/s1600-h/2007_0428cooketournament0122.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F41Xy4mK-k4/RjTzDKGuz4I/AAAAAAAAAZc/GTXpc0Ye_gc/s320/2007_0428cooketournament0122.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058935517021654914" /></a><br />Ben was on the squad for the Cooke minirugby tournament today. The weather was fantastic with sun for nearly all the time - several rather red faces, as I among others didn't have any suncream. Still, the important bit was the rugby. Cooke P5s played well, unfortunately being just beaten by Coleraine in the pool stages and so coming second in their pool group. They got into the semifinals but were against Harlequins, who were the form team (and we had hoped to meet in the final). Anyway they lost 2-0 (although this was the best performance in the tournament against Harlequins who went on to win). The boys were bitterly disappointed but they did get a trophy and certificates for being in equal third, so they didn't come away empty handed. Some pics from the games are on this web album.<br /><table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/f/img/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/poissonfamily/CookeTournament?authkey=o7UE0SzP0QA"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/poissonfamily/RjOaa6GuzgE/AAAAAAAAAYM/weEjA5WpaLg/s160-c/CookeTournament.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/poissonfamily/CookeTournament?authkey=o7UE0SzP0QA" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">Cooke Tournament</a></td></tr></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967538356307827810.post-91808805986693857162007-04-11T22:55:00.000+01:002007-04-11T22:58:20.350+01:00Next year bookedWell after the success of our last skiing holiday we have booked again for next year - same place virtually same time. So next March (the 8th to be precise) we will be back in Alpe D'Huez and hoping for the same weather we have had for the past 2 years with lots of snow and some sun.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0