Recently we have been really lucky with the electricity; last year we were having semi-regular power cuts, and very regular dips in the voltage, enough to cause electrical equipment to turn off. One UPS died, but we didn’t need to get the candles out for long, as we found a new one quickly. If you [...]

I am looking forward to our next trip to Britain already. Although we don’t know the dates yet, it will be good to catch up with friends, see Mum and John, Dad & Jan and the rest of the family. I know that Mum & John have had a lot of work done on their [...]

Irina’s parents managed to finish the decorating being done in their house just in time to welcome some family members who had travelled over for her dad’s 60th birthday. I’ll try and post more details on the celebrations at a later date. Anyway, once the paint had dried, I reconnected their PC, and the audio/video [...]

Whichever type of pollen my hay fever reacts to is currently in the air here in Astana. Although the severity has dropped off over the years, I still have issues with my eyes during summer months, both in Britain and Kazakhstan. The other day I was at Ira’s parents, and some sort of dust from [...]

So, I still officially have a little Birthday money left over, as I didn’t buy anything whilst in Britain. I thought about getting a DVD video recorder (as in a standalone AV unit, not connected to a PC), or a simple surround sound system setup. Didn’t get either, as in the first case I hadn’t [...]

A while ago, one of the parts of our comfy computer desk chair broke. It is apparently possible to simple order the replacement part, and have it refitted. However, as the leather gets quite hot in the summer, and our cats love clawing it, we may just look around the local furniture stores, and see [...]

Today I have finished most of the outstanding tasks left to complete before we leave for Amsterdam. I have made the final edits to Mum & John’s wedding DVD, started packing the clothes I need, made sure we have left enough kitten food and biscuits for the in-laws to feed Kara and Muska whilst we’re [...]

With the days lasting longer as the weeks pass, it is no longer quite so annoying that the company responsible for maintaining the area around our block of flats has not fixed the outdoor lighting in a long time. Although some lamps were working through the winter, some did not turn on, whilst others were [...]

With the price of the Caspi gym next door to us, it would make a lot of sense to look into alternatives. We could either make a trip to the gyms that are a little further away (but a lot cheaper), or perhaps put out spare room to use, and see which home gyms are [...]

This week I started giving computing lessons to a colleague of Walton. She came round with her laptop, and we are going through basic skills, as well as how to save time by learning various shortcuts. One hour of pure IT can be a bit much for the non-geeks out there, but luckily Karra and [...]

If any of my American readers can be bothered, could you send me a message explaining why (apparently) platform beds are only just becoming popular in the USA? What sort of beds did you normally sleep on in the past? I’m genuinely intrigued by this one. I doubt you all have futons or bunk beds [...]

Back in Britain, there are only a few well known manufacturers of power tools. However, if you start to search around on the internet for the most popular brands in America, Asia and Continental Europe, you come across makes like festool. I had not previously heard of them, but from the feedback satisfied users have [...]

When Ira decides how she wants our next living room to look, I am pretty sure she will have more confidence in ignoring any negative feedback, when it comes to style and colours used. When this apartment was being planned, the boss of the construction crew, and a few other ‘interested [...]

Having recently finally finished watching the Sopranos TV series, I can see the advantages of having proper home theater seating installed, however you may want to hold fire until you actually have a big screen, or projector setup, to ensure you really get the total immersion factor, when it comes to watching the [...]

Irina and I are still hoping to source a Dyson vacuum cleaner here in Kazakhstan sometime soon. Although we obviously do have a hoover already, the amount of cat hairs and general rubbish left behind means that even with a weekly going over, the carpets can end up looking a little weary by Friday. The [...]

At some point, Ira and I need to pop into some furniture stores here in Astana, and try to find some suitable bed-side tables. Although we have an alcove in the wall behind the headboard, it would be more convenient to leave some items on a table, though given our kitten’s natural curiosity, we’ll need [...]

When using the wash room in a Kazakh restaurant, there are two things to watch out for… 1) The hot water may not be connected. 2) If it is connected, you may find the tap (an example being Grohe faucets) has had the pipes reversed, or the red/blue hot/cold logo put on upside down, depending [...]

I recently read in an Amsterdam forum how some members bought discounted coffee machines, and then used own-brand refills to make the overall cost of a cuppa less. One of them handed out a coupon code that gave you a free machine, a Saeco one I believe. In much the same way as some inkjet [...]

Nope, I’m not referring to my recent installation of the Facebook app (scrabulous I think they call it, but its basically Scrabble). Instead the tiles refer to one option for tidying up your existing garage floors, and the do over to the possibility of simply laying fresh concrete down for a fresh clean look.
Hmm, now [...]

In the past, many houses that had a Conservatory, would only use the area during the summer months. The rest of the time, it seems to become an area where things are dumped, stored, or simply forgotten about until the sun is shining once more. However, with a little thought, and perhaps some heating equipment, [...]