Knowing Jamie really wanted to eat at Phanthong I said why don’t we go out on our own for your birthday eve and eat Thai then it doesn’t matter that no-one else likes it. Thats not strictly true we’d invited me mum for Italian tomorrow night and she said yes, she would definitely said no to this and the kids would have struggled so this was the perfect solution.

So with lifts arranged to get Lincoln to and from skating and leaving Reagan baking a chocolate birthday cake off we went to Sandbach for a date night.

With reservations for 7 it would have been rude not to start the night off in the Cheese for a drink before catching the bus. A sharing platter for starters was lovely followed by green Thai curry for Jamie and red for me we both wee fit to burst as we left the restaurant an hour or so later. We caught the 10:04 bus home but not before a few drinks at Wells and Cross pub in front of a log fire, very romantical and perfect date atmosphere.

It was Jamie’s birthday celebration but its my birthday everyday married to her!

Sometimes I don’t enjoy pool on a Wednesday because I want to win and we have struggled as a team in recent years because most of us only play on a Wednesday and don’t pick a cue up any other time.

Last night I really had so  much pride in not only my team but also my captaincy and how I played a very good side. I played the first 4 hoping they played their best 4 in the first 4 frames and I was hoping we took a frame off them but we went 4 nil down which was not ideal.

Playing AK and watching him beat their last good player finally meant we were not going to get beat by a nil score but I still had my best left. CR MC and me all won making it 4 all and made them think…

I decided I was going to play the 4 winners in the pairs me and MC played the first one and there was a decision in the frame where normally I would listen to the more experienced MC but I overruled him and played a containing safety shot which meant we won the frame rather than playing the aggressive shot he was advising.

So from 4 nil down were now 5 4 up with one frame to play and although photo does not show is CR&AK won the frame making it probably my proudest night and very enjoyable. We’ve won trophies and actually won leagues many years ago but those days may be beyond this team but tonight proved anything is possible.

I am really trying to create things and I am loving creating the storage under the stairs but this weekend I just wanted to relax and potter. So I had a little go at “dowel joints” to make a ‘perfect joint between the first slf and the storage top unger the stairs but as I do often I become disillusioned quite quickly when it didn’t go right first time…

Just make something me brother told me, a while back, when I said I get stuck when things are not perfect, so I refocussed and made a couple of trays to tidy up my drill bits. The dowel job was scuppered really because the drill bits were poor and the depth collar didn’t fit right and looking for another bit was almost impossible in the chaos.

So laid them all out of the bench measured them and organised them into sizes types and purpose designed a layout to accommodate them all and made two trays.

I really enjoyed not only making them but seeing how easy it has made locating everything in the drawer for future protects.

Tonight I was desperate to get back to the understairs project but life comes first, washing clothes taking out the bins walking Billy and cooking tea all took priority…

Festool is a premium wood working brand and most things are 3 times the cost of anything you can buy from DeWalt Makita and the other preferred brands but this week I took the plunge and bought the Festool FS-WA/90° 90 Degree Angle Stop

My journey to this purchase has been a long one because I bought the Makita track saw last year along with the Makita tracks and, although not impossible, I have always found it time consuming to rip down plywood dead square. The YouTube woodworkers throughout all recommend the TSO GRS-16 PE v2 which gets 9.9 or 10 in every review I have read in the past 6 months and is universal attaching to all the popular brands including Makita. The problem is availability in the UK and secondly the price.

While I was off over Christmas I read a review on the Festool which said that it and the TSO V1 are the same square just rebranded so it will fit all major branded tracks… Its available in the UK for surprisingly the same cost as the TSO being the exact same piece of kit with a different sticker on it.

With PayPal 3 equal 0% payments spreading out the hit on my wallet I decided to go for it and buy one and see if it first of all fits my rails and secondly if its as good as they say it is.

The first thing I noticed was the clamp has TSO embossed on it proving that it’s the same piece of kit. The next thing to note is its simplicity slide it onto the track clamp it on and off you go. There is a TSO V2 but it is not a huge upgrade on an already perfect product the T rail locator is now L allowing it to be placed under the rail at any position rather than sliding it onto the rail, not a problem in my world, fluff rather that feature!

I used the square today and I can confirm that it cuts square, without fuss no setup just clamp to the track and I was done. Could I get the same cut with the track alone, yes, but with two pencil marks doubling the possibility of error… this was a single pencil mark drop the track on and  make the cut. Dead square!

All the above may not convince Jamie of it’s worth but I am happy and I am sure that is all that matters…!