Tash hungover. Late out of bed. 10.15am
Breakfast
Walk to KaDeWe and then onto bus for tour of the City
Got off at different points and explored
List what these are
Wall, check point Charlie, topography of terror and so on
Walking. Food
Back to hotel for 5.30and slept for hour. Refreshed and had a drink and found somewhere to eat thought trip advisor
Tiny restaurant that expanded and even walked through kitchens to get to table
Really good meal.
Home and bed by 11.30pm
A really enjoyable day
Up at 5.00am for shower and shave and then off to Nikki and Gaz. Gaz drive and we got to Birmingham in good time. Coffee and then food (Smartie shots!) and then flight for 90mins. Slept the whole way
Got a taxi to hotel and checked in by 12.00. Went for a walk into Charlottenburg and saw some of the sights. Found a cafe that was recommended in a book and had a drink in there. Really liked it. Walked into the Tiergartten and around the outside of the zoo and found ours bearings. Walked back to KaDeWe Department Store and went inside for a look around the food hall, amazing place! We had some samples and then found a bar where we had another beer and the girls got a Curry Wurst. Quite nice actually!
Left there and went to the hotel where we had a couple more drinks and then showered and got ready and came down for another couple before heading out for the Elefant restaurant that was booked by Nikki & Gaz before we’d even left England. Walked through the gay district and saw some very interesting shops!!
Got a bit lost but found the restaurant and all was fine. Had a large choice of schnitzel and had an initial problem with ordering drinks but all was fine.
We had a fantastic meal and then Nik was asking the guy coming over to us if he wanted us to go...quite the opposite. They came over with a tray of Jägermeister and we had shots. The owner, very gay, came over and joined us and we ended up having a lock in. It was such a funny night. We got them drinks and it carried on. So funny. Learned loads but got steaming drunk. Eventually left around 2.00am into thick snow and got lost. Got a taxi, which we isn't need as our hotel was around the corner and crashed out!
Such a fantastic night, something to remember.
Woke up a bit late in view of having a late night and then had porridge for breakfast to see if that would set me up for the day...it did!
Cycled up to Raintree today on the bike from Tasha's work and I liked it. But too hot and sweaty when I go there though so need to sort that in the future.
At mid morning I got a call from the garage and they delivered my courtesy car just as I cycled home. Nice one. Drive it back to Raintree as I couldn't be bothered to cycle and luckily so as it pissed down with rain. I'd have got soaked.
I then carried on working, long day today to be fair with a lot of things I needed to get sorted, I then got a call from the garage giving me an update on the car, he reeled off all the problems with it but said that they'd told the Insurance company and they wanted more investigation in which I asked the man what his gut feeling was and he said he thought it might get through as being repairable. I was obviously delighted, although also very cautious as I didn't want to get my hopes up so we will see what happens in the next couple of days.
I really, really hope that this is sortable as I don't want to have to buy a new car and incur all those expenses, I've definitely learned my lesson with this and have been a better driver and cyclist already! It's actually made me quite nervous being on the road.
Came home at 4.45pm and had dinner, Jack was annoying so snapped at him, shouldn’t but couldn’t help it.
Worked in the evening on Edustaff TED testing and had an early night
Hopefully get some positive news in the morning
Up and working from 7.20am this morning and Charlotte was home as well because she only has one lesson in the afternoon, it was quite nice us both sat here at the dining room table working hard.
Had Lewis phone up as well and have a catch up about the events from yesterday and all is good, he’s doing well.
I got through loads of work today which was pleasing, but at the same time I’m a bit worried that some of the work is drying up.
I phoned the car people a few times but no confirmation one way or the other with regards what’s going to happen to my car. Got a very confusing automated email saying that it was being fixed but that wasn’t the case at all – I was pissed off by that as it really got my hopes up. I am so worried that it’s going to be written off, so very worried!
Mum popped round in the afternoon and we caught up and then we had dinner when she left and I was then shattered so I slept on the sofa for an hour only to be woken up by a Raintree rep phoning for some help, managed to get her off the phone just before having to take Jack to karate.
I changed into my running gear and went for the same run as I did on Thursday last week, I was quite surprised that the time for my run seemed to go quite slow and yet I felt that I was moving a lot quicker than the previous week. Odd but at least it was another 4.5 miles under my belt. I am suffering for it and aching but it’s good to get out there and try and lose this weight I’ve gained.
Got Jack from karate and then sat at home and watched some TV and ate crackers before going to bed at 12.45am! Up to date with Continuum now!!
Driving to Bicester today to get to Peters Books and nearing the M40 junction in the A34 the traffic all started breaking and I was going too fast and went straight into the back of the car in front
Airbag, smoke, cut and bruised legs but otherwise ok. Shaken but ok. Car was drive able but still waited for RAC man to come and tow it away
Worried about the damage under the bonnet. We'll see what the garage has to say but it's £300 excess straight away.
Cancelled going to work and went home instead
Not a good start
Dropped off at a garage and then home. Watched Banshee instead of working but did some in the afternoon and then in the evening had dinner and watched continuum. Pissed off
Got a call about the state of the car and I think they're going to write it off which means all sorts of new costs for us now. I knew this year was going to be shit, I just knew it
Tash is trying to be supportive and say she's just glad I'm ok but it's still frustrating to lose so much money in this manner.
Went to bed at 8.30pm as I just couldn't face any more of the day
I need to use this to turn things around, I've been very casual of late. It's not been good enough professionally or personally. I need to up my game and improve what I am doing.
Woke up late(ish) with a bit of a heavy head and then got a text to say that football was postponed because of a frozen pitch which I wasn’t overly disappointed by because we’re struggling a bit and I think we’d have experienced a bit of a hiding today to be honest
I then got about the jobs on my list so I dismantled the two spare bikes and then took them to the dump to get rid of them and then to Sainsbury’s for some food. Pottered around in the afternoon, Tash went out for a walk with Zoe so I went out for a run. Managed to do 6 miles in 1hr 15mins without stopping which I was pleased with but was knackered and when I got home felt a bit funny so had a decent bath. To be honest I was still aching from Thursday’s run. I need to continue now and having in mind being in better shape in the summer…we’ll see!
Had dinner and then watched the film 12 Years a Slave – what a good film that was, so haunting to think that people were treated like that – awful.
I then worked on the Scholastic document that I’ve been promising and got it finished by 10.00pm so was able to get to bed at a decent time.
A good weekend
Got up at 9.00am after reading the news on my phone and had some breakfast whist Tash stayed in bed struggling with a hangover!
Got some more work things sorted and then took a look at jacks bike to fix the buckled wheel but within minutes it was obvious that it was no good and would need replacing. Pottered around the house for a bit and then decided to go over to Mum’s to finally sort out the gutter that I’ve been promising to do. Luckily I’ve experience of this before so the items I took with me to get the job done were correct and helped save me a lot of time.
Derek held the ladder for me and then I got to work scooping out all the moss and then cleaning the gutter – it looked good when I’d finished and they were both pleased with my effort, so that was nice and they decided they didn’t want the back done.
I then got the chainsaw out and proceeded to cut down half the trees in the back garden – that was a bit of a tough job as they were big and awkward to get to and I was balancing in some difficult places, but we got it all done and it did look a lot better by the time I’d finished. I also took the opportunity to get into the loft to look for my old Dire Straits poster but it wasn’t there which was a shame. I did get a bit distracted by letters in there but I moved on and left them alone!
I was at Mum’s for about 3.5 hours in the end, left after 4.00pm and then Tash, Jack and I went to Aldi to get some shopping and then more importantly to Decathlon to find Jack a new bike which we did (£120.00) but it was worth it and he definitely needed it.
Came home, made a fire and then watched TV and films and I must admit I had the taste for a drink so went ahead and drank a bottle of white wine and also the bottle of ready-made Mojito that I had bought for Xmas. I then watched loads of Continuum episodes as everyone else went to bed.
A great day for Cup Upsets in the FA cup, most notable being Bradford beating Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea being 2-0 up. Incredible game, especially as Chelsea have been in excellent form this season and will likely win the league. There were others but this was the main upset.
A nice day all in all
Woke up late this morning and didn’t go downstairs until about 9.00am and saw missed messages and an angry voicemail from Tash which when i spoke to her she told me that Jack had been knocked off his bike on the way to school by a taxi and was waiting to be picked up. I went down and he was shaken and scratched etc but thankfully nothing too serious to warrant going to hospital
Picked his bike up on the way home and the front wheel completely buckled and not useable so need to fix all that. It sounds like it was Jack’s fault as he’d been crossing the road and didn’t see the car, said he went over the bonnet and it looked quite spectacular! The driver took him to the school.
Tash came home soon after I’d got him back and he stayed upstairs in his bedroom – quiet and agreed to wear a cycle helmet from now on – hopefully he’s learned a valuable life lesson!
Worked throughout the rest of the day, still getting distracted by the online Sparta game I am playing and then made a mistake and got all my troops wiped out! Oh dear, starting again now…
Made dinner and then Tash was going out so I dropped her into Oxford around 7.30pm and then came home and worked into the night. Not much to report really. I suspect that Tash will come home steaming drunk and be abusive which is what she’s like at the minute, we shall see!
Getting to be a regular back at the old building now as I was there today as well and have x3 more trips in the next x4 weeks. Left the house at 7.00am and got a decent 2 hour run into the office and had EduKent Service Providers (Outdoor Education) in for CRM training. Only x3 of them but it was a good session and they were pleased with what we went through. The projector was shit so that made things a bit of a challenge, but it was okay
I didn’t want to get caught in the traffic like last week so I left at 3.00pm and got home at 5.05pm so not too bad either, had my music on with the new Dance downloads and that was enjoyable driving like that.
Went and got Tash from work as she’d walked in and then had dinner and waited for Jack to come back from his career’s day so that I could take him to karate. Got him there just after 8.15pm and I then went for a run. I found/made a decent circuit that’s about 3.5 miles long and I did it without stopping in about 40 minutes which for my first run in ages was okay. I was pleased but I need to push on with things in fitness terms now though.
Came home and watch the last x3 episodes on Continuum and bed just after midnight
Even less happened today, worked at Raintree all day, loads done. Home and then worked on outstanding private items as well. Busy
Charlotte was tasked with watching Apocalypse Now for a school project so that was pleasing to have her watching that, I think she’s enjoying it and Tash is watching it as well.
The Chilcott enquiry into the Iraq war and invasion has been delayed again in being published yet again and they’re going to not give it out until after the General Election, as you can imagine this is utter nonsense and a complete cover up. Pissed off really as it’s embarrassing for UK politics. We know that Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell sexed up the dossiers and are effectively war criminals but it will be covered over and nothing will stick.
Not good
Pretty non-descript day today. Got up early and did some exercise to get the heart pumping and then worked throughout. Nice to be working from 7.00am onwards and it felt like I got a lot done.
Did some training with a new Peters person and ploughed through loads of TED work
Had Horspath training in the evening which I took and Jack was involved which was pleasing but he was struggling afterwards. Enjoyed the session.
Back home and pottered around before going to bed.
Like I said, pretty dull day really and nothing to report
Woke up around 7.00am and worked on the TED stuff that has been bothering me. Went ok and got the release notes sorted. Still more to be done but I then left at 10.10am to come to the Churchill hospital for the scan on my bollocks. Hoping I've not got cancer of course but it's a concern. Sat here in the waiting room now typing this and getting a little nervous
Was sat in the car park for ages though, nightmare trying to park it really is. Not good.
Had the ultra sound and all was fine, the doctor advised that there was nothing wrong and I’m good to go!
Came back home and worked throughout. Watched TV in the evening with Tash and that was it really. She was obviously pleased and relieved that nothing has come out of the scan other than positive news, it had been a worry for her, perhaps more than me.
Got up around 8.30am and watched MOTD whilst having breakfast and then went to Ardley to watch football. We only had 11 players so it was tight all round so quick t was lucky we were playing the worst team in the league
Pitch was big and very heavy but we played some decent football and came out of it with a 4-0 win so that was pleasing
Not much to say or do afterwards so home and worked on Edustaff items before Nikki and Gaz came round for dinner
They turned up around 3.45pm and I also picked up Emily and Katie from the 5 mile drive bus stop and then we got straight onto the drink. I wasn't going to drink but I couldn't resist and we had a great afternoon and evening. Had a piñata which was interesting and then listened to music and watched TV. Got quite drunk to be fair but it was good.
Charlotte took Gaz and Nikki home and then we tidied up and went to bed although it was pretty tidy anyway. A good laugh. We do all get on really well
Played some of the music is downloaded and I was really pleased with it, some good tunes!!!
Bit of a headache when waking up this morning and took ages to get going. The games on the iPad and the laptop are really distracting me at the minute. I need to stop playing them or cut down the time on them. It's daft to be doing this at my age. Clash of clans and Sparta!
Fixed jacks bike and charlottes and pottered around the house. We have all the family over tomorrow so we sorted out food etc
Made dinner for this evening and then watched TV. Not much on tbh
Downloaded stuff to the iPad so will watch that when I have the chance – want to start getting good use out of it now
Also downloaded loads of new songs for the laptop. Unbelievable how quick the downloads worked. Super fast broadband compared to what it used to be like!
Up at 6.45am which was painful after two late nights on the trot! Showered and shaved and on the road by 7.10am on my way to Rochester and EdCo offices. Not the best journey and at one point the satnav was telling me there was an hour’s delay at one of the junctions but thankfully it dispersed by the time I got there and it took just over two hours to arrive.
Got set up and then the Kompan users that have signed up for SPIRIT arrived and Kane and I went through the training with them on Data Mining. Decent session and they were very focussed and enthusiastic by the time we’d finished. I stayed on at the office for a bit longer to sort out work and catch up with Jason and others before making my way home.
Leaving the Rochester office at 5 o'clock is an absolute nightmare I don't know why I left at this time I've been sat in traffic 5 o'clock and it is now 5:30 what a waste of time
This is another example or reason as to why I don't like coming down to the offices here. The training session went ok, the guys who came were from Milton Keynes and Scotland so I felt under a bit of pressure to do a decent session and I think I managed it as they seemed pleased and enthusiastic about it afterwards.
Didn’t do too much when I got home I must admit – couldn’t be bothered. Picked Jack up from karate though when that finished
Didn't go to bed until 3.00am last night. Stupid! Unsurprisingly I was knackered this morning and didn't want to go to work but got sorted and in at Raintree by 8.40am as planned.
So much on for them today, loads and loads of work, but it's quite nice to focus the mind and blitz all that I have. Sorted Laura and Phil problems very quickly and then progressed from there onto mailings for the reps and other areas of functionality that need to be investigated and sorted out. Successful day really. Also trained the new lad and gave a quote to a rep for carrying out private work with them. Hope that could take off!
Lewis sent a WhatsApp update to show that they have a sprinkling of snow up there so that's good, hopefully we'll have a big downpour of it because we've not had snow for some time which is frustrating
Stayed in the office until 6.00pm tonight, so much to do and did some more in the evening, tired! Had a break when I got home and watched some of Continuum and had dinner etc and got an early night
We’re due a big snow storm soon, looking forward to it, hope it comes!!
Lewis is going home today. Tash has the day off to take him back. It's been nice having him around and it will be quieter when he's gone. He's had a fantastic break though so can't complain. Just hope that he's focussed when he returns to Uni. It'll be hard for him
I'm on the train at 8.10am travelling up to London. Had an email and text exchange with Jason this morning putting me under pressure with regards Edustaff TED testing as I'm a bit behind with it and they're being very awkward and unreasonable with Jason. He even threatened to take the work away from me which obviously is a worry. I'll focus myself later and get it done once Scholastic is sorted
Train is packed today, fast train at 7.34am with only one stop, Reading, so will be in the Big Smoke shortly.
Charlie Hebdo magazine is released today following the attacks last week and sure enough they have a cartoon of Mohammed included on the front which I can understand as a two finger salute to those trying to silence them but if I was an employee there I think I'd be looking for a job elsewhere as it's just going to be a continuous cycle of violence and attacks and them publishing again to prove they can't be silenced. Glad that my life is a bit less principled and a bit more quiet!
The session at Scholastic went okay today, caught up on all the points that we've been working on recently and then went through other items, I've got a lot of action points as a result - going to be busy! Spoke to Jason on the way out and then found a Costa Coffee to settle down in and worked on the TED Testing as promised. Whilst there Tash texted to say that things have been interesting this morning and when I spoke to her she said that Charlotte had fainted and cracked her head on the toilet seat (breaking it!) and needed 4 stitches! No idea why, I think she's just had so much on her plate recently and it had built up.
So Tash hadn't even started off to Huddersfield until about 2.00pm!
I finished my set of testing by about 4.30pm so got a train home and then worked all evening as well – knackered!
Didn't sleep very well and was awake from 4.00am. Should have got up and done some work but couldn't be bothered and waited until 6.45. Tash caught me before I left as she'd found the letter with my scan appointment so wanted to know what that was about. No problem explaining it to her and she was quite matter of fact about it.
Left and got the train to Birmingham. Busy day ahead.
Worked hard at Peters and didn’t get other things done that I wanted to, ah well. Got a porridge on the way in at the train station and had that for lunch – very nice indeed and then some donuts that Claire brought in. Left around 5.00pm and wandered through the Bullring shops (Debenhams first because of my £30 vouchers) but couldn’t find anything I wanted. Also looked through Selfridges and Ted Baker – nice shops. Got the 5.55pm train hope and slept like a baby, as did loads of people on the train
Had dinner when I got home and then locked myself away as Lewis was having friends round but I had to work. Set myself 3 hours and that’s what I did – wasn’t very successful testing though to be honest. All a bit of a mess and I will need to work tomorrow too.
It was Liam Carroll’s 18th today so they had some drinks in my office and went out via taxi at 11.00pm and also Dan Casey passed his driving test so that was good for him.
Dreading tomorrow, have to be in London and there is loads I need to go through…
Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine based in Paris that takes pot shots at everyone in the public eye. A bit like our Private Eye but a bit more daring and in the past they've published cartoons and articles ridiculing Islam and the Muslim faith (prophet) which have been met with fire bombing the offices and death threats and such like
Last week this went up a notch when 3 gunmen calmly walked into their Paris office, asked after journalists and cartoonists and proceeded to shoot them dead. 10 dead workers and 2 policemen on protective duty. One a Muslim as well. Try escaped into Northern France and there was a huge manhunt etc and after a couple of days and a siege they too were shot dead by all the armed police chasing them. At the same time in a coordinated effort a guy in Southern France shot people in a super market so you had two sieges happening at the same time. They also finished at the same time!!
People obviously we're shocked by the attacks and showed support and a degree of solidarity by re-tweeting cartoons condemning them but stopping short of reprinting the offending cartoons. More along the lines of the pen being mightier than the gun.
It's all so shocking and tragic that religiousness is taken to such an extreme, whichever type of religion it is.
Missed because of all that you had the Boko Haram movement in Nigeria who executed over 2,000 people in villages they attacked, mostly women and children. Again this is related to Islam and Sharia Law, utter madness it really is. Old style sentiments and understanding in the 20th century just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
I hate it
Up fairly early this morning and made Tash tea in bed and caught up on the news online. Nice way to start the day. Football was at Harwell and Hendred today but Jack wasn’t able to play as his knee is really buggered. He came along and watched though, although that was a waste of time as it wasn’t the best performance. Actually they did okay but we’re quite an ordinary team at present with what we’re missing. Such a shame, we ended up losing 3-2 as we were pushing for the winner with 10 mins to go as a draw wasn’t good enough, it backfired on us!
Stopped at McDonald’s on the way back and let Jack have a chicken burger but as soon as we walked through the front door there was a fry-up waiting for us so that was a nice surprise! Had that and then Tash and I took Bella for a walk across the meadow, she loved that (Bella) as she doesn’t get out at all with Sue. Nice to chat about things (Tash) and plan for the coming year for holidays and working on the house/garden – loads of ideas! Walked to the Plough and had a coffee and then dropped the dog home and then back home for me to do some work ahead of meeting Mum for her birthday meal at Prezzo’s in town
Went into town at 5.30pm, parked at Tasha’s work and walked in. Dropped the cake off at Prezzo and then met Mum and Derek in the Slug an Lettuce. Got some drinks and they later brought over a glass of champagne for mum which was nice
Gave out our presents and then went next door. Had a really nice meal and all very pleasant. Had a couple of beers so my dry January really is out of the window now!!
I ended up paying the full amount for the meal. £124.00. Not quite sure how that happened but it was appreciated
Walked them back to the bus stop and got our cars and went home. Uploaded some photos to Facebook and then managed to get to bed by 10.30pm. A nice weekend
Wore my new Hollister jumper and love it. Also wore my Invicta aftershave and love that too. Smells really nice, perhaps wore a bit too much as I could smell me!!
Worked most of the day on getting invoices and that sorted but also wasting time on Clash of Clans the game on the iPad that Jack plays. Bit addictive I must admit, must get off it and stop wasting time
Tash’s family came round to see her as they’ve not caught up face to face since Xmas so had a nice lunch for once
Kept in touch with Lewis throughout the day as he was in his way back from skiing. They were delayed due to the weather and then at 4.30pm he said he was in the way so at 5.30pm Tash and I drive out to Potters Bar to get him
Perfect timing, he was there as I pulled into the train station. Chatted all the way back and heard his stories, he had a fantastic time. Got home in an hour and then watched some TV. Not much in to be fair and at 10.00pm gave up and had an early night
Pleased with a hat that Lewis stole which is exactly one that I have been after for some time so that was a nice little bonus! Been eating too many Quality Street as well – my diet is shit at the minute!!
Up nice and early today and got some emails fired off and printed off the Agenda and then made my way over to Bicester to do the SPIRIT training with Morley’s. Nice place and people were good as well. Presentation style training session and loads of questions and a few action points to deal with on my return. Was there until about 1.30pm and then straight home, was knackered again so sat down and watched the ‘Girl who kicked the hornet’s nest’ before finishing some more work and then doing dinner.
Tash came home and suggested we go to the cinema but it was an early start (5.50pm) so we had to get a wriggle on, Jack and Charlotte came as well. We went and watched ‘Into the Woods’ which was a musical version of various Grimm Fairy Tales but it wasn’t very good at all…I got bored and a little frustrated by it I must admit. Ate too many sweets and felt sick!!
Came home, tidied up and then watched some TV – Tash went to bed and I watched the end of the film at last and then some other items and went to bed myself around 1.00am. A new series that I’ve series-linked called Continuum is on and I quite like it, watched x3 episodes already!!
Picking up Lewis tomorrow so will be nice to hear what his break was like
Strange day today, didn’t get up until 8.50am as was knackered from football and late night last night. Showered and then went to the Doctors for my check up on my bollocks. One door had an old lady as the GP which I thought was fine, and then another door opened that I didn’t even know was a room and a very attractive young GP was stood beckoning me in – oh dear I thought!
I explained my concerns and was checked out and she’s sending me for a scan, all precautionary I think as she made lots of noises that it’s unlikely to be anything as serious as I was fearing. So that was over with quickly, just need to wait on the appointment now!
Back home I couldn’t get focussed to work, tried and did a bit but then gave up and watched half of the ‘Girl who played with fire’ – I like that series as well.
I then did some work (more web browsing than work) and then did a conference call to the States to demo SPIRIT – seemed to go well enough.
I then got a bit of a shock, Giuliana Giaccari sent me a Facebook friend request, I couldn’t believe it – I’ve not heard from her in 30 years. She looked really well and it was lovely to hear from her, her typing in English wasn’t very quick so I didn’t get too much information out of her but she’s got x2 sons (21 and 19) and appears to be doing well for herself. It will be interesting to see if Tash sees the exchange as that will be interesting to try and explain! In saying that, I don’t think we even actually kissed when she was over and I made friends with her, it was exactly that, just a friendship.
Did some more work in the evening and sorted dinner out (Chicken Kiev's – I know how to cook!!) and then did Horspath training session.
Tough day today, hard to get work done in the morning although I did a training session with one of the new Raintree reps and then went to the dentist, all okay although I need some work and had to book in two appointments for them. Back home I then fell asleep on Jack’s bed for 30minutes whilst Rui was round seeing Tash.
The new mattress arrived which was heavy and solid so couldn’t get that up the stairs. I went off to meet Jason at the Wheatley/Oxford services and we had a catch up about work, went better than I expected so that was good.
Back home and sorted out that mattress – bloody hard work!
Had some food and then off to City for the veterans match (over 35s), a couple of new faces and was quite surprised when named as sub, wasn’t pleased! Sat and watched the first half which was pretty poor, went 1-0 up and then found ourselves 3-1 down due to some bad mistakes but there was a lack of energy or anything going on out there, very frustrating to be watching that shit!
I was brought on at left back at half time and some other changes and we made a decent go of it and had better shape when I was pushed back to centre-half. We scored and kept them out but we couldn’t find the next goal and lost 3-2. I don’t know if I am seeing things differently and that I should drop out of this team or not, but it feels like I am likely to be a sub more often now which I don’t want to waste my time doing. We’ll see what happens in the next game as I did enough to warrant starting next time!
Had a drink and some chips after the match and then came home, didn’t want to go to be d so watched the end of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, I really enjoy these films (this was the Swedish subtitles one) and I’ve got the other two recorded so will look forward to watching those too. Another late night…
Up quite late (8.00am) but only off to Raintree today. It was there Rep Conference today so they wanted me on hand to help out with any queries as and when and to be fair that was a good idea as there were quite a few!
Lots of work for me to sort out now over the coming days/weeks – feeling a bit of pressure really so need to step up and close some of this off. I need to do a lot for them tomorrow as well with a demo and a training session so I might have to charge for my time.
Booked up with the dentist and also with the doctor today, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it previously but I am a bit concerned about one of my bollocks and want to get the opinion from the GP – one’s bigger than the other which is a sign of cancer…bit worried to be honest but I hope it’s simply my imagination, but it has to happen to someone doesn’t it so why not me?? Fingers crossed, that meeting is on Thursday so I hope they tell me not to worry.
Working at Raintree was quite enjoyable today, I had a lot to do and I got on and did it!
During the day I had an exchange with Lewis on Facebook Messenger and he was saying how good it is where he’s skiing, it does look an amazing place – huge – with so many lifts and slopes to use. I think it’s tempting to try it out and go to one of these places next time instead of our comfortable Sainte-Foy. We’ll see.
When I finished went home and Mum was there and we caught up as we’ve not seen her since before Xmas, all is fine and they had a good time. I then took Jack to football training at Horspath even though he’s struggling with Osgood Schlater’s Disease which means he’s unable to participate in sports really. I was pleased that he looked okay and was able to get through the session, but he’s not quite right really. Frustrating. I didn’t really enjoy the training session, I took part a little bit but they’re a funny bunch of lads, talented but appear to have gone off the love of the game.
Finished 5 mins early (it was bloody cold!) and went home for 15 mins before taking Jack to karate and catching up on bits and pieces.
Home and an early night tonight! Set the alarm for 6.00am..see what happens with that shall we?
As the title suggests, back to the real world today and with a bump as it's an early start in Birmingham with Peters Books.
Wasn't too bad getting up even though I'd had a very late night but I got some things done on the train and it was a quiet day in the office to be honest. Got my head down and worked on items that needed to be sorted. Claire wasn't in but was working remotely so had a couple of emails with her.
Finished around 4.30pm to get the earlier train home and all was fine at home although Tash was a bit stressed out because of work and things to do at home. Had nice dinner (meat balls and rice) and then managed to finally sort Jack's phone out so the service and everything is working. That was a relief.
Did some work and then the new series of Broadchurch was on which everyone was looking forward to and it was a disappointment, really enjoyed it so that's something we'll be getting into for the next 8 weeks!
Tash went to bed and I watched the end of The Raid (subtitled action film) which was really enjoyable and then two episodes of Elementary which sadly was the last of the series - I love that programme and then went to bed
Charlotte and Miles came back from their Monday night meal club – they’d had a nice time
Nice day in the end but another late night and eating chocolate instead of exercising!
Up in the morning at 9.00am and got on with unpacking the car, although Tash had done most of it. Sorted all the items out and also started on the photos being sorted and so on
Took the car back and no problems there
Continued with all the jobs that needed to be done and in the evening our new student arrived, Hortense, she seemed nice enough and settled in
Had a nice roast chicken for dinner, got ready for work and then sat down to watch TV. We watched homeland as we had 5 episodes left and watched 2 which took us until 10.15pm but I wanted to see the ending so I watched the remaining 3 and as good as it promised to be the last episode was disappointing. Ah well, off to bed at 1.30am so my NY resolution of early nights didn't really last!!
A great Xmas break though
Up at 6.15am, last bit of packing the car, took the snow chains off and then set off. Quite busy getting down the mountain but no slow or ice so that was a relief
Stopped at Bourg St Maurice train station and dropped Lewis off. He's off to the train and then a bus to his next resort to meet all his Uni mates for the second week of his holiday
Carried on and thankfully the traffic we experienced last week was a one-off and we made good time
A few stops for petrol an then a detour for McDonalds for dinner and then onwards. For some reason we were sent through Paris. That was interesting and we even witnessed a bike hitting a car. His own fault and thankfully not serious.
It took 13 hours to get to Calais and now waiting. Very busy...the flexiplus tickets worked a treat and we jumped the queues
Although still here in the flexiplus queue. Not good. All other pauper queues going through. Not feeling VIP!!! Make a complaint.
Queue jumping caused interest as did Liam hanging his flip flop out the window like a dog!! Gareth!!
No other incidents so home safe and sound!
Such a great time, can’t wait to go again.
Last day. Up early, got some food, had breakfast and then on the slopes by 9.50am. It was really quiet either because it was earlier in the day or that people were leaving. Either way it was as we expected it and were used to when at St Foy.
Went up the top and got a few good runs in on those reds and also on the Marquise slope. Down to have our last hot drinks for this holiday and then more skiing. Back for lunch and back out for the afternoon session.
Lewis didn't come out because of being tired and also skiing next week. It was warm today and lots of the snow melting and there were many bald patches of grass, stones and ice. We've timed it so well to get the snow and be leaving when it's thawing. I think snow is forecast over the weekend so hopefully that will happen for the next people to be there.
When down for the last time (off-piste) handed in all our gear and packed up and finished things off at home and loaded the car
I burst a blood vessel in my eye which was weird and got ugly looking. At the time of writing it's stopped spreading in my eye so hopefully all is ok
We went out at 8.30pm for a drink in our favourite bar and then went to the restaurant we'd booked for dinner at 9.30pm. Really nice place and busy but we were all together and the food when it came was lovely. I had béarnaise sauce and it was fantastic
So good, and I did have pudding...brownie and coffee ice cream. Had a beer after feeling better, so my NY resolution didn't last too long really...
Finished, paid and went to bed. The boys were not tired and went out to the bar they liked. I don't think they stayed late
Great holiday
The morning after the night before!! Didn't get out of bed until about 11.30.
Hungover but not I'll, some were!! No one could be bothered to do anything at all.
Everyone said no to skiing which in hindsight was probably a good idea as we were all aching and tired from the skiing so it was a chance to recharge the batteries.
So no one moved from the sofa and we watched DVDs starting with The Inbetweeners 2, and then the bloopers and deleted scenes and then the behind the scenes!!
Tries to eat the pizzas and they were awful!! Mostly got thrown away. So Kerry made some pasta and nachos which was lovely.
We then watched frozen which was very good and finally us lads watched Guardians of the galaxy which was brilliant. Well, we thought was.
