Dreamgirls

Managed a full day at work today. Quite productive but again very tiring. Managing to remain disconnected from the emotion which is pleasing

Tash came home after work but not for long as she was meeting up with Sharon and Kerry to go to the theatre and watched a show called Dreamgirls, came back quite late but said it was well worth it and really enjoyable. Can’t remember the leading lady’s name but she was on the voice and Tash said she was amazing so that’s good. 

I just had dinner and got the fire going after going for a walk around the village in the pouring rain. It gave me a good excuse to use my Dry Robe though! The main reason is I’ve got a fitness app and I’ve reduce the daily steps target to 4K whilst I’m doing rehab. So I forced myself to do it as it’s the second day to meet that target, didn’t need to worry, ended up about 5.5k in the end!! That’s steps, not distance!!

Tash went out so lazed in front of the fire and watched a few episodes of Narcos, got back into it very quickly, it is addictive viewing. Really enjoyed it. 

A decent day I guess. 

Bit of a nothing day today

Up bright and early and got straight to work. Starting to feel the strain and what’s really odd is that I’m being asked about tasks I know absolutely nothing about, it’s like I’ve been expected to be fully up to date and have checked emails and be on top of everything whilst I was off. I’ve not even caught up with the emails and the tonne of stuff not dealt with my in absence. Mental. 

Had a tough meetings, lads are getting stressed, it’s not a happy workplace. I was tired by 2.00pm to be honest, I shouldn’t even be working, I’m a fucking idiot!!

Did a full day and finished at 5.30pm and just wanted to sleep. Did some chores, like sorting the broken handle on the vans fridge door, took Bess for a walk and made it round the allotment and feel even more tired now. Waiting for Airbnb to turn up and I’m dying to go to bed. 

Nice dinner, leftovers from yesterday lasagna and some cake. Got exercises done so hopefully keep that up. 

Like the title says, but if a nothing day but I wanted to post a diary entry all the same. 

Suppose I could comment on politics, Liz Truss is our new PM and she’s useless, as is Kwarsi Katang. He’s just done a mini-budget and completely yanked the economy, sterling is almost at parity with dollar and interest rates are going up. So as well as the energy bills crisis is that is simply disgusting the cost of living and now mortgages is going throught the roof. Pensions almost folded yesterday, it’s a bad time in Britain at the minute. 

Charlotte’s 26th Birthday

Charlotte is 26 today…how does that happen?!? My kids are all grown up, I hate it. Looked through old photos of her and the kids and friends and saw them when they were about 5 & 8 and it’s so lovely, I even looked slim and fit!! Yes, I used to be…

Had a nice morning opening presents and breakfast, and throughout the day she got loads of love on social media. 

Everyone was working and we then had lunch in which Tash and I took her to Jacob's Inn and Sue met us there too with Bella. Had some fizz and nice food and was very relaxed, Charlotte got some nice presents too. Back to work and then signed off around 5.45pm - I am getting back into my stride and of course, all the shit work and atmosphere is coming back. I am desperately trying to distance myself from the emotion that comes with the role - we'll see. It did affect my evening if I am honest, I kept thinking about emails and work that is building up!

Anyway, enough of that - I have to compartmentalise it and forget it, it's just a means to an end..payday!

Got the fire going because it's getting colder now we're hitting Autumn, even put the heating on for 30 mins - sacrilege!!

Mum came over and then Tez, Rua and Harvey and it was a nice evening of wine and lasagne. 

More presents for Charlotte and then an earlyish night to bed.

It was a good day and she was suitably spoilt by everyone so that was lovely and she definitely deserves it, she's a good one and Tash and I are very, very proud of her.

Physio

Started work fairly early and made time to break through the day. I’m determined to listen to my body and not overdo things with work. It’s clear that things can progress without me so I need to keep my input and the emails down as much as possible and not let others influence my working day and workload as much as I’ve allowed them to. 

Anyway, Jack gave me a lift you the NOC as he was home from seeing Jodie at the weekend and was driving up to Manchester so it worked well. Sounds like he’s got a clothing business on the go now so that sounds promising already, they bought if to £8k and think they’ll have it all recouped in a couple of months already. He said he couldn’t believe how little the lad sold it to them for. 

Physio was good, she was impressed with my mobility and flexibility after on two weeks since the op. Gave me more exercises and I am back in there again in a fortnight. Need to keep on pushing the exercises as it’s starting to feel better, but it was interesting how she found weak spots. 

Called mum and she gave me a lift home and stayed for a coffee too. 

Worked in the afternoon as normal and then clocked off around 5.00pm as I was tired. 

Not much doing in the evening. Did chores and the house was bloody cold so got a fire on the go and that was nice. Early night. 

Back to Work

So today I went back to work and it was okay. I’d got up to date with emails and to be honest, when you’re not working it’s surprising how few emails you actually get come in. So working appears to just generate work!!

I focused on a couple of key things that I’d been requested to work on and had a catch up with Darren etc. 

I did have breaks and alternated between sitting and standing at the desk and it was okay. 

Had a meeting at the local surgery to trim the sutures and reset my dressing. There was nothing to trim, the sutures were dissolvable and all that’s left is a bit of an angry looking scar, about 8 inches long…hopefully that’ll become less noticeable in time. It wasn’t painful but it was interesting to view. 

Got a lot done otherwise and clocked off work on time, nice dinner (pasta with sausages that we didn’t use kn the fry up yesterday!) and then Jack and Tash went to bootcamp so I took the chance to watch the next episode of House of the Dragon. Decent. 

When they were back we watched a treasure hunting film that was a bit shit but enjoyable nonsense. More a Sunday hangover film. 

So now I’m coming back to normality after my time off, wonder how soon I’ll be stressing and hating everything?? I’ll give it this week! 

Hip Replacement Operation - Update

It's now two weeks since the operation, not sure where I stand in terms of how successful or not it has been, I will actually find out tomorrow as I have a visit to the physio in the morning.

I think it's been okay - it's been a rough fortnight and it has certainly caught me by surprise with how hard it's been, but at the same time there have been lots of positives.

The operation itself was successful but I apparently wouldn't open my teeth so they couldn't put any suction tubes down my throat and I was fighting them off a number of times - all in my sleep!!

They were pleased (and surprised) to be working on someone as fit and young as me - they're used to only getting the "dregs" - their words - who are morbidly obese and have heart problems etc. I was the fittest person they've had in there for about 6 months!

Anyway, the time after the op was hard, I was being sick due to one of the liquid painkiller drugs that messed me up (Oxycodone) - the worst was in the morning when I was projectile vomiting into the toilet bowl - it was mad. But also lucky I was in the toilet!!

I was moved to a ward with three other men, Ian, Michael and Robin, all in their late 70s and had been there a while and had similar operations, they were in good spirits although Michael wasn't well at all - heart problems! 

Anyway, the Friday night was appalling, I was in so much pain, couldn't eat on Saturday and alternated between sleeping and listening to music. 

Tash and Charlotte visited but I wasn’t in the mood, my mum also came round. 

Saturday night sleep was better and Sunday was good and after physio they felt I was okay getting around. 

When home I was being looked after and no one really knew how much I could or couldn’t do. I was fine getting up and down stairs but the first week I was tired. Just sleeping on the sofa and having early nights. 

The seconweek I was on my own because all the family went to Katie and Oscars wedding in Cyprus. Obviously I was disappointed to be missing out but it’s the decision I made. 

I was fine at home, perfectly happy in my own company. Watched tv, completely the beers puzzle, watched the wedding, and slept. Started getting my appetite back so are more and was also able to do exercises they’d given me. I did stop the painkillers for a while as I felt okay and they “blocked me up” but after a few days the pain came back so I had to use them and they made me sleepy again. 

Managed to get out to walk a couple of times but again it hurt so stopped overdoing it. 

I did a few jobs around the house but if you look at what I’ve done with 2 weeks off work it’s literally nothing, but then it’s not exactly been a holiday!!

So now it’s a fortnight since the op, I started back at work today, that was tough, I find looking at a screen tiring. But also sitting or standing at my desk isn’t comfortable. I’ll do what I can and increase the hours I’m doing. 

Can’t say it’s good to be back, and I’ve not really been missed as my emails weren’t mental when I returned although to be fair I did tidy them up a few times last week when trying to look at what I had on my plate. 

Anyway, had the dressing replaced today and I’ve a scar that’s about 8 inches long, and I’ve physio tomorrow, so will see how I do there. 

Afternoon Tea at Fortnum & Mason

So Tash is home for one day and then off on another trip out, this time to London! She and Charlotte took Sue to Fortnum & Mason for afternoon tea for Sue’s birthday. 

I looked after Bella when she finally arrived at our house about 90 mins late! 

They had a great time and I was right to tell them to take a chance on parking because they did find on-street parking for free right next to where they needed to be in Piccadilly which was great. Only had to pay the £15.00 congestion charge. Sent some photos of their food and all pretty standard and they said it was unlimited and they had a great time. 

Travelling home there were Iranian protesters and fights at Marble Arch so they were stuck in traffic for a while but they weren’t too late. 

Brought me home some cakes so that was nice. 

I had a quiet afternoon, slept again as I was knackered through lack of sleep at night and then I worked in the office getting things up to date. Sort of productive I guess. Went through all my Notes and also provided more ideas for my birthday and Xmas presents - they laugh but also say how useful it is for me to tell them what I want

Charlotte did say she thought it a bit sad that I was asking for coffee beans - "Why don't you just go and buy some?".

Finally watched the last episode of This Is Us - it's been enjoyable and it was sad at the end, but that's all over now thank goodness!

Fam Home and Tucks Over

They got home around midnight and were obviously all knackered and had a lie-in in the morning, Tash did actually go to Yoga and I pottered around the house, nice and easy catching up with this still but then Tash came back and cracked the whip! All a bit irritating to have my routine messed about with, to be honest, but there we go.

Tucks sent a message earlier in the day saying he was in England so we arranged to meet up later and he come over to ours - I made a reservation for Jacob's Inn.

The rest of the day was mostly clearing up things and sleeping - I keep getting pain in my leg so back on painkillers.

Jack went off to see Jodie down in Bournemouth and I caught up on the gossip and stories from the holiday and sorted Tash's O2 account.

Andrew came over around 5.30pm (I'd had a quick snooze as I was knackered) and it was a really nice evening. I broke my month-long target to not drink lager but it was okay really - didn't have too much. Really good to catch up - chatted for ages, then went to Jacob's and had a nice dinner then back home, watched some TV and Tuck's stayed the evening in Jack's room.

Really good to see him, he's off early in the morning so will likely miss him as he's helping move things in his parent's house and then back to the States. His new house is looking very impressive and his kids, Olivia and Grace) are settling in etc.

Sounds like all is good

Home Alone Update - Last Day

So the fam are trying to come home again today, similar times but this time they are coming via Romainia!! Don’t ask. Completely mad. 

I had a strange day really, did a couple of hours work for Raintree and then more diary entries but nothing for the Big Tour. Took Bess for a walk on the meadow which was nice but I am struggling here in bed this evening, in loads of pain and it won’t go away. 

Didn’t really have a decent dinner, just snacks and treated myself to gin and tonics sat outside with the heater on and watching some of the England v Italy Nations game. It was very poor. 

I can’t write anymore, I’m in agony. Just received a text saying they’ve landed at Gatwick and it’s 22:25pm. So they’ll be home in a couple of hours. 

Night. 

Jack has moved up to Manchester

So the final child has fled the nest back in August. Jack's business (Reseller2Reseller) and his partners are based in Manchester and over the last few months, he and Noah have been up there for weeks at a time which has involved staying at Lewis's house for extended periods. 

That in itself has caused a bit of friction which is a crying shame but I think that's done and dusted now, quite upsetting all round the way it was handled, but I don't want to be negative on here and for this to be read as such in the future - only that it clearly was a temporary situation and family should do "anything" for each other. That's enough on that!

Anyway.. Jack's been trying VERY hard to find a place to rent for him and Noah and it's been nigh on impossible, places are gone almost as soon as they are advertised and/or there are loads of bookings.

Natasha wasn't convinced he was trying hard enough and got involved and soon was pulling her hair out as well! Even Lewis at one point too. This went on for weeks.

Anyway, just by chance a place that Jack had viewed and was unsuccessful with came back on because the residents pulled out and with a lot of hoop jumping Jack and Noah secured the contract.

So for a couple of weeks, Tash has been travelling up to Manchester with Vinnie full of beds and household items and she's helped him move in - at the time of writing this I've not been to see it yet but from the photos, it looks fine and he's happy now. It's on the outskirts of Manchester in a village/suburb and appears "safe" enough. I didn't go because of work.

On the first day of handover whilst Tash was there it was apparently very emotional, Jack was crying his eyes out as much as mum and for a few weeks following the day one move he was clearly quite homesick and was sending various messages over to us and calling etc, it's settled down now and he's more into the routine and happier up there it seems. It's quite a shock to the system for him as he didn't do Uni or anything and has only known home comforts and being looked after - very different prospect doing it all for yourself.

I think what's also helped is he now has the internet connected and I think they're using the front room as an office so it's busy there most of the day (I think with Noah playing football he was a bit lonely).

Feels like he's grown up, although that perception was shattered when he came back down and stayed a few days ahead of the wedding trip to Cyprus - he was a pain in the backside and back to his shouty self!! :-) Lol

I don't think it's going to be a permanent solution, him staying in Manchester, let alone this accommodation, but it's great he's got out an experienced it and can now make decisions going forward, the business is going well so that's all good and the correct decision.

It's made the house a whole lot quieter, and with no Charlotte now it's been a very emotional couple of months with "losing" the kids. People we speak to often say they're pleased when their kids move out - we're not like that, we love having the kids around, we LIKE our children!!

Anyway, they have to move on at some point, don't they? So as much as it's quieter, there's also more food left in the house - Jack eats so bloody much! Tash and I need to scale down our weekly shop and also when we cook remember it's only the two of us, its caught us out a few times and we've had leftovers for the following day as a result!

We will convert one of their rooms, probably Charlotte's as she's the more 'permanent' leaver, into an AirBnb room but we won't rush it so neither of them feels we've been desperate to get rid of them and change things and get money from their departure, but it makes obvious sense to use one more room as the small box room is full nearly all the time.

Anyway, sad to lose Jack but he's close to Jodie, so I think we'll be seeing them a lot as Jodie used us as a stopover the other day on her way up to Manchester from Bournemouth (stayed the night - lovely that she's that comfortable with us).

We'll definitely be going up to Manchester more now as having x2 kids up there makes it easier to catch up with them!!

We shall see what the future holds...

Home Alone Update - One Day more!

 Sort of productive day today - worked through a list of chores which included cutting back the roses (front and back), cutting the lawn, refilling the pond (after accidentally draining it!), sweeping the patio, getting the dustbins out for tomorrow, re-inflating the hot-tub and also doing some work for EdCo and Raintree - all just in the morning so was very pleasing to see things up together.

Tash told me early in the day that their flight was delayed by at least two hours but annoyingly the taxi firm wouldn't change so they were getting to the airport very early. They made the most of the last few hours by the pool and then came to the airport where I started getting additional updates on later and later departure times.

There was a post on Twitter where someone on the flight from Gatwick to Larnaca showed some idiots being kicked off the plane which eventually meant that the flight Tash and the kids are waiting for is cancelled until 5.00pm tomorrow evening - what an absolute nightmare!! At the time of typing, they're waiting for their luggage and I think they're then being put up in a hotel. What a shame.

So that was evening occupied with loads of updates from them.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, I started looking into the Big Tour, as I am going to call it - i.e. our trip to South East Asia, to be honest, though I am quite overwhelmed with it all, it's something we definitely need to work out together but also ask other people who've been, like Charlotte and Miles!! I am excited by it though I have to say, some of the places that we're going to get to see look amazing.

After dinner, I then watched a film and had the drama of the cancelled flights and then had an early night. Have taken a painkiller as I've had two horrible nights of interupted sleep so I am hoping tonight works out okay - fingers crossed.

Home Alone update - diary entries

Oh goodness - I've been on a mission today - I have created so many entries to catch up with what I've not been posting and it's been enjoyable if a little time-consuming!

Luckily all the St Lucia ones were already written on my phone so it was a case of transferring them over and adding tags etc. Hopefully, keep it up - challenging target tomorrow again to add historical ones.

Got my new sim card today so spent time trying to get my number transferred over, if all goes well I've reduced my monthly cost from £35 to £6 - it's mental! 

Watched the new Star Wars series, Andor, that came out today - they've released 3 episodes in one hit which makes really good sense as the first two are a little slow so watching them all in one go means you are hooked into it as opposed to giving up after ep 2! I've enjoyed it.

So that means I've got Andor, Rings of Power (Lord of the Rings) and House Of Dragon (Game of Thrones) on my playlist at the minute...all good fun.

Managed to get out for a walk this evening so as to start building up the leg muscle and fitness, also managed 90 mins of work (in the whole day!) - I did 50 mins and I was knackered and my back was hurting - next week when I plan to come back "properly" is going to be tough going.

Oh, I also managed to properly update my birthday list and even found a Xmas present for Tash! How organised am I?

Or it's just spectacular procrastination because the planning of the Asia trip is just too much for me to face!!

Day 5 St Lucia. Monday

Boat cruise day. Mental!

Very drunk - Tash lost phone

Great fun!!

Home Alone update - Katie & Oscar’s Wedding

Today’s the day!

Over in Cyprus Katie and Oscar got married today and it all seemed to go off very well indeed. It was 1.00pm our time over here (they're 2hous ahead). Lewis set up a WhatsApp group and we joined the call and he shared his screen - it wasn't ideal as they were a fraction out of ear-reach but we got the gist of what was happening.

You had me, Miles, Sue and Caroline (Danny's mum) and Wendy and Graham on the call and it was nice to feel involved, although there was that obvious feeling that we were missing out by not being there - but that was all of our own choices so can't complain about that! 

The "service" was over in 20 minutes, the registrar wasn't messing about..I think it's very hot of course so she didn't want it dragging on.

About 2 hours later Lewis fired up the WhatsApp call again and we witnessed the speeches - this was a lot better to listen to as they used microphones and it went well. Everyone did sincere and nice/meaningful speeches which made sense and they all went down well of course.

That was it then and they went ahead with celebrating and drinking and food and so on, I kept getting messages throughout the evening which was nice, Tash said I was being missed so that was nice to hear.

So all in all, a very successful event - and now they're married. How strange that is to think these young neices are all "grown up"!

Home Alone update - Chinese Takeaway and wedding!

As per the title, Mum came over in the evening and brought Bess with her and she seemed excited to see me. But then she is excited to see everyone so I didn’t take it as particularly personal endorsement!! I think Mum gets bored in the week and having experienced this time off I can understand why. I need to be more understanding and accommodating to get her out and about and involved more.  Anyway, it was her tray and we had a lovely Chinese takeaway from the Mayflower in Kidlington. Got just about the right amount. Mum stayed a bit longer and then made her way home and kept Bess, she loves her company and it works so very well. 

I felt a bit choked when Bess went off I have to admit, she’s coming home Thursday so that’ll be nice. 

A decent day today, completed the puzzle and also watched the wedding of Katie and Oscar which I’ll add to a different post so it’s more significant. 

Early night today, want an early morning and try and get my energy levels and exercise up. We’ll see!!

Queen State Funeral

 After 10 days of mourning the Queen's State funeral took place today and as expected it was quite the affair!

We've had 10 days of what was commonly called MournHub which obviously is a play on words but it was highlighting how companies were trying to outdo each other in their bids to "show their respect" and at times it was downright painful. Football was cancelled, and Centre Parcs was planning on kicking customers out of the site for the Monday funeral - honestly, it was ridiculous.

Anyway, the day has arrived and I was interested of course because it's a matter of history and it was done with the pomp and ceremony we're actually quite good at!

Watched from about 10.00am and it was spell-binding as the various military groups got set up and moved to Westminster Abbey, the bagpipes were especially excellent.

The process and precision of everything was impressive and it was an entertaining watch - if that's an appropriate description for a funeral?

After the ceremony in the Abbey, they walked back to Hyde Park (Welling Square) and followed the route down the Mall, past Buckingham Palace - the day was bright sunshine so the colour/spectacle was even more stark and impressive.

They then drove her to Windsor for the final service and again it was impressive, so many people lining the route as you would rightly expect. 

The camera work and the words supporting the images (I was on BBC) was excellent, enjoyed it but it was quite draining and even emotional.

She'd done well, UK's longest-ruling monarch of 70 years and aged 96 - we now have King Charles, he's been desperate to step into her shoes and now he's there, not sure how much he'll add to it all to be honest but there we go.

Home Alone update - no burglars yet!

Not really doing much with the time on my hands, still tired to be honest. I’ve started the beers puzzle from the Bamptons and that’s going well. Should have it completed before the family return home. 

Not much else though, watching tv a fair amount. Miles came over Saturday evening and stayed the evening. It was nice having the company and we watched Hacksaw Ridge which was an impressive true story from WW2 Japan. We had a bottle of wine each and some other drinks and in the morning I was fine but also I felt that I didn’t particularly enjoy drinking. 

I can’t put my finger on it, I’ve continued with my challenge to not drink lager and I’ve stuck with that, so gin and red wine but it didn’t do anything for me. I almost feel as if I’m not bothered about drinking alcohol. I’m sure it will pass soon enough!

Sunday morning Mikes wasn’t up until 10.30am and then left immediately, I had a relaxed day, did more exercises and ate well. Tash called in the evening but the connection was rubbish and it was very frustrating. They’re all having a great time though so good for them. I keep checking Instagram to see what they’re posting and it’s not so much actually, just beach and pool and bar. I’m jealous I’m not there but it’s my choice and I don’t mind, I’m not angry or funny about it at all, of course I’d rather be there that stuck here, but I don’t begrudge them enjoying it. 

Well Queen funeral today. Will watch it and see how that goes. It’s been relentless mourning and coverage on TV, I’ve not watched any of it, not because of any anti-royal feelings, nothing like that, I’m just completely ambivalent towards it all. I just don’t care that much about her or her family. 

Will see how I felel whist watching it, if course I’ll watch it, it’s obviously a historical event. 

The Queen is dead, long live the King

It’s happened, Queen Elizabeth 2nd died yesterday in Balmoral, Scotland. Throughout the day there was serious speculation because all the Royal family were making their way up there. 

Then around 5.00pm (when they’d all gathered) the announcement came and the world was made aware that she’d died in the afternoon. She was 96 and had just had her 70 Jubilee celebrations. 

As can be expected everything has gone into meltdown with social media, tv and events like football this weekend being cancelled. 

It’s sad of course and she was clearly a very influential person. The commentators on tv and radio are really going overboard and there’s only so many times you can hear people saying how they are affected by it. It feels like a “duty” to be sad. I’d prefer the opposite happens, make it a celebration of her life. But that’s just me. 

Home Alone

It’s Katie and Oscar’s wedding next week in Cyprus so at 2.30pm yesterday Tash and the kids left for Gatwick and travelled over there to meet up with those already there. Things went fine and I woke up

this morning to a text from Tash saying they’d had a few hours sleep and we’re heading for the hotel as they have a boat trip organised early. 

Of course I feel left out but it’s a decision I took so that I could have the operation last week so there’s no complaints from me. I hope they have a fantastic time, and I am sure that they will do. 

So I just pottered around at home, sorted out a new contract for my phone which was a pain in the arse but got there in the end which is a huge saving. Need to sort Tasha’s out when she’s back from the wedding. Had a nice dinner and the trifle that I’d got Charlotte to buy me whilst watching a bit of a shit film but it was a nice evening. Mum didn’t take Bess so she kept me company. 

All in all, decent day and now it’s 8.00am on a bright Saturday morning with a blank slate to decide what I wish to do. Wonder if I’ll be productive?!? 

long time no hear

Such a shame that I’ve not kept this better uodated, it’s been a busy year and I’ve not got much, or any, of it recorded. Think I’ll do a big update today and then see if I can do more regular updates throughout the year. I’m up here in Manchester at Lewis’s house around 7.30am in the front room after having been up here yesterday for Emily’s birthday that Lew and Em hosted. 

It was significant because Emily’s side of the family were all invited so it was our first time of meeting her parents, Kathy and Peter, plus her sisters, their husbands and kids. It went really well and was a lovely afternoon. They were all friendly and the kids were fun and it worked really well so that was pleasing for Lewis. 

Tidied up when everyone left and watched a film and had a few more beers and pizza. A good day all round. 

Will return to Oxford today (Sunday) as our other big news is that Charlotte and Miles will move into their new house today. Bitter sweet feeling of them getting their own place but also permanently moving out of ours. So many people say things like “bet you’re glad to push them out the door!”…I always reply that nothing could be further from the truth.  We love having our kids around the house and being with them, it’s going to be so strange not having her around, and with Jack so close to moving out it’s all a bit emotional in the Dark household right now!

I’ll do more on Charlotte on another separate post later. 

So Lewis is doing well up here, the house looks great, he and Em seem very close and strong, and he’s likely to progress his career further with a new job at Siemens very shortly as his top boss keeps on at him to apply for higher up vacancies. He seems keen but also knows what he doesn’t want to do which is great. 

Charlotte’s work is going well, recently had bonus and pay rise and is involved in Dale Carnegie scheme so they recognise her and want her to progress. She has a mentor scheme too and he’s working with her to upgrade her role etc which she’s excited by. Doing really well. Miles is close to changing his job, now he has the house he should pack in the current cleaning role he has, it’s a mental job that I cannot imagine any sane employer would inflict on anyone. It’s mental the driving he does to Maplethorpe twice a week picking up people in Nottingham on the way up. He’s likely to move to a company that’s based in Blenheim working on pool maintenance, normal hours, on their doorstep and same money. No brainier!! Couldn’t do it sooner as wanted to get the hands on the keys and needed the stability of existing job for mortgage purposes. A new chapter for them both in every sense of the word. 

And Jack? His business is absolutely booming, he’s done so well. Streetwise Sneaks is strong in Oxford and he’s also set up with guys in Manchester called Reseller 2 Resller and that business venture has gone through the roof. So much so he’s lookjng to move up to Manchester so he can get more done and be here and now. Yesterday when we drove up in the van he gave us a load of stock to drop off at the warehouse so we got to meet two of his business partners and look around the storeroom, it’s insane, there must have been upwards of £80k stock sat there. They have a number of people looking to invest in them, Jack appears to be the lead role in these discussions so it will be very interesting to see where this goes. He should have an appointment soon with a very successful businessman who’s shown interest in the company’s he needs to do a pitch. We’ll see how that goes and what transpires there. But as mentioned, he wants to move up here so is likely to be gone from our house soon. Tash is now helping with the flat search so that will move things along even more quickly! 

I’m very proud of all 3 of them, they’re doing very, very well. 

Hip Replacement Operation

So here I am in the hospital waiting area. I have my own cube and have been asked 101 questions. I’ve seen 2 nurses, 1 anaesthetist and the consultant who’s working on me. 

I’m about an hour from the operation and getting a bit nervous, but still it doesn’t quite feel real or serious. Getting lots of messages from Tash and Charlotte saying they want to come and see me. I’m not sure I want any fuss if I’m honest. Or waste money on the carpark! 

So the time changed from 7.00am and is now likely about 2.00pm, this means it’s very unlikely that I’ll be leaving for home and will sleep the night. Eh oh when he was telling me about the pain then I think it’s good that I will be here. We’ll see in 5-6 hours time I guess. 

The anaesthetist was a bit off with me, he say he was really surprised that someone my age and fitness was having the operation as they normally have much more older and specialised needs. Said I was very lucky. I’m not going to complain. 

So. Will

Update this later then.