Third bike ride in a row!

Worked today for Tuesday company – really busy and productive – enjoyable

Made time for myself at lunchtime and went cycling – did an 8 mile circle through Wytham and town and that was 40 minutes so that’s a perfect short one to keep in mind.

Felt good for doing so. Closer to my 100 miles in a week challenge I set myself.

Cycling isn’t part of the 30 Day Challenge – the press-ups and exercises are but the cycling works off a large number of calories so that’s good!

Tash was at Bournemouth with Zoe all day so it was quiet at home – she got back around 6.00pm.

Sorted out things in the garden and had dinner etc – caught up on the news and that was all doom and gloom as per usual and then finished the night with 2 episodes of Mrs Maisel

We’re watching far too much TV!

Bournemouth beach today

Up nice and early, excited to be travelling to the seaside! Got things sorted like picnic etc and the kids sorted then bang on 9.00am we were out the door, just the two us with Bessie.

Drive down was fine, it’s been busier and we were in the beach at 11.00am where you can have dogs, Branksome Chine. Parked on the road amongst these amazing houses, I checked and they’re all about £1.5m, not surprised, they were lovely.

Beach was nice and clear, got busier as the day went on but no hassle and it was nice just relaxing in the sun, it’s hot today, listening to music or sleeping or eating or playing with the dog. She appears to like it but she does get restless, and always seems to be demanding something.

She enjoyed the sea and getting the ball, it was quite rough so I had to keep a close eye on her.

Took my top off at one stage, wasn’t a pleasant sight, need to get working on my body once more!! Got very burnt – not a good look on a vest!!

Left at at about 5.30pm and got home for 7.30pm and had dinner and then relaxed again before bed!

Tasha’s Birthday Weekend – Sunday – Relaxing

Late morning/breakfast – no one up very early, I think I was one of the first around 10.00am – no hangover thankfully. Pottered around and tidied up

We then had Brunch as people woke up and came downstairs and we just relaxed around – boiling hot today. Very hot and relaxing in the garden

Went for a walk to the Green with Bess, Miles, Charlotte, Lewis and of course Tash

Back to the house and sat around chatting and relaxing and then created a couple of cocktails which was fun, both alcoholic and non. The were good, mostly Mojito but with so many mint leaves growing in the garden it was hard not to! Did well.

Got the BBQ set up and going – heard one of the kids next door comment, “Dad, they’re having a BBQ again..!” – can’t argue with that really! Tash had bought some lovely steaks and I’d covered them with the flavouring and Miles made some pepper sauce as well. Cooked them well and the flavouring/sauce were excellent additions. Did really well.

Lewis left soon after, around 5.30pm which was a shame, thought he’d stay later but there you go, he’s always keen to get back to Manchester. Ah well.

We continued chatting/drinking in the bar with Charlotte and Miles and it was all quite quiet and subdued but it was easy going and enjoyable.

As it got colder etc we then went inside and watched TV for last hour in the evening – started a new series (Treadstone) – not something Charlotte or Tash will like but there you go

I think it was a very nice weekend for Tash – loads of love and having everyone around much have been good.

Bit stressed a few times but successful – all down to Charlotte as well

As always, I wish I was more thoughtful and organised, I wonder if I ever will manage to be so…

I do love her loads.

Natasha’s Birthday Celebrations – Part 3 – and Jack’s end of era of Youth Football

Hangovers all round this morning! Didn’t get much done.

Jack had football in the afternoon so I went along to that – it was his last match of the season and in fact his last match as a Youth Team player. They were playing against Milton and everything was at stake, if Oxford City won or drew they would win the league, if they lost then Milton (their opponents) would win the league. Sadly, City simply weren’t at the races and ended up losing about 4-1, a real shame for them. I was disappointed, I’d have loved for Jack to win that trophy as well.

I came back a bit earlier from his match as there was a gathering at Sue’s for Tash’s birthday, all the females in the family came along – shame that Gareth doesn’t make an effort and always there is an excuse for him not to be over at either ours or Sues – ah well, his loss. Dinner was fine and Tash had a nice time, a few more wines!!

It wasn’t a late one but it went well and it was nice for her – she’s had a good birthday celebration I reckon

Tash’s Birthday Celebrations – Part 2

Friday Worked at home today and didn’t get too much done

In the evening we got Charlotte to drop us in Summertown where we met Nikki and Gaz at the Dew Drop, they’d been there for a meal already and then we got to the serious part of drinking!! It was a nice evening and we did get through a fair amount to be honest. What was nice is that they don’t kick you out at 11.00pm anymore, there is not that stress and we were there until about 12.30am in the end!

Left and they missed their bus as usual, they got Jess to come and pick them up, she’s just passed her driving test so that’s great news for everyone

Tash and I just walked home – bit drunk!

Natasha’s Birthday Celebrations – Part 1

So up and about early and we handed out the presents to Natasha in the morning, not a lot this year really but she seemed happy with what we’d got her. Then off to work for everyone, I was at Raintree today as I’d changed my working day so that was nice to be around. Left usual time and home by 5.00pm to Charlotte and Miles cooking a chilli. Tash home and we started straight away. For some reason, I still don’t get why, Sue told Charlotte that she wasn’t going to come round and see her and gave Charlotte her present, she’d also told Tash as well so she was a bit upset about that, it pissed me off so I messaged her and she replied that she was coming round after all. Very odd indeed!

Whilst eating there Wayne and Kerry also came over and then my Mum as well – nice crowd, we quickly finished our food and then went outside to sit in the garden. It was bloody cold but it’s what she wanted to do so we wrapped up in blankets, got the patio heater(s) on and got the drinks out! Nobody stayed very late but the drinks were flowing and it was a really nice evening – it actually warmed up a bit once the wind died down. Gave up about 10.30pm and off to bed, I think Tash might have a heavy head in the morning! But she deserves to relax and celebrate!

Tash to see Lewis in Manchester & Charlotte in Nottingham

Tash was up bright and early as she was going to Manchester to see Lewis and was taking Zoe so I wasn’t going to go. She left about 9.00am and I just sat in bed reading Twitter and watching videos – just wasting time. I had a long list of jobs but only really got one sorted which was sorting through the footballs and I’ve now decided to get rid of all my kit but the rest of the morning I just pottered around and played my records and didn’t achieve much at all. Had some lunch and then went to Jack’s football, we stopped at the garden centre first to get some compost and then I went at sat in the bar at the clubhouse and had a couple of beers watching the rugby and reading articles on my laptop. Had a chat with a few parents from Ardley (Gilo and Waz) and then when the game started I was outside watching because Jack was starting.

Unfortunately the wind was blowing a gale and it made for difficult playing conditions, the game was fairly even and Jack was doing okay but it was hard for him to get involved and it was frustrating to watch, Wayne Holden also came along to watch so he and I stood together chatting and then at half time went inside for a drink. Second half started and after only about 5 minutes Ardley scored a wonder goal from about 7 yards (wind-assisted!) and Jack was substituted – that didn’t make any sense at all and pissed me off. It did mean we didn’t need to go back outside anymore and had another pint instead! The game finished 2-0, Ardley could easily have scored more, Abingdon are a poor side sadly and it frustrates me that Jack doesn’t get more minutes playing – I am sure it’s because they see him as the young player and don’t yet trust him. Waited for him to get changed and we left pretty quickly once he’d had some food and went back home. I drank a few more beers in the evening and just sat watching the rugby and a film and didn’t do anything else – very lazy! Went to bed at 10.00pm!

I lack any sort of enthusiasm to do anything at the minute, I think I am spending far too much time on social media so need to address that but also too much drinking as well which isn’t doing me any favours. Tash had a nice time with Lewis in Manchester and that was successful and she then also took a detour to Nottingham to see Charlotte as she lost her phone last night whilst out and very, very drunk. Really disappointing that’s happened, not good at all. We had a spare iPhone so Tash was taking that to her. When Tash got in around 10.45pm she made some snarky remark but I wasn’t in the mood to argue so ignored her, turned over and went back to sleep!

My 50th Birthday trip to the States – Boston bound–Day One

Flight was great.

Drinks were flowing – kept getting topped up or helping ourselves – didn’t once not have a drink in my hand for the whole flight there.

Magnum ice cream at the end

Banging music. Loved it!!!

Bit tipsy

Quite a wait at the passport control and then Tucks picked us up

Back to his house pretending to be sober but drank more and had a great catch up

Should be a good weekend

Tash off to another concert

Worked at Raintree today and it was a productive day actually with getting things I've been meaning to complete done. Worked on the DotMailer functionality at last and slowly getting to grips with it. Need to push on with training myself so I am in a position to be able to help others. Will get a meeting next week with Marketing to push this forwards.

Didn't get a break and worked throughout, but there was so much cake by my desk, it was very distracting and I did succumb!

Back home and Tash went off to Birmingham to see Michael Buble in convert - she's had a good time of things this week!!

I just worked on things at home for my business and got up to date, tired though and off to Bristol again tomorrow but this time for Edustaff

Very busy family weekend…

What a weekend we had – so much done!

Friday Night we met up with Kathryn and Pete in Summertown and went to the Oxford Kitchen restaurant. We had a lovely evening and it was really pleasant and the food was excellent but there was a catch…the total bill for the 4 of us was £236.00!! A little bit taken aback I must admit, even though we’d had a view of the prices etc. Didn’t ruin the evening but made it a bit of a dampener to be honest! It was great food but it wasn’t worth that much money! Ah well…

Next day we were up and at the world and did all sorts of jobs, going to do a car boot on Sunday so went through the office area and cleared out all the items we didn’t need/want any more. Didn’t seem to have a great deal but it made some space in the office anyway so that was good.

Charlotte then called Rose and the four of us (Tash!) got the canoe and went down the river a little way and had a picnic sat in the middle of the river. It was nice and relaxing and it was fun listening to Charlotte & Rose gossiping. We didn’t go too far as Rose had to be back for work but it was a couple of hours nicely spent.

Walked Bella in the afternoon and got her to go in the river. She’s a lovely dog and knows when we arrive we’re going to take her out for a walk so she gets so very excited!

In the evening I looked for a new camera and we then went to Rye St Anthony school to pick Jack up who’d been there all day with Ben Millwood. When I got there his Dad, Martin, was chatty but also the mum is Karen Winston I’m sure. There were also two lads from Marston Saints days remembering me from Cold Arbour so that was a coincidence. Jack had a great time and we had a beer with them

Sunday we were off to the Kassam for a car boot sale, got a decent pitch and put our stuff out and watched as people went by. It does make you appreciate the life you’ve made for yourself whether by means or luck, some of the people walking past do seem from another planet. That’s not meant in a snobby fashion, it’s just interesting to see people from a different walk of life and wondering how they get by. We sold a lot of the items we had available and it was a constant stream all morning and we made £70.00 profit. Not bad for stuff we were ready to throw away.

We did go to the bottle & clothes bank to leave items we didn’t want and threw away some other stuff but a couple of jars we kept for the kids kitchen at Uni!

In the afternoon I bought the waterproof camera I wanted and also organised my train and hotel for the next two days as I will be staying in London. We had a BBQ in the afternoon and Miles & his brother came round so that was nice for Charlotte and Jack. We played a couple of games and then Tash, Lewis & I were alone so we played Crib (Tash won and I only taught her yesterday how to play!!)

Got an early night as I need to be up at 5.30am tomorrow

A very nice and relaxed weekend, even if we have spent a lot of money!!

Ladies of Leisure

Tash had a half day today so I went to London with Edustaff once again and did the training and it went went well. Got home and did some more work to keep up to date with things and then went out to get Tash from Kathy Bergel’s. They’d been drinking and relaxing since 1.00pm and to be fair weren’t as drunk as I would have expected!

Steve was there so I was a man to keep him company although I don’t think I was very good at that to be honest!

He did the BBQ and they have a lovely house and garden, I didn’t expect the garden to be so fantastic – amazing. Had a nice evening in the end and stayed a lot later than I anticipated but it was fine

Gave Anna Ballance a lift home and all went well.

Race for Life 2014

Charlotte and Natasha did their annual Race for Life today and did well. Both did the course in about 225-30 minutes so they were proud of that. There were so many people there this year it was incredible. Saw a few people we know – Wayne & Kerry, Jim & Trish Austin, Andy & Paula Thomas.

Didn’t stay long afterwards as Tash had to get off for the plane to go to France

Race for Life 2014 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tash off to France

That’s it then, this is one of the last blog entries you will ever see from me, Tash went to France today with Lucie and another woman and won’t be back until Thursday night…we’re going to starve to death!

She’s using a villa owned by Claire from work and she says it’s beautiful there, so she’ll be relaxing and drinking nice wine and food.

Good for her – she deserves it!

Back on Track–a brief update!

So much has been going on recently, just a succinct recap on here I think…

Football season for Jack has finished, won the league and the cup, went to Butlins and that was okay, they came runners on on penalties, didn’t concede all weekend.

Lewis was home for a bit and did a skipping session at Lilleshall same as last year and enjoyed it. All is good for him at the minute and he’s working through exams currently.

Likewise with Charlotte, she’s got her A-Levels and it’s going okay, she’s working so hard and doing loads of revision, definitely deserves high scores with the work she’s putting in. She’s officially with Miles, as far as she allows ‘official’ to be stated, he’s still not classed a ‘boyfriend’!!

Tash has taken up yoga!

I’m not doing very well with my bike exercise sadly, getting out once a week if I am lucky! Not good enough, need to get on it better, I know but I allow work and other reasons to get in the way…as usual! Work is fine, lost my contract with Lifetime which is a real shame, but really busy throughout the month of June, every day is booked – madness!

Talking of madness, we’ve got tickets to go down to Brighton in December to see them play, looking forward to that for certain, going with Nikki and Gaz

Return to football, for one of us..

Up nice and early and went and picked up Jack from Timmy’s to go and played against Oxford Blackbirds in the cup. My football was cancelled last night so I was pleased that I’d be able to take him and watch and I took my camera as well. His mate Timmy, who plays for Oxford City and would have been against me today said he wanted to come along and watch so that was fine.

Blackbirds are in our league so I know what they were like, it’s the loud female manager, and it was an okay game. Too easy for Horspath and they ran out 10-2 winners in the end. I managed to get a few photos and video and when I got home I was pleased with some of them so it was a good morning’s work! Jack played well, he’s getting his left back position well established, certainly as an attacking full back, it was pleasing to watch him.

On the way home I spoke with the Comets manager and we agreed the handover from my Stars to him and in fact it’s going to be in 2 weeks time…scary!! Unfortunately, I missed out the cancellation message to two parents, and they turned up at football for the match, how awkward?!?!

Anyway, got home and Tash was quiet but she’d been busy and got a load of chores done and then suddenly went very ill! She was being sick and sleeping everywhere. So from 12.30pm we didn’t see her again until 8.00pm. I just continued with various jobs I wanted to get sorted, books on eBay, train tickets for Charlotte and Liam’s visit to Lewis at the end of March and so on.

When Charlotte got home from work I took her out driving and we managed an hour around Headington and Wood Farm etc. She’s put in for her test, should be end of April, it will have been 30 lessons all told, that’s a lot of money, but it’s all hers though!

In the evening I watched the new episode of The Blacklist, it was a very good start in fact, a lot darker than the previous series, I really enjoyed it.

Set the alarm for an early start as I am off to Peters Books tomorrow – 5.45am alarm call…not nice!

		Horspath Match VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Charlotte and a boy..

Beautiful day today, bright sunshine, amazing after all the rain and rubbish weather we’ve had lately. I pottered around the house and garden today. Mowed the lawn and also cut more of one of the tree down, Jenny wasn’t pleased about that and was out like a shot moaning at me. I carried on though and typically one of the huge branches fell into her patio…awkward!

I then took Jack into Oxford, he’s spending a lot of time with a lad called Timmy Gribble (what a great name eh?) and they went to the cinema to watch the Lego movie, later got a text from him to stay the night which was fine. I went to the dump to get rid of all the tree stuff and it took an hour because I went down the Abingdon Road and there were road works taking place and it was grid locked – absolutely nightmare!

When I got back Tash and I picked up her mum and the dog, Bella, and went to Millet’s Farm. Sue bought some new pots and plants but we were only interested in getting out for some fresh air. It was nice. The dog is mad but then so is Sue…

In the afternoon I washed the car, also Natasha’s and got them sparkling and then In the early evening we had a visitor! Charlotte has been getting quite close to a lad called Miles Phelan, he’s the son of a lad I went to school with, Terry so that’s a bit strange. Although, Terry was a year older than me and it was only recognition that we have in common from school days. Anyway, she’s been going round there quite often and it was his turn to come around to ours and it was very ‘sweet’. They fixed up pudding for the meal, Eton Mess, and he was chatty etc and very confident which was pleasing. Charlotte’s not into the ‘going out with each other’ thing, but she’s obviously keen on him as well which is fine.

It wasn’t very late, 8.30am, when I realised Tash was acting oddly, then I realised she was steaming drunk and off her head, and it was a strange drunk that was uncomfortable. Kept going on about how lovely Miles was and other stuff, it was really awkward and annoying. Anyway, I took them into town for pre-drinks, they’d had pre-pre-drinks at ours, and on the way Charlotte talked Rose into coming so I turned around and got her and told them to call me when they wanted picking up saying that 3.00am was fine.

Back home and Tash was so drunk, I was hoping she’d be asleep I must admit, but we watched Breaking Bad, or at least tried to, she kept talking shit but eventually shut up and went to sleep so I watched a couple more episodes and then we went to bed at midnight.

Sure enough, 3.00am Charlotte text and I picked them up from the usual place, all three of them again, and they were so full of it. I don’t think that Charlotte and Rose have been out together in Oxford yet and they’d got into the Cellar and loads of people were there and so on and so forth. They had a great evening and Rose loved it and was very thankful that Charlotte had talked her into going out.

Dropped Miles off in Headington and Rose home and then to bed. Charlotte was thankful, I don’t think too many of her friends parents to the same, I hope she remembers I’ve done this for her… I don’t mind it though to be fair as I like her to be safe and also not waste her money on taxis etc.

Busy Saturday

Got bloody loads done today…

Up bright and early (around 6.45am) and went downstairs and worked on my Accounts for an hour or so in terms of raising invoices and making sure everything was balancing. Jack stayed at Danny’s last night so I went and did the paper-round for him and then when I got back finished off the Accounts – the work I’d done a couple of weeks ago paid off because I got the balancing and the updates done perfectly, no messing about with finding lost money!

I also took the chance to update the investment prices that I have been keeping an eye on. Lately I have been interested in dipping my toe into the Stock Market so I have been doing some research and checking the prices on stock recommendations to see if the Brokers are successfully advising Buy proposals. I have an account set up and today the PIN came through so I’ve uploaded £500.00 to start investing on Monday…bit nervous, going to keep it quiet and see what happens.

Once all that was sorted I got out into the garden with Tash and worked on chopping the trees back and then got to work on the bathroom tile that got broken in Charlotte’s party, all was going fine as I was chipping away the grouting until I got a little impatient and chipped another tile, so I had to start digging that one out, and I went and chipped a third one…couldn’t believe it…managed to reign in my enthusiasm and got the three out with no further problems. Realised as I was about to put the new ones on that one of them had been cut to size and it was the key one so I couldn’t proceed. Spoke to Mum and will collect the tile cutter tomorrow after Jack’s football training session

I then went out and worked on the bikes that were broken, fixing Jack’s puncture and then popped round to Sue’s for a scone and jam and then I managed to catch up with the last hour of Django Unchained before going home to take Tash, Lucie and Chrissie into Oxford for a girls night out. Charlotte then asked me to take her and Rose to Rose Hill to see her friends and the lad from school who’s joined the army – Linus.

Got home and Jack was watching, and really enjoying Beverly Hills Cop and I then sat and worked. In fact I worked all night until 11.00pm when Charlotte text to be picked up and Tash did the same so I got them all in one hit.

Busy day like I said at the beginning, nice sense of achievement though and work is getting more up to date by the minute. What was interesting, I was ‘happy’ to sit there in the front room writing emails, getting work up to date and not watching TV or drinking, sometimes I wonder how much I do prefer working…

Oh, I won’t say how much I raised invoices for, but it was a very good month, can’t see me matching that for a long, long time – but I want to start ‘hiding’ funds from Tash so that I can surprise her in a couple of years time with a lump sum – aiming for £5k first in 2 years…I wonder!!

Just another day..

Worked at Raintree today and it went well, got loads done including re-installing all their reps laptops with Offline SPIRIT after they’d been wiped at the weekend. All change in the offices there and it’s hell of a strange atmosphere with so many people being made redundant. Jackie leaves tomorrow and we said our goodbyes and Sue leaves next week. If I remember I might get some flowers for her as she’s been really good to me this year in keeping me going and providing me with so much work to do.

I really don’t know my situation, I appear to have a decent understanding and working relationship with Miles which is obviously important, and hopefully as I keep delivering the good and a great service the value of my contribution will be recognised and appreciated. They would be mad to let me go as I get so much done for them, but I do have that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I will shortly be for the chop. It would be a mistake!

Tash took Jack and Charlotte to London today on the coach to see Much Ado About Nothing and when I got home in the evening I caught up with a couple of programmes I like, second episode of Elementary and then the Blacklist. The Blacklist is a little nonsensical but I enjoy it as it’s serious and intelligent but at the same time it appears to poke a bit of fun at itself.

I then got a phone call from Tash as they were on the coach on their way home saying that she didn’t have the car keys. I went out to the Park & Ride in Headington to look for them, or more importantly that the car was still there which it was thankfully but I didn’t find the keys. I left the spare set on the wheel and came home so hopefully they’ll be okay, I just didn’t want to get through all the traffic again to try and meet them when they got home.

Back at Wolvercote I sat and caught up with emails and other work and I am getting closer and closer to being up to date, there will never be a time I am fully up to date but it’s a target to aim for!!

Also, did some more research on investing in stocks and shares…so tempted to dip my toe in the water but so nervous about it at the same time. I’ve kept a track of some of the recommendations to see ‘what would have happened’ so going forwards I will see if it’s worth my while going for it or not…

Watch this space!

Quiet house…

First day of the half term holidays today and the house is nice and quiet because Tash has taken Charlotte and Jack up to see Lewis in Huddersfield. Got a lot done but still odd even though in reality it’s no different to when I normally work from home, I guess it’s the thought of them enjoying themselves away and I feel as though I am missing out. Kept in touch with them and they caught up with Lewis and then took him out for a meal and they got home safely around 9.45pm

Tash was in the foulest mood when she got in which was a shame, and to top it off she then dropped her phone in the washing up bowl, luckily storing it overnight in the airing cupboard in a bag of rice seemed to do the trick and it’s working again…phew!

Not much else to report really. Managing to get up to date with work, which is nice but also a little concerning as it means I don’t have anything else to do and therefore no money coming in!!

Had a bit of time in the evening so caught up with the new series of Boardwalk Empire and also Elementary, both were brilliant and it’s great to have them back up and running. There is another series I used to watch but I can’t think of what it’s called for the life of me, it’s doing my head in!!

Aha, just Googled it, Banshee!! I need to set an alert to get the new series recorded – just done that as well, January 10th is now in the diary!!

Decorating, Tash leaving James Cowper and Games of Thrones Season 2 starting!

More decorating over the weekend. We’ve got people coming in to sand the floor down etc whilst we’re away in Bournemouth and we had Paul come round and do the wall-papering whilst I pottered around – looks good. Took him about 4 hours but it was top quality workmanship and it looks great. Money well spent, no way in the world could I have got anywhere near that level. Tash wasn’t around all weekend. She left her job at James Cowper on Friday so they had an evening out, I went and picked her up at 1.15am and she wasn’t too bad, drunk but not terrible although in the morning she wasn’t feeling too well at all.

Shame because she was taking Lewis and Jack to a karate tournament in Birmingham area where they did well – I was kept in touch. Lewis did a black belt kata competition which he won, and the two of them also went into a sparring competition, but they said afterwards that there were some “strange” referring decisions which was a shame and it caused a lot of disagreements – appeared to be favouritism which they were on the wrong end of.

Jack got to 3rd place play-off so that was good – but he didn’t get it

On Sunday, Lewis was doing skipping in readiness for his competition in Belgium next month which will come around very quickly. Tash said they looked good. Charlotte has just been pottering around and doing her homework – so she’s been busy with all that. They have two week holiday now, she had Rose over for the night and were their usual selves – watch Drop Dead Fred!

Last night, my long awaited series 2 of Game of Thrones started and I watched it on the computer and that was good – lot of adverts though. But great to have it back on and looking forward to catching up with all the politics and shenanigans happening in Westeros!