Just don’t mention the war…

Was up very early again this morning. Couldn’t sleep because of the worry about two items at work so was awake at around 2.20am which wasn’t ideal because I knew that I’d set my alarm for 4.45am anyway!

Why was I up so early? Simply, Jack is doing German at school and his class went off to the German fair and were meeting at school at 5.10am.We was up and about at the right time and I took him down there, a few familiar faces, Mark & Danny, but he’s big mates with Stefan at the minute and was on his coach so he was with him and didn’t even wave goodbye to me…charming!

Tim Selwood retired this year but he was asked to go along with them as well so that means that he’s been involved with all my kids and also me! Some achievement!

Anyway, the house is a lot quieter without Jack around already.

Had a good day of work in the end, shattered though so early night for me.

Christmas Lights in London

Travelled up to London today and had a great day out. Sue and Brendan came up on the coach and we met them in Primark at Marble Arch. Got to London around 11.30am and got the usual parking place on Bayswater Road, Lewis and Katherine went off on their own and we started shopping. Primark was packed and then Jack insisted that we went to Harrods. I wasn’t so keen because of getting a parking space and losing the one we had but he got what he wanted!

Wandered around for a bit in there and it’s such a fantastic place, it’s hard not to be over-awed by it, if only we had some money to spend! Had a coffee and something to eat outside and made our way back to Marble Arch and in fact got a parking place even closer this time!!

Walked up Oxford Street and by this time the lights were up and looking very impressive. Went to a couple of shops but didn’t find anything and then met up with everyone again in St Christopher Place just off Oxford Street and went to the Pizza Express we’d booked. Had a decent meal in there and then went back to the car and made our way home.

Got home in an hour! All in all a lovely day and had a really good time.

 

		Christmas Lights & Shopping in London Nov 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Brighton Graffiti

Went down to see a customer in Brighton today and I do love the place! I park in a bit of a run down area and walk through the narrow streets where there is an array of fantastic shops and also graffiti on the sides of so many houses. I’d love to spend more time down there exploring the place and will have to organise it one day. Below are some of the examples and there is loads more all over the place..

Brighton Graffiti VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Bloody Long weekend

I need a rest! Friday I went out with work into Oxford as Jason had organised a tour of the Inspector Morse frequented pubs. There was about 8 of us, although I got there late because of kids football and picking up Jack from a party he went to where he was go-karting and he’d had a fantastic time, but when I arrived at the pub the lads were all steaming!

We didn’t go too far and just stayed in the Eagle and Child, went down to the Randolph and made a schoolboy error of 8 absinthes for over £90, God knows what Darren was thinking of…we then went to what used to be Poo Na Na and that was a laugh. Sadly it was underground so my phone was out of service and that didn’t go down too well with Tash and it was a late finish…1.30am in the end and I was quite drunk by then. But then they’d been insisting that I have double shot chasers with each pint so no bloody wonder!

Headache all of Saturday, but I was fine. Pottered around all day and Tash went out with her mum to get her Christmas present which is a sewing machine this year…

In the evening we went to Risinghurst for the fireworks and the crowd that we have become now is huge, we all met at Paul and Pauline’s and then went to the park and the fireworks were really impressive once again. The kids had sparklers and all that again which they loved and then it was back to Holdy’s and the boys were on the beer! I drove last night and Tash made full use of the fact and got absolutely steaming drunk!

I was a bit worried about today and what sort of state she’d be in but somehow she’s okay – not fair is it, she should be in bed throwing up the number of cocktails she’s had!!

Had Jack’s football this morning and played against Chalgrove Cavaliers and it wasn’t pretty, yet another week where the lads let themselves down, very disappointing and we lost 4-2.

The day today was lovely, cold but so bright in sunshine and we took the opportunity to go to Shotover and gave mum a shout and she came as well, she was a bit fed up because they should have been in Portsmouth but the car broke down on the way there so they were back home instead. We took Brendan with us and went to the sandpit as usual and it was a lovely afternoon. Showed him building dams which was fun and is always a nice memory for me from my childhood.

So very busy indeed, need an early night needed!

 

		Shotover November 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Business up & running…slowly…

So I’ve started then. How have a I got time to write this?!?!?

I’ve now done a couple of days with Raintree and some work for OUP doing exactly what I want to do! Raintree I was working on their e-mail campaigns and creating lists and also working through problems I could see in their current set up so that these work better and they’re updated to the best version of SPIRIT – all benefits that I thought would be the case if I worked for people in this manner!

I did work my nuts off today and produced so much in the time that I was there, but it was also nice to get a break and something to eat which I never do. I think they’re pleased with what I’m doing as see it as a good investment.

During my time there I had a call from Kate G at OUP and she was asking my situation and whether I’d do some urgent work for Nick Hay…can’t be a coincidence because that’s exactly what I was talking to Peter about on Tuesday when he said he couldn’t cope with all the work that’s being sent his way and I said that’s what I could do to help. I stayed up and did the work and over-delivered to impress and impress I did!!!

Nick and Karl were delighted and I advised my situation to them and Kate and straight away have more work they’d like to be action – delightful result! Especially as they agreed the hourly rate I offered, so everyone’s happy!

I was working until 2.00am though as a result and was up at 6.30am for the training visit to Usborne International but it was worth it because emails today were really positive and as I say, they’ve emailed some more work for me to action tonight.

I already have loads I need to do but not going to turn it down am I?

So, as a beginning that’s not a bad start as it keeps things ticking along and gives me some breathing space when it comes to go live in January. Still nervous but it’s given me a real boost to think my work and time is being appreciated.

Fireworks night

We went up to The Plough tonight to risk our lives for the annual test of fear. We joke about the time some years ago when fireworks crashed into the crowd and this year only one did! We went up there with Wayne. Kerry and the girls and we also took Niamh and Laosia and they all went off dare-devils!

Pottered around and caught up with a few people as well, it was bloody cold though, winter is certainly closing in and I am sure there will be a frost tonight.

There was a ton of fireworks going off behind the Plough which was the same as last year and Paul Harvey mentioned that is might be a chap who’s son died around this time of year so every year he sits in his garden and lets off all these fireworks in memory of him. Sad story but nice all the same.

Came back to out house to warm up and get a hot drink and then planned to do the same this Saturday at the Risinghurst display

007 is back..with a bang..

007 is back with a new film, Skyfall, which we went to see this afternoon at Didcot cinema complex. First time I’ve been to Didcot in a long while and they’re making a real effort to improve the place. I was impressed.

The cinema there is a normal complex and we had some special vouchers so bought into the hype for this new film, and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve not been to the cinema is ages as it’s so bloody expensive and off-putting but this was really enjoyable. Lewis has been already so it was me, Tash, Charlotte and Jack. I wasn’t sure if Charlotte would like it but she did.

Very good film, great nods to older Bond films (it is the celebratory 50th anniversary) and the story was plausible. It probably lacked the huge impact scenes but it worked well.

Next up is the Hobbit, looking forward to seeing that but I understand that they’ve turned it into a Trilogy…how on earth can they justify stretching it out that long?!?! Well, I’ll be paying to go and find out I must admit!

Start of the fitness fight back

Working this morning at 6.30am and then Tash came down at 7.45am and suggested going out for a run.

Couldn’t really turn it down after the fuss I made yesterday about my weight…we only ran two miles but both of us were blowing! I didn’t add it to Run-Keeper as I was concerned about the speed I’d run, will be so slow!

Nice to get one under my belt but need to progress now

Father Xmas visit still required

Whilst Jack was carving out the pumpkin for Halloween today Tasha asked him about visiting Father Christmas this year and whether he still wanted to go and visit him…

“Yes of course I do”

Coming from a 11 year old who’s at Secondary School now that was a bit of a surprise and we exchanged knowing glances as if to say he’s still not quite as grown up as we think he is. Bless him. In saying that, it’s nice for us that we can still take him along, Charlotte and Lewis have just about grown out of that by now…

Sweet little Charlotte

Just clearing up some files off my laptop and found a Word document that contains the following text…I remember when she was a sweet little girl...of course she still is!

Diet not working…

THIRTEEN stone, thirteen!!!! Count them, 182 pounds…

I have never been so heavy in all my life, couldn’t believe my eyes when I stood on the scales. Mind you, I shouldn’t have been so surprised, the spare tyre is looking more like a tractor than a car tyre so I’ve been avoiding the mirror recently.

So, it’s the diet and exercise for me in earnest to get down to 11 3/4 again, just in time for Xmas??? Watch this space…large space!

Business is up and running…

With a bit of a hangover this morning we went to work on some of the outstanding tasks to get my business up and running so we have done the following:

1. Made the url live so that it directs to the proper website now – Dark Enterprise

2. Created a logo that we can use now:

3. Set up the invoice documentation

4. Organised the documents for recording information and online

5. Created business cards using the newly created logo – can’t wait to get these through the post and start handing them out!

All I need to do now is be good at my job and make it a success…!!!

Vampirate Party…

What’s that?

At the Red Lion they have some friends who meet once a month and dress up as pirates – the full monty, it’s incredible the level of commitment they have gone to so as to be pirates. Anyway, they make a good party and as it was Halloween suggested that theme – pirates and vampires (and ghouls etc)

So we went along as usual and had too much to drink and had a good evening.

Exciting times ahead…self employment here I come

So…what’s the state of play?

I’ve been made redundant and after various considerations I am going self-employed and intending to work with existing customers to cover admin, projects and SPIRIT. After some initial set backs I now have the following:

1. One day a week with a customer to carry out email campaigns and the like – 12 month contract

2. Projects with another existing customer who has a lot of work in the pipeline to discuss with me – ad hoc

3. Couple of days a week with a third customer – 6 month contract

4. Brand new venture with Jim Austin’s company who do Financial Services, need to get up to speed with their the Finance area but they’re interested in me working with them after I did a training demo and interview on Monday – ad hoc

Needless to say I am absolutely delighted by this turn of events, can’t be happier, in fact, I am a little concerned that I will have too much work…ah well, if it means late nights and weekend work then so be it. Hopefully putting this into print isn’t going to cause a collapse in the promised work but all in all very, very excited for what the future holds…

Mum’s coming round later for my birthday so might open something more fizzy than lager tonight!

Watch this space!

My Birthday…another step closer to the grave…

I was 44 this year and had a good day, got up early and helped with the paper round and then the kids gave me their presents. Usual things so that was nice, smellies and Thornton’s toffee and Lovehearts! It’s an accepted tradition that’s what I get and I love that to be fair, I will still expect those from my grand-children!

Charlotte put together this card for me which I loved, can’t believe all the things we do, this card hardly scratches the surface but it was lovely and I kept looking at it all day long.

I then worked in the morning but kept checking Facebook and loads and loads of people were sending messages so that was flattering, didn’t get much work done. Went down to meet Tash in Little Clarendon Street at 1.00pm and we went to Strada Italian restaurant and that was lovely. Got some olives and I had pasta with sausage and she had a fantastic looking pizza, which I’d had that instead if truth be told…ah well…and she didn’t offer me any!

Back home for 3.00pm and Mum came round and more presents and a very generous cheque, doesn’t need to do that any more but she does. Blew out my candles and that and then she was gone round to Grandma’s.

We have Mum and that coming up for dinner on Friday night so we popped out to Aldi to get some food and then I was off to football, what a waste of time that turned out to be. The lads knew it was my birthday and Creedy got me a cake…pictured…and then we played Old Hooky.

We have been so in control of games and this was one of those matches where everything went completely pear-shaped and we ended up losing 4-1. No idea where that result came from, not a good way to spend my birthday I have to say. Had a quick drink afterwards and then came home and caught up with a couple of programmes on TV.

At this time in my life I love watching a couple of series and these include the following…Boardwalk Empire, Grimm, True Blood, Game of Thrones and Hunted. It seems there’s always something on the planner, I didn’t get to bed until 12.30am…got distracted!!!

All in all though, a lovely birthday and I really enjoyed it, except for the rubbish football!!!

Gordon Ramsey’s, the Ice Bar & a pink limousine…London

What a night last night…it was Kerry’s 40th birthday celebration and we went to London with them, James and Melissa, Paul Cox and his wife Lindsay, Jason and Sharon Millar and Paul & Pauline. Started off at Paul’s house where we were picked up by a huge pink Limousine and then went round to Wayne’s so that was a surprise right from the start. Took some photos and the kids had a look around before setting off to London. That was fun and we had a few drinks an a bit of champagne along the route.

Dropped off at Regent street and then walked down the road to find a bar and had a few drinks before going to the Ice Bar (http://www.belowzerolondon.com) in which we were provided cloaks and went into the bar for 45 minutes in –5 degrees for cocktails. That was a great experience, but it did seem bloody cold!!!

Had a couple more in the bar once that was over and then walked round to Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant called the Maze Grill. (http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazegrill/) More drinks whilst we were waiting and unfortunately Wayne and Kerry had a an argument and the whole night completely soured, it was over his drinking and she’d asked him to slow down and then things just went completely pear-shaped. It was such a shame. We continued with the meal but really might just as well have gone home there and then because the atmosphere hanging over the table was awful.

Anyway, we went ahead with it and the food was lovely, I had the burger as it was the cheapest option there and some olives which both were excellent. There was the option of a steak for £80.00 which I would have loved to have tried, couple of people went for the £30.00 option. I enjoyed myself anyway and it was a laugh but in a bit of a forced manner to be honest, I think people were starting to tire as it was about midnight when we finished. We then called the limo and got a ride home, I was in charge of the music!

Stayed at Wayne’s in the spare room and a bit hungover in the morning

It was a great experience but it was ruined by Wayne at the end and the evening will be remembered for the wrong reasons sadly.

Would I do either again? Yes I think I would, definitely the food and perhaps the ice bar just as a new experience for a friend…

Social Media

Where will it stop?!?!

I am writing a blog using Windows Live Writer which is posted to Blogger.com. I have a LinkedIn account, a Facebook Account, a personal Twitter account, because I am about to go freelance I now also have a business website and a business Twitter account. I also use Google Analytics to see the feeds to the websites and this blog…

I have now enrolled in Hootsuite and playing with that has been interesting and I can see the advantage of using this functionality. I have just set up an online CRM application to record all the communications and work I shall be carrying out for the business and I have my Google account to use for the online spreadsheet storage and most likely calendars and emails, although I have a personal BT email account, a business email account and a Gmail account as well as my work email account and then an iPhone that means I am accessible 24/7.

And guess what, when I was young…I used to use a simple diary and the local library!!!!

Sponsorship Success

On Saturday morning I created an email to request sponsorship from local companies to get new kit for Jack’s team. I sent out abut 25 emails, just grabbed the addresses from websites and sent them off blindly.

Tash said I was wasting my time but within two hours someone had replied to say they’d be interested but would need to convince the partners of the firm and he’d let me know on Tuesday…today is Tuesday and I’d forgotten until I just received an email to say that they’re all interested and that they’d sponsor us.

How cool is that?!?! Now to sort out the kit order and see how much this will all come to!

Really pleased with that.

University Challenge

So that’s it then, we’ve sent Lewis’s application to UCAS for his attempt to get into University. He’s trying for Electrical Engineering in Loughborough, Cardiff, Plymouth, Nottingham and Coventry so hopefully he’ll get some offers for one or more of them. I think Loughborough will be out of his range but you never know and his exams might improve, he’s certainly working hard for them.

He deserves to get something so let’s wait and see…

Voice Memos on iPhone

Wow…travelling up to London this morning and thought I’d tidy up the voice memos I have made for this year…bad idea, how many?!?!

Haven’t got through half of them in an hour, I don’t think that’s the idea behind making them. It was interesting though to listen to my thoughts as I’ve been travelling to work, making promises to spend more time at home with the kids, plans for football training and moaning about my role and workload. I think I am in a much ‘better place’ right now having listened to the memos from February and May but it did reinforce things that I should be striving towards.

So hopefully this means more interaction and fun with my family, more exercise, less drinking, up earlier in the morning and better focus of my time at work. All very respectable ideas, just wondering how many will come to fruition…watch this space!

Charlotte’s 16th Birthday

So, Charlotte has turned 16 and I think she’s had a birthday to remember!!! Friday night she went out with 4 friends to Joe’s cafe in Summertown for a meal and I went and picked them up at 7.45pm to come home to ‘watch videos’. Little did she know that a surprise party had been organised by Lewis and Rose and there were 20 friends all waiting in our back garden for her to return. She walked in and was obviously shocked, they’d done a fantastic job of keeping it quiet and she had no idea whatsoever. Cue loads of screaming and singing and shouting.

Lewis stayed but Tash, Jack and I went to Paul Holden’s mum’s 90th birthday party down at Oxford City for a couple of hours which was really nice. We then went back to the house around 11.00pm and the place was rocking! No hassle or trouble just all the girls singing and dancing, a bit drunk, but nothing out of order and they were loving it. Slowly people were leaving but at 1.00am I have video of 17 of them crammed into Lewis’s bedroom, including Liam and Jack, singing. One of the neighbours complained but that was fine really and understandable and by about 1.30am they’d all gone home and Charlotte settled down.

We went out on Saturday night for a meal at the Kidlington pub we usually go to and then the next day she went off with Rose to Greece for a week’s holiday, how lucky is she?!?!? In saying that, she paid for it herself with the money she’s earning. She came back yesterday and loved every minute of it I am pleased to say.

She’s grown up into a lovely girl and we’re so very proud of her. Very pretty young thing who still knows where to draw the line and doesn’t drink (too much) or smoke, although she was on a moped in Greece which didn’t go down too well here at home!

She now wants me to take her out in our new car we’ve got, only to the Park & Ride so that she can start learning to drive in preparation for next year when she turns 17. In saying that, Lewis is now driving us around so that he becomes more accustomed to being on the road, it’s a bit nervy but he’s doing okay so far…

General Update

God only knows how long this is going to type up. This will just have to be a run through of all we’ve been up to since the last blog!

Olympics, I’ve just updated some posts I’d written ages ago, if only to record them in the blog. We were caught up in the interest and signed up for the Paralympics for the stadium and it was unbelievable. Saw David Weir win gold and the place was mad. Everything in the Olympic village was very, very good, they’d done such a fantastic job on it all. It was all quite a come-down once the games finished, but it was wonderful.

We then went on holiday to Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh, with Wayne, Kerry and the girls and had a great time. Very, very hot but not uncomfortable. It was an all inclusive holiday which isn’t like us at all but we loved it. So many memories but for me it had to be the scuba diving that was the highlight. Lewis and I took to it really well but Wayne unfortunately couldn’t get to grips with it so dropped out. But down under the sea in the aquarium-like water with the most colourful fish you could imagine was wonderful. There are no adjectives that my limited vocabulary can give it justice. We also had a drive out in the desert on quad bikes which was a great experience and the kids got a go at driving which they really enjoyed.

We went into Sharm one night and Jack & Charlotte got to go on a camel which they were dying to do. The place looked pretty good actually but no one wanted to stay out which was a shame. Had some laughs in the evening and we all had a go on the Shish pipes which was good. Staring up the stars and relaxing. Snorkelling during the day was excellent as well because the stretch of beach that we had was perfect for this and we could go and look at the fish as much as we wanted to. Food-wise it was all good and the choice was fine for everyone. I was sick for many days but just got on with it, I did miss one night being so ill but I tried my best not to let it affect anyone else. Definitely would like to go there again and have also got the interest in the scuba diving having done that now.

Forgot to mention, Lewis and Charlotte went off to a night club and didn’t get back in until 5.00am, Charlotte wasn’t sure about it and once she’d been persuaded to go it was her that was the one jumping in the pool that you weren’t supposed to go in and living it up! Party girl in the making here!!!

Summer holiday has been a bit wet this year, the kids have had a good time though so that’s important, plenty of parties, both Lewis and Charlotte are out nearly every weekend, late nights and Charlotte is becoming more of a party animal!

Kids went back to school and Jack has now started at Cherwell, scary! He’s settled in brilliantly and loves it. There are not enough hours in the day, he’s got into the football team and then does lots of activities after school like dodge ball, rugby and so on – he’s not got enough time for his karate and Taurus which is causing us problems and embarrassment.

I’ve missed loads off here, I can’t think for the life of me now all the things that we’ve been up to.

Oh, we’ve booked a skiing holiday for next February which I can’t wait for, should be good.

The Olympics are over…

The hangover has started for the country, the Olympics finished on Sunday night with the closing ceremony and every feels a bit deflated and at a loose end now. The Olympics fortnight has been absolutely brilliant, so good for the country and a real surprise at the success of the team and the organisation – it’s been incredible.

On Sunday night the closing ceremony was basically a huge concert and as much as I enjoyed it the overall feeling is that it was a bit of a let down after the amazing opening ceremony and the quality of the performances of the athletes. I guess it depends on expectation though, I thought it was okay but at the same time I can see why it was criticised, if felt a bit messy and some of the acts just weren’t right.

It was good to see the Pet Shop Boys, the Spice Girls and Eric Idle was funny and hopefully it didn’t distract from the amazing fortnight, I don’t think it did.

It seems strange now not having something to watch on the TV and get excited about, but we have our holiday and then the Paralympics to look forward to. So not all is lost!

Olympics Success

This have been unbelievable! Team GB have been so successful and every day has been addictive TV and a feeling of being involved in the shared success is running through the whole country. Where to start??? The cycling has been stunning, Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Laura Trott, Jason Kenny and so many others making up the teams and they’ve absolutely wiped the floor with the opposition.

But it’s not just there, the Equestrian are winning gold for the first time in 50 odd years, Judo, Triathlon and of course Jess Ennis in the Heptathlon when on Saturday night she won, then Greg Rutherford won the Long Jump to be finished off by Mo Farah in the 10,000m which was a stunning performance. 3 gold medals in the space of about 45 minutes, 6 on the day!

The rowers too are pulling in the medals – it’s been very, very impressive and so intriguing, I can’t help but watch it on TV, or website or catch up on Twitter.

I’ve loved how interested Jack is in it, he won’t move from the telly and is constantly updating me with information about runners and events, it’s brilliant.

Unfortunately, it’s highlighting just how big I am! So I went out for a run this evening and did a load of exercise, won’t be in time for my holiday sadly!

The Olympics are here–London 2012

Well, after about 7 years since the announcement of the awarding of the Olympics to London and constant press stories going on about all the problems it’s finally here. At last. Gold place!

Actually, I’m writing this on Day 4 and Gold hasn’t been won yet unfortunately but Team GB have done well in some of their competitions and to be fair, a lot of the previous days have been heats or not the events that we usually do well in. Rowing and Cycling to come. Yesterday we witnessed history though as the Men’s team Gymnasts won Bronzer in the most thrilling and amazing session which saw them briefly have Silver in their pockets until a Japan enquiry on the Pommel Horse edged us out…by a nose! Remarkable achievement all the same though.

So, I’ve jumped ahead of myself slightly. We were unfortunate not to get ay tickets for sessions, although don’t get me started on the number of empty seats visible, so we decided on still being involved by attending the Opening Ceremony concert in Hyde Park. What a brilliant day we had. Everyone has been told to stay out of London, so we hoped that would enable us to drive in with no bother which we did at around 2.30pm on Friday – sure enough – no traffic to talk of. Just as we were pulling into out car park, The Kasey’s were at the traffic lights and waved us down, we were meeting them anyway but that was perfect timing.

Spent the next two hours in the Lady Diana Memorial garden and then wandered down to Marble Arch where it was getting busy. Had a meal in Prezzo and then around 7.00pm went to the concert, not good news, the place was absolutely packed out with queues outside which were moving so damned slowly. I guessed right, it took us over an hour to get in and eventually at 8.10pm we got past three levels of security to see Duran Duran – they were wonderful! Really got the place going.

That was 9.00pm so the screens came on and we had a live link to the Opening Ceremony over at Stratford. Danny Boyle was the director and went through the history of the UK in terms of the Industrial Revolution to the present and it was absolutely spellbinding. It received criticism in the press or Twitter from various individuals who felt it was political or were just too stupid to understand what they were seeing, but the very vast majority of people watching it couldn’t fail to be impressed. Loved it! Some good humour, James Bond and although I am not a fan of Mr Bean his involvement was amusing and worth including for certain. Loads of great music and things that made you very proud.

At around 10.15pm the concert kicked back in and Stereophonics played for just under an hour in which Jack and I got close to the front which was cool, then it was back to more of the ceremony and then it was Snow Patrol’s turn to play and they were fantastic. Charlotte wanted to go to the front with me this time and Jack came along as well and it was lovely for the three of us to be right up there in amongst it. Very special.

Once they played their set it was after midnight and we switched back to the ceremony to see UK enter the arena and also the all important lighting of the flame. There has been so much speculation over who was going to be granted the honour, I think it’s fair to say the overwhelming favourite was Steve Redgrave, with Becks and Daly Thompson pushing close but what happened was a great twist. Becks, Thompson, Daly, ah bugger, some other famous Olympians from the past had nominated a teenager and future Olympic athlete to do it for them. And the torch was something else, petals of a metal flower that turn upwards and lit up…and then the fireworks closed it out. You could see the sky lighting up from where we were!

Paul McCartney then came on and that was the cue for everyone to make their way to the exits. We had a long 20 mins walk and then a wait in the car park for a useless attendant to sort things out but eventually got home at 2.45am, everyone shattered but what an amazing and unforgettable experience.

As I say, I’m writing this a couple of days later but it’s so fresh and the photos and videos that I will include will make the memories stick even more. Now’s just hoping for more medals from the athletes…

Charlotte has the voice of an angel!!!

Clearly she is messing about but…

She’s going to kill me when she sees this online…

Lewis coming home when we’re asleep in bed…

As the title suggests…

It’s making me feel quite old now that Lewis is getting home after midnight very often with parties or just working at karate and we’re not staying up worrying about him. We do have the rule that he has to wake us to say he’s home but it’s still the fact that he’s out there late at night with friends or baby-sitting or whatever. Not getting into trouble though I hasten to add.

It made me think of when I was his age and that’s mirrored that as well. I used to sit up with mum watching TV and then when I started going out to see girlfriends or into town I’d get home and creep around so as not to wake everyone up. Full circle…

Charlotte is out at parties a lot more now, but she still likes to be picked up. I don’t mind doing this but it has meant that I am driving around at 3.00am with her and some friends dropping them left, right and centre. Her friends can’t believe it…and to some degree nor can I!!! But at the same time I don’t want her worrying or not going or leaving early because of it.

Jack’s Last Few Days at Primary School

So, this was the week that Tash has been dreading, Jack finally leaving Primary School which in turn means our involvement with Wolvercote school has come to an end. We worked it out to be 14 years that we’ve been involved so it was all quite sad really as the end of an era in our lives. Admittedly I was a bit less emotional than Tash, but then I’ve not been as involved as her.

So we had the Leavers’ Assembly on Wednesday, they had various performances and anecdotes, a bit hit and miss as you’d expect for an assembly written and performed by the students themselves but they enjoyed themselves as did the parents and teachers.

Jack repeated his talent show routine and that went down well. Did some singing as well. Some tears throughout from parents and then the class teacher Miss Boaz read out her speech and started crying and that set everyone off! The kids were in floods! Hugs and photos and all sorts. All very sad and draining.

In the early evening there was a school disco organised so we went along to that as we’d organised it, well Tash had, but I helped out on the bar so that was fine, had one or two drinks…Tash was a bit tipsy as well.

Friday came and Tash had the day off so walked Jack up to school and did whatever throughout the day. We then went up to the school at 1.00pm and waited as they all came out. The lads were all in tears again, the girls not as many. When Jack came out it was clear he’d been crying nearly all day! Red, puffy eyes…so that set Tash off.

We pottered around in the playground for a while as they signed each other’s shirts and then went down to the Plough where it was agreed that the parents would all stay for a while and the kids all went off playing and more signing of anything that moved. I had a pint and stayed an hour and then went home to carry on with some work, Tash stayed another couple of hours before making it home for something to eat and then we went to the Red Lion for 6.00pm. Not many people there but we spent time chatting with Loretta and a couple of other people I didn’t know. All very pleasant and again Jack and what kids he knew played in the park.

Left around 9.30pm and then walking past the White Hart I saw Liam through the window so went in for 30 mins for a half, but it went slow so i had two and came out at 10.50pm instead! Took some prawn crackers as a peace offering and all was fine!

So that’s it then, time to move on. Jack is definitely ready for the jump and looking forward to Cherwell, I am convinced he’s going to be a huge success there, the teachers are looking forward to receiving him already we know from Lewis so that’s a definite benefit!

Lewis Shining as a Sports Leader

Had some nice news from Lewis earlier in the week at the Year End Assembly. He’s been a Sports Leader throughout the year and really enjoyed what he’s been doing in terms of involvement for organising Sports activity days with other schools and helping the teachers and so on. He’s had tremendous feedback throughout from other school teachers which has been really pleasing.

One even said that he should consider being a Sports Teacher as a back up if the Engineering doesn’t work out. Anyway, there were awards at the assembly and he and two others, Kathryn being one of them, got the highest accolade of a Platinum Award, so he was pleased with that and sat down.

Then the teachers announced there was an additional award for one of the best Sports Leaders that Cherwell has ever had, Lewis Dark!!! They gave him a ticket to the Para-Olympics next month so he was really chuffed with that recognition, as were we even though we weren’t actually there to witness it.

Very pleased and very proud indeed. Well deserved him.

Tash made her own award for him and Charlotte…

To be freelance or not to be…

So…after 8 years I am made (not) redundant…don’t ask…it’s the usual non-committal, non-official dealings with an employee who’s no longer required.
Had a meeting with Allan 3 weeks ago and he told me out of the blue that my time with the company was up and he was to help me find somewhere else. Hardly a bolt out of the blue but it did leave me reeling, not every day that you’re suddenly in No Man’s Land thinking what the hell do I do now?
It took a bit of time to get my head around it and loads of advice from people but I’m going to go it alone and work for myself in a freelance capacity. I’ve set up my business and done all that side of things, I’m good to go, only thing missing is customers…slight problem…but I am starting on that track now. I intend to work with existing customers and provide the sort of Admin and training services I can see that they’re crying out for.
If I get the sort of response I hope for and have got from two people already then I think I will do okay, we’ll see.
Tash took it well, but it’s now been 4 weeks since the announcement and things have slowed down so she’s starting to worry now. I am sure we’ll be okay though.
I told Darren today, as Jason had told me he knew, but Darren was quite shocked and thought it was just one of those things that Jason had mentioned but wasn’t expecting to happen – something along the lines of “Allan and Julian are in the process of talking through a new job” – not “I’ve instructed Allan to get rid of Julian” which is how it was put to me by Allan. “It’s not working” – that’s the quote.
So as you can imagine, even before this announcement I’ve been very slack on my diary, but even more reason for being so now. Nothing notable to announce really so perhaps just as well I’ve been quiet!
Lewis has been working through is AS exams and Charlotte has been doing her Mocks. Jack finishes at Wolvercote in just a few weeks. I’ve going to Lewis to see a couple of University Open days and then have Cornbury to look forward to.
Well, best get some sleep, I’m still putting in so many hours at work, it’s very odd, it’s like the redundancy isn’t happening – Jason still gives me tons to do and I stupidly still do it. Madness, I have my own life to start sorting out and I am still too committed to the company to concentrate on myself. That’s the problem I guess for the last few years, I’ve given so much and lost a lot of myself to the company…that’s a sinister way to end the blog isn’t it?!?!?

Visit to the Big Smoke…

Interesting day today, knew I had to be in London for a training session on the new Data Mining for Harper Collins and hadn’t done enough testing so was up at 5.00am to do so. Quite quickly I soon found that there were loads or problems with what I wanted to show the customer…panic!!! Some quick emails and screenshots sent to Support and then off to get the train
It’s nice working so early as you do feel as though you’ve got a lot done before anyone is even up, but then by the time it’s 8.30am you feel like you’ve done half a day already. Did some work on the train and then made it to Paddington at 8.00am – talk about busy, packed solid!
The first session went okay but the fixes I needed completed weren’t finished so that wasn’t ideal – I worked throughout the lunch break and got the issues sorted in time for the second session so that was okay and it went better. Lots of action points but didn’t leave until 5.00pm – tired.

It was sad to see on Twitter that the Cavalier pub in Northway was being pulled down today (http://twitpic.com/9e1yjq) to make way for student accommodation. Had some good times in that pub over the years when playing Sunday morning football for Cold Arbour. Ah well, progress I guess.
So back home in the evening, Charlotte was getting ready for her Duke of Edinburgh expedition, it’s only a test one to get them ready for the real thing in a couple of weeks time. Huge great rucksack on her back – I am sure she’ll be fine but it’s going to be hard work…

Jack on song yet again…

The lads played against Crowmarsh Orange today in what I expected to be a comfortable match which is what it turned out to be in the end. We started incredibly quickly when Max scored within 2 minutes with a great strike from outside the box and we pushed and pushed but they hit the post twice and should have scored themselves but we were just more clinical and scored again through James Othen.

Then without much to-do Max and James scored again for us to be 4-0 at halftime.

Changed things slightly and they continued to play some good football and the game was petering out until I moved Jack back up front and he suddenly scored two fantastic goals with long range strikes that the keeper could do nothing about from outside the area. He then latched onto a poor defensive clearance and then simply passed it into the net round the keeper for his hat-trick. Nothing too remarkable there…except he did all these in the space of about 3.5 minutes!

Absolutely stunning it was, I was very proud indeed to have witness him to that.

I then went to Lewis’s match as they played their last match of the season against Abingdon – bit of a needle match and Lewis once again played well and we ran out 2-0 winners. Should have been a lot, lot more but their keeper pulled off some great saves and we were a little bit wasteful in front of goal

A good day’s football all in all.

KFC Treat for Jack’s birthday…

We had a family bucket of chicken…us???

The fat family from Wolvercote?

This piece is bigger than Jack himself…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going for it!

Jack’s 11th Birthday–Friday 13th April 2012

Woke up at Sue’s early today and then got up for Jack’s birthday, he was really excited today throughout. I think we forget how young he really is sometimes, it was nice to see him so full of enthusiasm.

Anyway, he had the presents on the sofa and kept looking outside and around the house for ‘a bike’ that he was sure he was going to receive. We dragged it out as usual and then asked him to go down to the freezer in the garage to get some bread for the fry up, as he was walking down the path he got suspicious and looked behind himself and we were all looking out the kitchen windows so he knew what to expect when he got into the garage…he was delighted as well.

We then came round to our house and grabbed what we needed and his friends started turning up for the party. Mind you, at 9.47am Jack said to me, “Shouldn’t they be arriving now?”, I think he was a little anxious that no one was going to come to his party, but sure enough they were all here on time and we went off to Bowlplex. There was 10 of them and they split into two teams and an hour passed by quickly. The end was funny as Jack’s team thought that they’d won and were celebrating but when Katie’s score came in it meant the other team had won by 4 points so the celebrations changed very quickly!

We then made it down to Cutteslowe Park and had a picnic and then played rounders and football and it was really nice as the weather was holding out and sun was shining. Couple of hours passed by and we then took the kids home around 2.00pm but some of them stayed and Jack went up to the park to play more football and the like.

Tash and I stayed at home and worked on areas that we could now that we could get into the house. As agreed we then went to the Red Lion at 5.30pm and it was packed. It seems that everyone in Wolvercote turns up on a Friday night! The kids all went over to the park as usual and the adults stayed and had a few drinks..they were flowing a bit too freely tonight and my recent tee-totalness took a bit of hit! Never mind. It was a great atmosphere in the pub, Mum and Derek came down and there was also the Bamptons and the Carrolls.

Jack and all the kids were called into the pub at one point as the candles on his cake were lit and the whole pub sang to him which was lovely.

Then mum called me over for a quiet chat and she told me that she’d had the ‘All Clear’ from the hospital regarding her cancer. Quite clearly that was fantastic news and she didn’t want to announce it to everyone so I did and there was a huge cheer…and more drinks! That really was so pleasing to hear that news and everyone was delighted.

We stayed until about 10.00pm and staggered home..not before catching Mum & Derek eating their chips in the car outside the chippy and we all jumped in to scare them!

To finish Jack’s special day he was aloud to sleep at William’s house for the night. All in all a really fantastic day and one that I hope he remembers.

What a shit day…

Not sure if it was the finish at 2.00am, although tonight is 1.30am as well, the chicken curry or the sheer stress I am feeling but I was sick as a dog last night. Couldn’t get up in the morning and was being sick the whole time.
Got into work, and had Darren make some sarcastic remark about deciding to turn up and I was very rude in my reply which surprised everyone, including myself. Very uncharacteristic and unnecessary as Darren is the one person I have time for in the office. I obviously apologised immediately in front of everyone but it wasn’t good form on my part. Rest of the day I don’t think I managed to speak two words and I didn’t eat or drink anything.
Could be stress, really wouldn’t be surprised, it’s really hard work at the minute in that every single thing I am doing is being scrutinised, not enjoyable. In saying that I had an incredible frank discussion with Pauline regarding her situation and realised she’s actually got it worse than me. I felt so sorry for her as she’s been treated pretty badly and has been working with Jason for 23 years, couldn’t believe what she was saying.
Actually I could as it was the same as what I’ve been saying to Tash
Back at the hotel in the evening working and saw that the Oxford City Nomads won promotion today but the ‘first’ team, which clearly wasn’t, played North Leigh in the Senior Cup final and lost 5-0. Not good at all. I understand that it was mainly comprised Youth players, bit disappointed that us Vets were not asked to represent the club, ah well, give the future a chance I guess!

Jack’s Chocolate Supply

Jack came downstairs from his bedroom munching on some Dairy Milk chocolate from his birthday, my favourite, and I asked if I could have a little bit. He said there was some in bedroom in his cupboard and as I walked up the stairs he shouted after me,

“Dad, there’s a lot of chocolate there, please don’t get carried away!”

Cheeky git! Although it worked and I only had a bit!

16th April 2012 – Back to work, Tash new job & Lewis feedback

Back to work today, bloody hard to get into the routine having been off for effectively a week, the drive into the office was a long one, no surprise there really as I wasn’t on the road until after 7.00am and it was first day back at work for people. Made it in and got the usual load of problems – nothing changes! I ended up spending nearly the whole day going through emails, not much progress at all.

Tash started her new job today as we caught up later and she said how nice it was and they all made her welcome. She’ll be fine with it and even after some time I am sure that she will take over certain areas, she was saying that they are in the Dark Ages! They have an Inbox but nothing is ever cleared from it!! No folders or calendars to book our rooms or anything, it’s all paper & pens!

She then phoned me later from Taurus gym and said that Mary had been speaking to her about Lewis. Mary said the he was an absolute pleasure whilst over in Belgium and everyone commented on how great he is, what a pleasing attitude and all round nice guy he is. Simple things such as the evening out in the square when they’re all showing off and encouraging people to show off their skills, he was up for it and joined in whereas others shied away.

His conduct and attitude was impressive and both Beci and Sue Dale said that they want a lot more to do with him in terms of being involved in their events, tournaments and even TV Commercials. No idea if they will back it up but who cares, it’s obviously very pleasing to hear that sort of feedback about him

As a parent that makes us both very proud indeed. Well done to him…can we take any credit in the way that we’ve brought him up?!?!? Or is it in spite of our upbringing of him…

Below is a video that Mary took of his team’s performance in Belgium, there’s a few misses in there but they did well and for a team that hadn’t trained with anything like the normal commitment that is required they’d done well. More importantly they had a great time.

They want to go again next year and Mary & Rob want to take a Taurus team which when Jack heard he was desperately keen…are the Belgiums ready for Jack Dark?

In fact, just had a text from Mary & Rob offering to pay for his first driving lesson for his 17th Birthday this Saturday, he’s clearly well respected isn’t he? Good lad.

Team Reaction performing in Belgium

 

House Decorating Update

Woke up with a bit of a hangover…Jack’s party last night

Got to work on bringing all the furniture from outside in the garage and office into the house, nice being able to finally see things are taking shape in terms of re-covering the sofa and getting it in and working on the new bureau for inside which Charlotte worked on and did a brilliant job of creating.  Impressive watching her as she just got on with it,

She asked a couple of questions but didn’t really need my help at all.

I finished the shelving and it all looks good together and the computer can now be set up in there

Got the TV set up and the lights back on the wall and then Paul and Terry came round to do the skirting again – that’s costing quite a bit - £100.00 just to buy the skirting. This redecorating exercise is certainly costing a lot more than Tash and I originally planned!

But it will look good and it’s needed

Still things that need to be done – but we’re getting there and the house is feeling liveable once more

Funny Football incident last night

I've now played football for 35 years (since playing for Quarry when 8 years old) and last night witnessed one of the funniest things in that time

Edge of the box their forward shoots and Justin Merritt gets whacked in the face blocking him from no more than 2 yards away and ref gives a ridiculous penalty against him.

Justin proceeds to use every single swear word imaginable towards the ref and then simple storms off towards our dugout and says,

"Right, that's it, I'M NOT PLAYING ANY MORE!"

The ref was calling him over so as to book him but he ignored him and just walked off the pitch in disgust.

I'm sure that if the ball wasn't on the penalty spot he'd have taken it with him.

It really was the funniest thing I've ever seen on a football pitch and after the match no one said anything to Justin to remind him...NOT!!

It's been a good season and with the news in the changing rooms that Chinnor dropped points made it even more enjoyable evening. It's been good because we've not had it easy and for once the championship was out of our hands and we needed a favour, which we got.

Well done Young Kenny - inspirational.

It's been a pleasure...but suffering for it now after drinking in the 6 Bells afterwards. Great bunch of lads.

Read more:http://www.oxfordcityfc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=842#ixzz1rAIGIUct

Jack’s Football Match going well

I had an interesting problem this week with Jack’s football, I knew I was only going to have 10 players so I emailed the Abingdon manager who the previous week had been beaten 10-0 and I have a good relationship with him and said I’ve only got 10 players – would you mind if I played two lads who are not signed on? He came back to me and said, No! Not acceptable, rules are rules. Their lads are feeling down enough, and the parents and coaches are down so they don’t want to help other teams beat them.

Initially I accepted it but the more I thought about it the more it irritated me. To my mind, are you really that desperate to win a football match that you want the other team to only have 10 players, would you be happy as a coach that 2 boys are sat at home unable to play? The more I thought about it the more cross I got. Sad!

In saying that, when I got to the game, there was the angry Geordie coach who’s an arsehole so it all made sense and clicked into place why I had been refused my request. He’d been kicked out of Grove and is just a horrible sad man. He was his usual ungracious, aggressive hostile person and shouldn’t be involved in kids football – but there you go. So we got on with it and the attitude of our players was just fantastic, I was so proud. They worked so hard and completely played Abingdon off the park and we 2-0 up with really well worked goals – Abingdon got one back. We went 3-1 up, Jack playing well again and got the penalty and eventually our lads tired and Abingdon got back to 3-3 for the end result and they were chuffed and jumping all over the place.

I had their coaches going on and on constantly, really irritating and had we had 11 players we’d have stuffed them. It wound me up to be honest. Shouldn’t let it get to me but it does sometimes.

A good performance though.

Day off in Bournemouth

After a busy weekend for Easter and then popping into the office for a day to catch up with things meaning I was up at 5.30am, got back home in the evening and then worked until 4.00am to clear items and problems it was nice to think that I now have a couple of days off from work…although we’ll see how much I can avoid emails and calls from work, I don’t hold out much hope!

Anyway, we cleared out the rest of the front room today so that the men who are coming to sand the floor could do the whole lot, as you can see the whole of the downstairs is now empty for them to work through.

You cannot get into the kitchen at all, nor the office or the shed! We have to be out of the house for a couple of days which is perfect timing doing it now because we’re going to be out and about anyway!

Can’t wait for them to finish the work because this means we can start bringing the sofa back in and sort out the TV etc. It’s been a long process.

Before we could set out for Bournemouth I needed to drop Lewis off to go to Belgium, as he’s gone off with Beci & Sue Dale and the skipping team to enter a tournament for European championships.

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!

Jack’s Self Confidence in his football abilities..

Driving to football on Sunday to play against AFC Brightwell, Jack decided to tell me which professional footballers he's like:

"I've got Maradona's skill and speed, Messi's left foot...and height..I've got Cantona's goal celebration and I've got...Ronaldinho's goofy teeth!"

I almost crashed the car...

We made to the ground and he then had a chance to show me and he certainly did! He’s getting better and better it has to be said and if he doesn’t get Player of the Year again this season I’d be stunned. In saying that, he missed a penalty today but his all-round play and the goal he scored was so pleasing.

Sunday’s match was odd, I only had 10 players in the end and admittedly Brightwell are struggling but the performance of all the team was so pleasing, they won 4-0 in the end and I can still see all four goals in my mind’s eye. I shouldn’t be affected by how the kids do in a match but this time I was made up for the rest of the day…sad really.

What pleased me most was the number of crosses we put into the box and whenever someone was out wide they tried a trick or a skill and one of the goals caused by Fred’s wing play was an absolute pleasure. He’s getting better every single week and he does this ‘lollypop’ as Big Ron would describe it and it sells the defender nearly every time.

So Fred got the ball, did his trick and went past the player as if he wasn’t even there, it was incredibly perfect, put in a deep cross and Pierce scored with his right foot again. Similarly, Jack did some tricks on the edge of the box and was lining up to shoot when shut down by 3 defenders and he changed the angle of his contact so it turned into a pass down the left channel, Pierce crossed and Max headed in. Very pleasing indeed because this is what we’re practising every Friday night, so score two goals from training routines is great!

Anyway, back to only 10 players this week but against Abingdon which is frustrating, but that’s the problem with the location of the team…affluent area so all go away on holidays!

Ah well, we’ll see how it goes!

Bootleg Beatles

It’s 5.50am and I am driving into work – got up nice and early! I was up at 3.50am because of loads of work going through my mind but decided to get into the office bright and early. It’s dark but towards London it’s lightening up and looking good. It’s busy on the road already.

So taking the chance to update the diary – notes from the weekend then include:

We spent the whole weekend painting the front rooms and ceilings – looking good. It’s taken ages though.

On Saturday night Tash and I went out on our own to a concert at the New Theatre which was the Bootleg Beatles, we were supposed to be going with Nikki and Gaz but they decided to cancel for some reason, but because we’d paid for the tickets we were not going to do the same so we went along. Admittedly, I wasn’t overly bothered about going in the first place but out of low expectations you can be surprised. It was a really, really good evening. Basically, we had a Beatles concert from when they first set out in the 60’s through their different stages like St Pepper and hippy etc. Really enjoyed it.

Carl Mullins Funeral – Tuesday 28th February 2012

Incredibly sad day today in that I attended the funeral for Carl in the morning before going to work. It was well attended by so many people and there were a few old faces that I recognised and who recognised me. There was definitely a good few hundred there.

The service was good, the highlight being the speech written by Leah (his sister) but read out by her husband(?), it was fun and moving speech and captured her life and memories with Carl. All things that anyone that knew him could relate to I suspect. The vicar then went over-board in his part of the service and lost some of the congregation with his well-meaning words of comfort. But never mind that, we’d not gone along to listen to him.

You can only guess at why Carl ended his life, not that I will speculate, if ever it’s understood or explained then I’d be interested, but not in idle gossip. I did like the photo on the Order of Service, it was his one in Oxford Boys in his blazer and tie and that brought back many memories indeed, not just of Carl but the school as a whole and there were a lot of other lads that would have been the same having gone to that school.

I’ll remember Carl as the clown who was centre of attention, laughing and making stupid comments and flicking his wedge cut flowing hair that the never washed so it would retain its style! I think that’s a good memory to hold of someone and it captured what he was like in the later years at school and 6th Form.

Such a shame, such a real sad shame that will haunt his family for ever which is another tragedy.