Colin Taylor’s Funeral

Didn’t get too much done for work throughout today, not sure why, just seemed distracted and not interested, not ideal with my holiday coming up and so much to get done. The day didn’t start too well because I needed to drop Tash to work because she woke up late and as soon as I got home I needed to take Lewis out to drop his car in the garage so I was out at 7.45am until 9.05am…

Anyway, in the afternoon it was Colin Taylor’s funeral at the Crematorium, we got there at about 2.40pm and had to drive through all the people there – about 400 I reckon in total. Walked round and obviously too many people for us to go inside so we listened from outside and it was very moving and sad. Loads of people there as I mentioned and so many faces I knew and chatted to briefly. Sad that it’s events like this that you see people, but we say that each time and it is only things like this where we will catch up.

Went back to Oxford City for some drinks and food and chatted to more people like Paul Lee, Mick Woodley, Justin Merritt, Mark Jones, Rob Tutton and so on. A number of conversations regarding the set up at Oxford City and how things need to change there in terms of new blood coming into the club etc, it could be the catalyst for change, we shall see.

I then dropped Tash into town as she was meeting work friends at Thai Khun for a meal.

I went home, took the dog out to the meadow and ran. I didn’t do very well as I kept stopping for Pokemon and my back was a nightmare as I appear to have trapped a nerve, in fact by the time I got home I was in agony – didn’t get much sleep at all – desperate problem.

I have to get out and run because I have signed up for the Oxford Half Marathon so we’ll see how that goes!!

Bess was absolutely shattered as a result because she was running to keep up with me..

Tash phoned for picking up at 10.40pm and she was quite drunk…not surprised but it was nice, she was happy.

So a sad day and people were continuing to question why Colin did what he did, we will never know or understand why – it’s something I hope I never get to a stage in my life that I want to take such drastic action.

Jacks Soccer Showcase

Spoke to Jack this evening and he’s confirmed he’s enjoying the football and it was better today. Sounds like the coach is a bit of a twat as he’s not encouraging any of them and is also excluding a lot of the less able lads. That seems harsh to me and I would have thought they’d change the squads around so that the level of ability is better. Fortunately Jack is one of the better players so it’s not affecting him but it’s a shame for these other lads who’ve paid money to be there.

He said the food isn’t good but he’s making friends and is holding his own so I am very proud of him, it’s good he’s enjoying it.

Busy day in London & Jack’s first day of football coaching

Worked in London today because of the funeral of Colin Taylor tomorrow. It was a tough day at GL because I had to focus on both my frogs and yes I did finally get one of them eaten…the SAGE integration document with Datel finally got off my desk.
I was then too tired to work on Data Usage which is so confusing – but will try and sort that on Thursday when I am next there.
Had a few texts with Jack throughout the morning and it sounded like the plans had changed for his football week, I wasn’t overly happy as they have changed it from x2 2hr sessions to a single 4hr session. He sounded happy enough though but I will phone him later and find out all about it
I hope it’s going well.
Chatted in the evening and he said it was fine. He’s in a good squad but said there were some lads not up to scratch at all and could hardly kick a ball which messed up some of the drills. Strange for them to be there if you ask me, but there you are.
He was picked in the first team for the matches and did well and set up players, started to make friends and is eating and chilling with the new found friends. Pleased for him, was nervous how it would all go.

Oxford Half Marathon entry…oops!

Some people at Oxford City have suggested a team be entered into the Oxford Half Marathon as Team Taylor as a mark of respect for him and his love of the Casuals (Learning Difficulties team) and I have agreed to be part of this event.

So I have paid my £40.00 entrance fee and now committed to taking part and running in this. It’s a dual thing for me as it’s a mark of respect and showing that respect but also from a selfish perspective I hope it gives me that kick up the backside to push myself to get that little bit fitter, well a lot fitter and less fat over the coming x8 weeks.

We shall see, I tried the other day running and got to 4 miles and struggled so it’s three times that which I need to get to…oh dear!

OCFC JPL u16’s pre-season training

First training session for the lads today. I was really nervous and hardly slept last night, no idea why but got all this planned and sorted and then met the lads at 9.00am at Cutteslowe. In the end there was x7 of them which was a bit disappointing but hardly a surprise as I'd been told of the numbers that were missing and on holiday

It was a decent session I felt, very hot indeed, I joined in the football to make it 4v4 and that was bloody hard work, I was shattered!!

They all worked really hard on all we did so I hope they enjoyed it. We will become a fit side is my intention. Need to do some more plans as well.

Finished at 10.30am and my back was killing me...I'll never learn it seems but I can't help myself. Even though I gave the ball away and didn't track my runners!

Who’d be a kids football manager??

Horrible morning today as I sent out x2 emails to Twariq and Maro advising them that I was releasing them from the squad for the coming season. Not heard from Maro yet but Twariq was begging me to change my mind, it was really sad and I hated it. I like him and wish I could help him with hi life etc but I had to make the decision for the team and moving things forward. Maro I will feel less emotional about but this was painful.

Jack text me later in the day to say that Twariq had been on their Facebook Group wishing them luck and thanking them for him being involved with them and he’s taken it quite well now it’s sunk in.

Jack is then asking me if this player and that player can come along to train and join the club – I have too many players to choose from, it’s so hard. Will let them train for a couple of weeks and then have to make a tough decision to include or drop them.

Anyway, will keep an eye on Twariq’s progress and see if I am proved to be wrong.

Sport for all…Jack better at tennis than me…

Jack has been nagging at me to play tennis against him so I agreed today and regretted it!!

We went up to Cutteslowe Park and paid for once – although I don’t think he really needed to and played two sets. I was struggling to get around if I am honest, very stiff legged and my back was playing up but it was good fun.

I tried I must admit and he won the first set 6-3 I think, I upped my game a bit in the second set and was leading by about 5-2 when we decided we needed to get going and stop. He’s so well coordinated and mobile it was pleasing to have a good challenge. I will have to challenge him to a rematch and get some better tennis balls for the next game.

It was also nice to spend that time with him, he’s a good lad.

Devon break surfing & camping

It was 7 years ago when we last went to Saunton Sands which is near Braunton and the Lobb Fields campsite, but we were there again this weekend. I know it was 7 years ago as I got one of those memories reminders from Facebook when I returned.

Nothing much has changed, which is the nice thing about it, but this time we had a dog! Travelling down there took just over 3.5 hours but it was fine and Bessie was good as gold on the journey, we obviously stopped halfway and it was a fine run down.

Set up the tent on arrival and the kids all pitched in so it meant we were sorted within an hour and able to hire some surfboards and get down to the beach, the waves were huge which was pleasing and we were straight in there. This was Bessie’s first visit to the seaside so we wondered what she would make of it and she loved it – the beach there is huge, especially when the sea is out so she had a massive area to run around and it’s dog friendly so there were loads for her to make friends with.

We went into the water and so did she! No fear that dog.

Didn’t surf for too long but Charlotte got to show off the skills she’d learnt in Bali and was better than all of us, stood up straight away no problem, that was pleasing for her.

Stayed for a few hours as it was so mice and hot and eventually went back to the campsite for beers and food! About summed up our time away!

The following day wasn’t the best – constantly raining so we gave up on the idea of the beach and spent the day in Barnstaple wandering around the shops getting things and playing Pokemon Go! Before returning to the campsite we took a detour to the open sand dunes there and they were massive, really enjoyed that and Bess was going mental running up an down them – very enjoyable end to the day. Back to the tent and a quiet night playing games and drinking – very relaxed.

Friday we were determined to make it to the beach and the weather was better so we managed it and it was a good day down there with mostly sun and we were in the water for over an hour and a half surfing, the waves were even bigger than Wednesday and it was great fun, loved it. Absolutely shattered though and fell asleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon and got rained on! Went for a walk over the dunes again and flew a kite before getting a pasty each for lunch.

Had an ice cream before making our way back to the campsite for dinner in the evening and more drink and games played.

Saturday morning we were up and packing away and did a good job of it, kids really helped so it was quick and then Lewis said his goodbyes and drove off to Penzance (I think) to meet Evie and her dad and friends for a week camping/surfing. We made our way home and it was so slow going, a bit of a nightmare, that just kept delaying and delaying us.

Eventually there was an accident on the M5 heading towards Bristol and it was closed down, luckily I’d turned off and even more luckily I worked out a way to go down some backroads and even more…more luckily was that I scrounged a key code for a barrier from one of the members of staff and was able to leave the service station where everyone else was blocked in and no one was able to even re-joined the M5. We drove over it and people were out of their cars and it was a nightmare, we were so very lucky indeed.

It meant it still took over 6 hours to get home and we were very late for the Molineux Family tea party at Tash’s work but we did make it there so they were pleased we turned up, chatted to some of the known family (Ben, Sue, Wendy etc) but Tash went into ‘work-mode’ and it was a waste of my time if you ask me, but we showed our faces for what it was worth!

Back home finished unpacking and then sat on the sofa and watched the concluding episodes of ‘The Catch’ which we’ve enjoyed watching as a new series – nothing to strenuous to concentrate on but good fun and good enough quality viewing. So a long day and few days concluded – really nice to have all x5 of us spending time together, hopefully we can make it an annual thing, especially with Bessie loving the attention so much!

P.S. I want to buy a VW Transporter Campervan – they’re everywhere and I think it would make the camping experience so much more enjoyable, but we will see…they’re not cheap!

Golf Wanker…

Bit still from the practise last night but was dropped off by Tash down at the golf course at 8.00am and met up with Wayne & Paul. Cup of tea and bacon sarnie and then collected the clubs I was going to use and then had a swing of a few balls to warm up and get my eye in…not impressive!

We were the first group off at 9.00am and away we went. Overall I was okay, I didn’t par any holes or even come close but I enjoyed myself and didn’t let myself down until the last x3 holes where I was tired and sort of just gave up. Lovely hot day and I feel quite confident that I will carry on now as more of a regular thing as it was enjoyable when you hit the ball right and it went roughly where you intended. So that’s my challenge to keep it up and practise. How much I will do so is anyone’s guess!

Had a few pints afterwards and there was a raffle etc and the girls arrived for a couple of drinks and a chat and then we went home but Wayne & Kerry came over for a BBQ in the evening. Loads to drink and it was good fun, bit tipsy!

Colin Taylor – R.I.P.

Shocking news today when driving home from Wrexham and speaking with Zoe and Wayne when I learned that Colin Taylor was found earlier this morning hanged in the changing rooms at Oxford City’s ground. What a terrible, terrible shame. Really very saddened to learn of this.

Wayne said that with the owner of the club being jailed for fraud there are obvious financial problems with the players money, the Berinsfield project and also Colin just would seldom delegate work and would heap all the pressure on himself. He did have a breakdown a number of years ago which is why he took early retirement from working at Rover and it was felt that City was his life thereafter.

I knew Colin for upwards of 20 years because of mine and his involvement with City so it’s a real sickener that this has happened for all concerned and of course for his family, Laura & Sarah absolutely worshipped him, you can only imagine what they’re going through. It’s all so public of course because of the nature and standing of the club so Facebook and Twitter are full of condolences, unsurprisingly and no-one had anything but praise and good words to say about the man.

It’s so sad to think about what he must have been going through and how desperate he must have felt to do this awful act and it’s so senseless, football, finances and things like that are so insignificant when it comes to life and family, nothing you couldn’t just walk away from or say ‘Ok, let’s start again!’, but there are so many other factors that I couldn’t possibly imagine or appreciate.

I just hope we’re around so able to pay our respects at the funeral when it is organised as we’re away next week. It will be a big affair that’s for certain.

Jack’s Football Presentation & Ghostbusters…

Had a nice breakfast in the morning and when we checked out I was pleased to see that they'd forgotten to charge us £12.00 each for breakfast…that was obviously a huge saving! We hadn't planned anything for the morning so after a quick Google search it was obvious there was nothing to do in Wrexham so we decided to make a move and get on the road home. Nice, quick and straightforward journey home and then it was a case of unpacking everything and getting sorted out. Didn't have too long as we needed to go out for Jack's presentation and also the cinema. We decided to decline the invite to the Phelan's for a BBQ as time was just too tight.

Took Jack to Cutteslowe Park in the afternoon as it was his u15 presentation and because of the events earlier in the day at the club it was moved there but it worked because it was out in the sunshine and we could enjoy the weather.

I didn't really mingle as I don't know the people but Ellie (Adam Shea's mum) was there organising as she does so that was one familiar face! I chatted to Rid, obviously about Colin, but about next season and other footballing matters.

The presentation then went ahead and he did a mini speech for each of the players as they received their individual trophies and it was a nice atmosphere, they're a good bunch of lads and have a great spirit about them.

Jack and I had to leave around 5.45pm so we missed out on the lads v dads match but that might not have been a bad thing!

Went and parked at Tasha's work and made our way to George Street cinema and we were only x2 minutes behind Charlotte & Tash and we then went and watched the new version of Ghostbusters. As much as I didn't really want to go along or even want to enjoy it, I was surprised that it was actually really quite enjoyable and good fun. It was great that they included ALL of the original Ghostbusters cast in minor cameos and it was amusing family entertainment. Predictable but definitely enjoyable - I am glad we went.

When that was all over we just went home and pottered about and got things sorted for the coming week and downloaded the photos etc which were soon on Facebook etc!

Early night to bed…a really lovely weekend, now for a busy week ahead!

White Water Rafting…

Got finished packing in the morning and getting ready, got some petrol as I’d forgotten to fill the tank and Mum was here at 8.30am and we were all set to leave on time.

Mum and Derek are slow and steady drivers but thankfully we weren’t in a rush so I bit my tongue and trundled along at a snails pace for them to keep behind me! We reached Llangollen around 11.25am and found Lewis before getting something to eat with a picnic by the river. We saw other groups who’d just finished their rafting experience and you could see they were all buzzing so that bode well for us in my opinion!

We walked up to the offices, checked in and got our gear on and were driven up the road to the location that we would start the trip down the river. We were split into two boats in which one was me, Tash and Mum, the other being Lewis, Charlotte, Miles and Jack. Went through some drills and explanation of the requirements and then straight away Tash & I went in the water to run a drill for the pulling of us back into the raft! It wasn’t too cold and with the wetsuits it was fine anyway.

We were then off going through rapids, down the weirs, back up some of the rapids, boarding the other raft and pulling Charlotte into the water, “Dad, you dick!”. It was a really, really great fun experience, everyone loved it. It was challenging and comfortable in turns, I worked hard with the oaring and was stiff in the evening, very tiring!

So that went on fro over an hour and it was excellent, we finished where we knew we would and Derek was waiting for us and he managed to get some photos but between us we got some good footage – I hope!

So back to the offices to get changed and we handed our the Dark family t-shirts and set off back to the car and more food as by now everyone was very hungry. Quickly after we were off to the hotel to check in and everyone crashed out and slept for a bit. I didn’t want to so after a walk around the block Pokemon hunting I went back to the room but Tash was sound asleep so I took my swimming trunks and left her a message that I’d be in the bar and if she fancied the sauna she knew where to find me!!

About 25 minutes later her and Jack came down and I finished my pint before sitting in the sauna and whirlpool, not the best facilities but they did a job!

We all then got ready and met in the bar downstairs and we stayed there the night having drinks, chatting and a nice meal. Didn’t stay up too late but it was just lovely evening spending time together and finished off a really exceptional day all round

We asked Mum what she wanted to do as her next adventure but she couldn’t think of anything so we need to think more on that! A great day!

Working in Cheshire

So last night I worked late again and this morning up at 5.30am to get the train from Oxford (instead of Oxford Parkway) for once and travelled up to Cheshire for the training with TimStar. It was a long journey but much easier than driving but a fraction more expensive.

Got quite a lot done on the train and then had the session

Went well, a few sticky patches which had I had more testing time would not have happened, had I not tested though it would have been an absolute shambles because loads was missing and not working last night!!

Kept getting updates on the train from James as they were fixed!

Left and managed to get the 3.07pm train so was home about 6.15pm in the end. I didn't get much done on the way back, slept one journey and then started reading 'Eat That Frog' again and it suitably motivated me.

When I got in, after some lunch, I took the books advice and blitzed the action points from the day's session...was really pleased with what I achieved in the time I had. Didn't get to bed until 12.30am and have another early start tomorrow as off to GL again!!!

All quite tiring I must admit!!

23rd Wedding Anniversary meal

Didn’t get too much done in the morning today as still tired and groggy from the weekend’s activities and drinking! In fact I was so distracted I almost forgot about the meeting organised at Pearson for 10.00am but luckily something kicked in and I made it. Had a decent meeting with Sarah and Lisa and agreed to work on a mini project for them with the view to being involved again at a later date – if I can make a good fist of this one that would help me, not sure when I will actually fit it in though!

When I got home Lewis was up and it was nice to ignore my laptop for 45 minutes and chat and catch up, we don’t speak enough and it was good to do so. Loads going on for him and he’s enjoying life at the minute – obviously very important! He and Evie then packed up and went and met Tasha at work for a coffee and I got a few emails out the door but not much else if the truth be told, I wasn’t in the mood…

Tash got home about 12.30pm and we sorted a few things out before driving over to The Hand & Flowers for a meal there at a Michelin Star restaurant…and it was definitely worth its stars! We had a drink in the garden next to a fire…the sun was full out so not sure what that was about…and then inside and a lovely menu with absolutely gorgeous food, it really was a bit special. I went for the cheap option of fish and chips but the pea sauce tasted almost like satay – it was very nice indeed.

We had a nice afternoon and after two hours made our way home, absolutely stuffed to the rafters, I felt quite ill I was so full. Pottered around when back home and took Bess out for a walk and then caught up with some TV in the evening. Oh, before that I popped round to the neighbours from Saturday night and apologised and all is fine. He was mortified by the whole thing and was very apologetic as well, it was actually their baby-sitter that caused it all, amazing. So that’s all sorted, he was delighted I’d gone round to clear the air, as he’d wanted to but just wasn’t sure about it etc, I am pleased I made the first move as it showed I held no grudges about the episode at all.

When Miles and Charlotte came home around 9.00pm we chatted and listened to them and then at 10.00pm Jack came home and he told us of a story where one of his friends had hurt themselves on a zip wire and he was almost crying with laughter he couldn’t tell the story, it was lovely to see him like that, we did wonder if he’d had a drink but it was just this story that made him laugh so much. We all decided around 10.30pm to call an end to a long day and went to bed. Back to normal tomorrow…all too soon!

Posted the photo below on Facebook and got over 80 likes and 20 congratulatory comments – which was nice

 

General Catch Up…late shift!

Haven't done a late shift like this for a long time but I have a DotMailer training session with a customer and they wanted me to cover things that I am not familiar with. It will be interesting to see what happens because they want advice on subject lines, frequency and such like and that's not my area. But I did a bit of research and found things and bulletin points I could use. It did highlight to me how easy it is to get information and use it...I really need to read up more
But along with testing their functionality it meant I didn't get to bed until after 1.00am and needed to be up early for the train. (4th time of being on the train this week!)
I didn't watch it but France beat Germany in the Euro semi-final this evening 2-0 so it's them against Portugal after they'd beat Wales in the other semi-final
Work at GL today was ok, got through a lot of stuff and having been there at 7.30am, as I got the 5.31am train, it definitely felt like a very long day indeed!!
When I got home last night at 7.00pm there was new cardboard packaging outside...Tash had ordered the patio heater for the garden. She'd struggled to put it up so that was my job for an hour. Did it and it's huge, only problem was that it didn't work!! Just hope that the gas canister we are using is only good for the small table top one...will go and get a new one at the weekend.
Final comment, the Tories are voting on a new leader after David Cameron stepped down because of Brexit and it's going to be a woman...most likely Teresa May. So the obvious references are being made to Maggie Thatcher, no one will be like her but it will be interesting to see how she does.

Juno Rocket nears Jupiter

Working in London today after being in Birmingham yesterday and working late last night on a Help Guide for Jason. Quite tired I have to admit as I was then up at 5.00am

Interesting news today was that the Juno rocket probe to Jupiter arrived there today and will be orbiting the atmosphere there for 180 days. This is interesting because this was the launch that we saw at Cape Canaveral, I need to check thigh as it say it was x5 years ago, I can't believe it was that long since we went to the States...perhaps it was.

So today we'll see if there is anything else happening in the world of politics or entertainment, it's just one thing after another lately.

Mad world for certain at the moment.

Lewis passed…

Not sure how but he passed his exams so all the stress that we had about 5 weeks ago when he took them was for nothing…well perhaps not for nothing but thankfully he’d done enough to scrape through meaning there was no need for a re-take of his re-takes!!

Really pleased for him as he was so wanting to stay on the course and be at Uni next year. Whether this is a good thing or not I really don’t know as he doesn’t plough in all the additional work to get up to speed as far as I can tell, he’s very much like me in that respect. Especially as he now has a mentor who he’s meeting and he loves all that and is responding to the bloke he’s working with – much like me when working with Allan.

He is continuing with his review of dyslexia and anything else that will help him with techniques, stress and exam situations – fingers crossed.

He’s been back down to see us a couple of times so it’s been good to see him. I need to be better at keeping in touch with him though, I am useless at communications, it’s not right.

Fathers Day

Had a nice day today and was treated by the kids to loads of chocolate, lovely cards and a dodgy t-shirt from Lewis! Charlotte & Miles made breakfast and it was perfect and then I started working on doing a video compilation of the Paintballing yesterday – I got it finished by the end of the day and it’s visible below:
Oxford City Paintballing

At lunchtime we went out to Forest Farm and collected a load of strawberries so that Tash could make her yearly jam and when we got back home we walked down to the Perch. Bess was funny and was in the water all the time. Charlotte then treated us to lunch, we all has burgers, and I got the drinks. Very, very generous of her as it’s expensive there for the best of us.
Stayed a while and then wandered back home and pottered around the house, I finished that video and then we watched TV whether it was a film, programme or the football, just nice and relaxed.
Didn’t do much else really, we were all pretty tired and had an early night in the end.
Nice day and made me feel guilty that I don’t make more of an effort for Tasha – one year I will.

Jack’s Diary Entry

Jack is working hard for his Citizenship exam which takes place tomorrow and to be honest I am not overly confident in his ability in this, I am quite surprised as his English and writing ability. So this weekend we have been working on it hard and as anyone would confirm, it’s just practise that makes all the different and to be far even this weekend I can see an improvement.

So this morning (Sunday) I was up quite early and he was then up at around 7.30am and I had already decided that I was going to get him to write a diary entry, something that would be a lot of text, as he had a very busy day yesterday, and it would get him writing and hopefully being enthusiastic about something. So below is what he wrote…I’ll get him to do it again in the future.

Title: What I did yesterday – Saturday

I woke up on Saturday morning and immediately had a shower and got ready for training. My dad told me previously that we are going running so I was really dreading it. We got in the car and listened to our usual house music….at 9.00am!

When we arrived I stood with my team chanting at Twariq & Naz in a race at Cutteslowe Park, we were laughing at Twariq because he went the wrong way. Naz came 5th

It was funny when they came back to us to train because we went on another run! I ran next to Harley at the front, my Dad couldn’t keep up so he left us and walked a short cut to the pavilion but we still beat him.

After running we had a fun session on the freshly cut cricket grass – we all had tired legs so it was very slow.

After training we came home and I had to do even more Citizenship revision for my GCSE’s on Monday and Thursday next week. I revised until 12.30pm then I got ready for work, 6 hour shift. When I got to work my legs were shattered and it was so busy. I felt like crying! To get me through I had to constantly be sipping on my nice cool coke, I also tried to stay outside in the sun for as long as possible.

At 7.00pm my shift finished and I had to go home and get ready for my party and I had to be at Hal’s by 8.00pm. I went to the fridge and got out my WKD and Cider and made my way to Cutteslowe, Mum & Dad dropped me off as they were going out to a Race Night for Chloe Holden to race money for her Ecuador trip, I was excited for the party.

When we were on our way I thought we were lost in the middle of nowhere, then a castle popped up out of nowhere and we got outside thinking we were at the wrong place but no, it was just a private school party!

At the party I saw loads of lads I knew from football and rugby when I was about 11 years old, they recognised me and were talking about how good I was when we all played, it was really nice to see them. I came home at 11.30pm and Dad was asleep on the sofa with Bessie so I didn’t wake him and went to bed, a great day and night.

So busy

Working really hard at the minute as I'm all over the place. This week I've been at GL in London on Tuesday, Findel on Wednesday in Enfield which I then drive up to Mancgester to do more training for them in Hyde before coming back down to Oxford Thursday night and I'm back on the train now to London for GL.

I think Tash is finding it hard work as I am quite stretched meaning I'm not much use around the house as I'm not there enough. Can't even say I'll make it up over the weekend as I have a fair amount of football on. Mind you April is always so busy and having the Bank Holiday last week and going to Bournemouth feels like we've not had a break. Hopefully have a BBQ at some point this weekend. 

So we've rolled out the new Spirit v8 to a customer and the training went well and I received some nice comments hut it was also quite hard with a couple of users in either being thick as shit and slowing things down or two scots just talking throughout. Rude!

Anyway, Tash is trying to sort holiday in the US out so with all this work hopefully it will enable us to pay for it without denying out savings...we shall see. Also, the GL work isn't permanent so I need to get out of it whatever I can. 

One good thing about all this is that my body clock is starting to adjust to waking around 5.15am. Partly because Bess has worked out how to get out of her cage and like clockwork she comes up to our bedroom to snuggle up with us...always at 5.00am!! But I've been leaving early so my alarm is set for 5.30am anyway. 

I'm happy to be getting up this early as I'm slowly become more energetic in the morning rather than at night so hopefully this will continue. 

Finally, we've bought a set of bathroom scales. I suggested it as we're both complaining we're overweight but not really doing much about it. Although Tash does more exercise than me so is better than me but without a measure it makes it hard to be motivated...I'm just over 13 stone!!! Fuck!!!! 

Anyway, almost at work so signing off now.