Vinyl on the wall in the bar

I spent the day today working in the office and the bar, the morning I was putting all my photos and such like on the walls in my office – and then tidied up the place, looks much much better now.
In the afternoon I watched a YouTube video on how to best (cheaply) display album covers on a wall so I popped out to Wickes and then Tool Station to get the items I needed. The strangest thing happened through, the L-Shaped hooks that I wanted weren’t in Wickes so I Googled them and found they were in Tool Station so I walked up to the catalogues to look for it and the page was open on the item I needed. How spooky is that??? I was astonished and took photos and told the family – so creeped out!

So I got what I needed and then came home to do the DIY – the result I am so very pleased with as you can see below, just a shame that some of my very favourite albums were ruined by damp so I couldn’t use them.

Went and had dinner when Tash and Charlotte came back from the JR having seen Vics, Danny and Theo – nice toad in the hole and Emma cooked crepes for us which were nice.
Watched a bit of TV but everyone was knackered so early nights all round.
End to a good weekend

Office wall

Bar wall (before)

Bar Wall (after)

I’m a Great Uncle…but we already knew that!

I don’t think it needed confirming but I am officially a “great” uncle!

Victoria and Danny had their baby today, Vics was in labour all day and had a boy in the evening – they’ve called him Theodore.

There were complications etc along the way which had Tash worried but all is fine now and they’re okay I think.

Everyone will want to go up there to the JR and see them, I’ll wait until they out and home and comfortable.

So that’s likely to be the first of many for the family and the size just keeps increasing!!
P.S. There was a sweepstake on the date of his arrival and I missed out by choosing the due date around 17th Jan – I think one of the nieces up in Edinburgh on Gareth’s side of the family won - £200.00!!

Cowley Road Meal – sort of

Met Wayne and Kerry in Be At One this evening after a decent day’s work and we had a couple of cocktails as usual and then wandered down to The Coconut Tree. It’s a bit cramped in there as they push the tables up close of each other but it was fine – we’re slim!

Chose some food and it was fantastic, so tasty – really enjoyed it, I was even eating the mushrooms!

Had a few beers and at 11.15pm we went over to Café Tarifa and had a couple more in there – it was too late for Jack to pick us up – which pissed me off and we got a taxi home.

Wasn’t too happy about it but it is what it is, straight to bed, really good evening.

Decent Weekend – busy!

Friday:

Finished work and decided to have a few beers…ended up on the Gin and Tonic and Tash on the wine and then had a bit of a blowout and got drunk! Watched a film and eventually went out to the bar and slept out there until 5.00am. Loud music and loads to drink – plenty of dancing but all on my own!! Bit sad but had a good evening!

Saturday:

Hungover of course, woke up around 10.30am and then did some work pottering around the house and painting things for Tash. Tash & Charlotte took Mum out for afternoon tea at Crazy Bear and then popped into see Derek afterwards and he was fine, but I watched Jack play football – he got 25 mins and they lost 4-2 against Berkhamsted. Felt for him because he’s been playing well and started two matches. I took Bess and she was annoying, spilled my chips and boiling coffee! Home and dinner and another film in the evening which was nice – although not very good. Tom Hanks in A Wonderful Day in the Neighbourhood – load of shite!

Sunday:

Up early – more household DIY carried out today, fixing the door frames upstairs and clearing leaves in the back garden. Tash went for a run then we went for a walk with Bess in the meadow and ended up at the White Hart for the Farmer’s Market – not many stalls, and we had a coffee which was nice. Pottered around at home and cleared out the loft as well and then went to Sue’s for dinner which was nice and we watched Princess Diaries which Charlotte and I enjoyed. Came home and then went to White Hart again but with John, Pauline and a student call Una for the pub quiz, had a few pints and the quiz was hard – we came third (out of four teams)…but it was a nice evening and it went on late though so we didn’t get home until about 10.45pm – I watched some of MOTD and then went to bed

A good weekend all told

Normal day, normal diary entry that will never be read again!

Normal day working in Raintree – they had yearly conference or something so I was left alone in the office for much of the day. It’s fine though, I had loads to do so got on with it with no fuss

Went to Wheatley afterwards and cut through Blackbird Leys and Garsington – great shortcut to get there. Mum was there and I stayed an hour. He refused food but apparently had walked to the bathroom – his own request – so that was a bright point. Not much else to report really, it’s such a sad sight seeing him in there.

Took ages to get home and was in about 7.00pm crossing Tash at the bottom of the road as she went to boot camp at the gym – just dinner and relaxing for me!

Watched Silent Witness and then to bed again by 10.00pm! Pretty non-descript sort of day really.

Oh, over in the States the Democrats pushed ahead with the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump – bit pointless really as the Senate is controlled by Republicans and they’re so partisan they will throw it out without any proper due process. Massive waste of time and money!

Morning in London, afternoon in gym, evening in front of TV

Travelled to London today to run a training session with a Hodder user so that they can run reports for them instead of me…not ideal but that’s what they wanted! Went fine and without incident and gave me a chance to catch up with things on the way there and back.

Half a day and back to Oxford by 2.00pm so decided to go to the gym, asked Tash but she wanted to paint the doors at home instead!

Worked really hard at the gym, 20 minutes on the bike had me sweating like mad and then 2000 metres on the rowing machine and then other stuff, was there until 4.00pm so a decent session for once.

Back home and couldn’t be bothered to work so relaxed in the bath and pottered about and then Tash and I watched Silent Witness and me, Charlotte and Tash watched Jo Jo Rabbit – I really enjoyed it but I don’t think the other two were particularly impressed. Had a funny conversation with Charlotte as she couldn’t understand that Hitler could be alive but ALSO an imaginary friend – so odd her way of thinking sometimes it really is. She just couldn’t comprehend that a real person can be an imaginary friend…I didn’t know there were rules for imaginary friends!!

Once all done, off to bed for an early night around 10.00pm for once!

Pleased with my effort at the gym, yes I know it’s January and everyone’s like that, but I so want to be in shape in the summer this year…perhaps this is the year I manage it….doubt it though!

House Day

Tash has it in her mind that January is “make up jobs” month!

So the pull out larder is no more…we emptied it and then I took out the pull out shelving and changed the doors so these are swing instead of pull out now. We thought we had shelves in the shed – nope! So we need to get some made and hopefully the guy at her work can do something for us.

Took ages to do this. Charlotte and Miles came home from their weekend in the log cabin in Hereford and stayed for dinner, opened a couple of bottles of wine and watched The Terminal – Tom Hanks film, wasn’t interested but really enjoyed it. They left so Tash and I watched the end of the other film we’d started – Peppermint – and then bed at 10.00pm, end to a decent weekend

Mum’s Birthday

Supposed to be working in the morning with a tel call but they’d forgot – bit pissed off by that to be honest as they’d requested be do the session at the weekend!

Did my tax return instead…joy! Bit worried about this one to be honest because I think we’ve gone too far with dividends to Tash – scared of a hefty tax bill coming our way.

I picked up Tash from the gym where she was having a coffee with Zoe after yoga and we then went to the Nursing home in Wheatley and met with Mum and we took Derek down to the Harvester by Asda. Pushing him in the wheelchair was quite hard work but it was only about a 15 minute walk and it was fine.

Nice bit of food and drink and he didn’t have much but we think he was glad of the time away from the home and Tash was very organised in ensuring Derek had some flowers and a card to give to mum, Tash has been amazing she really has. Walked back to the home and said our goodbyes and then we went straight to Didcot to catch the second half because Jack was playing (he’d started) and it was a typical lower league match (17th v 18th) – Jack did well what we saw and was unlucky not to score. He got subbed near the end and they won 1-0 so that was pleasing.

Couple of drinks in the bar and then home to get ready and sort/walk Bess – she’s much better now and fully recovered from her illness.

Went and picked up Mum and then parked down Manzil Way and went to Malikas Indian Restaurant – Jack joined us and we had a lovely meal. Couple of beers and glasses of wine – Tash drove, Jack went off to meet mates and we got the cake brought out again! The manager then came over and offered free drinks – I said no but Tash and Mum had another wine and Mum was a bit tipsy by the end of the evening when we dropped her home.

I think she had a good birthday and appreciated what we’d done for her in trying to make it enjoyable. Louise didn’t come down or anything which isn’t very good at all – I am not going to raise it with her though – no need and it’s her that’s missing out.

A good evening, home about 10.30pm, watched a bit of MOTD with a coffee and then bed! Lots of jobs tomorrow!!

Giving Blood

Gave blood this morning and just got home – all went well and as usual posted a tweet with a photo of a Club biscuit, it’s the only time I get to have one of them!!

Decided to cycle there today, good decision, the traffic as usual was a nightmare, it was so nice not to be caught up in it – will definitely do that again.

But the cycling was hard work, my legs just had no strength in them at all. It will be interesting to see how quickly/well I do it in 6 weeks time assuming I manage to continue with some sort of exercise regime…it’s January of course so I am interested in losing some weight. But then I also want to for the Mexico holiday, I so want to look good for that after the New Years Eve game where everyone said I was the fat one! Bitter much??? Me??

Skiing in the Alps to start 2020

Just got back from 4 days in Les Deux Alpes and it was fantastic fun.

Jack found out he wasn’t playing football on Saturday 4th so we booked up and went skiing. Drove down on New Years Day night after his football match for Didcot where he got a full 90 minutes and we took his mate Aleks. The journey down was fine and got there at 7.00am local time, slept in the car for a bit and then dumped our stuff in the hotel and were out on the slopes by 11.00am.

Decent hotel, good location and loads of slopes. Lively resort in the evening as well as on the slopes themselves – stopped in Pano Bar every day for a couple of beers.

Evening meal and breakfast included, slopes shut at 5.00pm so slept and relaxed before dinner and then afterwards out to the pubs/bars (The Polar Bear and The Secret Bar, also the Windsor pub!)

Skiing was great fun as always, I wasn’t as pathetic and hurting/aching as I have been in the past, perhaps the gym sessions in December helped?

Aleks and Jack got on really well so that was a relief, he is a nice lad to that helped, he got us a couple of coffees on the slopes so that was good of him, we did buy him a lot of drinks and food, but it was fine.

Coming home wasn’t so good – we were caught in traffic trying to get out of the Alps so it added over an hour to the journey and we stopped for food instead of driving through. I did drive a 6.5hrs stint from 8.30pm to 3.00am so that was tough going. Tash drove the UK side of things so I could sleep and that worked really well.

So a really great holiday, will upload some photos but I’d recommend to anyone to go there if they asked me.

Skiing holidays are so hard to beat…it’s never boring seeing the mountains and you’re just so detached from the real world – I love it so very much. We all do!

New Year’s Eve

Got things sorted for the skiing trip and pottered about the house during the day.

Went to the Millar’s in the evening, Wayne and Kerry picked us up because Sharon really wanted Tash to have a drink!

It was just me & Tash, Wayne & Kerry and Jason & Sharon. Laura and a friend of hers were there for some of the evening as well.

We drank and talked and soon played a couple of games that was fun. The first one called Linkie was really enjoyable, worked in couples and had to answer x4 questions and then work out the connection (link). We won, it was very close and went down to the last card, it was quite challenging but at the same time not overly hard that it wasn’t fun.

We then played ‘Bad People’ and that was a good laugh, you have cards that provide a statement and you have to determine who best fits that card – I was getting quite a lot of them…worst one was who’s put on weight since getting married – unanimous pointing at me! Didn’t like that…truth hurts…

Midnight came and went and we had a sing song and stayed until about 2.00am and then got a lift home.

Really lovely evening that we all enjoyed and thankfully didn’t overdo it with the long drive ahead of me on New Year’s Day!

An end to a very eventful year, as always, we wonder what’s in store in the new year…we shall see soon enough!

Ice Skating at Winchester Cathedral

Hangovers for Charlotte and Mum this morning – seriously ill and being sick everywhere!

I got blamed because my Gin measures were a bit too generous!

Spent the morning clearing up and sorting things out and then around midday drove down to Winchester with Wayne & Kerry and the kids for the annual ice skating trip. Winchester is a really nice place – really impressed with it and would go back there at Xmas time in the future.

Had some quick food from Macs to help with the hangovers and then went to the cathedral where the ice skating was being held. Nice set up but the rink was pretty small – it was fine though and we enjoyed the hour on the ice.  Didn’t fall over and looked fairly fit – I think – it was good though.

Meal at Ask Italian afterwards and that was lovely, then back home in the cars and an early night – everyone was knackered!

Good fun as usual

Dark Side Bar Opening

The Dark Side Bar officially opened today!

I had a practise run a couple of weeks ago where I stayed up all night and got absolutely hammered but this time other people were invited!!

From about 3.00pm onwards we invited people to come over – it was nice, there was a steady trickle through and everyone was really impressed with the bar set up and we all crowded into it. Drinks were flowing and it was a great afternoon and evening.

As per usual we overdid it and stayed up until about midnight and got steaming drunk – including getting out the smoke machine and strobe lights.

A good start to life with the new bar – realised there are a few things we need to add to it but as things stand and as a beginning all is good so far. Looking forward to getting more use out of it over time!!

Panto visit

Went to the panto this evening – in Aylesbury as usual.

Parked no problem and then met up in the pub opposite and had something to eat, a few people not feeling too well because of colds/flu but all was fine

The panto wasn’t actually all that to be honest – it felt flat and not very enjoyable. A bit boring actually.

The water guns was mental this year, absolutely mad

We had a couple in front of us who had learning difficulties and it was hard not to love them! She kept being so wrapped up in the show and what was happening and making comments it was so lovely and innocent to listen to her making remarks and suggestions for how the princess could survive and marry etc.

Had the usual photo outside afterwards and then made our way home

A nice evening and great tradition but it wasn’t as good as usual – perhaps we’ve built it up too much!

Derek Moved into Nursing Home

As the title suggests – he was moved into the Triangle Nursing Home today being transferred from Didcot Hospital

Mum and I had obviously reviewed the place and felt this was the best one for him and it’s fine – he will settle in no problem hopefully.

None of us went up today but we will do so over the weekend and see him.

A shame it’s come to this but it’s necessary sadly, no idea if he will ever recover to be able to leave the home or not, time will tell

It’s good it’s only Wheatley as Mum can get up there easily enough

Derek Moving to Nursing Home

Mum has been given a date (Friday) for Derek to be moved to the Triangle Nursing Home

I went with her yesterday to check out the room and when we got there they advised he’d been allocated one of the ground floor – so no decision was required, we much preferred him to be downstairs.

We checked out the room and it was adequate, a little small, but on a good location so we were happy with that.

He moves there tomorrow, he’s got an appointment for his hearing aid at the JR in the morning and then instead of going back to the hospital he’s off to Wheatley instead.

Mum is bearing up well and is happy with it, hopefully Derek likes the move as well

Derek – Nursing Home

Mum has been advised by the hospital that Derek needs to go to a Nursing Home now because he can’t be cared for at home when released.

They gave her a couple of options so she and I spent today going to them. We had three and went to Wheatley in the morning.

It’s not nice, people just sat in the living room watching TV and nothing happening – except ‘waiting’…if you know what I mean.

Staff were lovely and we had a good tour and it’s small so only 24 residents. We liked this place and with it being close to Mum is very convenient.

Went to Greater Leys in the afternoon – not so nice. It was fine but 3 times as big and less personal. We weren’t there long, I think we’d already made up our minds for Wheatley, and we decided not to even bother with Bletchingdon because it was too far away.

So that’s decided then, over £1k per week, but I think this will be paid for by the NHS and not Mum/Derek.

It’s all a bit depressing and sad, it really is. He’s too young and fit to go into a home, but we could never have seen this happening.

I think he is improving ever so slowly, but as usual it’s ups and downs – but compared with when I went about 2 weeks ago he’s much better.

Weekend fun; Emily’s Birthday & TOAD tour

Friday night:

Emily’s Birthday party in Bicester at the bowls club, we decided to get the train, quite a few of us, including John & Pauline and Zoe at her kids. The venue was right next door to the train station so that was a bonus and the drinks were really cheap, didn’t dance, just drank! Nothing much else to report really, a nice evening and then we got the train home which wasn’t too late – I think it was about 11.00pm, we were all steaming drunk though! Walked home from the train station and home to bed!!

Saturday:

Fry up in the morning to clear the head and the stomachs ready for our gin tour in the afternoon. Me, Tash, Lewis, Charlotte, Miles & Mum went to TOAD (The Oxford Artisan Distillery) that is opposite Cheney school. Really good tour, enjoyable and the lad running it was very personable, had a lot of shots as well – bit tipsy by the time we’d finished the tour! Stayed for a bit then Charlotte and Miles went off with Mum to drop her home and me Tash and Lewis when shopping into Oxford. The TOAD people were great and we were able to get a minibus ride into the centre of town. Did some shopping but we weren’t in the mood so soon stopped for something to eat at the Wetherspoons, a couple more beers and then home to watch films and relax. A really nice day – sadly Jack didn’t play today

Sunday:

Very relaxed and slow day – went to see Derek and then over to Sue’s for something to eat. Lewis’s house-mates turned up and he gave them a lift home to Manchester and we watched some TV and then came home – nothing too exciting!

Jack’s Cheeky Chipped goal – great skill!

Jack’s struggling to get a regular game at the minute which is causing all sorts of anger and frustration – feel really sorry for him and I get just as wound up when viewing Twitter updates and see he’s not playing

But this evening in the Berks and Bucks cup match he started and did well culminating in this goal which was videoed. He was rightly chuffed to bits and he got a lot of love on Twitter as a result!

Very proud of him!

My Birthday – 51 years old…really???

It’s 4.15am and I am downstairs working! I couldn’t sleep this evening – the pain I am in with my back and a trapped nerve is terrible, so I thought I might as well get up and stop lying there in pain and disturbing Tash with my moaning and groaning. Not really enjoying the start to my birthday I have to admit!

Can’t believe it’s a year since all the celebrations last year – seems ages ago. But it’s nice seeing Facebook memories showing the trip to New York – great trip

Nothing planned today – have loads on my plate for work in terms of training clients so a busy day

Will go out in the evening for a meal – Mum will come. Feeling sorry for her because Derek’s still not in a good place (and I don’t mean that as a slight on Didcot!) he’s just not really improving much and the people are suggesting he be coming home in a matter of weeks and Mum doesn’t want to become a carer etc – it’s a tricky situation and is causing a lot of concern.

Also, Grandma is in a Community hospital in Witney and I don’t think Susan is coping too well so it’s all a bit of a mess

Glad we’re going away to Menorca for a few days tomorrow!!