My working world has come to a natural pause, so I am fairly relaxed as I get through my last working day. That is also why I am double-blogging.
We are in pretty good shape. The whole family have had a haircut, and we have layed out all our clothes. Note "layed out" rather than packed. We seem to be unusual in that our preference is not to pack, but to lay out. Then we pile it into the suitcases at the last minute; for us that is tonight.
The reason we do this is to avoid the "did I pack the blue shorts?" problems. By laying out everything, and piling them in to the cases last minute, we avoid that, and can use our packing list* to check we have everything.
It works for us.
Maggot 1, father-in-law (F-i-L) and I went to watch Pompey play Bognor Rocks last night. This is a warm up match for Pompey, and a very good earner for The Rocks. Pompey won 4-1. It was a great evening of football. We were ten metres from the manager, Paul Cook, and could hear every word he said. And boy did he say a lot. F-i-L says that he is always like that, he being a season-ticket holder so sees a lot of games. It was fascinating listening to his fairly constant narration. One amusing moment was when one of the strikers did not close down a defender**, rather lazily leaving it for the other striker. Immediately afterwards Paul Cook was shouting "work harder, close him down" several times, in several different ways. The player did not make that mistake again.
The family is getting excited now, and I am also starting to believe that tomorrow will actually arrive.
One more day, and I can wear my new hat.
And my speedos***.
Come on.
==========================================
* Oh yes, we have a list
** It seems to be part of his team instructions that the front men aggressively close down defenders and keeper
*** Only joking, I could not inflict that on the world, my family or my friends
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Thursday, 28 July 2016
Nearly there
My working world has come to a natural pause, so I am fairly relaxed as I get through my last working day. That is also why I am double-blogging.
We are in pretty good shape. The whole family have had a haircut, and we have layed out all our clothes. Note "layed out" rather than packed. We seem to be unusual in that our preference is not to pack, but to lay out. Then we pile it into the suitcases at the last minute; for us that is tonight.
The reason we do this is to avoid the "did I pack the blue shorts?" problems. By laying out everything, and piling them in to the cases last minute, we avoid that, and can use our packing list* to check we have everything.
It works for us.
Maggot 1, father-in-law (F-i-L) and I went to watch Pompey play Bognor Rocks last night. This is a warm up match for Pompey, and a very good earner for The Rocks. Pompey won 4-1. It was a great evening of football. We were ten metres from the manager, Paul Cook, and could hear every word he said. And boy did he say a lot. F-i-L says that he is always like that, he being a season-ticket holder so sees a lot of games. It was fascinating listening to his fairly constant narration. One amusing moment was when one of the strikers did not close down a defender**, rather lazily leaving it for the other striker. Immediately afterwards Paul Cook was shouting "work harder, close him down" several times, in several different ways. The player did not make that mistake again.
The family is getting excited now, and I am also starting to believe that tomorrow will actually arrive.
One more day, and I can wear my new hat.
And my speedos***.
Come on.
==========================================
* Oh yes, we have a list
** It seems to be part of his team instructions that the front men aggressively close down defenders and keeper
*** Only joking, I could not inflict that on the world, my family or my friends
We are in pretty good shape. The whole family have had a haircut, and we have layed out all our clothes. Note "layed out" rather than packed. We seem to be unusual in that our preference is not to pack, but to lay out. Then we pile it into the suitcases at the last minute; for us that is tonight.
The reason we do this is to avoid the "did I pack the blue shorts?" problems. By laying out everything, and piling them in to the cases last minute, we avoid that, and can use our packing list* to check we have everything.
It works for us.
Maggot 1, father-in-law (F-i-L) and I went to watch Pompey play Bognor Rocks last night. This is a warm up match for Pompey, and a very good earner for The Rocks. Pompey won 4-1. It was a great evening of football. We were ten metres from the manager, Paul Cook, and could hear every word he said. And boy did he say a lot. F-i-L says that he is always like that, he being a season-ticket holder so sees a lot of games. It was fascinating listening to his fairly constant narration. One amusing moment was when one of the strikers did not close down a defender**, rather lazily leaving it for the other striker. Immediately afterwards Paul Cook was shouting "work harder, close him down" several times, in several different ways. The player did not make that mistake again.
The family is getting excited now, and I am also starting to believe that tomorrow will actually arrive.
One more day, and I can wear my new hat.
And my speedos***.
Come on.
==========================================
* Oh yes, we have a list
** It seems to be part of his team instructions that the front men aggressively close down defenders and keeper
*** Only joking, I could not inflict that on the world, my family or my friends
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Who the hell is Scobi?
I saw this, and had to smile just a little bit. I wonder which one of those I am?
Friday, 22 July 2016
Six days and eighteen hours to go
It is starting to feel real now. The Maggots are both finished, and LO has an INSET day today, so may be home at a reasonable time. Maggot 1 has actually gone to the beach and won't be home until after 8pm, but once he is home, then I can really start to believe that we are nearly there. The rest of the family will have finished, we have the usual football commitments at the weekend, are at David and Samantha's in the evening to do the final holiday logistics, and then we are in to my last four days at work, which are punctuated with a haircut on Monday, going to see Pompey at The Rocks (Bognor Football club to the uninitiated) on Wednesday, final packing Thursday before finally being picked up by the taxi on Friday.
LO and I have just returned from the Leavers' Assembly at Maggot 2's junior school. He has another year to go, so it was not his leaving that we witnessing. It started with a rather cryptic call last night from Maggot 2's form teacher, saying that he had won a prize, and it would be good for us to attend if we could. We both duly turned up at 1.30pm to sit on hard seats in a very hot hall, to watch the cups being presented to each year, before the Deputy Head and Head boy and girl (so four in total) were announced for next year, and I am delighted to say that Maggot 2 is Head Boy for next year. Proud as punch and gob-smacked, the Sun headlines would no doubt read. We are delighted and are just hoping that Maggot 2 does not try the wind up Maggot 1 too much.
Otherwise, not much to report. Just keeping my head down to close off my work tidily before our holiday.
I hope you have a great weekend, speak when I can next blog, which may be whilst on holiday, or it may not, depending on how relaxed I get.
LO and I have just returned from the Leavers' Assembly at Maggot 2's junior school. He has another year to go, so it was not his leaving that we witnessing. It started with a rather cryptic call last night from Maggot 2's form teacher, saying that he had won a prize, and it would be good for us to attend if we could. We both duly turned up at 1.30pm to sit on hard seats in a very hot hall, to watch the cups being presented to each year, before the Deputy Head and Head boy and girl (so four in total) were announced for next year, and I am delighted to say that Maggot 2 is Head Boy for next year. Proud as punch and gob-smacked, the Sun headlines would no doubt read. We are delighted and are just hoping that Maggot 2 does not try the wind up Maggot 1 too much.
Otherwise, not much to report. Just keeping my head down to close off my work tidily before our holiday.
I hope you have a great weekend, speak when I can next blog, which may be whilst on holiday, or it may not, depending on how relaxed I get.
Friday, 15 July 2016
Thirteen days to go
This is the second to last Friday at school for the Maggots, next week being their last this acedemic year. Ditto for LO, though she has a couple of funding bids to complete, so may work the first day or two of the holiday.
For me, as the title suggests, it is thirteen days until our holiday, and until I finish. That is not to say that it is the only thing on my mind; I still manage to think about sex about every seven seconds (I have the pride of the male species to maintain after all), but it is fair to say that there is a significant sub-terranian bubbling of excitement building in our clan, and also that of David and Samantha*.
This week I attended a funeral, the father of one of my college friends, and due to the location of the funeral, in North Wales, I spent most of Wednesday in the car on an epic ten hour round trip. I was pleased to be able to attend** and it was a funeral that was sad, of course, but also a joy in celebrating a life well lived. John was quite a character, spending the final phase of his life lecturing at a local college, befitting his lifetime desire to bring out the best of anyone he encountered. Indeed, in his mid-sixties he got himself a degree (getting a First too). My thoughts are with his family, particularly his wife who is now coming to terms with the loss of a life partner.
This weekend we have football and cricket, a football tournament for Maggot 2 and the final cricket match of the year for Maggot 1, both on Sunday. LO and I will do a split shift and, depending on how Maggot 2's team does, they will come over to the tournament after the cricket is finished.
On Saturday, we have the pleasure of celebrating Gee Gee's birthday. Gee Gee is LO's grandmother, and great-grandmother (GG) to the Maggots. We are planning a brunch on Saturday morning, which will be nice.
Otherwise, we will be starting to plan our holiday arrangements. I am pleased that stability is starting to return to the nation after the (still) unbelievable Brexit vote, which on a personal level means that the currency exchange rate for the Euro is improving, just in time for our holiday. Who says politics has to be selfish, ha ha. Otherwise, the arrangements are fairly well structured; we are going over to David and Samantha's next Saturday to go through all the arrangements, split out the tickets and details, ensure we have all the pre-requisites sorted. I have a haircut on the Monday before I go (I don't like to have a white line round the cut) and hopefully am going to watch Pompey play the Bognor Rocks their ground on the Wednesday. Then the excitement will really start to build.
I hope you have a great weekend, and speak next week.
======================
* As pseudonyms go, this one is now rather outdated, and I need to consider if I should start referring to them as Theresa and Philip
** one of our group was unable to attend because he was appearing on Come Dine With Me. As excuses go, that is not a bad one
For me, as the title suggests, it is thirteen days until our holiday, and until I finish. That is not to say that it is the only thing on my mind; I still manage to think about sex about every seven seconds (I have the pride of the male species to maintain after all), but it is fair to say that there is a significant sub-terranian bubbling of excitement building in our clan, and also that of David and Samantha*.
This week I attended a funeral, the father of one of my college friends, and due to the location of the funeral, in North Wales, I spent most of Wednesday in the car on an epic ten hour round trip. I was pleased to be able to attend** and it was a funeral that was sad, of course, but also a joy in celebrating a life well lived. John was quite a character, spending the final phase of his life lecturing at a local college, befitting his lifetime desire to bring out the best of anyone he encountered. Indeed, in his mid-sixties he got himself a degree (getting a First too). My thoughts are with his family, particularly his wife who is now coming to terms with the loss of a life partner.
This weekend we have football and cricket, a football tournament for Maggot 2 and the final cricket match of the year for Maggot 1, both on Sunday. LO and I will do a split shift and, depending on how Maggot 2's team does, they will come over to the tournament after the cricket is finished.
On Saturday, we have the pleasure of celebrating Gee Gee's birthday. Gee Gee is LO's grandmother, and great-grandmother (GG) to the Maggots. We are planning a brunch on Saturday morning, which will be nice.
Otherwise, we will be starting to plan our holiday arrangements. I am pleased that stability is starting to return to the nation after the (still) unbelievable Brexit vote, which on a personal level means that the currency exchange rate for the Euro is improving, just in time for our holiday. Who says politics has to be selfish, ha ha. Otherwise, the arrangements are fairly well structured; we are going over to David and Samantha's next Saturday to go through all the arrangements, split out the tickets and details, ensure we have all the pre-requisites sorted. I have a haircut on the Monday before I go (I don't like to have a white line round the cut) and hopefully am going to watch Pompey play the Bognor Rocks their ground on the Wednesday. Then the excitement will really start to build.
I hope you have a great weekend, and speak next week.
======================
* As pseudonyms go, this one is now rather outdated, and I need to consider if I should start referring to them as Theresa and Philip
** one of our group was unable to attend because he was appearing on Come Dine With Me. As excuses go, that is not a bad one
Friday, 8 July 2016
Three weeks (and definitely counting)
... to my holiday, in case you were wondering*.
Things are starting to line up nicely, including:
Work is getting busier, which is good.
This weekend, we hope to do plenty of nothing. LO is getting very tired, with the tell-tale sign of a sore throat warning her she needs to slow down a bit, and I have had to travel quite a lot in to the office so am also more tired than usual, and my usual amount of tiredness is more than most people, due to my sleep issues.
Talking of which, there was an interesting show on ITV last night (don't worry mum, I only went to the "other side" by accident) about sleep disorders, which said that sleep issues are becoming one of the biggest growing health risks, presumably, though not explicitly mentioned, behind dementia, cancer and obesity. It gave me some hope that I am not a rare freak, but also made me think about maybe trying to do something about it. Not quite sure what yet, but the idea is fermenting, and I will be sure to let you know what comes of that when it grows in to something tangible.
Maggot 2 has football training on Saturday, a sponsored bleep test actually, looking to raise money for a new training and match kit. On Sunday we have a practice 9-a-side. The team is shaping up nicely, playing well together and relishing the bigger pitch and the greater numbers. I really think this format suits them as a team, and with a couple of promising new starters, they are shaping up to be quite a formidable team.
We had a good tournament last Saturday, up until the semi-finals when a ridiculous decision** robbed us of the game, but overall the tournament was fine. The whole team played well, and Maggot 2 scored half a dozen goals or more, which has given him his confidence back, just in time for the season to start.
I hope you have a great weekend, and speak next week.
====================================
* and if you ARE wondering, where the hell have you been?
** We had been awarded a throw-in by the ref, but the other team took it instead, and scored from the throw, with the ref doing nothing about it. In fairness to him, he had been reffing all afternoon, but nevertheless there is only so much laissez-faire you can take. The parents of the coach were incensed, and invaded the pitch at the end to tell the ref quite how disgusting his decision-making had been. The boys themselves were devastated, with a modest amount of wailing and gobbing off ensuing. Most unsatisfactory way to be knocked out
Things are starting to line up nicely, including:
- Having initially considered it unthinkable that Brexit would win, and then when it did win, feeling that surely, that terrible word surely, they might go down for a bit while all the nutters panicked, but once the realities sank in that nothing really has changed, they would rally. What am I talking about? The markets of course, and just now the Pound to Euro exchange rate specifically. It seems to be rallying very slightly, so if I can just ignore the fact that the rate was considerably higher three months ago, then I think we are going to be OK
- Gorse Fox has warned Urban-Cub to warm her hands, so any security checks at Gatwick will be nothing more than a pleasant, warm massage from a nice lady (hopefully).
Work is getting busier, which is good.
This weekend, we hope to do plenty of nothing. LO is getting very tired, with the tell-tale sign of a sore throat warning her she needs to slow down a bit, and I have had to travel quite a lot in to the office so am also more tired than usual, and my usual amount of tiredness is more than most people, due to my sleep issues.
Talking of which, there was an interesting show on ITV last night (don't worry mum, I only went to the "other side" by accident) about sleep disorders, which said that sleep issues are becoming one of the biggest growing health risks, presumably, though not explicitly mentioned, behind dementia, cancer and obesity. It gave me some hope that I am not a rare freak, but also made me think about maybe trying to do something about it. Not quite sure what yet, but the idea is fermenting, and I will be sure to let you know what comes of that when it grows in to something tangible.
Maggot 2 has football training on Saturday, a sponsored bleep test actually, looking to raise money for a new training and match kit. On Sunday we have a practice 9-a-side. The team is shaping up nicely, playing well together and relishing the bigger pitch and the greater numbers. I really think this format suits them as a team, and with a couple of promising new starters, they are shaping up to be quite a formidable team.
We had a good tournament last Saturday, up until the semi-finals when a ridiculous decision** robbed us of the game, but overall the tournament was fine. The whole team played well, and Maggot 2 scored half a dozen goals or more, which has given him his confidence back, just in time for the season to start.
I hope you have a great weekend, and speak next week.
====================================
* and if you ARE wondering, where the hell have you been?
** We had been awarded a throw-in by the ref, but the other team took it instead, and scored from the throw, with the ref doing nothing about it. In fairness to him, he had been reffing all afternoon, but nevertheless there is only so much laissez-faire you can take. The parents of the coach were incensed, and invaded the pitch at the end to tell the ref quite how disgusting his decision-making had been. The boys themselves were devastated, with a modest amount of wailing and gobbing off ensuing. Most unsatisfactory way to be knocked out
Laissez-faire
Friday, 1 July 2016
Four short, little biddy weeks to go
This time in four weeks, the Scobi clan will be awake, arisen, showered, and filled with a certain amount of tension, as we prepare to be picked up at around 9am by the taxi, which will then go to our friends' house to pick them up, before taking us up to Gatwick. There, we will likely have the usual EasyJet scrum to check-in, and where the accuracy of our bathroom scales will be tested - we want to be taking our bags to within a gram of 20Kg each, or actually we can also do a total of 40Kg across the two bags, as long as any one bag does not exceed 35Kg. Confused yet? If not, then hand luggage is worth a mention. Its dimensions must not exceed 56 x 45 x 25 cms and its weight must not exceed 5Kg.
Once we are checked in, we will have all bags, belts and body cavities checked by security, before we are then free to explore the relative bountifulness of the departure lounge. After one to two planned hours, and any additional hours air-traffic control or other external factors wish to add on to our waiting, we will board the flight, I think to booked seats, for a further couple of hours of reading and listening to music.
On arrival at Mallorca, we will pickup our hire car from the rental company that was at the cheaper end of the scale, so may be troublesome. It is at least in the airport itself, not a transfer bus away, so how bad can it get. No doubt I will tell you after the holiday.
We will then drive to our first night's accommodation, an ex-monastery atop a hill, with, if their website can be believed, views across the valley to the sea that are out of this world. We travelled on a Friday to save money on the flights, since even with the hotel to pay for, we are saving plenty of hundreds of pounds. I know, forced to have an extra day of holiday, how very dare they?
At that point, our holiday has started. We will eat, we will drink, we will rest and we will admire the view.
The next day, we can take a leisurely drive to our villa for the fortnight, which is less than a kilometre away. We may go via the supermarket, if our small cars have capacity, to do the initial shop, and thus save wasting any lying-by-the-pool time.
In the meantime of course, I have some working to do and some football to watch. Work is going well. I am now on an account helping out for a bit, and to do so have had to submit to a bunch more security vetting procedures. Tales of what can happen if you get it wrong give great incentive to get it right.
At home, Maggot 2 has a football tournament tomorrow, which uses the field belonging to his school, so we can walk to it. Once it is over, we are off to Brad and Angelina's to celebrate their own Maggot 1's sixteenth birthday. Should be a good weekend.
Have a great one yourself, and speak next week.
Once we are checked in, we will have all bags, belts and body cavities checked by security, before we are then free to explore the relative bountifulness of the departure lounge. After one to two planned hours, and any additional hours air-traffic control or other external factors wish to add on to our waiting, we will board the flight, I think to booked seats, for a further couple of hours of reading and listening to music.
On arrival at Mallorca, we will pickup our hire car from the rental company that was at the cheaper end of the scale, so may be troublesome. It is at least in the airport itself, not a transfer bus away, so how bad can it get. No doubt I will tell you after the holiday.
We will then drive to our first night's accommodation, an ex-monastery atop a hill, with, if their website can be believed, views across the valley to the sea that are out of this world. We travelled on a Friday to save money on the flights, since even with the hotel to pay for, we are saving plenty of hundreds of pounds. I know, forced to have an extra day of holiday, how very dare they?
At that point, our holiday has started. We will eat, we will drink, we will rest and we will admire the view.
The next day, we can take a leisurely drive to our villa for the fortnight, which is less than a kilometre away. We may go via the supermarket, if our small cars have capacity, to do the initial shop, and thus save wasting any lying-by-the-pool time.
In the meantime of course, I have some working to do and some football to watch. Work is going well. I am now on an account helping out for a bit, and to do so have had to submit to a bunch more security vetting procedures. Tales of what can happen if you get it wrong give great incentive to get it right.
At home, Maggot 2 has a football tournament tomorrow, which uses the field belonging to his school, so we can walk to it. Once it is over, we are off to Brad and Angelina's to celebrate their own Maggot 1's sixteenth birthday. Should be a good weekend.
Have a great one yourself, and speak next week.
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