My parents fly in from Spain today, and as is the tradition, on their day of travel, the weather is really dodgy. They have left Spain, that much we know, but the trains from Gatwick to Scobiville seem to be cancelled en masse, presumably due to "debris on the track" from last night causing services to backup and, in the case of the South coast routes, be cancelled.
I am half expecting a call, since while they like to be independent, typically refusing any offers of being picked up, they also prefer to not spend Christmas day in the Gatwick Departure Lounge. Time will tell.
I had a small bout of unwellness last night - a sudden overwhelming feeling that I was going to be sick, reminiscent of last year's Norovirus outbreak, not something that I would willingly revisit, even as part of a weight-loss campaign. I just went to bed, and that seemed to fend off the worst of the effects, but I did not eat for 24 hours and to be honest, that alone is sufficient proof that it was a proper illness, unwilling as I am to wander too far from the next meal. We missed a party as a result, and while I was accused by the less generous in the house of inventing an illness, I can only say it was real enough to me, and even today I do feel a bit delicate.
So, Christmas Eve. We will be off to Chrisdingle at 5pm, then back for onesies and a pick 'n' mix tea, a speciality in Scobi towers consisting of bread and cheese and salad and sausages and crisps and olives and all manner of nibbles, combining in to a mighty fine tea. I just hope that I have the appetite for at least a bit of it.
It only leaves me to wish you all a very Happy, relaxing and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Monday, 23 December 2013
Christmas Eve Eve
Two more days at work, then off for a week. Looking forward to it greatly.
As for work, just a matter of tidying up the threads, and then I can finish with a clean conscience and plate.
As for work, just a matter of tidying up the threads, and then I can finish with a clean conscience and plate.
Friday, 20 December 2013
And . . . relax
And what a relax it is. As I have mentioned, several times, the rest of the clan is off from tonight for two weeks, at which point there is a very large collective sigh of relief.
Work for me is remaining busy, still busy closing deals and threads, with the added thrill, spice and excitement that I am now also closing some threads for two of my colleagues. That equates to a lot of threads, some of which I am not very familiar, and it is fair to say that I have dropped one or two over the previous week. Luckily, I have plenty of colleagues who have kindly pointed out any such drops. Every day is a school day.
Finally, we start to look forward to Christmas. The trees, in plural as we use the old artificial one in the front room and a real one in the back room. This has meant that our decorations are a little bit sparse, spread as they rather thin between two trees. Nevertheless, minimal is most definitely in, and with the lights they are looking good girlfriend.
In case I cannot get round to blogging again, have a great Christmas and a merry, joyous and peaceful New Year.
Until next year.
Work for me is remaining busy, still busy closing deals and threads, with the added thrill, spice and excitement that I am now also closing some threads for two of my colleagues. That equates to a lot of threads, some of which I am not very familiar, and it is fair to say that I have dropped one or two over the previous week. Luckily, I have plenty of colleagues who have kindly pointed out any such drops. Every day is a school day.
Finally, we start to look forward to Christmas. The trees, in plural as we use the old artificial one in the front room and a real one in the back room. This has meant that our decorations are a little bit sparse, spread as they rather thin between two trees. Nevertheless, minimal is most definitely in, and with the lights they are looking good girlfriend.
In case I cannot get round to blogging again, have a great Christmas and a merry, joyous and peaceful New Year.
Until next year.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Another day near 't' grave
So here we are, Thursday before Christmas, late night shopping in Scobiville, and a night when we are looking to go out and do some shopping, and then do some eating.
Work is refusing to slow down, so I am taking a unilateral approach and just slowing myself down, regardless of how fast the work decides to operate.
In fairness, things are starting to go a bit quieter, and my client will be allowing its contractors to go on holiday until the New Year from yesterday onwards, so surely no organisation can maintain such volumes when a third of their workforce are tucking in to their mince pies.
I have also been asked to provide personal references for Brad, something that I have not been asked to do for a while. I felt a bit rusty at first, and then once into my stride slightly like I was looking to marry him rather than recommend him. I think the word "gushing" would about cover it. Anyhow, it is all true (one of my core values, and also one I documented as one of Brad's if I am not very much mistaken) so how bad can it get.
Work is refusing to slow down, so I am taking a unilateral approach and just slowing myself down, regardless of how fast the work decides to operate.
In fairness, things are starting to go a bit quieter, and my client will be allowing its contractors to go on holiday until the New Year from yesterday onwards, so surely no organisation can maintain such volumes when a third of their workforce are tucking in to their mince pies.
I have also been asked to provide personal references for Brad, something that I have not been asked to do for a while. I felt a bit rusty at first, and then once into my stride slightly like I was looking to marry him rather than recommend him. I think the word "gushing" would about cover it. Anyhow, it is all true (one of my core values, and also one I documented as one of Brad's if I am not very much mistaken) so how bad can it get.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
The home straight
We had a great weekend at Brad and Angelina's, including, but not limited to, a fantastic fish pie and, or course, the obligatory Cherry Madeira cake. Such delights are riches no money can buy.
Brad has a new job. Woo hoo, and also of course, one in the eye for me and my "Year of the Career". That's the trouble with these nippers, always looking to show you up. Well done to Brad and also well done for an excuse for the nifty sports car, something that will be the second car for Brad to commute to the new job once he starts.
This is the final week for the maggots and LO, which I have probably already mentioned, so from Friday evening the pressure will be off for a couple of weeks, and seventy-five percent of the Scobi clan will be spending most of their days in their onesies no doubt.
Have a good rest of the week, and speak soon.
Brad has a new job. Woo hoo, and also of course, one in the eye for me and my "Year of the Career". That's the trouble with these nippers, always looking to show you up. Well done to Brad and also well done for an excuse for the nifty sports car, something that will be the second car for Brad to commute to the new job once he starts.
This is the final week for the maggots and LO, which I have probably already mentioned, so from Friday evening the pressure will be off for a couple of weeks, and seventy-five percent of the Scobi clan will be spending most of their days in their onesies no doubt.
Have a good rest of the week, and speak soon.
Thursday, 12 December 2013
And . . . relax
There seems to be less hours in the day at the moment. Things are frantic, with Year End vying for Christmas preparation and a general feeling of a slowing draining battery. It is the same every year, and not sure what I can do differently to make it less so.
Anyway, we are off to Brad and Angelina for the weekend to celebrate the birthday of Angelina, who may well be old enough that we don't mention numbers, yet still seems like a teenager to me (and that should get me an extra large slice of Cherry Madeira Cake).
We are half wrapped, and fully bought up, just missing one key present from Gee Gee to the Scobi family that may well not be available this side of Christmas, which may mean a rather sad IOW being opened on the day. I will keep checking all the stores, but am not hopeful. I am also avoiding putting in to print what it is, because walls have ears*.
With work, which is ever-present at the moment, things are just things, and I have a sense of the Luge about it, just trying to get through to the 24th without suffering any major mishaps or illnesses.
Anyway, we are off to Brad and Angelina for the weekend to celebrate the birthday of Angelina, who may well be old enough that we don't mention numbers, yet still seems like a teenager to me (and that should get me an extra large slice of Cherry Madeira Cake).
We are half wrapped, and fully bought up, just missing one key present from Gee Gee to the Scobi family that may well not be available this side of Christmas, which may mean a rather sad IOW being opened on the day. I will keep checking all the stores, but am not hopeful. I am also avoiding putting in to print what it is, because walls have ears*.
With work, which is ever-present at the moment, things are just things, and I have a sense of the Luge about it, just trying to get through to the 24th without suffering any major mishaps or illnesses.
===============================================
*At Christmas time, it is not just the cake that gets mixed
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Tuesday
I am living a day at a time, looking to get through to Friday. The we are off to Brad and Angelina, with a lot of catching up to do (well done to Brad).
Then one more week, at which point the rest of the clan are on holiday for 2 weeks, leaving little old me to finish on Christmas Eve for a good week off.
I cannot wait.
Then one more week, at which point the rest of the clan are on holiday for 2 weeks, leaving little old me to finish on Christmas Eve for a good week off.
I cannot wait.
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Time, where will it all end?
Life is all absorbing at the moment, stopping me from thinking about blogging.
As for time, having seen the Brian Cox on the TV, I know it is a cone, limited by the speed of light. But then you can bend the cone, so maybe you can travel in time. I don't know, all very mind-blowing.
Otherwise, only news is that Brad has resigned from his current employer, in this, the year of the career, so well done to him and can't wait to hear all about it in a week and a bit.
As for time, having seen the Brian Cox on the TV, I know it is a cone, limited by the speed of light. But then you can bend the cone, so maybe you can travel in time. I don't know, all very mind-blowing.
Otherwise, only news is that Brad has resigned from his current employer, in this, the year of the career, so well done to him and can't wait to hear all about it in a week and a bit.
Monday, 2 December 2013
Ooops
Forgot to blog.
Knee is good. Walking on it normally now, and it is aching a bit, but ice does the trick.
Work is hard. Just is, and leading up to Xmas it is mad at work, and would rather be eating mince pies at home.
Tea is yesterday's smoked salmon lasagne, which is, I can testify, bleedin' 'andsome.
Sonos remains spiffing.
Knee is good. Walking on it normally now, and it is aching a bit, but ice does the trick.
Work is hard. Just is, and leading up to Xmas it is mad at work, and would rather be eating mince pies at home.
Tea is yesterday's smoked salmon lasagne, which is, I can testify, bleedin' 'andsome.
Sonos remains spiffing.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Two things of note
I have two things of note to mention today.
The first is that I actually went in the office today. I took advantage of LO attending Horsham to cadge a lift, and then took the train home again. I went with one crutch just in case, and it was useful to help me walk without full weight on my bad knee, and overall the exercise probably did me good, though it is sore tonight. It was interesting to be treated as an invalid; at reception, they had to ask whether I would need help in the event of a fire - no, I replied - and people kept opening doors for me. I have to be there again tomorrow for another 6 hour meeting, and can barely contain my enthusiasm.
The other bit of news is we have taken the plunge on a month's free trial of Netflix. The kids love it, and LO and I intend to watch a film tonight. It does have the latest titles, as we all probably know, but we will soon find out whether having access to year old films is of any use.
Finally, we have made a purchase of a Sonos, a Play:1 to be precise. It comes with a free bridge, so for a relatively modest outlay we have dipped our toe in to the Sonos water, and find it very much to our liking. Every iPhone and Android device now has the Sonos controller, and we are able to access Spotify, any local music library made available to the network (though we don't bother with that now we have Spotify, the world's largest music NAS) and around 100,000 internet radio stations. It can also stream anything on our Android or iPhone devices to the speaker, so Podcasts and local music, which is ace.
The speaker itself it modest sized, but very heavy and delivers a pretty good balanced sound. The setup of the appliance and bridge was a doddle, and we now have a Sonos network, so every device we add (and in time we will be adding them) will join the mesh network to provide either independent or coordinated music playback.
It is an utterly stupendous bit of technology that does all we want and more, seamlessly and faultlessly (so far) and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The first is that I actually went in the office today. I took advantage of LO attending Horsham to cadge a lift, and then took the train home again. I went with one crutch just in case, and it was useful to help me walk without full weight on my bad knee, and overall the exercise probably did me good, though it is sore tonight. It was interesting to be treated as an invalid; at reception, they had to ask whether I would need help in the event of a fire - no, I replied - and people kept opening doors for me. I have to be there again tomorrow for another 6 hour meeting, and can barely contain my enthusiasm.
The other bit of news is we have taken the plunge on a month's free trial of Netflix. The kids love it, and LO and I intend to watch a film tonight. It does have the latest titles, as we all probably know, but we will soon find out whether having access to year old films is of any use.
Finally, we have made a purchase of a Sonos, a Play:1 to be precise. It comes with a free bridge, so for a relatively modest outlay we have dipped our toe in to the Sonos water, and find it very much to our liking. Every iPhone and Android device now has the Sonos controller, and we are able to access Spotify, any local music library made available to the network (though we don't bother with that now we have Spotify, the world's largest music NAS) and around 100,000 internet radio stations. It can also stream anything on our Android or iPhone devices to the speaker, so Podcasts and local music, which is ace.
The speaker itself it modest sized, but very heavy and delivers a pretty good balanced sound. The setup of the appliance and bridge was a doddle, and we now have a Sonos network, so every device we add (and in time we will be adding them) will join the mesh network to provide either independent or coordinated music playback.
It is an utterly stupendous bit of technology that does all we want and more, seamlessly and faultlessly (so far) and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Knee operation
I had my knee operation on Monday. All went well, apparently, coz I did not know much about it. I did have a quick unwanted memory, as I lay in the ante chamber being prepared for surgery, of a Bad Man experience where he was conscious during an operation, but managed to meditate that out my head pronto since it was most unwanted.
At home now. Yesterday, I was convinced I would be tap dancing by the weekend (something I have, strangely, not so far tried in my life), however today the pain is kicking in and I am glad that I planned to have the whole week off work, coz while it seems like I am normal, this blog will be about it before a kip and a big drink of water, before doing one of my four times a day exercises, and applying an ice pack twice a day. i.e. rest really is the best thing, since it will speed my recovery, so that is what I plan to have.
The radio is on, and The Today programme is soothing me to sleep as we speak and a bowl of porridge is awaiting to send me on my way.
Enjoy your day, I know I shall.
At home now. Yesterday, I was convinced I would be tap dancing by the weekend (something I have, strangely, not so far tried in my life), however today the pain is kicking in and I am glad that I planned to have the whole week off work, coz while it seems like I am normal, this blog will be about it before a kip and a big drink of water, before doing one of my four times a day exercises, and applying an ice pack twice a day. i.e. rest really is the best thing, since it will speed my recovery, so that is what I plan to have.
The radio is on, and The Today programme is soothing me to sleep as we speak and a bowl of porridge is awaiting to send me on my way.
Enjoy your day, I know I shall.
Friday, 15 November 2013
And . . . relax
Another week of work over, and a very successful one at that. We have completed phase 1 of the improvement programme, and presented the output to our customer. I have received some very favourable feedback from my customer, via my manager, which is all sitting very nicely as we come up to the yearly appraisal cycle.
On the home front, we are absolutely exhausted as a family, the toll of work and school weighing heavy on us.
To alleviate the weariness, we plan to spend the weekend in a tree-house. This is not, you will be glad to hear, some off-grid experience, rather a hot-tub-and-flat-screen-TV extravaganza. We have all the meals cooked, including a container of pancake batter, and we have every conceivable pleasure packed ready for a weekend of woodland-dwelling bliss. Saturday night we are booked on the night-time walk through the woods, complete with night-vision goggles, which should be a hoot (every possible pun intended).
Have a great weekend, speak next week. I may even try to get back to blogging more regularly, if I can just get a handle on life...
On the home front, we are absolutely exhausted as a family, the toll of work and school weighing heavy on us.
To alleviate the weariness, we plan to spend the weekend in a tree-house. This is not, you will be glad to hear, some off-grid experience, rather a hot-tub-and-flat-screen-TV extravaganza. We have all the meals cooked, including a container of pancake batter, and we have every conceivable pleasure packed ready for a weekend of woodland-dwelling bliss. Saturday night we are booked on the night-time walk through the woods, complete with night-vision goggles, which should be a hoot (every possible pun intended).
Have a great weekend, speak next week. I may even try to get back to blogging more regularly, if I can just get a handle on life...
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