… my musings on, er, "stuff"
Pic of the week 13/8/17
Sam turned 15 on Monday!
Growing up too fast, he’s definitely now a teenager – he has the height, the voice and the desire to sleep late into the morning.
A great day, he got a OnePlus 3 phone (with the added bonus that I now have his old iPhone 5C, finally consigning my Nokia brick into history …)
Pic of the week 30/7/17
A picture tells a thousand words, so I’ll let the pictures above do (most of) the talking.
At the start of the week we went to Cornwall, the four of us squeezing into our trusty Micra and heading for the sun (ha!) on Sunday evening.
Monday was the summer. A day of sunshine, sea and sand, spent at St Ives, Sam and I taking to the water twice. It wasn’t warm, but we had two good sessions in the sea, the second time having fun in the surf as the waves broke.
An (early!) evening meal in The Hub before chilling on the harbour wall at St Ives.
Tuesday – and rain threatened. Once again, off to St Ives, but this time we walked from the car park to Carbis Bay, via the Knill monument, followed by another chilled afternoon at the St Ives harbour.
Wednesday, and the rain came, so we headed for home.
After a lot of early season promise, this summer is turning into a bit of a damp squib – rain again today and not much change forecast for the foreseeable future. Boo!
Pic of the week 9/7/17
And so the holidays have arrived – for me at least!
The first week, and the sun shone, let’s hope that that is an omen for the rest of the hols.
On Wednesday Becky & I had a day at the beach sans children, who are still at school (and with Sophie driving, no need for us to worry about the school run.)
So we hopped in the Mini, first stop Bridport. A pleasant enough market town where we enjoyed a street side coffee in the sun, but nothing to rave about. A rather “grey” population …
From there it was but a brief drive to Burton Bradstock. What a fantastic beach, lapped by the clearest of clear blue sea, it was idyllic to just sit and stare, to chill and bake simultaneously. Of course, I could not resit the lure of the water for long and I was soon in for the first of my two swims. ‘Twas cold mind, testicle shrinking-ly cold. Nevertheless, on each occasion I spent circa 20 mins in the water, gently ploughing to and fro along the beach, breaststroke only – to cold to keep immersing the face whilst doing crawl.
A lovely day.
Happy hols!
Track of the week 14/5/17
Sam went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 yesterday and he came home raving about the film and impressed with the soundtrack.
So I looked up the play list and this was on it and thought that it was an apt track of the week.
But take your time, think a lot
Think of everything you’ve got
For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not
I hope Sam’s dreams stay with him for a long time yet.
And as for me, well,
Look at me, I am old
But I’m happy
A wife of 21 years who I love as much now as I did when we first met, and two wonderful children – my dreams have come true.
Pic of the week 7/5/17
Not too much to report this week.
Becky went to Cornwall on Saturday to see her Granny.
Sam spent an eye-watering amount of money on a pair of Nike Air Jordan’s – and I then got a text on Saturday:
How do you clean dog poo of shoes?
He’d evidently stood in some when out and about with his pals in Wells on Saturday. Later that afternoon I got another text:
Can you pick me up or do I have to get the bus because my trouser have ripped
So, of course, I picked him up.
Despite the above, he had a good day.
Today I lined the U15 Div 1 Cup Final, another good day out, Taunton won 4-1.
Applied to de-register from VAT
All in the course of a “normal” week!
Pic(s) of the week 23/4/17
So today sees the end of the Easter hols.
Its been a great few weeks, with fantastic weather – it may have rained one day in the first week (but I’m not sure) but other than that its been as dry as a bone and unseasonably warm and sunny – perfect for enjoying the garden.
And I have enjoyed the garden – building the new deck where the summer house was last year and doing some planting – a couple of hydrangeas in front of the deck, strawberries, raspberry canes (although most don’t seem to be showing any signs of life), courgettes, aubergines and squash (I think the cucumber fell victim to slugs last night) hostas … all is starting to look good, although temperatures are set to plummet next week – hope everything survives.
The end of dots of spots, the end of an era. Quite a bit of time was spent over at the unit, moving and clearing stuff and stock. Thursday was a bit of a manic day, but at last the shelves are empty. Still a few lose ends to tie up, but the business is now closed. Very proud of Becky and what she achieved over those 8+ years, and equally proud of the sensible and pragmatic way that she decided “enough was enough” and it was time to shut up shop.
The Mini! Swapped the big Nissan Almera Tino for a less practical convertible mini, but my, it looks good! who needs a big family car? Not us any more.
Exercise: Have kept myself fit – have done 5 games (4 middles, 1 line) including a cup semi final today, ran 39.5Km in 5 runs, spun 5 times (burning off 2,925 calories), but only swum once, a measly 30 lengths (1Km).
(Reasonably) looking forward to the start of term tomorrow – 5 weeks, then 4 weeks doesn’t seem too daunting, no football to organise week in, week out and nearly all of my classes working towards GCSE, AS or A Level exams – easy street ’till the long Summer holidays!
Pic of the week 2/4/17
So Tuesday was my (48th) birthday. I had a great day and I’ve been a busy boy since.
Over the last year it has dawned on me that my mid-life crisis is manifesting itself in the need to do as much exercise as possible. Perhaps its some subconscious realisation that this body of mine has a finite life and I need to extract every last scrap of usage out of it? Who knows, but it’s got to be better than buying a motorbike, squeezing into some ill fitting leathers and roaring down the road is some forlorn hope to try and recapture ones youth.
I celebrated the day by sneaking off early at 3.15 (free lesson P5!) and heading down to the pool to swim 48 lengths for my 48th birthday – a mile to mark the milestone of another passing year. And then it was home for pressies & my birthday tea of curry, followed by lime jelly and ice cream – a menu not enjoyed or shared by any member of my family.
I was already tee-ed up to referee the girls football tournament on the next day (Wednesday 29th) when I got a phone call asking me to referee Wessex U14s in a game the same evening, 6.30 kick off. I agreed – come 8.30pm on Wednesday I gratefully hopped (no, not hopped, stumbled perhaps) into the shower, realising I had just refereed for 3 hours!
On Thursday I played for the staff v the U6th leavers – was pleasantly surprised how my legs coped with another onslaught of physical activity. A great game, great fun, and great to come out 3-2 winners.
Friday was, of course, spinning night – with the added euphoria of the end of term. Saturday – a day of rest, before Sunday, more football, this time a Legends game v Castle Cary.
A beautiful Spring day, we took the lead and for a good ten minutes basked in the glory of being ahead as well as the April sunshine. But, alas, it was not to last. A very off-side goal and a missed penalty saw us ultimately lose 3-1, but a great game to end a great season veterans football (all of 4 games!)
And now the holidays begin in earnest, I need the rest, but I’m sure I’ll find the time for a little bit (more) exercise.
Pic of the week 26/3/17
She’s only gone and done it!
On Monday (20/3/17) Sophie passed her driving test at the first time of asking – an impressive achievement of which we are very proud.
My pocket has taken a hit – to add her to our insurance for next 7 months is costing an additional £620, plus we have to have a tracker fitted, much to Becky’s chagrin. (As a super safe driver already, it doesn’t bother me …!)
Pic of the week 5/2/17 – Sophie passed her driving test theory yesterday.
I’m Jeff, and I’m an addict.
I’ve suspected for a while, but confirmed my suspicions on Friday.
Late January/early February. Dark, gloomy days of the year. Through in a bit of man flu, still a couple of weeks to half term. Tough times.
Having not been the previous week (due to aforementioned man flu) I trudged down the hill on Friday evening for my spinning class. I worked hard, I sweated, my legs ached, but I came back buzzing. The endorphins were flowing, my mojo was back with a vengeance.
And then I realised – I’m an addict, an exercise addict. And that’s not a bad thing.
Today I’ve run 7K (set new PB for the year) and swam a Km this afternoon and I feel a whole lot better for it.
Exercise and music, the elixir of life.
Its been a tough week.
This time last week, I was buzzing on the endorphins of an afternoon spent out in the sun. As I tucked myself up in bed at the end of a busy weekend I uttered a couple of little coughs. “Uh, oh” I thought. Sam had been ill all weekend – I hoped that this wasn’t the harbinger of illness to come for me.
It was.
Monday I felt awful. Could not get warm at all, sore throat & ears, feeling miserable. And I was on duty, working ’till 10 pm. Tuesday didn’t dawn much brighter and I came home at 3 o’clock (free period) and went to bed for an hour and half, got up, pottered and went back to bed a t nine.
It did me the world of good – by Wednesday I was beginning to feel human again. But I overestimated myself – refereed a game I shouldn’t have: 5 mins in and I realised it was going to be a struggle.
Skipped spinning on Friday – a real indicater of how bad I’ve been. Feel I’m gradually on the mend, but still have a wracking cough. One of the (to me) most noticable aspects of the illness, in addition to the physical symptons, has been the slowing of my thoughts and actions. It’s almost as if I’ve been enveloped in slurry of syrup that has just made everything that much harder.
Need to get my mojo back next week, I don’t like being ill.