Pic of the week 24/3/19
A beautiful day today – the sun shone and hope filled the soul.
But a busy day – 8K run in the morning, then House matches & dining room duty in the afternoon, so not really a day off.
But I did enjoy the sunshine.
Green shoots
Pic of the week 17/3/19
Had the first sense of spring today – not warm, windy, but blue skies, interspersed with clouds scudding their way across the expanse. Referee-ing this morning I wasn’t cold for once, and enjoyed the sensation of being outside.
At home, in the garden, green shoots are appearing (raspberries, Hydrangeas etc.) the alliums have come up and a few daffodils are flowering. My reports are written and one can begin to sense the end (of term!) is, if not nigh, at least hoving into view on the horizon.
Home alone this afternoon – Becky & Sam both at work – I’ve filled the house with music and danced like no one was watching (which, unless we have very nosey neighbours, I hope was the case!)
Even collecting Sam this evening (OK, so a tad earlier -7.05 – than normal) it wasn’t pitch black going to and from Glastonbury.
A real sense that a corner has been turned (which, rather neatly, makes the pic of the week of a corner flag at Cossington somewhat relevant!)
Completing the set
Pic of the week 10/3/19
We’ve been waiting for some time, but last Sunday it was announced that Scouting for Girls would be playing at the Cheese and Grain, Frome, in July, and on Wednesday I snagged myself some tickets – looking forward to it, I feel now we’ve completed the set for gigs this year (but will happily add others to the list)
So, my line up is this:
- The Specials 20th April
- Take That (& don’t forget the support, Rick Astley!) 28th May
- Paul Young 25th June
- Scouting for Girls 12th July
- New Order 18th July
- Lisa Stansfield 25th October
With all the above to look forward, it has made today’s howling gale that much easier top endure!
Welcome, March!
Pic of the week 3/3/19
Didn’t post last week – the day ended up running away with me, and now we are in March, always a great month!
The middle pic above is a montage of the month of February, which ended with some beautiful weather, fantastic sunshine and unseasonable temperatures. All that has since changed and we’re currently being battered by Storm Freya. Not to bad, a bit blowy, a bit rainy (on and off) and typical temperatures for the time of year.
Last Sunday, I had my first game on a new league Bridgwater and District Sunday League, and I had another game today – the first of my promotion season! So far, I’ve enjoyed both games – today’s, featuring the top team in Div 1, was a good standard, last week (a Div 2 clash) was more traditional Sunday league fare, but with a 10.30 kick off, I’m quite liking doing the Sunday mornings.
Other news – current problems with BT internet email, hopefully will be resolved soon …
Half Term
Pic(s) of the week 17/2/19
Its half term – at last.
Its been a long six week stint since the Christmas holidays, always a difficult time of the school year, and a week longer this year than normal (although the corollary of that is that now I have nothing longer than five weeks in a row before a break.)
Sophie cam home from uni on Friday evening, lovely to see her again and have the whole family back under one roof for a week.
For some reason, only fathomable to 16 year old boys, Sam is going to have a boxing match v one of his pals in the Easter holidays. Not a good idea, but at least it is giving him some motivation to get a bit fitter. Yesterday he & I “sparred” on the deck: he has bought some boxing gloves, I get to hold the pads we he then hits. Madness (& surprisingly hard work.)
The weather has definitely perked up, last Thursday & Friday were beautiful. Typically, its not been so good since half term began, but its dry, bright at times and still light at 5.30 which is remarkably uplifting.
I’m sure I’ll blink and it will be over, but right now its wonderful to think that the next week is mine!
Committed
Pic of the week 10/2/19
(A hint of Spring to come today – a mix of blue skies and showers. The above are all flowering somewhere on the garden. Particularly pleased with the Hyacinth, bottom left, as this will be one that I planted after Christmas last year.)
Committed.
Today I paid my deposit and signed up to go on the referee promotion programme 2019/20. The big struggle will be getting the 20 qualifying games in (14 OA) – I’ll do more games than that, but not necessarily at the right age group. I need to explore officiating on the Uxella Bridgwater Sunday League, if I do so, along with the odd Saturday on Yeovil & District and the handy fact that for this promotion season only runs from March 1st ’19 to May 31st ’20 – giving me an extra couple of months to get the games in.
Looking forward to the challenge, and new experiences it will bring.
Snowmaggedon
Pic of the week 3/2/19
So it wasn’t quite the snowmaggedon brought by the Beast from the East last year, but Thursday night into Friday morning saw a fairly hefty dumping of snow.
We had a bout a cm or two, was worse in Wells – the Blue School shut for the day – and was even worse towards Bath & Bristol. The road outside the house remained clear and it was work as normal for me.
By Saturday, all the low lying snow had gone, but all our fixtures had been cancelled so I went up the Tor with Sam on Saturday afternoon. Always a pleasure, particularly with the clear blue skies contrasting against what snow did stay lying on the ground.
After cold nights, Friday and Saturday, the temperature is set to rise to a balmy, but damp, 10 degrees for the week a head.
This morning, the boiler didn’t fire up, but a quick check showed the water pressure was low, so a quick 30 second job to refill the system and bring it up to pressure and the wonderful white box fired into life. Phew!
Other news – purchased two tickets to see New Order at the Bristol Harbourside in July. Looking forward to it already.
A bit blowy
Pic of the week 27/1/19
And so January rumbles on, with little to commend it, except that it will soon be over.
Its been cold, but not crisp, clear, cold, nor exceptional snowy cold, just cold, often damp, and often windy – like today, very windy. And, although the evenings are getting noticeably lighter, its still dark in the mornings and, three weeks into term, with another three still to go, the days don’t seem to get any easier.
Ran 8K this morning, and enjoyed that and pottered for the rest of the day, listening to plenty of music – I think one of my favourite things.
Did some Six Nations stats and plotted them on my maths blog – I do rather enjoy dabbling with data sets and glad I taught myself the rudiments of “R”, meaning I can now quickly turn a spreadsheet of data into any many of colourful charts.
And here’s a bonus pic, of our lovely, bright airy kitchen – even in the bleakest months our house is a wonderful place to be.
The Ten Year Challenge
Pic of the week
A lovely long sleep, a long (8K) run at a quickish pace, and then a day mucking about with some stats and “R”, producing the above*
A great way to spend a Sunday in January.
* Full details can be found on my maths blog:
A new normal
Pic of the week 13/1/19
The new normal.
Sophie has returned to uni, Sam is at work (& when he’s not, he’s out with his pals or hidden away in his room.)
As a family, we have transitioned into a new normal, a new phase of all of our lives.
Not necessarily good, not necessarily bad, just different – one has the definite sense that a milestone, a marker, has been passed.
Perhaps symbolic of this new phase, I spent 20 mins outside today, tidying away the geraniums that have finally succumbed to the frosts of late, and getting the daff pots from the bottom of the garden and back into prominence ready for the Spring that is, hopefully, not now too far away.
Green shoots – the knowledge that warmer, brighter times are ahead, both in the garden and metaphorically.