It all started in such a care-free manner …
Becky was going down to Cornwall for a few days, leaving on Monday morning. Before I headed off to work I said I was looking forward to a fairly easy week, a bit of a downward slope, the final full week of term.
But that morning, at school, we got the call: the Inspectors are coming, and they were going to be in from Tuesday through to Thursday. This, of course, added a layer of extra work and, if not stress, at least a sense of heightened anxiety, and I began to rue having agreed to referee a school football game that evening, knowing I could have done with the extra couple of hours to prepare.
Then, that evening at home, Becky called me from Cornwall to say the car was making a terrible screeching noise when breaking. A certain sense of de-ja-vu and long distance fault diagnosis. Anyway, my suspicions that it was worn brake pads was correct, and the next day a local garage replaced the front pads and discs for £200.
On Thursday, Sam had the next, and final stage, of his job interview, to be a trainee manager at Enterprise car rental in Bristol.
In a borrowed suit and tie (the trainers were just for driving to the interview) he said it went well, and would find out early next week.
But on Friday morning they phoned him and offered him the job!
Needless to say, we are all delighted for him! He starts on May 18th, so will work for a couple of weeks up at school after the Easter holiday, before hopefully moving to Bristol.
On Saturday morning, I got up to find a note from Sam to say the boiler was leaking. Not the best start to the day – I really did wonder if this week could throw up any more surprises. On my return home, I did some investigation – took of the front cover – and it was clear that the leak was coming from the auto air vent. I’ve found a replacement on eBay for £10 – due to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday – and have established it should be a (fairly) simple job to swap the old one out and replace it with the new one. And more research today has led me to discover that I can just screw down the cap and it stops leaking, although that does stop it being an “auto” air vent, so I my need to periodically bleed a radiator or two, but no big drama, and certainly a job that can wait until our return from Italy.
And also on Saturday it was my birthday!
I had some sweet treats and a chilled afternoon/evening, but I shall have to wait a few months to be in my true happy place pictured above!
And in the course of this week, I’ve refereed three games on the Sir Gareth Edwards picth: U14 (Monday) and U15 (Wednesday) mid-Somerset sides, and on Saturday our U17s v Bristol City U16s (we won 3-0) Today I was due to do a game on the Bridgwater & District League, but 5 mins into my journey I got a call to tell me the game was cancelled as the home side couldn’t get enough players, so I turned round and came home. After the hectic week I’ve had, I was quietly quite pleased!
No blog for the next couple of Sundays as on Thursday we are off to Italy for nine days. Arrivederci!