Been a funny couple of days. Firstly I have been offered a few months work driving through an agency which is great. Its for a "high end" kitchen company delivering their wears so all in all should not be too bad. Theres a weeks worth of training so I presume they are very customer focused!
Now driving is not my first choice as I had a couple of years driving an artic but didnt like it that much as its such a lonely existance but beggers cannot be choosers eh!
Now today I have been to the doctors because for the last few weeks I have been having chest pains that end up down my left arm and heading up into my jaw. Turns out I have slighty high blood pressure and have been reffered to a cardiac clinic as an urgent appointment due to the amount of heart problems in my family.
The barrage of tests the clinic want to run is daunting to say the least and the fact Im the grand old age of 37 scares me more because lets face it im not old! So first things first...I HAVE TO STOP SMOKING and loose some weight (i've got a little tubby over the winter and not working alot) and I have to admit Im a bit scared about all this. We stumble along on a daily basis wrapped up in our little problems and then something like this comes along and whacks you out of the blue. I mean this is me! This sort of stuff happens to ther folk not me!
Im starting to think I may not be either indestructable or immortal anymore....
Friday, 6 May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
Well yet another update. Theres not been a great deal going on hence why not alot posted from me. I applied for a job as a transport manager and ended back for a second interview which was looking promising as there were only two of us left at this point.
After an hours grilling I took my leave and was called later in the week to be told that neither me or the other chap got the job as we were "overqualified".
What a load of crap that is! Surely they would have known we were both overqualified from our CV's before the interview process had started?! But hey ho its all done so the job hunt continuies in vain. The rate the work is coming through I may be better off starting up my own business again because if I put this much work looking for work into it it should take off pretty quickly!
I suppose I should mention the royal wedding. There you go thats done then.
My neighbours are driving me mad, well their kids are, when they are out in the garden daily. The noise is unreal honestly so you have to close the windows to block it out. We are now activily looking for a new house because I am not spending another summer listening to those animals.
So as I said at the start theres nothing of real interest going on....hang on ive just turned the news on.
Looks like Bin Ladens been killed overnight. Good show at least thats only taken 10 years to do and I bet his followers are not dancing in the streets now are they?????
Im sure it wont take long for another attack to happen now and some other nutjob to take over his place.
After an hours grilling I took my leave and was called later in the week to be told that neither me or the other chap got the job as we were "overqualified".
What a load of crap that is! Surely they would have known we were both overqualified from our CV's before the interview process had started?! But hey ho its all done so the job hunt continuies in vain. The rate the work is coming through I may be better off starting up my own business again because if I put this much work looking for work into it it should take off pretty quickly!
I suppose I should mention the royal wedding. There you go thats done then.
My neighbours are driving me mad, well their kids are, when they are out in the garden daily. The noise is unreal honestly so you have to close the windows to block it out. We are now activily looking for a new house because I am not spending another summer listening to those animals.
So as I said at the start theres nothing of real interest going on....hang on ive just turned the news on.
Looks like Bin Ladens been killed overnight. Good show at least thats only taken 10 years to do and I bet his followers are not dancing in the streets now are they?????
Im sure it wont take long for another attack to happen now and some other nutjob to take over his place.
Monday, 18 April 2011
Back in the UK
Well after getting over my jet lag I can now put fingers to the board again and give you an update on all thats happened latley. Firstly many thanks to you all that voted for my daughter in her modeling competition. I am happy to say she came third overall which is not a bad achievment at all and a good learning curve for her to boot :) Now onto the last of my time in the States. The journet homw was hellish. The second plane, the one that you spend hour upon hour on crossing the pond, was delayed for an hour or so whilst they fixed a technical problem with the engine. Well with that sorted we all boarded a very very hot plane sat on a very hot runway. After half an hour of sweating away with 200 other folks the Captain came on to tell us that he was sorry that it was so warm and this was due to the engines not running at the moment so the aircon wont work but not to worry because as soon as they get a JUMPSTART all will be well and we can be underway. A JUMPSTART?????? A BLOODY JUMPSTART??????????? Its a plane for gods sake I dont want to hear that after the delay with engine problems as well!!!!!!!!!!!! So after another 30 minutes of sitting in the sweatbox the engines fire up and we get some long awaited cool air. The plane then taxied away and took off for the long night ride home. I just have to say that United Airlines are the Ryanair of international travel and if you are going to America book someone else! The stewardesses are rude and in their eyes all of us cattle are nothing more than an inconvinience. Now back to my last few observations and goings on in the states. I got to drive a Mustang!!! I love those motors and have always wanted to have a spin in one so a 100 mile drive was superb! They are basic, noisey motors but what a noise that engine makes! The power is raw and unrefined but it brings a massive grin to your face! It did remind me of an old Capri in the handling stakes with all that power just thrown into the rear wheels and no traction control what so ever. I bet its a scream in the wet! American advertisements are like nothing I have seen before. They actually call the competitions products crap and name them! Can you imagine that in the UK!??? My god there would be lawsuits and complaints through the roof lol! But the best and I mean the best adverts are the ones for medication of every type. They tell you how wonderfull it is for 30 seconds then spend the next 60 seconds telling you the side effects very quickly. Beleive me you wouldnt take anything there due to side effects especially when popping a pill for easing your joint pain "May result in DEATH" !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a good look around a couple of cities but more on that later. 17 days I was away and got a real insight into American life. It wouldnt be everyones cup of tea but I enjoyed it very much.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Harry Connick Jnr & Hooters
Where to start? its only been a few days since my last post but so much has happened in that time its quite hard to get it in order! My friends are now in their new home, I would like to say settled but you know what its like when you move with boxes everywhere even after you have filled the new cuboards to capacity you are left with a stack of boxes and wondering where you fitted it all in in the last house. I have to say the new place is impressive. These yanks do know about space! A map to get around in here would be an advantage compared to what most of us in the UK are used to but hey its their way and I for one can see why! On Sunday a perfectly good concert ticket was wasted upon me. Now this was a treat for which I am thankful but I had no clue who the chap on stage was. I am reliably informed it was Harry Connick Jnr who is a big music star who has done some acting as well. A local priest had convinced him to come to a small church (St Marks Catholic) in a small town (Richmond, Kentucky) which for a "big star" is something they rarely do...especially for free! It was a fundraiser for the church's school so a good cause and was full of the full range of suitably doe eyed women along wih boyfriends and husbands who would have rather been somewhere else. Now hang on I think I may be being a bit harsh there as most were having a really good time. In fact I only met 4 other people outside sneaking a smoke whilst the gig was on and out of a capacity crowd of 500 that really is impressive. In fact a capacity crowd of 500 hundred for this level of star in the US is unheard of as its so small so it shows the dedication and persuation of the priest. I was more inclined/amazed with the church itself. I dont think I have ever seen such dedication of religion within a church which is a poor reflection on the state of and lack of faith that now rests within our UK based society. Alot of those followers do pay for the priviledge I have since found out up to 10% of their wages monthly to the church so it does beg the thought of what reasons you may have to buy your way into the great beyound. BUT who am I to judge on what peoples faith is and what brings them comfort even if its at such a cost. The gig went well and I have to admit the band and the singer (The Harry chap) were very good and my friends enjoyed it immensley but the most positive point was $40,000 raised for the school!! Still dont have much of a clue who he was though! Now today was my friends youngest daughters 11th Birthday. How did she want to mark the passing of this day????????? A trip to eat at Hooters! Now of course neither myself or my male friend had no complaints of passing a few hours surrounded by 20 something busty women in tight clothing so off we went. My admition here is that I have never been to a Hooters before. Well the food was good (another american first of a steak Philly sandwich) and the view was most welcome, in a strictly male getting older sort of way remembering your youth whilst convincing yourself that the waitresses really like you even though they see you as their Dads but are being sooo nice because you WILL give them a good tip, and the waiting staff were all very good looking. Apart from ours.... who in all honesty looked like someone had locked her in a cuboard for three months without food and then had dragged her out and backed a pick up truck into her face for good measure! Now being the male Adonis that me and my mate are we were a little dissapointed in this situation but put up with it because A) The British would never like to cause a scene and B) she was very friendly just doing her job to earn a crust with her very big breasts. This paints us out to be letch's but we most definetly are not. We looked at all the breasts in the place and even compared notes so one poor waitress didnt have to put up with all of our attention. All jesting aside the service (food nothing naughty) was superb and the staff sang their version of Happy Birthday to my friends daughter which is a converted clean army song and we all had a very pleasent evening being served "Pitchers" of beer. Theres another American first "a pitcher". You want 3 beers? Have 5 in a pitcher instead!! Suprisingly it never went flat or got warm????????????? How I have no idea but it couyldnt be the rate at which we were drinking it surley ;) I had the pleasure of picking up a few DIY bits from the local store and can report that all DIY stores across the pond look like any DIY store back home. In fact I think they share floor plan designs because everything was also in the same place within the store as at home. Suprisingly the costs are about the same as well. Food update: I have had a Wendys, Starbucks, Subway, Mcplastic, Steak & Shake, Dominoes and a chinese in carboard square boxes. I have had waffles for breakfast which were not sweet like I expected. The full on takeaway menu is of course because of my friends move and the lack of a plumbed in cooker. We are all looking forward to some proper home cooked food now as no one can live on take out for long LOL. I have been to an American sports bar and these guys love their sport!! The atmosphere resembled that of a capacity crowd in a football stadium!! I wish I had their passion! So all in all having a great time with plenty of time left to go. Plans for the weekend are seeing my other friends upstate so I will see some more of this state and report accourdingly.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Jet Lag
Well heres a new experience. Jet lag.
After 32 hours of travelling with the total of 3 hours broken sleep over that time I mentally had sorted out the time differewnce between the UK and Kentucky. (Kentucky are 4 hours behind at the moment but at the weeknd will become 5 hours behind as we enter British Summer time)
I awoke this morning well slept and refreshed with about 6hours sleep, my usual, under my belt. Come lunchtime though my body decided that I had turned quite mad and why wasnt I sleeping more, feeding it more and totally confused with the whole situation! A couple of hours kip seems to have sorted it though and I am quite surpisingly finding myself ready for yet another good nights sleep. Now I am sure that is more an age thing than anything else!
It has surpirsed me how much further your cash can go here the the USA. The average price of a 3 bed home in the UK is now £160,000 but here for that you get a mansion that that would cost in excess of £500,000. Now I know its all relative on the local economy but my god what a difference in standards of living. Yes, it would seem, that here in the USA the old adage of "everything is bigger" would stand true.
All of these observations are of course coming through a first time visitors eyes and I will of course only see the more positive and impressive side of things to start with. But I hope that as im here for a while the novelty will wear through and I will see the true way of the day to day living here.
I am taking great pleasure in ripping the micheal out of my friends new yanky accents, they have been here for 4 years, but the locals are convinced they still have a UK accent which is laughable. Poor buggers talk about getting the pissm taking from both sides!
We have spent the evening in a typical American sports bar where the food and beer is plentiful along with 3 minute intervals of being asked if "is everything ok?" These guys do customer service to the extreme!! Could it wear thin quickly?? I expect so but not in a bad way...they want a good tip!
So so far what I have seen about America in films and on the box is standing true. People seem to think im from Australia but thats apperantly is not uncommon!
There will be pics soon well as soon as I have taken some but give me few days because we start my friends big move in the mornijng and that will take a few days.
So with that in mind im signing off, having a brew and hopefully a full nights sleep in preperation for the hard day ahead.
After 32 hours of travelling with the total of 3 hours broken sleep over that time I mentally had sorted out the time differewnce between the UK and Kentucky. (Kentucky are 4 hours behind at the moment but at the weeknd will become 5 hours behind as we enter British Summer time)
I awoke this morning well slept and refreshed with about 6hours sleep, my usual, under my belt. Come lunchtime though my body decided that I had turned quite mad and why wasnt I sleeping more, feeding it more and totally confused with the whole situation! A couple of hours kip seems to have sorted it though and I am quite surpisingly finding myself ready for yet another good nights sleep. Now I am sure that is more an age thing than anything else!
It has surpirsed me how much further your cash can go here the the USA. The average price of a 3 bed home in the UK is now £160,000 but here for that you get a mansion that that would cost in excess of £500,000. Now I know its all relative on the local economy but my god what a difference in standards of living. Yes, it would seem, that here in the USA the old adage of "everything is bigger" would stand true.
All of these observations are of course coming through a first time visitors eyes and I will of course only see the more positive and impressive side of things to start with. But I hope that as im here for a while the novelty will wear through and I will see the true way of the day to day living here.
I am taking great pleasure in ripping the micheal out of my friends new yanky accents, they have been here for 4 years, but the locals are convinced they still have a UK accent which is laughable. Poor buggers talk about getting the pissm taking from both sides!
We have spent the evening in a typical American sports bar where the food and beer is plentiful along with 3 minute intervals of being asked if "is everything ok?" These guys do customer service to the extreme!! Could it wear thin quickly?? I expect so but not in a bad way...they want a good tip!
So so far what I have seen about America in films and on the box is standing true. People seem to think im from Australia but thats apperantly is not uncommon!
There will be pics soon well as soon as I have taken some but give me few days because we start my friends big move in the mornijng and that will take a few days.
So with that in mind im signing off, having a brew and hopefully a full nights sleep in preperation for the hard day ahead.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Off to America!
Well I sit here at Gatwick Airport at a stupid hour in the morning after having to travel down by train last night. I have spent a wonderful night propped up on a plastic chair that must have been designed so you could not sit in it for more than 3 minutes at a time so you will wander the shops a bit more and hand over your hard earned cash.
Why spend a night at Gatwick I hee you thinking??? Well it was all very last minute but some friends in America are moving house this weekend and called and asked if I would like a free holiday in return for humping a few boxes around! After checking with wifey to see if I was allowed how could I say no!???
So it was a mad dash to sort out insurance and the visa to get into america as well as realising the cheapest way to get to Gatwick from Nottingham was on a train but because of the early morning flight I would have to spend the night at the airport and with hotels at over £100 for the night there was no way I was stretching to that for what would have been about 4 hours!
So with book in hand I spent the night awake switching between reading and the strange going ons of an airport at night. Now I have to say most work at an airport is a thankless task as us travellers take no heed or notice of how well the place is kept clean and maintained, in fact I would go as far as saying we only notice when something goes wrong or is broken.
The whole airport ran down to peace from travellers at about 1.30 am and started filling up again at 4.00am so not much of a window for the amount of work that gets down including their current refurbishment work!
It also surprised me how many people actually spend the night waiting in an airport! I thought I was the only tight bugger who would put up with the discomfort to save money but there were loads of folk!
Went to check in this morning and the airline had no record of my ticket but found it in the end after much scrabbling about on their computer systems and they grilled me on why I only bought my ticket yesterday? What difference does it make when it was bought? A bus driver doesnt ask if you want to get on his bus "Now???" when you buy a ticket so why an airline? I figure of course its because in their eyes we are all potential criminals which is now a sad presumtion of life. Innocent until proven guilty?? My arse!
Anyhow Kentucky here I come and seeing as I have never done America before this should be good.
Why spend a night at Gatwick I hee you thinking??? Well it was all very last minute but some friends in America are moving house this weekend and called and asked if I would like a free holiday in return for humping a few boxes around! After checking with wifey to see if I was allowed how could I say no!???
So it was a mad dash to sort out insurance and the visa to get into america as well as realising the cheapest way to get to Gatwick from Nottingham was on a train but because of the early morning flight I would have to spend the night at the airport and with hotels at over £100 for the night there was no way I was stretching to that for what would have been about 4 hours!
So with book in hand I spent the night awake switching between reading and the strange going ons of an airport at night. Now I have to say most work at an airport is a thankless task as us travellers take no heed or notice of how well the place is kept clean and maintained, in fact I would go as far as saying we only notice when something goes wrong or is broken.
The whole airport ran down to peace from travellers at about 1.30 am and started filling up again at 4.00am so not much of a window for the amount of work that gets down including their current refurbishment work!
It also surprised me how many people actually spend the night waiting in an airport! I thought I was the only tight bugger who would put up with the discomfort to save money but there were loads of folk!
Went to check in this morning and the airline had no record of my ticket but found it in the end after much scrabbling about on their computer systems and they grilled me on why I only bought my ticket yesterday? What difference does it make when it was bought? A bus driver doesnt ask if you want to get on his bus "Now???" when you buy a ticket so why an airline? I figure of course its because in their eyes we are all potential criminals which is now a sad presumtion of life. Innocent until proven guilty?? My arse!
Anyhow Kentucky here I come and seeing as I have never done America before this should be good.
Monday, 14 March 2011
The Pleasure of Kids.
Of course I am being sarcastic here. Thankfully my tribe are old enough so that they entertain themselves alot of the time so no more tripping over toys or having a kid stuck to my hip. But with age there has been a new and improved side that comes through via larger circles of their friends.
Im talking about sickness bugs. My youngest went to stay overnight with her friend on Friday night and unbeknown to me until I collected her on Saturday morning her friends Dad was down with a sickness & squits bug. Well that took all of 24 hours to hit my youngest who spent most of yesterday and last night alternating between her bed and the bathroom.
Being made of sterner stuff I of course was not in the least bit worried about catching a bit of a bug until I arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed to the noise of my alarm clock this morning. It took all of 15 minutes before I was sat proud the King upon my throne with my daughter knocking on the door desperate to be in the same place.
Well it seemed to pass quickly enough and off to work I went which is thankfully only just over a mile away. That didnt last long in fact I was there for a whole hour and twenty minutes, mostly in the toilet. I was then sent off site before I infected the other lads LOL so here I am babling on endlessly to whoever reads this wondering what I will do with the day???
Whatever it is it will be with 15 feet of the toilet!
Im talking about sickness bugs. My youngest went to stay overnight with her friend on Friday night and unbeknown to me until I collected her on Saturday morning her friends Dad was down with a sickness & squits bug. Well that took all of 24 hours to hit my youngest who spent most of yesterday and last night alternating between her bed and the bathroom.
Being made of sterner stuff I of course was not in the least bit worried about catching a bit of a bug until I arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed to the noise of my alarm clock this morning. It took all of 15 minutes before I was sat proud the King upon my throne with my daughter knocking on the door desperate to be in the same place.
Well it seemed to pass quickly enough and off to work I went which is thankfully only just over a mile away. That didnt last long in fact I was there for a whole hour and twenty minutes, mostly in the toilet. I was then sent off site before I infected the other lads LOL so here I am babling on endlessly to whoever reads this wondering what I will do with the day???
Whatever it is it will be with 15 feet of the toilet!
Sunday, 13 March 2011
A big fat update.
Ok then its time for a big fat update. Since it was last November when I posted theres been a fair bit going on....ish.
Christmas was the usual mix of pressure to spend money on gifts for relatives from whom you never here from the rest of the year. Then there was the running around to various other relations over Christmas and Boxing day including the Inlaws. Still we came through unscathed and thank god its over for the best part of another year perhaps buggering off for the next one is a good idea! LOL
The hunt for work was on and took far too long to get something. Best part of 3 months to get in on a refurbishment project at a local Mental Health Hospital which can be, lets say, interesting at times with the patients/inmates/clients (or whatever the bloody PC word is this week) coming in and out of what is a building site and us trying to convince them there is a new entrance around the corner before they explode into violence!
Thankfully I have my Nursing experience to fall back on so it doesnt bother me much but the other guys onsite havnt a clue and look terrified most of the time!! Still just goes to show how much ignorance there still is out there in society about such issues. Many still are of the ilk "its not happening to me so I will bury my head in the sand." Its a shame as im sure if there was a bit more education in schools about such things the world just may be a bit of a better place.
I had to put wifeys car through the dreaded MOT. Now I was actually hoping the horrible little pile of crap would fail, its a Hyundai Atoz of which I am not a fan, but no the bloody thing passed with only a CV boot needing replacing! So looks like Im stuck looking at an old T reg battered and dented Hyundai parked on my driveway covered in DOZENS AND DOZENS OF FLOWER STICKERS!!!!! Still she loves it for some reason and a car is a VERY personal choice eh!
My crimbo present this year was an incubator for hatching poultry eggs. Now this is by far the best gift I have ever received!! So far I have hatched 6 Serama (smallest chicken in the world) and 10 Light Sussex chicks. Most have been sold with me just keeping a couple to grow on. These are absolutely hilarious things when they hatch and its an amazing process as well. Take the egg you would quite happily eat pop it in an incubator for 3 weeks and hay presto little fluffy chicks! My plan is to keep hatching over the spring and early summer and as I sell the chicks the cash goes into another pot that pays for the feed etc for my other big chickens! My constant flock at the moment stands at 3 Jubilee Orpingtons, 1 Marsh Daisy, 2 red ones (got given them so havnt a clue), 1 white one (same again), 2 Light Sussex, 1 Aruacana and 2 Ducklings!!!!!!!
Now you would think with that lot we would never have to buy an egg but NOOOOOOOO over winter all stopped laying (some before they started) and only this week have they started to give us eggs again!
So in the incy at the moment there are 12 Light sussex, 2 duck and 16 Serama eggs. These are a favour for a friend to check his fertility rates as he has introduced new cockerals to his hens and we get to keep what hatches!! Good deal or what!
We had some bad news just before Christmas that my wifes Step mum had had a major stroke and it wasnt looking very hopefull for her. So we hopped onto the first flight out to Spain but got bloody diverted to Valncia instead of landing at Alicante so had to grab the hire car from there (luckily the hire car company were great and the lady receptionist bent over backwards to help us). So we then had a 4 hour drive south to the hospital to see her. That made us up to 22 hours travelling just to get there..very long day! She had amazed everyone by surviving at all as she had been in intensive care for a couple of days. She was released from hospital a couple of weeks later but we have just had the updated checks and its not good news. She has until this coming Christmas if shes lucky which is so tragic at the age of 64. Now she has been planning her 65th birthday party for over a year now and thats this coming June so everyone, and I mean everyone, is going out there for that so she will have the most fantastic day surrounded by her friends and family which is an excellent thing. I havnt a clue how we are going to afford it yet but we will find a way because we are not missing that.
My oldest daughter has started her guitar lessons as a well doen on her school marks. She has started her GCSE courses a year early and is doing well so had to be rewarded.
My Son has started his driving lessons!!!!!!!!!! How the hell did that happen?? He cant be old enough yet surely LOL At 37 it seems strange how old the kids are already but I am glad I had them when I was younger because wifey and I have so many plans on what we want to do starting in a couple of years.
Our biggest realisable dream is renting somewhere that comes with land we can use as a smallholding. We only want to grow the veg on the allotment scale we do now but would love to raise our own meat ie pigs, sheep and goats as well as meat chickens etc. But where to rent? We have decided on either Derbyshire or over in Norfolk in the Cromer/Sheringham regions. Now the long search has to begin to find something suitable.
Well thats it for now and I will pop back in again when I have something of interest to write ;)
Christmas was the usual mix of pressure to spend money on gifts for relatives from whom you never here from the rest of the year. Then there was the running around to various other relations over Christmas and Boxing day including the Inlaws. Still we came through unscathed and thank god its over for the best part of another year perhaps buggering off for the next one is a good idea! LOL
The hunt for work was on and took far too long to get something. Best part of 3 months to get in on a refurbishment project at a local Mental Health Hospital which can be, lets say, interesting at times with the patients/inmates/clients (or whatever the bloody PC word is this week) coming in and out of what is a building site and us trying to convince them there is a new entrance around the corner before they explode into violence!
Thankfully I have my Nursing experience to fall back on so it doesnt bother me much but the other guys onsite havnt a clue and look terrified most of the time!! Still just goes to show how much ignorance there still is out there in society about such issues. Many still are of the ilk "its not happening to me so I will bury my head in the sand." Its a shame as im sure if there was a bit more education in schools about such things the world just may be a bit of a better place.
I had to put wifeys car through the dreaded MOT. Now I was actually hoping the horrible little pile of crap would fail, its a Hyundai Atoz of which I am not a fan, but no the bloody thing passed with only a CV boot needing replacing! So looks like Im stuck looking at an old T reg battered and dented Hyundai parked on my driveway covered in DOZENS AND DOZENS OF FLOWER STICKERS!!!!! Still she loves it for some reason and a car is a VERY personal choice eh!
My crimbo present this year was an incubator for hatching poultry eggs. Now this is by far the best gift I have ever received!! So far I have hatched 6 Serama (smallest chicken in the world) and 10 Light Sussex chicks. Most have been sold with me just keeping a couple to grow on. These are absolutely hilarious things when they hatch and its an amazing process as well. Take the egg you would quite happily eat pop it in an incubator for 3 weeks and hay presto little fluffy chicks! My plan is to keep hatching over the spring and early summer and as I sell the chicks the cash goes into another pot that pays for the feed etc for my other big chickens! My constant flock at the moment stands at 3 Jubilee Orpingtons, 1 Marsh Daisy, 2 red ones (got given them so havnt a clue), 1 white one (same again), 2 Light Sussex, 1 Aruacana and 2 Ducklings!!!!!!!
Now you would think with that lot we would never have to buy an egg but NOOOOOOOO over winter all stopped laying (some before they started) and only this week have they started to give us eggs again!
So in the incy at the moment there are 12 Light sussex, 2 duck and 16 Serama eggs. These are a favour for a friend to check his fertility rates as he has introduced new cockerals to his hens and we get to keep what hatches!! Good deal or what!
We had some bad news just before Christmas that my wifes Step mum had had a major stroke and it wasnt looking very hopefull for her. So we hopped onto the first flight out to Spain but got bloody diverted to Valncia instead of landing at Alicante so had to grab the hire car from there (luckily the hire car company were great and the lady receptionist bent over backwards to help us). So we then had a 4 hour drive south to the hospital to see her. That made us up to 22 hours travelling just to get there..very long day! She had amazed everyone by surviving at all as she had been in intensive care for a couple of days. She was released from hospital a couple of weeks later but we have just had the updated checks and its not good news. She has until this coming Christmas if shes lucky which is so tragic at the age of 64. Now she has been planning her 65th birthday party for over a year now and thats this coming June so everyone, and I mean everyone, is going out there for that so she will have the most fantastic day surrounded by her friends and family which is an excellent thing. I havnt a clue how we are going to afford it yet but we will find a way because we are not missing that.
My oldest daughter has started her guitar lessons as a well doen on her school marks. She has started her GCSE courses a year early and is doing well so had to be rewarded.
My Son has started his driving lessons!!!!!!!!!! How the hell did that happen?? He cant be old enough yet surely LOL At 37 it seems strange how old the kids are already but I am glad I had them when I was younger because wifey and I have so many plans on what we want to do starting in a couple of years.
Our biggest realisable dream is renting somewhere that comes with land we can use as a smallholding. We only want to grow the veg on the allotment scale we do now but would love to raise our own meat ie pigs, sheep and goats as well as meat chickens etc. But where to rent? We have decided on either Derbyshire or over in Norfolk in the Cromer/Sheringham regions. Now the long search has to begin to find something suitable.
Well thats it for now and I will pop back in again when I have something of interest to write ;)
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Short Days
Here we are well into winter and it has dropped so very early this year. Keeping the chickens water from turning into concrete ice is a constant struggle especially seeing as its been below freezing for the best part of a week with a temp of -7 last night! The chooks seem indifferent to it all aprt from loving warm vegtable peelings being given to them daily which turns into mayhem when put into their run.
I worked as a recovery driver for a few months which was a really interesting job. Its amazing how daft folk can be when it comes to not knowing a thing about their cars!!! The problem with the job was the ridiculus "on call" hours which came in at 60 hours over a weekend if you were on. This led to no life or time with the family so I found another job and handed in my notice.
I thought it prudent to have 2 weeks off between leaving one job and starting another as there was so much work to do within the house which all got done in a week or so. Then I got the call saying my new job had been put on hold due to government cut backs so I am once again hunting around for work.
So other than christmas preperations which are all done anyway (how smug am I!) and the snow on the ground which stops me from doing anything outside its all rather dull! I am considering retraining into something health care based so thats being looked into and a new direction in my work outlook.
I worked as a recovery driver for a few months which was a really interesting job. Its amazing how daft folk can be when it comes to not knowing a thing about their cars!!! The problem with the job was the ridiculus "on call" hours which came in at 60 hours over a weekend if you were on. This led to no life or time with the family so I found another job and handed in my notice.
I thought it prudent to have 2 weeks off between leaving one job and starting another as there was so much work to do within the house which all got done in a week or so. Then I got the call saying my new job had been put on hold due to government cut backs so I am once again hunting around for work.
So other than christmas preperations which are all done anyway (how smug am I!) and the snow on the ground which stops me from doing anything outside its all rather dull! I am considering retraining into something health care based so thats being looked into and a new direction in my work outlook.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Damn back
Im just back from the Drs because yet again my back has been playing up.
Turns out that I have a disc bulging out of my spine causing sciatica and muscle spasms so at least 2 weeks off of work and a trip to see the physio.
We are just getting on our feet after a really tough year, like so many other people out there, so this has really got me down. I seem to have enough drugs here to knock out a horse!!
Has anyone any suggestions of how to fill the next two weeks involving no driving, lifting or bending over as I have to potter around to help the disc back in!
Turns out that I have a disc bulging out of my spine causing sciatica and muscle spasms so at least 2 weeks off of work and a trip to see the physio.
We are just getting on our feet after a really tough year, like so many other people out there, so this has really got me down. I seem to have enough drugs here to knock out a horse!!
Has anyone any suggestions of how to fill the next two weeks involving no driving, lifting or bending over as I have to potter around to help the disc back in!
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Summer is here.
Here we are well into full blown summer here in Blighty. The weather has been amazingly warm and even Glastonbury got away with not getting its annual downpour turning the largest festival into a mud pool...no instead it was a dustbath of a site with 1000's suffering heatstroke and sunburn all in the name of fun!
I had the pleasure of being at the Isle of Wight festival this year which is full of youngsters who know no better after being let of off the leash for the first time. I have never witnessed such a huge number of youngsters that drunk or that sunburnt anywhere before. Now I know there is supposed to be a recession but these kids were spending money like water on alcohol, socks!!??? (why socks are so popular on the site I have no idea seeing as they seemed to be constantly stripping all of their other clothing off), toasties, greasy pizza's (apprantley the staple diet of this festival) and last but not least hour upon hour of queing for.................................................
mobile phone charging.
No I kid you not these plonkers were spending massive portions of their days either in a que to charge their mobiles or in another que to collect them. Now I admit I can be an old fart at times but at 36 I know I am not THAT old so why do I find this phone thing crazy??? When I was let off of my leash as a teenager for my first foray into the festival scene mobile phones were not something that even entered our minds. I mean you were away from home feeling like a grown up for the first time, you were more (only) interested in chasing women (ok girls) and drinking so much you made an arse out of yourself (normally chasing girls) so why in any gods name would you want to A) call your parents B)have your parents call you?
You are in a field so why would you want to play on the internet? Why pay £200 for a bloody festival ticket so you can do exactly what you would do at home???? Have the next generation got so involved with being plugged into the world wide web that they can no longer tell where they are even when its in a feild on a glorious day at the start of summer with no parental rules and a sea of young people just like you set free for the first time? Perhaps its time to look up from your handhelds guys & girls, blink a few times to clear your eyes and just perhaps then you could get on with living a real life with real people.
Belive me you are not young and free for long. Before you realise you will be working a proper job, paying the bills and wondering what your kids are doing at their first festival calling home 5 times a day!
I had the pleasure of being at the Isle of Wight festival this year which is full of youngsters who know no better after being let of off the leash for the first time. I have never witnessed such a huge number of youngsters that drunk or that sunburnt anywhere before. Now I know there is supposed to be a recession but these kids were spending money like water on alcohol, socks!!??? (why socks are so popular on the site I have no idea seeing as they seemed to be constantly stripping all of their other clothing off), toasties, greasy pizza's (apprantley the staple diet of this festival) and last but not least hour upon hour of queing for.................................................
mobile phone charging.
No I kid you not these plonkers were spending massive portions of their days either in a que to charge their mobiles or in another que to collect them. Now I admit I can be an old fart at times but at 36 I know I am not THAT old so why do I find this phone thing crazy??? When I was let off of my leash as a teenager for my first foray into the festival scene mobile phones were not something that even entered our minds. I mean you were away from home feeling like a grown up for the first time, you were more (only) interested in chasing women (ok girls) and drinking so much you made an arse out of yourself (normally chasing girls) so why in any gods name would you want to A) call your parents B)have your parents call you?
You are in a field so why would you want to play on the internet? Why pay £200 for a bloody festival ticket so you can do exactly what you would do at home???? Have the next generation got so involved with being plugged into the world wide web that they can no longer tell where they are even when its in a feild on a glorious day at the start of summer with no parental rules and a sea of young people just like you set free for the first time? Perhaps its time to look up from your handhelds guys & girls, blink a few times to clear your eyes and just perhaps then you could get on with living a real life with real people.
Belive me you are not young and free for long. Before you realise you will be working a proper job, paying the bills and wondering what your kids are doing at their first festival calling home 5 times a day!
Saturday, 5 June 2010
No im not dead!
How two months have passed so quickly is beyound me. I am no longer in the depths of despair, in fact life has been very good of late.
Im subbing to an events company I have had dealings with for over 10 years now. Im crazy busy regulary pulling 14 hour days setting up major events for those that are lets say somewhat less than functional from abuse of alcohol or other substances. But het life is good earning well, in fact wifey now has a new car, well I say car its a Hyundai Atoz which is ideal for city driving and missing every wall she can find!
At least she can park this one even though all the flower stickers she has put on the damn thing would put me off driving it in a straight line!
Our neighbours are still a bloody nightmare. I have no issue with who anyone prays to or what country they are from having been an "immigrant" myself in the past but no manners or respect for noise levels drives me more than insane. Words have been had but to no effect and I am at the point that if I go around again more than words would pass so I refrain. On the positive side we are looking for a small holding which for us is the next step on from chickens and the allotment....whatch this space.
So generally life is on the up. Im off to the Isle of Wight next week for another major event which will earn good dosh. Maybe my new motor will not be too far away after all!!!
Im subbing to an events company I have had dealings with for over 10 years now. Im crazy busy regulary pulling 14 hour days setting up major events for those that are lets say somewhat less than functional from abuse of alcohol or other substances. But het life is good earning well, in fact wifey now has a new car, well I say car its a Hyundai Atoz which is ideal for city driving and missing every wall she can find!
At least she can park this one even though all the flower stickers she has put on the damn thing would put me off driving it in a straight line!
Our neighbours are still a bloody nightmare. I have no issue with who anyone prays to or what country they are from having been an "immigrant" myself in the past but no manners or respect for noise levels drives me more than insane. Words have been had but to no effect and I am at the point that if I go around again more than words would pass so I refrain. On the positive side we are looking for a small holding which for us is the next step on from chickens and the allotment....whatch this space.
So generally life is on the up. Im off to the Isle of Wight next week for another major event which will earn good dosh. Maybe my new motor will not be too far away after all!!!
Monday, 12 April 2010
Am I normal???
Ok lets start with what is normal? Its whatever it is to an individual but we obviously have our social expectations of what normal is.
Ive never really fallen into the whole work your 9-5 job pay your mortgage and then retire on your savings. I cant stay in one place for long as it drives me nuts and I am always wanting to move onto the next experience with work and living.
At times this does drive me around the bend. We have been in Nottingham for nearly 6 months and I hate it. My eldest daughter hates it and my youngest doesnt mind it too much but would prefer to be back in Kettering. The major problem being wifey loves it. Its her home town and shes glad to be back.
We are luckier than alot of people as we do have a roof over our heads. The bills are paid and we have food in our bellies. BUT im sure there is something wrong in my head! I cant stay still. I have a massive desire to move on again to the next challenge but fear this will destroy my marriage. I would love to be "normal". To want nothing more than one home in one place with a lifetime in a regular 9-5 looking forward with glee to the traditional 2 week holiday and bank holidays for those extra days off. To have a regular life long group of friends with the set nights out.
I cant do it. I work hard so I can see interesting new places. But I wish at times I could settle into that sort of routine.
Ive never really fallen into the whole work your 9-5 job pay your mortgage and then retire on your savings. I cant stay in one place for long as it drives me nuts and I am always wanting to move onto the next experience with work and living.
At times this does drive me around the bend. We have been in Nottingham for nearly 6 months and I hate it. My eldest daughter hates it and my youngest doesnt mind it too much but would prefer to be back in Kettering. The major problem being wifey loves it. Its her home town and shes glad to be back.
We are luckier than alot of people as we do have a roof over our heads. The bills are paid and we have food in our bellies. BUT im sure there is something wrong in my head! I cant stay still. I have a massive desire to move on again to the next challenge but fear this will destroy my marriage. I would love to be "normal". To want nothing more than one home in one place with a lifetime in a regular 9-5 looking forward with glee to the traditional 2 week holiday and bank holidays for those extra days off. To have a regular life long group of friends with the set nights out.
I cant do it. I work hard so I can see interesting new places. But I wish at times I could settle into that sort of routine.
Saturday, 3 April 2010
New Leaf
Yes yes yes its been quite some time since my last blog but I really have been busy!
Having read back on my posts the last one was about the chooks arriving. Well we lost one but thats to be expected when dealing with ex battery hens. They are worked so hard in the first year of their lives they can develop all sorts of problems. Still we have the 3 and they now live on the allotment in a new hand built coop and the next stage is to build a 20 ft run for them up there. Then some new meat birds will be added along with a turkey for christmas!
The allotment is now sorted with all the brassicas in along with our spuds! The greenhouse is full of seedlings waiting for a few weeks for the spring to kick in properly. Its so nice to see the new life and growth of food thats going to see you through the best part of the year. Its immensley satisfying to eat your own veg!
My youngest brother was over from Ireland this weekend with his fiance so all the family got together which was fantastic!! Its so rare when there is 6 kids all now grown up to be in the same place all at once! His fiance is lovely and I had to ask if she was just trying to upset her parents by marrying him lol but they do make a great couple. He will be releasing his first album over the next couple of months and if you want a taster take a look at www.davylewis.com as he has a few songs on there already and his first single is for charity so buy the download and do your bit!!
The BIG news is that I have given up smoking. There is a local support type thing that you go to every couple of weeks and they give you tips help etc. Its really good! Its been a couple of days now and im doing great. Im using patches which seem to be doing really well for me. I have to say though that I really was ready to stop. I have been smoking now for twenty years, that was an eye opener when they asked how long and I worked it out!, but it was starting to effect my health. I sounded like an old man in the morning coughing like mad and I was getting out of breath doing the simplist things. Im only 36 so this really really started to worry me.
They say the first few days are the worse but when you are ready to stop and I mean really ready it doesnt make any odds. Ive only had one bad patch when i wanted one and that was on the first day driving home from work. Now that was just habit!! I always had a couple of smokes on the drive home whether I wanted them or not!
Ive tried many times in the past to stop and normally crashed at the first hurdle but it feels so different this time and a good dose of fear of your health helps no end! Watch out for the oxygen rush though that gets you at really strange times...and you dont sleep as much??? I only have 6 hours or so anyway but that seems to have gone down to 5??? Odd!
Having read back on my posts the last one was about the chooks arriving. Well we lost one but thats to be expected when dealing with ex battery hens. They are worked so hard in the first year of their lives they can develop all sorts of problems. Still we have the 3 and they now live on the allotment in a new hand built coop and the next stage is to build a 20 ft run for them up there. Then some new meat birds will be added along with a turkey for christmas!
The allotment is now sorted with all the brassicas in along with our spuds! The greenhouse is full of seedlings waiting for a few weeks for the spring to kick in properly. Its so nice to see the new life and growth of food thats going to see you through the best part of the year. Its immensley satisfying to eat your own veg!
My youngest brother was over from Ireland this weekend with his fiance so all the family got together which was fantastic!! Its so rare when there is 6 kids all now grown up to be in the same place all at once! His fiance is lovely and I had to ask if she was just trying to upset her parents by marrying him lol but they do make a great couple. He will be releasing his first album over the next couple of months and if you want a taster take a look at www.davylewis.com as he has a few songs on there already and his first single is for charity so buy the download and do your bit!!
The BIG news is that I have given up smoking. There is a local support type thing that you go to every couple of weeks and they give you tips help etc. Its really good! Its been a couple of days now and im doing great. Im using patches which seem to be doing really well for me. I have to say though that I really was ready to stop. I have been smoking now for twenty years, that was an eye opener when they asked how long and I worked it out!, but it was starting to effect my health. I sounded like an old man in the morning coughing like mad and I was getting out of breath doing the simplist things. Im only 36 so this really really started to worry me.
They say the first few days are the worse but when you are ready to stop and I mean really ready it doesnt make any odds. Ive only had one bad patch when i wanted one and that was on the first day driving home from work. Now that was just habit!! I always had a couple of smokes on the drive home whether I wanted them or not!
Ive tried many times in the past to stop and normally crashed at the first hurdle but it feels so different this time and a good dose of fear of your health helps no end! Watch out for the oxygen rush though that gets you at really strange times...and you dont sleep as much??? I only have 6 hours or so anyway but that seems to have gone down to 5??? Odd!
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Introducing the ladies.
Well today we have 4 new additions to the family and what comical additions they are!
I went and helped a charity that rescues and rehomes exbatt hens. 3000 in total where taken from their cramped cages and moved on to new homes :) Now thats got to be better than ending up as dog or cat food eh!
What I found really funny was the fact in the barns where the hens are kept in cages there are "ghost" hens. Now of course they are not real ghosts but hens that have escaped from their cages and cannot be caught! As soon as you get near them they scarper under machinary and are un catchable! Just reminded me of the film Chicken Run.
The people that help out the charity are a right old mix from all walks of life which made it fun!
Anyway the ladies are home and settling into their new run and sorting out the pecking order and I had my first egg on the drive home as well which is great :)
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Interesting month
Its been a busy and interestiung month. Theres been mamy highs and some lows in a full on rollercoaster of emotions.
At the start of the month I had no job and severe winter blues. I am happy to say that on both counts the opposite is now true. I had 3 job offers in a week and of course I took the highest paid. So I am now a Dispatch manager for a tree and shrub nursery that sell wholesale to the trade.
If im honest I could see why they hired me as the dispatch side was just chaos. That took a couple of days to sort out but now runs smoothly. The problem with that is I now have not a great deal to do! In fact I am wondering why I have been hired at all because the work load doesnot justify a full time job! There are a other issues as well such as they want me to keep tally on the receptionist's mistakes so they can sack her??? Not my place I feel as she is not my secretary so I will not partake in that at all.
I managed to put my back out at the weekend whilst emptying out my old van. Damn it hurts and I managed to work a couple of days with it but have been laid up for the last two with forced rest as it was just getting worse. Not a good thing in my second week of work.
Im not surprised this has happend as I was pushing myself far too hard to get the allotment and garden sorted before I started work. But the results speak for themselves.
At the start of the month I had no job and severe winter blues. I am happy to say that on both counts the opposite is now true. I had 3 job offers in a week and of course I took the highest paid. So I am now a Dispatch manager for a tree and shrub nursery that sell wholesale to the trade.
If im honest I could see why they hired me as the dispatch side was just chaos. That took a couple of days to sort out but now runs smoothly. The problem with that is I now have not a great deal to do! In fact I am wondering why I have been hired at all because the work load doesnot justify a full time job! There are a other issues as well such as they want me to keep tally on the receptionist's mistakes so they can sack her??? Not my place I feel as she is not my secretary so I will not partake in that at all.
I managed to put my back out at the weekend whilst emptying out my old van. Damn it hurts and I managed to work a couple of days with it but have been laid up for the last two with forced rest as it was just getting worse. Not a good thing in my second week of work.
Im not surprised this has happend as I was pushing myself far too hard to get the allotment and garden sorted before I started work. But the results speak for themselves.
The plot is now clear and the garden is covered in wood chip instead of what was left of the grass!
Our friends had a bouncing baby daughter that weighed in at 5lb 2oz. After many years of trying they finally got the daughter that they wanted after IVF treatment. We were so happy for them as they will be the best parents. Mum and baby did fine and went home the following day.
The trip home was short lived as the next morning the baby was unresponsive with blue hands and feet. She was rushed to the special baby care unit and put into intensive care. There were many problems including fits every few minutes.
This was a nightmare for us and I cannot imagine what our friends were going through. Years of waiting to be so happy and winthin 48 hours stood above their baby in an incubater that they couldnt touch.
She was very very poorly but due to the hard work and dedication of the care team she started to make headway. We are now 4 days on and she is doing brilliantly. She is once again taking milk and the test results are coming back clear with no obvious underlying signs of infection. The fits have stopped and with any luck mum and baby will be home once again next week sometime.
My Dad has returned from the Falkland Islands and we are going to see him this Sunday so that should be a really interesting day with tales of the last 6 weeks and info on the family tree.
The chickens arrive this weekend as well and the run is all ready. It could do with some felt on the roof which I will do on Sat before they are put in there. I am helping the charity out collecting chickens so that should be a good way to meet some new people.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Below is a post of my new Allotment! I think theres more than a bit of work to get this straight LOL
Still before you know it it will be sorted and we will have some superb home grown veg and fruit!
All I need to do is draw up a plan of our plot and work towards it. Does anyone know the best way to get rid of a couple of Foxes? Cant use a gun here in blighty so any ideas are most welcome :)
Still before you know it it will be sorted and we will have some superb home grown veg and fruit!
All I need to do is draw up a plan of our plot and work towards it. Does anyone know the best way to get rid of a couple of Foxes? Cant use a gun here in blighty so any ideas are most welcome :)
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Spring must be coming...the pigeons are at it!
Here we are rushing toward the end of January finally! I have not written much of late because little of anything has been happening!
I didnt want to write about the 2 weeks of snow we had and about how housebound we were because all you had to do for that sort of info was turn on any news channel to be bombarded by idiot presenters freezing thier extremeties off giving continual coverage on the matter!
So I have saved up the feww odds of news for an end of month hit that will take more than 30 secs to write :)
The first news is that my youngest brother is realising a lifelong dream and releasing his first album in May which is fantastic news!!! We are all off to Dublin for the big day and are really looking forward to it! Hot on the back of that news he tells us he is now engaged and getting married next year in Athens which is just the cherry on the cake. I am seriously proud of him :)
He has just released his first track early and is donating all proceeds to the Haiti Earthquake appeal. The track is available for download here :----
http://www.downloadmusic.ie/davylewis/hold-on
Its well worth a £1 so give it a go and see why I am so proud and the fact it is not just my bias!
The hunt for work goes on in earnest and today I went for my second interview to work at Eon the gas & electric company. The job is working in a call center dealing with the debt side of things so could be interesting and a bit of a change in direction for me but should I get through the 3rd and final interview on Monday its mine! It will be soo good to be out earning again and not sitting stewing at home.
Since the snow melted I have cracked on with our excuse for a rear garden and filled a skip with a nightmare of a home made shed, that was full to the brim with rubbish, taken down a home made fence made out of old bedframes and doors and now have put up a new fence and a gate so I can get to my allotment! The new sheds are up and today I finished building the greenhouse frame and securing it to a base. I just need to scrub it down now and fit the glass so hopefully come the end of the weekend I will be ready to start my seedlings off in a few weeks time which is great! I love the spring and all the new life it inspires.
I sat in the city center square today, after my interview, enjoying the early and unseasonably warm sunshine with a cup of coffee and realised that the move up here even though its been harder work wise than we thought was well worth it. I settled my mind with the realisation that I have to let go of what is done ie my business and move forward. So In a weeks time I will be putting my old Transit up for sale and getting wifey a small cheap to run car for the city side of driving. At least that way parking wont be a problem :) I will use the family Vectra and I think my motorbike will have to go as well as its never used and is costing money just sitting there.
Surprisingly I feel no real sadness now about this so it really must be time to move on eh!
So all in all life is on the up, I can get outside again and work is looming upon the horizon. Oh and the warm sunshine has confused the Pigeons...I have never seen such bird pornography outside in full view of all in the city center today and I along with many others just had to laugh at the males convinced they were great whilst the females just looked at them as if to say "I've got a headache"
I didnt want to write about the 2 weeks of snow we had and about how housebound we were because all you had to do for that sort of info was turn on any news channel to be bombarded by idiot presenters freezing thier extremeties off giving continual coverage on the matter!
So I have saved up the feww odds of news for an end of month hit that will take more than 30 secs to write :)
The first news is that my youngest brother is realising a lifelong dream and releasing his first album in May which is fantastic news!!! We are all off to Dublin for the big day and are really looking forward to it! Hot on the back of that news he tells us he is now engaged and getting married next year in Athens which is just the cherry on the cake. I am seriously proud of him :)
He has just released his first track early and is donating all proceeds to the Haiti Earthquake appeal. The track is available for download here :----
http://www.downloadmusic.ie/davylewis/hold-on
Its well worth a £1 so give it a go and see why I am so proud and the fact it is not just my bias!
The hunt for work goes on in earnest and today I went for my second interview to work at Eon the gas & electric company. The job is working in a call center dealing with the debt side of things so could be interesting and a bit of a change in direction for me but should I get through the 3rd and final interview on Monday its mine! It will be soo good to be out earning again and not sitting stewing at home.
Since the snow melted I have cracked on with our excuse for a rear garden and filled a skip with a nightmare of a home made shed, that was full to the brim with rubbish, taken down a home made fence made out of old bedframes and doors and now have put up a new fence and a gate so I can get to my allotment! The new sheds are up and today I finished building the greenhouse frame and securing it to a base. I just need to scrub it down now and fit the glass so hopefully come the end of the weekend I will be ready to start my seedlings off in a few weeks time which is great! I love the spring and all the new life it inspires.
I sat in the city center square today, after my interview, enjoying the early and unseasonably warm sunshine with a cup of coffee and realised that the move up here even though its been harder work wise than we thought was well worth it. I settled my mind with the realisation that I have to let go of what is done ie my business and move forward. So In a weeks time I will be putting my old Transit up for sale and getting wifey a small cheap to run car for the city side of driving. At least that way parking wont be a problem :) I will use the family Vectra and I think my motorbike will have to go as well as its never used and is costing money just sitting there.
Surprisingly I feel no real sadness now about this so it really must be time to move on eh!
So all in all life is on the up, I can get outside again and work is looming upon the horizon. Oh and the warm sunshine has confused the Pigeons...I have never seen such bird pornography outside in full view of all in the city center today and I along with many others just had to laugh at the males convinced they were great whilst the females just looked at them as if to say "I've got a headache"
Monday, 4 January 2010
2010
Here we are now a few dyas into the second decade of the millenium thankfully with all of the Christmas and new year festivities behind us. All the stress of spending money on unimportant possesions for peple you dont really want anything to do with the rest of the year is over.
The new year has come in with a big freeze. Damn its cold. Weve had snow and the temp hasn't got above freezing for a good few days with another 10 days instore for us. The motorbike hasnot coped well with this. I put a new battery on just before Christmas and now the cold has killed that one as well! I wouldnt mind but I had been starting and running the bike every couple of days to warm it through and keep the battery charged so now I will have to buy a trickle charger as the battery is the gel type!
Wifeys car is on its last legs :( Im sure the thermostat has gone so a new one of those is due as well as the tax. Still with any luck the new contract for work should be starting in the next couple of weeks so some new income is hopefully forthcoming.
Now I want to come onto a bit of a serious issue. I want to talk about something that is well known but still is not talked of out in the open. My reasons for this are that someone close to me opened up to me over Christmas because they knew I have and still do suffer from this condition, although not in constant way anymore.
Depression is a common ailment today and is still hidden under the carpet as a taboo subject. I have suffered this in the extreme from full blackouts that last a couple of days, where I lose all memory and this has happened only once thank goodness, to the more everyday down in a deep rut that you just cannot pull yourself out of. When you first start getting depressed you have no idea whats happening. You just think you are really fed up! We all get down sometimes and thats just the way of things, its normal and nothing to panic about. But time passes and you start to fell really lost. You dont want to do anything and even the most simple of tasks seem like mountanous obsticles that you just wont have the energy to overcome....even something as simple as moving to make a cup of tea.
Now I know some of you are thinking thats just lazy and it can appear so from the outside but it like a living hell. This whole process was for me like being in a train tunnel dug through the side of a mountain. There is no light at either end, you have come in so far you have no idea which way is out, forward or backwards. Its just blackness in your very soul and you have no idea what to do with yourself. It doesnt matter what anyone says that hasnt been through it. No amount of people trying to cheer you up helps infact it drives you further away. You want to be left alone but that is itself a vicious circle. The more time you are by yourself the worse you feel. The more time you spend with others the worse you feel.
You do tend to hide it as well. You overcompensate in front of other people so they wont pick up on whats wrong with you. I now know that others do it as well which is crazy because we dance around the issue likes its a plague. It gets wose and worse for you as you sink deeper and deeper until you start believing you are worthless. You dont deserve to be here and you turn your thoughts to suicide. Its amazing how many ways you can kill yourself when you actually think seriously about it. Every household implement can do it. You can walk out into the road in front of a big truck or bus. Take a long walk into the ocean . Hang yourself which is quick and easy providing you do it right, if you dont it will be slow and painful. Knives for stabbing, slashing or stabbing. You get the idea.
Depression turns into desperation. You are worthless and want to die. Some do with their secret intact leaving all those behind wondering what the hell has happened. I didnt sink that deep. I was close getting to the point of having things set up to do the deed but there was still a small piece of me at the back of my mind screaming at my darkest moments to stop to do something about this. Another person told me the thing that stopped them at the brink of suicide was the realisation there was a suicide clause in their life insurance which ment the kids would get nothing.
I went to the Drs. Its the single hardest thing I had ever done explaining to a stranger what was going on, what I had been going through, what I had contemplated. Turns out I wasnt alone. It is so common out there now you shouldnt hide it and go straight to the Drs as they will help. Ok its taking tablets which in your mind makes you weak. I thought that so I didnt take them long. Dont get me wrong they made me feel better so I stopped taking them. Didnt take long to feel depressed again.
The tablets correct a chemical imbalance in the brain. You do not need them for ever in fact I havnt had any now for about 4 years but they are a tool. They are a good tool. Theres no shame in them only societies ingnorance and stigma. Thankfully the someone who I spoke at length with over Christmas has passed through the worse of the dark tunnel. They are getting help and even though the road ahead is long they will get there of that I have no doubt.
Am I cured? Nope. Ive learnt ways to deal with my depression. Simple tricks like walking the dig and working on my allotment. You learn to recognise when a bout is coming on and at times you still hit rock bottom but the tunnel is never as long these days. When I crash headlong into one there is always light at the other end.
So why all this all this as my first post in the new year? Well it is a new year a new start, perhaps we could all be a little better at understanding each other. Not be so judgemental of things we dont understand.
Heres to an excellent year :)
The new year has come in with a big freeze. Damn its cold. Weve had snow and the temp hasn't got above freezing for a good few days with another 10 days instore for us. The motorbike hasnot coped well with this. I put a new battery on just before Christmas and now the cold has killed that one as well! I wouldnt mind but I had been starting and running the bike every couple of days to warm it through and keep the battery charged so now I will have to buy a trickle charger as the battery is the gel type!
Wifeys car is on its last legs :( Im sure the thermostat has gone so a new one of those is due as well as the tax. Still with any luck the new contract for work should be starting in the next couple of weeks so some new income is hopefully forthcoming.
Now I want to come onto a bit of a serious issue. I want to talk about something that is well known but still is not talked of out in the open. My reasons for this are that someone close to me opened up to me over Christmas because they knew I have and still do suffer from this condition, although not in constant way anymore.
Depression is a common ailment today and is still hidden under the carpet as a taboo subject. I have suffered this in the extreme from full blackouts that last a couple of days, where I lose all memory and this has happened only once thank goodness, to the more everyday down in a deep rut that you just cannot pull yourself out of. When you first start getting depressed you have no idea whats happening. You just think you are really fed up! We all get down sometimes and thats just the way of things, its normal and nothing to panic about. But time passes and you start to fell really lost. You dont want to do anything and even the most simple of tasks seem like mountanous obsticles that you just wont have the energy to overcome....even something as simple as moving to make a cup of tea.
Now I know some of you are thinking thats just lazy and it can appear so from the outside but it like a living hell. This whole process was for me like being in a train tunnel dug through the side of a mountain. There is no light at either end, you have come in so far you have no idea which way is out, forward or backwards. Its just blackness in your very soul and you have no idea what to do with yourself. It doesnt matter what anyone says that hasnt been through it. No amount of people trying to cheer you up helps infact it drives you further away. You want to be left alone but that is itself a vicious circle. The more time you are by yourself the worse you feel. The more time you spend with others the worse you feel.
You do tend to hide it as well. You overcompensate in front of other people so they wont pick up on whats wrong with you. I now know that others do it as well which is crazy because we dance around the issue likes its a plague. It gets wose and worse for you as you sink deeper and deeper until you start believing you are worthless. You dont deserve to be here and you turn your thoughts to suicide. Its amazing how many ways you can kill yourself when you actually think seriously about it. Every household implement can do it. You can walk out into the road in front of a big truck or bus. Take a long walk into the ocean . Hang yourself which is quick and easy providing you do it right, if you dont it will be slow and painful. Knives for stabbing, slashing or stabbing. You get the idea.
Depression turns into desperation. You are worthless and want to die. Some do with their secret intact leaving all those behind wondering what the hell has happened. I didnt sink that deep. I was close getting to the point of having things set up to do the deed but there was still a small piece of me at the back of my mind screaming at my darkest moments to stop to do something about this. Another person told me the thing that stopped them at the brink of suicide was the realisation there was a suicide clause in their life insurance which ment the kids would get nothing.
I went to the Drs. Its the single hardest thing I had ever done explaining to a stranger what was going on, what I had been going through, what I had contemplated. Turns out I wasnt alone. It is so common out there now you shouldnt hide it and go straight to the Drs as they will help. Ok its taking tablets which in your mind makes you weak. I thought that so I didnt take them long. Dont get me wrong they made me feel better so I stopped taking them. Didnt take long to feel depressed again.
The tablets correct a chemical imbalance in the brain. You do not need them for ever in fact I havnt had any now for about 4 years but they are a tool. They are a good tool. Theres no shame in them only societies ingnorance and stigma. Thankfully the someone who I spoke at length with over Christmas has passed through the worse of the dark tunnel. They are getting help and even though the road ahead is long they will get there of that I have no doubt.
Am I cured? Nope. Ive learnt ways to deal with my depression. Simple tricks like walking the dig and working on my allotment. You learn to recognise when a bout is coming on and at times you still hit rock bottom but the tunnel is never as long these days. When I crash headlong into one there is always light at the other end.
So why all this all this as my first post in the new year? Well it is a new year a new start, perhaps we could all be a little better at understanding each other. Not be so judgemental of things we dont understand.
Heres to an excellent year :)
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