Diary of a father
2014
December Previous month« »2015
I had cause to walked across London and very much enjoyed the stroll in the cold sun. Unfortunatley the knee which had previously been injured started to ache as I neared my final destination so I had to rest it again. I dare not risk further damage or injury, I do so enjoy walking. It also brought a premature end to Karate this year! Anyway, I will persevere next year, after all "A black belt is a white belt that never quit".
Wednesday 17th
I am not ready yet! Still, I do love Christmas; brings back memories of the family bloated, happy and enjoying another Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. This year I am trying to be more organised but I am not yet convinced it is working. Presently my left knee is giving me serious jip after bad end to the weekend where very little went well. For one I am back home not on a course and I missed my grading because of bad weather and tight train times (I am not talking about the football).
Christmas
Yes, it is Christmas! Not too early this year. Woken at 7:30am by the sister-in-law and then minutes later by the youngest. A very chocolatey, cold but snowless one so far. I got jigsaw and a lovely jumper, not too mention some socks!
A record breaking sixteen vegetables accompanied our Christmas turkey: peas, beans, onions, leeks, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, black cabbage, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, butternut squash, baby corn, swede and celeriac.
We watched Miracle on 34th Street; one of the classics I lined up. First time I watched it - excellent. We followed that with a comic classic in Clockwise - giving us this quote I like - Brian Stimpson: "It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand."
The youngsters are not kids any have more and so Christmas time is more about the various forms of entertainment and folk enjoying it but not necessarily in the same room.
Presents, presents, presents!
I did a jigsaw again and enjoyed some football. The little man enjoyed food, TV and his console. The young lady also enjoyed sharing some time with her friends online, some TV, reading and maybe some chocolate before departing back up north. And the middle-aged washed up, cooked, fetched, carried and enjoyed themselves. I do love Christmas. It just never lasts long enough and each year the flavour of Christmas is different.
November Previous month« »December
Sunday 23th
I am doing Movember this year. I did last year too but not officially as it were. It has turned cold recently. I have started preparation for Christmas. The advent calendar is half done - Minecraft this year - just as David switches his interest to Halo! Thoughts of a couple of weeks away from work are attractive at present but then so is retirement - that is not happening any time soon.
As I come home in the dark my thoughts turn to the idea that we should be able to work shorter hours in the winter, to be more in tune with the seasons but the modern world seems to want to ignore nature not embrace its rhythms - shame.
Sunday 16th
Been laid up with some nasty virus for a while. I seem to get hit every year by the latest version - illness what a waste of time! Had to listen as teams I follow fell out of the FA Cup. (I know it is sacrilege to support more than one team but I also tend the follow any local teams but only when they don't play my real team). And the first proper round got off to a cracker with Warrington Town. Maybe a good year for those in red- not!
October Previous month« »Next month
Saturday 4th
This weekend is the Great Western Brick Show! We enjoyed the show early Saturday. My favourite pieces were the Skyscraper, The Tower (more ariel) and RMS Queen Mary. Trying to protect my knee from further injury I took along a walking stick which helped but didn't stop some clumsy person knocking his hot chocolate over my leg!
Sunday 12th
Assessment day and I trained earlier in the day so three and a half hours of karate. A strain given I seem to have a cold - poor me. Anyway, well done, to fellow trainees who graded - champion!
Saturday 18th
Rain, rain again. Occasionally we get sunshine long enough to enjoy the autumn leaves turning their beautiful golden browns and yellows.
Saturday 25th
We all went along to Whaddon Road to watch Forest Green put The Tigers out of the FA Cup after we had enjoyed some food and shopping in Cheltenham. It was a lovely occasion and some seven hundred made the trip from the five valleys. For a brief moment we nearly had the Green Army choir in front of us but they moved so we could stay sat to enjoy the spectacle.
Lego Bake-off Model
September Previous month« »Next month
And now the nights close in and temperatures fall. And my favourite season arrives - Autumn.
Sunday 21st
Wandering around we found a small town/village where I did some of my growing up. Inevitably it has changed but I found many of the places I remember, just not as I had left. The giant slide was no longer. The football pitch (more a scrap of grass really) was now strewn with seats and a tree! My old house has grown a porch and some purple paintwork and a school is no longer. Still it was interesting and we did enter a pub for the first time this year.
My knee is still badly bruised and the adults in the house have some cold. The knee is sometimes making my sleep disturbed so I ended up sleeping later this morning and missed Karate!
We have seen at first hand this explosion of spiders for ourselves and have two massive ones in the front garden. I have seen several more making large webs between various plants in the neighbour's garden too.
Sunday 14th
I travelled up north this weekend to see our student and my Dad. I still await the wild flowers I planted to show themselves; supposed to be 10 days so tomorrow they should spring forth - ha!
Spiders spiders everywhere
Sunday 28th
We all took part in the Five Valleys Walk. Unfortunately for me I felt the effects of my bruised knee kick in after the first fifteen miles. I have to admit I saw views and places I wasn't aware of before. I hope Meningitis Now raised a decent sum. By the end I was flagging and in a lot of pain but that last ice cream in the woods tasted better than any I had eaten before.
August Previous month« »Next month
Here comes summer and that means hot nights. It means some hot days too so working in the garden is not ideal way to spend a day. Anyway, the make over is making steady, if sporadic, progress.
Thursday 21st
Rome - Mucho Bene. We had a lovely five days exploring the Roman remains and enjoying Italian food. Naturally we ate a few pizzas and some pasta; and drank much aqua.
I went old school with my photography, taking a film camera and no mobile! I await sight of the resulting photographs - a week to get them developed. The anticipation is part of the thrill, isn't it? The camera was in worse repair than I remembered and some old duct tape was performing wonders holding it together. I had to explain to my son what the noises were as it wound forward the film and the time the builtin flash took to prepare between shots.
We recommend the city tour buses. One tour to reconnoitre the city and then we hopped on and off as we visited some of the sights along the way. An enjoyable few days before returning to a cold Blighty.
Altare Della Patria
Wednesday 27th
Ice Bucket Challenge - cool! Not half! David and I did it in the dark - argh! Thank you Karen.
July Previous month« »Next month
This month brings an end to another term for the schools. David and I face two weeks together as his school finishes really early because of building work. Having said that he sees a lot of his friends so it is not just the two of us always.
I make some more progress with the landscaping of the old vegetable patch and we try out NowTV. We try out some Photoshop artistry and some good old pencil and paper work too.
Thursday 10th
A rhubarb root I had planted and given up on, is actually growing! The other root however had died a ignominious death. And already my new apple tree has produced a cracker of an apple! The other apple tree is also producing some impressive fruit so seems to be an apple year. The plum tree in the pot however, after a glorious start, is wilting n the sun. Not sure what to do with it. It needs a new home but where to put it? The oak tree is fine - from little acorns and all that.
Veg Patch Make-over in progress
June Previous month« »Next month
And we enter the realms of the British summer - cor what a scorcher! It reaches the high twenties a few times. This results in the usual uncomfortable nights and rush to the coast for many Brits.
Meanwhile I start on sorting out the old vegetable patch and converting it into a area of wild flowers, a permanent home for the rotary washing line, a few slabs and potted plants. It will take me ages but I have managed to sink the rotary washing line and put a few slabs down. Next I have to uproot the potatoes that persist, completely on their own efforts.
The family are doing all right, David does well at school, our student wrestles with her dissertation and at least one of us enjoys the entertainment that is the World Cup. E helps with the prizes for the football competition I run amongst family and friends - thx.
Tuesday 24th
England bows out with a triumphant goalless draw - enough said.
Friday 20th
Granddad comes down for Grand Parents day and we to go to our favourite Indian! They recognise us now and it's nice to be able to walk there and back - excellent food.
Sunday 28th
The last sixteen and us spectators have to live through empty days with no football! There should be laws against it. Anyway, we enjoy a morning at the school Speech Day - David shows us his Jazz hands in the choir.
May Previous month« »Next month
Saturday 24th
Rain, cold and wind - it must be half-term. Well the football season is crawling to an end. Only a few more games to go - oh, and then there is the world cup!
Anyway of more import, here we are planning how to set out our vegetable patch. It will still host some plants just less edible stuff and yet be more Bee friendly. We now have several types of birds visiting our feeding station: house sparrows, a blue tit has been seen, the usual black birds and a wood pigeon we could do without but persists.
Monday 26th
Bank holiday Monday and we go to Wembley! But first we visit the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. League Two Play-off Final was good excepting all the internal food venues were closed! Lovely stadium, nice atmosphere even with only 14,007 fans inside. London wasn't that crowded and we had a decent journey on the train.
Art in the making
April Previous month« »Next month
Sunday 6th
I resurrected some baking skills for a competition at work. I baked some gingerbread biscuits that came a credible equal first with the only other two entries! I was just happy they all got eaten. It is the taking part. To be honest some were over cooked but filtered out from the batch I took in.
Sunday 20th
So far not really April showers more wind and sun. Then today it rains properly. We all suffered some crummy virus (nasty cold?) that kept us off school or work. Still we are able to enjoy some fun at Easter. I had a lovely day at Huddersfield Town as they held Brighton in the championship.
It has been quite nice on the bike but still cold in the morning - definitely spring fresh.
Monday 21st
Who knew Tommy Cooper came from Caerphilly? Anyway, we do now. We visited the castle; largest area covered by a Welsh castle and comes with a leaning tower. After a few hours taking in the castle we had a lovely meal in a Wimpy! David loved it, better than McDonalds. And I snapped a few photos of the old Severn bridge as we re-entered England. Lovely day; of course we had some serious thunder and rain when we got home!
March Previous month« »Next month
Sunday 2nd
Well saw some live football of the best kind - watching my son score in an away match. His team served up some marvelous entertainment for fifty minutes.
And then when I think about getting back out into the garden - it rains so don't bother!
Sunday 9th
Again we saw some live football! This time our local heroes in green as we saw Forest Greenbeat Cambridge, who were in second place. I enjoyed some fine egg and chips while the others went for fish. Curiously they have numbered the seats now so we had a set place to watch the entertainment. Great entertainment it was too. Five goals, saved penalty and excitement to the end.
Earlier in the day I had just managed to pump one tyre on my bicycle but not the other.That had flummoxed me. It did not match the other tyre valve and I could not seem to get any air into it. It had a sticking value which required pliers a day later to loosen. My bad for not doing regular maintenance. So it was a pleasant weekend; with spring like weather for a change.
Food and Drink at the New Lawn
February Previous month« »Next month
Sunday 2nd
Okay the joke's over! Please stop raining! A weekend of trying to become an instant Minecraft server guru made it seem more bearable though still annoying (but for others around - annoyance does not cover it!). My new heated gloves arrived on Friday so maybe I can get back on the bike again?
All we can do for the garden now is to plan the improvements we want to make when it drys out And, of course, travelling to far flung football grounds (or nearby drowned ones) isn't very enticing or practical. :-(
Sunday 16th
Wow! the sun! I vaguely remember this glowing orb. Not really generating any real heat though. It follows after days of howling wind that ruins our sleep, damages our fence and brings with it yet more water by way of rain and snow! I manage one more run out on my bike with my heated gloves which later fail with flat batteries. Apparently you must turn them off after the morning run if you want them to work on the way home - doh!
So dashing out in the sun I manage to remove the massive plum tree and replace it with a cooking apple tree of more reasonable size. Earlier we had all slept long into the morning in an effort to correct the sleep deprevation we were all suffering from. Unfortunately the rain is due to return for most of the coming week - please no! We have enough water! More than enough to be honest. Can we have a normal winter now, please?
January 2013« »Next month
And it's raining, raining in my heart! One day of calm and then water, water everywhere! Can we have snow instead please? Or just frost and maybe some sunshine?
Saturday 5th
Miracles, amongst the wind and the rain I enjoy a trip to Wigan to see the cup holders being held by the mighty MK Dons! Having parked and bought my ticket I wandered around before entering the Sharpy's Sports Bar for some much welcome repast and then some entertaining 3rd round FA Cup football!
We have a quiet weekend after first week of school and David and I put Minecraft on the Pi so we can program in Python against something he's interested in. It did not grab his interest - you can but try. I finished my jigsaw - 1960s shopping basket with products from Birds Dream Topping, Vesta Beef Curry to Kellogs Pop Tarts.
Thursday 30th
And with the nasty weather comes a stinking little cold that gets us both. I note stories on the news of some terrible flu going around this year, maybe we need to consider the jab? Actually, when I look for local stories it doesn't seem to have reached the UK yet. Just a cold then.
Food and Drink at the DW
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