Diary of a father
2015
December previous« »Next year
Friday 4th
Goodwill evening and an excellent lantern parade - well done people. The wifey and I enjoyed a coffee in one of the new water holes before wandering around the town - splendid Victoria sponge cake.
Calamity as the website goes missing so no advent calendar! Something about breaching our bandwidth limits. I will go back to images next year. It's back anyway, but my updates haven't always been timely so apologies folks.
Tuesday 8th
Water, water everywhere. I have to travel to the north west. I just made it after a drive through two foot of dirty water under a bridge. My course though didn't make it and was cancelled (second year running that has happened to me - becoming an unwelcome tradition!) Various local amenities were not functioning so there was little to do but head home again. I'll be back.
Sunday 20th
The men in the house went along to see the latest Star Wars this week, good. Otherwise much else has faded. And all too soon the end is in sight! Shopping done (very nearly), decorations ...still in the boxes, presents ...on the way - mostly. The excitement - is rising!
Granddad joined us for this weekend; which was nice. David's new bed is looking splendid so make-over complete, maybe?
Thursday 31st
A subdued Christmas as us three all suffered from a lousy virus and number four suffered more seriously with the rain again hitting my family in the north west. We had a pleasant day and were thankful for our lack of the misfortunes affecting others.
Thoughts are turning to what we will aim for in 2016 and what challenges we will embrace. Tonight will be film, food and family. Happy New Year!
November previous« »Next month
Saturday 7th
A wombling we will go! Actually a lovely birthday present saw me join the faithful away fans to watch the Rovers triumph in south London. We only just made it as progress through Hampton was snail like. We walked in as they started the minutes silence and walked out two hours later with big smiles following the late winner. Thanks wifey, it was lovely.
The rest of the month was pretty miserable with strong winds and rain discouraging much venturing outside. I finished eating the last of my apples and did a little pruning.
Jigraphy joy - excellent
October previous« »Next month
Friday 2nd
Claire and I enjoyed a lovely walk along the Brean Down promontory. We rewarded ourselves with a tasty ice cream afterwards; ginger and honeycomb for me. Claire went for Mango Madness. Earlier I had to drop the bike off for a serious service. Later I was off for a course and real brain drain.
Sunday 11th
The apple tree keeps on giving; and they are really tasty if a little organic by which I mean nature is also trying to enjoy the apples too.
Spending a lot of time completing course work - five thousand word essays.
September previous« »Next month
Saturday 26th
Autumn colds are laying us low. First up the young man is off school nearly all week.
Saturday 19th
Only two of us for tea on this lovely sunny, if chilly, evening so we decide it is an ideal time to have a picnic. We toast a splendid view and devour a fine spread - cheers!
Saturday 12th
We all have jobs around the house and one of mine is putting the new toilet rolls on the proper holders. I am regularly going around finding newly started rolls lodged on radiators or lying on the floor awaiting attention. Everyone needs to understand their worth, I know mine.
I cannot believe the number of drawers, cupboards and hidey holes we have cables, adaptors, connectors or other bits once necessary to operate some unused device, or other. The roll call includes: analogue to digital TV converters (standard and high definition), RGB leads, phone chargers, USB leads, cheap tablet, numerous SCART and coaxial leads. Today I found a use for some of this stuff as I converted an old VHS tape to DVD and, of course, I found something that would have been useful only a few months ago. (I am sure there is a law that covers that type of event but I don't know its name!)
Saturday 5th
School is back and so are mizzly days. Our apples are still growing nicely, the few harvested have been very pleasant where the grubs haven't beaten me to them. A bit of a virus marks the end of the hot summer days. And I prepare for some serious studying later in the year.
Picnicking joy - cheers dear!
August previous« »Next month
Saturday 2nd
We go to Brean! I walked miles along the beach and found a lovely cafe in Burham just not what I was looking for - the karate beach seminar! Preparation can be everything but hey, I did get an excellent sun burnt head and arms!
Sunday 3rd
David and E return and the peace in the house is fleeting. Instead there is youth, noise and business. I am still trying to reorganise the photos on my computer and finding duplicates.
Friday 7th
It used to be the case that you learnt your trade after school and plied that trade for decades until you retired, or died. These days there is a lot of learning, unlearning and new learning. The degree of continuous learning depends on your trade - mine, it is lots. Yes, I've got more studying to do.
August weather is anything but consistent. My little oak tree has suffered and it is still fingers crossed to whether it survives after losing most of its leaves in the heat. Another lovely crop of blackcurrants and apples were taken today. This time the eaters are delicious, not too tart.
Sunday 23rd
Back from our travels, nice break. This time we went by ferry - and wow have they improved since I last boarded one to the continent. The cabin had satellite TV and an ensuite bathroom - port out and port back actually!
Any we stayed in a lovely chalet type thing in the woods - Centre Parcs type thing. Trips to Cologne by train, a theme park called Walibi, a local village and some family ten-pin bowling. Didn't quite finish the jigsaw this time - too much sky. And there was also some binging on the Discovery channel.
Saturday 29th
I enjoyed a long trip to the Humberside and Hull City's ground, the KC Stadium. Easy enough, I should walked into the centre as they were late opening the gates.
July previous« »Next month
Tuesday 7th
This month starts with a heatwave - oh joy! I don't do hot very well. Still we enjoyed the young man's prize day where he acquitted himself very well. While he enjoyed a swimming party we had a decent pub tea and a wander around one of local small towns, unrecognisable from my memory.
My apple trees are doing quite nicely. The eating apple tree was a little over tall and bending badly in the wind (with heat comes wind). I have had to trim it down and remove some of the apples to give room for growth on others. The wild flower garden is doing well where the cats haven't got there before the seeds managed to take hold.
Saturday 11th
Time for a family trip into town for a quick shop and brunch. Then a search of all our local outlets for Das Boot that failed. Some say watching foreign language films/TV can help when learning a language. I am watching the Belgium series Cordon, to refresh my Dutch and it is rather good entertainment too, if a grim subject. The German film is more for the student next term and a classic wartime movie to boot!
Saturday 18th
E and myself wandered along to our local country show. There were some lovely animals on display and the usual collection of stands and rides.
The Wild Flower Garden is blooming, in places
June previous« »Next month
Saturday 6th
A day of cleaning screens, shredding rubbish and catching up on missed TV. Sunday we seeded the last few squares in the new wild garden zone. We have done a chequerboard pattern around the rotary dryer.
Sunday 14th
Yesterday, with rain depriving us of the school sports day, we adults enjoyed some reading time. It suited us, both feeling somewhat under the weather (ha! ha!) Then another day of the joys of reading and the weekly food shop including a visit to the nice cafe.
Sunday 21st
Wine gums always make for a nice day and a lovely gift, among several, on this special day including something new to read!
Friday 26th
As the car was in the garage for a service I took a wander into the nearby city centre. We have some lovely Cathedrals and this one is no exception. I stumbled on it when some special event was underway so just got to admire the exterior. Then I had a nice cup of tea and a very average muffin in an old fashioned cafe in the shopping centre. I wandered around the indoor market too; I love these stalls. They are filled with stalls offering the weirdest collection of retailers from hoover parts to hair dressers, award winning sausage vendor to sweet counter and a tiny cafe to an olive seller.
May previous« »Next month
Saturday 2nd
Ey up, Yorkshire again! This time Leeds vs Rotherham. Average day, average football and a pretty good ground. Love to be there for a more important match as there was definite passion in the crowd.
Thursday 14th
The April rain is here, after the wind comes rain. Good job I did some work on the fence with the sharing neighbour - fingers crossed it's enough.
Monday 26th
We go to the garden centre! Well I needed another two slabs to replace broken ones. I came back with ginger beer and gravel - enough said.
Sunday 31st
This weekend we enjoy seeing our Geography scholar as we celebrate a birthday. We went along to watch That'll be the Day and a merry time was had by all (well mostly). It was a collection of 50s, 60s and 70s songs done in the impression of the original artists and largely very well. The guy doing Roy Orbison was especially good though for comic effect he was never allowed to complete Pretty Woman - shame. We preceded this tune-fest with an excellent Indian meal and some shopping. My wallet is cowering in a corner, sobbing quietly.
Sunday evening we (just two of us this time) enjoyed a spring evening walk up to a local church and a chance to take a few photos along the way. I see this place out of my window on the other side of the valley so often but being up close and personal is always more interesting.
Evening sun on the church
April previous« »Next month
Friday 3rd
Wet and miserable but hey it is Good Friday! David comes back from Paris and his school trip. E and I are still not quite over the recent virus. I do a bit more spring cleaning. The football is truly miserable so no more mention. Oh! and our fence is leaning and rotting but we have a plan with a prop or two. The oldies visited a local beauty spot for a wander and then we enjoyed some refreshment in a nice little pub.
Monday 6th
And we start painting the walls in his room! And as the week goes on we continue the teenage make over. We are allowing him to choose the colours and design.
Sunday 12th
David and I took a bike ride to the excellent Prescott Bike Festival. Brilliant fun and we saw some wicked machines going up the hill.
Saturday 18th
Hey up, Yorkshire - I go to Barnsley. Lovely day, average football and a pleasant ground (though I did have a wooden seat!). Lovely food from a van outside before hand and not a bad journey. A bitter northerly wind had me buttoning up my coat despite the sun.
March previous« »Next month
Sunday 8th
And the weather gets weirder and temperatures reached 15oC yesterday yet we are still having near freezing nights! E does some gardening while I can back in the Karate groove. Then the little man and I plan his new wall decorations because it is time for a room do over (more later).
Sunday 15th
Cold weather does not entice us outside much. David does breakfast for his mum and I get a new printer (Ooh! the excitement!). Meanwhile his parents miss their mums. We are thinking of maybe going for a large picture for his wall or even wallpaper - ooh, interesting.
Saturday 20th
Cold again so I start on the spring cleaning and first up is my excess clutter. Yesterday I had fun trying to capture the partial eclipse and had some success. Next time I think I will get an ND filter so I can point a camera at the sun - not just at a projection.
Sunday 29th
Great, after ending the week with a stinking cold I manage little useful this weekend.
Partial eclipse of the colander
February previous« »Next month
My first week seemed to be Karate every day but it was only five times including the grading session. Each time the gradings are more of a challenge and therefore a greater achievement. Still a long way off the big one. And I suffered with the away fans as our local team prevailed!
Monday 16th
Third week I was off to the smoke and the joys of hard study only broken by a trip to the Orient where a kind local gent donated a spare ticket and some of the family sweets as the O's lost to Bradford.
Rest of the month was mostly about illness, first the better half, and then me. The little man escaped.
And outside we still have single figure temperatures but no snow just the pain of scrapping iced windscreens - when you forget the bottle of luke warm water for that windscreen.
January 2014« »Next month
Sunday 4th
Well, what will this new year bring? Who knows? We have plans and aspirations, the question is will good fortune and our efforts make them happen? We can but try, hey! Anyway, the weather is wet and windy and as I am on antibiotics again it means being organised about when I eat. To matters of less import - the FA Cup is back with a bang! AFC Wimbledon on a miserable Monday evening - deep joy. Good game - good result but not exactly revenge for 89.
Saturday 10th
Back at work and I had to extend my antibiotics. The wind has been very strong at periods this week making my motorbike commute a bit too exciting. So far, though, we still have no snow.
"A winter without the icing"
Saturday 17th
I had a go at some HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. The best results came from processing one RAW image. I also enjoyed watching a few episodes of the latest incarnation of Father Brown on the BBC iPlayer, actually the whole lot. It is addictive - true binge-watching. I have previously also enjoyed the radio version with Andrew Sachs too, rather than Mark Williams as the detective of the cloth when 4extra aired it.
Saturday 24th
Wow, who could believe it? - today the FA Cup has thrown up some extraordinary results! Of course not as impressive as the brace David managed in his school team match - the only goals of the match. The weather is making it cold still but not quite bringing us any snow. I am off antibiotics this week - which is good. David is working hard on his art this weekend and E continues her studies.
Saturday 31st
The wife and I enjoyed a walk followed by some lovely fare in a local pub today. Perhaps a snippet of what retirement may bring though something tells me we shouldn't wait that long before we do it again. Maybe just until it is a little warmer, still a lovely afternoon among the local hills.
Walking in the woods
« previous year :: index »
