Turn on the dark

December Nov« »Next year

So, we made it this far and are crawling to the break. Not enable to see all the family we would like but we agree it is best to be safe (there's some new COVID variant around!).

The works' quiz was not bad but missed the usual social meal in town. It has been hard work this year. Everyone has been unusually stressed and tired. Still, it has had some fun moments and amemorable in some nice ways; just not always how you would choose it to go.

A real tree again, no visitors expected. Not planned the entertainment yet. We joined the local carol service inour close. Some of the neighbours are doing an window advent thing in their house wondows (they distrubuted the schedule to tell us which houses were covering which day - very organised).

Christmas day this year started fairly early as the young man rushed to get to his new game. We ate at twoish, enjoying a lovley bottle of bubbly with a traditional meal festooned with a dozen vegatables. By Monday we get some snow; a sprinkling of wet snow amongst the deluge of water causing some local flooding.

Cheers!

November Oct« »Next month

This month brings another lock-down. Oh joy! We will still be going into work as essential workers so not much has changed except my karate practices are online. I have to say it doesn't work that well and is far less of a good social event and more a workout. Also the cameras do not provide a great view of either end and rarely enough of the people for decent feedback.

There is a lot of adverts now appearing about Xmas and how we should have a nice one meanwhile the news is getting excited about a vaccine. Then the news is tempered may be next winter will be normal, not this one!

Just before the month ends we have a couple of hard frosts! The Robin is still hanging around the garden. We are trying to plan around the restrictions of tier 2 and anything they modify for the actual Christmas period. Meanwhile work is still as stressed as ever for us all.

Fingers crossed the student passes his test and comes home.

October Sep« »Next month

This month starts with a deluge in the southwest, so much water. Sensei Pete pays a visit to my Sunday dojo. I am still getting over another cold but feel good at the end; better than at the start of the two hours weirdly.

We're getting new neighbours in the rental next door. The birds are back for feeding in the back garden. Later the nights get longer as it goes dark before tea-time. The rest of the country is going into some stricter form of lock-down while my county is okay for now. Work is getting more stressful but at least I am gainfully employed. Still ploughing through Battlestar Galactica.

Finally I get a car as the nights rush in. Followed rapidly by the storms, the wind and the rain. No Trick or Treat'ers this year which is fine. It's an American thing we can live without to be honest. Some neighbours even put notice up to state their none participation.

Sunset over the river

September Aug« »Next month

The weather kind of returns to normal in that we have some sun, some wind and some rain. We also have a return to school. The COVID situation is getting worse again which causes some angst but not real changes for our lives. We manage to deliver the son to university and we visited later for his birthday.

Work is still demanding. My brother comes down for a visit; which was nice. We walked him up the hill and out to dinner. Dad also came by soon afterwards so nearly a full house.

I find somewhere to send my many apples - a local bus-stop shop! Love it. I still have some to juice and freeze. I lop some of the branches off the apple tree in an effort to gain some control over its growth.

August July« »Next month

Joy of joys we resume karate training, just mostly outside in the school playing fields. We cannot train as normal. No sparring, no partner work and no pad work. Later we can train indoors but still restricted. Good to see familiar faces again.

This month proves to be unstable weather-wise and a week off isn't the greatest but still welcome.

The football has finally finished and then the weather turns. Strong winds, failed MOT and storm Francis disturb the equilibrium. The apples have been tumbling down for a while now, but now some are finally ready to eat. I have munched some already, rather bitter. These red apples are an improvement.

Some crazy hot days reduce us to doing very little. The men take to shorts to survive.

The Field of Training

July June« »Next month

And I take a break from work. The football on TV is relentless and F1 returns. The birds fight over the food in the garden and E has done great things with the lawn which are showing their fruit. My fruit is producing a few small strawberries.

I buy a nature camera for the back garden to see if I can capture the birds. It is only a cheap thing but it does capture some interesting pictures including two cats and one morning 17 jackdaws on our back lawn - who knew so many! We are still struggling to find the right spot to get everything in that we want to capture and nothing we don't. We have tried about six positions now.

David gets a new bed. We get a new fridge/freezer, my dad gets a new kitchen and I am still waiting on a return to the dojo. And the football is still going - wild!

Where are the birds?

June May« »Next month

So football returned this month and now there are so many matches on the TV, including free ones. Having days that some free to air games are not reaching our TV as we still get limited FreeView channels even now. I think we have 14 channels, including kids tv and BBC news. Anyway Pick TV is not amongst them so I splash out on Sky Sports for a month so I can see my team.

Back in the office which is weird at the moment, all the special measures and limited numbers. Roads aren't too bad but the roadworks are back with a vengeance. Two sets on my short journey into work. Temperatures go past thirty which is too much for me and I miss the air con at work.

So, a bit quicker than my virtual football predicted but the Reds finally and brilliantly win the Premier League - yes! I did enjoy a little drink that night, mostly milk to be honest as I had work the next day. I did watch a few of the various programmes after the match.

Looking forward to a week off next month. It has been a long three months of lockdown.

Yes, made it for real!

May Apr« »Next month

This month is a blur of work and films and walks and practising karate in the lounge. Me and my better half have done some interesting walks around our area and usually found somewhere to sell us an ice cream as we head home. We have down some new roads and some paths that were dead ends but all a fun adventure in the heat of our summer. And after all the different treks we still have one direction we should explore.

We started off with some celebrations of some good history and VE Day anniversary. The lady of the house made up some bunting that was draped over the railings along our front row; she checked neighbours were okay with this. We cheered, eat, drank whilst seating in our front garden - never done that before. Our front garden isn't one we normally entertain in. And then later we had a barbecue around the back, more normal.

VE Day Celebrations

April Mar« »Next month

Late April

Okay, when will this be over? I want to be able to train properly. And I want the football back, there was good stuff still to happen.

Easter

It doesn't seem real. I had completely forgotten about Easter. A colleague reminded me. I was just ploughing on regardless of dates and the wider family members pointed out that it is my mum's birthday, except she isn't with us so a muted celebration. The weather goes hot (over 20^oC) and then back to near zero lows and mid-teen highs.

Pre-Easter

It's still here and now lockdown is very real. We get out to do some gardening; E more than me but I do have some fun with the compost heap.

So, I have amended my Footy Program to generate some footy results based on the prediction algorithms already deployed for predicting the league and match results but with a random element to reflect real life. The bad news is that Man City beat The Mighty Reds so still haven't won the league yet. In my artificial world they still need one point and only six games to do it in!

Still going through Wallander and rewatching Montalbano. We have been joining in on the #ClaptheNHS, as has most of the street - Well Done NHS and all the good people of Britain!

Ah! another one complete.

March Feb« »Next month

Greggs is suffering supply chain problems as the floods cause local transport problems. It is weird watching people transfer their food sourcing to other venues and then the rapid return when supplies resume. The road works down the road have complete after six months just to alter a junction; I hope it's worth it. For now it is taking some getting use to the new line around the corner and traffic islands in the middle of the road.

I finally finish the six month training course and in this final week we frequently divert, briefly, to the latest news on this COVID thing, hmm. More reading and some iPlayer on the bus.

Second Half

What is going on? Here's hoping all you love come through this. The roads are quiet, I worked normally most of the month until the whole country is sent home. My instruction arrives in the middle of the night and we are not properly prepared. Anyway others in the house were already carrying on online both teaching and learning. The lack of football is not good and having thoughts of generating my own results using my Footy program. Watched more TV and now catching up with the Wallander series I missed. Working from home is a bit of a lesson. Trying to get others in the house to embrace my working hours and maintain my fruit eating at home are a challenge.

A colleague set up a WhatsApp group for some to maintain contact which was timely and great idea. I have also taken to video chats with dad and joined the family WhatsApp group. Messages coming in from so many angles it can be difficult to maintain all the different threads at once.

David is into his cooking and especially veggie stuff. We have had a few new recipes to enjoy. It will be strange when both youngsters leave home, some good, some bad.

February Jan« »Next month

I accompany number one (and only) son up to a visit to his number one choice University; at least it is afterwards. He does an interview while I wander around nearby. The trains do us proud and we enjoy food in the new station with every food in the world, obviously not literally.

My better half has started her project on flowering the garden. We both hacked down various tree branches and bush extensions; trying to follow the rules but lack of high enough steps makes this a little difficult. We do our best.

Early

Storms, storms, storms - Cara, Denis. Wind, rain and some cold spells make for a bracing early month. Also horrible colds impacting on the elders. I enjoy a week of using the bus to get to my training which gives me two hours a day to read. I tear through the DCI Banks books I received at Christmas, plus one of mu many 'Introducing ...' books, this time '..to Statistics'; which actually doesn't get me much past my uni lectures..

A Passed Station poster

January 2019« »Next month

Early January

All too soon we seem to be back in the grind. The break was marred by colds downing the oldies. The real Xmas tree lasted well so a successful experiment. We welcomed the new year quietly without any real note. We get the decorations down by twelfth night and its over, again. Personally, I solved a few puzzles, literally - three jigsaws and 3D football puzzle, gentle fun.

First week back is always a nasty shock to the system and this one is no different. The weather is wet and windy so much two local roads flood so much they are closed. Car problems are an annoyance but we all get through it all, as you do.

One of the Puzzles to solve.