Last Blog Of The Year
Last Blog Of The Year
I know I've missed a few weeks of blogging, but then again with all the kerfuffell of the lead in to Christmas my blog was not the only thing I've missed. To this list of missing I can add a least 3 weeks of kick boxing and much to my annoyance the Chest model Christmas dinner. On the other Side prior to knocking off for Xmas I did not miss 3 different kids plays / musical things, 2 Xmas school fairs, hauling my sorry ass round round ASDA, Chester and Toys R Us and few other places. I also discovered that my wife's are feet are way too large for the largest pair of Mr Men slippers I could find. I now have to return these to Debenhams, I see if I can exchange them for some gents slippers, sadly not Mr Men ones or even lion ones.
On the weekend before Christmas ( I am getting so sick of that word). When I should have been wring a blog I was typing up a year in perspective circular letter to sent round to friends and family (and people who happen to be in my filo fax) who haven't heard of us for he rest of year. I'll tack this onto the end of the blog, but in an edited version.
The other major organisation event was the war games club Xmas Do. That all went pretty well the lads had a good time with the raffle prizes, free bar and large buffet. We managed to make £200 on raffle ticket sales alone.
Before I get the Christmas day bit I might as well the past few days out of the way, we have just come back for Pontins Holiday camp at Prestatyn, we went there on Sunday late afternoon, and were meant to return tomorrow but it was so bloody clod and depressing ant that was in the chalet, which might be great for the summer but in the winter the heaters are so small and use so much electricity that you cant leave them on. This leaves your breath condensing when your in bed. Being so cold the kids were not running around out side, the evening entertainment was not inspiring, though I admire the staff for their persistence and the other few guests (inmates). This was not one of my wife's best ideas, and believe me she's had quite a few seriously crap ones. I might not have watched the Great Escape on TV, but I feel I lived it.
Christmas day wasn't so bad, the kids were reasonably happy with their pressies, the wife liked her bible and calender, I received some Gillet smellies, and a 1/72 scale model helicopter. The dinner went down OK-ish thankfully I wasn't cooking to for more than just the family. Beyond that things were pretty quiet, even on the temper side, to honest I really couldn't be that bothered to lose my rag.
The new year will be too damn quiet, I'm not going any where, so I might see the new year in online or if my wife by some miracle stays awake in the sitting room. I'll be so bloomin glad to get back to work.
To all my friends across nation ocean and ether, have a safe sane week and a happy new year.
Chancer
2009 A view from a North Wales Hill.
"May you live in interesting times" is an Ancient Greek curse. I really must have pissed some Greeks off last December.
The year, as most seem to do, got off to a rather chilly start. I resumed my weekly welsh studies, the kids finally came off their sugar fuelled festive highs to face the long but thankfully shortening nights and still sullen dawns. While the wife's high was fuelled by sugars somewhat transformed by fermentation. My own high if you could call it that, was a by-product of paint and glue fumes that has been over this year been an odour of scour as I regularly retreated to my office at home to fiddle with yet another model plane or batch of model soldiers.
By February the first ripples had begun to lap upon the shore of this normally placid lake, when with barely an asthmatic gasp our old boiler finally breathed its last (in this case "old boiler" should be read literally and not as another less than endearing term for the mother in law). Winter's renaming chill was held at bay until March by electric heaters and an over worked immersion tank.
Then as if in sympathy, in late February the wife konked out and wound up in hospital for a week being poked and prodded by numerous doctors with a vigour that would have left a jealous husband positively seething. She had lost all feeling down one side of her body, thankfully it wasn't a stroke or some other dire malfunction and over the next 6 months she slowly regained feeling and motive capability, till she was able to return work in September. The exact cause and nature of the affliction remains a mystery.
Since the return to work, as a school lab tec , she has been better. The school remains intact and the labs have not as yet gone in flames, so she must be doing some thing right. The wife continues to be involved in church life, helping out with the children's work. That is when she shes not up to her elbows in small furry things (and I don't mean the kids by that).
My car not wishing to be left out, gave up the ghost after 130,000 miles at the bottom end of the M1 in late April, with a popped core plug, cooked engine, and blown head gasket. This led to 3 months on the buses while I looked at various options and finally was able the benefit from the scrappage scheme and my company linked discount to buy a new white Astra. Hopefully to quote Mr Bogart, "this could be the start of a beautiful (long) friendship".
The boiler , wife and car were then followed by, computer, washing machine and oven all giving up the ghost like sheet metal clad lemmings. The washing machine and oven had been repaired a few times already by me, (my pockets have been rattling with mysterious screws and assorted parts quite a lot this year), so these two demises were terminal. The hob tried to leave its mark as well, but the fire blanket arrested it pyromaniac intentions, (just about). The Christmas dinner will be pan fried turkey, as I will wait till the new year to usher in a new oven, it's best not tempt fate further.
On the animal front once again the odd escaped chinchilla has met its demise from natural causes or at the paws of a local moggy. Another chinnie had a damn close shave, when I looked down one night, having noted that the golden stream was not playing its usual aqueous tinkling tune into the bowl. My closing of toilet lids and doors has taken on positively paranoid dimensions. This year 5 new chinnies have come into the world and grown into bouncing balls of furry joy.
The eldest's year has been childhood's usual blend of joy and drama, for the most part the school year went well especially on the maths and science front. Already there is speculation of a carrear in Chemistry. While in matters less calculable, heart strings have felt their first flutters of delight. Away from the classroom there has been the clatter of hockey sticks, the shimmering bounce of a cheerleaders pom poms and the meeting of minds with new friendships, that leave the house awash with the giggles and bickering of girls machinations.s.
The youngest has continued as best she might, the language support unit has benefited her considerably so we have seen a steady if at times barley seemingly tortuous improvement on the academic and coherency sides. Since March each Wednesday night she had donned the Brownies garb, to bid and dob with due delight neath the Brown owl's enwisened gaze.
At work my main project was started back in 2006. But at last victory and fulfilment looms, despite progress charts and plans stretching like the cords of a bungee jumper leaping from the International Space Station. On the exercise front I've focused on kick boxing this year, but sometimes sparring is more like a few minutes of trying to avoid concussion. My aim has not yet improved enough to gaurnatee the ssafetyof the poor sod holding the punch and kick pads. The wargames club has gone pretty smoothly this year, with few dramas save for my continued ability to skilfully wrestle defeat at the last minute from the jaws of victory. The garden has been quite fruitful with berries, beans, radishes, cale, spinnach, herbs and apples in abundance. The laylandi at the front and back have been cropped and chopped vigerousley at the behest of our neighbours and council.
So as 2010 looms and I prepare to run a mile at the first hint of a greek accent. We all bid you a merry Christmas and a peaceful, fruitful New Year.