(no subject)
Lots to catch up on, I guess.
My dad died on the 3rd of April, but at least he went in his sleep. He'd been physically fighting for a week before he went, despite the insane levels of morphine they had him on. But he just stopped breathing a little after 10am, having not woken that day.
We decided to go ahead with the wedding, because I think it's what he wanted us to do. He'd been talking about travelling up, only a week before he died, and I didn't want to change the date because that way he knew where we'd be. That sounds so daft, sorry, but I needed him to know where we were, and changing things would have meant he didn't know.
The following Monday, I got knocked off the bike by some twat who pulled out of a junction without checking for filtering bikes. Yes, I know filtering is a risk (a completely legal one, mind!), but it was on the Seven Sisters Road, where there is an almost constant line of bikes, and the guy who hit me lived on the sideroad he pulled out of... (He was turning right across moving traffic, and had floored it to make it through a gap that wasn't really there in the cars anyway...).
Luckily! I had spotted him and anchored up fairly sharpish, but managed to keep the bike upright. Until he went into the side of us (he'd eventually noticed the big black bike with blazing lights, it seems...). The impact knocked me over, which resulted in a beautiful dent in his bonnet where I hit it, an equally awesome scratch where my barends slid across the paintwork, and a slightly bruised leg for me, where I was pushed into my engine bars. Bike ended up on her side in the middle of the road, I was still standing, and he was reversing pretty damn sharpish back into his side road.
Called the police, and wouldn't move the bike until they got there - amazingly, apart from a decorative bit of metallic plastic coming off, she seemed ok (and still does! Running fine, and put about 2k miles on her since then!). His car, however, not so good... However, I don't think he'll be trying to claim anything on the grounds that the police turned up and seized his car. Because that's what you get for driving with no insurance, on your third year in this country on you Cypriot licence. Ha! Take that! Still, I guess I wouldn't be so pleased if my bike had been damaged :|
April 20th (Monday) was the funeral. I'd been pretty together until then, I think, but I completely lost it (and I'm not anywhere near being back together, even vaguely...)
All a bit close to the wedding on the 25th (Saturday).
Wedding was really nice. 20 people, Scottish castle, open fire, candles, drink, cheese, and lovely lovely people. It was nice to have a quiet affair - don't think I could have coped with some massive do. The photographers were a bit much at times, but the results are really nice, so I'll forgive them :)
We wombled off to Lisbon for 4 nights, as a completely last minute sort of thing (booked in the early hours of Tuesday, flew out Wednesday morning!). It was good to get away.
Been back at work for 3 weeks now, and all is good. In Kingston at the moment, but will be moving to the Old Bailey in the next few months. However! We're looking to buy a house in Kingston! I know it's an expensive area, but it's really nice, and we've worked out that we can afford it! Hoping for a 3-bed, but a 2-bed is more realistic. The market there seems to move really quickly, so we're spending the weekend doing the while "mortgage in principle" thing so that we can go beyond the "browning the internet" stage of house-hunting.
It's a scary, scary thought this house-buying lark. Still, it will be nice to have somewhere to ourselves, where there isn't a stand-off about emptying the bins (if it's empty before we go away, surely it can't be our job to take it out when we get back 2 weeks later and it's overflowing and sticking? Apparantly it is!).
Ah well.
I'm sure there will be another update, but who knows when?
My dad died on the 3rd of April, but at least he went in his sleep. He'd been physically fighting for a week before he went, despite the insane levels of morphine they had him on. But he just stopped breathing a little after 10am, having not woken that day.
We decided to go ahead with the wedding, because I think it's what he wanted us to do. He'd been talking about travelling up, only a week before he died, and I didn't want to change the date because that way he knew where we'd be. That sounds so daft, sorry, but I needed him to know where we were, and changing things would have meant he didn't know.
The following Monday, I got knocked off the bike by some twat who pulled out of a junction without checking for filtering bikes. Yes, I know filtering is a risk (a completely legal one, mind!), but it was on the Seven Sisters Road, where there is an almost constant line of bikes, and the guy who hit me lived on the sideroad he pulled out of... (He was turning right across moving traffic, and had floored it to make it through a gap that wasn't really there in the cars anyway...).
Luckily! I had spotted him and anchored up fairly sharpish, but managed to keep the bike upright. Until he went into the side of us (he'd eventually noticed the big black bike with blazing lights, it seems...). The impact knocked me over, which resulted in a beautiful dent in his bonnet where I hit it, an equally awesome scratch where my barends slid across the paintwork, and a slightly bruised leg for me, where I was pushed into my engine bars. Bike ended up on her side in the middle of the road, I was still standing, and he was reversing pretty damn sharpish back into his side road.
Called the police, and wouldn't move the bike until they got there - amazingly, apart from a decorative bit of metallic plastic coming off, she seemed ok (and still does! Running fine, and put about 2k miles on her since then!). His car, however, not so good... However, I don't think he'll be trying to claim anything on the grounds that the police turned up and seized his car. Because that's what you get for driving with no insurance, on your third year in this country on you Cypriot licence. Ha! Take that! Still, I guess I wouldn't be so pleased if my bike had been damaged :|
April 20th (Monday) was the funeral. I'd been pretty together until then, I think, but I completely lost it (and I'm not anywhere near being back together, even vaguely...)
All a bit close to the wedding on the 25th (Saturday).
Wedding was really nice. 20 people, Scottish castle, open fire, candles, drink, cheese, and lovely lovely people. It was nice to have a quiet affair - don't think I could have coped with some massive do. The photographers were a bit much at times, but the results are really nice, so I'll forgive them :)
We wombled off to Lisbon for 4 nights, as a completely last minute sort of thing (booked in the early hours of Tuesday, flew out Wednesday morning!). It was good to get away.
Been back at work for 3 weeks now, and all is good. In Kingston at the moment, but will be moving to the Old Bailey in the next few months. However! We're looking to buy a house in Kingston! I know it's an expensive area, but it's really nice, and we've worked out that we can afford it! Hoping for a 3-bed, but a 2-bed is more realistic. The market there seems to move really quickly, so we're spending the weekend doing the while "mortgage in principle" thing so that we can go beyond the "browning the internet" stage of house-hunting.
It's a scary, scary thought this house-buying lark. Still, it will be nice to have somewhere to ourselves, where there isn't a stand-off about emptying the bins (if it's empty before we go away, surely it can't be our job to take it out when we get back 2 weeks later and it's overflowing and sticking? Apparantly it is!).
Ah well.
I'm sure there will be another update, but who knows when?