After a day of decorating at my mother’s, I’m somewhat achey. Fortunately, I have a vitamin drink to restore me to normal.
Category Archives: Family
Sitting on children
Tonight was my last evening of child sitting relating to my eldest child’s degree course. This is year four, although it’s not a full year. The time has passed so fast, though it had seemed to be a long way away at the beginning. It’s good to have been able to help; well, my mother had done the same for me when, when my kids were young, I embarked on my first degree. While it’s not yet over for my daughter, it feels strange now that my weekly child sitting is now over.
Village life
Home from a couple of days in Kings Cliffe. Had a nice time there, caught up with Gordon (my second in command’s dad). And his cats, Tom Spanner and Jess. Sadly, I do not recall the name of the recently departed cat with the breathing problem.
Anyway, the village has one pub. Yes, just one. A horrible thought, isn’t it. We may have spent an hour or two in the Cross Keys yesterday.
Of relevance is the £2.50 a pint offer for January. Which, for a usually expensive pub, we found to be excellent value for money. Of course, it was important to support local businesses too, so we stayed longer than planned.
Since my second in command is still broken, we were reliant on trains, so had an early lift into Peterborough this morning. Where we had breakfast. In the Draper’s Arms.
And then there was a train to Durham. Yes, Durham. Rail maintenance meant that there was a bus from Durham to Newcastle.
It’s nice to be home. Via Tilley’s, the Forth, the Town Wall, the Bridge Hotel and the Tuns, that is.
I was leaning on a lamp post …
Yesterday evening involved growling at people again. Our number was reduced from last week’s three zombies to two (me and Lucy), but Ian was running, so we were three at the zombie disco (plus our new friend, ‘Michael’. And quite a few other people, both colleagues and customers).
From the beginning of the evening, Lucy …
And me …
This week, I was slightly less mobile since I was chained to a lamp post. While my chains were surprisingly comfortable, It was a pain to keep having to adjust them between groups af people.
And this was my lamp post, just around the corner to Gateshead stadium.
I’d intended this, second, year to be my last, but we’ve pretty much decided to do it all again next year. The cameraderie amongst zombies (and runners) at the zombie disco was the deciding point.
Happy new stuff
The high level bridge was a pretty cool place to be a few minutes ago. Currently in the Bridge Hotel, enjoying a pint of erdinger.
The evening may not have been as special as last year (Local Authority spending constraints had an impact I imagine), but it was still good.
Time for a cab I think.
Fairy
I know I do this every year, but she’s around thirty now.
House guest
It’s been quite a while since Suki (Ellen’s rabbit) visited.
When she last stayed, she made friends with a brush in the kitchen and my eldest grandson. I think she preferred the brush though.
Backup
It’s important to back-up your hard drive now and again. I’ve built, used and repaired computers for a very long time now and have always been careful to back everything up. Well, apart from that one time when I formatted a D:\ drive I’d been using to back-up, after copying everything to a new hard drive on a computer I’d just built. And, of course, the new drive failed and I lost almost everything.
I’d never been one for keeping boxes of paper, so everything was on the hard drive. Scans of kids’ drawings, homework, silly stuff they’d typed. And stuff from both of my degree courses.
That was a decade ago now and I’ve been very conscious lately that I’d not done a back-up in a while. So now I am.
This may take some time.
Local
It’s been an emotional few days. My second in command’s Dad has been here for a few days. We’ve introduced him to the Bridge (hotel) and, last night, to the Tuns. And some other stuff.
A really nice bloke who appreciates hills and old stuff. We’ll be using his house as a base for a night out in Stamford soon.
He’s currently en route to Kings Cliffe (via Peterborough) his first train trip in 40 years.
We’re in our local right now, waiting for confirmation of his arrival. And I’ve noticed a minor typo.
God
If there was a god, he/she/they is a bastard.