2022

Lazy Sunday

Taking Billy for a walk is something I love to do and only occasionally is it a chore, usually that is when it’s pissing down, but 99% of the time it just gets me out and walking when without a dog you wouldn’t bother? This morning (Sunday) after a little bit of a lie in Jamie and me took him for a walk on a lovely sunny if chilly Sunday morning and called at ‘Starbies’ (Jamie’s slang term for Starbucks) It was lovely to just wander along the canal and under the railway past the police station and then just sit and have a brew before wandering back the same way we came just shooting the breeze. It is getting very much easier to do now Reagan and Lincoln are old enough and sensible enough to be left for an hour alone and it allows us to be alone for a time something I forget we did so much when it was just us and something I love to do because I love her company. By saying that I love alone time I don’t mean I don’t like being with the kids I mean it’s just nice to be able to have both. Billy doesn’t care who takes him for a walk he loves being out and it gives me joy seeing him enjoy the freedom of being off the lead and I know Jamie does too

After cooking Sunday lunch and then washing it up I managed to get a couple of hours on the couch watching football and having nap not doing anything other than relaxing sometimes you need that even though it can make me feel guilty when there is plenty I should be doing. Billy got another walk as it was going dark and then Jamie went bed at about 21:30 because she’s back to the gym again in the morning to start a big day when we will go as a family to watch Mommy become a British citizen which will be so exciting but more of that tomorrow!

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Closet clean Saturday

Today shall be known as Clear out your closet Saturday, for a few weeks now I have been annoyed at my own untidiness and mentioned to Jamie that I am going to clean out my closet but I never got around to it. After taking Lincoln to Gymnastics I had good intentions of finishing the skirting boards at the bottom of the stairs but my head got turned by a behind the scenes documentary about the Denver Broncos and settled on the sofa instead.

Jamie on the other hand spent a couple of hours cleaning out her closet both Reagan and Lincoln saw her and started clearing their closets by the time I got up there the landing was piled high with unwanted clothes and all the bedrooms looked like a jumble sale, but give credit where it’s due both kids tidied their rooms immaculately and Mommy had sorted her closet so I was compelled to do my own and while watching rugby completed the closet clean

…oh how Saturdays have changed!

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Swimming

After hearing how much Reagan enjoyed swimming last weekend and how much fun my family had yesterday I thought the offer of joining them tonight was something I wanted to do and I am so glad I did. Mommy had described how Reagan had played like a child at the swimming pool last week I wanted to see that for myself because Reagan is growing up so fast and I didn’t want to miss out on seeing her being a child not that I don’t want her to grow up but I want her to be a child as long as possible. I tell them both there’s a lifetime to be an adult be a child as long as you can!

Swimming tonight she was indeed that giggling child that is disappearing so fast and it was great to spend time with both Reagan and Lincoln and play with them as kids instead of being pressured by Reagans moods and her desire to become a young adult. We will be going swimming each week on a Friday because I want more of that joy!

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Half term fun day

I spent today working from home while Jamie and the kids went off shopping at Cheshire Oaks followed by Spiderman movie, when they all got home they were all very tired but when they told me what they got up to there is no wonder. Apparently shopping required two circuits of the mall, a sushi lunch, more shopping, a film and ended with an hour in an arcade in which there was activity walls partaken which looked very energetic…? The best thing I thought was all that fun and not an X-Box or phone in sight!

Lincoln complained of a headache which was almost certainly because he was tired Reagan had been to a sleep over before Mommy picked her up on the way this morning so she was tired too and both went to bed early for a half term off school night haha mind you as I sit here writing this who knows if either are asleep or still up watching TV I geuss we’ll see in a minute?

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What made me smile today

I have the photos I choose each year as potentials and the photo below appeared while I was sat at my desk at work and it made me smile for two reasons the first because I know Reagan and Lincoln were enjoying the beach so much after wandering around Newquay all day it was great to get the chance to play on the beach for an hour and I love them being happy and I know they were in this photo.

The second reason was it reminded me of a photo taken of me 40 years earlier in exactly the same spot on a family holiday, unfortunately when I found the photo it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it because there is no background on it to show it was definitely Porth Beach and more importantly I wasn’t on it hahaha. The photo below is not the one that immediately sprung to mind but at least I am on it and it does have the cliffs in the background I would be around Reagan’s age I guess and I would also be feeling as happy as the children do in their photo?

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Have you got a waiting space mate?

The scene is that Jamie had come to England for a holiday and I wanted to make it the trip of a lifetime so we were packing in as much in two weeks as we could so after visiting Edinburgh for a couple of days I wanted to surprise her by visiting St James park on the way home… She’d mentioned that Newcastle United was her favourite team to watch if they were ever on tv in Denver so that’s how we ended up on the exit slip road of a service area on the A1 01 August 2008

After charming the security guard at an off season closed Newcastle Stadium by telling him that Jamie had travelled 4500 miles to see the ground and would be so disappointed if she didn’t at least get to see the pitch and take it all in, and with a flutter of eyelashes (hers not mine) we were getting the stadium tour haha

So once we had taken a few photos and thanked the guy we got back in the car and set off back to Middlewich via the Humber bridge and then onto the A1 Jamie really needed to go to the toilet so at the first service station I saw I pulled of the A1 unfortunately I missed the entrance to the station forecourt and ended up on the exit slip road but Jamie was desperate so I pulled to the right put the hazard warning lights on and told her to hurry up because this is actually illegal.

Not long after I watched her disappear off towards the toilets a man in a high vis jacket knocked on my window and my heart started to race what the fuck do I do if he makes me drive off without Jamie? So I rolled my window down and it was at this point I heard in the broadest Geordie accent “Have you got waiting space mate?” Now writing it down it does sound ridiculous but if you can imagine that it was raining there were cars passing and I was panicking. “Look mate I know it’s not right but my friend has just nipped the toilet and won’t be long and I’ll go as soon as she’s back!” I then heard “No, have you not got a waiting space?” again in the most Geordie accent. “I am sorry sir but she won’t be long and I will be gone if you could just cut me some slack I’d appreciate it” just as I said this the passenger door open and Jamie jumped in, looking relieved but not nearly as relieved as I was as I put the car in gear and began rolling up the window. As I began to drive off I looked in the rear view mirror I saw a car on a jack and the guy in the Hi-Viz jacket standing by it….

WHEEL-BRACE! Shit! He just wanted a wheel-brace hahaha

Jamie looked at me wondering ‘What the hell are you on about?’ and I had to explain that there’s a guy back at the service area that must think I am a fecking retard and he is still stranded having picked the only knobhead on the A1 who doesn’t understand English. We just drove down the A1 laughing at me and wondering what the guy must have thought?

It still makes me laugh when I think of this story so I thought I would write it down so it’s not forgotten. She’s also never mentioned Newcastle since?

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The 100

On 13th November 2021 when I thought enough was enough I am going try not drinking for a year I am not sure how serious I actually was with alcohol still in my system from the night before? I knew it wasn’t going to be easy if in fact possible at all but here I am 100 days since my last drink and still going strong, most of the time finding it quite easy not even thinking about drinking at all.

The hardest times are when I know I am not allowed a drink but the occasion deserves one like a nice steak should be accompanied by a glass of red wine or a curry washed down with a beer thats when it disappoints me that Id be breaking my word and my streak if I had one. Its not a craving at these points it’s what else could I drink instead and nothing matches the wine or beer at these times!

I still intend to go a year sober but COVID is disappearing the sun will come out there could be trouble ahead but for now here’s the next 100…..or 264 which ever

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4 o’clock Sundays

I used to go drinking at 4pm every Sunday for years but COVID changed all that, it broke that cycle. It was a cycle I absolutely loved Sundays I got a lot from Sundays it was my time to unwind aswell as reset for the coming week and I always spent it with my mates

Today at 4pm I was stood watching Lincoln play cricket at Winsford Academy it was net practice for under 11s and where I wanted to be, without a thought of where I’d spent so many years on a Sunday at this time yet here I am 99 days sober just being a dad taking his son the practice…

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Learn by your mistakes

I tidied the TV wiring up today and yet again made the same mistake I ALWAYS make when I do anything with the wiring and then I get frustrated because it doesn’t work and all I have to do is step back and look at what I have done wrong and sort it out but I don’t seem to have that ability when it’s my own network?

It’s a bit annoying that it is because Orbi RBK50 router does not have Option 61 that would allow me to get rid of the sky router and just use the Netgear. It means I have to use the Orbis as APs and I get mixed up wiring the Sky router to the Orbi and the network switch but it shout be connect the Sky router to the Orbi and the Orbi to the network!

Just wasted an hour because I didn’t step back and sort it out?

That is the third time I have made that mistake and don’t seem to be able to learn from it….

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An adult in a child’s body?

Reagan put herself forward to be a library assistant at school a few weeks ago but there was a lot of other pupils including some of her friends who also applied for the position, so it was a tough selection process but eventually the position was filled by a group of pupils on a rota and Reagan was one of those chosen.

She was thrilled to be chosen and it made us proud to think she is settling in to High School so well that they select her for a trusted job like this. Anyway for varying reasons some of the other pupils have dropped out leaving Reagan at times the only assistant which is exactly what Reagan loves, the responsibility and in that “adult” world. She is so excited when she tells us she has to scan books back in to the system with a barcode reader lol I can imagine how grown up that makes her feel!

Today Mommy had a conversation with the teacher in charge of the library and she said they all love Reagan because she is such a hard worker and its only her age that means they can’t leave her to run the library on her own otherwise they would in the knowledge that it was in good hands.

She must have loads of energy for hard work at school because she is sooo lazy at home ? if you ever read this Reagan you drive me insane but you also make me immensely proud and I love you more than you’ll ever realise!

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