Having worked in my shed all weekend using the plywood I bought a few weeks ago it became apparent to me that the quality was not as good as I would have liked for my bench and something I need to educate myself on because in my opinion I have done a reay good job building it but it is being let down by the face splintering very easily?

The rain just lately has been non stop, well thats how its felt and when I got up I was hoping to be able to walk Billy and get some wood cutting done in the garden but one look out of the window to see it pouring with rain yet again dashed that idea. Although I did manage to take Billy and get wet I went into my shed and got cracking on fitting the table saw into my bench and did all the cutting I needed to do inside with extraction on and a dust mask so not really ‘dashed’ just replanned?

Today, after swapping our Internet router yesterday I was experiencing low speeds which was annoying because the Draytek 2865 is a far superior unit the the proprietary the one BT supplied. I spent the morning troubleshooting why we were barely getting 7 or 8 Mb and not the 140+ we should be getting but became frustrated that all the Draytek documentation and forums were not fixing the issue.

I knew from experience that if I rang support, they would help, so I decided to stop wasting time and just call them. I am glad I did because they were great and got me top speeds within minutes, I would have got there eventually, but I ran out of time. What I did realise is how much I enjoyed trying to figure out how to resolve the issue and how long ago I had that sort of satisfaction?

Anyway, once the internet was back on and upto speed I got an email from my boss accepting with regret my resignation so that is it I am on my way tp pastures new, although I still have to sign my new contract which I will do once I have sat down and read through it fully at the weekend.

February the 29th a leap year gives me an extra day to love my family and for me that means a lot. I want as many opportunities to be there for all of them as possible,

I just spoke to Jamie who was laying in bed in a hotel in london after going out to see Mrs Doubtfire in the West End and I mentioned how easy video chatting is because it’s how we began…?

I miss her a lot but she is living her best one and will be home tomorrow night and the team will be back together again!

We had to be apart for our 15th anniversary for one reason an invitation to Westminster and the Houses of Parliament for a party that I would not have allowed Jamie to miss even on an important date in our calendar. An opportunity like this may never happen again, we will be together tomorrow and for the next 15 years and beyond so I made her go and enjoy tonight with her American friend at the home of British politics.

Our first 15 years have been packed with so much joy. I can’t believe how much we have done and how strongly our relationship has grown. We are such a great team and laugh every day we just are perfect together and my favourite saying is “Loving Jamie is the easiest thing I do!

Happy Anniversary, dude, and here’s to the rest of our lives together ??

Let’s face it if you were here, this would be us right now. rolls eyes lol

Got a call from my boss late afternoon to say they were sorry to recieve my letter of resignation and is there anything they could say to change my descision, which I replied straightaway with the fact that it had been coming for a while and I felt it was time to move on so no there was nothing they could say. She was very complimentary in her assement of what I had done for the Willows in my time as IT Manager and that I would be sorely missed, to the point where she was slightly emotional(?).

I am not sure whether they know just how much I will be missed as I believe I have become an integeral part of making the company run smoothly on a daily basis and by that I do not mean it will crumble without me but the “smoothly” bit will disapear I am sure, maybe I will never know but like when I left Ideal Standard even people that hated me stopped me in the street to tell me how bad it became when I left.

I have the fact that I am going to a new job right in my head so it feels OK

Can we talk at 1:30…yeh OK

Do you want this job or what?

Yeh I think I do!

I’ll send you something to sign OK

Er yeh

Was basically (paraphrased) how my day went, I got offered a job that in all honesty I have been sold all along and I sort said fuck it I would be a fool not to at least entertain it!

My heart was POUNDING as I sat in the car park at work with my resignation letter in my hand, no going back now as I handed it over to Andrea (PA to my bosses) and asked her to pass it on ASAP

I let my close colleagues know just to make the news a bit personal for them before it gets out officially or through rumour. I am not used to this as I have always stayed at jobs and given 100% until I felt I couldn’t do that anymore or something better was available, and I think both are available now

I sit here tonight and I feel good about my decision and look forward to the next stage of my career!

Spent a good portion of my Sunday cracking on with my bench and managed to get main top work space attached and the bottom shelf secured too and left it with the saw shelf ready to set up but time and inclination got the better of me and ended the day at the pub with Jamie.

An experience never to be forgotten not for the pleasure of spending quality time relaxing over a Guinness with my beautiful wife but watching some extremely drunk people navigate life while experiencing near fatal episodes that turn out to be that they’re just pist…. I want to  go again it was car crash TV live!

Although I wanted to spend all day in me shed Jamie asked if I wanted to do our walk after dropping Reagan off at horse riding, and that was a no-brainer. I love spending time alone with my best mate!

When we picked up Reagan she was not waiting for us so Mommy went in to find her while I waited in the car park. They took ages and when the appeared Mommy was aiding a crying Reagan towards the car? Apparently her horse had driven her knee into the side of the ring and she was in real pain Mommy took her to Northwich Infirmary where she was told she had sprained her knee

She came home on crutches sprained knee and told no physical excerise horse riding or PE till Easter but she admitted it didn’t feel too bad which was good

It was good to make it to Friday and k ow the weekend is about to begin after a long and eventful week but after a busy day I started feeling ill….the feeling was the same as Jamie had been complaining about the last couple of days.

I don’t mind being ill (I don’t want to be ill), but why did it have to wait until Friday afternoon to get here ffs?

I did try to do a bit to my bench, which I have made real headway on the last few nights since last weekend, but I felt sick and tired, so I had to sleep.

Right way up, on wheels ready for table saw shelf .