Tonight we played second placed Eight Farmers a team vying for top spot and full of good players but we believe we should not be bottom of the league and we are improving each week especially since Christmas.

Tonight we won the first frame but narrowly lost the next three and were staring down the barrel but we all still believed a frame would get us back in the match. All was not lost. I played the fifth frame followed by PJ DL & LF and just like that we were 5 3 up with just the doubles to play.

We would have settled for a 5 all draw before the match started but now we had two chances to win both points. I bottled the first frame letting my partner PJ down, and was so annoyed with myself but we still had the last frame to win it all.

DH talked JEB brilliantly through the whole frame and put huge pressure their pair and forced a mistake that left JEB a tough double which he cooly made to take the spoils.

It’s always good to win, and that is our 3 win from 4 in 2024…!

I went to Howarths timber merchants on Saturday morning to purchase wood, my favourite thing to do apart from get it home and play with it in my shed of coarse but while I was there I thought i wold order some plywood. I had avoided this until now because as Jamie and i had sat over christmas chatting I had priced up 18mm ply and it was around £50 per sheet and we needed 3 for some shelves 1 for my bench maybe 2 but we soon realised with delivery that we could not afford to get it until February and we had been paid again.

Anyway I bought th wood I had gone for and stood talking to the guy there and he asked me if I had an account or am I paying cash to which I replied you always ask me that what is the difference and he explained that trade prices and loyalty bring the cost down so I said I would like an account and signed up. The prices I had been getting were trade prices anyway becauase they had notied me coming in quite often but now they can make sure I always recieve those prices no matter who serves me or which branch I go into so thats a benefit.

I ordered 3 sheets of plywood and was surprised how cheap they were when the bill for 2 x 18mm and 1 x 12 mm came to less than £90 and they said they would deliver it Tuesday which was fine I was in no rush. It arrived at dinnertime today it was raining and I was working so had to ask Jamie to help get it down to my shed where I stood it up next to it and covered it in black plastic sheeting and that is where it still is unfortunately because it was dark and still raining by the time I finished work so I can’t even start to rip it down worse still I am in the office tomorrow so Thursday at the ealiest biut most likely weekend before I can play with my wood.

I think getting sheets of wood home has been one of those things that holds me back, perhaps now I can free up that issue and get stuff made?

We live a very privileged existence right now not going without much that we either need or want but that does not mean we are in any way shape or form rich or affluent it just means that we choose what is important to us to spend our money on, yes the bathroom needs decorating the kitchen is tired the facias need replacing but for now big expenditure takes a backs seat while we (Jamie) concentrates on debt management while making sure we live a good life too.

Children do not realise the struggles of adulthood unless we educate them and learn what they can have and can’t have through behaviour of us as parents it would be nice to have bajillion pounds that would allow us to never go without and have everything we ever wanted right there and then, we haven’t so we cut our cloth accordingly.

Lincoln is not exempt from thinking “money grows on trees” but his sister unfortunately has come to think we are rich or at least have plenty of money and has no respect for how hard both Jamie and me work for the luxury’s of life we allow ourselves. She loves going out with Mommy because she knows mommy will always spend money on her and very often buy her what ever she wants whether it be large or small but the gratitude is fleeting once the money is spent and she can all too often switch off when the purse closes, knowing that continuing to be nice is a waste of time.

I see it in her even at the supermarket and will avoid taking her because she turns nasty when I invariably say no to all her requests and then I have to suffer the mood she goes into because she did not get her way or what she wanted, and I detest it so won’t entertain shopping with her at all. When she has her own money she loves spending it no matter what its on, sweets Dr Pepper, perfume, cosmetics, whatever it is she loves the rush of spending money but when her money has gone she almost demands that we spend money on her, and is not very pleasant if we don’t?

I love her to bits but her lack of respect for money and how hard it is to earn is easily her worst trait and she needs to learn that her “privileged” lifestyle can easily end if either of us loses our job or if she disrespects the toil that brings that money to the table.

“NO!” does not mean we don’t love her it means we love her enough to teach her that we do not always get what we want!

As Jamie left Harley Street this evening, gushing at how well her day had gone, I could hear the absolute glee in her voice as she told me how well her presentation to all the bigwigs of London Womens Clinic had gone, and that she had made some of them so emotional that they actually cried, I just thought of how all the hard work was now bearing fruit,

Ever since she went to school she knew she found it easy and probably struggled to succeed because she was not challenged which is such a shame because she is so intelligent with so much potential she just needed a chance an outlet a new start a complete reset.

A life in England UK was absolutely not the life plan as she sat drinking vodka, smoking cigarettes and browsing MySpace but fate can play funny tricks on you if you are not careful. Neither Jamie or me could have ever envisaged how well the next 16 years would go but for Jamie it was a second chance to realise her academic potential and become the person she could be but this time on her own terms.

From the disappointment of missing out on her preferred course at the Open University, to eventually being accepted, graduating, starting her own business, excelling in her chosen field, being employed by one of the leading infertility clinics in the country, becoming head of a whole department within that company, trusted in managing their patient welfare and being asked to present what counselling means to their infertility clients succeeding in making the “bigwigs” realise the importance of what she does, just blows me away!

I have had the privilege of a front row seat watching this journey and can not wait to watch just how far she can go because at the moment the sky is the limit. I hope I can be there for her and where ever the next part of the journey takes her!

Well Done Dude

It took me 40 minutes to do one coat of wood preservative tonight proving that if I had done it last night at 5pm when I finished the build I could have done a second coat too. The fact that I went with Jamie shopping for a couple of hours in the afternoon, yesterday, also means I would have hit my deadline easily.

The project has given me a lot of enthusiasm to do more and create more so a very successful exercise.