Snow? In April?

Well, as you can see, the blossoms that have been around since February (!) are still here and now we've had snow (Sunday).

For us Brits, and especially us southerners, it was weird to get snow in April. Even more surprising was the rapid change in weather from driving rain ("I can't sleep because the rain's banging against my window" at 7:00am) to a thick blanket of snow ("Look, mummy, it's SNOWING!" at 7:30am)

So rather than curl up and stay snug we all went out in it :)

Regroup

After 37 years of constantly forging onward I feel battle weary, I'm far from home and my army is stretched.

Death and mutiny, souls lost at sea, leadership challenges, cowardice in the ranks, the once loyal deserting their general and a plague amongst them... others have gone before this and endured greater hardships, suffered higher losses and yet every struggle is different for its own peculiar reasons.

And somehow I feel comfort in the territory once occupied, the reek of familiarity... it is there that I find the spoils of past victories an inspiration, moments to be cherished again and reminding me of the reasons to, once again, spill forth.

The world is not black nor white, nor even shades of grey. It is multi-coloured and multi-faceted, an ever-evolving state of flux where one must wait for the tremors to subside before making the next sure step.

And it is surety itself that defies my quicksilver soul. But the flighty, the chaotic, the come-what-may might be my saviour tomorrow or my Achilles today. I choose neither and step back from the plate, survey the scene, await, observe, regroup. Regroup!

Let me sleep, I shall feel better when I am rested. I shall need all my strength to conquer the Leviathan, crush the ravening hordes, wheedle out the assassins. My armour is dulled yet still strong, my sword always sharp yet still sheathed. They will be aired come the morning, either this or the next one.

Dawn cometh, I avert my eyes lest brightness pierce my sleep. Goodnight my friends, I might you see on the morrow.

About Me(me)

I got tagged, well at least it gets me blogging again, aye BulbBoy?

What was I doing 10 years ago?
> Blimey, that was March '98... I think I was living in Fleet, Hampshire, in a rented house with a fat curry-eating lager-drinking German and "The Crow". I was back at college too, doing a part-time course in Graphics & Design whilst doing a full-time job driving a forklift truck...

Things On My To Do list
> Make sure littl'un's OK (she's off school - ill)
> Have a bath
> Make another cup of tea
> Call the boss
> Work.Work.Work
> Get well soon
> Call Grandma, she fell and broke her hip
> Call my Aunt and congratulate her on her wedding plans
> Wash the car
> Get a new exhaust for the Subaru
> Return the Nintendo Wii I bought a month ago but have never opened
> Send this cheque for £205.63
> Find a good dedicated server
> Finish building the bathroom
> Pass my motorbike test
> Fix the Mini
> Fix the XT350
> Finish reading Catch 22
> Call the plumber
> Blog like I used to
> Pay off the mortgage & the credit cards
> Go to Poland
> Make more money than I currently do
> Find time to do/pay for everything in my "To Do" list

Bad Habits
> Getting sidetracked
> Thinking too much
> Doing too much
> Putting people in their rightful place - I should let them do that themselves

Places I have Lived
> Scotland
> England
> A Hotel
> A Conservatory
> A Hayloft
> Above shops

Things Most People Don’t Know About Me
> I am a lesbian trapped in a man's body
> I'm a nice soft virgo on the outside with scorpio rising on the inside. Misjudge me and I might just unchain the restraints on my impulsive nature, being far more sincere to you than you could probably handle.
> I still don't have a fucking clue what I really want to do with my life

I will tag somebody soon... just give me some time, OK? I'm ill and I'm working...

Did the Earth Move for You?

Wednesday: 00:30

Becky had just gone to bed and I was not long behind her. I crawled into the sack but my mind was still racing, having just slaved over a client's website for the last couple of hours whilst keeping one eye on The Wedding Crashers.

I was tired to say the least. And yet, when my head touched the pillow, I was not ready to sleep.

It was nearly 1am. I lay there; tired, brain still in overdrive, contemplating going back downstairs to work until Xam. I heard a noise. A rattle. Or a scratch? It was like my cat repeatedly scratching on the door, it sort of came from that direction.

I got up. Saffron was not at the bedroom door, so it must have been from the ground floor. She must have locked herself in the sitting room, so I went downstairs. I opened the lounge door and she was there on her blanket, curled up and cosy.

Hah, I must have been going mad, hearing rattles in the middle of the night. To bed. To sleep. Perchance to have some meaningful dream and wake up with an answer to save the planet, to world peace, to make a million...

Wednesday: 09:00

I roll into work and my boss says "Did you hear there was an earthquake last night?"

Funny that - I heard someone talking about earthquakes on the radio on my drive in...

And it seems that there was an earthquake here in England last night. It was a couple of hundred miles away but it measured 5.3 on the sphincter scale. It must have shaken the house ever-so gently here in Farnborough.

Something similar happened a few years back when I heard things go kaboom in the night.

Peace to the night owls ;)

HNY

We left Ohio and flew to NYC for a couple of days and then touched down in old Blighty on the 30th December, just in time to prep the house for the arrival of Becky's sister and her husband. Being a little jet-lagged ourselves we spent the best part of 12 hours labouring to get the house ready before dumping ourselves in our new spa bath at 1:30am on New Years Eve to drink a well-earned glass of cold white wine...

And when we woke up at 7am (not in the bath) we dragged ourselves off to Gatwick to pick up our jet-lagged people, drive them around the English countryside, through Guildford and Farnham and finally home to Farnborough. After dropping off suitcases we dragged our travel-weary relatives through the shops for a few more errands until I saw their eyes glaze over with tiredness... we took them home and let them get a well-earned rest at 2pm.

So by 8pm we were in the Crown & Cushion, Minley (you know, our local pub just on the other side of the forest) where we dropped off the Subaru and met my bro, his girlfriend and my step mum. William & Julie, landlord and landlady of the aforementioned drinking establishment, put on quite a party... there was a Thai curry buffet, good music, good people and a curiously-shaped ice sculpture through which alcohol was poured to dribble out of the bell-shaped end... Becky took a good mouthful, so be prepared for an edit here and photos to follow...

I'm off to cycle through the wet woods around Hawley Lake and retrieve the Subaru from the Crown & Cushion car park... HaPPY NeW YeaR :D

Ohio

So yeah, apologies for not visiting or keeping all you fellow friends, bloggers, countrymen updated but it's been kinda crazy...

I'm not working my nads off with my usual full-time job and the newly acquired part-time consultancy gig. In addition we've escaped the pergatory that is "doing the bathroom" and it's now Christmas holidays (aka no work and no DIY) until the 30th December when we fly back to England. Which means... we're currently in Ohio. Columbus, Ohio, to be precise :)

We're doing Christmas here at Becky's bro's house with all the US side of the family and then jet back to England via NYC for a couple of days and then back to blighty to fix the bathroom and prep the house for US visitors and have a TFIAO New Year's party at our favourite local, the Crown & Cushion.

So, if I/we don't catch you then have a really great Christmas and a happy New Year and let's hope 2008 gets back to normal aye?

:*

Thanking Her

Well, we had Thanksgiving over here yesterday, a little slice of America on a British table. Our friends had invited us over because they're a little better geared up for big dinners and our dining room is being used as a storeroom for now.

Whilst everyone gave thanks for friends, family, food and having a decent life compared to some poor souls in the world I was simply thankful for everything, and I mean that. I could go on for hours about how much I'm grateful for, but everything is sweet.

And today, after such a wonderful dinner I'd like to thank my wonderful fiancée for doing all that cooking. I mean ALL that cooking. I didn't bother her, I let her be. I helped in so far as I grabbed some ingredients, stirred some soup but mostly stayed well out of the way.

Thanks Babe :)

Au Revoir

No, not from me, you don't get rid of me that easily ;)

It's my dad. He died. He wasn't even 60 and he died in the early hours of last Saturday morning, hence my absence and my silence.

I'd write something more than this but I currently don't have the time to say enough about him, but I'll make sure I do as a tribute to a great father.

I've been busy running the boss's business for two weeks as well, so it's been a bit busy to say the least... and with the funeral in just over a week's time we decided to honour our holiday arrangements and go to Italy, to Rome for a few days... God knows we need it!

It's been a funny old year, what with Becky's brother dying, stepmum #1 getting breast cancer, stepmum #1's father (my step-grandfather, if that's a real term) dying, and now my father too.

*sigh*

But the show must go on, and us Brits are a hardy lot, so if I don't visit you or see you for a bit, I apologise, but you know everything's OK. OK?

Love you all :*