Mike's musings

Variety is the spice of life

What a fantastic day I've had. Woke up late, with less of a hangover than I deserved, which is always a good start, and then did some hand-washing (of clothes, rather than the Pontius Pilate type). Got up slowly, had bath, watched some T20 on the TV.

A quick breakfast, and then off to the absolutely amazing Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife Centre. You'll see lots of pictures on Flickr photostream. I had a blast, and so wished I'd had the girls with me to share it all with - though being without them did mean that I could linger a bit more with some of the exhibits. I even had my picture taken with a koala, and got to stroke one, too (pity they're endangered: their fur, though short, would make fantastically soft yarn (oooh, whoops: spot the knitting convert)).

Then off to buy a couple of books. I've got a e-cooler ebook which I use a lot, but I don't like taking it in the bath, so decided to get a couple of paper ones. Then wandered down George Street to the Rocks and Circular Quay. I visited a market I'd walked round last week, and was unable to stop myself from buying some astonishingly neat steampunk cufflinks. I also bought a puzzle for my curate colleague, Sally, and a lovely indigenous spice/herb rub for cooking. Just then, the girls phoned, so I had a quick chat with them before heading back to the hotel for a video Skype call with them as they ate breakfast. All in all, a great day. I'm going to go and find a nice Asian restaurant now, and sit and have a lovely supper before heading back for a quiet evening in front of the TV or with a book. Yay for happy days.

Labels: books, girls, joy, knitting, zoo

SoW

I was not expecting that my day would be taken up with the writing of Statements of Work, but that's how it would work. Luckily I managed to get some other work done, too: which involved actual code. Not much of it: the real fun was working out why there was a problem and what could be done to sort it out.

And tomorrow I'm going away to Australia. I'm going to miss the girls, and Jojo's getting very sad. She really feels emotion now, and misses people. It's going to be very hard.

Labels: family, girls, travel, work

And home again!

Wasn't due to leave Cardiff till around 1700, and therefore to be back home pretty late. But managed to finish all the work early, and headed off after lunch, getting back in time for the girls' bedtime, which was a real treat.

Now watching the UK Election Leaders' Debate. Clegg's winning it again, for my money: fascinating.

Note to self: 7.5, then 2, then 6 hours driving on consecutive days isn't so good.

Labels: girls, politics, travel

A quiet day

Kate and Mac left around coffee time, and we had a lovely day with the girls, playing out in the garden, gardening. I had a bit of a sleep during the afternoon (thanks, Moo!), and barbecued a shoulder of lamb for supper. Some downtime: just what we needed.

Labels: girls

Two mistakes - and a den

The first mistake I made was to forget that the 1000 service that I was taking, and at which I was preaching, was an all ages service, and to assume that I could reuse the "we all have a duty to vote, so make sure you do, even if it's hard to work out who to vote for" sermon I'd given at the 0800. The second was to ask a 5-year old, 30 minutes before the service, what I should preach about. She said "jelly".

So, I gave a sermon about jelly. Well, it was really more about metaphors, and how, although being able to say "God is a bit like jelly" (à la Lionel Blue) is useful, as it is to be able to say that God is like silence, or a roaring wind, or fire, or whatever, it's also dangerous, because we all experience all of these things in different ways, and although for me to say that "God is like a snake" might be positive (I really like snakes), for many others it might be very negative. I've never received a round of applause from an entire congregation before: it was really nice! Lots of people said they enjoyed the service too: I do enjoy running an informal service when appropriate.

We barbecued again (the girls helped me with making beefburgers), and then I cleared "the den" (or "spider city", as Jo had named it): a little place up from the green house, which is safe and (now) clean and clear of spider-webs (if not _entirely_ of spiders). It's a great den, and the the girls are very, very pleased with it.

Labels: girls, preaching

Ballet and friends

(backposting) After ballet (and a bit of time for a clean-up), we had Richard and Ellie (his daughter) and Laura (the au pair) over for a fry-up lunch. Great fun, and we chatted and chatted for ages. Didn't get that much else doing, and we were stuffed till the evening. But good to see them, and the girls had a great play. The new upstairs lay-out, with the bunkbed in one room, and the playroom next door, is working really well.

Labels: girls

Long day

Left at 0620, got home at 2110, which counts as a long day. Didn't help that the train home was very slow indeed. Had a good day, though: one of those "you know, I'm really damn good at my job" days. Got to see Miri for 10 minutes this morning, but not Jo. And I forgot to phone her, which made me rather sad.

Our friend Victoria has painted the girls' playroom (was Miri's bedroom), which means that we can now start doing lovely things with it.

Labels: girls

Bunkbeds

They've arrived. What an enormous relief. And the girls are so, so happy. And I'm so, so happy because I didn't have to waste hours of my life and a good part of my vocabulary on putting them together: the delivery guys did it for us. Moo put some stencils up on the wall, some fairy lights on the bed and a little book light on Jo's bed. And all is well in the world.

In other news, I may be going to the US this month after all. And I ordered a watch with my Amex points. The clasp on my current one broke for the 3rd time, and the last 2 times it happened, it took weeks to get it fixed, as it's a Citizen, and it seems that noone stocks the parts. And Moo was getting bored telling me the time. Really very bored. So, a new one.

Labels: girls, travel

Preparations

(backposting) I am, in fact, making a major contribution to the Christmas preparations today: I am looking after the children. This might seem like a simple task, but in fact, it is not. This is for three main reasons:

1. they are very excited
2. they are very tired
3. Moo keeps discovering that we've forgotten things that we need

In fact, this last is quite helpful at one level, because it means we had to make a big trip out to Sainsbury's (which was hellish - nearly 10 minutes to park), and this got the girls to sleep.

The girls stayed up until my parents arrived around 1900, and then failed (in Jo's case) to get to sleep for approximately an hour.

The season is upon us!

Labels: Christmas, girls, shopping

At home with the girls

Jojo's not great when she's not got things to occupy her mind. We were at Sainsbury's by 0815 and had a cooked breakfast there before doing rather more shopping than I'd expected. Then back home, and we tried to keep the girls busy. Making sausage rolls, using my computer (starting to teach Jo how to touchtype), making plaster moulds, all that sort of thing. It's hard on Miri, because Jo needs time on her own - or doing stuff with adults - and Miri really wants to be with her sister.

Oh, and we wrapped all the presents tonight. Oh, the excitement, again.

Labels: girls

Snow, more snow

(backposting) Mel really doesn't like driving in snow, so I drove the girls over to her house. I then went and bought my very first yarn. Very exciting, and you can find all the details over at my account on Ravelry (I'm MikeCamel there, as everywhere else).

Back home, and spent 90 minutes on the bathroom, then did the kitchen, too. Even wiped around. Astonishing. And got the new work email account working on my phone.

I went to pick up the girls in the late afternoon, and the weather got rather interesting on the way back. Not fun, and I was aware that Moo was driving home at the same time, but we all got home safely in the end.

Labels: girls, weather

Being in charge

(backposting) We took Jo to ballet, and after that I took the girls out to a restaurant (well, I say that, it was a Frankie and Benny's), and then to Haverhill Cineworld to see Planet 51. They did very well (and no loo-breaks during the film, which is a minor miracle), though with about 30 minutes to go, I suddenly discovered that my lap was not my own. The film falls into the "mildly diverting" category, but I think they enjoyed it.

When we got back (and after a cup of tea), I foolishly agreed to take Jo around the village to drop off some cards that she'd refused to write before school finished yesterday. 2 were fine, but we discoverd that despite her protestations, she really had no idea where her friend Ellie lives. Didn't stop us driving around several times, and the tears, but I did my best.

Watched the first 3 episodes of the excellent Generation Kill. Really into it, I have to say.

Moo spent much of the day working, poor thing. But some big bids have come up, and she wants to have a good clear run over Christmas.

Very snowy here, and around -5 Celsius. It turns out that negative numbers aren't a big thing to Jo when explained with regard to temperatures. Worth remembering.

Labels: films, girls

Giraffe time

(backposting) Off to Giraffe in Cambridge with two very tired girls, after Jo's ballet in the morning. Moo had taken Kate and Mac to Cambridge for the Christmas shopping, and we met them for lunch. I took the girls to Waterstones to buy some nice books afterwards, and then we headed back home because they were just so knackered.

Labels: food, girls

Sleep, iPhone, cold, work

Yesterday's entry finished with a question: would the girls sleep in? The answer, of course, was a resounding "no". They woke up around 0530, though they stayed in their room till the statutory 0615.

So everyone was very tired. I was presiding at the 1000, and Mum and Dad brought the girls over for it while Moo worked. A good service, and I do enjoy delivering a blessing to Jo and Miri. Afterwards we went to Dickens Restaurant for lunch, and then Mum and Dad headed back home while Jo got very sad. We took the girls for a walk (sold mainly as a chance to jump in puddles), but not before we'd had some time to play together as a family: messing on the playroom floor with Marble Run.

The girls went down much better today, and I did a bit of work. A bit of a relief, as I got something finished which I wasn't convinced I'd manage to fix even tomorrow morning. Oh, and the iPhone? Dad's got a new one, so I spent a fair amount of time on the phone to Orange, whose number reallocation system seemed to have failed for the weekend. Lee knows that he's not supposed to allow Dad up to see us with technology that he's not yet mastered.

Labels: family, girls, phone, sleep

Shocking coincidence

(backposting) If I'm honest, it's probably more than coincidence, which makes it even more shocking. Dad and I separately bought a top each in Freeport. Now, it's not surprising that we both bought a top from the same shop (Crew Clothing) - but the same design, in the same colour? That's just embarassing.

The girls are ridiculously tired, so we let them have an hour or so's sleep in the car this afternoon. In hindsight, this may have been a bad idea, as I discovered at 2020 that they'd turned the light back on, having failed to get to sleep.

Will they sleep in tomorrow?

Labels: girls

Working on the plane

(backposting) I'd had to take the only flight - and class - available back today, which ended up being at 1405, and business class. This meant that as well as having more room and a decent meal, I was able to a couple of hours' work on the plane, alongside the 45+ minutes I'd done in the airport.

Got in around 1500, and headed off to park on the M25. Oh, it's dull. But I got back, absolutely knackered, at 1815, just in time to see the girls into bed. They were so pleased to see me, as was I to see them. Mum and Dad had also arrived for the weekend, so we had some duck and managed to stay awake for a while.

Labels: girls, travel

Will it get done?

Woke up at 0555. Told my body not to be silly. Went back to sleep. Woke up at 0825. Too late for the 0800, obviously. So, I got up, and was at work by 0905. Did some work, and then, after some deliberation, decided to go to church. I ended up at St Gregory's, Sudbury. They'd advertised a 1000 service, which was changed to 1030, natch. Given that I'd said that I wouldn't be around this week, I'd chosen this church as somewhere out-of-area, where I could go incognito, and noone would know me. And, of course, there were two people from Halstead there: Val and her husband. This is just typical, and quite amusing. They'd come here because they're looking at houses in the area.

There was a lovely welcome, and the church was pretty full. I liked the service, and they have two curates, too. I think we should arrange a social: the two churches/towns have lots in common, and Helen, the curate on placement who will later join the team, is at ERMC, as I was. Good folks, and it would be fun to compare notes.

Back home, and work, work, work. And around 1700, I managed to get the work finished, which means that the answer to the question in the header is "yes, it will."

Went round to Sam and John-Mark's for a drink, ended up staying for supper. And the girls just got back.

Labels: church, friends, girls, work

Not the day I'd hoped

(backposting) I spent 6 hours or so working, while the girls played. Their cousins arrived after luch, and there was lots of playing. They've not seen them for several months, and they love them so.

I headed back home around 1615, once the girls headed off to the Loughborough Fair. It was a difficult decision: I'd have loved to go with the girls, but I'm really worried that I'm going to miss the big deadline coming up. I had a horrible drive back: yes, the weather was awful, but I kept nearly turning back, because I was missing the Moo and the girls so much.

But I got home, and did a couple of hours' more work.

Labels: girls, work

Going out to lunch - properly

(backposting) It's been a while since we went there, but we had lunch with the girls at Scutchers in Long Melford. It wasn't cheap (not helped by the fact that we bought some of their award-winning smoked salmon for Christmas), but what food. The girls did pretty well, and, for a really good restaurant, it's brilliantly child-friendly. I don't think we've visited for maybe 2 or more years, but they were pleased to have us back, and it was a great call.

Went round to see some friends in the afternoon, and went for a walk. We'd promised the girls that we'd go out in the evening to a see a bonfire and fireworks, and we were both 90% certain that they'd completely freak, and we'd have to head home early as soon as the bangs started. But they did really well. We stood a way back, but had a good view, and they loved all the colours, and even quite liked the noise. So, a real win.

Got home, worked. Things are very, very busy, and I need to get some bits and pieces completed as soon as possible.

Labels: food, girls, walk, work

Tired, tired

(backposting) Well, yes, me. But mainly the girls. Jo had ballet - twice (practice plus an exam), and I took Miri shopping during the second excursion. I also had to take Danny, one of the cats, to the vet, but he was fine after all. Great, great tiredness from Miri and Jojo.

Labels: girls, tired