but the heat, and the tiredness, and the general apathy is getting to me.
I should write about weddings, trips to the beach, BBQs and paddling pools, trips to Legoland. We've been busy!
I just can't find the words.
Life is fairly tough at the mo and the light is too far away to see. Just need to keep my head down and keep going.
One battle at a time.
I hope to be back soon.
Tired this morning (for a change) and can't find the muse.
Busy weekend, just can't do it justice yet. See what this evening's journey brings
I got home at 22:00 last night. Slept, got up, and now I'm on my way to work again.
I can't say much more than that. Nothing else of interest has happened.
My hayfever is really hurting my eyes this morning. The nose is a little better behaved though.
Missed my connecting train last night by seconds. That was annoying. Could have been home at 21:30.
Working from home tomorrow. Looking forward to the "lie-in"!
That's it. That's all I got. Can't see the screen properly anyway thanks to blurred vision.
Up a whole 30 mins later than yesterday, but still stupidly early. As it's Tuesday, and I've really stuck to my photo plan, I thought I'd post the joys of the day at 06:30!
Today hurts. Tomorrow will, no doubt, be worse. At least I'm working from home Thursday.
Up *early* this morning. 05:35 early. The start of a busy day, and a frantic week.
I daren't mention what we did at the weekend because, apparently, I make it sound like I do all the work. So, my *WIFE* spent all of yesterday in the garden stringing plants, and generally correcting the useless efforts of our gardener. (He's a good gardener, but stringing plants doesn't seem to be his forte!)
Whilst my wife was working, I, the husband, was swanning around swimming, cleaning bathrooms (twice, although not because the first attempt was no good), and changing the bed linen. Amongst other things.
Saturday, in contrast to the busyness of Sunday, was spent visiting a national trust garden, and meeting up with the in-laws. A beautiful, sunny day provided the backdrop to a nice walk.
Tonight brings with it the challenge of the last remaining plant to need work in the garden. A huge climbing rose that hasn't seen a lot of attention, and needs some guidance and some stringing love. At least the early start should see me away on time. The wife will eat early; I'll eat on the way home; little one will retire; then, the plant will be ours.
For those of a nervous disposition, move away now.
My nose is like a scabby, constantly dripping tap.
My eyes are swollen, red, and streaming.
My sinuses ache.
My skin is tight and sore.
My head feels like it's full of cotton wool.
Hayfever. I hate it.
It's not just all that above, it's that it's all together. Never ending. Arrgh.
It's the sudden, unannounced drip that appears on my shirt. It feels like a nose bleed. No warning. A cold usually gives some advance warning of impending dripping, but not this.
I am fully, and completely fed up. Concrete everything. Sod global warming, at least I won't feel like this. Take every plant, tree, blade of grass in the UK, and nuke it from space. It's the only way to be sure.
Failing that, amputation from the neck up.
Friday morning saw me (and 3 friends) rising at 5am to fly to Norway for a wedding.
It was originally supposed to have been 1 friend, Tristan, and myself; but Jon and Emma had run into train problems on Thursday evening, and the easiest option was for them to stay too.
We left Jon and Emma at Wokingham station as they were travelling to Gatwick, and Tristan and I continued on to Heathrow.
One Scandinavian airlines flight later (and a fast train to the city) we were in Oslo. This is where we hit a minor travel hiccup. Our directions told us to head for Lysebu; assuming that was a village or stop, we tried to work out where to go. (Also, the pertinant information that the T-bane is the underground, and not a train, tram, bus, or any other type of tranport would have helped too!) A long wait in the tourist information office, and we worked out the Lysebu was the hotel, not a stop, worked out which stop we needed, purchased a ticket, found the underground, and were on our way!
We arrived in plenty of time (when I plan, I plan properly (eh Jon?)) and helped out a little with preperations.
The wedding kicked off at 3 (Jon and Emma arrived at 14:58) with a string quartet. The bride, Becky, looked absolutely stunning as she walked down the aisle to join Rich (the groom). What followed was a different, but cute, ceremony.
The judge presiding (and the audience) remained seating whilst Becky walked down the aisle. Then, the string quartet continued playing, for a good minute, once she had reached the "altar". When the band finally wound up the song, Becky and Richard were the only ones left standing, looking slightly lost. The judge, still sitting, motioned then to sit. Which they did.
Judge then stood, turned to us, and said, "I give the word to Peter." Then he sat down. There were three speeches in all, and a musical piece, all introduced in the same way. Then we were onto the wedding itself.
A simple ceremony. Do you take this man? Do you take this woman? Well done. Now, put your rings on. Job done.
We all sat as the bride and groom left the room.
The rest of the day passed in a pleasant blur. Champagne, gin and tonic (bleurgh), a fantastic meal (saffron halibut, lamb, cheese and chocolates), then music, talking and dancing until late.
I went to bed after midnight. Exhausted.
Up at 9 for breakfast, good byes, and a journey home. The bride and groom are off to China, our friends were hanging around Norway for a little longer. Tristan and I made our way back to England.
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Sunday saw the swimming pool too full and turning people away. So we went shopping. Changed some towels, took back curtain samples, my wife got a top, I got a memory card.
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Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. This took longer to write than the journey gave me time for.
Tomorrow an old friend of mine gets married. Of the group of close school friends I keep in touch with only one remains unmarried.
This is the first time that I haven't met the bride before the wedding which feels a little strange. However, it's perfectly understandable. They met in Texas, and now live in the far North of Norway. Not exactly easy to pop out for a drink together!
The wedding is in Norway; specifically, Oslo. So tomorrow morning I fly out at 07:20 (I don't want to think about the time I have to get up!) from Heathrow, wedding in the afternoon, then back on Saturday, and home for bath time. I feel exhausted just thinking about it.
Because of the timings, and early mornings involved, my wife and daughter will be staying at home. This will feel very strange. It always does. It's only one night however, so not too bad.
I've known the groom since I was 11. We've been through highs and lows as part of a close group of friends, and we never lose that bond. We all meet up sporadically these days, but when we do, old patterns are quickly found, and it all feels natural. He's a great bloke who *needs* a good woman in his life, and it would appear that he's found one.
Good luck Rich, and remember, the one piece of advice that I got, and give: never go to bed angry.
It's a bit packed this morning. Hot and sweaty. And we haven't reached Waterloo yet!
So, better make this quick as I'm sure to run out of writing space.
Not much to say anyway. Went home, helped put my daughter to bed, spent an hour on the phone with a work colleague whilst participating ina DR test, cooked, ate, cleaned, watered the plants, went to bed.
Then didn't sleep well. Too hot. One disturbance from little one was quickly sorted. Up early(ish), dressed and off to work.
It's an exciting life.
Another gorgeous day taunts me as I travel in. Knowing that it'll break for the weekend doesn't help any either. Oh well, at least I have Friday off. Even if I do have an early morning flight to look forward to!
Ok, 30 seconds from Waterloo. We're going in. Wish us luck!
Where are we going?
What will we do when we get there?
Why does it seem to be taking so long to arrive?
What's the point?
I spend all my working days telling people how many servers we have, and how badly they are used. People then pick out the tiniest holes in the data to try and discredit it so that they don't have to do any work. What's it all for?
Hardly likely to change the world, am I? (Although one of the initiatives driven by me and my data is reduced power consumption, so that might help a bit)
I think the problem is I could do so much more. Proper resourcing, decent management cover, and we could really make a difference. Save millions, reduce power costs dramatically, make teams work smarter and better. It's the frustration of lost opportunity that's getting to me.
And what will I do about it. Moan here probably. Very little I can do about it. Keep on at the powers to change things. To listen to me. I can keep dreaming.
Whine over.
1st June. The start of the month with the middle of the year in it. (21st is the middle. It's not my fault we insist on putting an extra 10 days on the end of the year!)
So, what to blog about?
Trains are running well. (Bet you're glad to know that)
I'm tired, but no more than is customary for a Monday.
Weekend was fun. Shopping and jobs on Saturday. Swimming, jobs, bbq, jobs on Sunday.
We're trying to move my daughter from a cot (bed) to a (cot) bed. As a backup (for when she continues to get out of bed and come and see us) we have her travel cot setup too. To date, she has preferred the travel cot. The key point came the other night. Apparently, big girls sleep in beds, and my daughter is a little girl.
You cannot imagine how cute that was!
Yesterday I set the cot part back up on three sides. High back and bottom, tall side near the wall, but with the lowered side and fall protector still setup for easy access. A good compromise we thought. An easy transition stage. Nope.
When given the option, she chose the cot over the bed. Guess it's just too soon. We still have a couple of ideas, but I think the cot will be back up by the weekend.
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Got about a third of the garage sorted. A full car load to the tip and a huge box filled with chopped wood. I need one more large box to finish the wood off (and then we need to burn it!) The rest of the garage will follow as space is freed, and bags are sorted. Still leaves the shed needing a tidy out, but progress was defintely made.
I'm off, sans family, on Friday to Oslo for a friend's wedding. It's an early start with a return on Saturday, but I'm looking forward to it. A chance to catch up with old friends. Should be good.
Journey note: I'm beginning to melt.
Sorted all the holiday photos out last night. I'll get the best to picasa as soon as I can. I now have 10 hours of video to upload, edit, and print. Where do I find that time? I can't even get the simple paperwork filed from week to week! Oh well, one day.
Too hot now. Time to go. Hope for fresh air!
Well, it's that time of year. Once again I can abuse my html knowledge and shove a few YouTube videos into a blog post to illustrate wha...
