It's competition time!

Hi Guys, I just wanted to drop you a quick line to tell you all about a new competition that I'm running and to give you the opportunity to enter and, you never know, maybe even win.

On my facebook page I am offering you the chance to win this beautiful and, very first ever, Peacock button art picture. 


All you need to do to enter into the prize draw is 'like' and share this page and encourage your friends to 'like' it too. 
Everytime you share the page (1 share per day up to a maximum of 6) your name will be entered into the prize draw.

The competition closing date will be 30th April 2014 and the winner will be chosen at random and announced on 01st May 2014.

It really is that simple. 

Good luck!

Cooking on gas or rather, painting on canvas!

Well, what a whirlwind few months it's been for me!

I haven't posted on here in so long and, I can't offer much in the way of an explanation other than I've been trying to 'find myself' and truly understand what it is that I have to offer with my minuscule presence in this world #cliché. 

I've been in a bit of a funny space for a while now, I don't know why, there's no discernible reason. I have a loving wife who is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and, a lovely home and good friends but, I just couldn't get past this feeling that I wasn't  put on this earth simply to be a Bank Manager or a Project/Change Manager. I mean, there really has to be more to life than this, right?. Until fairly recently I thought that I was the only person in the world who didn't really know what they wanted to do when they 'grew up' but, and I've come to realise that, there's actually a lot of us out there, if not most of us. A bit of a scary thought.

Anyway, after some considerable soul searching *yawn* and, a little bit of putting myself out there, I think I might have found something that I really love to do. Painting. Mostly with oils on canvas using a pallet knife. I've had some amazing feedback from people, but, as a friend of mine recently so rightly pointed out to me, 'none of that matters so long as it means something to you' and, it does! I love it, I find myself getting completely immersed in what I'm doing. Forgetting everything that's going on around me, sometimes at the very detriment of my incredibly patient and supportive wife's evening meal, sorry about that! But I really do love it. I love that I can somehow (and, not even I'm entirely sure how), manage to turn a relatively mundane piece of white canvas into something spectacular (to me at least) and, into something that other people can recognise. It really is quite amazing to me.

I'm still relatively new to this painting lark. I always loved art at school but for a variety of reasons, over the years I've stopped doing anything creative. I've become a little, no, a lot, lazy and fallen into some bad habits of either staring at a TV screen and switching off or sleeping. I do love to sleep, it's now my second favourite thing to do! 

I've never painted with oils until about 6 months ago and I've never painted on canvas and I'd certainly never done anything that required me to use a pallet knife, actually, that's a lie, I do like to bake and I sometimes use a pallet knife for this but that's a whole other story! 
I just decided I'd give it a go and I bought myself some cheap oil paints, a couple of pallet knives and a canvas. I already had a picture in my mind that I wanted to create and I thought I'm going to try and relate that to this big white space. And, so my first painting was born.

It's not great I know and, I'm sure some of you will be looking at it and wondering what the... But, I was really proud of it. I am really proud of it. It's my first attempt at doing anything arty with oil paints and canvas and pallet knives. My first bit of art in many, many years.

After I finished this that was it, I'd got the bug. I wanted to do more.  I decided that my next project was going to bigger and better. I had a memory that I wanted to preserve and I was going to do it in style! I went shopping and bought a HUGE canvas and put it on to the easel in my dining room (which, incidentally, has become my new studio, sorry Kat!).

I guess everyone works in different ways but, for me, I like to painting things that have relevance to me. You might recall, a couple of years ago, Kat and I got married in New York and, as you can probably imagine, it's a very special place to both of us. I wanted to paint something that we could hang on our wall and every time we looked at it we'd remember the awesome adventures that we've had there. 

This project was major. Like nothing I had ever done before. A painfully long, slow process of layering paint in stages. Waiting for a section to dry and adding a little bit more. I might not have mentioned already but, patience, well, it's not really my friend! For this reason, oils are probably not the best medium for me to be using as they take so long to harden before you can move on to the next stage of the painting! This meant that for months my painting looked like nothing more than some messy lines and a mucky mishmash where different colours met and mixed together. At times it was frustratingly slow and my lack of patience and desire for perfection has cost me dearly during this project, in time at least and, taught me some very valuable lessons!

Anyway, It has taken me almost 5 months of painstakingly slow touch ups, several new, more expensive purchases of oils and this is what I finally achieved...

My wife is so happy it's finished. She said it was so she could hang it but I think it was so she could have the dining room back! Sadly, I've just started my next project and bought another easel so I can work on more than one painting at a time, so, I'm not sure that's ever going to happen, unless I get my own little studio someday, you never know, normality might just resume, one day!

So, that's what's been going on with me. I have been doing some other little crafty pieces of work too, in between coats and layers of oil paint, but mostly I'm just loving my new adventure with oils on canvas. I'm still not entirely convinced that this is my only true calling in life but, for now at least, I'm cooking on gas or rather, painting on canvas and, who knew you could have quite so much fun with a pallet knife?!

It's been over a month...

It's been over a month, almost two in fact since I last posted and I don't know where the time has gone. When I started up this blog I had every intention of posting onto it regularly, I mean, at least weekly but, just lately, time just seems to be slipping past me and, to be honest, I don't really have a great deal to show for it! 

Let's see, since I last posted, what's been going on with me? My wife and I took a trip up to Leeds to visit her Uni friends for a couple of days, that was nice and on the way back we stopped off in the Midlands and stayed a night with my mum and while we were there visited my sister and oldest friend, Angie and her partner. 

It's always nice catching up with old friends, isn't it? I've known Ange since we were about two-ish I guess, since pre-school certainly. I don't remember our first meeting, we've just always known each other, well, it feels like there was never a time when we didn't know one another. 

We haven't always seen eye to eye, in fact during high school I have distinct memories of us having 'falling outs' but never for long and as far as I remember most of those 'falling outs' were mainly due to external influences. But, despite those silly teenage blips, and, Ange pulling a science stool from underneath me as I was about to sit down on it (I still struggle to see the funny side of this, even though you assured me that I would 'one day'), we've always managed to remain good friends and now Ange is my oldest friend (not in age she'll be pleased to hear me say). Since moving down to Essex we don't see one another quite so often as we used to. As adults, and when I lived in Staffordshire, we used to see each other at least once a week and, during certain time periods, daily but that's not really possible any more so we just catch up when either one of us visits the other. So it was nice to have a good old chin-wag when we saw them last month, if not a little brief. 

Anyway, I digress. 

What else have I been up to? Honestly, not a great deal. I've been trying to get a bit fitter. I struggle with a back problem that sometimes means I find it difficult to get around (in part, but not entirely, due to the science stool incident!) and so I've been trying to build up my fitness levels on the treadmill at home over the last month. As a kid I used to be a keen runner. Never very fast but quite good at cross-country. Sadly, my fitness levels have declined quite considerably, especially during the last few years. You know what it's like, get into a relationship, get all comfortable, eat out far too much and before you know it you've put on sooooooo much weight! So, I started running on the treadmill. It's hideous and I hate every second of it! When I first started I could only run for about 30 seconds before I had to stop and get my breath back for about 2 minutes and then have another little run for another 30 seconds, ridiculously unfit! Anyway, I persevered and I'm now running, after a month of running at least every couple of days, for 10 minutes continuously! Doesn't sound like a lot but believe me during the last few weeks I never once thought I'd get to this point so I'm very proud of myself and am almost confident enough to leave the house and run around the block.....one day, soon, maybe! 

I have to give some thanks for getting to this point to a friend of mine, Lisa Holmes. I met Lisa at Essex Boot Camp (EBC) last year. My wife and I bought a voucher for 10 sessions each and, well, I only managed to go to 3 of the 10 before I had shin splints in both legs and could barely walk and on top of this was diagnosed with a nasty case of EBC Tourettes, mostly brought on from attending a session with Lisa! Needless to say, I called her pretty much every name under the sun and never went back again! All entirely unprovoked and not her fault, I should add, just doing her job, but, it was hideous. Being unable to walk with shin-splints was exactly what I didn't want to achieve! However, I did take away one thing from that session and that was one of the things that she said to me whilst trying her hardest to motivate my sorry ass; 

'Your mind is going to tell you to give up 100 times sooner than your body needs to so just keep going'. 

Lisa, I hear you saying this to me, in my mind, over and over again while I'm on that treadmill and, to say I'm sick of the sound of your voice is an understatement! Teehee. Only Kidding. Without that one little bit of encouragement I don't think I'd have got this far and still be plodding on and, I know that it's not far considering some of the distances I see other people running, but it's my far and it's a step in the right direction. So, thank you Lisa, you tyrant, you. Even without seeing you, you still made a difference.

So, that's what I've been doing. It's all a bit of a mish mash really. Not the usual focussed blog I've been trying post on here, but, well, I didn't really know where I was going to end up when I started this one! Must try harder!

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside.....

My wife and I both had the day off together yesterday so, as a little treat, we decided to take a bit of time out and drive to the coast. Living in Essex, we're lucky to have the longest coastline in England and as we're surrounded by beautiful coastline it's not exactly a major outing to just nip out somewhere to be by the sea for the afternoon. 

After a little bit of thought, we decided to go to  Leigh on Sea. Old Leigh, is a lovely little fishing village with a beautiful harbour and it's only about 25 minutes drive from us so it's not far to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life for a bit of tranquillity. And, as I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, I took my camera along for the ride, too!

The traffic wasn't too bad and before we knew it we were there. And what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be. The sun was scorching hot and so the warm sea breeze was welcome. We started off by having a little wander through the  cobbled streets of Old Leigh and then took a stroll along the harbour. We had a little sit on the harbour wall, dangling our feet over the edge and watched some 'big' kids having a wonderful time throwing each other into the sea off the breakwater. Oh to be young and carefree again! They were having an absolutely wonderful time. Chasing each other around and pushing each other in. Picking the girls up and pretending that they were going to throw them in, making them squeal, but they were all squeals of joy and it was light hearted fun. They created some fun and happy memories to take away with them, that's for sure.

A short time later we decided to move on and took a very slow stroll indeed along the sea front. Kat had a little paddle and collected some 'pretties' or shells to everyone else, and, I took lots of photographs of the boats dotted along the harbour and further out into the sea. And, with my super duper lens I could even see the end of Southend Pier, looking a little warmer than the last time I saw it, I might add! 


We ambled along like a pair of old timers, in our flip flops, no rush to get anywhere. I really do love days like this, there's nothing better than a visit to the seaside to forget all your stresses. Before we knew where we were we were almost in Chalkwell, the next town along. Knowing that we had to walk all the way back we decided to turn around just before we got there and make our way towards the temping pubs we had so far managed to elude the clutches of. It was time for a well deserved beer. 


We found a lovely little pub on the harbour wall and managed to bag ourselves a little table overlooking the sea, which was decidedly more 'mud' by this time as the tide had all but gone out but that didn't matter to us, we were just happy to be away from it all for a little while, enjoying each others company in the sunshine and calm.


After our beer it was time for us to start making our way back. Unfortunately, the pressures of time, namely car parking restraints, were upon us and so we started to head back along the harbour towards the car. The smells of the sea and freshly caught fish, cockles, muscles and the like wafting past our nostrils as we walked by the cockle sheds and fishmongers. This is a smell I can honestly say that I don't miss, phewy!

So, that was our opportune afternoon outing to the sea. 

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside..... 

Only for medicinal purposes, of course!

It's been quite some time since I lasted posted a blog on here, I'm not entirely sure where the time has gone. Time just kind of slips by, doesn't it? A day turns into a week, a week into a month and before you know it, it's almost June!

I had every intention of posting on here last week, after my mum's visit for her 80th birthday, to tell you all our tales of adventure, however, on the eve of my mum leaving (last Sunday) I started to come down with some bug or another and have, since Monday, been in bed suffering and feeling incredibly sorry for myself. Thank goodness for my amazing wife who has made sure that, even though she has had to get up and go to work every morning, I had a tray of supplies including a flask of tea, fresh orange juice with the juicy bits, sandwiches and other goodies by the side of my sick bed so that I didn't have to get up or worry about looking after myself, well, other than remembering to pop the next lot of Lemsip capsules at the appropriate times! It really was awful, though. It's been quite some time since I've suffered from a cold like that, especially during the 'Summer', at least, that's it's official title, I'd probably describe it as more of an '8 month winter'!. I had achey pretty much everything, painful joints, a nose that bore more resemblance to a leaky tap than a facial feature! I know what you're thinking, 'pretty'...well, it's not really the look I was going for, but, hey-ho, these things can't be helped!

Anywho.....yes, so it's all been a bit manic. Life I mean. I'm not entirely sure what it is that I've been manically doing but, it feels like it's been busy.

Last week was lovely. It was my mum's 80th birthday and so she came to visit us for a week and we did lots of lovely things to celebrate in an attempt to make it special for her. I think we managed it. We had a couple of trips into London, went on the London Eye and on a  river cruise, blimey, that day was absolutely freezing (just for a change!). I wouldn't be at all surprised If that was when I picked up the bug I ended the week with this week. We ate Japanese food, mum's first time, I think it was a success , although, I don't think she'll be racing out to have it again! We went to see a dancing type show in the West End, she loved this part, I think probably her favorite bit, in fact. Went out for Afternoon tea. Visited Tiptree Jam, and much more. We were all absolutely exhausted.

Then on the Friday, my sister came down for a surprise visit from Scotland and we all spent a couple of days together. All in all it went pretty well, all things considered. It's just a shame that I managed to pick up a bug which meant I had to spend a week in bed. Not that I object to being in bed, in fact, I love being in bed, I'd just prefer it be because I'm enjoying a lay in rather than because I'm unable to get out!

Anyway, I'm well on the road to recovery now and am just left with a snotty hooter (again, nice!) and a husky voice but I don't hear my wife complaining so I'm guessing that's not such a bad thing, all things considered! And not a moment too soon as we've got another hectic weekend coming up full of trips into London, watching shows in the West End and I suppose we're going to have to try and fit in some beer drinking at some point, only for medicinal purposes, of course!

'Will this entitle me to two packets of biscuits?'

A couple of days ago I donated blood, along with my wife, at a session in Chelmsford near to where we live. Usually it's quite uneventful, nothing to shout about and we're in and out within an hour. This time, however, it took 2&1/2 hours! 

We arrived a little bit early for our appointment and waited a short time to be seen. I was called first and had the routine initial conversation, please confirm your name, address and date of birth, blah, blah, blah. Then had my finger pricked and a small sample of my blood tested to see if I was anaemic. I wasn't so I was sent on to the next stage of the journey where you are required to drink at least half a pint of water. This done I was then called onto the final stage, donating. As I already stated, this is usually quite uneventful. The normal routine is carried out,  confirm your name, address and date of birth again, have a little chinwag with the nurse while they prod and poke your arms to locate a vein and then stick a big old needle into your arm and begin the donation. But, today was different. The nurse was having trouble locating a vein and then when he found one he though was suitable, it turns out that once the needle was in my arm the vein wasn't quite where he thought it was, so with the needle still in my arm, he moved it around trying to get it in the right place....ouch! 

Needless to say, (ha, see what I did there?) this wasn't working for me, my arm began to swell as I bled into my arm instead of the donation bag and the pain was unbearable. They decided to halt the donation, thank goodness, and removed the needle, phew!

Then, while one nurse held a bandage onto my left arm to stop the bleeding another messed about with my right arm to see if they could locate a better vein in there. I was then asked 'Would you still like to donate? We've found a suitable vein in the other arm'. Not wanting to let anyone down, and well, we'd already been there and hour and a half, I answered 'Yes, let's give it a go. Will this entitle me to two packets of biscuits with my tea?'. I'm assured that it will and then we proceed with the entire procedure again. Confirm your name, address and date of birth, please, blah, blah, blah. And then, another large prick, this time, a lot less painful, and we're off. 

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

The rest of the donation was quite uneventful, other than me being in immense pain with the arm that I was not donating from and having nurses changing the dressing. And then, a short time later, it's all over and I'm allowed to leave my bed and am invited to have a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

I see the bowl of biscuits on the table and find myself a lovely little packet of Ginger Nuts. Hmmm. Three perfect little servings of gingery heaven and a packet of ready salted later and all's right with the world, again. My fellow donors and I can be proud that we did something selfless and our donated blood will potentially save the lives of many.

My wife and I have already made our next donation appointment for August, only, next time, I'll be sure to tell them 'right arm only!' before they get started, although they have marked it on my records for future reference. And today I'm left with two small bruises, and well, I really can't complain, you just can't put a price on someones life. 

Do something amazing today, give blood. http://www.blood.co.uk/

So, what have you done today that makes you feel proud?

Can you imagine a life without tea?

I’m a huge tea drinker and drink it by the absolute bucket load, in fact, I’ve got a pot on the go while I’m writing this blog! I must drink at least 10 cups a day and I’d say that’s quite a conservative estimate, if I’m honest! I have, however, cut out caffeine and so it’s decaf all the way for me, not that I think that makes any difference to taste, well, not to me, anyhow.

I really cannot imagine a life without tea. It’s the first thing to pass my lips in the morning and most days the last thing that I drink at night. In fact, I’d rather have a cup of tea than a beer and have even been known to go down the local pub for a night out and have a cup of tea. Sad but true!

You see, I’m originally from the Midlands and I come from a bit of a family of tea drinkers. My dad was probably the biggest tea drinker in my family, closely followed by my sister, Wyd and then me. My mum drinks tea, but I don’t think she’s so consumed by the need for it as the rest of us seem to be. We all like a nice cup of ‘builder’s tea’, or to those of you that don’t know that’s just your bog standard tea, P.G. or Tetley. Whereas my other sister, Tracy, she’s a ‘Lady Grey’ girl, or ‘Pledge’ as I like to call it as to me it tastes like furniture polish smells!

I sometimes wonder how I would cope if I was to relocate to another country ‘cause, as any serious tea drinker will tell you, you just can’t get a decent cup of tea abroad. I remember being on holiday once and ordering a tea with milk and they brought me out a glass of cold water with a teabag suspended in it and a glass of milk! I really did not foresee that one, but I suppose that’s what I asked for!

Us Brits really do love our tea and it’s more than just a drink to us, it’s an entire social experience. We invite people around for ‘a cuppa’ and a chinwag and then we make a lovely pot of tea and set it out on a tray with a jug of milk. You might even get a biscuit to dunk if you’re really lucky. And, if you’re upset what’s the first thing we say? ‘Come and sit down and I’ll make you a nice cup of tea’. It really does help to take the stress out of a situation. And whether you call it a cuppa, a brew or just a plain old cup of tea, it’s all the same to us so long as it’s hot and wet.

A few weeks ago while my wife and I were out we treated ourselves to a cheeky cream tea! If you’ve never had a cream tea it’s a pot of tea, usually for two, served with a fruit scone, a pot of jam and a pot of clotted cream…hmmmmm...now that’s a posh tea but this type carries a few extra calories, only just, though! The more pressing question was whether to put the jam on first or the cream, but that’s a whole other story!

For me the perfect cup of tea is poured from a pot where it has had enough time to ‘diffuse’ but not so long that it’s ‘stewed’, into a mug that already has a little milk in it and it should be poured with enough height so as to create some bubbles on the top of the tea, or ‘money’ as my mum calls it (I have no idea why she calls it that, she just does), and then it has to be drunk while it’s still hot, if it’s gone to warm it’s just not the same, drinkable but, meh, and if it’s gone cold, no way, never!

Anyhow, that’s how I drink mine. A little bit fussy, but, well, I likes what I likes and well, you just don’t compromise on a cup of tea. So, tell me, how do you drink yours?

Money really doesn't buy you happiness!

Today I've been delivering Project Management training to a national charity and, wow, what a busy day it has been. 

My wife and I have our own consultancy business www.millerandmillerconsulting.co.uk  and we specialise in providing Project and Change Management consultancy, developing and delivering training and, coaching and developing people and organisations. It's something that we're both passionate about and find incredibly rewarding. 

The training today was aimed at developing the project management skills of a team of people who are clearly extremely passionate about their jobs and the organisation that they work for and, for me, this makes delivering the training so much more rewarding. Working with people who not only love what they're doing but care about the impact that it will have and the positive difference that they can make to the lives of disadvantaged people, it's something that's very close to my heart. 

Before I moved into this line of work I spent years working in the private sector, in banking, working tirelessly to help people with their financial problems and trying to help them to help themselves, restoring their credit ratings, getting them back into mainstream banking. Eventually, though, the total disregard for 'people' got too much for me. The desire to make money has, unfortunately  lead most financial organisations, in my opinion, to become indifferent to the 'real people's' problems and this just didn't sit right with me or my ethics and, so, I made the decision to leave, to make a complete break and change careers.

I took the plunge, left a highly paid job and found a job as a Project Manager, working in the public sector in Adult Social Care and this is where I found my vocation, what I love to do and what I do well, help vulnerable people. 

My role over the last few years has been designing and delivering prevention service pilots to the local community, helping older people to increase confidence, maintain independence and remain in their own homes for longer. 

It was one of the best moves I've ever made. I've been skint pretty much ever since but I've never felt more contented. And now, I get to work with all types of people in different organisations helping them to develop their skills and deliver the best possible services that they can offer to disadvantaged people in their local communities. What's not to like?

You know, that old saying really is true, money really doesn't buy you happiness!

Not even our memories!

Today is the 30th March and it's still trying to snow out there. The sun's been shining today, too, but it's still pretty cold outside. I did think about going out earlier, perhaps for a stroll along the river, but I haven't managed it as yet. Instead I'm sat on the sofa, huddled under a blanket with my cat, Scooby, watching movies.

Last night I was catching up with a new T.V. series, Revolution. It's only recently begun and it's about a world that exists in the present day without power. At the beginning, everything was quite normal, but in an instant and without warning, everything that required power to work just stopped working. Cars stopped right where they were, planes fell from the sky, lights and computers went off. Everything blacked out. A short while into the episode, and 15 years later, a female character was explaining to another why she continues to carry her mobile phone around with her, even though it hasn't worked since the power failed. Her reason? The mobile phone was the closest thing she had to photographs of her children. I made the assumption, at this point, that they must have died some time previous, and, even though she couldn't look at them anymore, the pictures she had taken, her memories, were still in there, stored on its hard drive.

This got me thinking about all of the photographs that I have taken over the years and have stored on my computer. I mean, I've got a box of old photos, probably not dissimilar to most people from the pre-digital generation at least, but, other than the pictures that I have on display in my home, all other documentation of fun times that we've had over the last few years are stored on my laptop's hard drive.

How times change. Only 10 years ago I remember having to take pictures on a camera with film that needed to be developed. You could get black and white or colour film in 24 or 36 exposures and they were sent away and developed, or, if you were in a rush and didn't mind paying even more money, done in a couple of hours by some retailers. And, until you got them back, mostly with 'over exposed' stickers all over them, you had no idea what you were going to get. Sometimes, you might find an old roll of film in the back of a drawer that you had forgotten about and had never got developed and you'd have no idea what it was of until you got it back from the photo lab. It was all part of the fun.

Nowadays it's so much simpler. Everyone has a mobile phone with a camera on it, or a digital camera with a display screen so that you can see the picture that you have taken instantaneously. It's truly ingenious. You can just keep snapping to your heart's content and it doesn't cost you a thing, only the memory space on your phone. And when you want to have hard copies, something to display on your mantelpiece, well, you just upload them to your laptop and print off the ones that you want on your printer and the others, they get stored in files on your hard drive. Easy peasy!

However, this does mean, of course, that we place all our trust on technology and our hard drives always being accessible in order for us to be able to access our memories. 

Lovely memories from the day my beautiful wife and I got married

Life has changed so much in the last few years, everything is electronic now, computerised or digital. Even our clocks are digital and change their own time in accordance with British Summer Time. There's no more need to put the clocks back or forth, unless you still have some of the old kind in your house of course, it can all get a bit confusing in our house. I haven't truly known what the time is since 1998!

It's funny how times change, isn't it? It does make you think though, eh. Perhaps we shouldn't take things quite so for granted. Not even our memories.

Peace is restored...

Wow...that was a whirlwind week!

If you read my last blog you might remember I was talking about looking forward to a visit from my niece and her little family from the Isle of Skye. Well, they came, they had fun, they left.....a trail of destruction and sleep deprived, broken aunties behind! Little did I know, but our lives in our peaceful little home were about to be completely turned upside down!

What a week! They arrived last Tuesday at Luton airport. It's too far to get a cab so I drove over and picked them up. That day was pretty much lost on travelling so other than the kiddies going to play on the local park and us eating together, nothing much else happened. So far, so good!

Wednesday was their first full day and they'd planned to spend it in London sightseeing. The kids were up nice and early, 6am! I honestly, did not realise that a day had two 6's in it!
So, off they went and caught the 9:25am train into London and had a wonderful day together, visiting the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Natural History Museum, going on a river cruise and an open top bus ride. So much fun. Charlie was full of beans when they got home telling us his tales of all his adventures. His favourite part? The train and bus journeys! Typical Kids, eh?

The week continued well with them visiting a local Essex attraction, Marsh Farm, and then back to London for some more fun. They managed a little look around Chelmsford and some more fun in Central Park and then a trip to Southend on Sea, to which we accompanied them. It was absolutely freezing. I haven't been so cold in a long, long time. 

When we got there we made our way to the Sealife Centre to warm up a little and have a look around. After an hour in there we thought it would be a good idea, since we were in Southend and it has the longest pier in the world, to go to the end of the pier. I'm not entirely sure who's decision this was, i'm certainly not accepting the blame, although, I think I might have mentioned it, in passing, briefly! 

Anyway, it was far too cold to walk, especially with two toddlers, so we decided we'd take the train. The pier is 1.33 miles long and let me tell you, in the snow and with the temperature in minus degrees, when you get off that train at the end it's bloomin' well cold! The best description I can give you to explain it is, it's like when you put too much ice cream in your mouth at once and you get brain freeze! Yep, it's really that cold, and boy, was it windy! 

There's a little cafe' at the end so after a very brief wander around, we ventured to the cafe' to get a drink, warm up and await the return train to arrive. When we got back to shore, there's not much else to do in a seaside town during the winter when there's snow on the ground, well, other than eat fish and chips! So off we went to find a little cafe' and had a lovely spot of lunch together, and then it was back to the car.

By the time we got back home we were all absolutely frozen but we'd all had a lovely day and I'm glad, as cold as it was, that we went to the end of the pier. I've got some lovely memories of us freezing half to death and hanging on to the handrails to stop us getting blown out to sea!

The weather was so cold that they didn't get to visit the zoo in Colchester as they'd previously planned and both Ava and Charlie got a little bit poorly and both had rasping chesty coughs, poor things and neither of them slept particularly well, so, as you can imagine, neither did anyone else! 

By the time the end of their holiday had come along, my wife, Kat, and I were completely exhausted and neither of us had done anything particularly draining. It was just from a pure lack of sleep. I actually do not have a clue how Chloe', my niece, does it. She just doesn't stop from the minute she gets up at 6am, sometimes earlier, until she sits down on an evening and that's usually not until 8pm and some nights it was after 9pm! She's just constantly on the go. I'm in complete awe of her. 

And who knew that a 3 year old could make quite so much noise? It's incredible! I'd forgotten how noisy kids are. I've been so long living a quiet, peaceful existence in my little home with my lovely wife, watching what we want on the t.v, doing what we want to do and when we want to do it, that I had completely forgotten what it was like to have children in your life. How demanding that life is. I know one thing for sure, I couldn't handle a life of children on a full time basis. Three demanding cats is just about my level of commitment.  

Anyhow, yesterday came and it was time for them to catch their flight home, so we set off at 7:30am on our drive to Luton and it's a good job that we did, the traffic, as you can imagine on the M25 during the morning commute, was a nightmare. But we got there in plenty of time in the end.

It was sad leaving them at the airport, saying goodbye to them is always hard, but after spending a week with them and knowing I won't see them all now for at least another year, well, it's never easy saying goodbye, no matter how sleep deprived!

The drive home was less stressful. I had no target time to get anywhere and the traffic had eased off a little by then. I was so happy to get home, though. I had a cup of tea and then lay down on the sofa in the spare room and fell asleep for a good couple of hours, just enough to see me through the rest of the day. Although, I was still good for nothing!

Last night we went to bed at 9pm, me with a banging headache, and I was straight to sleep, waking at 8am this morning. I'm not at all good at being sleep deprived. I sooooo needed that sleep catch up. 

I still feel like I could sleep for a week but for now, peace is restored.

Holidays are coming.....

We're both really looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of this week as we have my niece, Chloe’, and her husband, Donald  (A.K.A. Dino) coming to visit for a week from the Isle of Skye, with their two kiddies, Charlie and Ava.

It’s hard living so far away from them. You miss so many things in very short periods of time with children, they change so quickly and we haven’t seen them for 12 months so they'll be so much more grown up. When we last saw them their youngest, Ava, was only 6 months old and she didn't really do much at that point, just sat quietly and watched everything going on around her, little sweetie. She's 18 months now and a proper little person, by all accounts. She won’t remember us but we’re really looking forward to getting to know her. Her Nana, my sister, is always telling me how she can't find anything when Ava has been to her house to visit, so, armed with this information, I've been busy nailing everything down in preparation for them coming here!

Charlie, their eldest, is just over 3 now. He was just over 2 when we last saw him and was such a little character and very clever for his age. At that point he had just started learning to speak Gaelic and, as Kat (my wife) and I don’t speak it ourselves, he translated a children’s programme for us called ‘Lucas am bata’ or ‘Lifeboat Luke’. We were both very impressed, Charlie, on the other hand, was totally unfazed!

His dad, Donald, volunteers for the RNLI in Skye and Charlie's a little bit smitten with 'daddy's boat'.

My sister, Tracy, (Chloe's mum) and her husband moved to Scotland when the kiddies, Chloe’, Adam and Ryan were all very young. It was a very sad time for me as I was used to seeing them all every day and was a huge blow not having them around any more. They were all really excited about their new life together and after they’d moved, Chloe’ kept in touch by writing to me lots and sending me photos of them all growing up. In fact, I found some of the letters she’d sent me a couple of weeks back and I was having a read through them, they did make me laugh. It’s so funny re-reading letters from your teenage niece who’s now all grown up with a family of her own!

It's absolutely beautiful in Scotland, I love it up there and love to go and visit whenever I can, but this time its our turn to play host and the Scots are coming to Essex!
Chloe's been here before, sometime back now, but Dino's hasn't and he's never been to London either and neither have Charlie or Ava. Charlie's really excited, so I'm told. They've been busy deciding on all the things that they're going to be getting up to while they're here on their holidays. So, as you can imagine, they’ve got a very hectic, fun-filled week of activities planned, including visits to London to do the sightseeing bit and lots of Essex sightseeing, plus, Dino will be celebrating his birthday with us whilst they’re here, too.
By the sounds of it they'll be needing a holiday to get over this holiday!

We’re both really excited to have them all here I’ll no doubt I'll be on here telling you all about it once they’ve gone home for a rest!

Right, There's still time to enjoy the calm before the storm. Time for a cup of tea!

Lettuce and trifle!

Today I am mostly in London.

I’m sitting in a hotel coffee lounge, with a decaffeinated coffee, overlooking the river. It’s a beautiful, sunny day, although it does keep trying to snow!

If you’re wondering why I’m sitting in a hotel in London when I only live 25 miles away, it’s because I’m waiting for my wife. This isn’t a regular arrangement for us, meeting in a hotel, it’s nothing sordid! She has a meeting here so I decided to come and keep her company on the journey and now I’m sitting here waiting with my coffee and laptop.

I love coming into London. I definitely think that I appreciate it more than most people who live near to the ‘Big Smoke’. Having lived so far away previously and then having it virtually on your doorstep you definitely have a certain appreciation that you only get when you’ve never had something that you’ve always wanted and then you finally get it. Like, that pair of jeans you always wanted as a kid but your mum said that you couldn’t have because they were too expensive and then you get them for Christmas. Or, maybe that’s not such a good comparison!

Either way, I love coming into London and take every opportunity I get to come here and have fun.

When you live in the Midlands, everywhere is ‘holiday distance’ away. The nearest seaside town is a good 2 hour drive away and London, well, that’s at least a 4 hour drive away.

I remember the first time I came to London, I was in my mid-twenties. I came up with my girlfriend at the time as she had an interview. We drove to Wembley Stadium, parked up and got the train the remainder of the journey. At that point in my life, I lived hand to mouth. Money was tight. The money came in, the bills were paid and the little that was left quickly went out again on food and such like, so I didn’t have any spare income for treats such as trips into London. That was considered to be a holiday type trip and needed to be well planned in advance and saved for. However, when you get asked to come for an interview in the capital it’s at much shorter notice and you just do what you can to get to there. Hence the reason we drove part of the way and trained the rest. So, what money I did have I gave to her on that day in case she needed it, which, in hindsight, was a bit short-sighted as she was much less likely to need it in an interview than me.

Anyway, while she was in her interview/assessment thingy, I just walked around on my own. In a place where I had never been before in my life! Too shy to go into any of the attractions in case I needed to pay for something. The embarrassment of not having any money and having to turn around and come out again was too much to even bear thinking about, so, I just walked, and walked, and walked, and honestly, I had an amazing time. I got to see so much stuff that I’m sure I wouldn’t have, had I got some money. I walked along the Thames, saw the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden. I must’ve walked absolutely miles. But, as long as I was back where I started within the 4hours, I could go where I wanted, so long as it was free!

Thinking back, I wished at the time I’d had money, but, what a wonderful way to see London and it didn’t cost me a thing!

Today, I won’t be doing anything anywhere near as adventurous. A coffee, maybe a bit of shortbread, but mostly sitting and chilling out with my laptop and waiting. Until, that is, my lovely wife gets back and then I might get her to take me for a little bite to eat as a treat for being a good girl and not getting into any trouble while I was left to my own devices!

I quite like being alone, actually. Well, when I want to be, that is. I’m pretty rubbish at being on my own when it’s a forced situation! Probably not unlike most people, I guess?

I do find it to be quite therapeutic, though. Time to think, people watch, and write. I’m quite enjoying this whole writing, blogging thing. For so long now writing has been such a huge part of my job and the thought of sitting down at home and doing more writing well, as you can imagine, the appeal wasn’t really there. But, this whole blogging concept and using my brain (yes, I know, most of you will be surprised that I even have a brain!) in a different way, well, I’m quite enjoying it. I’d forgotten how artistic I could be, or, was that autistic? I always get those two confused. A bit like lettuce and trifle! Some of you will recognise that reference and for those that don’t, all I can say is Lorraine Kelly’s Big Fat Challenge!

And on that note, I think I will bid you farewell.

Rose tinted glasses

I was trying to remember when it last snowed quite so much during one winter season. I mean, not snowed a lot in one day, I'm talking about when it last snowed on more than one occasion, you know like snowed then got warmer then snowed again. I don't think I can ever recall a time when that's happened. I mean, I can remember some crazy snowy winters as a child when it snowed so much we got snowed in, snow drifts up the front door, dig yourself out, type of winters! But not snowed, then got warm and then snowed again in the same season 2 or 3 times over.

I live in Essex now but I grew up in Staffordshire in a small village where everyone knows your business even before you do, but I digress! 

The weather in Essex, due to it being that little bit further south, is always a degree or so warmer than up t'north and the winters, well, less snowy. If it snows here in Essex you know that up north they're suffering.

Memories are a funny thing, they always seem so idealistic, or is that just me? In my mind's eye the summers seemed sunnier and the winters, somehow, more wintery. Perfect imperfection! 

I'm sure that they weren't sunnier or more wintery but it's funny how we store information like that, with our  'rose tinted glasses' on. 

I can remember one particular winter we got so much snow that we lost our electricity supply on our village for about 3 or 4 days. It seemed longer but I'm sure it wasn't! We had an open fire so we were okay for warmth, well, in the living room at least! But we didn't have mains gas to our village at that time so we couldn't cook or even make hot drinks! 

I recall having to walk to my sisters on the 'new estate', it was about half a mile, with a flask to get hot water as she had a gas cooker. They had everything on the 'new estate'! Posh new houses, gas! 

That year it was so snowy that I remember Philip Barnsley skiing in the avenue! 

During this winter we took our dog, Benji, for walk one day down the lanes and almost lost him it was so deep. The snow drifts were over 4 feet deep in some parts! I remember him bounding around like he'd never seen snow before. Having to make little leaps up to get over rather than through the snow, as it was so deep, and then just sinking into it each time he landed. It didn't deter him, though, leaping and barking and catching the snow in his mouth. It was great fun to play in, you don't to seem to feel the cold as a child! 

When we got home Benji's paws were all matted with snow and I had to sit and break it all off for him, I don't think he minded too much, though. 

Nowadays, I love the romance of snow. The first snowfall. The ground completely covered in a thick, soft blanket of white. Untouched, unmarked. 

Getting up and realising it's snowed and rushing to get dressed and warm. Into your wellies and gloves and hat so you can go out and play in it. Build a snowman? (Some things never change!) And then you're out there. Brrr, 'this is a bit fresh', but not too bad with my hat and gloves and scarf. 

Building a snowman. Starting off with a tiny ball of snow and rolling it around the garden to collect more to make the body. It doesn't take too long, I remember it taking longer, or maybe it's those rose tinted glasses again? 

My hands are freezing, even with my gloves on! 

Now to make the head. Another small ball, rolled around the garden then 'plonked' on top on the body. 
I can't feel my fingers! 

Now, everyone knows a snowman's not a snowman without eyes and nose and mouth, oh, and buttons. Gathering anything I can find to suit the job. Some stones for the eyes and mouth and buttons, that'll do and some dry grass as hair. As a child it was always coal and a carrot but there are no such luxuries now, and we don't have any coal, we've got gas, it's the future, you know!

My hands are aching, they're so cold!

Now to take a quick picture, record the memories forever. Nowadays that's not a problem, everyone has a phone with a camera on it, digital technology kind of took over without me realising.

Back when I was a child we didn't have any such thing. It was a cannon camera and a roll of film with 24 pictures, 35 if you splashed out! It was quite expensive, though, and to get them developed. Hence, the reason that there are no pictures of me playing in the snow as a child, I guess?

Can't feel my hands now, time to go inside. Kick off the snow. Get in and put the kettle on. I look at the clock, oh, I've only been outside 10 minutes, it seemed longer than that, colder than that. 

Snow is so much colder these days!