I missed half term

Last week was one which, considering it was a holiday for the kids, that they enjoyed.  They had friends over, and we also had the street party.  We were aided by the arrival of my mother in law who helped look after the children.  She had been hoping to take them out and about town, but rain stopped that, but fortunately the weather improved.

While my drive to exercise has improved, I was not able to take the children out as much as I wanted.  On the weekend I was at work for a lot of the day, then in the evening we entertained, my wife preparing, once again, an amazing meal.  It was a late night, and while I had wanted to be able to be able to take the children out on their bikes in the morning, a combination of alcohol, fatigue and the need to mow the lawn meant that I was not able to do so.  Saying that, as you can see from the picture, the garden needs a lot of work.  And I actually feel that I am more able to do it compared to how I was before the kids and I started to exercise more.  We did attend the street party, I think that the kids had a great time.  And for the first time in seven years, when it came to rounders, I managed to hit the ball!

I however have been able to ride my bike more.  My Wednesday job has moved locations, and this means that I have limited parking there, which now means that I am going to have to cycle to work.  Being further away, I was not sure that I would be able to do this, but a practice run on Saturday showed that I could do it, and I did so today.  Last week I rode my bike for the first and last time into what is now the old site where I used to work on a Wednesday, today, I managed to get to the new place, sweaty, out of breath, but there.  The kids though were very annoyed with me.  I had intended to get them to ride their bikes to school (and therefore back again) but I had not realised that their backpacks which are quite slack would be suitable for this.  Well I did, but only a few minutes before we were meant to leave, which meant that there was no time to fix things.  I have to get this sorted out for next week though, or they will never let this go!

Staying in the EU, the least worst option

The argument about if we should stay or leave the European Union is to be settled this month and both sides are talking crap.  However I have figured out my view and I think we are #BetterIn.


I am not a huge fan of the EU.  I think that it needs less powers, not more, and when put to the vote, this is a view that has been present across Europe.  While not all agree with this, loads do and ideally, it would be great if all nations in the EU were offered more say in more or less EU integration.  It is not just that.  I do not like the way there still appears to be corruption within it (though that is much less than before as it is taking action on it).  Here are some of the reasons for my decision on this.

1; We will still have to pay into the EU or follow its laws - Of the nations of Western Europe, there are two who are out of the EU and do well.  Norway and Switzerland.  Norway has oil, and lots of it.  Switzerland has its financial sector.  Yes, they make chocolates, drugs and watches but it is a major banking sector.  But both pay into the EU, and neither have a say in how the money is spent.

2: Manufacturing - In the UK, we have falling supplies of oil and gas, our manufacturing sector is getting smaller and while Britain is great, our ability to export may not be enough to compete against China and other BRICS nations.  We are still making things, but we export a lot to Europe.  Cars for example are produced in the UK, but I can not see Honda, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and the many companies that make cars in the UK staying if we have to pay import duties into the EU.  And while Germany, with the interest they have in our car industry will want us in the EEC, I can not see France with Peugeot, Citroen and Renault, or Italy with Fiat and Alfa Romeo wanting us to export cars to compete with them. And for those who doubt this, remember the ban that France had against our beef even when the EU told them not to ban it.

3: America - Not only did the US vote in Bush the second, they did it twice.  And at the time of making this post, Trump is ahead in the polls to be president.  I would rather be closer to Europe than the USA (though I would prefer to be close to both) because of this.

When I get other ideas, I will post again.  Good night!

Our Bank Holiday Weekend so far

It has been a great weekend so far.

Yesterday we went to Mersea.  I was hoping to go to work and then have the weekend free, but after getting the worst haircut in the world and then having breakfast in The Bungalow Diner, we went out to travel to the seaside.  I had thought that as it looked cold, that it would be better to travel further away so that if it was cold, that we could do other things than freeze on the beach.  My wife however, like on many occasions, was right, and I was wrong.  It was great to go there.  Despite it being a bank holiday weekend the sun came out and it was a great day.  Watching the waves come in was relaxing and we spent time wondering on the beach and also going to get ice cream and playing in the park.  And as you can see from the picture, one of them (my daughter) found a remnants of a dead crab.  The interesting thing was that my wife pointed out that the children have practically grown up there, and it is true.  My old blog has at least one post on this, and like the post featured there, we went to see if we could eat at the West Mersea Oyster Bar.  As usual, parking there was an issue, but there is a new car park down the road where we parked (my daughter had to guard the car for a few minutes), and we had a great meal.

Today though we went to a different beach.  Our friends Isobel and Tony let us come over to Walton-on-the-Naze and visit them in the beach hut that they use with their kids.  We have been there in the past and it was just as great to be there again.  My son loved the pier and when he did finally come back with the two teenagers who were brilliant in looking after him, he brought some of the items that he said he had won.  In the meantime, my daughter and I went for a walk allowing my wife to rest her knee, which while better is not back to full fitness.

The next thing to post is how I have been doing in chess.  My record of some of the tournaments I have lost includes
Premium Member Open #3
ruy lopez tournament
Top of the Pops 17
Space 8
Speed King #132 - Very fast players 3(2)->1 U1500

Now I have to get some rest as I do intend to wake up early tomorrow morning and cycle to work.  Good night!

PUPIL – “Would you punish me for something I didn’t do?”
TEACHER – “Of course not.”
PUPIL – “Good, because I haven`t done my homework.”

IKEA and how it was not the trip to hell

A quick post as I am knackered and need to go to bed.  Last night I was up late as I prepared my appraisal for the coming week.  In addition to this, I attended a course which was very useful.

Once at home, it was lunch and then a trip to see my mother.  I did not get to see one of my brothers as he had taken his partner out for her birthday.  Instead, after a visit to my mother and meeting her lodger, it was to IKEA.  And then buying stuff for my son.

And for the record, I was wrong and my wife was right.  We were able to get everything in the car!

My Egg head

Well, today was interesting.  After dropping the kids at school, when parking I got a call from school.  Now when I say I dropped them at school, rather than take them into the playground and wait for the bell, today I dropped them outside school and, at their request, let them walk in.  They wanted to get in early to play with their friends, which I understood.  But when parking I was called from school.  I tried to answer, but by the time I did so, they had hung up.  So I rang them to find that they were ringing my wife.  My son had fallen, and it appeared that he had fallen on his way into school.  Needless to say, my wife was not pleased with this.  But he appeared okay when I rang so we left him there.  But after lunch, his pain was worse and I was called from work to pick him up (the school are not allowed to give him painkillers).  I felt so sorry for him, he had a lump on his forehead, but he would not tell me what happened.  In fact it was only later that he told me what happened when we picked his sister up.  It happened when he was running in the playground, he tripped over the foot of another child.  This did allow me to get out of jail as there was no fault on my part by letting him walk into school with his sister from down the road.

But my daughter later caused me more grief.  I asked her about something she learned about in school, this being dividing with fractions, only for her to give me the wrong answer.  That was fine, but the attitude that she gave me when I explained this to her!  I should be used to this, she has not listened to me that much since she was born.  But she is to become a teenager soon and I can only dread what will happen when this occurs.  And them my son will join her!

But saying that, I have two great children and an amazing wife and I am very grateful for that.

St Totteringham's Day 2016

What a day!  What a weekend!

First of all, family. My son had been out on a scouts weekend and had a sleep over there.  He seemed to have loved it there and on picking him up today he was full of beans.  After dropping him off, it was a trip to work for paperwork.  I had mentioned to my daughter that we could watch the Arsenal ladies FA cup final, she was honest enough to state that she was not interested in this, which meant that I was able to work longer than I would have otherwise.  Although I cycled to work, I was not able to do it as quickly as well I would have liked.  Also my fitness had not improved as much as I had hoped as I was not able to do it as well as I had done it two weeks ago.  However, on getting back home, it was helping my wife to cook and then off to a friends for Eurovision.  In the past, we would normally travel somewhere to watch it, but now, with children, we do not do that.  Though this weekend, it was only one child with us.  I have to say, other than watching our own entry, we had a few other favourites.  Mine was Belgium, and I think that the rest of the family agreed.  It was a late night and this was after a late night before as well.

Come the morning, my daughter was up before us.  But she has a desire to always be up as she knows that things happen when she is asleep.  But later, it was a trip out on our bikes.  My wife is not able to take part yet due to her knee, so it was a ride with my daughter and me.  She ideally wanted to go on her preferred route, but this was limited due by the Para 10 run, so we went on another trip instead to Hilly Fields.  My daughter had a say in which way we went, but was not too keen on making the choices.  I did learn that if we do such a trip again, I am to let her look beforehand.    

Once home, lunch and then a trip to collect my son.  After picking him up, it was a stop over on the way home to collect some ice-cream and then home to mow the lawn. But before I did so, temptation got me.  I had to look at the scores.  You see, if you are not interested in football, you might not be aware that Arsenal, after leading the table at one time were on course to finish in third place while our local rivals were to finish in second.  This week, after Newcastle were relegated,  I realised that the players would no longer have the stress of avoiding relegation in place and also would want to win the final home game of the season, especially as the fans would be watching second division football next season.  My concern was if Arsenal would win the game.  I felt that Newcastle would not lose, but a draw would not be good enough for us.  And at half time, I had hope.  Not much as Arsenal were only leading by a goal, but while mowing the lawn with my headphones on (something I do not recommend people do in general) I had a shock as Newcastle went down to ten men.  The stress of the next 45 minutes was huge but Arsenal came through and finished in second, our highest league position since the team left Highbury.  

It was stressful, but finally, the season ended better than it might have.  I am not sure if the season was a failure still, but it certainly would have been if we had ended behind our rivals!  

I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect, therefore I am perfect

Yesterday I had to go into the loft.  While doing so on my return from work, my daughter commented that she was surprised that I didn't fall through the ceiling. I need to exercise more.