RIP Dolores O'Riordan

Like many across the nation of my age, I was shocked to hear of the sudden death of Dolores O'Riordan.  When younger I loved the song Linger, in fact I still do.  Working in healthcare I am reminded how fragile life is, but this reminder, despite the way I see death stalk those younger, is stronger than others. I suspect that this is probably because of the sudden nature in how this happened, a death when no one amongst the public expected it.

As a family, we have been watching a film based on one Jane Austen film, in some stages.  And the kids love it.  Hopefully they will read the book, which to be fair is one of many classics that I have not done so.  On the topic of family and relationships, it was interesting to see how a politician who left his (second) family for a model half his age has felt it necessary to dump her after she was 'indiscreet' on social media about her racist views about the royal family.

And I have finally watched the two most important games from yesterday.  First of all, the nail biting match between Liverpool and Manchester City which means that Arsenal remain the last team to finish a season unbeaten.  And of course the capitulation of Arsenal away to Bournemouth.  While many are calling for the head of Arsene Wenger, it may be too early to say so.  We were without several first team players and we are still in the league cup as well as the Europa Cup.  I have to be honest in that I am torn between loyalty towards him and the desire for the club to evolve.  Anyway, I am to watch StarvTrek now.  good night all.

The first family walk of the year

Okay, it was not all the family, but it was a nice walk anyway.

Yesterday, Lynne and Steve came round.  We had not seen them in a while and they were surprised to see how much our daughter had grown.  It was great to have them around, though I was quite sad and had to go to sleep before they left.  My son did spend the time watching The Voice UK, but had to miss the last act as he had to go to bed.

Today, we spent the morning in bed watching Once Upon A time before my wife went out for a lunch time meet with Michelle for her birthday.  After the kids were fed, and a discussion was had over issues with behaviour (followed by ice cream), we (without my wife) walked into town.  It was a lovely walk, the kids were amazing during it.  We went to Waterstones were my daughter bought some books, and then it was a trip to the Comic Book Shop.  Each time I go there, I hope to see a copy of Groo the Wanderer, but I have not been so fortunate, yet. This time, my son bought some Pokémon cards, my daughter bought a poster, and I bought a fridge magnet.  And they did not mind the walk back either.

All in all, a good day.  And one I hope we improve on.

My son and sexism

Sexism has been in the news in the last few weeks, more so than normal.  There was the issue over the gender pay gap (which has shown itself again this week) and of course there has been the #MeToo movement.

I think that it is important to point out just how amazing my son is with this.  In November we learned this when we attended a learning conference meeting without our son, who had been spectacularly unwell that day. 

One day at school, the class my son was in was given a task.  They were given a list of jobs and were told to sort them into boys and girls jobs.  He was in a group with about four other children some boys, some girls.  While the others in his group were to divide the jobs up, my son said that all the jobs could be done by both.  While the other children continued to do so, my son was adamant that dividing the jobs based on sex was wrong.

His teacher noted this, as did the deputy head who came into the room when this discussion was taking place.  Anyway, I am proud that he stood up for what he thought was right, as well as being proud of the stance that he took. 

Mewtwo

My son is laughing.  Last month, he had got a pass on Pokémon Go to something called an exclusive raid.  The problem is that, despite his account being registered as that of a child, it was for a time when he was at school.  Fortunately, some kind player in Colchester agreed to catch it for him when the EX raid took place.  On that day, when he got home from school he was so happy.

Since then, I have overtaken him in Pokémon Go, in that I have reached a higher level than him.  I started to play in September after getting annoyed with the way the kids were managing their accounts and have done quite well on it.  So when I got a pass to such a raid, I was quite pleased as well. 

So on Tuesday, I was able to get some time to take part in the raid.  I arrived on time expecting to find quite a few other players there.  And there were two other players.  We tried to catch the raid boss, but with two players, our chances of defeating it were very small, and needless to say, we did not succeed.  But as this resulted in me not catching this rare and elusive Pokémon, my son was quite happy.  I may have some Pokémon that he has not got for now, but I doubt I will be given the chance to catch another one again. 

It hurts

It hurts.  Arsenal have been knocked out of the FA cup.  A cup we have won over and over again in the last few seasons.  A cup I did not expect to win last season.  The Emirates FA Cup, for a team that plays in the Emirates stadium. 

Do not get me wrong, Nottingham Forest deserved the first goal, due to our terrible defending, and the second goal that they scored was amazing.  They did deserve the first penalty as well.  However, I feel that the second one was not deserved.  I think that Debuchy got to the ball first, but it is unclear on the replays that the referee had no access to.  But the penalty was a double touch one and should not have counted.  But again, this is hard to tell when using the replay.

And with our defending, I am not looking forwards to the league cup game against Chelski later this week.

I resolve

First of all, I have lost some weight compared to last year, and now am 92kg.  My resolutions this year include
1 - Getting into work before 0700 more often than not
2 - Being more tidy at home 
3 - Ending the year lighter than last year

The kids have been back at school, my daughter for two days, my son for four.  My mother had come up for New Years which was great, especially as we did not get a chance to see her before we left for Sri Lanka due to the snow that fell on the weekend before we travelled.

I do feel faster at work and we have organised things to deal with the winter rush.  Being back just for four days, I have not had to deal with much of the crisis that is affecting the NHS at the moment.  While the Conservative government appears to be denying the crisis that has been created by them not funding the NHS properly, I have had to warn a few patients that they may not get the treatments that they are hoping for this month due to the crisis.

Today, we have been to collect the laptop of my wife which was repaired after I broke it.  During this time, the kids were exemplary in their behaviour.  We ate in Chelmsford after taking a break on our journey back, and while the seating was a bit chilly, the food was fantastic.  

Anyway, now it is time for The Voice UK which we all love.  

And the end of 2017 comes...

The kids have been amazing today recovering from jet lag though my daughter woke about 0130 which is about 0700 in Sri Lanka.  We drove to London after seeing if the laptop of my wife could be fixed (I broke it's screen during the holiday).  When there, we collected my mother after meeting one of my brothers and his better half.

We also met with Tony and Isobel who have kept an eye on our house while we have been away.  But we now countdown the minutes till the end of this year and the beginning of the next.  Best wishes to you all!