Tag: slice of life
We are now officially an old married couple.
It’s Saturday night and we’re sitting outside on the patio watching a fire listening to Radio 2. We is oooooold.
My son…
On Monday, as we were making our way to the bus to go home and cutting through the EBI as per our usual shortcut, Bean passed in front of a table laden with nibbles for a course that was being held in the IT training room. He grabbed two nachos “to eat on the bus” and walked all the way to the bus stop proudly displaying his stolen loot to anybody who would look at it. When we got to the bus stop, he just plopped himself on the ground and started munching. The pose is classic.
Weekend in pictures
The weekend went fairly well. On Saturday, we had Currys deliver our new washer and dryer, which means that we can now do laundry at the same rate that the beans generates it and, joy of joys, drying it in a proper tumble dryer means that it’s not only dry in half the time of our old condenser dryer, clothing actually comes out dry and not just steamy! Plumbing and plugging everything went smoothly and we’re now up to date with the laundry. It’s the simple joys of life… We went to Tesco to get some supplies and Bean helped me make pasta sauce. Well, I chopped vegetables and he ate them, but he was a good boy while I did that so it kinda counts as helping.
On Sunday, we went to the miniature railway in Saffron Walden and let the Bean loose in Audley End. We managed to sneak in between bouts of rain, and it was a good way to let the child blow off some steam.
The railway was surprisingly good fun, and a fairly long ride. It’s really cool to see all that they’ve done along the way with all the stuffed toys, and we saw tons of pheasants. All in all, several hours of happy Bean for little money. Good deal, that.
Easter redux
I need a vacation from my vacation.
We went to Leicester for Easter. We went to the farm on Saturday to see the lambing, and to spend some quality time with Anna and Rho. Bean seemed less interested in the animals and more interested in getting himself and anybody in close proximity covered in straw. We had lunch there and then, after discovering their antique car museum, we headed back to Anna’s parents’ house for a bit more visit. That was funny. Bean got a kiss from Tay (Anna’s dog), who then later on proceed to surreptitiously steal his jam tart right out of his hand while he wasn’t looking. Bean was a very good boy that day, but he used up all of his good-boy point in one go because he’s been a right monster since. Seriously. Murder has been contemplated.
There was a big family to-do on Easter Sunday, with Stu, Jeminie and Sonal coming over to spend the day. The meal was nice, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it and I had, well, a bad mental health day. I was grumpier than I should have been, but there was little I could do about it. We came back home on Monday, and spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. We went to Ikea on Tuesday to pick up some meatballs and a few odds and ends, and spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. On Wednesday, we went to Tesco to stock up on meat to fill our new freezer (yay!). I made a large batch of carrot and coriander soup, and we spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. I had my second guitar lesson that evening, which is cool (yay!) and now I have some hand stretching exercises that should hopefully help with a few stubborn chords. I also made some lemon scones for Katy, which were quite yummy, if I do say so myself.
And that leaves us at today, where I am dead tired from lack of sleep and fatigue at yelling at the beast. We’re a bit concerned, truth be told, because we’re not sure if he’s just being a 3-year-old or if there is some underlying behaviour issue, or something entirely more frightening lurking in the wings. We really shouldn’t read internet articles on stuff like that…
Nice touch, that :)
We regularly do our grocery shopping online with Tesco and most of the time, it’s problem-free. The few times we’ve had gripes, customer service was very good to solve things quickly without questions. We were supposed to have a shop delivered last night, and I’d received a text message from their automated system that morning saying that it should be at our place between 8:30 and 9:30 that evening. When 10pm came, I phoned customer support and asked them what the problem was. They tried to ring the driver but couldn’t reach him. They said that he should be on his way soon but refunded our delivery fees. When 10:50pm came and still no groceries, I phoned up again and the nice lady on the phone said that she’d try and contact the driver and the store manager and see what the problem was. She said that if the groceries hadn’t come by 11pm, I’d need to call again the following morning, as the drivers don’t go past 11pm. To apologize, she sent a £10 coupon for our next shop. 11pm came and we went to bed grocery-less.
I phoned again this morning and was told that last night was a bit of a mess because the driver phoned in sick at the last minute and, though we should have been phoned to let us know this, it didn’t happen. They apologized profusely and told us that they’d deliver our groceries today, without fail, and that they’d include a bottle of champagne and some chocolate as an apology gift.
Now that’s how you do it, big companies. Take note. It’s the little things. We went from grumpy, to OK, to wa-hey! in the span of 3 phone calls :D Well played, Tesco!
Weekend started badly but ended fairly well
The oldies-in-law came down for the weekend. It was a bit of a rocky start on Friday afternoon, when less-than-complimentary things were said to a woman who had slept less than a dozen hours in the last 3 days (Katy) and then relayed to somebody who had had a really crappy week at work (me). Drama ensued, but we were able to work past it and have an overall good weekend.
Bean had really been looking forward to going to Colchester zoo, which is what we did on Saturday. A bit of rain meant that the crowds and the bugs were kept away, which really suited me just fine.
That evening, Katy and I had tickets to go see Stomp at the corn exchange. Even though we left early, Cambridge traffic almost bit us in the ass and we barely made it into the theater with seconds to spare before they refused admission. I was expecting a good show, but this was even better than expected. They used brooms, matchboxes, bins, paint tins, zippo lighters, newspapers, giant inner tubes and even the kitchen sink! I expected the rhythm and the choreography. I didn’t expect the humour of the show. It was good. I really, really recommend it.
On Sunday, Mel and I cleared out the back sheds in preparation for getting the freezer delivered and then we had a really nice meal for mother’s day. I made another over-baked pulled pork shoulder and it turned out just as nice – if not nicer – than the one I made at new years. As good as Bean was at the zoo on Saturday, he turned into demon child on Sunday and we were glad to throw him to bed that night.
It’s always cool to be reminded that nice people still exist
As I mentioned a little while ago, I recently bought a guitar. I purchased it on ebay and though the transaction went very smoothly, I only today had the chance to listen to it plugged in. Turns out that my neighbour is a guitarsmith who does repairs and builds custom electric guitars. He gave it a complete once-over, adjusted the action, cleaned the pots and the pick-up selector switch and gave it a complete tuning, all the while chattering about this and that. Katy and I spent over an hour in his shed-turned-workshop while he worked – for free – just to be neighbourly.
Well, dang!
Also, it turns out that I got myself a good little guitar for a bargain!
Squee!
State of the Richard
After 3 weeks, I still have the cough that won’t go away.
After 2 weeks, my ears are still blocked.
After 1 week, I have stopped smoking.
In the span of a couple of days, I have bought a guitar and a freezer, both of which make me happy.
Also, new pictures online:
http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/snow_jan_2012/
http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/various_feb_2012/
Echo! Echooo! Echoooooo!
Both my ears have been blocked for the last week. It’s annoying as fuck, but at least the stabbing ear pain has gone away and the tinnitus has calmed down to some extent. Still, I want to be able to hear what people are saying to me!