View from the dunes

It was very wet windy in the morning yesterday but picked up in the afternoon. 

Dune jumping

Now that's what I call a hero

We had to cross a small tidal river on our walk yesterday. April was the only one in jeans so had to be carried over.

Lovely place

... But they have annoyingly set the WiFi password in Welsh 

View from the front, shame our top box ruins it

The Clarks at the crabbing rock. Laying the ceremonial bacon under the rock. Sam looks happy. 

Flo on the rock

Daddies and daughters going for a dip

First 'week' nearly done

3 days done.  And i'm having 6 work days off.  We booked it ages ago and i'm not missing out.  We're heading up to Rhosneigr in Anglesea tomorrow, with a very brief stop in Corby to see my Mum then another stop in Stoke on Trent to go to Monkey Forest.

We need to stop every two hours as Arthur still needs the feed.  It'll break up the 6 hour drive too which will be nice.

I can stop now

My last frame arrived this morning so have added my Ghostbusters print.  I can stop buying stuff for my room now...

Champions!

April made this for me to take round a friend's house last night.  Liverpool had the Premier League trophy ceremony after the 5-3 win over Chelsea at Anfield.  It's a shame it wasn't in front of the fans.

It's finished

My blaster stand has arrived. I don't think there's anything left to do in my office. Maybe I'll do some actual work. 

Walk two and the most pretty

This is the best route of the few we've done recently.  It starts by walking through the edge of the gardens in a stately home.  There's a mid point stop at a lovely village pub, then a walk back to the start for lunch in another pub.

Walk one of the weekend

We've been doing a lot of walking recently.  Tonbridge has some beautiful walks that are within walking distance from our house.  Flo is yet to be convinced, as I had to do a lot of carrying but I guess she's only 2 and 3 quarters.

First day of work today

I still have IT teething issues so can't really get started at the moment, i've been mostly reading documentation which isn't he most exciting thing to do in the world but once I get full access in a day or two hopefully I get stuck in and add value.

On the plus side, that's another day's pay in my company account.

If only...

Football manager simulated the UK staying in the EU

If only you could save game and reload in real life.  Problem being, if I reloaded real life, would Liverpool still win the league???  Despite the shit show, i'm happy with the Premier league title so not worth the risk...

Good to speak to the guys

Just had a good chat with my friends Ross and Shaheen.  A couple of difficult topics discussed but it's good to chat to the boys.

Posters up

Nearly there

My two framed posters for my study have arrived and i'm very pleased.  Only my blaster stand and the removal of the floor lining to go and i'm all done.

The carpet guys are back in tomorrow to replace all of the carpet that they put in a couple of months ago (miss matched carpet in hallway and stairs, and then fill in and re-pain the damage they did to the ceilings along the staircase).

They won't be able to replace my carpet as it now has the built in furniture but i'm not so fussed about that.

Last day off today

So thought i'd play a little FM.  We're going for a walk this later before an early lunch at the Chaser.  Our cat sitter is popping round at two, but after that i'm free until Flo collection time.

Holiday next week

I've received my work laptop so ready to start work on Tuesday (if they send me a password that is...) but what i'm really looking forward to is going on holiday to Anglesea this Friday with my Dad and my brother's family.

Tomorrow is my last day free, not sure what i'm going to do yet.

I've missed you Sankey's!

First time back in Sankey's since the lock down. I've missed it. And as an additional bonus, Arthur stayed asleep for most of it. 

Lovely lunch

Just been for a lovely lunch in the back garden of a past Master Chef winner (1997-Julie Friend).  It was delicious and very reasonable too.

Very lucky

Once I go back to work next week I will have have had almost 3 months off work.  It's been great timing as i've spent loads more time with Flo and once Arthur was born a couple of months ago i've been able to do my share there too.

During that time we've spent 10's of thousands of pounds renovating the house (walls, ceilings, carpets, painting, electricians, plumbers).  I now have a new position so can start billing more money but my company still has 6 months + of cash in it's account to keep me in the way that I am accustomed to, i.e. all the beer wine and food I can imbibe, pay my share of the mortgage and bills etc.

I like the security of having a regular job but working freelance does have its perks too.  Perhaps if I was to spend everything I earned like I always did in the past it would be different but I think i've finally found my level.  Everything else just get squirrelled away.

We saw a financial planner a couple of weeks ago and she's looking into ways we can invest our surplus income.  That surplus income will be about to be 0 when we next remortgage as we're taking a good proportion of the equity out to build a large extension (saw an architect a couple of weeks ago).

Things are moving on with many aspect of my life at the moment, work, family, friends.  I'm looking forward to where we land in the next year or two.  You never know.  I may get the dog i've always wanted.

New job

I still haven't seen the contract (will chase tomorrow) but I start my new contract next Tuesday.  I was ready to start this week but they need to send me a new laptop (they don't allow remote desktops).  I'm looking forward to it, but will be a little strange working from home and probably never meeting the team in person.

To top it off I will only be able to work for 3 days before heading to Anglesea for a holiday with my dad and brother's family.  I can't see myself doing any actual work (other than reading documentation and finding out how the model works before then anyway so it'll probably be fine.

Fairly busy day tomorrow

My mum's coming down tomorrow to meet her Grandson Arthur for the first time, but before that we have someone coming round to replace the windscreen of our car.  Next door is getting work done on their roof so has scaffolding all the way up to the 2nd floor.  One of their idiot roofers dropped a tile and it's cracked the glass right in the corner.

There's a guy coming round tomorrow to replace it (they've arranged it) but if he doesn't look up to scratch, i'm going to get Audi to do it and send them the bill.

New record

Today I did 40,851 steps!  A new PB.  We've been doing a few Tonbridge walks recently, today was for lunch and a glass or two of wine at the Poacher and Partridge in Tudley along the river medway.  Pretty tough whilst carrying a baby.

On top of that I've dropped off and picked up Flo (6,000) and had two walks with Arthur whilst April had a nap and then in the evening had a council meeting.

To put my average weekly steps in context (20,000+/d over the past week), i'm in the top 1% of samsung step count users across the world.  My rank according to the app is 9,759th out of 327,379 people participating.

Very nearly done

Just had the light fitted by an electrician.  Only a stand for the blaster and some more books to go on the shelves and we're all done.  Ooh, I also need to get a frame for my Ghostbusters photo and need a couple more posters bought and framed.  Then i'm done.

Blackheath and Greenwich visit

We had a lovely day visiting Shaheen, Kate and their new baby girl.  He's Shaz carrying Flo and his eldest.

What a find

We lost this sock off Arthur's foot on one of our many walks in the parks around Tonbridge.  They were hand knitted by April so clearly had some sentimental meaning.

I've walked the same route 3 more times this week to try and find it.  And there it was tucked away, under a bush.  Sheer luck that I managed to find it.

My favourite

We went to Howletts Wild Animal Park on Wednesday, these pigs were my favourites.  Flo had a lot of fun telling the naughty monkeys to keep quiet.

I finally feel like an adult

We got Halfords to fit this bad boy today. We're off to Anglesey in a couple of weeks with my dad and my brother's family and have just realised that there really isn't enough room for the four of us and a weeks worth of stuff. 

It wasn't cheap, but it's either that or a new car. 

3 interviews

I had 3 interviews this week, the last on Tuesday offered me the role that day. It was the only day rate role, the others were ftc so I've decided to take it. It's for 11% more money too. I should start next week. 

Shelves finally fitted

Now to install the lightsaber stand. 

37000 steps

I did 37000 steps on Friday, this is all tracked by the samsung app.  It also thinks I walked 30km.  I'm not sure how accurate it is so today on a another walk I used my run tracker and think it might exaggerating my distance some what.

Run tracker 8km
Samsung phone 10.5km

Maybe samsung thinks i'm taller than I am in reality so would have a longer stride.