My people call me the dude. I share my teachings in the passages below... (along with many typos, grammatical errors and lazy writing)
Here's a couple of pictures of the house build. Steel frame is partially up, as too is the cavity wall adjoining to next door's house. We've so far paid 46% of the cost of the build (this has gone up slightly, and about to go up again). Then we've got to pay for the kitchen (which we've paid a third of already), then we've got to pay for the repositioning of the garden steps.
I'm heading back home (Corby) on Saturday morning for an ex rugby playing friend's memorial game. Steve's picking me up in the morning and we'll head over to the club. I haven't played in nearly 2 years so I will be in a bit of pain on Sunday. I miss it.
Edit: Florence's (April's) really excited about Christmas this year, she's talked of nothing else since the last big event, Fireworks Night. So, after rugby tots (via Majestic) we took her to buy a tree (photos to follow).
Arthur finally broke my tablet. He was playing with that and my phone and decided he wanted to smash it. So he did.
One anonymous person put a crack in it a year ago (could be human, could be animal), but they haven't confessed.
So... we've decided to put Flo into the local prep school (fee paying), and by Easter 2023 Arthur will head there too. It's a big expense but we can afford to pay the nursery fees as they stand now, why not pay them for the next x years too. We're in a good position financially, where else would we put the money?
We've ordered a digital one of these in oak. Only £9k. Bargain. Bloody idiots. Let's hope the kitchen is finished before it arrives (Feb)
This time, not talking about the work on the house.
I've verbally agreed to stay at my company for another couple of months (end of March). It's the second extension so pretty good. If only I had some work to do.
The new bath was finally installed yesterday and we've had 3 baths already. It's massive!
The heating's gone in our new office so the building manager said he'd pop round with some oil heaters whilst the gas man takes a look at the boiler.
He's turned up with a couple of these tiny things! We're basically in a small old house, not nearly enough to do the job. Luckily it's not that cold and it looks like i'm the only one in today so may just put them both by my desk.
The bathroom's coming along nicely, but there are few things still outstanding.
They've seen better days but these are my chilli plants. 2 from my dad and the scotch bonnet twig in the middle is mine.
One of our friends Wayne helped organise it and it went very well. Over 4,000 tickets were sold.
It was our 10th wedding anniversary last Friday so thanks to some lovely friends we were able to head into London for the weekend without the kids. Incidentally that was the first time we've both had more than an evening away from the kids since Florence was born 4 years ago!
There was not much of a plan except eating and drinking. First stop
Tom Kerridge's restaurant Kerridge's Bar and Grill
https://www.kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk/
I had the second rpg session last night and everybody turned up. You never know, the first session might not have been somebody's cup of tea but it was good to see everyone return.
I am the eldest, there's a Scottish guy who's about 35, 2 in their late 20s and GM who I was shocked to hear was only 17! He's very good though and we had fun.
The kitchen has been boarded up and one of the side walls of the utility room has been pulled down. Today the rest of the utility room and conservatory are getting demolished!
Heading back to the office after walking the dog, I heard a big meow. I'd forgotten to give Josie her lunch! And she'd followed me almost all the way to the high street!
I think the all of the players from last week are joining us again. We shall see. The DM asked if he could run his home brew setting. We all said yes. This could be interesting.
They certainly don't hang about...
Apparently they're going to install a temporary sink for us. And by that I assume a bucket.
Day 1 of the build proper starts today.
We've had a busy weekend packing up the majority of the kitchen, which is not easy whilst juggling two kids and an annoying dog. The build time is 3 months so we aiming to get this all complete by the end of January. It will inevitably overrun as these things tend to happen but I think there is a high chance of us being in by the Spring which will be nice.
First job will be to close off some of the plumbing / electrics in the kitchen that will get torn down, I think the utility room and conservatory will get pulled down by the end of the week. Quite scary really.
According to Steam, these are my hours played for each of the last 13 versions of football manager
The first week in the new office is nearly over and it's been good. Fairly quiet, there's been no more than one other person in here each day. I think that is more down to it being half term than anything else though.
Work itself has been quiet too. My boss is off work this week and everyone else seems to be ignoring me so not much else I can do. Oh well. I'll submit my October timesheet tomorrow. That will teach them,
It's nearly time to select a primary school for Florence. Currently both kids are at the same nursery for three days a week and two days we have a nanny. Next (school) year we need to find a school for Flo.
Because both kids are in full time care we are at our peak childcare expense. I don't want to scare future parents but this is currently around £30k a year. We are not at a fancy private school, it just happens to be the nursery right next to the station which was especially handy when we both went into London each day.
This got us thinking, and looking into other options...
The state schools near us are good and will prepare both kids well to get into the local grammar schools and we're are pretty sure Flo will get into our preferred choice given our proximity but given how much we're currently spending and can potentially continue to spend we've also looked at private options which broadly speaking is on par cost wise. The big difference is staff numbers per child which are roughly double. We've still got 2 state and 1 local private school visit planned but that's our current plan.
One more year of Flo (£15k per year) and another 3 for Arthur (same) at state and then free vs another 6 years for Flo and 9 for Arthur. To me that £225k. Fuck!
With all the work going on in our house (the extension starts on Monday) we've decided to rent two desks in a shared office. Yesterday was our first day and we were the only ones in. We're right next to the castle so only a 2 minute commute!
Our lot went away for a week in sunny Kent with Shaheen and his family. His girls are similar ages to Flo and Arthur. The place we stayed at was lovely.
We finally popped to the new board game cafe in Tonbridge a couple of weeks ago. And i'm back again tonight playing D&D.
Cooked a lovely chicken, mushroom, leak and bacon pie with minty potatoes and buttered carrots on Sunday. Lovely.
It was Flo's 4th birthday on Saturday! She's been telling everybody she meets for the past month.
