Thursday 28th Mar

Mrs P left me with clear instructions to do the cleaning today; I’d been hoping to avoid it with the long bank holiday weekend coming up and Mrs P being off from tomorrow, but no such luck. So I set to with the duster and polish, all the while keeping one ear out for the doorbell. Someone from one of the local charities was due to collect the old 3-piece-suite this morning and I didn’t want to miss them, and I hoped my repair skills had fixed the doorbell yesterday. I asked the youngest to listen out as well, but he had his head in his xbox so I wasn’t pinning all my hopes on him.

Had a break for coffee, a real pleasure from my Lakeland one cup machine, and then ran the vacuum around. Still no sign of the collection men. So I cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors, and still no sign of the collection men. So I texted the eldest` late morning, to see if she would be back from her sleepover for lunch. She replied, no and she had only just had breakfast! So I did lunch for two, sat down and the collection guys arrived. Late, yes, but they came and removed the old furniture so job done. Typically I’d spent all morning listening out for them, leaving all radios and music off, Sods Law they turn up late and when I’d just sat down to lunch.

Jay-le-taxi was out to collect the eldest mid-afternoon, and then once we were home we were out again, driving back to the sleepover venue as shock horror she’d left her phone behind! I say this with surprise as I thought the phone would have to be surgically removed to get it out of her hand. Two later trips for jay-le-taxi, taking the eldest to and from work and the day is at an end.

I really must fit those grilles over the holes in the lounge walls, it is a bit Siberia in there. Something for me to think about over the weekend. Mrs P’s and my self-imposed Lenten exile from chocolate comes to an end on Sunday, and I must say I’m looking forward to my Easter egg.

Yours dreaming of chocolate

Jay

The Diary will be back on Tuesday 2^nd April.

Wednesday 27th Mar

Doing the papers in the snow this morning, I end up looking like a snowman at one point. With the schools being off and the weather cold the streets are empty. Maybe it’s a reflection on society that either kids don’t play out any longer, or families can’t afford to be out and about as much. I get home and after a reviving cup of coffee decide to take a look at fixing the doorbell. After a quick squirt of WD40 I pull the bell push off the door, breaking it in two in the process. It just goes to show you really shouldn’t rush into these things. Having decided it’s the battery I set off to buy one, plus a larger grille to cover the holes I drilled last week in the wall. The larger grille being required to cover the mess I made. Having made the purchases I manage to put the doorbell back together and it sticks, and works, at least for now. I have so far fitted one of the four grilles, and that to an outside wall, so we still have Siberian type winds blowing into the lounge through the holes I drilled, still I’m sure we’ll be grateful for the breeze if summer ever arrives.

I knocked out the ironing while listening to music-on-hold for 25 minutes, as I was phoning HMRC the tax office. Later on the youngest and I go to see Trance at the cinema. It’s an interesting experience as the film is a 15 certificate and contains some sexual content, so I adopt the tactic of parents through the ages and just look straight ahead and say nothing at the appropriate time. Though we do both wince at the same time when one chap gets shot in the trouser area, a natural reaction for most blokes. A decent film and I certainly had no idea what was going on until the end.

Do a quick jay-le-taxi run for the eldest who is going on a sleep-over, which as all parents of teenagers will know means that the child will return having had little sleep, but will be wanting to sleep in front of your telly, and will be very grumpy by late afternoon.

Yours awaiting summer

Jay

Tuesday 26th Mar

Quiet morning at the library, having left one teenager at home in his pyjamas watching cricket and one asleep in bed. When I went for my break to get a cup of tea today, I had a look at what was to eat. The librarians had four different offerings all of which were chocolate based. I don’t like to link the chocolate bias to the fact that the majority of the librarians are women, but it’s hard not to.

Got home to wait for the delivery of the new 3-piece-suite, and not long after I got a phone call from the delivery men telling me they were outside, and that I hadn’t been answering the door! So it appears the door bell is broken, hmmm, that’s another thing to consider fixing. As a stop gap I put a note on the door saying it’s broken, for which both kids mock me for my poor writing skills! The guys put the new suite in and move the old one out to the garage for me. I’m getting it collected by a charity later in the week, and it saves me and the youngest moving it. Which would have involved him getting dressed in the middle of the afternoon!

Drill some small holes in the outside wall to fix the first grille to cover the big holes I drilled last week, and only need to redo one, which is quite successful for me. Then I’m on to ironing and making the tea.

After tea the eldest takes me out to practice her driving before it goes dark; a reasonably successful outing as I wasn’t that scared at any point, she did a couple of 3 point turns for the first time, and there were no stalls. So the driving is coming along well, something of a mixed blessing with the cost of teenage car insurance looming on the horizon.

Yours counting the pennies

Jay

Monday 25th Mar

Nice to have a weekday when we weren’t waiting for the alarm to go off before getting out of bed; it being the Easter Holidays. Off to the supermarket to start the day, and apart from the frightening cost of petrol, the supermarket was surprisingly empty, more staff than customers in fact, but it was still a struggle to get a second till to open! Maybe that level of customer service explains the number of customers. Pleasant people but not really on the ball, which I suspect reflects the recruitment policy of some large retail companies.

The eldest is off to Morocco in the summer on an Outward Bound type expedition and has a trial hike with two overnights in the peak district coming up, so we set out for a large Outdoor retailer warehouse, to get her kitted out. What a fantastic shop, camping, climbing, cycling and fishing all catered for. Though why is it that even with discounted prices you still end up spending a small fortune? We took a trolley rather than a basket and as it got steadily fuller I found myself asking out loud, ”Is any of this going to get used again?” I suspect not, but as usual live in hope. As an aside I was slightly disturbed to see that the fishing equipment, tents, beds, loungers, looked like an advert for American Survivalists, being very reminiscent of army surplus stock.

Back home having been briefly frightened by the eldest on a short practice drive, I say short, it would have been longer but it had to be squeezed in between her getting ready and a social outing she had! Priorities for a teenage girl really are a thing of wonder. Decided to get my tyres checked as I’ve an MOT due next month and I suspected one needed replacing, so a quick £65 later I’ve got a safer car to drive. I did feel sorry for the lady in front of me who had what looked like a standard people carrier, but whose tyres were £252 each, and she needed two!

In case you’re wondering I got the wallpapering finished on Saturday. I know, break out the band. Now me and Mrs P, well Mrs P really just have to decide if we like it. The new 3-piece-suite is coming tomorrow, so we’ll have a better idea then. But I think we’ll just get used to it.

Jay-le-taxi was out in the evening to collect the eldest, whilst the youngest continues to be ensconced with either his xBox, iTouch or the computer, fairly standard behaviour for a teenage boy.

Yours waiting for the Easter sunshine

Jay

Friday 22nd Mar

Well the snow came last night and both the kids schools went for early declarations for the Easter holidays. It was on their websites by 7am this morning so we left the eldest to sleep. She woke up at 8.10am panicking that she was going to be late, until she looked out the window and realised what was happening.

Mrs P braved the weather and set off for work, though to be fair the main roads were OK this morning. The youngest settled down to his xBox, the eldest stayed in bed and I started wallpapering, again. Apart from a break to take the eldest to pick up her school books for the holidays, and then to make and clear up after lunch and then tea, I was wallpapering once again until about 8pm. To be fair to the eldest she did make me a cup of tea when I asked for one, and I do mean just one for the whole day. The rest I made for myself, but one is better than none. Interesting thing about wallpapering, by the time I’ve remembered the tricks, I’ve almost finished, and will have forgotten them for next time. I managed to misjudge some pieces in the middle of the afternoon, and had a slight panic in case I hadn’t got enough rolls, having originally thought I would have rolls to spare it now looks as though I’m just going to have enough, fingers crossed and mistakes permitting. The youngest spent most of the day on the xBox and computer, and the eldest once she got up did some homework then watched Friends for the umpteenth time, and did whatever teenagers do on their mobile phones. I hope to finish papering tomorrow, all things being equal!

Mrs P got home late and slightly shaken having had to drive back in much the worse of the days conditions, and then proceeded to tell us all about it for the next two hours! Having us all home safe on a night like tonight feels right. Fortunately the kids evening activities, cricket and work were cancelled, so jay-le-taxi stayed quietly at home.

Yours warm and dry

Jay

Thursday 21st Mar

Well my wall repairs are still intact and if I can buy big enough grills I might be able to cover most of them up. At least that’s the plan as it looks today, it may well change.

Having provided breakfast and got the kids and Mrs P out the door I’m off to the library, taking the car today as I need to be back handy to start the wallpapering, which would have been the final part of the great DIY project if I hadn’t knocked chunks out of the wall the other day. I help a nice old fellow whose daughter has booked him on Ryanair to travel to see her in Italy. He thinks he needs a copy of the flight details but one of the librarians and myself think he may need to print out boarding cards. I take a look at Ryanairs’ website and am amazed at the variety and size of charges they raise if you don’t check-in online, and print and bring your boarding card. So I sit down with the gentleman and get him sorted. Afterwards the librarian recounts how she booked through Thomas Cook, who used Jet2 for their flights. Thomas Cook didn’t tell them they needed to go online and print out boarding cards and upon arrival at the airport, they were charged £37 per person for the attendant to press a print button to produce boarding cards. You really do get what you pay for with low cost airlines, but forewarned is forearmed.

So to the wallpapering, and the first piece hits the bin, though after that it improves slowly, though the fifth piece hits the bin as well. You may be surprised to know it, but wallpapering is one of the few DIY activities I am almost competent at. Suffice to say, allowing for a break to make tea for the family, and a quick taxi run for the youngest - I stop papering at about 8.30pm having had mixed success. Having suffered with a couple of lengths I’d cut too short which were plainly my fault, a number of alcoves and the fact that we live in an old house where none of the walls are straight - I have not got as far as I’d hoped. I can see it being a long day tomorrow.

Yours still decorating

Jay

Wednesday 20th Mar

Another early start, once Mrs P and the kids are out it’s off to do the papers. Not too cold a morning and I breeze round, smiling and helloing to people as I go on my way. It makes me happy, and I get mostly smiles in return. I do see a couple of groups of guys of a certain age on bicycles who should know better, squeezed into very unflattering lycra outfits. You do need a strong stomach at times.

Mid-morning finds me trying to mend yesterday’s DIY disaster and patch up my walls. I cause a long queue in the builders’ merchants as I try to decide what exactly I need to rectify my mishap. When I turn it’s to face a row of unimpressed tradesmen who know what they want queuing behind me. So I get back and add water to the mixture, dig out my trowel! I know I’ve got a trowel, shock horror, though to be honest I inherited/acquired it like most of my tools, from someone else. I slap the mixture on inside and out, smooth it down as best I can and say a little prayer that it doesn’t just fall off tomorrow.

I’ve still got time to do the ironing, the cleaning and get the tea on the table before Mrs P gets home, think I deserve a sit down this evening as jay-le-taxi has the night off.

Yours getting it done, well some of it anyway

Jay

Tuesday 19th Mar

Well today was certainly one of note for the budding DIYer. I had as part of the living room redecoration to drill two holes through the wall at either side of the French windows at the bottom of the room, in an effort to reduce the amount of condensation we currently get, due to a lack of ventilation. Well I’d borrowed a large drill as I was drilling through the external wall, and having thought about it I’d decided to drill from outside to in. The idea being that I’d avoid knocking render off the outside of the house as I came through, if I’d started from the inside.

Well I don’t think the drill was in full working order as I had quite a sweat on by the time I’d drilled through two bricks, and couldn’t quite break through the last piece. After another couple of minutes of pushing I broke through only to see a large chunk of render, plus some brick, had come out of my newly painted wall. Never one to be put off by the obvious I commenced drilling a second hole, next to the first and after a similarly tortuous saga I broke through removing even more render from the inside wall!

At this point rather than stopping and thinking, or giving up, I moved straight over to the other side of the room and started drilling there. Though this time I went from inside to outside, to avoid a repetition. The drilling was once again tortuous though when I broke through on the outside only a small amount of render came off, plus a small piece on the inside. Well small when compared to what had fallen off on the other side of the room! So a good result I felt.

When Mrs P arrived home I had to explain that the decorating might now take a little longer as I was going to have to learn a new skill that of plastering/patching walls. She shook her head in a resigned way, compared me to Kenny Everett’s disaster prone handy man, and banned me from any job requiring any form of basic DIY competence in the future. Some might see that as a good result.

Yours in the proverbial doghouse

Jay

Monday 18th Mar

You’ll be pleased to hear I gave the DIY a body swerve today. I know this week is the final push, at least for this project, but why do today what I can put off until tomorrow? Or even the day after? Not a philosophy that built an empire maybe, but thinking about it, it could be one that lost an empire.

Mrs P and I were out shopping for a 3 piece suite (again) this morning, and as luck would have it we’d discovered a local shop/warehouse that stocks cancelled/returned orders from high street brands, at significant discounts. The benefits of this are twofold; firstly, the significant discount, and secondly, they are in stock and available for immediate delivery. Having started looking at leather, we’d turned to fabric and now we were back to leather. As luck would have it they had something suitable in stock and a deal was struck. It’s being delivered next Tuesday, and not in the 12 weeks we were originally anticipating, which means I now have a real D-Day for the decorating. Also this means we now have to find a carpet, and when we sneaked in to take a look today I found myself confused once more over an enormous variety of choice, and how exactly do we match something to the wallpaper, curtains and the furniture. Sounds like a job for Mrs P.

Yours making progress slowly

Jay       

Friday 15th Mar

Good news the plasterer arrived just before 8am this morning, and was done and gone by 9.15am. Top job and I’m very pleased. A good experience like that really does renew your confidence in your fellow human beings.

I walked along to the shops and bumped into a friend walking her dog. I say her dog, it is actually her teenagers dog, however as I have noticed with numerous families, the kids beg for a pet, the parents give in, the kids are interested in walking, looking and cleaning up after it for about a week, then once the novelty has worn off, it’s the parents who end up doing everything. Mrs P and I have over the years resisted calls for everything from a dog to a rabbit. We did agree to some goldfish once upon a time as a test case, but as I ended up cleaning out the bowl, I believe I’d proved our point and no further pets were purchased. I have to say the lady I was chatting to would happily have turned back the clock and not had the dog.

Then it was back to the painting, and even I feel it’s gone on a bit long now, but the end is in sight. Gave the house a quick once over, then I’m off to collect the youngest and his friend, plus cricket bag. Back to make tea, for which there were two sittings, teenagers first followed by me and Mrs P. Jay-le-taxi then required running the eldest to her show, and the boys to cricket practice, then the evening finds Mrs P and I in alone again, it’s getting to be something of a habit this.

Yours seeing light at the end of the DIY tunnel

Jay

Thursday 14th Mar

Back on an even keel today, and once Mrs P and the kids are out the door I’m off to the library. Why is it new shoes invariably give you blisters? I bought a new pair in a sale just after Christmas and have been wearing them in slowly. However they continue to just scrape my heel, and I’m getting to the point where I think that what I saved on buying the shoes I’m now spending on plasters.

Busy morning at the library, which is good to see; the more people using libraries the better. A couple of my regulars come in for help. One a very nice chap who I set up an email account for about a month ago but is still struggling to access it, and if we’re honest doesn’t really know what he is going to use it for but just thinks that he should have one. This raises an interesting question of whether your life has been improved by email or not. At work you might think it has, but has it really? It just encourages more people to send more information to more people. It draws you in when you’re away from the office; just to check, just in case. I can’t be convinced it has improved peoples quality of life. A bit like the internet, if you didn’t have it at home, you’d have to go out to the shops to buy things, causing you to engage in social interaction, causing high streets to be busy, and shops open, boosting the local economy. Would that be such a bad thing? I know there are some good points to it but don't get me started.

Stop at the folks on the way back up the road for a cuppa and a chat, and then its home for yesterday’s leftover chilli reheated for lunch. I do at times seem to be a food waste disposal unit for the leftovers. Back to the painting in the afternoon, then its early tea’s for the teenagers who have shows and cricket to go to. Do a quick run as jay-le-taxi then I’m back on the painting. Mrs P and I find ourselves home alone mid-evening and settle down to our books, like a proper old married couple, but it’s not long before jay-le-taxi is required again, though on the plus side the eldest gets a lift home so I avoid the late shift. The plasterer (see Monday 11^th) calls to say he’ll be with me at eight in the morning, so the signs are still encouraging.

Yours slowly getting there

Jay

Wednesday 13th Mar

The sun is shining this morning on a very sad but beautiful day. Myself, Mrs P and the eldest attended a funeral this morning for a family man taken far too young. A tragedy beyond comprehension.

This afternoon finds me delivering papers and my thanks go to Mrs P who sorted them out last night before I got home. A quick zip round on a fine spring day, and I just about get through before the local junior schools get out. Back in time to have a quick chat with a mate who has just returned from two weeks in Tenerife, beset by thunder storms, chest infections and a towed car! Some people may indeed have all the luck, but not this fellow.

Home to greet the teenagers then tea to prepare, followed by washing up afterwards and then ironing, plus some French revision with the youngest. A proper run of house husbandry. Mrs P is out to the eldest’s show this evening, so jay-le-taxi got the evening off, and spent it watching sport with the youngest.

Yours in reflective mood

Jay

Tuesday 12th Mar

Well everyone deserves the occasional day off, and today was mine, as I enjoyed a day at the races. The Cheltenham Festival to be precise. This involved a leisurely drive down the motorway, four motorways to be precise. Followed by an enormous fry-up, a croissant, a pastry and coffees. Then on to the races, where I mitigated my losses by picking a winner (I know I was surprised as well.) Then back in the car and home via a cross country route, stopping off on the way for a very nice meal in a pub. We finished off the trip listening to the football on the radio, so all in all a very pleasant boys outing.

I had just not long walked in the door when the phone went and jay-le-taxi was required to collect the eldest. Some things never change. On returning I was watching the news and they were showing pictures of the Sistine Chapel as the election of a new pope got under way. I have to say the ceiling there looks nothing like the one I painted yesterday. Back to normal tomorrow.

Yours making the most of it

Jay

Monday 11th Mar

Would you believe its back to DIY? Yes I know it must sound like I’m painting the Forth Road Bridge, but it’s still just the one room. Today it’s the ceiling; two coats and avoid the spot lights. The great problem with painting an already white ceiling white, is you can’t see where you’ve been. That’s why I go for two coats in case I miss anything on the first pass. However before I can start I’ve got to prepare the room, and by the time I’ve taped papers on the windows and covered everything in dust sheets, it takes me as long to prepare as it does to paint the first coat.

Still on the DIY front, I managed to get hold of a local plasterer on Sunday (picked out of the Yellow Pages), who turned up today to give me a price for patching a small part of one wall. And he’s coming to do it at the end of the week! I mean you do here how hard it is to get hold of decent tradesmen, and how unreliable they can be, but fingers crossed this guy could be a winner. I hope this is not famous last words.

Mrs P performed taxi duties this evening as the eldest was at a final dress rehearsal, so I passed a peaceful evening with a good book. Sometimes life is good.

Yours reading serenely

Jay

Friday 8th Mar

Time for my weekly house cleaning this morning, and because the largest room is being decorated I get through it more quickly than usual. It’s strange, but when I first started cleaning the house it looked to be a herculean task for me; yes I know people, especially ladies, do it all the time. But I‘ve found you quite quickly get into a rhythm with it, and now I know how long it will take, the order I do the rooms in, dust, polish and then vacuum. Bathroom and floors to finish. Now I wouldn’t say I enjoy it, but with a bit of music to accompany me, it passes the time pleasantly enough. When I’m out and about walking locally, I see a fair number of home-help type of businesses around, looks like it’s quite a growth area. Though it does seem to be almost exclusively women employees. Maybe that tells us something about how the attitudes and expectations of society have in some ways not changed that much in the last century.

As its DIY season I manage to put on a splash more paint, before making the house more liveable for the weekend. I have decided to have the weekend off DIY, and plan to resume by painting the ceiling on Monday (watch this space).

I pop out in the afternoon to pick up a few DIY bits, and pay a King’s ransom for some petrol. In one of the lower cost supermarkets I bump into a lady I know, who funnily enough does the same as we do. Looks for basics in the low cost end, before picking the rest of her shopping up in her normal supermarket, over the way. The changing face of consumer spending is with us.

Home for some ironing and to get the tea ready, and for the first and only day this week the kids are both straight in from school, which is a real pleasure. After a quick catch-up on the day’s events, I’m revising Spanish for a GCSE on Monday. I’ve learnt more languages helping the kids revise than I ever did at school, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I want to learn now. I’ve always thought that education is wasted on the young.

Jay-le-taxi has a couple of outings in the evening, as indeed does Mrs P, though I do get the late shifts. And it being the weekend our light is out long before the teenagers, I don’t know where they get the energy.

Yours

Jay

Thursday 7th Mar

It’s my last invigilation session until May this morning, and myself and Bill were in,entertaining ourselves with some Armstrong and Miller style antics (see You tube, Armstrong and Miller invigilation). Mid morning finish and it’s straight back to the DIY. I feel at the moment as if the paint brush is part of my hand. I get most of the undercoating finished, just a final bit to do tomorrow. Wouldn’t you know that the last piece of skirting board to be cut and finished turns out to be the most difficult? There must be a law somewhere that governs these things.

Get partially cleared up mid-afternoon then it’s a quick rush to get the ironing done. It’s been one of those cold damp days without really raining, and so I’ve been juggling things between the washing line and the tumble dryer. Why is it that my eldest likes to buy clothes that don’t want to go in the dryer? Once again it’s a house husbandry skill you learn by experience, what will dry and what shrinks! You only make that mistake once, or twice.

Then it’s a drop off at the outlaws; something that was left earlier, and on to the local library where I get the book I’m after (praise be), and indulge in a conversation about the TV show Pointless, and how stupid most of the celebrities who appear on it are, with the two ladies who work there. That still makes me 5 minutes early for collecting the youngest from rugby practice, unfortunately he’s then 15 minutes late, but at least I have my book to read while I wait.

Once home Mrs P comes in just behind us to find I haven’t started the risotto yet. So we’re a bit late on tea tonight, but on the bright side it means the eldest gets in from rehearsals so we can all eat together. Spend a large part of the evening trying to get an email problem resolved, which eventually I do thanks to my persistence in wading through telephone automated voice recognition systems, being hung up on during a live chat from India having waited 10 minutes to be connected, and eventually giving my PC over to a kind gent from India who remotely fixed it, after I waited 20 minutes to speak to someone.

I also had time to share taxi duties with Mrs P in the evening, so some things are constant.

Yours paint splattered

Jay

Wednesday 6th Mar

Start the day with a bit of fresh air, delivering papers, and crikey it’s nippy out. Decide to indulge in a little game of saying “Good Morning” to the people I pass. It helps to create a sociable atmosphere I always think, though I do catch a number of people unawares, and they seem slightly taken aback that a stranger has proffered a friendly greeting. I just see it as doing my bit for community relations, who knows it might even catch on.

Then it’s back to the DIY, painting and holding bits of wood while the father-in-law cuts them, then saying how nice they look. I have to say experience counts for a lot in the DIY game, and I don’t have much. I already feel I’ve been stuck in DIY heaven/hell for eternity, but it’s only been three days, unfortunately I can’t see me getting through it much before Easter. A quick recce as I do a cursory tidy reveals a number of missed spots of paint, assorted splashes and tipped over coffee dregs. Not my finest hour, I really must do better.

After a fine chicken casserole for tea which Mrs P kindly made last night and put in the oven to come on today, thereby relieving me of having to do any cooking, and having dodged the ironing by finishing the decorating late, I’m off out for the evening. Not as exciting as it sounds, it’s to a meeting at school, where the heating isn’t on and I haven’t got a coat, so I emerge two hours later cold and with nature calling!

In case you were wondering jay-le-taxi was out today, collecting the eldest from show rehearsals. I’m tempted to think that when the show is over next week, thinks will revert to normal, but I don’t think normal exists around here.

Yours slowly thawing

Jay

Tuesday 5th Mar

Once again the day started with a bit of invigilating. Not many kids in for the re-sit and so only myself and one other chap were in. This enabled us to indulge in some fun to pass the time, mostly along the lines of standing at the back doing exaggerated exercise movements, we would never do in reality. The kids were very well behaved which makes it easy, though we did have one who turned up not knowing whether they were meant to be sitting the exam or not, they weren’t as it turns out, but it makes me wonder what revision you do in that situation?

Lunchtime bought a new experience, as I had to accompany the eldest and her driving instructor on part of her lesson. The idea now is for me to take her out more, having been told what I need to be looking for. It was, to be fair, a fairly thrill free ride, though the car did have dual controls, and the instructor only tweaked the steering wheel once. I’m not sure how confident I’m going to be in traffic with her driving; we’ve had two small trips on the public highway so far, and both have involved slightly hairy moments. However, to paraphrase, “greater love hath no man for his eldest, than that he lays down his fears for her ...”

The afternoon passed in a blaze of DIY and ironing, such fun.

Yours thoughtfully in prayer for safe passage.

Jay

Monday 4th Mar

Invigilating to start the week, and we’ve got a fairly full hall today. I’m still continually amazed at how many kids don’t bring the basic instruments with them, for example a calculator to a maths exam! The couple of hours in the hall pass quickly enough though you might have thought two hours not speaking; reading or writing would be a bit boring. Possibly, but you get yourself into a zone, and I certainly just let my mind wander, I’m sure I could make better use of the time, by thinking about something specific, but just not sure how. At the moment my highlight is being able to name all 50 states of the USA in less than 10 minutes. That’s bound to come in useful one day!

Back to the DIY in the afternoon, and its painting time, which I think it’s going to be for the next week or so. Mrs P did ask if I could start to put the lounge back together a bit, given the carpet is pulled back where I levelled the floor at the weekend (albeit with her dad’s help), and the 3 piece suite is squashed in a corner where we now squash together of an evening. I think its cosy; Mrs P doesn’t agree.

Good to have the youngest back from his weekend rugby trip and with the eldest having show rehearsals nearly every day at the moment, it can be difficult to keep track of who is where, and when. Needless to say jay-le-taxi is out a couple of times today, as to be fair is Mrs P.

In an effort to stave off idleness I played 5-a-side this evening, though I think it was more like thirteen-a-side, but the pitch is big enough. I even managed to score, quite a feat these days. The only problem is I probably don’t get enough of a sweat on as a result of the number of players. I really am going to have to get the bike out again soon, or so I keep telling myself. Once the decorating is out of the way that is.

Yours dreaming of summer sunshine

Jay

Friday 1st Mar

First day of the month; is it spring already? Personally I’m not convinced winter is over, and won’t be until Easter, and that has nothing to do with the fact that I’ll then be eating chocolate. We’ve seen snow too often in March recently for me to trust it. Can you distrust a whole month?

On a more serious note I started the big DIY project today. Otherwise known as the lounge. As ever with these things the preparation seems to take up more time than expected. This morning and a chunk of this afternoon were taken up stripping wallpaper, which by and large came off quite well. It’s one of those activities, a bit like painting, which I can do quite happily with the radio playing, and my mind switched off, once I get going. I usually listen to Radio 4 whilst decorating but today tuned to Smooth 70’s, which really was a great blast from the past, and made the time pass quite happily. The only downside was an advert that came on at regular intervals, which if I may paraphrase said ... “You work hard, long hours, you miss parents evenings, school sports days, birthdays, anniversaries, your family growing up, so treat yourself to a holiday home you’ve earned it!”  ... Treat yourself to a holiday home for one more like. You won’t know your kids, and your wife if she’s got any sense won’t want anything to do with you, and will have left you to get a life of her own. Maybe I’m prejudiced, but I don’t see a holiday home as balancing life’s scales on that one.

I also managed to remove some skirting board and gripper rods without injuring myself, which I was rather pleased with. The project continues tomorrow.

Jay-le-taxi was once again out this evening, but for only one trip, and as Mrs P did two I doff my hat to her.

Yours the handyman

Jay