Month: November 2012

So it’s only taken the two months, but yesterday saw the 2012 trip report finally put to bed.  During those two months, it has at times felt like a millstone around my neck.  With the new job and new house it has had to take its place behind those two things.  However, literally as I put the last full stop on the last sentence, it made me a little sad.

As ever finishing these reports absolutely puts the holiday to bed, and that is sad of course.  Naturally a holiday forever sits in our memories adding interest to our nostalgia assets for years to come, and it does seem that a holiday just had can take a few months or years to be fully appreciated.

As well as those thoughts, I of course always regret having dashed several days off in a hurry, and wish I could go back and do them again without time being against me.

I mentioned in the final thoughts of the final day that this trip report may be the last one, and I’m sure that was greeted with scorn and derision, as of course for a decade now we’ve not been going next year.  This year’s threat seems to be the closest I can remember to becoming a reality though.  Even with unlimited funds I highly doubt Louise could be tempted to do another WDW based trip.

I agree to a certain extent.  Naturally should someone shove four plane tickets in my hand and point me in a Trans-Atlantic direction I would gladly go and do WDW all over again.  However, we are being drawn to other spots in the US.  Should we be blessed with a lottery win I would whisk the family away on a Stephen Fry style tour of all the states, taking in the diverse nature of the various parts of the US.

Back in reality I suspect as and when funds become available we’ll do the West Coast thing next.  So expect that trip report any time in the next decade.

Away from holidays and their associated reports I have been unable to avoid DIY this weekend.  Parts of the kitchen need decorating.  The previous residents had an unhealthy obsession with sauna style wood panelling, and I am attempting to turn it white.  Two coats in, plus the assistance of my Dad and there is still no real sign of an end game.

The decorating is an evil necessity as we are to host the family for Christmas this year.  So that totals twelve folks.  Louise made this kind and generous offer at the wrong end of a bottle of red, and despite the fact we can seat six for dinner at a push with some emergency chairs, twelve it is.  Add in a four stone sheep dog and our house should be an adventure come the big day!

Once I have finished painting the sponge like walls there is also some wallpapering to do, and the dreaded glossing.

On a different note you may remember me bemoaning a journey home from Marlow on a Friday afternoon?  You may also recall me swearing an oath never to leave myself in that situation again?

So on Friday I had to drive home from Marlow.  It was pretty much unavoidable.  I left a little earlier but it did little to ease the pain.  The M6 was gruesome and the M40 joined in too, not wanting to be left out.  I crawled out of the car some five or so hours later, defeated by some bitumen or should that be bitch-umen.

I will make no similar vow that such a thing won’t happen again, but I’ll try really hard not to make the mistake again, and if I do, definitely not to moan about it again here.

I don’t think I’ve done a family update for a bit so you can have one.

Last week saw me attend Rebecca’s Parent’s Evening.  Despite the fact that appointments are booked every time, they are then systematically ignored by everyone, and it is just a case of grab a teacher your child recognises as soon as the seats at their desk become free.

She is doing OK.  She could pass the whole lot at GCSE, but the recurring theme is she needs to apply a little more effort.  I tried my best at motivational speaking as we walked home again afterwards.  I suspect it will have little effect as Rebecca was just too cold to listen to me.  This was because she didn’t listen to me earlier when I told her she’d need her big coat on as it was really cold even though it is only a five-minute walk.  The trials of fatherhood.

She also has the distraction of her Tom.  If Tom tells her she needs a coat it would be accepted without question!  You can but advise and guide, as they don’t listen much anyway.

Emily is progressing well with her driving, being told by her instructor to concentrate on her theory now as she needs to get that sorted and passed as by that time she should be ready for her test.  It really does feel odd watching her drive off in a car for her lessons.  This week was the wonders of the roundabout.  After being extremely nervy to begin with she seems to have found her confidence now, and is enjoying her lessons.

In her spare time she has taken to sheep dog fancy dress!

Louise finished her first placement in a hospital on Friday much to her relief.  It has been hard work, fitting in shifts and coursework as well of course as the grueling work of a nurse on a hospital ward.  Some of the tales she tells of tubes, puss, vile body parts and in some cases viler patients confirm my conviction that I absolutely could not do that job.   She is back to the less intense University elements of her course now until January.

Onto the wider family, and my Dad is still wrestling with the insurance company over his non-holiday with us.  I am not one to suggest that these insurance companies use delaying tactics, but they have written back (by snail mail) half a dozen times to request extra and different snippets of information that they could have requested on the original claim form.  Some of their clients might just give it up as the effort is too big, but they are fighting a losing battle with my Dad.

His persistence is only equaled by his retired free time, so they may as well just write the cheque and have done with it.  We are also keeping him nice and busy with our DIY requirements.  He’s in the middle of a project to un-damp our cellar which should keep him going for the next few weeks!

Mum is doing better.  She’s had a couple of relapses into pain, but generally she’s doing OK.  She saw a consultant last week who seems to have settled on a  diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which was pretty much what we all thought before the dozens of tests and weeks of pain.  Anyway, she’s on the relevant medication now, and we’ll see how that goes.

So that’s it I think.  I had considered another vitriolic rant about the ways of the world, but thought better of it.  The ending of the last/latest trip report is worthy of a mention both in appreciation of the time and effort spent on it and as a nod of respect to what could be the last of its kind.  What do you mean you don’t believe me????

Till the next time…..