Well I have decided to put my extra hour to good use/stupid use this morning. I was laying in bed feeling a bit down because the long winter nights have now begun and thinking what a summer it has been and remembered that I haven't posted an update for a while.
So as the rest of the house wisely sleeps through the bonus hour I have been up around the house re-setting clocks (why so many god damned clocks?) I am wide awake and getting creative. That and the fact that the local animal life aren't aware that it is really only just past 6am. The farm up the road has beef cattle in a barn being fattened for the plate and the poor buggers have been singing their heads off this morning. Our chimney has become a top spot for the owls to sit and twit-twoo as well. A lovely sound but not this early on a Sunday.
It also meant I got to listen to the excellent Non-League Football show on Radio5. Not much about Luton but great that the minnows of the Footy world get a chance for debate/review/report
So wh'appen since the start of term?
Norwich's season really started to kick off - been stop start because of the international games and only a few home games for us to go to. A poor start under Hughton (Hootun as they say up here) but signs of recovery and better play - which culminated in a fantastic win over Arsenal. Everyone says how poor Arsenal were but Narge played them off the park. We went en-mass (en mass?) to Villa Park yesterday to see another great performance that should have been a win but for a sloppy goal and poor crossing into the box. This was Rosie's 1st away match (and the 1st for DG for years). A long drive for a game of football but that's part of the fun of living on the edge of the country - every where is a long way a way. Norwich's local derby is now West Ham!
We also took in the England U21's at Carrow Road. A lot less "lively" affair than the return match in Serbia a few days later.
Rosie and DG had a great day in Cambridge with Gdad and Valerie, Jim and Hayley. Rosie was very worried about Chris's attempts at punting and was relieved to reach dry land. A slap up lunch at Browns and a tour of John Lewis's made up for everything though. Their trip home was a nightmare though - cancelled trains, missed connections and a call out to me to collect them from Norwich to get them back. Would have been a 5 hour journey and it's only 80 miles away. Must get DG to drive more often. Being away from proper roads for so long has dented her confidence of busier places.
We've had a few visits from Billy and Lynn as they were hoping to get their own gaff locally. The plan was to get a bolt hole for weekends till they can be up here more permanently. After a few highs and lows and let downs - it now seems that it is out of the question for now. Though they will try and get up and around as often as possible, not least because it means they can visit poor old mum and poor old dad more regularly - which will take a bit of pressure off me. Mum is fairly stable though frail in her Sheringham home. She managed a visit to Bessingham for lunch last week which we all enjoyed though it is difficult to cater for her needs while away from the home. Now that winter is well on the way she struggles more as she can't get out in the garden and there are fewer visitors generally. The phone calls have started to ramp up and demands for visits get a bit difficult to handle.
Dad is coming to the end of a 2nd year of very intensive treatment for cancer. We won't know how successful the treatment has been for a few months and he is rather poorly just now due to the culmination of everything the poor old bugger has been through these last few months. Everything piles on top of everything else and at the moment he is struggling to wander about home. An intense zap of radiography last week is expected to help him back on his feet soon - but he has to get over the zapping effect 1st. Having been with him many times when we've seen the specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, I am confident that he will be fine (in time).
Talking ailments - I had an MRI scan on my back on Friday. I hope to get a diagnoses once and for all and then start treatment for a more stable condition. I really want to be able to get back running - but if it means biking and swimming, I can live with that. The MRI scan has now ranked No 3 in the most horrible thing I have ever had to endure. No1 was a lumber puncture and 2 was having wisdom teeth out. Being in such a confined space for the best part of an hour nearly freaked me out. If I ever get asked to go for another one, I think I will say I'm doing my hair instead.
Other high points of the last few weeks? Rosie had a great birthday - including a mas sleepover and a roller-disco. Yup roller-disco's have arrived in Norfolk, 50 years after they went out of fashion in the real world. Jenny was a star pupil again at the awards night at Sheringham High School. She is the Queen of English. We've been planning for Jen's 6th form years (starting next September). looks more likely that she will be moving schools to a college in North Walsham (Nazza Wazza as the youf say). DG and me have thrown our selves into our work. Her school work seems never ending. I am now surveying everything from Wisbech to Horsey and Cromer to Norwich, an area equating to about 4 surveyors workload. Could absolutely work 24/7 and only scratch the surface. On the plus side, I am in the throws of choosing a new car for the next 4 years. I've decided that I need fat tyres and a high driving position so I can see over the hedges.
Well that was a cathartic hour (never written that word before). Apologies to my readers for going on a bit. That will teach me for leaving big gaps between posts.
Here's to a jolly winter. I'm off out with Rosie later this morning with no greater intention than catching leaves.
