The Time Bubble

Today was Jamie's last day at the Courtyard Preschool, bringing down the curtain on his two years there, and our own four year association with them as a family. It's amazing to think it's nearly four years since a very small Ollie first walked (very reluctantly) through their front door. I am going to hugely miss walking up with one of them every day, chatting to the other mums and dads and of course the staff, at least three of whom, Donna, Tracey and Sarah have been there throughout. I imagine the end of the year must be quite a wrench for them too - saying goodbye to the children for the last time. Jamie seems remarkably unfazed by it all. It was just another day to him. Perhaps children at that age don't measure out the passing of their lives in the way that we do. It certainly made its mark on me - yet another landmark in a life that's pegged out with first days and last days here and there. I've been trying to think back on my own experiences and th...

We all make bad decisions in life. Do things we later regret and then think "what the hell was I thinking?" Even I, from my lofty perch of 44 years life experience, am not immune. Why did I do it? I don't know. Perhaps it was some moment of madness. Perhaps it was down to some deep-rooted psychological problem where I feel the need to punish myself for past sins, like a gambler pouring all his rent money into the roulette machine in the bookies. Perhaps it was just because I fancied some cheese flavoured Ritz crackers and I know Sainsbury's don't sell them. Who knows? All I know is that for some reason, last Sunday morning as me and the boys were about to go into Sainsbury's to do our shopping I got some irrational urge to go into Tesco instead. Quite why I should want to do this, I don't know. After many bad experiences in the past with incorrect price labelling, rude staff and all the rest of it, you think I would have learned. Still, I thought, mayb...

I often cite through my blog how happy I am with the way I have my life set up and it is indeed true. How I earn my living, where we live, all of it is absolutely perfect for the stage our family is at. However, nothing stays the same, and so here I am at 43, almost exactly half way through my working life, with one career already behind me and the focus currently very heavily on bringing up the boys and being the house husband - with the DJ'ing as a very welcome way of earning money during hours which don't impact too heavily on the parenting. We have a lovely home which we rent from a friend, could not ask for more. Though things are changing, there are a lot of new homes here and people moving in, so it's not quite the little oasis in the centre of town that it always has been but I can live with that for now. But I do need to start thinking ahead about changes in the future. After all I am 25 years away from retirement and really don't see myself lugging speak...

I have really enjoyed this past week or so with the kids. In fact I am really going to miss them when they go back to school. Playing with the boys, well we are like 3 kids really, I just join in with them. Whether it's chasing each other round the kitchen table, building elaborate train systems with our ever growing collection of track and accessories (the wooden kind) there is always plenty to do. We had a nice day out in Oxford yesterday as well, so easy to jump on the train and take them, at £2.50 return well that's a bargain in my book, can't see what all the moaning is for about train fares in the papers. I've hardly seen or spoken to any adults this week, but I've been just fine. The thing is, I think holidays should be dedicated to the kids, there is less holiday time than term time, so I can catch up with my friends (most of whom also have kids) once they go back to school. I'm really getting through to Ollie now, and I think we've built a rappo...

I'm settling into quite a little routine in the mornings now term's well established. Basically, my mission in the mornings is to get Ollie to school by 8:45am and Jamie to the Courtyard by 9:10am. Bearing in mind there is no more than 10 minutes walk between those two places that doesn't sound too much of a challenge, does it? No - it isn't - but I like a challenge and I also like maximising my time. 25 minutes isn't long enough to go back home - as soon as our coats are off, we'd be putting them back on again - but it doesn't leave much leeway for doing anything else. But time management is key to the success of my days, so I have decided to try and fit all of my shopping into that window. With an optional extra of Wilkinsons after dropping Jamie off as it's on the way back. I normally need to visit any two or more of the following: Tesco, M&S, Iceland and the Butchers. Now I am an efficient well oiled machine when it comes to shopping as you w...

As you know I am always saying there aren't enough hours in the day, etc etc, playing the stressed out parent card. Well I've certainly been struggling to find time to fit in the blogs this month. Rather than attempt to explain it all - I thought I would just do an on-going bullet point diary of today - live as it happens! Detailing every thing that occurs. Mundane? Possibly. But who knows what the day will bring? I'm going to split this into two parts - am and pm. So the first part of the blog covers the time up to midday today and the second part I will publish at midnight just before I go to bed! So hold on to your hats folks, and join the rollercoaster ride that is my day!!!! 12:00am - A light snack before bed 12:30am - Go to bed 7:20am - Claire bring me cup of tea and leaves for work. Kids are up and dressed - one thing ticked off which is good. 7:30am - Get dressed. 7:35am - Go to toilet. Read Viz. 7:40am - Downstairs. Go to make cereal for kids - all g...

This is a very special blog entry today. I was delighted to receive an email from Confused.com today, regarding my blog. Now I am used to receiving automated messages from companies all the time, but this was different. It seems they have not only been reading my blog, but they have also commented on my last entry. It's so nice to receive some personal feedback from a company. Not only that, but they've also invited me to submit an entry for their blogging competition. In 350 words or less, I am to describe ways to save money with the kids at half term. So here is what I have submitted. A free mini-break in Pembrokeshire awaits the winner! Seems school has hardly started, yet half-term will soon be upon us, and the kids will need entertaining. How does one do this on a budget? Well first – here’s what not to do. I recommend against going away on holiday. As I am sure you know, these weeks are very popular, and consequently very expensive compared to term time weeks – bo...

The subject of maths keeps cropping up just of late. Ollie's exceptional talent in this area has been recognised by the school. This has not come as a surprise to many who are aware of my own mathematical abilities, however here is something that may come as a surprise. Midway through the first year of my A Levels, I was forced to abandon my maths A level and switch to another subject because I was rock bottom of the class and it was blatantly obvious to me, my classmates and my teacher that I was going to fail. Like I say those of you who know me as constantly calculating the odds on everything and living my life by these percentages, this will come as a shock. So how did this happen? What brought about this state of affairs. Well I was 17 - and drinking underage every lunchtime along with most of the other students in the long defunct "Duke Of York" across the car park from Oxpens. Not to mention pursuing my other favourite hobby of the time more or less 24/7 i...

What a very profound title. Really though - what to do with the rest of my life? Tomorrow marks a significant development. You see after almost 5 years of having at least one child at home all day, every day, I make my first steps back to independence when my youngest (Jamie) begins spending every Friday with a childminder. Why am I doing this when it is not like I have to go to work, you may ask? It's not like I've got anything better to do all day? Wrong. As anyone (mostly mums) will tell you, when you have full time responsibility for young children in your care, your life is effectively put on hold for a few years. Yes, obviously you are not completely isolated, there are still nights out, still holidays, day trips, etc, but the simple fact of matter is - well in my case at least, I am no longer contracted to a company for 40 hours a week and can do what the hell I want the rest of the time. I am on constant call to my children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 day...

I'm feeling really excited today. I've thought of an exciting new way to organise my DVD collection. Having it alphabetically in order across several shelves is all well and good, but not the most exciting method. Now I've hit on a new idea - have it arranged by genre, and then alphabetically. So I can have a sci-fi shelf, a drama shelf, a comedy shelf. I haven't worked out all the categories yet but that's a lot of the beauty of it. I've got at least 3 hours child and wife free tonight where I can indulge myself to my heart's content. This is going to be fun! Watched the first episode of yet another new show to come on to JTV last week, this one is called "Skins". It's about a group of late teens at a sixth form college. Very similar concept to the In-Betweeners but with the emphasis much more on the drama rather than the comedy - though there were lots of amusing moments in it. My latest OCD fest was in part inspired by this epis...

...is a cigar called? Well I wouldn't know, though the last time I had one, after the birth of my second child (forced on me by the lads in the pub) I did enjoy it. I'm not a smoker as you know, one of the few sins (as well as drugs) that just aren't me. As for all the other things, well, you have to enjoy life, don't you. And enjoy it, I certainly do. I have a pretty enjoyable lifestyle I have to admit, I earn enough money, in one way or another (don't ask) on top of Claire's earnings for us to have a pretty comfortable life. Quite honestly, I think people should turn their talents to whatever suits them and if you can find a way to live, without having to work yourself into an early grave then do it. I say this, because if it hadn't been for that health scare eight years ago I doubt whether I'd be here now. At 33, I may have owned a house, had a good job and all the rest of it but I wasn't happy. Two nights in hospital with blood pressure of 20...

I was so proud of Ollie tonight. St Edburg's is a Church of England school that have a strong religious ethic woven into the fabric of their daily learning. Now I am not overtly religious, a church-goer or anything like that and I won't use this forum to go into any personal beliefs. However the values that they uphold - faith, hope, charity, love for one's fellow human beings, forgiveness and such like are ones that we can all livr our lives by, whether we have religious beliefs or not. Basically being what I would call being a good person. Anyway, those of you that have followed Ollie's progress over the years will know I have had very trying times with him, refusal to participate in singing, group activities etc during his toddler years, struggling to fit in with other children, the difficult start to his schooling. Ollie was born prematurely on August 27th, which puts him right at the end of the school year. Not only is he the youngest child in the school he i...

It seems I am destined not to work on Saturday 10th December, enquiries numbers 5 and 6 have fallen by the wayside. You'll remember from an earlier post that I had somehow managed to turn 4 jobs into 0, well the saga continues. A lady phoned up from Brackley wanting an 80s night, we agreed a price (200+) and it was all agreed and done and dusted on email and 3 phone calls. Now as you know I do not ask for deposits or issue contracts I like to base my business on trust and up until recently only once had their been a problem in 4 years. So this is in the bag - meanwhile whilst in the middle of a night out in London I get call number 6 for the same date which I instantly reject. No point passing them on to Mike and Duncan I had already done that with one previous job for the date so I am pretty confident both will be booked. Then out of the blue up rings 80s night woman and cancels. Now, knowing that Claire was having her works Christmas do this Saturday and I was expecting t...