Blue Christmas (Eight Days to Go)

"You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white"



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Lockdown Diary - Tuesday 12th January 2021

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Work today with the added excitement of a trip to the doctor's surgery to liven it up a bit. Work is busy at the moment, though I'm finding it quite interesting as I'm having to learning about and understand all my client's systems - what they do, how they fit together etc - and as it's a retailer I can also relate what happens in the real world with what happens in the systems as a consequence. It's very complex, which adds to the interest. I get a great deal of pleasure from understanding complexity, especially where you can relate the real world, macro level view to the micro level.  It's why I enjoy meteorology, it's why I enjoyed being an IBM Mainframe systems programmer and Assembler programming, why I liked debugging and tuning CICS systems and, in a non-work sense, why I find 'Finnegans Wake' endlessly enjoyable and fascinating. Enough of that, back to work and point of sale transactions. (Oh, and I guess that qualifies me as a geek, full...
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Tales From The Crypt - Monday 9th May 2022

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My non-working day starts with me checking on the progress of son #2's BA flight from Miami to London. When I first look it has over 4 hours to go and is to the south-east of Gander in New York's oceanic airspace at 38,000 feet and travelling at a decent 540 knots groundspeed. Guess the flight is picking up some speed courtesy of the Jetstream. Several jobs to do around the house today, including changing my bed. At least it looks as if I'll be able to wash the bedding and get it dried in the fresh air as it's pretty warm, if not blazingly sunny. Somehow the morning evaporates getting some minor chores done and it's almost time to make lunch.  As son #3 and I gear up to make lunch, son #2 arrives home from Costa Rica via Heathrow. He's knackered as he didn't sleep on the flight  After lunch, I mix up some mortar to fill the hole in the brickwork that resulted from the repair/replacement of the central heating drain valve.  This turns out to be an easy job an...
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Tales From The Crypt - Thursday 15th September 2022

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It started with a walk In the back of the estate How could I resist The aroma of the early morning air (With apologies to Hot Chocolate) That is how my day started, after which work became my main focus. It was another day of revolving doors: son #2 is accompanying his gf to Heathrow as she begins her long journey home to Costa Rica, via Boston and Newark. United!!! It's also son #1's gf's birthday today, so they're off out too and of course, son #3 is sunning himself with his gf in Menorca. For a while, the house is almost empty, silent apart from the sound of the air mattress pump cycling and the planned interruption of E's carers. The peak of excitement for me today is the slow cooker experiment.  Tonight's dinner will be pulled pork (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, but I'll restrain myself), which goes on at around midday after minimal preparation. Tomorrow night chicken cacciatore. A new future beckons. Work seamlessly transforms int...
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Love, Poetry and Revolution - Tuesday 25th March 2025

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After a long period of stasis, I have just completed the first step in changing our house and garden to meet the needs of us all.  The first step is converting our garden into a usable space for socialising and hosting gatherings (maybe with food if guests are lucky!) I'm on the verge of starting a project to convert our garage into a combined music room, library, and guest bedroom. It's long been a dream of mine to have a library and a music room, and this dream is now almost a reality.   You might ask why I didn't start this sooner? The overarching reason is that being E's carer, with all that entailed, it was almost impossible (for a long time) to muster the energy or positivity needed to make such big changes. Not only that, some of these changes would have been impossible whilst E was in her hospital bed. Getting to the point where I could even imagine there was a future for me was a very long process involving pain, upheaval, and a lot of counselling.  I need t...
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Tales From The Crypt - Friday 27th May 2022

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Washing on, then a walk and talk with Q before making breakfast, hanging out washing and starting work. My gast was nearly flabbered, as within an hour of logging on my access to my client's IT system was finally restored. Choirs of angels. Trumpets. Hallelujah's wall to wall. Consequently, I am glued to the screen more than I should be, but finally making progress. Late morning, I call the hospital for an update on E. Turns out she's not coming home today and so won't be home before Monday. A mixed blessing, but I guess she's in the safest place over the weekend.  I do hope she's home before the jubilee celebrations. I've packed my bags to head to the coast again: another weekend with Q beckons. Everything is sorted at home, so I head off earlier than usual.  I've arrived. Lebanese food. 'Killing Eve'. Sleep.  Let the weekend begin. Microdisney / 'Mrs Simpson' / 'Crooked Mile' [[]]
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