Wednesday 29 April 2020

First week off

This is my first week off without a contract and it's gone fairly well.  So far i've managed to get Flo to go down for a sleep once (1/3).  3 new suitable roles have been shown to me and with any luck i'll get an interview or two out of them.  But if not, not to worry.  It might be nice to have us both off when the new baby arrives in just over a month.

Watch this space.

It's arrived!

My lightsaber has arrived from the US and it's brilliant! 

I was a bit worried when I first switched it on as it didn't work. I put the rechargeable batteries on to charge and tried some normal AA ones but still nothing. The lithium ones that came with it eventually charged so put them in. It lit up. So did my face! 
Florence is impressed... 
Hanging on a guitar hook

Saturday 25 April 2020

I know I'm strong but...


I snapped my pestle in two! 

It's very close


It's still saying delivery date next Thursday, but it's only 11 miles away in Aylesford so surely sooner than that. Let's hope they do Saturday deliveries. 

Wednesday 22 April 2020

Well, that was fun

We had 7 or 8 of us at one point and it was surprisingly good fun.



Next week's suggestion is robotwars!

Gladiators ready...

Tonight's 'sports' night sport will be a re-watching of an old episode of 1990s Gladiators. Should be fun. 

My Ultrasaber has been shipped!

My custom light saber from Ultrasabers has been shipped! That's taken about 3 weeks, a lot quicker  than I was expecting. Expect so see many videos of me during the lock down prancing about like a twat pretending to fight the sith. 

Monday 20 April 2020

Last week of work starts today

And I hope it's a quiet one.  Apart from a bit of short notice work that I had to do early this morning it should go fairly easily.

Looks like the few opportunities that I had a couple of weeks ago have gone quiet which is a shame as i'd like to keep working if possible but a lot of companies have just stopped all projects or ceased recruitment all together.

Something will come along.

Fancy roast

We ordered a rib of beef meal from a local fancy restaurant and for Sunday lunch at the weekend and it came in a fancy box.

April's pleased

It also came with some mashed potatoes, hispi cabbage, a chocolate tart a negroni and a mystery tub.  We didn't know what was in it so thought it might be something to do with the dessert.  It was peppercorn sauce.  Luckily we didn't make the mistake of pouring it all over the tart. 

 Getting ready
 All cooked
 None left

April enjoyed it

Friday 17 April 2020

Another sleep!

We managed to get Flo down for another midday nap yesterday.  It was certainly a lot of help as we were both fairly busy at work, April more than me.


April's with Flo at the minute but i've heard her talking so don't think we're having much luck.

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Another sports night tonight

Each week one of us is choosing a classic match / game from any sport for us to all watch.  It's cricket tonight.  Although sadly we've not been able to find a free to air highlights package for the cricket games we wanted to watch so we're limited to using sky, only 3-4 of us have sky so won't be as good as last week. What's next week going to be???

Friday 10 April 2020

Picture frames up

I (April) put up a couple of pictures frames in my office today. I've sourced a couple more that I really like but can't buy them yet as I need the carpenters to come back and finish the shelving above my desk. Then I can see how much space is left. I can't hang the pistol yet as I don't know how big the pictures will. 

A spot of gardening

The gutters on our conservatory were full of plants (actual plants with flowers!) so I eventually got off my arse to clear them out

Thursday 9 April 2020

What is the fucking point of this?


I tried to make the family some cheese sandwiches for lunch today so cut some of our freshly delivered bread.  Who the fuck invented sour dough???  A friend suggested you could have an emmental cheese sandwich and then simply align all of the holes.

First time in three weeks

It's been tough looking Flo whilst we're both working full time jobs.  My work's not to difficult at the minute but there are a lot of changes going on at April's company so she's extremely busy.


It would have been almost bearable if Flo would have her usual post lunch two hour nap but for some reason she's resisting.  Today was the first day since she's been off that we've managed to get her to go to sleep.

Wednesday 8 April 2020

2 runs in two days

I've had two runs over the past couple of days.  My last run if you don't count rugby (finished early Jan) was towards the end of October.  I'm a little bit achy but other than that they went quite well. 

No great pace, but that will improve if I can keep it up.

I haven't been able to log into work yet

There's a problem with the servers. My boss has managed to get in but is not able to load up any files. Must be a huge bottle neck with everyone in the UK trying to log on at the same time.

I've got a call at 11, hopefully I can get on by then. 

Off Instagram

I've been off Facebook for 2.5 years now and I don't miss it.  I deleted my Instagram account yesterday.  It was just another of those things you feel the need to check up on constantly just to see if anything has happened.  Nothing ever happened.  My morning routine would be to check BBC football gossip (not sure where they get their stories from now, probably the editor's latest game of football manager), check Instagram and check twitter then get up.

I'll keep twitter for a while as I do find it useful but am going to make a concerted effort to stop following people who have begun to annoy me, and block certain words.  I did this with the words Brexit and Piers and it worked a treat.


Florence eating style

I call it eclectic
Ambidextrous

Messy

Monday 6 April 2020

It's arrived



My Lord of the Rings table cover mouse mat.  I really like it.

I won't be billing this as an expense.

12 days left after today

No chance of getting a permanent role at my current place as they're on a recruitment freeze, who knows they may need contractors to fill the void.

Still not heard back about an interview I did a week or so ago, although the recruiter is going to chase.  My name has been put forward for another contracting role in a similar size firm, and there's an opportunity I might go for once I hear back about what the role will actually entail.

There's stuff out there so fingers crossed something will pop up soon.

Staying out in the Summer (early Spring)





Sun out, shorts and sandals on

Josie checking there are (where) no holes in the paddling pool

Big girl sitting on the big chair

Everybody's having fun until the incident.

Shortly after this photo as taken Flo let herself down.  She put the poo into paddling pool.  The warning signs are there, she had been farting for the previous two minutes!

Saturday 4 April 2020

We've been tidying up and I found these

I've been meaning to put them up in the shed.  Maybe i'll see if I can get them framed during the lockdown.



Friday 3 April 2020

Weekend already

Despite all the turmoil this week has actually sped past.  It will be nice to get a couple of days off as the work week has been busy for the both of us.  More so for April.  I've only only got 13 days left in my role and April has only 30 or so before starting maternity leave, so will be very strange with neither of us working. 

Mostly dragging


I took Flo out to the castle yesterday to give her a little fresh air and some much needed exercise.  


She hasn't quite got used to the scooter just yet.  She mostly drags it around after her like a pet dog.

Departmental quiz

We had a departmental quiz today.


There were 30+ of us on the call and surprisingly it was quite fun.  My team actually won!  If you zoom in you can see one of the boxes is me with Florence.  April had a more important call so I had Flo for the hour.  She was pretty good, although she did tell the others to be quiet a couple of times.


My old boss was on the call too and I spotted the Wheel of Time series of books.


I showed him mine...

Film night, a success

We managed to watch The Fugitive last night with two other couples and it went fairly well.  Apart from the time Harvey the Hougham's cat sat in front of their tablet.


Thursday 2 April 2020

Good times

Myself and 3 ( friends re-watched the 2005 Champions League final last night, it was good fun.



Tonight a bunch of us are watching the Fugitive.  Should be fun. 

Wednesday 1 April 2020

Very strange

I've been working from home for two weeks and a half now.  It feels very odd.  Mostly I feel isolated, I have a couple of calls a day at the moment with my new line manager and one or two a week with other people in the wider business.  For the rest i'm left to my own devices.  I'm still working on the parameterisation of 8 classes of business, 3 are officially signed off. 1 is pretty much there, i've got 4 to hopefully sign off tomorrow.  Not sure what else I will have left to do, I guess I will help out with the more general pricing work.  With the two bank holidays, i've only got 15 days left anyway.

I've been asked a couple of times if i'd like to go permanent, i'm unsure.  I've still not heard back regarding that interview I had last week, so I may see what sort of numbers they will offer as the uncertainty around getting a new role in the near future is certainly a lot higher than it was a month ago.  It's certainly nice to feel wanted though.