Biggest walk in a while

 April took the kids in to school this morning so I took the dog out early just before 7.  Nearly 17k steps and 13.1km in around 2h20.  Not quite marathon speed / distance but pretty good.  Just got in as it started spitting.

Great month to extend my fixed term contract by a month

 Same monthly pay, but two bank holidays, and 2 pro rata days annual leave.  The annual leave days are mine so I can do what I want!  23 work days, only have to work 19.

FM and D&D crossover

 Looks like you can play Football Manager as a Drow in the latest edition.

Not sure what happened but my avatar in the game turned into a drow when I loaded it up last night,

More weekend cooking

 This time it's Chicken and tarragon pie with sweet potato mash.  Turned out not bad

Arthur's haircut

What a cool dude 

Before

After

Magic beans

 We planted some more beans this morning.  2 of the 9 we planted 2 weeks ago properly sprouted so we planted them outside.  Arthur threw a ball for the dog which obviously immediately broke one of the recently planted beans so we planted another 3.  Hopefully they will all take.

I cooked a steak Ramen for lunch today, yummy

 

Egg cut

Veg

Searing that steak

Lovely criss cross

Soup

Finally put the clock up in the play room

 After the bigs works a couple of years my cat clock has been out of action.  We've finally put it back up.

Final payment made

 We paid the last installment on our jukebox today.  That's £500 extra each month we'll have for the time being.  We had the money at the time but they offered an interest free loan so took it up.  We've obviously spent the money we had before the loan on other things so will be nice to free up a bit of cash.  It'll certainly help with cashflow.  School fees and wrap around care are bloody expensive.

Here's a silly picture of me when we went over to the Bristol showroom to test drive one.

2 weeks left of coaching the kids

 There's only 2 weeks left of coaching the kids rugby on Sundays before it starts all over again in September with me heading up the under 5s and under 6s.  I'm heading up the session again this weekend.  Going to keep it simple and I definitely won't be running the obstacle course as I was in a lot of pain all afternoon after over exerting myself racing against the kids.

I've been offered another month

Which will probably be rolling if I need it.  Still nothing concrete on the contracting front so will sign it once the contract comes through.

The contract is through so will sign it this afternoon

Plus if I end up staying till July there's an extra £2.5k bonus for me.

Poker evening

 We had a poker night upstairs in my local last night.  I was winning at one point, then Stu was winning then Jono took an insurmountable lead and eventually won!  £20 in each, winner buys a few extra drinks at the end of the evening.  

Bristol visit

 

Only £7.10 in Bristol

Where I graduated

Docks looking pretty

The comunal boat / bar opposite my old house

The pub next to my old house

Some new flats next to my old house

My old house (red door)

My old halls

My old room!

You know you've made it when

 Waitrose sends you personalised vouchers for goats cheese

Bristol trip

 I'm enroute to Bristol today.  I'm there to visit my mate John, one of my old uni mates.  Not sure what to expect as we don't really have any plans.  Hopefully some nice food and popping into a couple of my favourite old Bristol Bars.  It's been ages since I was last there so will be fun to see how it's all changed.

Here she is!

 I think she looks good!

What will Arwen look like

 I took Arwen in to get her haircut earlier and have asked for her to have a short cut.  This will apparently get rid of her puppy hair but she's nearly 4 so not really a puppy anyway.  It should mean we won't have to cut her hair as often.  Hopefully she doesn't look too bad. 

Good fun yesterday

 Started off in Chandos, £7.70 a pint!

Finished off with chow mein, sweet and sour chicken and some chicken and sweetcorn soup to start.  Delicious! 

First big walk with the dog in ages

14,000 steps already this morning.  I walked the kids to school and took the dog straight out when I got home. With the kids off for over 3 weeks it's been hard to take the dog out for a long walk.  

London calling

 I've got today off from work as I have a few left to use before I leave work and am heading into London to see my mate James.  We used to meet up everyday for lunch pre pandemic and sometimes after work for a couple of cheeky beers before heading home.  With us both mostly working remotely from home plus having children and wife commitments it sometime hard to arrange a date.  Should be fun.  We're going to have a mini pub crawl around Charing Cross / Soho.  That means it's China Town for dinner before heading home!

An extra month

 Not much news on the job hunting front although I got confirmation on Friday night that they'd like to keep me on for another month which is nice to know.  I'd need to sign up for the whole month but don't have to sign yet in case something big comes up before the end of the month.

Subways

Suported by Indoor Pets.  The first band was the best

Not sure how he managed to play the bass!

 

Speedster

 Only 2 sessions left of the season for the minis and it was a good one.  The usual dickheads where well behaved and Arthur is continuing to have lots of fun.

I was stiff after the game on Saturday but more or less fine but I was in agony after the training session with the kids!  I was racing a few of them on the obstacle coarse and went a bit to hard through the slalom and I could hardly get off the sofa yesterday with a bad back.  It seems a lot better today but still sore.

48-24

We beat Gravesend 48-24 at the weekend.  The last vets game of the season.  It was a little unfair on the Gravesend lot as we they only had 3 subs.  We had 8 or 9, who most where from the 2nd team and young and fit.  It was good fun though, plus no injuries to boot!

Cream cheese and chocolate spread snacks

 

Making the most of the sun

 

Two out of nine isn't bad

 We'll plant some more this weekend.

Finally got it sorted

 Since we got our new car in December it's been giving us warnings due to the tire pressure not being high enough.  I finally got it sorted yesterday.  We've now got happy blue tires on the screen.

Back to work

 I'm back at work today (remote) after 13 days off.  Most of my team are away today anyway so i've got nothing to do.  I'm off tomorrow with the kids and i'm also off next Monday (beers in town with James) and Wed / Thurs (off to Bristol to visit my mate John).

That leaves me with 9 days work left in my ftc.  Things are a little quiet on the job hunting front although there is an excellent one that is available (2 roles) that i've done before (different management though).  We shall see.  That would be outside IR35 so i'd finally be able to put it through my company!.  

 The kids were away last Thursday at a holiday club so we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy meal at a village pub we've been meaning to try for ages.  Although expensive, it was very good.