This evening I got an email from my brother John asking if I'd given up on my blog. The short answer is no, I've just been busy or had other things on my mind. Busy with birthday parties, Christmas & New Year parties and taxi driver for those that want to go to yet more parties. And the parties haven't finished. Fred is 64 on Thursday this week and Dave is 54 at the weekend. Mark will be 21 at the beginning of March (his girlfriend was 21 just into the new year). Suzie went to a 40th birthday party last Saturday and has to go to Cherry's 50th on this coming Friday evening, as well as Dave's do on Saturday night.
None of this has been made any the easier by the rather severe weather conditions that gripped the country for a few weeks, and where we probably got off the lightest. Thing is my car has too much technology, so when conditions are dodgy the traction control cuts in, cuts engine power and leaves you no option but to stop... which is when the ABS cuts in and stops you from braking safely. I really, really do wish I could afford to change my car, but, finances aren't anything special right now so that's out of the question. Hopefully some milder weather is just around the corner and I can get back on the motorbike. At least I haven't missed any days from work, unlike John who has missed a couple after getting snowed in - but I did have one night when I abandonded the car at the local shops and walked the 200 yards home, no way it was coming up the street (too much ice and snow).
All this adverse weather meant checking in more frequently on the old folks and getting them stuff from the shops when they ran short - not often as it happens, they seem to carry a years stock of just about everything. In the middle of it all Suzie's Tigra had to go for an MoT (and passed with flying colours) as did Andy's girlfriend's Ka, which didn't and needed £150 spent on welding to get it through. Mark's little 1200 Punto just keeps going and even with a screw in one of the front tyres... he must get that seen to soon.
Work has been busy, as one would expect after the redundancies that have been dished out on the run-down to Christmas. I don't see how the bosses can hope to increase revenue if they don't have the investment in knowledgeable staff to do the work that is there waiting to be done. Still, not my problem so long as I've got jobs lined up and they pay my salary. Suzie is busier still, having had to cover off for the PA to the Council's Chief Exec while she's been tending to her mother in Cyprus following the death of her father at Christmas.
And then there's the old folks. My mum has struggled to cope with Dad who is deteriorating visibly since the in / out / in / out episode at Royal Derby Hospital in early December and then the week of respite just before Christmas - without that I dread to think what mum would be like now. I pop in as often as I can but there's little I can do because when I'm there Dad doesn't play up, then as soon as I'm gone he's wanting mother to run around fetching drinks (which she then has to tip to his lips) and get him on and off the commode. It's got to the point that when he nods off and has a kip, so does she. I was dreading her falling over in the ice and snow.
To close, it's nice to be able to report that Christine has been a bit more active with her emails recently, as she now has a Blackberry and she uses that to reply to emails and keep in touch. Oh, and her Christmas card to us arrived ten days or so into the new year. Keep it up sis!
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