Skip to main content

Happy 2017!



So - new year already and back to work the day after tomorrow - eek! Amanda and I have just been chatting on the phone and said the same - while we don't mind going back to work (the routine and absence of chocolate / cake / booze etc. will be a good thing!) - we do mind going back to the 5am starts. No one needs that in their life - if only there was a way to live somewhere nice, have a stimulating job and not have to get up at the crack of dawn everyday. Answers on a postcard please.


The holidays have been lovely - we've seen lots of friends, managed to get out and about enough but not too much, entertained and relaxed - just what was required. I will admit that while Christmas Eve and Boxing Day were a perfect mix of family and friends, in anticipation of a Christmas Day with 50% of the family playing Scrooge (Glenn and Abi) I threw a massive strop right from the start and was particularly grumpy. I tried to shake it off with a run but even that didn't work and so it was a day to forget more than anything else. Next year we are definitely going to do something different, even if its just me resetting my expectations!  Less said the better really.


New Year has been a lovely mix of drinks at Simon and Elizabeth's last night with lots of people we were happy to spend the evening with, home by 10pm and in bed by 11. Perfect for us. We lay in bed and listened to the fireworks (we can never actually see anything from our window despite the really loud bangs) and then went to sleep without too heavy a head this morning. Today it was the ritual drive to Sandbanks for  lunch and a windy (this year very wet) walk along the beach. We were joined by Simon and Sharron as well as Simon and Audrey - so nice to see them now back from France and looking forward to a new beginning back in the UK. They are now planning on a new flat, new job and new opportunities closer to family and friends. We are all very pleased to have them close again and it was particularly nice to see how much the girls had missed them.


So who knows what 2017 will bring. 2016 has been good to us in many ways - we have our health and happiness which above all else is what counts. My new years resolutions are simple - more time for friends and family, more relaxation and more of what counts, whatever that is. The girls have grown up so much this year. It's becoming obvious that soon we will be losing them to teenage angst and all the fun that brings. They are still at the age where we can have and hold them close for a while longer so that's definitely part of the plan for this year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...

How time flies

I've probably started the blog a hundred times on how fast time seems to pass, but this photo that Jo sent us this week just sums it up perfectly. Over the holidays we had the pleasure of meeting the newest Obbard (a pink one!) and we reminisced about the times they've all spent together, and how fast they've all grown up. Miss Eleanor Charlotte Holly Obbard is so very cute - much as I can take or leave a baby boy, a little girl brings very different emotions and I could happily have held her for hours. So now we are all back into the work and school and it feels like the holidays were 10 weeks rather than 10 days ago. My new job seems to be shaping up just fine - lots to do but I'm feeling incredibly energised by it all - and the girls are pleased to be back into the routine of classes and clubs. That is, apart from the earlier mornings - none of us are loving that. This weekend Abi came home all excited - she has her own licence trial and she is so excited about...

Snow!

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, today it snowed... but more of that in a minute. Yesterday actually felt like a day of much progress. Despite Covid we managed to arrange a visit to Taunton School to have a look around with the girls and to meet the Headmaster. This was a massive relief as I had got to the point of thinking we would have to accept a place without ever stepping foot inside the school. In the end we had a very comprehensive, if a little deserted, tour of the school and the kids loved it, as did we. There may even be a small chance they might squeeze us in if we are there by the summer term - that is of course if the kids are back into school by then. The other news was that I managed to speak to Mr &Mrs Tucker - the people buying our house - and we tentatively agreed that we will try and complete during the Easter holidays which could have us moving in the third week of April. This does require everyone to have got all of what they need done, and that of ...