Skip to main content

Happy new year (let's hope it's a better one)

Well, that's the end of 2020 and aren't we all glad to see the back of it! The last 2 weeks have been a great chance to have some downtime, although I will freely admit that with everything going on (life more so than the move), I'm heading back into work feeling less rested than I might have hoped for. If I'm honest I think I, like a number of others I've spoken to, just feel a bit emotional about what's going on right now. The pandemic continues to have a grip on everything we do and all spontaneity has escaped us. At the same time the vaccines started to give us hope for an end to all the madness, the new variant of Covid increased transmission rates by 70% and so we are all heading back into lockdown again (or something which looks and feels like a lockdown even if its called 'tier 4'). The kids start back at school tomorrow and have 2 weeks of remote learning to look forward to before they have any hope of being back in the classroom, and even that doesn't fill them with joy as the restrictions mean they are constantly being told off for not wearing a mask / standing too close to a friend / walking on the wrong side of the corridor / sharing some stationery... madness. 

In better news we have been back to the barn twice now and every time we go it just gets better. We seem to be spending money like water and we are nowhere near exchanging contracts - lets hope our trust is not misplaced. The opportunity to input into the final finish is wonderful, even if we hare having to take a punt on a few things and buy from website photos because we cant shop for anything in person!!  Despite the much smaller space, I think we will be OK and Im enjoying the process of simplifying already.

This week I sorted out all of my glass and put the kilns up on a FB forum where they took less than 10 minutes each to sell. The lady who came for the smaller kiln rather surprised herself and her husband by mot only buying the kiln but also all of my left over glass, tools, fire paper - everything! She walked away £2000 poorer but very excited with her (bargain) horde. Her husband looked less pleased, muttering to himself "I don't know where this is all going"! Sorting it all out did make me a bit sad. I came to realise (bit of an epiphany moment) that I'd bought a lot of the glass as an antidote to how work was making me feel at the time. - much of it bought on the train home after another frustrating day. It's no surprise that I haven't felt the need to do anywhere near as much since leaving EY. I have loved the creative process but I'm not sad to leave it behind for the moment. I think I will come back to it in time, but not now - I don't need it just now which is a sign of how much happier I am professionally. 

Glenn has also sold a few tools which he hasn't used for ages and is planning on downsizing a bit more, if he can bring himself to do so. We just want to get going now - it's the waiting that's a killer.

So back to work and a very busy month, which will at least pass the lockdown time more quickly. I can't wait to get to the end of January, it's always such a slow month, so that we start to feel the benefit of the days getting longer and more hope of an end to the pandemic. In the meantime, deep breath and dive in - will all feel better in the morning when I'm in the midst of it rather than on the sidelines just thinking about wall to wall Teams meetings again...

If only always so well behaved!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

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...

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau...