Roller Coaster

Now that has been a tough week. All a bit of an emotional roller coaster but the end is in sight - mostly.

Monday's list of jobs went pretty well although the mowing and strimming took a back seat and got shuffled right out to Saturday just gone, in the end.

Daughter's big day on Tuesday was a jolly use of time. we had a leisurely start to the day and then went off to Cabot's Circus in Bristol. You might be fogiven for thinking there were clowns and performing elephants, however, there were none for it is the name of the relatively new shopping centre. If you're wondering, the Cabot in question is John Cabot and there's all the historical gen on him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot but the short version is that he was the first european since the vikings to explore mainland North America in 1497.

I'm sure he wasn't planning on having a shopping center named after him, but we live in a strange world.

We also paid a visit to the scandinavian flat pack land that is Ikea. As always this resulted in a return trip being needed to take back what didn't fit or to replace what was damaged under the packaging. This is a consistent and constant bug bear of what would otherwise be a very useful store of furnishings.

Wednesday found me back to the "rolling dung uphill" routine with the badman. We're still pushing although we are sort of leaning on the ball and catching our breath ready for the next big push. Thursday was a trip to a starfleet outpost to gather the team and review the situation so far. General consensus is that we're all going in the right direction and that Friday's meeting in a different star system will be a turning point.

Which brings me to Friday. Funerals are never much fun. It was a terribly sad and moving occasion and everyone that was present felt the pain of the children that my cousins wife leaves behind. 41 is no age at all, and 15 and 17 is a hard time to loose your mother. They do have a hugely supportive group of family and friends and my cousin is doing his best to hold it all together, but the pain is very raw. The crematorium was standing room only and one hopes that this in a small way might provide some comfort to them in their hour of need. A rough day for everyone involved.

Friday evening, on our return journey from the forgotten county, Mrs G and I were able to catch up with A, L and A and this provided some light in an otherwise heavy and dark day.

Finally on Saturday I got the mower fired up for the second cut and the strimmer had it's first run of the year. "Hoorah!!" said the lawn, which is now quite happy to show it's face in public. I was beginning to think I'd never find the time, but it's all ship shape and bristol fashion now.

The other half of Saturday was all about the remains of the 21st birthday celebrations. This time, it was to involve, grandparents, parents and friends of daughter all attending a local curry house for a bit of a nosh up and the onwards into Cheltenham for drinking, dancing and general shenanigans.

Of course, grandparents aren't particularly suited to the clubbing scene so they snuck off home to open a nice bottle of red and have a game of scrabble probably. It turns out that Mrs G and I (and Aunty S & M) have reached that point in our lives where we too are not the best of bedfellows with a nightclub any longer. This came as quite a shock to me, having been at my most relaxed in such environments for many years. I supposed though, that it comes to all of us, and for the first time ever I found myself wanting a bit of a sit down and a chat as opposed to jumping around to some banging house tunes. Very disconcerting. Still, we made the best of the overpriced drinks and the underdressed youths and finally crawled off towards the night bus at around 1am. I'd never say never, but my clubbing days are numbered I believe.

And so to Mothering Sunday. The fun just keeps on coming... really I need a break, so I'm looking forward to being back at work just to stop the socialising and earn rather than spend. A journey up to Tewksbury and lunch in a nice old hotel followed by a little walk out by the river with Mrs G and both mothers (and other halves of course) made for a most welcome end to the weekend.

This all left me with no other option other than to collapse into a fitfull sleep of the sofa variety from about 4pm until 5ish...

Ordinarily I would have said that was a waste of an hour of my day, but in this occasion we've been fitting so much emotion into our days that exhaustion is taking over and it was an hour exceptionally well spent. If I've learnt one thing this week, it's make the most of every moment you have.

To quote the great Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding "Get busy living, or get busy dying"

Until next time....

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This post originally appeared here: Posterous