Plans & Projects

Words cannot describe just how much Phil was looking forward to finishing his contract in Abingdon but when he came through the door on Thursday evening and threw down the Ford KA keys for one last time, rather than relief, what he actually felt was a real anti climax.  I’m not sure just what he expected to feel like but already after a long weekend and a lie in on Monday morning he’s a much happier bunny.  Thank Christ for that, I’m not sure how much longer I could have put up listening to his moans and groans and looking at miserable boat face.

Where as Phil, is ecstatic to have his newfound freedom back, I, on the other hand, even after only a few days, am missing mine.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not missing the early mornings or the tedious task of sandwich making for one moment, but well, having Phil around 24/7 is a bit like having a naughty school boy back for the long summer holidays, he is very demanding!  I am sure I will adjust and well, it’s only 3 weeks before we jet off to Goa.   As you may be able to tell from the last posting, Phil is very excited, I was a little apprehensive at first, worrying about a million things, but now, I too, have caught the travel bug and at the end of the day, it was too good a bargain to miss out on.  We have agreed that we will be in the UK for Christmas and have already made plans which is very unusual for us; normally we make no commitments (NONE WHAT SO EVER) before December and then we usually book a cheap flight, let everyone down and piss off somewhere.  This year we are going to Phil’s mum and dads on Christmas Eve so that we can help with the preparations and then we will drive back to MK after lunch on Christmas Day to make dinner for Harriet.   Sorted!!!

Now that Phil has finished work, my goal is to really force him is to step up the exercise and concentrate on his diet.  He chickened out of the gym on Friday morning using paperwork as an excuse.   I let him off, after all it was his first day of freedom but I still went for a quick run.   We had leftovers for lunch and then walked to the city centre to watch a movie.  Thankfully we both agreed on the same film, ‘The Social Network’.  What a truly brilliant movie and better still, it was based on a true story.  It was amazing and I, no we, can both highly recommend that you go and see it, and really, the sooner, the better.   It’s fast paced and you need to keep all your wits about you, just in case you miss something, but you won’t be disappointed, I promise!!  It didn’t matter that Phil missed the gym, a 2 hour walk there and back made up for it.

I mentioned earlier that I don't miss the early morning alarm calls but in reality Phil has been awake at 5.30am every morning since he finished work. It’s been excuse after excuse, peeing, number twos, general insomnia, complaining of me sleep talking or wriggling and pinching the duvet, anyway, whatever, the spare sofa bed is rucksack laden so he has nowhere else to go, bar the sofa.   On Saturday morning we were awake so early, I think around 4.30am that we were in plenty of time to get to the market for fruit and veggies. After that we queued up at the Post Office to sort out our Indian Visas.  Even though this process is slightly easier since the Indian Embassy outsourced the visa applications, it was still a nightmare.  We were the first in the queue for the travel desk and still, it took us half an hour.  Afterwards we went to the gym for a fairly respectable session.  Unfortunately, I had to cut Phil short, my right hip pain and my hamstring problems meant I could only do an hour; my boy wasn’t impressed. And, to be honest, neither was I, but if I am going workout to my full potential in the future, I need to be kind to my muscles and not overdue it.  I don’t remember what we did for lunch on Saturday but I suggested a walk around the block in the afternoon (in our case a round trip round the canal via the shops and back) but SOMEHOW we ended up the pub.  How did that happen??? Don’t blame me, it was Phil’s suggestion because he wanted to test out the free Wi-Fi on his new iPhone4, and well, I am never a girlie to turn down a glass of white!  A few pints later, and a bottle of white wine and we toppled back home along the canal, which was a little soggy underfoot.  The rest of Saturday was movies and X-Factor and then bed. 

On Sunday we were awake with the lark and caught up with papers in bed.  We didn’t make it to the gym; I’m not sure what Phil did with his morning but I did a lovely roast lamb chop dinner foregoing roasties for mash and I even did a meat pie ‘meals on wheels’ dinner for Chris.  We didn’t get to the gym but I forced Phil out on a walk to Willen via the Peace Pagoda.  We’d only been going 40 minutes when Phil needed the toilet so we had to turn back which was a shame because it was really lovely day.   His toilet need became urgent so we had to stop off at the Ship Ashore and of course we had to stay for a drink, only the one though.  I am afraid to say that Sunday afternoon was films, recordings and chocolate.   We were getting ready for pyjamas and an early night when Kevin from across the road, knocked on the door because, once again, he’d lost his key.  I fed him a can of full fat coke, a mince pie and a packet of quavers.  Of course, I phoned Sandy, his mum, and luckily she was already on her way home.  I popped over to make sure all was okay and I was dismayed to hear that Sandy’s central heating has conked out again.   I lent her our gas radiator and feel a bit guilty that the plumber that I’d recommended (Shaun), who installed a new timer costing £199 had failed after only a few months.   In return for the loan of our gas radiator Sandy gave me 6 newly laid eggs from her chickens. I shall look forward to eating these.

I’ve phoned Sue a few times during the last week to see how Alan was doing and I’m afraid to say that it hasn’t all been positive.  Alan & Sue went to Oxford for a hospital appointment last Wednesday where upon he was admitted, and to my knowledge, he still hasn’t been discharged.  He’s had a few set backs, he can’t have the operation to remove the tumour because he’s too unwell, he’s suffered a series of allergic reactions to the opiates (which I’m guessing is Morphine) and the reactions have been rashes and sickness. Just picked up a text from Sue sent last night to say that Alan had a biopsy yesterday and hopefully (fingers crossed) they will be home later this week. 

We have lots of projects to work on before we fly away.  Phil has said that he wants to sell some stuff on eBay and I want to redecorate our bedroom, big time.  I want new furniture, I want to do a feature wall and generally make it brighter and sexier.  My sister Lou sent me some photos of her newly decorated bedroom, her focus is orange with a painting which she commissioned from one of her ‘artist’ friends.  I think I’m fairly good with a paint brush, but believe me, my sister is really talented. Her style is minimalist, modern but with a slight 70’s feel and maybe slightly masculine: I am nowhere near as creative; my style is clean but maybe flowerier and pretty rather than functional.  I guess we are all different and it would be a boring world if we all liked the same.  Phil & I went to IKEA yesterday because I wanted to look for some funky bedroom units; alas, we couldn’t agree on anything, actually I didn’t really see anything that would suit so we came away empty handed.  I think I will have to go and have a look in Habitat without Phil because the prices compared to IKEA are bound to make him have a heart attack.

Phil cooked a spinach chana dal and rice for lunch yesterday.  This basically is an Indian veggie dal curry which is very healthy.  It’s not my favourite dish and I have to force it down but I’m conscious that we eat an awful lot of meat especially red meat so I think we need to try and cut down and eat more vegetarian meals.  Having Phil home once again has upset the day-to-day happy routine that I had established for myself.  Its early days I know, but even Phil agrees that we need to figure out a daily routine to maximise our time more fully.  Here here, I say, I have been trying to enforce this into him for years but anyway, we’ve have agreed that he will be in charge of shopping and cooking and that ideally he needs to have our main meal prepared or at least half prepared the day before.  We are going to aim to be at the gym by half eight latest which gives us time to have a really good workout and swim and then home for lunch leaving the afternoons free to work on ‘projects’.   That is the plan anyway, whether it pans out remains to be seen.  Phil can be unpredictable at the best of times but living with him is certainly never boring!