It's Going To Be A Hard Christmas

I really think rather than waiting for so long before we took any decisive action I'd done something earlier as it is almost Christmas and the atmosphere is difficult.  Mrs. F. doesn't want any Christmas presents or birthday presents from me or anyone else for that matter.  I kind of thought that I'd buy her something for both Birthday and Christmas.  Just a little something as I said it would feel wrong of me not to.  I've known her for 40 years and she's probably, once she's got over this, my best friend or I'd like to hope that she will remain so. 

Maybe I'm being delusional and not facing up to the reality of it all I don't know.  I'd like to think that I'd still be civilised and still be nice and kind to her - she's the mother of my children after all said and done.  I'm in that neither here nor there place again.  In some ways I see that I need to get the hell out of here and to go lead my own life for my own sanity and also to allow me the freedom to now go and develop my business.  It's a difficult thing to explain but I do feel - and rightly so - not welcome here and it is no longer my home.  I don't feel upset as such about that - well not as upset as I felt I might be.  I feel more upset about other things that "could have been" and are lost to me.  I put a lot into holding everything together and there were hard knocks for doing so and in some way they play occasionally on my mind.   But "what ifs" are not real and I need to realise that.

It's like trying to replay meeting up with your College girlfriend or the woman you met at a convention or that you worked with and wondered "what if" - it's all a fantasy and whilst in your mind something "may have" happened - it didn't or if it did it didn't last and so what on earth is my mind doing wondering about these old flames and these what ifs and other nonsense from my past?  I tackle these like I tackle most things these days and work them through with logic and destroy these thoughts because they are my ego and my pain body trying to get attention and to wrestle back control that they no longer have over me.

It all sounds very far fetched but these thoughts play on your mind and give you false hope and dreams that can never possibly come true.  They need to be consigned back to where they belong.  After a lifetime though trying to live in the present, the now is so very hard but it is achievable.  

It's a bit like the "guilt" trip I go through each day when I have to remind myself why I'm leaving.  It would be so very easy to say - the devil you know, let's try it again, let's go through the motions and try one last time to make it work.  I wrote it all down, produced mind maps and charts and force charts and all sorts of things to make sense of it all and I just need to look at them to realise why I'm leaving; how many times I've tried before and to remind myself of the reasons that I just can't stay.  I find that it is a good thing to continue to question my actions (in some ways).  But I've done that for years, could I be wrong?  I could if it was a Hollywood Movie I suppose.  But it isn't.

Today is a bit of a landmark day as I've got all the company logos completed and all the artwork as well as the tag lines, strap lines and service lines done.  I've outlined the web site design and I'm about to embark on some of the detailed planning.  Not a lot of eBaying got done so I need to do some of that tomorrow and Sunday I suppose and clear down the last items.

Here's the Logo to the new business:

Linking Past, Present & Future

Photo Scanning | Video Transfers | Family History

I'm pretty excited about this - all I need to do now is move, set up shop and away I go.  It will give me something to concentrate on and to pull me out of my present and into my now.

Friday Blues

Seems to have been a bad week for news this week - it all seems a bit gloomy and the weather has been typically british with dampy, misty cold and miserable days.  I like autumn with the colour of the leaves and I don't mind it cold and frosty but the damp and drizzly murky grey days really can get oppressive.  But hey ho, I'm fit and well and breathing so that's a start this morning!

Despite knowing I can do little about my future, there's a little niggle going on about my future and actually I'm pretty excited about it.  What have I got to worry about I ask myself?  I'm one of the "lucky" ones - well I made my own luck in reality - who doesn't need to work today to put food in my mouth or heat my house.  I wonder if I had not worked my arse off for the past 35 years whether I'd be in this position?  It's funny isn't it, to all external appearances I'm a successful person, had great jobs, earned good money, ran my own business, have a lovely house, live in a nice village in the country and have my 2.4 children etc etc.  And yet here I am without a job (at the moment), separating from my wife and leaving my house and going to live a single life.  Success at what cost?  Of course it depends on how your measurement system works.

You see for me, now, it is very different to how it was before and I'd rather have a life now than a career.  I'd rather have that small house and perhaps someone who'd share it with me who was a complete kindred spirit.  That is an ideal situation of course.  I'd like to live by the coast and hey why not at some point in time?  Whatever I want to do is there for the taking and once free from major commitments then perhaps that's something I can consider?  Someone asked me whether I needed to work at all and whilst I've not looked into that I reckon it is possible that I could retire but I'd really like to give the new venture a go and see how that works in the future. 

It's all a bit of false dawn for me at the moment.  I know something is about to happen but haven't got the starting pistol fired yet.  Flocky is waiting for a date to be agreed on his place and then we will have a target date to find a place, arrange removals and all sorts of stuff.  Then and only then can we move.  It's no good me making any plans or anything else come to think of it.  I am pretty excited about getting out of here.  It's not nasty but it is oppressive and heavy and poor old Mrs. F. is close to tears most of the time and I feel pretty awful that I cannot help her or give her a cuddle as that's just mixed and wrong messages and will just make her hurt more.  

I know I'll be very sad when I move out and rightly so, I looked back last night and realised that I'd given just about my all to try and not be where I am now.  There's only so much rejection you can take and that's the thing - I have no idea if Mrs. F. thinks that's how you treat people, what can I say though?  Perhaps I'll sort out something for her for Christmas or her birthday in a few weeks that might help her realise.  It's difficult but we've had the conversation and she wasn't happy about it but I think she did understand why we are where we are.

Oh Dear More Bad News

My daughter's friend who has Testicular Cancer - had the operation they've now found cancer in his blood (I guess Leukemia) and so the poor lad now has to start Chemo for 6 weeks over Christmas. He and his parents must be wondering what the hell is going on.  Poor lad and of course my daughter and her friends are pretty upset too.

It is all pretty nasty I have to say.  I recall the horror at getting Bladder Cancer but imagine it at such a young age?

All around the world people make big things out of little things and get angry and upset with each other and yet here's something a little more important than all the wrongs in the world.  Roll on the day when they can stop this pernicious disease once and for all.

Not Great Updates On Some Friends / Colleagues

It is unfortunate when you find out that someone you know has Cancer and you didn't know until you heard he was having treatment etc.  Well one of these came to my attention just a few days ago so I spoke to one of our mutual friends and he told me it ain't looking good.  Another Asbestos related Lung Cancer and there isn't a great deal you can do with that stuff I'm afraid.  So it isn't looking good for him.

My friend who had his Esophagus removed has had complications and the day after successful surgery he had his Lung collapse and a serious infection set in which meant he had to go back to the Operating Theatre again and is in a  High Dependency Unit as I write and he has been there some time and is "Very Poorly" which is so sad.  

So there's some sobering stuff to get on with and that is one of those things then I heard that someone else wasn't coming along - there Father-In-Law had been peeing blood for sometime and not done anything about it!!!!!  So it may well be Bladder Cancer but who knows?  So good grief, let's hope they sort him out...

Me?  I'm in rude health really, still have this slight throat problem but it is intermittent and I'm almost certain that it is "stress" related - I tend to have my throat constrict and dry up especially when I'm talking to Mrs. F. as she gets upset and I get upset for her.  Some may think that it is strange that I feel bad for her but I really do and even now I feel upset thinking about how down she feels.  It is a sad old time alright and of course I can't do anything for her suffering so I feel helpless and no matter what has happened I'm a human being and somewhere responsible for part of the situation.

I feel fit and healthy but nothing that even more weight loss will help me sort out.  I think that I've gone into a slight stall again and I hover around 15 stone a few pounds either way.  It is always difficult to get an accurate measurement anyway so I'm not worried about the odd pounds on and off.  I really want to start to get down to the 14 Stone and below mark.  I noticed that my thighs and arms are now more muscle than fat and the side handles around my stomach and indeed my stomach are gone.  I have trousers that fit around the waist now so much so that I have to wear braces to keep them up as they fall off me :-)  Which is great and further incentive to get myself losing even more weight into the New Year.  

I'm still on the Low Carbohydrate High Fat lifestyle and so far in 10 months that's 3 1/2 stone off and I feel healthier and fitter.  I allow myself beer and the odd and I do mean odd thing like a Croissant or Biscuit etc on occasions.  It is just a matter of not eating all the stuff that will ram the weight back onto you.  Here's the link to the simplest site for information.  The video at 1 hour of investment is particularly interesting.    The other 4 videos just go to prove he is a good Doctor but not a natural interviewer :-) 

I've set my lifestyle to be LCHF now and I quite enjoy the food I eat but it is slightly counter intuitive sometimes.  You feel guilty that you can get tucked into a big fried breakfast of eggs, Bacon and Mushrooms every day but hey I'm still here and so far so good.  It will be interesting to see what my Blood Pressure is like and maybe I'll set myself up to do a series of readings for Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure again so that I can compare what they used to be with how they are now.

It's positively Polar today

Boy is it cold today.  My feet, my nose and my fingers feel cold and I've just gone and put the heating on.  And I've just sliced my finger open on the radiator in my office! Typical as I was checking where the bleed valve is (the irony) and there's a sharp bit of metal sticking there!  Ouch.

I shall have to give up in a minute and go downstairs and cook myself some tea to warm up.

We had a squall earlier on and really heavy hail which set my car alarm off and made everything white for a while!  I expect we will see some more yukky weather too for the rest of the week.  Oh well I am concentrating on my eBay clearance and so far I'm getting along OK but my feet are like blocks of ice after being here all day.

My graphic artist has just sent me through the image library for the web site so I also need to get my bum in gear and do something with that as soon as I can - I feel a plan coming on so I can work out what I've got to do and by when.  It's all go......

What Irks You?

Interesting we had a brief conversation about the way some people get upset about things.  This happened to be about whether someone should have been promoted or not and who, because he wasn't and was perhaps overlooked, started building almost a dossier of grievances and then through illogical actions upset the very people who were able to assist him to get the promotion.

Now, it isn't really fair to say but I will, it is almost a paranoia and a total disenchantment and everyone else who gets a promotion is younger, not been in as long as me, somebody's favourite and so on.  It's not just him there is anger and resentment in others too.  It seems no one is happy with their lot and everyone has got a moan about something.

Since the summer I've found it doesn't mean anything to me.  I was going to say that at one time I was hankering and hoping for promotion myself and today - nah.  What's the point?   What is it after all?  It's a stroke for your ego.  It's a meaningless symbol that says you are "higher" than someone else.  It's actually quite a strange thing when you think about it.  

This is Masonry and sometimes it's one of those things you have to remind people about.  Sure it's serious and it's got great values at its heart and that's why it has lasted so long.  It has some very interesting avenues of research etc etc.  It's a great thing but the problem some people also have is that it is a Club.  It is our hobby, it is something that you should enjoy and all the bitching in the background isn't quite what it is all about.  I understand it but it just seems to me to be wrong.  Missing the point in many ways.  In the overall scheme of things what importance do you place on your position in a hierarchy?  

But don't you see this everywhere and in every walk of life.  Someone upset because of something someone else has done?  I used to get upset about it but the only person upset about it was me!  Hold on, I didn't do anything, it's totally up to him what he does, why am I annoyed or upset about it?  Now of course it could be that it directly or indirectly affects me but do you know what?  These days I just let them get on with it and don't worry about it.  What's the point of me getting angry and upset at all?  Do I think the guy is doing something to me on purpose or just being an arse or making the wrong decision?  Well it no longer matters to me.  The only person who got upset or affected used to be me.  So I no longer worry about it.  I said before what will be will be.  Let that person carry on doing whatever it is and move on.  

I find these days that I hear people who are very angry or upset about things and last night there was some upset about something and it was a totally illogical ego driven process of making oneself angry with a situation that was totally out of your control to do anything about anyway?  Why did it make you angry in the first place and the sheer intensity of the anger must be boiling the persons blood and cranking up his blood pressure and making him feel bad.  He was doing all of this to himself and for what?  Something he had heard that he disagreed with.  Maybe he felt he knew better?  

So honestly what's the point of getting angry and upset and annoyed at stuff beyond your ability to control it?  Where's the logic, where's the sense?  All that damage you do to yourself and all the upset you cause yourself - it's plain silly when you think about it.

Interesting Thoughts

I popped up this gem onto FaceBook yesterday:

"We must let go of the life we had planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us" - Joseph Campbell.

To which one of my friends responded with "So true, but how to do that will take another lifetime to learn."

That was interesting so I suggested a visit to Eckhart Tolle's 'A New Earth' book which I think gives you all the tools to do this.  I can see why some people will never quite understand what he says as it is so very difficult to achieve and it is so very difficult to practice it too although I do try my best.

I am having a lot of trouble with the past at the moment.  Not I hasten to add to do directly with my marital problems.  It's difficult to describe without digging a bloody great hole for myself.  It has to do with emotions and love and friendship and how an opportunity was lost a long time ago and cannot be regained or restored.  There, that's suitably vague enough I hope :-)  It has to do with an impossible position and the reality that you can't get that time back much as you may want to and you cannot recreate it either.  The mind is a peculiar beast as it knows this and logic tells me this too.  It's impractical, impossible and yet there are these fantasies floating around and I have to blow them away because they aren't helping.  Of course it's all about the uncertainty coming my way.  

It's exciting to be restarting my life and a little daunting too.  I've got to work out to fend for myself and get back to doing more of the housework and whilst I don't mind that one bit there's a slight fear about getting it right.  Stoooopid isn't it?  There's obviously some nagging worries there and not surprisingly but what my mind is doing is coming up with scenarios that cannot possibly be that not in my wildest dreams can come true.  It's as if there's a Fear Factor" bit saying "you'll never be happy again" it takes me back to when I was very happy indeed and almost taunts me with never finding that again and yet I know that not to be true.  Perhaps there's warnings about "getting hurt" in there too - whatever it is it is pretty hard to shake out and I spent last night and the last few days shaking it out of my system and removing this dream of the future that my mind is drawing as it isn't at all constructive.  It could be a defensive mechanism I suppose but it can do no good dragging up the past and trying to create a scenario that just cannot happen.  

What hurts is that it is dragging up my past and it is in my past, I know it can't hurt me, I know it happened and sad as I am that it didn't turn out differently - it didn't and that's it.  Again though I am back in some measure of control and appear to have gotten past this episode and I just need to move on once again.  That's very much the way it is at the moment.  I understand that the uncertainty is destabilising and so it appears to be dealing with multiple things is indeed leading to these silly internal disturbances.  No wonder those Jedi Masters had such a difficult time.

I wonder what it is with people

Someone trashed my old boss online yesterday and I respectfully pointed them to a documentary about the man who was a true 20th century hero - just a lot of people don't know it.   The response, after this was that the person wasn't in the least bit interested even though what he said was patently untrue and a defamation of character.  I let it go as the idiot wore his ignorance in public with pride for all to see.  What a shame that people behave like this online but they are all big and brave online.  I like to meet these people in real life and face them down as they are very little people indeed.  The amazing thing was this guy was using the very tool invented by my boss to allow him to say what he wanted.  I suppose we give people the freedom to say stuff just as we reserve the right not to have to listen to them :-)

The amazing thing is that another bunch of trolls jumped in so I left them to it.  It really isn't worth the hassle of trying to argue with people who are rude and just out there to throw a punch and hide behind their internet disguise.  A sad reflection on life that someone thought that taking the piss out of my (now dead) boss was funny and intended as a joke.  What a w*****r.  Mind you someone else has to live with and put up with him.

So there you go that sort of peeved me but then again - why get involved with these sorts of people they only get you rattled and they need to be ignored so that they poison themselves with their caustic minds.  

I need all my awareness and will power at the moment to just concentrate on the now and work out what I need to do today not tomorrow and the past is really beginning to get to work again and I need my mind clear of that sort of stuff.  Sometimes it is very difficult to let go of the past.  I am guessing that there is a grieving process going on here that longs for that old idealised life and how you thought your life was when in fact it wasn't like that at all.  I lay in bed last night and had a number of flashbacks and thoughts about whether I was doing the right thing.  As Flocky had said yesterday could I go overlook the things that finally got me to want to leave.  After all I have a nice house, comfort, a cushy life in many respects, I can run my business from home if I want to and etc, etc, etc.  Yes I could but actually, when I lay there thinking about all the compromises and what it could be like (for me) it all became clear once again that I don't want to be treated like that again and all of my empathy for Mrs. F. fell away and I realised that no it wasn't something that would be repairable or that could be recovered for it had happened many times before and it would just drift back into the world that I want to leave.

So this morning, I've managed to pull back up out of a sort of semi dark place I've been in for the past few days and get back to my even keel position.  In some ways I'm even more convinced now that I'm doing the right thing.   

Don't Let The Buggers Wear You Down

I won't but it is getting hard work at the moment as the atmosphere is oppressive and it's hard to get a word out of people sometimes.  It's like being sent to Coventry but I'm not absolutely certain it is meant the way I take it.

I'm going to really get cracking for the next 4 days and see how far I can get with all this "stuff" i still have remaining - I'd like to shift it all as soon as possible and then forget it as there are other things I need to sort out.  I think I've sorted out the IT requirements of the household now which is good and I can now take all of the equipment I already have with me - it will looks like an small office set up which is great - exactly what I need and it means I may get away without having to buy a new PC just some RAM memory to get me going although I doubt it will last for long it will do to start with.  I'll also have my existing scanner and laser printers to come along too and so that's great as it saves a bit of cash and also means that I can at least have something useful to get cracking with.

I need to sort out my Christmas pretty swiftish - I haven't done anything yet and need to get cards, Newsletters and things sorted out.  I need to work out how to tell people what is going on in the wider family.  We will just have to take the Christmas Cards and who they are addressed to on the chin for this year.  I'm sure it will be difficult as to who things are addressed to and who buys what etc.

Both Mrs. F. and I have said we don't want anything this Christmas - I'm not in the mood for presents but I guess I ought to make some sort of compromise here - I don't want to - although I already have in some ways - screwed up Christmas for most people.  There you go though.  

Anyway - need to get my arse in gear tomorrow and get a spurt on to cover all the things that could be going on in the next 4 or 5 weeks!  Eeeeeeekkkkk :-)

Feeling Sick - In The Pit

It has been a funny old day today.  I feel a little sick in the pit of my stomach because it's just having to deal with mixed emotions.  Flocky came up with some good questions this morning - testers to see if it's really what I want - to separate from Mrs. F.  The thing is that actually, it is and the questions helped and I reckon that the weekend wasn't great for a number of things - it was destabilising and of course it is bound to be.  It's getting near Christmas and I'm the bogey man screwing it up this year for everyone.  Mrs. F. looks sadder and more upset than I've seen her for a while and there's an air of depression hanging over the place.  It's a shame but there you go that's just the way it is.

I'm in two minds what to do about things and I'm thinking now that I need to do a burst of work to get the eBay thing as finished as I can and then call it a day - I really need to get on with arranging Christmas and lord alone knows what else.  I have to Sort out the business too now I've chosen the logo (or almost chosen it).

Sometime I have to laugh at the predicament I am in.  I suppose I've accepted that it's going to happen and I'm trying like mad to be "the good guy" and to make it hurt as little as possible and yet I'm probably making things worse by being the good caring guys.  I suppose if I was an nasty piece of work or was aggressive or something it might be easier?  Mind you I can't be like that - it isn't in my nature.

There are so many hard decisions to make and take, so much that I take for granted and so many things that need to be sorted out but I can't do them yet until I know what is going to happen - I don't even know if I am going to be in this house come Christmas - such is the uncertainty at the moment :-) it makes it difficult planning anything.  I'm sure that this knot in my stomach is a little of everything.  It's the loss of one way of life and the certain realisation that things are going to change forever and it also seems to me to be a burning of bridges as well in that there will be some people I just wont see again (or not much) after I've moved.  That's a little sad I guess but there was always going  to be collateral damage done.

I'm again desperately worried that people tomorrow (for I am out at a big gig) may mention what is happening to my father-in-law who is due to be there.  He still hasn't been told what is going on.  It's a real muddle and not of my making.  Again - it's a cause for concern and one that I need to make sure those around me don't say anything about.

No doubt things will feel better in the morning but for now I'll just have to run with this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.  

That's Better

Clear head this morning, a few meditation exercises and get back to the truth of the matter and my head is in a far better place today.  I imagine that there will be more days like Saturday and Sunday but not too many I hope.  

I also did some serious soul searching and just reminded myself why I'm leaving despite the twangs of guilt I'm bound to feel and no one likes to see someone they've known all of their lives miserable and suffering like Mrs. F. is at the moment it isn't a foregone conclusion that if I try and help her out it is going to do either of us any good.  Yes - it is a miserable time but it will get better and much as I'd like to help Mrs. F. get over this I imagine that I'm not actually the right person deeply moved though I am to want to help - I can't and I shouldn't even try.

It feels spiteful and against all my instincts but in some ways this has been brought on herself and whilst I AM going to take half the blame the other half isn't mine - it isn't all my fault and I don't need to be beating myself up about it the way I do every now.  It's the right decision.

I am back on an even keel this morning than goodness :-) 

Cleared Most Of It Now

I have to keep working hard at keeping in the now and not reverting back to the past and all the things I can (and do) so easily beat myself up about. I also have to stop the worries about the future.  It's been a real struggle today to do that a real struggle.  

I've managed it but it's almost 12:30 in the morning now and it's taken most of the day.  I am glad that I avoided the opened bottle of wine in the Kitchen or reaching for anything else for that matter.  Rarely have I found the answer at the bottom of a glass just more questions and more sorrow.  

I really did have to put in an effort to get myself back to an even keel - a bit of music and some petrolhead Formula One seemed to help along the way.  I think today was just one of those days.  It is difficult with Mrs. F. moping around the house and getting "the quiet treatment".  I don't know if it is designed like that but to me it sometimes appears like that.  I will be glad to be out of here so I no longer get that.  If the niceties can't be observed then I really do find that difficult to deal with - that's another trait/fault with INTJs and their particular interest in personal space and courtesies.  

Mind you I'm pretty much used to that sort of silent treatment and off-handedness anyway as that is one of the problems I've had for many years.  If you choose to ignore me or slap down any ideas or opinions I have then sooner or later I'm going to get a little ticked off about it.  I suppose it may have seemed unfair that I pointed out that this sort of behaviour was part of the reason we were in this predicament anyway.  The Irony was possibly lost in the total lack of response :-)

Oh well - I have a lot to keep me occupied in the next few days and I shall just get tucked into that.  I am not thinking about moving or anything until it comes to it - it will be what it will be.  I can see that it will be quite traumatic for Mrs. F. though and at the moment we exist in a state of orbiting around each other even more so than we used to and we are rarely in the same room together.  I can see that - I don't like it - I hope that it will get more civilised and who knows, in time I might actually have a nice friendly relationship when it all settles down.  I'd like to think that she would be my best friend but time will tell on that I guess.  I suppose that it may be difficult to do that given the way she feels at the moment.  

What a Horrible Dreadful Day

I knew there would be days like this.  Poor Mrs. F. can only talk to me for a few minutes at a time before getting all choked up and me with my stupid thoughts was also very upset.  I hate seeing her so desperately upset but today we talked about me moving out, selling the house, stuff I can take with me and Christmas and then there were all these stupid commercials on TV with their happy bloody families all smiling and I just felt worse and worse.

To say it's been a bit of a tearful day is an understatement I really haven't felt this upset for a long time.  It's a mixed emotions time for me as suddenly there were regrets for things not done in the past and things I'd done wrong, opportunities not taken a love unfulfilled and many other things all bashing around in my head.  I was able to stop them but back they came one after the other and I wasn't truly able to empty my mind of them even though I know these things to be in the past and unalterable. 

I can't help thinking about how upset Mrs. F. is - she just sounds so helpless and lost and I feel so bad about that - it's silly really.  She still cannot bring herself to the realisation and I understand that.  I understand it very well indeed and I recollect myself how awful it felt when I realised the awful truth and how depressed it made me and how I still get that now myself.  

To expect to be able to shut out the past or indeed not to speculate about the future is difficult indeed.  Yet that's what I've got to do now because I don't want too many more days like today.  It really isn't nice.  It was necessary to have the discussions and the trouble was - when discussing Christmas Presents and arrangements and the future I was trying to explain that it was going to be particularly tough this year.  I don't know if my mum will buy Mrs. F. a present and all that sort of stuff.  I'd almost rather forget the whole thing anyway but it is going to be bloody difficult especially as Mrs. F. and most of her family don't know - it's a crazy situation made difficult because it isn't out in the open properly.  It means I have to be careful what I say and to whom I say it.  

I kind of hope that I have news this week about finding a place to go as I really could do with being out of here and then able to get myself straight.  It's a sort of strange place I inhabit at the moment a sort of no-man's land and of course Mrs. F. has the same too.   I want her to have some time to settle into being separated and so that we both get used to it and also so that she doesn't make any rash decisions.  It's pretty important that we think through stuff like the house and pensions and the girls and so on so that we don't do anything rash or ill advised. 

From my point of view I just need to be out of here and go set up and run the business and get on with my life.   I don't need the "atmosphere" there is here now, it's even worse than I imagined it would be - it's oppressive and caustic and we just have a struggle talking to each other without getting upset.  I suppose it wont last for ever.  

Anyway, I knew there would be days like this and I  hadn't realised how much it would haul me back to love's lost and that's the thing that hurts like hell.  There's that nagging fear that you will never find it again - love, companionship and all that.  It sounds silly but I need repair time and to take it easy and not to worry about it.  I find the whole thing exciting in the main but on a dreary grey miserable misty day like today it just felt awful.

At least there's some heavy rock music followed by the USA Grand Prix coming up so that will keep me happy for this evening.  Tomorrow I can return to my eBaying which appears to have gone quite well so far today - enough to pay for a few beers at least :-)  I think I will do a bit of a final push on it this week and then just get rid of the rest of it to the Charity Shop.

What Goes On In Your Head

I sometimes dislike my brain a lot.  A case in point being last night after I'd had a few drinks and a few too many if the truth be told I went online - despite a big not on my computer telling me to go to bed and sent a few messages.  They were pathetic and stupid and I had to apologise this morning for sending them.  They weren't abusive or anything like that at all.  They were heartfelt and I've often written stuff in this blog that are an outpouring.  The voice that rarely gets heard, the inner thoughts the real inner workings of my mind.

I know better than this - I know that these thoughts aren't there to help me at all they are little destructive forces and in this case it looked innocent and stupid but it was actually a subtle way of hurting the other party.  It doesn't read like that at all but it was me imposing my thoughts on someone else and they didn't need to know this and it put them in a situation where they thought they had injured me although I didn't say they had.  Anyway - it is cleared up but how these little demons exist and how destructive they are.  It's so annoying - I think in future I will trun the computer off entirely and just leave a note on it saying turned off for a reason :-)

So I had a very very slow day today - the Sake that Flocky and I had sure laid me out and I got up but decided to go back to bed and lay down for a good few hours :-)  I don't think I can handle the booze these days like I used to.  I even thought that I might start to change my drinking habits in the future if I do stupid things like I did last night.

A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts so the saying goes and I think that is pretty much true.  What I said was a bit of a plea from the heart about how I wanted things to turn out and how they didn't and in fact they cannot be anything other than the way they are.  I knew that, I know the score, I know it cannot be and whilst that's sad and upsetting it's the way it is and the way it has been for ages and ages.  You cannot change the way things are it's part of the problem  I've always had with my head and it doesn't work things out properly it imagines that things can be different when they clearly cannot be.  

I am working on stopping all of this nonsense and in many ways I do manage to do that these days as I can identify these thoughts and stop them in their tracks.  I'm about to build a new life and yet these doubts assail me, these past experiences which I wished had turned out better haunt me and I do get rid of them - I can remove these - like I will after I've written this post - it will take me just moments to clear my mind of them and they won't come back for a while.  When they do I will kill them off again as they have no useful part to play in my day to day life.  They are part of the "painbody" part of the Ego and they aren't real thoughts at all.  They dig up the past and they produce an illusion of the future which I know can never be.  

The complexities of what is going on and why it is going on are I think pretty much boiled down in the realisation of what is about to happen in my life.  The change away from living here and the change to my lifestyle and to my personal life and this "living alone" thing is or may be playing on my mind.  I've not even moved out yet and there's the little voice about meeting someone else and all that old guff - it's not relevant it's a fear that should not be there.  That's the problem I find - none of these things should be troubling me.  

This all sounds bad but it is under control because I just dismiss these thoughts. OK I didn't manage to suppress one of them and so wrote a load of old rubbish to a very dear friend and they did, like all good friends do, smile and know that I'm not really like that, that it was the beer/Sake talking and that was that, I'm forgiven but I do feel a stupid old fool about it :-)  I shall just have to control my head a lot more and also not drink Sake in large quantities.  

Lovely Day - Sun Shining - Quiet Coffee - All's Good With The World Today

Yep - all is good today.  The sun is shining and whilst it isn't warm it was nice enough to sit outside the cafe and have a nice cup of coffee whilst looking at my logo choices in the sunlight and getting a good feel for them outside of the office environment.

Later on I'm meeting Flocky, my old business partner and another old friend we are going for a few beers and a Chinese meal - it is a nice restaurant frequented by Gary Rhodes so that says something.  Looking forward to that and to have a cathartic chat  with my friends.  

Communication here is difficult to say the least.  We do talk just in short sentences.  Poor Mrs. F. still looks absolutely distraught and is so upset that sometimes she just can only say a few words and has to go out.  Oh dear, how sorry I feel for her.  She's still my best friend just that the  glue no longer works and for some time we will just have to live like this until she gets over it.  At the moment me being in the house cannot be a great thing for her at all.  

So far as I can see it no one is taking sides or anything like that - it's not that sort of break up but I can see that it is difficult for Carole's friends to be anything other than supportive and so I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it and hope that they will be alright about it when I next see them which won't be until Christmas Eve.  In fact I've just wrapped the Secret Santa present for one of them - we each have to buy for one person based on a sort of raffle.  At least that is better than in past years when it was beginning to get totally out of hand.  

My mind strayed again last night as you may have seen in my previous posts.  I was off and away reflecting on the past but after I wrote that I was thinking about the future and of course, I just had to rein myself back from that because I don't want to paint a picture for myself that's impossible to attain.  It is difficult not to look forward to what I perceive to be happier times coming down the track and yet you know, I'm happy right now.  In fact I'm probably happier than I've been for years and years.  I'm fitter, healthier and my mind is in a great place despite what has happened.

A lot of people think I should be in a bad way, stressed out or upset but it takes them aback when they see I'm quite OK about this.  They don't "get it" - it's like being released from prison or being given a second chance.  Suddenly all the pressure goes off you just like a huge (and I mean huge) weight is lifted off your body and it's like having a clean bit of paper or the slate wiped clean.  You can see that you can now go and do what you want, when you want, how you want and so on.  In many ways this is a great opportunity to put into practice all you've learnt in your previous 56 years I tell myself.  I've hopefully got another 20 to 25 years in me and I've already had two of those sorts of periods so lets see what I can make of the next third of my life.  Whatever lies ahead it was better than the life I was leading up until about June this year.

I can understand fully why people would fall apart when leaving their husband or wife but when I listed out why (I didn't really want to tell Mrs. F.) she agreed with it all and knew what I was talking about and that's the problem for her - she can't change - I did all the changing until I was unable to do anymore without injury to my mind and my body.  You can't exist in a 'loveless' marriage - I think I'd call it that now.  You only need to see what it is like for someone to care a little about you and suddenly you wonder "what on earth has gone on here?" If you read this blog a lot you'll recollect that I spoke often about collateral damage and "the rut you are in" that being the most difficult rut to get out of.  Well I'm almost out of that rut and away in the distance there is just open countryside and no ruts and no rails, no roads, no signposts just a rising sun, a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds and a bright future.  

That's Alarming

One of my daughter's friends gone into Hospital tonight with Testicular Cancer - he is 23 years old!  Twenty Three for goodness sake.  At least he has been whipped straight in and they can sort it out for him immediately.  

I remember at her age coming to terms with my friend's death - he just dropped dead whilst playing Squash.  He had a congenital heart defect and that was that.  His wife and two children were left in a mess as he didn't have a Will and so on.  The two girls, now long grown up look just like him and things worked out fine for her too, I still see them all occasionally.  It's a tough one coming to terms with your mortality at such a young age.  Not that he is going to die just that it comes as a shock and this ought to be a big wake up call to them I suppose.

I can't believe the amount of cr@p on TV these days.  I watched a tiny bit of the news and the BBC drives me to distraction with their efforts to, what does Flocky call it? Catastrophizing.  It is just bonkers everything has to be the 'something of the century' 'something gate' and as we are 13 years into it (or 12 if you like) it is shoddy reporting and left wing nonsense.  So I grab the headlines and try and hit the weather forecast and then I trawled through the 100 or so channels and it was full of squawking people talking about something or other and crazy shows about guns, police chases, reality shows and just utter bollocks (sorry but that's what it is).

So the TV went off after 20 minutes and I came back up to my office and got into the zone on the business and I'm cracking on with the logo and also the service offerings which I am quite happy about now.  A few more tweaks and I can then go and write the "copy" for the web site and the catalogue.  

I drifted back into remembering the lovely summer we had as it absolutely freezing here tonight and bitter weather is on the way.  Recalling the warmth, the smells and sounds of the countryside and the peace I was in (and the turmoil at some times).  During all that embargoed time I was struggling to keep it all under my hat and there was more than I dare put into print going on too.  Such was the summer I had but it was just so nice to recollect that warm and peaceful time.  Then there was the turmoil of leading up to wanting the separation, that was just awful and so upsetting for both of us.  Yuk.  

Those warm summer days were marvellous and my whole life was changing it was as if I had gone into a chrysalis state and then burst out of that.  I had been working on it for ages and the it all fell into place and it all made (some kind of) sense.  I can't even begin to tell you what a huge relief it was to get out of my old life.  What it is though isn't one thing it is a series of things that made the difference.  There's my Spiritual Guide who appeared and left, there's the realisation that no matter what I was doing I needed to completely change.  There was the need to stop being me (the planner and schemer) and stop analysing and overanalysing everything.  There was the need to get rid of the past and to stop dreaming about an unachievable future and if all that wasn't enough there was the need to finally tackle the problems in my marriage which had just built up and up over the years and I hadn't tackled them.  These "problems" just built a weight on my body that you can hardly imagine - once I tackled them and to this day I feel light and the burden has gone almost entirely.  

The wreckage is also mostly behind me too.  The "damage" is done if that's the right way to look at this?  I don't see it that way I see it as a re-birth, a new clean piece of paper, a chance to live the last 3rd of my life according to my rules and to enjoy the life that waits in store for me no matter how long that may be.  It is exciting and challenging and is unplanned and unmapped so far.  It may appear selfish to chuck in a marriage of 32 years and go and do what I want to do.  I suppose it could be looked at that way?  I tend to think that 25 years was just about enough and I should have gone then.  So far, no one I've spoken to is the least bit surprised and some wondered why it took this long!  My mother was pretty much open about it and didn't think there was much left and had known it for years.  My friends last night was also a similar story.  They know me - they probably got the message one way or the other through my body language I guess.

Anyhow - time for bed - got a nice day coming up tomorrow - some beers followed by a Chinese meal.  Will be in good company with Flocky Bicep and a couple of others.  Looking forward to getting out and about.  The atmosphere in the house is one of quiet tension.  I still feel sorry for Mrs. F. but she has levelled off in a permanent black gloom - it will be nice to move out and not to have that problem as a constant.  I try my best but of course I'm the happy one.  

Yes Indeed

This was on Facebook today and I thought - yes - exactly that's it, that describes how I feel about things at the moment.  It matters not that the opened door also got closed because there is another one somewhere and I just haven't identified it yet :-)

The turnabout in my life has been pretty major in the past 4 or 5 months and this is just one of those changes in thought process that I think is part of it.  For me, I have the time - or will have soon - where I can take stock, build my new business and just get things moving again.  It's like getting your life back again and I'm a pretty lucky guy in that I already got it back once when I survived cancer.  So now I've got the opportunity of doing something with my life and I don't think it needs to be earth shattering stuff nor does it need to be anything like making a huge impact in the world.  I reckon if I continue to be the much nicer guy I am now and living my life the way I want to then perhaps that will be enough for me.

I'm pretty contented with my lot these days.  I'd liked to have my life go in a slightly different direction without doubt there was a direction that would have been just wonderful but it didn't happen and whilst it took me a long while to understand what was going on, I couldn't change what that was or how it turned out as it wasn't in my power, influence or any other control - it was just the way it was going to be.  But even so, I'm happy and whilst you can look back and say "what if" that isn't actually going to get you anywhere.  I prefer to look back and break into a big smile say "what a ride!".  Hunter S Thompson wasn't it? Said "Buy the ticket, take the ride!"  Too bloody right Hunter - spot on.  

Sometimes you don't realise that you come out a better person from some of these experiences.  It's all Karma I suppose and you steer a course through life and things happen to you seemingly randomly I always thought and yet things have happened to me this year that almost can't be explained any other way.  I look back on these past 5 months and marvel at the whole transformation of the wreck that I was to who I am now.  

My whole outlook these days is one of quiet optimism.  I know there are going to be some challenges ahead but that's OK.  I have an easy life here even now and that will change a bit but nothing is insurmountable, nothing is impossible (apart from unsubscribing from Readers Digest of course!).  Whilst I have some trepidation about just keeping up with the chores of the house I know that I can do it but I just need to work it out, that's all. 

I remember thinking to myself earlier about the differences between me this time last year and me now.  It's totally the opposite - diametrically different and it shows - or it does to me.  I'm not sure if it is that visible on the outside - I think I always was a bit crazy on the outside.  People who don't know me think that I am quiet and introverted and my friends wish I was.  Actually I am an introvert but these days I actually think that I may be getting over that because I've nothing to fear from talking to people and interacting with them.  I have nothing to "worry" about anymore.  All the stuff I piled onto myself a year ago isn't there.  None of the health freakiness.  I'm 3 and 1/2 stone lighter, I breathe without labouring (stress) I don't have the worry, the panic attacks, the same level of claustrophobia I used to have.  I feel good about myself, I am free of all the self doubts and hang ups I had and I no longer have the fears of the past and the future to worry me either.

It was one hell of a ride though to get here.  Things just need to keep moving in the same direction and this bursting out of the grey place I was in is great.   I often now just get pleasure from walking to the shops and back.  How great is that?  Simple things can be very pleasurable.  Mundane tasks done well can have a level of accomplishment in them.   A few coffees and a chat are moments to enjoy and treasure.  It's just an attitude thing and there's no need to get upset or bothered.  I notice in the Post Office for example queuing up isn't annoying like it used to be.  Things will get done they will take the pace that they take, it isn't any use wishing that the person in front was a little faster or could find their card quickly - it doesn't matter.  It shouldn't get you upset - who gets annoyed them or you?  Who is doing the annoying?  You are - to yourself.  How crazy is that?  I look at most things like that now - it isn't any use getting all het up and annoying yourself as most of this stuff is out of your control anyway. :-) 

Even Better Result Than The Previous Post

One record made as much money (plus some) than the dealer wanted to pay for the lot this one took the record ('scuse the pun) at £255 for just the one - the dealer offered me £220 for the lot (over 1000).  Well that was a nice surprise and I got close to £30 for a single too.

I've just found another few stuck in a box I hadn't looked at for a while.

I'm in a great mood as this just vindicates what I thought and it just goes to show what you can do.

It is hard work though doing this almost full time.  I am going to have some fun getting the rest of this lot sorted, catalogued and sold.  I feel a purge coming on tomorrow morning when I can get a good run at them all.  I have a few hundred singles to sell yet plus about the same in CDs but almost got to the end of my LPs.  I will have a review and see if any go that I have if not - they can go to the charity shop and hopefully they can make some dosh out of them.

Well 5 times more and counting

I had some good results with the vinyl records and have now almost reached £1000 in sales in records alone.  That's 5 times more than this chap offered me and if only he'd looked a little harder or had listened to me when I said I thought I had some good records in there.

It's not been easy work getting rid of them but it seems to be going well enough and I have just found another 10 or more that should get the punters excited and I have one finishing tomorrow which is about as rare as Hen's teeth.  All in all - I'm bringing in some money to the household and decluttering big time :-)  I still though have to go through and so a final reconciliation and decide what can go to the Charity Shop(s) as some of these records just won't sell no matter what I do as there were so many millions of the things made.  It's the old obscure and specialist stuff that sells.

I'm banging out 14 hour days doing this which is all well and good but I really ought to get some R&R soon.  I'm out on Friday which will be great.  I was out last night too which I enjoyed.  

L went back to Uni earlier on this evening and A is getting ready for her first Driving Instructor examination which is on Friday.  Fingers crossed she does well in that.  A friend is an Instructor and he tells me the test is pretty rigorous - he also said there was a high failure rate, let's hope he is wrong on that for A's sake :-)

I feel that things are reaching an acceptable and bearable point at the moment here and I found myself feeling sad that I'd be moving away from the Village here - I've lived here (twice) and since 1988 the second time and it's a lovely place.  I'll miss the walks and the people - maybe I need to work out ways to get back here often!  I think the move out will hold a number of challenges - it will be excitement and regret all rolled into one.  I was looking at some of the stuff I may or may not take - it's difficult to talk to Mrs. F. at the moment because when I talk about moving out it's like picking the scab and making it bleed again.  She is looking out for moving boxes for me and Flocky so that's good!  I'm not certain what will suit but there is talk of her not having the big computer which would certainly do me nicely (apart from the monitor from hell - a 19" flat screen CRT that has done great work for many years!). I suppose I could get Mrs. F. a nice tablet type computer and then set up a printer for everyone here.  It looks as if I will also have the laser printer so that's a bonus I guess.  I hope there's enough room to set up what will virtually be a  small office?  

It is funny how that is really exciting and yet the sadness of not being 'local' is interesting but then again, there's nothing to stop me moving back here when things get settled out.  I saw a few places up for sale recently that would be affordable.  I keep also having to remind myself that it will be what it will be and that's it.  I can imagine it being quite strange to find no Mrs. F. around but then again I'm quite used to that really.  

I think I should pack it in for tonight, I've been at this since around 8 this morning and it is almost midnight!!! 

It Feels Different This Morning

It does feel very different to me this morning - it is real today.  Not that it wasn't yesterday but now that more of my friends know it sort of makes it feel a lot sadder today.  These are friends we've known since school days and it was of course a lot of my friends so that was OK - I guess we all "take sides" in these things.  We've been away together and had lots of laughs and scrapes and that sort of crept into my thinking because we had all been buying our houses at the same time, working on them (as the electrician in the group I was in some demand), we'd all had kids around the same time.  4 of us there last night were best man at the others wedding (I'll let you figure it out!).   So in many ways these guys are almost family to me and it was important that I finally told them all - one did know because of business and other reasons and because he too had gone through a divorce so I was able to talk to him.

So in many ways it was a milestone in my journey as now they know and I've just got to get around to telling a number of other people what is going on.  In many ways it isn't important but of course, addresses and stuff like that will change.  No use worrying about that directly and it might even work that I pick up each on its own merits.  

Christmas will be an interesting time I have no doubt.  Hopefully we can enjoy it as much as we can but it could be muted as I imagine I will be making my own way over to the house and back on the day :-) Interesting.

It certainly does feel strange this morning though.  I'm not unhappy - just thoughtful I suppose.  I feel for Mrs. F. still though and I have to remind myself that I can't fix this or her and no matter what I do I can't make her feel any better much as I would like to.  Even in my wildest dreams I can't see getting back together being anything else other than an absolute disaster because all of this, what's happening now would be hanging like the Sword of Damocles over us.  It could be used like a cosh to constantly reinforce a position and blackmail the other - no that won't work.

Oh well - I'm sure this will pass soon and I just need to get on with some more work to take my mind off of it.

The Cat IS Out Of The Bag

I told all my school chums tonight that Mrs. F. and I were no longer " a couple".  No one feigned surprise or anything other than sadness and support.  As I thought they would.

I can't tell you how relieving it is to me to that this is now out amongst my friends who I had to apologise to as I had hidden this for 3 months from them.  Actually it was OK and not a problem at all.  No one I've spoken to had ever been shocked.  Many say that we lived separate lives anyway and that's true.  

Onwards and upwards... 

Finally - Kind of - well almost - possibly - well partly...

Mrs. F. finally told her mother this morning what is going on and now we await to hear whether to tell her father who is 93 and apparently not too good with this sort of news and getting forgetful - so may forget what we tell him anyway?  Although I have to say I only spoke to him briefly on Saturday he seemed OK to me?  Oh well.

At least that is some sort of progress - it's way over three months to get here but I guess it needs to run its course.  Life is bearable but slightly on edge here - dare I say it isn't a great deal different than before except that the silence can be more pronounced and that in many ways things get done around the house a bit quicker as I am actually doing them and being helpful and useful - it's a bit of a peace offering in some ways but as I'm here I might as well make myself useful.

I'm off soon to go and see my school chums for beers and a chat - I think I will tell the rest of them tonight as it is now pretty much in the open - none of them see my Father-in-Law or are unlikely to at all if ever.  I can only imagine what they'll make of it all.

I've eBayed myself to a standstill today - I've posted off loads of things this morning and wrapped a load more this afternoon and posted a load more lots onto the site especially as they have given me more allowances - which is cool and I will probably use most of them this month now.  I'm just going to keep on going with this stuff until I hear that Flocky has a completion date and then cut over to sorting out a house and so on.  Looking forward to that but we are getting hellishly near Christmas as well so it could be very interesting indeed.

My next door neighbours just had all their stuff delivered from storage today - loads and loads of it - everywhere is bulging to overflowing bless them.   Hope that I/We don't have that sort of problem to overcome - sure we shouldn't!  

Mrs. F. is happy for me to take most of the Desks and chairs and office stuff - not sure if I ought to leave her with the big Computer or not.  If I do then perhaps get her a tablet to use and that will work out fine compared to what she has now which can be a bit temperamental.  Oh well no doubt we can work out the logistics as and when needed.

I think Flocky said he'd have about 3 weeks from notice to completion so that gives enough time to sort stuff out - find a place, sort out finance and move in and so on.  

Well That's Sad News

Jeanne Sather the author of the Assertive Cancer Patient Blog has died here is the news.  Her blog has been one of my constants through the years and I've watched her news and empathised with her and her predicament over the years and her ongoing battles.  She recently went into a Hospice and the messages slowly dried up.

I do hope that the blog remains up online as there really is a lot of interesting reflections and this lady had so much "fight" in her she was inspirational to me and I imagine to many many others.

RIP Jeanne.

Looking Forward To....

Do you know what I'm looking forward to?  Going out and meeting some people that I've never met before.  Far flung relatives over the other side of London and Facebook friends that I've not met yet - just meet up, have a beer and a chat - how good would that be?

Relatives and friends and just to get off my arse, get out and go see them and not having to worry about leaving people at home or whatever excuses I used to have.  Get in the car and go and see someone at the weekend.  Perhaps grab a train over there I don't know but just to get out of the house and do something and start to live like I used to years ago.  

There's concerts and events going on all over the place, there's some great rock bands and festivals, there's just a day out in the country - anything at all really.  I'll soon have the opportunity to get out and about and start to meet people and interact and "get my life back".

I was wondering whether that old saying is true that you get married and you get changed into something the other partner wants you to be molded into and then they complain that you weren't the person they married?  It feels like that to me.  It feels like all m "freedoms" were reined in one by one and talking with Flocky earlier today it was pretty obvious that I now realise that I was spending inordinate amounts of time away from the home "on business" and I'd leave early and get home late and even find excuses why I'd be doing that.  It was better to be out than at home - how terrible that I probably was doing that almost subconsciously.  Sad. 

I still feel so desperately sorry for Mrs.F.  she looks so very very sad to me and I know there are two sides to all these things and let's say we are equally to blame she looks so lonely and sad but I don't think I can do anything to help her - in fact I'm sat here at 00:42 keeping out of the way and still perpetuating the keep our distance existence.

Tomorrow is already here - I have to get up to hand over some books to one of my buyers and then maybe up to the Post Office - grab a coffee and see what the day holds for me.   

What's The Problem? I Have To Keep Reminding Myself :-)

It's funny - I still get crazy moments like this morning when it was infinitely more desirable to go for a coffee with Flocky than to post all this stuff I had.  I sort of chose to get the packaging done and posted and then Flocky said he was at my local coffee shop for breakfast and then it struck me - what's the point in breaking my neck to get stuff posted right this very moment for?  There's no reason or rhyme behind it at all.  The bottom line is that everything would still get posted today AND I would be able to have breakfast and coffee too.  So there it is - at the end of the day - I achieved both things and it was in some way good that I waited until around 1 as I had so many parcels that it took a good 20 minutes to sort them all out and there wasn't anyone in the post office so that was cool.

I still need to get my head around these priorities - the old me was out at play there earlier - got to get this or that done and make sure it went out ASAP and yet no one will notice if it went out on the 1st or 2nd collection anyway.... :-)  Priorities :-)

I'm getting there but of course it isn't easy for someone who has to do things RIGHT NOW.  Perhaps a bit of OCD in me I guess.  Or CDO which is like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order - JUST AS THEY SHOULD BE!! :-) LOL

I just have to keep reminding myself that life's for the living and just try and enjoy it and stop putting invisible self made pressures on myself.  Here's a great song by Passenger one of my favourite bands at the moment - fabulous lyrics to these songs.  

Second set of logos arrived

More excitement as my second lot of logos arrived for me to look over.  I've got my favourites but have sent out to my jury of reviewers to see what they make of it.  It is interesting to see and hear what their reactions are to it all.

I saw Flocky this morning for coffee and a spot of breakfast which was good as there is nothing in the house.  I shall have to get used to shopping for myself again soon :-) but I don't eat a lot of different things and so can stock up on basics and make sure that there's enough in :-)  Looking forward in some ways to doing stuff like that and in some ways not - just hope that I can remember how to use a washing machine - it's been a while....  Mind you there's Youtube for that - how clever is that - don't know how to do something someone somewhere has stuck it on YouTube :-)

I've got a huge bag full of stuff to be posted so I'd better cut along, get myself some lunch and then hit the Post Office and send off all the stuff I sold at the weekend.  It's frightening but I've actually made more money in the past month than Mrs. F. does working full time!  At least I'm contributing to the household again!

Mrs. F. Back From Her Sojourn

Well Mrs. F. arrived home this evening and didn't really say much - she had enjoyed being away and in some ways I learnt a little of what it is going to be like being more on my own in the future.  It's been a crazy eBay day with lots of lots finishing and some of the highest grossing records coming through one alone over £150 which is great and that will be shipped off to Japan once I've got payment for that.

It's an interesting exercise seeing what you think is valuable and what things actually go for.  Somethings like that record I didn't expect to get more than £20 for.  So it was a nice surprise and it all adds to the coffers and keeps Mrs. F. a little bit happier I hope.  

Last night was difficult all round as I had to tell some people that I was now separating from Mrs. F without my nephew and my father-in-law hearing - what a mess this is.  I hope Mrs. F. resolves that soon.  In fact my Mother and Father-in-law popped around and left me some stuff for Mrs. F. and of course it's all sweetness and light but - well I suppose I ought to be prepared for some sort of backlash somewhere along the line but Mrs. F's sister has been divorced and has a string of relationships so I hope that it doesn't come as a massive blow but I suppose we have been together for a very long time.

Let's just hope that not too many people get hurt with all of this going on?  I had plenty of time to work on the business today in between wrapping up stuff to be posted tomorrow - I'll be so glad to move so that I can actually bring all my concentration to bear on the business.  I've decided to add a few more lines of business as well since I spoke to a number of people who want their VHS tapes converted to DVD.  I've done this myself so know how to do it, it takes a bit of time but can be done and so I think that I will add that into the mix too.

It's very strange I have to say - looking forward to getting out of here and change my life and I'm sort of looking forward to it.  The reason is straightforward, since I've made up my mind to leave, all the problems I had are gone, I can just get on with life and move things onwards.  That's all aspects of my life and a sort of clean break, a concentration on running my own business on my own terms is also part of the deal.  If I can get this right I can really start to move my life forward and I also want to have the business support my lifestyle so that it fits around me not vice versa - so it needs to be moderately successful :-) 

Anyway that's a little way off in the New Year and once I've moved out.  

Oh Dear - Reflection

Some years ago I was lucky enough to find this web site authored by Jeanne and I have just popped by and found the disturbing news that Jeanne is about to transition over to wherever we go after we finish our time here on earth.  

This Blog posting will tell you more about the situation than I could ever do.  Jeanne's blog is a tour de force on cancer and I'm so sad in many ways to now realise that - her contribution to our immediate needs is ended and that she may now go and continue her work elsewhere. 

Like many who have gone before me they have strengthened my ideas, my ideals and my actions.  No bad thing.....

A Plan - NO wait....

Funny - last night my mate said he'd drop me back home - he had to leave early - another friend also left early someone said - hey I can get my wife to drop you off  - if it isn't too much trouble I said and it wasnt as they disappeared anyway! 

So we got a taxi home.  Doh!  Not that it was a problem at all.  It is though one of those thing that was just an annoyance say a year ago and these days is - well - just funny :-)

I just let it all happen knowing that I'd get home somehow even if I had to walk!  

That, my friends, is how it is these days.  It doesn't matter at all.  

Cancer seems a long way away to me

Although I know I must have a scope coming pretty soon, it does seem to have been a long time ago that it was right there at the front of my mind and yet of course it wasn't that long ago I was in Hospital for an operation that once again proved that all was clear.  

How quickly the memory fades but also since I've emptied my mind of all that baggage it doesn't dwell in my mind anymore which is great and I don't miss it I can tell you.  I think the human mind is pretty good at suppressing bad stuff and also it dims the pain and the anguish and all the other bad stuff that happened around that time.  

I am so glad that I finally sorted my head and my body and my life out you know?  It's not as if Bladder Cancer was a catalyst for this - or was it?  I think it was a contributory factor and just added more weight to the arguments.  I've mentioned that I was already well on the way to divorce when I got ill and all that happened was that it delayed things and the problem was on surviving that the rebuilding I was trying to do was forever pushing the rock up the hill.  

Sometimes it feels like I'm in the Matrix the stuff that goes on these days and how I wish I'd been in the mental state I'm in now ten years or more back maybe, just maybe, I could have controlled all this better.  

I used to think about Bladder Cancer all the time and now I'm actually not thinking about it apart from coming here to the blog and if anyone asks me how I am.  It's all good as I tell anyone enquiring about me.  

So a long way off way off, way over there in the past and let's hope it stays that way.   Did it make me a stronger person?  No it didn't it changed me without doubt but I don't think I'm stronger than I was but perhaps even more so recently, life has changed significantly and that's great.  I'm really looking forward to getting moving on a new business and a new place to live and a new life and just being free to go and be me and not the person I've been until recently.

I like that everything these days can be looked upon as interesting, enjoyable even - so chores that I didn't really like can become something that you can get on with and just enjoy doing them.  Bizarre huh?  Sure is but that's the thing, live for the moment, enjoy it, experience it.  Today I had to go to the Post Office and it started raining - no worries wait - stops raining go.  Walking back a murmuration of Starlings convulsing in the sky above me, a lady parking her car and a smile her way, a lady walking her dog and a man both able to say hello and good afternoon to.  I felt great when I got back indoors.  Nothing happened (or did it).  I just enjoyed the wander up to the Post Office and back and the job got done no worries no panic no stress.  I got my prescription at the chemist and whilst the lady is a bit of a pain it wasn't a problem - I see the Doc wants to see me to once more take my blood pressure.  At least it isn't a blood test although I'd normally have one for Christmas.  It will be interesting to see what my BP is like these days now I'm that much lighter and fitter.  

So it all seems a long way off in a land far far away now thank goodness.  The trick today and going forward is to keep well, eat properly and try and stay as healthy as possible.  The one thing I certainly don't want is to go back to those dark places and I'm doing everything I can not to believe me. :-)