That WAS Nasty

Poor old Mrs. F. - really went off on one tonight.  I'd done the Ironing and done the washing and the dishwasher was on and all was clean and spotless and then she opened up with a few salvos.  Not stuff we haven't been through before but just crazy stuff about how she'll never be able to live locally and she couldn't afford to keep the house and can't afford to live anywhere and so on.  

I've done some calculations for her a few months back showing her that she could actually live in this house for the next 20 years if she wanted to but yes she would have to go to work for the next 10 years.  Apparently she misread that the budget statement is increasing the retirement age so she would have to work longer then she wasn't going to send Christmas Cards and after reading my annual newsletter she wanted me not to send it to a group of our friends although some already know what is going on.  So I did ask what not telling people that we were splitting up would achieve and how come she was playing fast and loose like that? She has told her mum but not her dad and neither of her siblings but I've told our Nephew - but did swear him to secrecy about it.

It's completely crazy and then I got yelled at when I asked if she wasn't sending cards to people did she want me to sort that out?  When I got a couple of the silly responses back after I tried to explain the financial situation to her I wondered whether I should have shot the retort of "And you wonder why I'm leaving you" but I didn't, I drew breath and just tried to go through it again.  

She then explained why I don't see her much as she can't stand being in the house and now she wants to move out.  This is of course completely back to where we were in August when that was what I thought we had agreed to do and it would have made more sense in some ways for that to happen but afterwards it was decided that I would go and she would stay here. 

It's all pretty nasty but you know what?  It just made my decision the right one really because there's no way back when you think like that.  I thought one of the other curious statements about having a place for the kids to stay was also completely bonkers too.  Just because they can't afford a place of their own doesn't mean they are going to stay in this house indefinitely. I would have thought the atmosphere here at the moment would make that particularly difficult in the extreme.  Then the argument was if L ever got a job?  WTF!?  I mean this is a girl who is majoring in Accounts and Finance and has a maths brain and she won't be able to find a job after coming out with a Degree! 

I know it is emotion talking and I think I will change tack early on next week - I will kill off all this eBay nonsense.  Pack all the stuff away in some boxes and then think about what to do with them later.  maybe I'll stack them in my wardrobe and I can get rid of them later - I'll clear down the house of all the junk I've got and then do a preparation for Christmas and just get the place ready for that.  I can clear down the office and see where things go from there.  

I imagine me being pretty calm and not reacting aren't helping things at the moment either.  I am amazed at the ability I had to just keep batting back the arguments with logic.

Trying to explain that the value of the house, the savings and the pensions and everything else she could quite easily live on that for the next 20 years perhaps even 30 years didn't seem to work and I suppose if you aren't thinking clearly and haven't come to terms with what's going on you won't understand it anyway.  I love the bit that she doesn't earn enough at this job and doesn't really like the job (working with children which she chose so because she enjoyed it).  I wouldn't mind but it was meant to be a lifestyle job and now she doesn't like it, it doesn't pay enough money and all sorts of nonsense.  

Anyway - I'm letting rip here - it's as good a place as any to vent my annoyance.  I'll rub salt in the wounds on Sunday as I'm going to the Christmas lunch that this time last year she and I hosted.  I suppose she feels betrayed by me as she supported me through the last year as Master of the Lodge but she never actually wanted to go to that or the do in May.  The more I look at it the more I "made allowances".  I spoke to a friend the other day and was talking about the number of times I'd apologised to him for my wife's behaviour towards him when he used to visit the house.  I wondered if I'd imagined it and he'd been too polite to mention it until I spoke to him.  

So I found myself fighting a losing corner tonight for whatever I say I'd be wrong.  It is difficult to understand how I can see half of the assets of the marriage being OK for me to live on until I retire in 10 years time and she not see that.  It's basic maths that I could rent a place for the next 20 to 25 years and survive until my pensions kicked in.   I'm choosing to set up a business that will provide the money for me not to have to do that.  I don't think Mrs. F. gets that at all.  Many marriages end up with no money and kids being dragged between parents and far worse than this.  

Oh well maybe it is just me.  I had been feeling quite sorry for her and I suppose after this evening I feel sorry that she isn't coping with it at all well.  You'd have thought that after almost 5 months now it would start to hurt less and a more pragmatic view would appear.  I fear that she has always had a very pessimistic view of the world and it's probably even worse now.  The copy of the book has arrived - not sure quite how I'll work that in to the conversation if indeed I should.

Nelson Mandela - Oh To Be Quite Like Him

Or the Dalai Lama and other spiritual people.  They give off great power / aura and seem to be at peace with themselves and talk and act calmly and speak reason.  With his passing a great light has indeed gone out today but at the same time, as an example to us all let's hope that it isn't just words that people use but actions too.  RIP Mr Mandela - surely someone who made a massive impact for his country and continent and the world.

Strange Night

Well - it was all very strange indeed from the unexpected contact and bizarre conversation through to deciding I would go to the Jazz.  When I got there though there was no one there apart from the Steward, his wife and the barman.  Well I thought, I was early and so bought some rather nice Raspberry Porter - my goodness it was lovely and at 7.3% I just had two of those then some Hoppy beer from Surrey at 5.5% and then took my leave ending up at my local for a beer just before heading off home and some more bizarre moments online...

Oh well - that's just the way it happens I suppose.  But I'm a little confused and confuddled but I guess it will all work out well in the end.  If it isn't alright it isn't the end!  Anyway, I suppose it is just me wondering why suddenly this turn of events but again I actually just need to let it ride and see what transpires.  

Saw Flocky for a brief coffee this morning and I he thinks that we won't be moving this side of Christmas which is good as I can plan to get stuff done next week - cards, presents, newsletters and all that good stuff.  Hopefully we might get an idea of when as I am thinking about taking myself away somewhere for the New Year or at least thinking of doing something.  One of the ladies I know suggested that I might like to go the New Year's Eve Ball but she is working there and I said that I wasn't certain I'd like to go on my own really.  I will have a think about what to do but I might need to be around if we are looking for a flat/house by then - I imagine I can play it be ear whatever happens.

Life and the Curve Ball

My friend said he can't make Wednesday night for the Jazz night (1st Wednesday).  I decide at the last minute to go.  I get there and no one there at all.  So I just do the "let's have a beer" bit and I chat to the Steward and his wife who are good people and we get stuck into the Real Ales - the first one is 7.3% goodness sake - I have three of those, two of the Hop beers at 5.5% and decide to head home where I get off the bus - drop into the local who give me two free rolls because they are going to get thrown away otherwise. 

Bad news... I decide to have a small cigar....  I know - WTF!!!  But to be honest it is to do with having stood outside with a load of people all smoking and do you know what - I hated it and smoked - well ran around my mouth - about three swigs and then stuck it out!  No it isn't for me - I stank afterwards.  I wonder if I do things to hurt myself sometimes or shock myself.

Before I went out things got complicated.  My Angel, whom I have distanced myself, reappeared and I'm back to that strange no man's land again.  I don't understand what is happening because she was trying to work out whether Mrs. F. and I can repair it all.  

That really created a stir.  I mean why would she be interested in that?  We both had to leave the conversation at that point but it was all a bit strange, surreal and not helpful because I thought everything was closed down and had gone away and now it's all back here again.  Life is never ever nice a simple but then again, would we ever want it to be?

I Like The Status/Term "It's Complicated"

For complicated it sure is.  I am not in on of these amazing tortuous breakups with all sorts of stuff crawling out of the woodwork, I doubt I'd get a line in the tabloid press for the whole thing is a sad and very slow train wreck that had been coming for years and I find it difficult to contemplate that Mrs. F. didn't see it coming but she said she didn't.  Yet all the warning signs and danger signals were there and it isn't as if I wasn't doing anything about it.  It's all too late now though I can't see a way back but had a waking dream that it was all resolved and all was OK.  

Maybe, some time away will resolve it for me as my mind still plays tricks suggesting it will all be OK and it will be new and wonderful - and of course it can never be like that because it was never like that.  It cannot be some romanticised version of events and it can never be like your dreams which is one of the things I've reigned back in.  The Walter Mitty moments are about as real as me living on the moon.  

I finally started to feel some regrets this morning as I  surveyed the stuff I'll move out with and finding the house quiet and sad where it was a place of happiness and fun for so much of the time here.  I was humbled to realise that the children and Mrs. F. actually were very upset about me being ill.  Maybe I never saw it, I don't recollect anyone ever showing anything though.  Maybe I was too blind to it :-)

It's complicated sort of sums it up at the moment because there are regrets and I am "feeling it" far more now than I have but I think that is because it isn't easy living here and I am trying to come to terms with Christmas (they sell if for families don't they) and all these adverts for the happy family all together for Christmas and I can't help feeling that I may be responsible for a pretty flat Christmas in the house although I am sure that A & L will be able to cheer the place up they can be pretty nutty and with my Crazy Sister-In-Law it could be OK.

I think I will have a chat with Mrs. F. about not getting anything for her Birthday or Christmas - not that I don't want to but it is just not going to be received very well and what would I get anyway?  I'm hoping that the book is here for her because I really want her to get out of the sad and lonely place she is in now.  Ideally I'd like her to go talk to people and resolve it.  I suppose I can want all these things but it isn't down to me.  I feel helpless to help her.  If I try it may be misconstrued and I don't want to build false hope or send mixed messages.  I'd love to go give her a cuddle and hold her but that would be wrong.  Poor thing - she looks so very very sad all the time.

Early To Bed FAIL :-)

Oh well that didn't work - I did go out for a few beers which was nice.  Booked for next Tuesday for the Quiz as it is Lad's Night Out!  Normally there is nothing doing but we can have a quiz sure it will be fun.

I managed to do some work sitting there having a beer, came home and the film The American was premiering on UK TV so watched that - not bad I suppose.  Then Family Guy came on and so I had to watch that but American Dad followed and I'd seen that so came up here and thought better write something.

Cheered up from earlier.  I do find some music quite depressing at the moment.  I love music and Mrs. F. doesn't particularly so I'm the person who listens to it the most but it just seemed to me to be a string of sad songs one after the other.

I'll put a few below so you can see what I mean :-)  They are all lovely songs but oh dear - one after the other - and there were more too :-)

See what you think - I really love everyone of them but how they remind me of this last 5 months. I can only tell you that the words of each mean an awful lot.  

Heavy Afternoon

My mate needed his light fixed so I trotted off there to do that - thought shall I get the bus or walk - well it is crisp and cold so decided a 30 minutes there and back would be good.  Stuck the MP3 Player on and blow me every bit of music was a sad one - Adele, Coldplay you bloody well name it on it came and they are really sad - lost love, won't see you again, fix you, oh bloody hell what a succession of tunes and it meant by the time I'd got home I was in a sad old place indeed.  Just music of course but it does conjure up stuff and paints a story that of course doesn't really exist but hey.  Home now and just going through some odds and ends - I did fancy a pint on the way home but I might just have tea and take myself out for a few beers later - it is normally quiet on a Tuesday up the pub so perhaps just go and have a few beers, take my book with me and spend some time chilling out.

I need to also get to bed earlier - I am getting later and later and need to stop, get to bed and try and sleep.  It's been a strange old day all around today.  I hope tomorrow turns out better.  

The Phoney War

Not that it is a war as such.  No it feels all in limbo at the moment.  Like the World War where nothing happened for months and months.   Something is going to happen, we all know that but we don't know when.  In some ways we don't know what either.

It's a funny feeling, not disturbing almost like being lightheaded perhaps slightly tipsy a middle world half way between one thing and the other.  The atmosphere here isn't great but it isn't nasty or threatening or anything like that.  It is a place of sadness and you can feel it as you walk around here and heaven only knows what it is going to be like when I take my stuff and move out.  I hope that it will settle down but I can see that Mrs. F. wouldn't want to stay here.  I just need her to think this through as initially she was moving out and I was happy to stay here, in fact, had I got the job I would have secured a mortgage and bought her out as I'm happy enough at this house and it would have suited my purposes all around.  She then changed her mind so I'm moving out - there's no way we could live here together for much longer - even now it's 5 months too long.  

I have been looking at my stuff and it's going to be sort of interesting as I haven't really thought what I am going to take and what I am going to leave.  In some ways I can get away with taking very little but then started to list all the "stuff" I have like Lodge stuff - that's a box full of stuff on its own - files and the like.  I've got rid of most of the old stuff but have to keep 6 years records for financials.  I have quite a few clothes and so many books = but do I take my shelving units to house them?  I've some, not a lot, of ornaments and nick knacks that I may just have to box up and leave here.  I have loads of stuff that I doubt I'll use much until I finally settle wherever I finally settle :-)  Then I can imagine it being settled and can all come out and gather dust again!

I am still decluttering as best I can - the problem now is that with auto re listing feature I may end up having stuff for sale in 30 days and that's January so maybe I will switch that off on this lot and see where it gets too.  I suppose I could always just switch it all off at that time.  Mind you it is slowing down now compared to the beginning but I suppose this stuff isn't as desirable or collectable.  I have some stuff that can go up which is Christmas related which needs to go up now to have a chance of making it.

That's another consideration I don't want to be doing too much trading over Christmas - I'd prefer to be sorting stuff out ready to get a real launch in 2014 for the business.  

What To Do With Myself

I wonder if I actually go out on my own this week a few times to try it out?  Sounds strange well why not, I'm going to be on my own and perhaps a wander down to the pub on my own and just have a few beers - I can take my paper work with me and work on the business.  Perhaps I can take myself down to the Jazz on Wednesday despite my friend not being there - who knows who I will meet?  It isn't rocket science after all.

Of course I'm actually a pretty shy person and so that will be interesting but I'll just have to get used to it.  I'm sure it will do me good to start to recognise how I feel about things and what I can do about them.  My local pub is after all well know to me and they know me a little so that's OK too.  The Jazz again they know me - after all I've been going there for 25 years!  

Maybe I'll just take those steps and just give myself that stretch out.

Much Better Day - Weekends Are Pants

It is a much better day today and it is because weekends are a drag and difficult and very awkward indeed.  It isn't hate it is just massive sadness and the house reeks of it.  Luckily I'm out tonight.  I was going to be out on Wednesday but that isn't going to happen now as the chap I go to the Jazz with has an Hospital appointment and so won't feel up to it.

Maybe I should arrange something else for that evening?  That could be a plan - or just take myself off there on my own?  I imagine that would be a bit sad though.

This weekend sees the Christmas Lunch that Mrs. F. and I hosted last year - I'll be going on my own - she thought we both might go but I didn't think it was appropriate.  It is interesting that it was at that do last year I realised how big I had gotten.  I was 3 1/2 stones heavier than I am now and didn't fit into my suit.  I'd put most of that weight on in that year and a lot whilst going you and down to see my dad.

It will be interesting as it will be the first time that many people will realise that something has happened and that Mrs. F. and I are no longer together.  I hope it will not be a bad occasion for all that.  

Weekdays are much easier to deal with I find and I'm able to just focus on getting on with this de-cluttering exercise which in 2 months has raised close to £2,000 which means I can contribute to the house a bit more than I was before.  In fact more than I've contributed in about 2 and a half years or is it 3 and a half years - I forget.  Whatever it is, I need to remind myself that after the distraction of the business I just couldn't get going and now I know why that was and it was interesting/academic in some ways that I the longer I went without a job the more isolated I was made and then became.  Mrs. F. doesn't get it at all or I don't think she does.  It just became an ongoing day-by-day withdrawal of services - if that doesn't sound too crude - bit by bit my life just shut down.  Terribly sad I acknowledge but there you have it.

At least things are changing now and I'm sort of free to get on although it is difficult to just sit down and concentrate on the business at the moment.  I think I might do one more large push now on eBay and then have done with it after that.  It is getting to be hard work now and whilst it makes a bit of cash all the high value things are, I believe, gone.  It is also coming up towards Christmas and so I need to work out what I am going to do about that too.  That said it is getting nearer the time where a potential move may be on the cards and I don't need too much stuff cluttering up my life and I can bring the curtain down on the de-cluttering for a while.

Diet - Haven't Mentioned That For A While

It is going OK and I've stalled a bit I'm hovering around 15 Stone - a bit lighter some days a bit heavier some others but pretty much held firm at this weight for a while.  I have been having a few more carbs of late but I'm not back on them - it's just that I don't stick to the 6 days and a cheat day anymore.  My weight is pretty static and so I tend to perhaps do like this week where I was out three or more times to have had some carbs - some beer too etc.

What I have noticed is that my stomach is pretty much flat now and there is no "love handles" to the sides of my stomach.  My thighs are smaller as are my arms and around my chest.  I'm changing shape and I'm now firmly on the last notch of my belt so - something I haven't been since I got ill - 7 years ago!  So stuff is beginning to fit me.  I hope that I can lose plenty more in the New Year and have a feeling that a new place and a new life will do this for me.  I should have the time and inclination to do some more exercise and maybe I can get the exercise machines somewhere in the new place and can get back to using them during the day.  It would make sense.

My brother has lost 6 stone so far on the Low Carbohydrate High Fat regime and he looked good when I saw him and I'm told he is really getting to look fitter and all his numbers are working.  I suppose I ought to go to the Doctors and get my BP done and catch up on this Chest thing I did.  I wonder if it will be different now considering it was done a day or so before I asked Mrs. F. for a divorce?  I'm guessing I was pretty stressed out when I went there and hopefully I won't be this time.

I'm going to carry on with the lifestyle changes - I don't feel anything but fit and healthy I have to say.  Long may that continue and let's hope new scenery will help me get to losing some more weight in the New Year.

Another LONG Weekend

It is hard work rotating around each other - luckily I was out Saturday afternoon / evening and Mrs. F was out most of the day.  I lay in bed for a few hours this morning to keep out of the way and we have been revolving around each other all day.  I leave her to watch her TV programme and I'm in the office - I can wander down in an hour.  Luckily I have stuff to do and so that's OK by me.

I wonder whether my Eckhart Tolle book will arrive soon.  I've bought a copy for Mrs. F. - I think it will help her come to terms with her sadness - it worked for me.   I've had to come to terms with more than just separating from Mrs. F.  I had to shake myself out of my depression, move on and stop being a victim and more over deal with the intense pain of losing someone at the very moment that I'd finally got myself sorted out :-)  Life can throw some cruel curve balls at you.  

I had to deal with the whole lot but of course so much of it was of my own making in the first place.  That was what it boiled down to of course, owning up to and taking charge of the situation.  Removing the things that were giving me the pain, the depression and the sheer inability to be able to affect any of it.  For years I had used avoiding tactics and finally I took charge and moved on.

That book 'A New Earth' arrived at just the right time.  It didn't stop what was happening from happening - but it helped me make sense of and to deal with it.  The loss of my 'angel' was the hardest thing to deal with.  What matters though is that at that time it was what I needed and you can call it Karma if you will but it all happened at the same time and for what I humbly believe to be for the right reasons.  I can't say that I truly understand the reasons or the timing or why some things happened the way they did but that's what happened and that's the way it was.  

It's not as if my 'angel' is dead and it's not as if we won't meet again, it's just that for a short period of my life, through perhaps the toughest time (excepting having Cancer) there was someone there who made me think differently, who made me think differently about myself, who introduced the concept of Karma and who became the catalyst of many actions or at least suddenly allowed me to actually look at myself., take control and to make some of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, to face up to and acknowledge what I needed to do about it and to start to truly understand and appreciate who I am and to focus on being me and not beating myself up about it.  

I appreciate that in a month or two I'll be out of this situation and into something completely different and it will then be a period of adjustment, perhaps a bit of quiet contemplation and then a rebuilding phase.  

I suggested that Cancer knocks all of your confidence away and strips you of your self esteem and so many parts of you are undermined not just your health but your personality and your human nature your humanity and so many aspects.  My 'angel' finally made me realise that all that was locked up in me and just needed to be seen and appreciated for what it is.  Made me feel good about myself, able to go and meet people and not be worried.  To see good in others, to be good to others, to not (or try not) to judge or prejudge, to use patience and empathy and to just be what I was all along but was locked in through fear of opening up and being hurt again and again.

But hurt I was and painfully so but I realise now that it could be no other way that there needed this earthquake of a disturbance in my life for if that had not been there I believe I would be so deeply depressed now that I would be on medication and probably the complete opposite of how I find myself today.  So now, I look back and can only ever think of the most remarkable summer I can ever remember for I finally connected with it all and still do.  I walked along last night to my "Hot Date" and took in things like the leaves falling and noises of animals and birds as I wandered. People going about their lives and it all just felt great.  That feeling is great and long may I continue to just enjoy being in the now - it is a good place to be.  

Yay - Good Night - No Facebook No Hangover

I actually switched my Laptop to hibernate.  I then went on to the night out.  Drank little, ate well, behaved myself, came back, didn't even come into the office, went to bed.  It can be done.

I am now very wary of my own actions - I am a little more affected than I think I am sometimes and know that the answer is not found at the bottom of a glass or bottle.

Anyway - it was a great night out, really enjoyed the company and even managed to remember everyone's names properly this time (long story).  

A Hot Date :-)

Probably not but the phrase was coined sometime ago.  Flocky and I meet up with a couple of the girls from the centre and go out once or twice a year for a few drinks and some food.  

I am so looking forward to getting out again.  It's a good evening, great company and that's the important thing.  

Mrs. F. has gone out and the house is all mine this morning.  I've done some eBay stuff and I'm about to go post those and then just work out what I can do for the rest of the day leading up to this evening.  I will probably walk to the restaurant it is about 45 minutes walk but it is quite enjoyable - last time I did it - it was in the summer so I imagine in the cold and dark it may not be quite so enjoyable as I found it before.

I must remember not to drink anything like the amount or type (Sake) that I did last time I went out.... :-) 

La Vie En Rose

Another film to wipe you out when you are slightly running on the edge :-)  It's a difficult film to watch in many ways - I can't say there's anything uplifting about Edith Piaf's life - well not that I could see anyway.   It is certainly a painful film to watch but you can see why it won a few Oscars and a handful of BAFTAs too.  It certainly left me a little weepy because in the end it was a tale of so many maybes and tragedies in her life.  

Oh well, I am back up in my office and I don't think I will do much more tonight - I was going to get stuck into some figure work but later nights, spreadsheets, maths and trying to sleep are not good bedfellows with me anyway.

Perhaps I'll listen to some sounds - slightly quietly - charge up my MP3 player for tomorrow and turn in early (for me).

The house isn't a great place to be in and Mrs. F. and I have hardly said a word all night.  It's sad and it's a shame.  Tomorrow I am out in the evening with some friends for a few drinks and a meal and I am so looking forward to getting out and just enjoying a bit of laughter.  I certainly could do with that.  I've been lucky to have been out a number of times this week and so things haven't been too bad I suppose.

Well looking forward to the weekend and see if that cheers me up - sure it will.

Christmas and Birthdays - Decisions To Be Made

This is a real wrestle.  What to do about Mrs. F's birthday coming up and Christmas.  I've been advised not to buy anything but certainly to do cards if nothing else.  It feel dreadful to not buy her a present for either her birthday or for Christmas but I can see all sides of this and it feels wrong whatever I do about it.  If I buy her something she may not like it because it comes from / reminds her of me.  If I don't it stops something I've done for 38 or more years :-(  How difficult it is to know what to do.  

I actually feel a little queasy thinking about it.  How difficult all this is for us and on one hand if I buy her something it sends out wrong signals and if I don't it does too. 

Oh well - next year it probably won't be so bad I hope.  

I spend more of my days being happy and content these days.  I get these little niggling doubts of course I do, bound to I'm sure.  I just  have to go and replay my reasons why and then I am OK with my decision.  It's such a big thing of course and there are doubts on all sorts of things.  Of course, I like the idea that I can turn a new page and just move on.  I worry that Mrs. F. still struggles with the pain of it all and then I think to myself that I cannot do anything about this as much as I really want to help her and make things right and make her feel better - it isn't me who can do that.  I'd like her to understand it all and I'd like her to learn and meet someone and for her to be happy.  In fact that's something I really want for her - to be happy again especialy after I made her so sad.

Don't Make The Same Mistakes I Made :-)

Suddenly I know all about it!  Don't spend all of your time out doing Masonic stuff and spending time away from your wife I heard myself say tonight!  

Mmmm - hindsight such a great thing I suppose but I find that the one thing I'd change is being more attentive and spending far more time "working at it" than I ever did.  Now here is the thing  though - do you think anyone listened?  No I don't think they did and I don't suppose I did years ago either.

I think that I would spend a lot of time in future building the relationship rather than running away from it.

Here is a wonderful little bit of music - just invest 10 minutes and watch the rather sad video that goes with it.  I love it... :-)

That Was Fun

I substituted for a friend at his business networking breakfast and as these things go it was good enough fun.  It's interesting watching people and I managed to chat to some interesting people and just watch behaviour.  I did manage to isolate myself for a few moments to have some coffee and they wouldn't have that - which was rather nice of them.

It always amazes me that you get people come to these events that are only after business and don't make the effort.  I made the effort twice with two people that had business propositions that watching paint dry was a far more interesting venture but I stuck with it.  Who knows, I could help.  I did a little about my new business and so managed to briefly tell people what I was planning to do.  It was early - phew!  But it was nice to get out, take the car, drive opposite the hoards driving to London :-) just enjoy it and not worry about it although I did feel a tiny bit nervous before I got up to speak but then again - it's what I do well and so it all worked out fine.

It's a very interesting setup and I can see why my mate uses it - lots of leads and referrals.  For me, at the moment, it's too early to start that but if there is a local chapter then perhaps it is worth looking at.  For £12 a week roughly I imagine it can pay you back pretty quickly.

So I'm back home now just gone 9:30 and relaxed and ready for the rest of my day - I'm off to London this afternoon for a Lodge meeting - a Centenary and I know quite a few of the people there so it will be good.  Again, it will just be a nice day out and I've forced myself to do it.  I should do it more often too.  Once I get past the obstacles I put in my own way and go I really enjoy it - I hope that the obstacles will get less and less in the future in fact I'm sure they will.

Today is a good day - let there be many more please... :-) 

Different Day - Different Perspective

I don't know what it was about speaking to my Nephew last night but another layer of "worry" shall we call it peeled away.  I'd also had a long chat with my business partner and once again it really is good t chat things through and to find out that it "isn't just me" who feels a certain way etc.

I found on waking this morning that another weight had gone from me and I'm really pleased about that because it dragged me back a few weeks ago - I wrote about it not so long ago too.  It was about something in the past that I really wanted to recreate in my future and suddenly it was very important to me to do this.  It is pretty much an impossibility but there were chinks that this crazy plot could see the light of day.  Thank goodness this morning that's gone, it wasn't helping and it's gone and it's dead and that's fine by me now.  It should hurt but I did all the hurt sometime ago and it's in the past and all that's happened now is that with some regret up until yesterday I knew I had to let the thought(s) and that person go.  No regrets this morning, a new reality is here and I'm at one with myself about it, comfortable and resigned. 

It all sounds obscure and so it should be but I discussed this last night and realised overnight that it was just my mind trying to get back in control and my ego and also my pain body all trying to edge their way back in.  No sir, not again and that's the thing - if you retake control you can get past this.  

Not much else happening today, I need to now work out what to do about a business address as the chap I spoke to isn't interested.  That's OK I know what I think I need to do.  Just got to go and investigate it.

Nephew Is OK With It All

My Nephew whom I've known since he was born is very special to me.  He was born just a few months after Mrs. F and I were married and his father left I suppose when he was only a year or two old and they moved back near us and so we have grown up with him since then.  We took him to University, we looked after him after school and so many things we shared as if he was our own son.  He and I have been very close for all these years and so it was with some trepidation that I found myself apologising to him that Mrs. F. and I were splitting up.

Yes - it was a shock. No, he knew something was up - he knows me well enough to get the tone of my emails :-)

 It was a good evening although we couldn't find much to eat as the local football club had taken over the curry house!  So we ended up with a few bags of nuts and extra beers and I supplemented that with a fried egg sandwich on my return home!

He's almost a third child to us I suppose and so it was only appropriate that he knew but not his mum or his uncle!  Mrs. F. please sort this out!  

Anyway it was a good evening all around and apart from having to give out some bad news I found it very cathartic to speak to him - having two daughters doesn't always make a heart to heart conversation easy.  

It was nice of him ( but not unexpected) that he stepped up to the plate - bless him....