Friday 8 April 2011

The Shard In The Sunshine

It's a glorious day and the Shard is really coming along.

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Saturday 2 April 2011

Tech For Non-Tech

I support all the gadgets in our home, including the various computers.  I tinker - I admit it, but I always strive to ensure that all the tech we have is up to date and operating as efficiently as possible.

This morning Hamish saw me updating the software on Netty and gave me the third degree about what I was doing.  I can't always easily explain to him what the software is doing but I try to tell him that I know what and, more importantly, why I am doing what I'm doing.

This ultimately puts me on the defensive and causes friction.  However if I didn't maintain our tech and let entropy take it's course I would then be criticised when the various systems we have grind to a halt.

I can't really win this one.

Friday 1 April 2011

Back - By Popular Demand

Well, I never really went away.  I didn't really think anyone actually read this blog but a few of you have asked me when I will update again and, as it's been 4 months since my last missivek I thought I would say something.

This year has already been a challenge.  I'm still not well (no change there) but I've started my psycho-dynamic therapy which is quite tough but rewarding.  Work is going very well but very stressful.  I've just started annual review season and am at the start of 31 reviews and this is on top of the usual day to day stuff.

Four weeks ago Hamish and I had a phone call from Roxana at midnight on a Monday evening to say that Hamish's dad, John, had had a fall in his care home and was now in hospital unconscious and not expected to come round.  We jumped into the car and drove down to Salisbury to begin a 12 hour vigil at his bedside.  He had suffered a massive bleed to the brain and was in a coma.  We were told at lunchtime on the Tuesday that there was no chance of recovery and, at 5 o'clock that afternoon, he was dead.

John was not a nice man, in fact he was a psychological bully, but it was still strange to think that he had gone. The next few days were filled with organising the funeral.  As a family there were mixed feelings - relief that he was gone but also a degree of guilt that we were relieved.  We did what we always do and found humour in the situation and closed ranks.  I am so lucky to be a part of a truly remarkable family.

The funeral was two weeks later - a full Catholic Requiem Mass followed by a burial at London Road cemetery.  As could have been predicted, things did not exactly go to plan and due to a miscalculation in numbers coupled with the fact that Ian's estranged son, Aaron, arrived I had to jump out of the funeral car at the last minute to make space and subsequently missed the burial.  John was awkward to the last however when the coffin got stuck going down the hole.  Luckily the funeral directors managed to get him down without resorting to giving him a good shoeing so all was OK.  We ended the day in true Walker style by all getting completely legless.

So now things are starting to return to normal and I will try to keep this blog up to date.  I've said that before!