It's Tuesday lunchtime and I'm looking out over the sea at Alnmouth thinking how lucky I am to have a bolthole like this to escape from the continued pressure caused by the house sale. Yet another delay and therefore more hassle. I'm going to sit here quietly for an hour or so and prepare for my trip to Glasgow next week.
Thank God for the peace and tranquility of a Northumbrian beach in Winter.
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Peace.
Sunday 20 January 2013
Scotland
I have been in Glasgow for the past week delivering a training event and as I'm in Edinburgh next week for a similar reason I decided it was daft to go all the way back to Amble only to turn around to return on Monday so I have been staying with my pal Charlie in sunny Kirkintilloch.
It has been a tonic this weekend to be able to enjoy good company and get out instead of being tied to worrying about what is happening with the house sale, which is still dragging on but enough about that.
Last night Charlie and I went to the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow to see Petunia and the Vipers at the Celtic Connection music festival. They were fairly average but the support, Woody Pines was very good. If you ever see them playing near you I would certainly encourage you to go along. They are a bluesy rockabilly band and they knocked the main band into a cocked hat.
On Saturday afternoon we went up to Callendar to the Bracklinn Falls which is also well worth a trip, I posted a couple of pictures on Facebook so you can get an idea of what it's like up there.
So all-in-all it has been a good weekend and a tonic. No doubt there'll be problems to overcome in the next few weeks but at least I've had a chance to relax so I hope I can cope a little better than I would have done if I'd not had a break.
I may not have mentioned this but I've decided to rent a house instead of buying, that way I'll have a little more freedom to decide where I'll end up and also have some savings behind me. Buying would have tied up all my cash and I really don't want that. All I hope is that the house sale goes through soon and I can get the place I like in Amble before someone else steps in. Renting means that I am able to move if I want without having to worry about selling up. I really don't want all the hassle of selling. It seems people put their ethics and empathy in a cupboard when they get involved in house purchases.
Thinking about moving and suchlike, I do have a hankering for a move to Scotland, most likely Glasgow or somewhere close to it. I have a couple of good pals living there and the city has a great entertainment and music scene plus it is close to stunning scenery. It's also not far from the North East of England if I have a hankering to visit my roots, what's left of them. I really have no reason to stay put, The Brother and Sister in Law don't need me around so I am pretty much free to go where I like if I can afford the rent. I still appreciate their letting me stay with them but when all's said and done I'm still an extra body in their house which makes it difficult for them.
My 'carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero' approach will, I hope lead me into discovering people and places that I would not have found by staying in my old rut. I'm still the old Heddonlad but with added openness to change and new experiences.
Of course there is still a link with Madame even though we are divorced until the house finalises but once that is done we'll have to see what she intends to do. She's welcome to tag along with my new approach if she wants but if not then so be it.
Anyway, I'm now going to try to get The Story moving along, so TTFN.
It has been a tonic this weekend to be able to enjoy good company and get out instead of being tied to worrying about what is happening with the house sale, which is still dragging on but enough about that.
Last night Charlie and I went to the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow to see Petunia and the Vipers at the Celtic Connection music festival. They were fairly average but the support, Woody Pines was very good. If you ever see them playing near you I would certainly encourage you to go along. They are a bluesy rockabilly band and they knocked the main band into a cocked hat.
On Saturday afternoon we went up to Callendar to the Bracklinn Falls which is also well worth a trip, I posted a couple of pictures on Facebook so you can get an idea of what it's like up there.
So all-in-all it has been a good weekend and a tonic. No doubt there'll be problems to overcome in the next few weeks but at least I've had a chance to relax so I hope I can cope a little better than I would have done if I'd not had a break.
I may not have mentioned this but I've decided to rent a house instead of buying, that way I'll have a little more freedom to decide where I'll end up and also have some savings behind me. Buying would have tied up all my cash and I really don't want that. All I hope is that the house sale goes through soon and I can get the place I like in Amble before someone else steps in. Renting means that I am able to move if I want without having to worry about selling up. I really don't want all the hassle of selling. It seems people put their ethics and empathy in a cupboard when they get involved in house purchases.
Thinking about moving and suchlike, I do have a hankering for a move to Scotland, most likely Glasgow or somewhere close to it. I have a couple of good pals living there and the city has a great entertainment and music scene plus it is close to stunning scenery. It's also not far from the North East of England if I have a hankering to visit my roots, what's left of them. I really have no reason to stay put, The Brother and Sister in Law don't need me around so I am pretty much free to go where I like if I can afford the rent. I still appreciate their letting me stay with them but when all's said and done I'm still an extra body in their house which makes it difficult for them.
My 'carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero' approach will, I hope lead me into discovering people and places that I would not have found by staying in my old rut. I'm still the old Heddonlad but with added openness to change and new experiences.
Of course there is still a link with Madame even though we are divorced until the house finalises but once that is done we'll have to see what she intends to do. She's welcome to tag along with my new approach if she wants but if not then so be it.
Anyway, I'm now going to try to get The Story moving along, so TTFN.
Sunday 6 January 2013
In the pub.
Today I will mainly be drinking beer. I am keeping a low profile at the moment so I'm spending as much time as possible out of the house. I'm away three days next week in Scotland so that will help. I'm looking at places to rent so with luck I'll be back in a place of my own soon with the kitties and my stuff around me. It can't come soon enough.
Tuesday 1 January 2013
Well, here we are.
2013 is upon us and a Happy New Year to anyone I haven't already wished one to.
I am having a traditional New Year's Day breakfast of a cup of coffee and a slice of Christmas cake. I had planned a stroll down to the Wellwood pub this morning to view the wrecks from last night but I really can't be bothered to get changed and go out. It is a lovely sunny morning but even so I think a quiet day 'entertaining' my avid readers, writing a bit of The Story and reading Geoffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot will do.
It's also time to start getting the over-indulgence out of my system and start on the slow process of losing some weight and getting some blood into my alcohol stream.
This month I have a lot of travel to Scotland, both Edinburgh and Glasgow will benefit from my presence as I have courses to deliver in both of those fine cities. I will have to refrain from my usual practise of drinking too much and eating nothing but Indian food while I'm there and also stay out of bookshops until I've finished reading the two books I bought yesterday which I shouldn't have bought. Can one be a bookaholic? Because if so, that's what I am. Still it is better than my previous vice which got me where I am today.
Anyway enough of looking backwards, it's a new year and the only thing to do is resolve to be kind, thoughtful and productive and to leave my self-destruct tendencies in the dustbin of history.
So my priorities for the first quarter of 2013 are to get the house sale completed, find a new place to live, decide whether to rent or buy and get my finances in order. I'm torn between renting and buying, I have at present no-one to leave anything to when I slip off this mortal coil so I may as well rent and have some savings behind me for eventualities rather than pour it all into a property which as I say will only go to the State or some charity or other when my time comes. If in the next year or so I do end up back in a relationship (with whom is another question which I am leaving to the fates to decide) that may change and I can then review my approach but unless and until that happens I think renting will give me a bit of breathing space to evaluate my direction in life.
Still, enough of this philosophising, it's time to sort out some washing and maybe see if I can get poor old Bob out of Cleveland OH and into the Wild West. Wish me luck.
TTFN.
I am having a traditional New Year's Day breakfast of a cup of coffee and a slice of Christmas cake. I had planned a stroll down to the Wellwood pub this morning to view the wrecks from last night but I really can't be bothered to get changed and go out. It is a lovely sunny morning but even so I think a quiet day 'entertaining' my avid readers, writing a bit of The Story and reading Geoffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot will do.
It's also time to start getting the over-indulgence out of my system and start on the slow process of losing some weight and getting some blood into my alcohol stream.
This month I have a lot of travel to Scotland, both Edinburgh and Glasgow will benefit from my presence as I have courses to deliver in both of those fine cities. I will have to refrain from my usual practise of drinking too much and eating nothing but Indian food while I'm there and also stay out of bookshops until I've finished reading the two books I bought yesterday which I shouldn't have bought. Can one be a bookaholic? Because if so, that's what I am. Still it is better than my previous vice which got me where I am today.
Anyway enough of looking backwards, it's a new year and the only thing to do is resolve to be kind, thoughtful and productive and to leave my self-destruct tendencies in the dustbin of history.
So my priorities for the first quarter of 2013 are to get the house sale completed, find a new place to live, decide whether to rent or buy and get my finances in order. I'm torn between renting and buying, I have at present no-one to leave anything to when I slip off this mortal coil so I may as well rent and have some savings behind me for eventualities rather than pour it all into a property which as I say will only go to the State or some charity or other when my time comes. If in the next year or so I do end up back in a relationship (with whom is another question which I am leaving to the fates to decide) that may change and I can then review my approach but unless and until that happens I think renting will give me a bit of breathing space to evaluate my direction in life.
Still, enough of this philosophising, it's time to sort out some washing and maybe see if I can get poor old Bob out of Cleveland OH and into the Wild West. Wish me luck.
TTFN.
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