Onwards, fellow beings.

Well, an estate agent has been engaged to sell the house and we are now officially de-cluttering and moving forward. Mrs H will be off to the USA later this week to set up her new job and rent an apartment over there. She will be back at the end of November to see how things are going with getting our new, smaller and less cluttered UK base set up.
The work she will be doing in the US is more secure than that which she had here plus as she still has clients to work for in the UK there will be a degree of ocean hopping going on. I, meanwhile will be holding the fort at this end keeping the home fires burning, so to speak with occasional forays to the West. We are in effect going to be a two continent family, which we think is a good way forward and, I hope will be an improvement on what went before, especially in the recent past.
In addition to the great move I will continue work at my exciting civil service job whilst blogging and writing my series of short stories which I have been attempting to start for years. I hope that the move and de-clutter will help clear my head to allow me to get the darned thing written, it's been lurking around for long enough, its time to unleash my genius on an unsuspecting public.
So there you have it, a change of direction for both of us and, I hope, a happy future together.
Wish us luck!
TTFN PAAA.

North of the Border

I've spent three enjoyable days in the Venice of the North, Edinburgh to us mere mortals on a work trip trying to establish what I need to write in my next training manual. Now you might think that enjoyable and work do not necessarily go hand in hand like the proverbial horse and carriage but at present they do. That of course may change, but take it while you can.
The hotel we stayed in was very nice, The Roxburghe, just by Charlotte Square since you ask and we discovered a smashing Mexican restaurant and a rather neat Italian not far away so all in all that worked out well.
I also managed to finally go into the famous Oxford Bar and also the not famous Cambridge bar which is just along the street. Both of which had their points but you'll never get me beyond Tiles Bar, I'm easily pleased though.
Now, as an international jet-setter I am travelling to the former second city of the Empire to deliver some training next week and to reacquaint myself with the State Bar and an old pal from Southend. Should be fun.
Changing the subject entirely it will be early mornings tomorrow and Sunday as with a combination of downsizing from my current home, my wife moving to the US for work at the end of the month and a general de-clutter of the combined accretions of life there are car boot sales to be attended so that we can clear out the house and garage of a great deal of clutter. I think an antique/bric-a-brac dealer needs to be found as well. There is a lot of stuff to shift and not much time to shift it.
On that note, I'll say TTFN and PAAA.

Sperlash!

That, my friends, along with being the sound an anchor makes as it hits the water is me casting myself adrift from the wreckage and striking out for the distant shores of happiness and contentment.

There will of course be bumps along the way, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor but I hope that with a fair wind, some determination and the support of friends and family (you know who you are) I will roll up on the sandy shore of peace and tranquillity before too many moons have passed. Mind you as a youngster I had many dreams of Sandy Shaw, that is an entirely different story however (youthful crushes, aah how wonderful they weren't).

As I write I am surrounded (by that I don't mean they are on the seat all around me, rather they are in the usual places you'd find photographs. I may be sad but I'm not obsessed) by pictures of my smiling prospective ex-wife reminding me of happier times. I haver between wishing we could recapture those days and realising that they have gone the way of all things. The best hope is that we can remain friends (I know, I know everyone says this and rarely does, we can try though) and hope that as time heals the rift we can become closer again. She and I being on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean may be both a barrier and an aid to this. As someone once said, 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' so who knows?

As time goes on I hope to be able to move forward and stop these backward, or perhaps sideways looking posts and write on more interesting subjects. Just now though as this is somewhat of a journal or diary blog I'm afraid you are likely to be regaled with more of this type of thing until I start undertaking more interesting activities.

The aim is for me to write a little each day or maybe every couple of days, describing what has gone on and hoping to amuse and thrill you all (if there is actually anyone out there reading this) with the broad range of the day to day goings-on in the world of a middle-aged gadgie (a North East English term for a gentleman of a certain age and/or outlook) from a small village in the beautiful county of Northumberland (come and visit, you'll be amazed).

Tell you what as an almost final thought, time flies (like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana) while you are enjoying yourself. I started writing this afternoon at 12.30 pm and it is now 4pm, where did the time go?

So there you have it, there's ramblings to be written and write them I shall.

TTFN/PAAA (for future reference that's TaTaForNow and PerArduaAdAstra) PerArduaAdAstra by the way is the motto of the Royal Air Force and translates roughly as Through Adversity to the Stars.

Per Ardua Ad Astra (With thanks to the RAF)

Before I say anything else, my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the events of September 11 2001.

I came across an interesting site today http://inoveryourhead.net/ which got me thinking.

I am currently in the throes of my 2nd divorce, this marriage has lasted 9 years which is 8 years longer than the first one but anyway. As part of this I have desperately been trying to hang on to the house using the reasoning that it has been in the family since it was built in 1926 and that it is part of my life history and so on.  Today when I found and looked at the site I mentioned above I had something of an epiphany, so thank you Julien Smith.

By striving to get further into debt in order to keep the house I am tying myself into having to work long after my hoped-for retirement age. I am also condemning myself to an existence which involves trying to maintain a fairly large house and a huge garden as I get older alongside working in a job that once the current contract finishes will involve me doing work I will not like, in a building I loathe which involves dragging myself daily through the rush-hour traffic and other such fun stuff.

So, no more of that. I am going to bite the bullet, sell the house, clear my debts and with the money I have left find a little place to live in to allow me to start again free of major financial worries.

I will work at what I am doing until the contract runs out in a couple of years from now and then find a job working somewhere I would enjoy, such as a bookshop to give me an income until my pension kicks in. I will start writing on here again on a regular basis and be a little more disciplined about it, unlike at present where there are huge gaps between posts.

I need to build up a following so that I can expand my repertoire so to speak, most of all I need to be regular and interesting (two things it is always advisable to be in life I've found). I hope also to be witty and entertaining but don't hold your breath.

I will also look to get some advice from a writer friend about writing a series of short stories which may or may not lead into a book. You are never too old to start and I'm only 53 and 11/12ths so that's not old is it? Is it? Go on, say its not old. Sorry. Anyway, I read somewhere that a very famous author who's name I forget didn't have their first bestseller until they were 76 years old, so there's hope for me yet.

So if anyone out there is reading this please feel free to comment, tell me I'm a delusional old fool, be supportive whichever you like. I am looking to break free from the fear of the new and of moving on that has been holding me back all these years.

I have been clinging onto the wreckage for too long now, it is time to swim for the shore or drown in the attempt.

More soon. TTFN and Per Ardua Ad Astra.

So much I want...

...to say. One day perhaps.

Until that day comes you'll have to make do with mindless drivel about the first thing that comes into my head.

So today: beer, football, sweets and more beer are those things.

That's it, ttfn.

Happiness

I've been a little down in these posts lately. No, I hear you say, you've been little a ray of sunshine brightening our lives (albeit intermittently). It's true though, I have been in a trough for a while now; the prospect of going forward on my own again was pushing me under. Now I've had a bit of a think and I've realised that whatever happens there is no reason to be on such a downer, there are many others in much worse situations than me. At least I have a job and food in my belly, more than many can say.
Now, I doubt if I can ever stop suffering from depression but I can try to look at the positives rather than the negatives and be a little more optimistic.
As Eric Idle sang the other night, always look on the bright side of life. I'm not saying I'm going to little miss sunshine, not possible because I'm a baldy bloke in his fifties but you know what I mean. What I am going to try to do is accentuate the positive, (there's a song in there somewhere).
Anyway, time for Mr Cheery to close for now.
More later, TTFN.

Olympic Closing Ceremony

My jaw is agape for different reasons to the opening ceremony. Surreal.

By the way, the Greek National Anthem is a good tune.