This year my experiences has led me to believe in no uncertain terms that we are bigger and better than the reality we believe ourselves to be trapped in. It’s like we are constantly looking down at our feet, with an inescapable deep back pain developing from our neck downwards as we break our own backs looking down, while a voice whispers in our ears saying “hey you’ve stepped in shit and everyone can smell it!”. Well not to put it to gently its time to “Free our mind and our ass will follow” and escape this victim-martyr-poor-me mentally.
It costs nothing, and will literally save the world that our thoughts create 🙂
November was a quiet month. Work was briefly a bit bonkers. A sink hole opened up down the road. Other than that life just pottered on.
Henry and Evie are at that age that sometimes they don’t get onManchester tramH (front far right) gets his second Taekwondo beltRainbow on a surprise snow dayGiant footstep in the roadNearby Shaw on a clear dayArggh the Knitting Monster
“Only after weeks had passed did I begin to think that I had, rather absent-mindedly, passed through what mystics call “the dark night of the soul” or “crossing the abyss.”
Whatever one calls it, I reached a depth of despair and deliberately decided to love the world instead of pitying myself; and, afterwards, I was no longer afraid of anything.”
October and the weather is beginning to really go down hill, but we still have the odd surprising really sunny day.
Highlights this month:
Work sends me on a training course for a content management system we don’t even have access to
Crypts and Things finally gets released to the general public yay!
Having fun at Furnace 2016 despite the whole con being ill.
I start staring 50 in the face (thanks Carl Greatbach for that horrible metaphor that is stuck in my head!) as I hide from the world celebrating my 45 birthday!
An efficiently run Halloween 🙂
H and his conkers!Rach is cross at Christmas being in the shops this early!Off to Furnace on the train, something I’ve not done in about 10 yearsFirst cuppa of the Con (oh how old I’m getting, this used to be beer!)Cueing for games sign up (me out of shot laughing, because as a GM I don’t have to do this)The Magic Stall!MItch my secret Hendos advisorRiver of Heaven in full flow!Our pair dressed up for School Book DayHelp I’m in Computer Nerd CentralCats in Catnip debauchery shockerMonkey!Best Birthday Present Ever!! Tony the Tea makin sloth 🙂Grrr! I be Capt Breadhook, where be my enemy Peter Flan!This year’s pumpkin effortHalloween at the Newport’s
The main thing I remember was me thinking “Dang I was just getting into Summer!” and feeling a succession of jolts as the ambient energy dropped (that’s seasonal downturn to all you people in normalsville).
Life progressed as normal. Kids where settled back in School. Work continued to be vaguely annoying and indecisive, but I kept my cool and played along.
Henry had an ace small boy birthday, full of toys, meals out with family, a party at a local play place, and the realisation is that he’s now beyond his littlely years and growing up fast!
Big personal news for me was that the final proofs of Crypts and Things landed, and I had it my hands after spending a good two years developing it. That was a feeling you can’t beat! 🙂
Cats have the right ideaH with his birthday MInecraft LegoIts grim op norfI finally have it my hands! (Lunch to provide idea of scale)The Sun hadn’t vanished entirely – still time to be hunted by cats!Off to school you pair!Arrgh! Stalked by Ninja + Vader!
Although most of August was dominated by the holiday, the weeks before and after it was fun. I vaguely remember the weather being much better than usual. Although nowhere near the high summer days of my youth, at least it wasn’t grimmly overcast and raining all the time (yes 2011-2013 I’m looking at you).
Henry playing Pirates of the CaribbeanCrypts & Things progresses in the proofing stageOw me eye!Our duo swinging at the park, in front of a petrified Alien from the last invasion.Lego!On your marks! Get set!A sunny day at Hollingworth LakeHollingworth Lake: That Green Man gets everywhere!Hollingworth Lake: Of course there was Ice Cream!Back to work, Bowie tells me to behaveMore Manchester Murals
I know its all fashionable to get all blue about the state of the world at this time of year and to give into some sort of perma-whinge. Me I just invoke my inner-Viking and think…..
What would a Viking do about about Brexit? Doesn’t care too busy raiding your coast and extorting tribute from your weak government!!!
American Presidential Election? Don’t care colonised America first and the long ships are sailing up the river to burn the Whitehouse down unless you pay us ALL YOUR GOLD! Donald Trump OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!! As for Hillary, we’ve got an axe for her too. We’ll put Burnie Saunders in charge because he’s popular with the peasants….sorry people, and he’s a weak…opps sorry slip of the tongue again ..reasonable ruler WHO WILL OBEDIENTLY BE PAYING THE TRIBUTE WE WILL BE DEMANDING FROM NOW ON!!!
Ask a Viking what he thinks of “Writer’s Imposter Syndrome” and he’ll go “What is this weak writing business where we pass around illuminated manuscripts via the internets. Its for girly monks with their long rubbish sackcloth dresses and hairy shirts stuck in their shitty little cold monestrys. Don’t worry we will be coming soon and raising the temperature with hot fire and illustrating the manuscripts with their blood!”
This was our big two week holiday in the Glastonbury area of Sommerset. It was slightly delayed due to a bit of drama on Evie’s part. Two weeks before she had broken her front tooth in two, and our dentist very kindly stuck it back together. A miracle of modern science! However we had to have a breif check up (something to do with roots possibly dying) on the Monday afternoon of what would have been our first week. So we delayed driving down until mid monday afternoon, which was a good thing because our Rach wasn’t well (she’s been having problems with her gall blader) and I did all the packing of the tent + clothes + kitchen sink over the weekend. Drive down was cool. Rach got used to our new trailer (verdict great on the motorway, less so on small countrylands). Bristol was a bit bumpy! Just as folk were tired and tempers were flaring we reached our stop off point, a trusty and chilled out Premier Inn.
Leaving the Land of the Pies aka North West of EngladChilling out at a Premier Inn just outside Gloucester, about 2/3 way there.Outside the Premier inn, my new trailer just in view at bottom
Next day after breakfast we did the last third of the drive and after me and Rach put up the tent, she took the kids to the local supermarket while I did the pegging and moved all the ‘stuff’ into the tent. Which was a good way off doing it 🙂
The first glance of the Tor as we arrivedThe big green beastIts not glamping its “comfatable family camping”Smores!Rach cooking smores!Smores too!
This time out we did alot of loafing around the campsite, because after last years holiday we realised we were spending too much time on a mission to visit places every day. There were complaints from the kids who wanted to spend more time playing with their new frieds. Also Rach was taking it easy due to not feeling well. But that be said we did Longleat Sarari Park as a big day out, Glastonbury muliple times, and we had a couple of trips to Wells. We also got to go to an outdoor swiming pool a couple of times and visit Rach’s friend Hema (some of you might remember as one of Rach’s bridesmaids at our wedding) and her big BIG Bull Mastiff dogs. So overall we had a good venture out.
Longleat Safari park, as you do 🙂Sleeping penguinsCheeky Eve and a stingrayAt the Temple of DoomLaziest beasts in the ZooHema & John’s Biscuit and Fudge, our Henry.Evie and FudgeGreenbank Outdoor swiming pool at StreetSign at the counter at Bluenote cafe in GlastonburyThere be dragons!Way up to Glastonbury AbbeyWitness the epic ruins of the Abbey…..oh hang about we are too busy playing on our tablets……or photobombing in the crypt! 🙂
I loved this holiday. From the moment we got to the campsite the whole experience was magical. People joked about “feeling the ley lines” , but I felt a rise in energy the whole time I was there, which hasn’t really gone away since I’ve come back. I would quite happily come again, but the family now have their sights set even futher south ( after realising we can break the journey quite happily by stoping at a hotel ) and at this point Eurocamp in the South of France is on the cards. Rach is even learning French! But I hope to return the Isle of Avalon at some point – if only to finally walk up the Tor which I missed out on doing this time out.
Glastonbury Tor from our campsiteThe enterance to our campsiteAnother beautiful night at our campsiteEve stargazing using the Ipad outside our tentEvie siting pretty at the playcenture in WellsWells CathedralH and the kite at the campsite
Most of July was us just kicking back enjoying the summer and gettnig ready for the camping trip to Glastonbury that was coming up in August. Weather was pretty meh, occasional sun, a bit of rain (but not very much for our neck of the woods) but mainly overcast. Lots of quality home time though including games and a new barbeque.
Our teeny weeny barbque!Nom, Nom, NomJuly was the month that Pokemon Go hit NewportsHenry’s first Taekwondo beltPlaying Crypts & Things with the home groupPirates of the Carribean, rescued from the attic, with our H.Html 5 Training course with work, find out you’ve been doing it right all these years without knowing it
After Disneyland Paris and Games Expo it was time to take it easy and just well have a family summer. Which is what according to my photographic record is what we did 🙂
Garden a bit of jungle 🙂I am your father!Going the scenic route home from school pt1Going the scenic route home from school pt2Going the scenic route home from school pt3 You can see our house from hereHenry and the StormtrooperBoing! Boing! Boing!Have at you!Games afternoon with GrandmaDue to recent failures Project Manager Cthulhu is put under glassHenry and his dragonIts not holidays yet EvieHurrah!H growing up, but still a happy lad
