Tag Archives: life

Perspective: When the Bad Makes the Good Better

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The last week has been BRUTAL.

Not long ago, I was informed of a situation that would require me to be elsewhere for several weeks. This couldn’t have come at a worse time – I’m self-employed with nobody to cover me and it hit right at the start of prepping all the festive season posts for most of my social media clients. I wouldn’t be able to do much during the day and would physically be out of the house, so admin would have to be done extremely early in the morning, and then when I got home in the evening (as well as attempting to monitor a whole bunch of social media accounts if I had a few moments of free time during the day).

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Comic Con, Old Friends and a Blogging Month

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A week ago I met up with two friends, Sacha and Helen, in London. Both of them are authors – Sacha is absolutely killing it in the indie author world and Helen’s book has just been released across the UK with One More Chapter, part of Harper Collins publishing – but we actually met through blogging nearly ten years ago. 

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A Long Overdue Holiday in Scotland

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At the end of July all of the schools had finished for the summer holidays and The Bloke was working out his remaining annual leave for the year before it resets in September. As an IT Tech he doesn’t get the same amount of holidays as the teaching staff and has to be savvy when he takes days off, so it made sense for him to take his two remaining weeks at a point where he would also get an additional few days with the Bank Holiday at the end of August. 

We started discussing the potential of going away on holiday – the last proper holiday we had was a week in New York in 2018 and we were both in desperate need of a break. Over the last year or two it has become a regular conversation, but every time we have actively looked for somewhere to go something seemingly happens that then becomes the priority, and after that particular crisis is resolved we then find ourselves back into the daily life and work routine. 

The following day, as if the universe was listening, I found a gorgeous (and more importantly, affordable) little cottage in the tiny village of Johnshaven in Scotland that was available when The Bloke was going to be off work.

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Finally Settled, Sort Of…

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It has been five months to the day since we got the keys to the new house. 

And about three weeks ago, we unpacked the final remaining box. 

It has continued to be an interesting experience. Since we moved in:

  1. We have had to give the house a deep clean as it was clear that the carpets was covered in dog hair and smelled of dog urine from the previous tenants pet.
  2. The fence fell down at the back of the house during a storm. 
  3. The paint above the shower that had already started peeling got much worse, and began hanging off in a large chunk exposing bare plaster.
  4. The toilet broke.
  5. The boiler broke.

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A Peri-Menopause Schedule

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Despite it being a Sunday morning, I woke up at 6.30am feeling super-motivated. Perhaps it’s because the weather is glorious, or that I have the option of doing nothing if I want to, or perhaps the fact that I slept for about six hours yesterday afternoon has helped – either way, I jumped out of bed, got dressed and was raring to go. 

As things have become more busy (particularly this year), I have started to change my working patterns to try and avoid burnout – something that I have experienced multiple times since I started working for myself. Previously, I had developed strict daily routines and checklists to help myself become more organised, but over the last six months I have found that it has become less and less helpful. 

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Celebrating Pride in Birmingham

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I’ve lived in Birmingham since 2001, and up until last weekend I had never been to Pride, which is one of the biggest of the year.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. About 15 years ago my mum came to visit and travelled down to Birmingham via train. The old New Street Station was small and difficult to navigate, so I asked her to wait in the main arrivals area and I would collect her from there. True to form, mum had other ideas and wandered off, and I eventually found her at the bottom of the ramp (Brummies will know exactly where this is), surrounded by drag queens and having a great time as the Pride Parade was going past. 

It has never been a conscious decision not to go – I’ve been invited many times by friends who are gay, straight and otherwise, but I’ve either been busy or broke at the time. 

Earlier this year, I was given an invitation to join some of my work friends at this year’s Pride, with brunch in the morning and the concerts in the evening down in Smithfields after the parade had finished. I jumped at the chance, and have been looking forward to it for months. 

And what a blast it was!

Screenshot

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A Spontaneous Day Trip to London

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Yesterday morning – Saturday on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend – The Bloke and I were awake early. It was a rare day where both of us had the entire day to ourselves, so I suggested that we take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out somewhere.

The conversation about a day-trip to Solihull quickly turned into a trip to Worcester. We got ready and got on the bus…

… and ended up in London. 

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And So It’s March…

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You know where you suddenly look up and there’s a realisation of being present for the first time in what seems like forever? 

That happened to me last week. I woke up, checked my phone and realised that it was 7.00am, The Bloke had gone to work, it was light outside and suddenly it was the second week in March. I know that there was a February at some point, but I don’t seem to have fully acknowledged it.

It has been over two months since we moved house and things have been interesting. 

We finally have a sofa that was delivered yesterday (seriously, UK residents DO NOT order from SCS), and up until that point The Bloke and I had spent a considerable amount of time since January slumped on an air mattress on the floor of the living room. Getting on and off that thing resulted in a fit of giggles on more than one occasion, particularly when my 67 year old mother visited and sat on it. The actual sitting part wasn’t too bad, it was more watching her attempt to get back up again in a manner that Buster Keaton would be proud of. 

Comedy gold at its finest. 

Mum has visited on several occasions since the start of the New Year. A few days after we moved, we had tickets to see a Rat Pack concert that we had booked last year, so once she had had the tour of the new place, we went and stayed in a hotel in the city – there were boxes everywhere and nowhere for her to sleep, so it made more sense to go and stay close to the venue. It was nice walking through the Mailbox and the canal at night with all the lights – one of my favourite places in Birmingham.

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Celebrating the New Menu at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill

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I have visited Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill a number of times over the years, and even had the opportunity to interview the man himself back in 2019. I like it – it has always been a place to visit for spectacular views of the city and a nice cocktail in a relaxed atmosphere. I’m a big fan of several of the dishes – my favourite dessert in Birmingham was the Chocolate Mousse from MPW.

However, the prestigious restaurant, situated on Level 25 of the Cube, has recently undergone a refurbishment, and we were offered the chance to have a sneak peak at the new changes and get a taste of the new menu. As I was unable to attend, I sent a friend in my place to have a look…

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