end of year reflections

Is it possible, I wonder, to reach the last day of a year without finding yourself casting an eye backwards over the previous 12 months? 
It's not easy for me, because this blog is the closest thing I have to a diary, and I try not to read back over things I've posted for fear of finding myself out to be a twat. So sitting here with a slight hangover it's hard to remember much of what's happened throughout 2013. I feel a bit narky about it as well because I'm becoming aware that my 30th birthday is screaming up towards me at high speed, so the temptation to look at myself and my life and think "Where am I? What have I done? Did I REALLY expect to be working in a supermarket as I entered my 30s?" is looming large. 
As regular readers know, I am prone to melancholic musings at the best of times. But I can't imagine you want to end the year hearing me moan on about my worklife and lack of accomplishments yet again, so I shall instead say HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE and conclude with a list of POSITIVE THINGS in my life on this date - 31st December 2013: 

I am not lying in a hospital bed with a brain injury, like Michael Schumacher. 
I am not lying in a pool of my own alcohol-induced piss and vomit, like my mother probably is. 
I am not unemployed like many of the people my age in this country. 
I have a fiancee who, for some reason, seems committed to me despite my constant subconcious attempts to sabotage our relationship. 
I am living in a beautiful little house that I don't have to pay for. 
I have two sisters that I am closer to than ever before, and both live fairly close and both are doing really well. 
I am not Jamie Oliver

RC 31-12-13

That went well... up to a point

Philippa and I met for lunch today and it was lovely. When we got home I made her a cup of tea and then sat her down on the sofa and poured my heart out. I spoke for ages about being sorry and about wanting to be a better partner and about it being a shame that we had a row so soon after a wonderful Christmas and about really wanting to make it up to her. I ended by saying ‘what do you want me to do?’
And she said “I want you to marry me”

Then we argued some more….

RC 30-12-13

So much for Christmas cheer

Philippa and I had a blazing, full-on, no-holds-barred, stand-up, face-to-face, screaming row last night. I don’t think we’ve ever been so ferocious with each other before. Normally I back down and back away or she goes quiet until I’ve calmed a bit. But last night we just kept on and on. I think it’s because we were both drunk. That doesn’t happen often and I think it was a bad idea. Arguments fuelled by alcohol are always the worst ones. I can’t even remember what it was about and I can’t even remember what was said, but it was bad enough for Philippa to get up early today and bugger off to spend the day with Sally.
I guess I’ll have to contact her and apologise. In fact, I WANT to contact her and apologise. I can’t even remember what I’m apologising for, but I think it’s best if I do it.
This house isn’t quite so lovely when you’re in it alone and hungover.

RC 29-12-13

Mince pies and stollen; etc

Christmas has been overwhelming me, and I’ve neglected you. 
But I am settled in a gorgeous house with a gorgeous fiancee and I am all set for Yuletide fun and frolics!

I wish you all a very, very happy, joyous festive season, and I look forward to conversing with you again once Santa is happily back at the Pole and the bins of the country are full of wrapping paper and turkey carcasses.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!

RC 23-12-13

Back on the up..

I feel all festive and happy again today. Funny what a difference 24 hours can make. Or, to put it more accurately, funny what a difference an afternoon spent skiving in the manager’s office while pretending to process orders can make…
I have finished my Christmas shopping! I have planned my Yuletide TV schedule (including what needs to be recorded for later viewing) I have reserved some special port and wine and cheese that I can collect and take home on Christmas Eve, and I have sent several nice e-mails off to people I will not be seeing over Festivetime. AND I processed all those orders, so poo to you if you think I’ve been lazy!

RC 19-12-13

Make it stop

Working in a supermarket environment for the past few years has taught me one very important lesson - Christmas makes people hate each other. 
Men hate their wives for dragging them round the shops.
Women hate men for not being happy to push a trolley around and then pay for stuff they don’t want.
Children hate their parents for dragging them round the shops when they really want to be bouncing off the walls at home.
Parents hate their children for being excited at the most exciting time of year to be a child.
And I just hate everybody.

Yes - it’s been a bad day at work. Busy, under-staffed, too reliant on temporary employees who couldn’t give a fig either way, and all of it backed by the incessant nerve-shredding drawl of horrible Christmas ditties that we’ve polluting the air with since mid-November.
If I haven’t found a new job by this time next year, then I’m booking the whole of Christmas as holiday.
Either that, or I’ll be hanging myself with a string of 200 Multi-coloured Lantern Lights
(currently on offer in our festive aisle at £12.99) 
AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!

RC 18-12-13

New Year Challenge

I know it’s still two weeks away, but I’ve decided on a little Blog Challenge for me to aspire to during 2014.
I know I sometimes flit between ideas as the months go on, and I change my mind about things or alter them slightly depending on my mood, but I swear to you now - this is definite and decided and is in no way subject to change or adaptation anytime henceforth.
It is threefold:

Post exactly 19 posts every month (meaning a grand total of 228 posts)
Don’t moan about work in any blog postings
Avoid getting married

Okay the third one isn’t blog-related, but it’s still very important and something I’m determined to stick to throughout the year!

RC 17-12-13

10 days til Xmas Eve!

I have Christmas Day and Boxing Day off this year, but my penance is to have to stay at the store on Christmas Eve until about 11pm. Bastards. They give with one hand and they poke you in the pecker with the other. 
Sophie and Tamara are both work-heavy over the festive period too, so I guess our big family get-together will be held over til January. Philippa and I are having Christmas dinner at her mums, then joining a big crowd at Ted and Beryl’s on Boxing Day. The family have finally persuaded Beryl to stop planning huge Christmas dinners for the whole county, and to let other people fuss around her for a change. She reluctantly agreed, before then planning a huge buffet for a crowd of two dozen on Boxing Day. Old habits really do die hard I guess. And getting Beryl NOT to cater for a big Yuletide party would be like getting Michael Buble NOT to release an album in December. 
Bless her. 

RC 14-12-13

The Return of Haiku Friday

Friday the Thirteenth
Superstitious people fret
And nothing happens 

It’s almost Christmas
I’m both excited and scared
And I’m not sure why

Philippa’s present
Is vexing me to despair
WHAT SHOULD I GET HER?

On her Christmas list
Number one will be ‘WEDDING’ 
And probably ‘kids’

Not long til Christmas
Stand by for panic shopping
And heavy drinking

RC 13-12-13

Morning of piss; evening of bliss

Another shitty day at work today. But at least we have a nice house to come home to so the work stuff doesn’t seem so bad. 
Just for the record though - we had too many yoghurts delivered and all of them were Apricot; half the forklift drivers were off after their Christmas party last night, and I had to deal with a drunk tattooed pensioner who lost it coz we’d run out of Old Holborn. And that was all before 11am. 
I’m also having my annual mid-December meltdown about Christmas presents. I feel as if I have no clue what to get anybody and I keep having dreams where it’s 6am on the 25th and I realise I haven’t bought anything. I’m watching the days tick by and starting to get a bit panicky. I know it’ll all get done in the end, because it always does, but right now I’m wishing I was one of those people who got everything done in September so there wasn’t any last-minute worry. 
Still - as I type this I have a glass of red wine in my hand, a large gammon steak in my tummy, and a woman I love completely sitting on the sofa wearing my slippers, so maybe things ain’t so bad after all, eh?

RC 12-12-13

A little P.S.

I noticed after posting this evenings earlier blog that the date today is 11-12-13. I wondered to myself ‘when will the next time be that we can write the day-month-year in that way as three consecutive numbers?”
Answer = 1st February 2103!! (01-02-03)
So today something occurred that won’t happen again for 90 years!!
I like noticing things like that.
And I like sharing them with you even more. 
So now you know….

RC 11-12-13 (again)

The Willows is decorated!

We are enclosed in a little Yuletide haven.
This house is so snug, and cute, and cosy. We have tinsel hanging, a star in the window, and a beautifully decorated 3ft fake Christmas tree. I have never felt so festive or contented. In fact, I’m already planning how we can persuade the Dobsons to stay in Portugal forever so we never have to leave. 
This place is perfect.

RC 11-12-13

In

Hell, this house is impressive!
Small, compared to the last place, but beautifully maintained and in a gorgeous setting. The trees which give it it’s name help to shield the house from the road, so even though we’re less than ten minutes drive from the centre of Norwich, it feels secluded and as if we could be anywhere.

The first thing Philippa said when we arrived was “This house is too good for us”
I told her to shut her face and put the kettle on.
We’re in!!

RC 9-12-13

A change is as good as a blog

And so we stand ready to step forth into another new chapter of our existence! Another new place to live awaits. In the past month we’ve gone from David and Beckys to a Travelodge; from a Travelodge to Tunisia; from Tunisia to the spare room at Sally’s house, and now we’re off to The Willows. 
This nomadic lifestyle has a certain romantic element to it, but it will be nice to be settled in the one location for a while. 
And then in three months time we’ll be doing it all again! 
What a life!
I feel quite nervous tonight. I guess it’s because we haven’t been there yet so we’re not entirely sure what to expect. In a way the pressure’s off this time because The Dobsons have just buggered off and left us to it, so we can pretty much do what we like. As long as we leave the house exactly as we find it we’ve done our best and if they don’t like it - well tough, they should have left us some instructions. 

RC 7-12-13

Decorations a-go-go

I managed to steal some ‘damaged’ Blu-Tac today so we’re all set to decorate The Willows, and all free of charge!

I would write more but Philippa has just stepped out of the shower and she smells of lavender….

RC 5-12-13

3 weeks today = Xmas Eve!!

Philippa has come up with a quite brilliant idea. Instead of buying each other Christmas presents, why don’t we put the money away and have another holiday together in the Spring? She is a genius! Now I don’t have to spend hours trawling the internet and the ‘Ladies’ aisle at work, I can just chuck a few quid in a pot somewhere and leave it there until March! 
Hurrah! Result! Ker-Ching! Etcetera!
I’ve even said she can choose the destination, as it was my decision to send us to Tunisia last month. That way I have to make NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER, which is always my aim in any situation, and doubly so at Christmas.
If only Sophie and Tamara, Hannah and Nathan, Ted and Beryl, and everyone else I have to buy for could be so easy this needn’t be a stressful season at all. 

A quick haiku for you:

Why am I lazy?
Is it hereditary?
Am I bothered?

RC 3-12-13

AWFUL day at work. Just awful..

The New Year can’t come quick enough for me.  Head Office are determined to wring every last penny out of every poor pensioner in Britain; senior management are determined to achieve it with as little work for them as possible; and the likes of me are being expected to pick up the shortfall. God, they’re lazy. And so am I, which is probably why I resent them so much. They have my attitude, but with five or six grand extra a year to show for it.

Anyway, on a nicer note, I managed to accidentally acquire some stuff from the Christmas aisle so we can decorate The Willows when we move in. Philippa will have a full-on panic attack about it, but she doesn’t have to because I got the agency to check with the Dobsons and they’re fine with it, as long as we use Blu-Tac instead of drawing pins. 

RC 2-12-13

Yuletide ahoy!!

We spent all afternoon drinking wine and helping Sally decorate her house. Well it is the first of December! I‘ve never known for sure how early to put up Christmas decorations, so it’s nice to be staying with someone else and to have the decision taken for us! It was also nice to have something to do rather than sit around feeling disturbed by existing in the limbo between abodes.
I’ll feel better next week when we’re settling in to ‘The Willows’ It feels a bit stranger this time because we’re not meeting the owners before we move into their house. With David and Becky, we dealt with them directly and met them several times, but this time the Dobsons (for that is their name) are happy to do it all through the agency. They’ve used them before successfully and are pleased with our references so they want us to keep out of the way until they’re whizzing off to Portugal. 

Sally and her husband Josh are very nice. Most of Philippa’s family are very nice, to be honest. And there’s rather a lot of them as well. Is it still customary for the families of the bride and groom to sit on opposite sides of the aisle at a wedding? If we ever do get married, that church is going to be so lopsided it’ll probably tip right over and we’ll all end up in the graves. Another reason to postpone our wedding for as long as possible….

RC 1-12-13