Confusing dates

Happy Leap Day. Or 'Extra Date We Shoehorned In Coz We Fucked Up The Calendar' Day, or whatever we call it these days. I just call it March Eve, because it's the day before we enter the third month of the year, which - as I think we've established before - is my Favourite Month Of The Year.
This is also, of course, the anniversary of Philippa's proposal to me. That was TWELVE years ago. TWELVE!! It really doesn't feel that long. But I suppose, technically speaking, this is only the third Feb 29th that has happened since, so in that way it was only two years ago that it happened, which is very strange as it means we got married before we were even engaged.

Anyway, the point is - it's another excuse to look back on the wonder of our relationship and to celebrate its continuing survival. So I am stopping at the supermarket on the way home to purchase the ingredients for one of my legendary prawn stir-frys, which I shall cook for my beloved wife, and former fiancee, when I return home, as it is one of her favourites.

RC 29-2-24

Hedging my bets

I've looked for a cheap 'Learn Yourself Greek' course online. You know - just in case the wife decides that our Mediterranean visit of choice should be Mykonos or something similar. I realise I am rather in danger of this 'holiday' thing becoming one of my obsessions. I spent far too long of my work day today looking at various AirBnB options throughout southern Europe, and ended up liking about 47 of them. It's really rather exciting to be able to take complete control of one's own affairs without going through the soul-shackling torment of holiday companies. Why pay one set fee for everything to be taken care of when you can have the joy of booking everything separately, thereby greatly increasing your chances of the whole thing falling apart just because one element of the trip gets held up by unforeseen circumstances? Why have the security of a big, established, experienced company behind you when you can take the risk of taking the responsibility on your own shoulders? Who needs a safety net? Especially when you're traveling abroad, with a baby?
So, yeah, I may be in one of my Rory Compulsion Cul-de-sacs. I may end up wasting several days and potentially lots of money on some foreign folly that will endanger my children and ruin the last few remaining bits of respect my poor wife has for me and my mental health. Or I might just ride this out and wait for it to fizzle into insignificance again and just read a bit of the French course I bought a decade ago. Which I've done before. Several times. Without getting much further than the verb 'etre'.
Anyway - I digress - I haven't told you about the meal last night.
It was lovely.

RC 28-2-24

blessed are the babysitters...

We are going out for a meal tonight. Philippa and I, I mean. A belated 'let's celebrate my wife passing her qualifications as a sports massager' chowdown. A 7pm booking at a lovely-looking, fairly-new, Mediterranean-themed restaurant near the coast. I tried to get her to meet me at the burger van near work, but she refused. So picky...

I'm seeing this as a trial. A try-out. A testing of the waters. A dipping-in-of-one-toe-to-see-how-the-wafer-crumbles kind of affair. On two fronts, too. Can our two young children cope without seeing us for a whole evening? And do we like the food on offer? As I would very much like to spend more evenings with just Philippa and I, occasionally, and I would very much like to book us a foreign holiday for next Winter. While the temperature is unpleasant and work is a wee bit quieter, why not hoik the family over to the continent for a bit of rest and sunshine? And there are many Mediterranean-based locations I have looked at that would be ideal, so if we enjoy the food tonight I am seeing it as a good sign, and a good step on the road towards an airport...

It might also provoke me to FINALLY learn a foreign language. Properly. I've dabbled with French so many times but never quite got past the second week of the three-month course I paid for. It still looks good sitting on my office shelf, but I'd rather like to get my money's worth. So maybe this will be the push I need to get my tongue in gear and dust the CDs off and get learning again.
Unless we're not going to go to France, in which case it would be pointless.

RC 27-2-24

Collective Collection

I've decided to invent my own Collective Nouns, which I think are more appropriate for the modern age. I've even made some up for groups that wouldn't have existed years ago when these lists were first noted down.

A phalange of podiatrists
An umbrella of peacocks
A bullshit of lawyers
A tremor of elephants
A wanking of Youtubers
A blushing of piglets
An unravelling of doctors
An elongation of giraffes
A dampening of submarines
A cesspit of estate agents

RC 26-2-24

Crap Spring poem no.74

The breath of Spring
kisses the morning sky
hints of hope
hover on the horizon
a small smile spreads on suffering lips
hinting at imminent happiness

Hedges glisten with dew
birdsong battles with everyday life
a chorus of chaffinches
drowned by daily commuters

Buds and blooms abound
energy levels accelerate
everything skips and bounces
as the promise of warmth
rekindles

RC 25-2-24

Our culinary journey together begins...

Belatedly (I refer you back to my posting dated 25th Jan) I am starting to share some new recipe ideas and discoveries with you...
I made an asparagus risotto last night. Used lots of veg stock, lots of onion and a bit too much lemon juice which dominated the taste somewhat. But on the whole I was very, very pleased with it.
I'm getting into salads again. Partly because Winter feels like it might be dissipating a bit, and partly as part of my post-40 determination to eat more healthily. And I'm not talking about those grotty pre-packed, fridge-shelf supermarket salads that I used to peddle on behalf of a previous employer, I'm talking about Mediterranean-style, properly researched Super Salads that contain all manner of nutrients and vitamins and power-packed additions that provide you with everything you could ever need from one meal. On Weds I created a monster that barely fitted on the table top, much less on the plate. Three different kinds of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, nuts and seeds, radishes, peppers, red onions, cucumber, pickles, smoked mackerel, salmon and celery, topped with a home-made vinaigrette and a few squirts of lemon. It took an age to prepare, an hour to consume, and sent me through the afternoon full of vim, vigour and mental clarity.
And then I had to nip to the loo four times before risking the drive home.
But I felt healthy, I have to say.
Sore, for sure, but healthy.

RC 24-2-24

Best. Films. Ever.

Just a little list I threw together on my lunch break. Some of my all-time faves, in no particular order.

Casablanca
Apocalypse Now
Babe
The Silence of the Lambs
Dances with Wolves
On the Waterfront
The Jungle Book (original cartoon)
Sunrise (A Song of Two Humans)
Run Lola Run
Delicatessen

RC 23-2-24

...and on the flip side...

Ok, after being moany and pessimistic about my fellow man, and the world in general, yesterday, I have decided to give myself a talking to and to post a blog that points out the GOOD things in people today. By making myself write this, I am making myself think about it carefully, and that will hopefully make me climb out of my pity-pit and shake off the lingering effects of SAD and see the world for the still beautiful place I normally consider it to be.
So...
I think it's great that a lot of super-wealthy older people are spending huge amounts of their fortunes on trying to make things better for the majority of people. I like the fact that more and more younger people (younger than me, anyway) have woken up to the fact that online information cannot be trusted and are viewing 'reputable' news outlets with a degree of scepticism and finding their own ways to investigate and research to find accuracy and truth. I like the fact that social media is becoming an add-on to people's social lives, rather than the be-all-and-end-all that it was for nearly two decades. I like the fact that AI is being seen as something that needs to be controlled and corralled, not something that should be given the keys to humanity's future. I am full of admiration for the members of staff at my place of employment, who all have a great work ethic and who give up their time to create pleasant holiday experiences for complete strangers. I love the young parents I meet who are teaching their children that respect for others and love of the natural world is far more important than what you have at home or what you do for a living. I love the amazing work being done by conservationists, who refuse to give up on saving species and protecting environments, even in the face of increased fossil fuel production and a lack of support from seemingly every government on earth. I love the fact that I can see buds appearing on trees and bushes, signalling the start of Spring. I love the fact that animals just go about their business without being bothered by the manufactured complications that exist in the human psyche. I love the fact that my children can grow up in a country with clean drinking water, access to free healthcare and plentiful beauty in every county. I love the fact that my wife is still challenging herself to learn new things and find new ways to help those around her, and I love the fact that she is not the only person I know who is doing that. I love the way the sun looks as it slowly sinks over the Suffolk horizon at the end of the day, and I love the fact that we are at the time of the year when every day is longer than the one before.
Thanks, I feel better now.

RC 22-2-24

Maybe it's an age thing...

People seem to baffle me more and more.  Now I'm in my 40s, or possibly because I'm a parent, I look at the behaviour and attitude of people around me and I genuinely wonder where things are heading. Rudeness, arrogance and impatience seem to be the order of the day, and no-one seems to give a thought to how their actions and words might affect those around them. Everyone is becoming a selfish, self-centred hypocrite with bigoted views and an inability to accept other viewpoints. It's terribly cliched, I know, but I do worry what kind of world my sons are going to grow up to inhabit, and what kind of people they might be unlucky enough to call their contemporaries. God, I sound old...

RC 21-2-24

Tired?

It's exactly a calendar month since I turned 40 and maybe it has affected me more than I expected, or wanted to admit. I've been feeling completely devoid of energy, low in mood and really struggling to maintain enthusiasm for everyday tasks, both at home and at work. It's the 20th of February and this is only the SECOND blog posting I have written in the whole month! That's a terrible effort but at least I'm trying to rectify it, starting today.
I think it might be the reality of having two young children, to be honest. As Mathew grows into his own little person and Rian develops more rapidly than a well-produced old photo, we are having to adapt and change on an almost daily basis to compensate for their new needs, and that is very tiring. It's all wonderful, but it's also an all-consuming activity, even when there's two of you trying to share the work equally, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it feels a bit much sometimes.
However... life goes on, and I am determined to find things to write to you about and to be more cheerful about. (That's part of the reason I've neglected this blogsite, I think - not doing anything other than work and parenting and not wanting to bore you with daily updates on either.)
I'm still getting back into cooking, so I shall work on providing you with those recipe ideas I promised last month, and I am looking to up my fitness levels, so you might end up hearing about my new exercise regime, whenever I get around to starting it. Or I might just go dark again and not post anything until March....

RC 20-2-24

Longest blog gap ever?

My first posting in almost two weeks, and I'm tired and a bit low, so it might end up not being worth the wait...
Not much to report really. We've booked a holiday, work has got surprisingly busy again as we're getting alarmingly close to Easter, and I sat up until 4am yesterday just to see my team lose the Super Bowl.
And that's about it really.

RC 13-2-24