Man Alive!

Another strange but very quick week. Since last weekend I have slept 7 times, had some quite vivid dreams (for a change) but I am struggling to remember what happened during the days. Let me think....

Saturday - Tried to have a lie in, quite successfully if I may add. The secret to it in my house; I think; is to look like you are actually getting up and out of bed, but just do it very very slowly over the period of about 3 hours. When you have kids and a hard working wife who needs a lie in just as much as you, you'll understand. The 16 year old me would be quite disgusted looking at the nearly 36 year old me trying to secretly have a lie in. When you are 16 life is one big lie in and there's nothing to get up for part from maybe to change your crispy pyjamas.

Also went to the local wood flooring shop and signed our life away on some nice solid wood flooring for the front room, and some replacement flooring for the stinky bathroom carpets. Lunch at Old Mcdonalds Farm and back home for some more quality relaxing time and arguing with the kids. Watched Strictly Come Dancing (urrghghhhhhh!!) and then fell asleep in front of a DVD at about 11pm. Rock and Roll!

Sunday - Tried to have a lie in, quite successfully if I......Oh that was Saturday wasn't it. Sunday was another quite relaxed day. Rolled around the house in the morning with the kids. Had lunch and then we went swimming as a family in the afternoon which was good fun. Got back and the weather wasn't great so we watched a movie in the kids room. Fantastic 4 and the Silver Surfer - 2.5 out of 5 if I was a movie critic, which I am thankfully not. Kids had a dreaded bath, whilst Anya had a shower after much difficult negotiation. Took Ruby out for a walk early evening and then watched the Grand Prix highlights.

I fear I am boring myself with this review of the week, although I actually quite enjoyed living it at the time.

Anyhow Monday came, as Monday's do, and then it was straight back into work. Lot's to do, emails to read and file, phones to answers, purchase orders to authorise, tenders to calculate and produce, people to talk to, meetings to have. Yada yada yada yada. Work is fundamentally interesting for me when I am doing it, and I would actually go as far as to say it really motivates me, but the in's and out's of most peoples work lives is inherently boring to everyone else. There are obviously some exceptions, and I'm obviously thinking about strippers, judges and Gordon Ramsey. Unfortunately I am none of the above.

I went up to Middlesbrough on Thursday for meetings with clients and also to chair a sales meeting/management meeting. It's not the nicest place in the world, but most of the places I go with work aren't. I was tired when I got to the hotel about 7.30pm and I decided I would go to the bar for an hour or so, have a beer and read the new Dan Brown book. Dan Brown is an easy author to read and the novels from him previously have been quite enjoyable conspiracy type trash. I am not a literary critic either as you may notice. I spent most of the evening trying to get into the beginning of the book, but eventually gave up as I obviously wasn't in a reading mood. Even though some people wouldn't class Dan Brown as actual reading. So I rang my wife and had a chat about flooring again and also our terminally ill cat. The conversation wasn't that bad really, but it also went to places that would literally bring a tear to your eye, especially if you were a man. After saying goodbye to my ever slimmer (and lovely) wife, I decided to ring a friend I had not spoken to for a long time.............

I have rung this particular friend on many occasions over the last 4 years and the phone has never been answered. I have left texts and voice messages and still no reply or acknowledgement. Personally, I didn't phone this person because I particularly wanted to talk to them, it was just because I am very nosey and I had time on my hands and a free mobile phone. So, I rang the number and nobody answered. I left a message, a short message of HELLO and HOW ARE YOU?, then I had another call. It was the person I was leaving a message calling me BACK!

So I took he call. And the conversation went a bit like this:

HELLO (ME).

hello.

HOW ARE YOU?

ok.

OK? REALLY? WE HAVEN'T SPOKEN FOR AGES

oh, you know just the same

THE SAME? REALLY? IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS

yeah, you know just the same still doing the same type of work. still have the same house from the old days. still just the same. and you how's things with you?

ME? OK, WELL I'VE HAD ANOTHER BABY, WE'VE MOVED TO A MUCH BIGGER HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY, I'M A DIRECTOR OF THE FIRM I WORK FOR, I HAVE A VINTAGE SPORTS CAR IN THE GARAGE, I'M WORKING REALLY HARD, DOING LOTS OF TRAVEL BUT I'M ENJOYING MY LIFE.

that's good............................................ my god how did you get to be a director?

anyway, the conversation went on for some time and to be honest it was difficult because the reception was poor and I sort of lost interest after 5 minutes of the one way street of asking questions. I was constantly trying to pry information out of an old friend and they were constantly trying to deflect answering any type of prying questions. All I gained from a 20 minute call was that this person was still alive, still doing the same type of job (but in a different location), they had been unemployed for some time early thing year and they still didn't have a significant other (partner). I also learnt that this person and their friend (whom I also know) had fallen out with me and my mate Rich some time ago. But neither me or my mate Rich new anything about it. Bizarrio?

The call ended and I looked at my empty pint class, not knowing why I had phoned my old friend and knowing that I wanted another pint more than I wanted another call like that.

So I went to the bar and ordered another beer, looked at the Dan Brown book and then started to scroll through my contacts list on my phone for old friends I had not spoken to for a while.......

Curse you Dan Brown!