You’d do well to heed my standard advice to first time fathers…

Stay up the dry end.

Some sage on here described it as ‘like watching your favourite pub burn down’ 😂

Congratulations though sir!

Youngest daughter has dissertation sorted so she can now concentrate on riding her bike.

Oldest daughter has just had her appeal against the penalty fare notice upheld.

Im booked in for waxing and nails done after the gym session tonight.

1 day closer to retirement when I can f off to my retirement pad in Malta. One more drive with stuff almost organised.
I’m almost 60 and have never been to a music festival but there’s a rockabilly and classic car festival in Switzerland on the way back so I’m planning the drive around that. A new ar5ehole in the management structure has helped remove any doubts about whether I want to go or not, and a project which everything I’ve seen about looks like a disaster has been moved back to start the week after I go.
I got drunk and bought a Wayfarer dinghy. Turned out not to be the pile of crap I dreaded it would be
Life is fine, or for the Scots (sorry no subtitles for anyone else) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWOFK7M0QBM

I’m going to live here https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/malta/gozo/munxar/gozo-munxar.html

Which one this weekend or the end of May?

There’s two!!

I didn’t know there was one until now.

In more personal news, whatever caused my knee to swell to the size of a grapefruit is no longer doing so and I merely need 3 doses of extra strong pain meds to walk a day. I might even risk a ride at the weekend… rude not two, LBS has lent us a couple of FS E-Bikes to play with.

Unexpected payrise. Lovely.

Bought a Fender Strat Custom Shop 70’s re-issue last weekend, and it’s a stunner and sounds like a Spring morning chorus.

🌬🎸🕺

There’s two!!

I didn’t know there was one until now.

Yup. It’s May so there’s 2

Local kom today. Great news.

I get to ride a mountain bike in Wales next weekend for the first time in ages and I am getting paid to do it. Marvellous.

The local community bought pub (The Crown, South Moreton) that I’m about visit is rather pleasant, will be even better when they get the furniture in for the official opening. Sadly this has coincided with me cutting alcohol intake to 5/6 pints a week as opposed to a visit…
And the :Arkitex Portal uploader to our printers’ proofing system has gone green across the board so that is another newspaper finished for the week.
The Blacklist Season6 still pleases me.
My road(ish) bike is great. My MTB is even better. The Ridgeway is dry. Too many good things out there.

Bought a Fender Strat Custom Shop 70’s re-issue last weekend, and it’s a stunner and sounds like a Spring morning chorus.

I bought the Custom Shop Relic Strat when they did the first issue. It makes me happy just looking at it. In fact most listeners would prefer me to stick to that level of enjoyment. Brilliant guitars.

The man behind me at the checkout in Aldi was bulk buying mushy peas. Nice to find out I am not alone in my love of mushy peas.

I realised I’ve loads of leave to use (goes by calendar year) so have booked next week off work! Motorbike to get running and then strip/start modifying, shepherds hut to finish building (and then sell), and a report to finish writing to (hopefully) become a chartered building engineer.

Nothing planned in advance for this weekend, for the first time in aaages, so can just go with the flow.

Middle son got married on Saturday and it was fabulous, eldest son is getting married in August and will be quite different but equally fabulous.

Just been told one of my dad’s old bikes sold for £126k at bonhams at the weekend – my brother still has a similar one.

I’ll admit our pumptrack is turning into a monster. It’s going to be a velosolutions track so 1.5-2m height difference in bumps and berms. Have a starters and main track and fill a space 100mx30m (six full sized tennis courts) another £50k gets us floodlights. It need to conform so sepa regulations as it’s on a flood plain. So massive soak aways and half under ground level.

Things are nowhere near as bad as they might be. Gets me through everything that.

After several disappointing years, we are expecting mini-me on the 16th May

Babies are ace, you have won this thread.

I have pizza rising, a beer in my hand and the sun is shining.  It never fails to surprise me how good the simple feels sometimes.  I got through a meeting with our auditors yesterday that had worried me with no problems (that I know about yet) but still a pizza and a beer feels way better

Just been told one of my dad’s old bikes sold for £126k at bonhams at the weekend – my brother still has a similar one.

Was it a Sick!, I’ve heard they’re pretty rare?

accepted for teacher training

organised a ride with a pro rider/youtuber in a couple of weeks

need varifocal glasses now though

Just got payment in from a job last week. Officially my most lucrative day at work ever, by a very long way. Nice.

Currently packing my bike into a box to head off tomorrow to Italy for SSEC and then a week bikepacking Albania and Kosovo.
Still, the long range forecast for the Balkans is shite, so it’s not all rosy. 🙂

I’ve ordered my first properly new bike in 17 years. Get it on the 19th. Sorry to my kids but I can’t remember the last time I was this excited.

I became a Mother-in-law on friday – ridiculously proud mum 😀

After several disappointing years, we are expecting mini-me on the 16th May,

Congratulations.

You’d do well to heed my standard advice to first time fathers…

Stay up the dry end.

And which end is that?

Edit: Ah.. of the wife, not the baby…

I bought the Custom Shop Relic Strat when they did the first issue. It makes me happy just looking at it. In fact most listeners would prefer me to stick to that level of enjoyment. Brilliant guitars.

It is indeed a VBT, journey man not a heavy relic.. just how I like em’. I had an 80’s Strat which I butchered with stupid PU’s and put a Floyd Rose on when it was all “hair metal” era, ended up giving it away it was so shonky 🤒

I’ve been looking for about 3yrs, seen plenty and played plenty and annoyed Andertons numerous occasions… then this Sonic Blue one came up, nitro finish is sublime, greenish pickguard and PU Covers and satin neck and I picked it up and it sort of fell into my hands 🕺I’m looking forward to living with it and it become part of me.. and me it.

Like this (though this is a 63’..) I’ll get some pics of it soon..

You’d do well to heed my standard advice to first time fathers…

Stay up the dry end.

Got to disagree with that. I didn’t see our first being born (forcepts) but not only saw but acted as stirrups for the other two.

I just ordered some new brakes for the FS and have finished writing a proposal to senior management that will fundamentally change how this organisation operates and realise significant reductions in cost and risk to us.
I’m more excited about the brakes

Had a knee Arthur Roscopy 3 weeks ago & did 17 miles on the bike today which means I’ll take it to Ft Willy on Friday.
The SSDT starts on Monday.

The only bad news is I couldn’t get any of my favourite coffee bags today.

Got a place on a really good training course that will lead to a pay rise. The only person at work that I don’t like is leaving.

Going to see one of my current favourite bands tonight at a venue just down the road.

Just plumbed in a toilet and sink, no leaks.

^ Unintentional pun of the week.

My FS bike is working fully again and it’s sort of clean too (it probably wants the brakes bleeding if I’m being really anal about it) and the trails were really dry and very fast for yesterday’s night ride.

Turned 50 last week, and got an interview next Tuesday for a job that will hopefully mean the last 17 years of my working life will be as interesting and lucrative as the first were, and an end to the part time daddy day care wage slave bollocks of recent years.

And there’s a new bike on order…

Off to Finale in 2 weeks for 4 days of MTB 🙂

And out for free beers with work crowd tomorrow night 🙂 🙂

Decided at the last minute to do my (motorbike) CBT on Tuesday which went great…. Now pondering doing my full licence and getting a bigger bike than the new Honda Monkey I’d originally thought.

In other news the house ‘remodelling’ is going well with the plasterers starting in 10 days. Only downside is that we have no rads downstairs and the front door and flanking wall is being ripped out today in preparation for a new one next week – might be a little chilly!

A copy of this to pass on: The Happy Newspaper

Just got a place in this year’s Great North Run and looking forward to running it again some 16 years since I last ran it and having overcome a pretty debilitating sciatica injury I had a couple of years ago and been able to get back into running the ParkRun weekly.

Finished paying my car off last month, so was looking forward to a few extra £ this month.

Until the Mrs drove it in to a wall last night.

Still – it’s a bank holiday, Joe Cocker is alive and well and Roger Moore is fighting fit. Happy days!

2 bits of good news –

Since January 2018 I’ve now lost over 2.5 stone.

After hitting my initial target weight I decided I was going to reward myself with a new bike and on 3rd attempt it finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon :o)