Back to Normalish

Sham went back to work today. I've said that as if she's been off all over Christmas and New Year which she hasn't. She's borderline workaholic so she's just had the bare minimum of time off. Christmas, Boxing and NewYears Days. It feels like the festivities are over anyway.

So I came home and did my housework (generally my regular Friday morning job), tidied up some paperwork and cancelled a web-site subscription. I call that productive nowadays. It's very cold outside so I bailed out of any meaningful excercise. I'll catch up tomorrow. Me and Sham are walking, weather permitting (that means as long as no rain or snow).

I no longer work for a living. I guess I'm technically retired but I do various bits of pieces of unpaid voluntary work and I've done a bit today so I guess I could say I went back to work today as well. It was only an hour though, caring for an autistic man. He has paid carers but we have a loose arrangement whereby if he doesn't have any formal care he rings me and if I'm free we hang out for a bit. It's not usually very onerous but for the time he's with me I give him my full attention. It's only one or two times a week and his family really appreciate it. Martin (his name) keeps asking me to become a proper carer but that'd become too master/servantish for my liking.

I've got a biggish "tax job" for an important friend of a friend next week plus the usual stuff with Martin and jobs for Sham's very elderly parents. Sounds a lot of work circa 2026 but I''m not a workaholic. Almost typed alcoholic there - ouch! That would actually nearer the truth. How will I cope?

It's 20 years ago today since I started my blog so Happy Birthday to me. It used to be hosted on Livejournal and they sent me a Birthday Card. The was nice.

And by the magic of the Internet and being able to locate it on the Internet, here it is.  How young do I look in my profile photo? It felt quite sad and not the sort of thing I want to be pondering over in my current mental state.

I couldn't stop myself having a bit of a look though and noticed I quite often listed some New Years resolutions. So in the interests of history and continuity here are a few for '26 from a now old gadgey for old times sake

1.  Learn to play the guitar standing up. - I practice/play the guitar at least every week day even if it's just for 15 minutes. I'm going to start by playing just standing up one day a week.

2. Complete a Blues guitar course I've started. Not as easy as it sounds on paper. I rarely finish anything like that. It's ok for now but looking ahead it gets pretty advanced.

3.  Produce and release some music 2026. I'ver produced music and released a few items over the last 15 years or so. Should have done more.

4. I always used to have a resolution about reading more. Reading books is no longer something I do. I've never been a prolific reader but nowadays .... lack of concentration span, pretty bad tinnitus that affects me when I read for any length of time blah blah blah. Here's my pile of books to read. Let's just say I'll try and get through a few.



5. Mmm. Sort of linked to the non-reading I guess is my Youtube consumption.  I pay for the premium service and it's too good. Watching clips from Breaking Bad and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sopranos and Better Caul Saul critiques. Blogs about Boro. History of Romans/Vikings. Anything and everything really.  It's all great. The best thing I've seen today was a review and commentary on the Blyth Spartans vs Blyth Town local football derby from yesterday (really). What's not to love. 

How about no more than 2 hours a day, tops?

6. De-clutter house. Get rid of excess junk. I'm tidy but I've got too much stuff.

7. Maintain my weight (generally between 76kg and 77 kg - not that I obsessively micro-manage my weight). Also I'm pretty fit and and want to stay that way.

Plenty there to be going on with. Some should be a piece of piss but some not so.

Time to sign off. Here's a snap I just took of the moon and stars with my phone from out my back. Excuse the flare. I could edit it out if I knew how to. 



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