Author: Sleeper

Born Under A Bad Sign

27th May 2020 27th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , No Comment

What are you like?
You’ve had a right life and taken a long ride,
But oh what a cost…

And all of your life, staring at white lines
Reading the road signs,
And oh what a loss…

Sleeping late in the afternoon, playing your guitar,
Born under a bad sign.

Sunday

Woke up early and checked on the whereabouts of my bike repair stuff; the tracking suggested it’d be mid-afternoon before it arrived; there was no chance of a ride today. Instead we pottered around the house, which has been increasingly untidy, starting to get things into some semblance of order. After lunch I took the kids for a walk, which was nice – not too warm and not too many people on the streets.

Got home and started to prepare dinner – kebabs and chicken wings cooked on the barbecue, and took delivery of my bead jack. Once the kids were in bed I set about trying to mount the tyre; instead of doing what I’d hoped, the tool snapped in two. These are particularly tough wheels, it seems. Eventually, using a huge amount of tape to hold the tension in the tyres in place, I managed to both get the tyre on and inflated. One down, one to go. The second one went on slightly faster, but only slightly, and started to inflate, pinged into the rim, and then went down again. Now I had a tyre that had a flat tube and I couldn’t get it off no matter how I tried to prise it. Gave up and went to bed frustrated, not managing to get to sleep until gone midnight.

Monday

Woke again ridiculously early, annoyed by the tyre, getting back to trying to remove it; in the process of doing so to change the tube I tore the rubber. Annoyed doesn’t even begin to cover it. Replaced the original tyre on the bike; fitting that one was a doddle, and watched some TV with A while we waited for everyone else to wake up and head downstairs.

I’ve been wanting to get out on the bike ever since the exploding inner tube incident, and today I finally had the chance, but setting off much later than I’d originally planned. Left at 10am, heading up through Mitcham, Streatham and Brixton to Blackfriars Bridge, then along the Embankment and home by way of Battersea and Tooting. I’d forgotten how many traffic lights there are on that route, especially in central London, and the number of people out on bikes was somewhat ridiculous too; seemed like half the city was out for a ride. Got home at 12, then a brief chat with the neighbours before lunch, and lighting the BBQ to slow-cook some ribs.

Spent most of the afternoon in the garden; it wasn’t until dinner time that the next disaster struck. I went to the garage door, pulled it to close it and with an almighty clunk it stopped and refused to budge. Had a good look at it and found the problem, but couldn’t fix it myself; I ended up having to call a locksmith to help with the mechanism. He couldn’t repair it either but he could at least secure it until I can get it fixed properly.

Tuesday

Back to work! Had a rare morning of quiet in the house as J took the kids to Banstead Wood for a walk. In between meetings I managed to get hold of a garage door company to come and take a look at my problem in the afternoon; other than that the day was pretty unremarkable. Helpfully the garage repair guys turned up while I was in the middle of a meeting with another team; I had to leave W to fend for himself while I went to sort the paperwork. It’s fixed now, but that was another chunk of cash I’m not too pleased to have had to part with.

The kids were both exhausted by evening; I wonder if there’s something in the air? Got them both into bed at a reasonably early hour, then took the laptop out to the garden, where I had a pleasant evening drinking beer and chatting with friends on Zoom. Tomorrow will hopefully be similar; the sun is shining and all’s as well as can be.

Private Universe

24th May 2020 24th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , No Comment

I have all I want, is that simple enough?
A whole lot more I’m thinking of;
Every night about six o’clock
Birds come back to the pond to talk.
They talk to me, birds to talk to me,
If I go down on my knees…

I will run for shelter,
Endless summer, lift the curse.
It feels like nothing matters in our private universe…

Friday

Fairly normal start to the day; it’s the last day before a long weekend, and contrary to all expectations, it wasn’t completely full of meetings; I had my head down and managed to get a bunch of stuff done. Not everything I wanted but there was some progress there, including helping out members of my team with various bits they were having problems with.

The sun was shining and the kids were having lots of fun outside; my spirits were raised by the arrival of the new tyres for my bike – I’ve been itching to get back on the road. Once I’d finished my workday, I put together a fish pie and then fitted them; or that was the plan, anyway. It turns out that the combination of Schwalbe puncture-resistant tyres and tubeless rims makes for a really difficult experience fitting the tyres; I hadn’t even managed to get the first one on before dinner.

Put the kids to bed fairly early; they were tired, then joined some friends on Zoom for a catch up, all the while still trying to mount the thing. Eventually I gave up around midnight, when I turned in for the night, arms aching from trying to get the bead over the rim, having nicked two inner tubes in the process. They’re at least repairable, unlike the last two. After a bit of research online I heard of something called a tyre bead jack, so I’ve ordered one; Amazon will deliver it on Sunday. Hopefully it’ll do the trick or I’ll be looking for a bike shop to fit these tyres.

Saturday

Woke up early and got everyone in the car at a reasonable hour to set off down down the A303. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Stonehenge, before heading off again and reaching Fiona and Nick’s farm by about 5pm, settling into our cabin there and mucking about in the field outside by the river before getting the kids into bed and enjoying the stillness that comes from being miles from anywhere.

Oh, wait, no, that was what was supposed to happen today. Obviously we haven’t actually left the house. Today was a bit of a struggle; it started off nicely enough, but then the weather turned. I’ve finally re-potted and put the tomato plant outside; hopefully the weather’s now warm enough for it to cope. It’s been getting way too big for the windowsill where it’s rested recently. Hung the washing out while J was doing her online Zumba class, then brought it in again as the rain started. Bah.

Had a film afternoon with the kids while I was preparing the dinner, J had suggested Descendants, a Disney film imagining the children of some of the worst antagonists in their movies going to school together. Not really my cup of tea but I enjoyed watching Kristin Chenoweth chewing up the scenery as Maleficent; she’d obviously enjoyed the part massively.

Both of the kids have been massively tired recently; if it hadn’t been for the fact they’ve not left the house I’d wonder if they hadn’t caught something somewhere. Again, sent them to bed early, one of them with Calpol as he was complaining of a headache, then had time for a movie for ourselves, in this case Thor: Ragnarok. Been a very lazy day today, tomorrow will hopefully be a bit more active.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

22nd May 2020 22nd May 2020 by Sleeper in , No Comment

I stumble in the night,
Never really knew what it would’ve been like,
You’re no longer there to break my fall…
The heartache over you;
I’d give it everything but I couldn’t live through.
I never saw the signs,
You’re the last to know when love is blind…

Monday

Another Monday morning. Hooray. Up early, online, to find an email from my new starter, who hasn’t been given her login details yet. Chased D, who hadn’t got them either. Eventually sorted it out by 10:30, so we could get started with setting up access requests and so on.

Today was particularly full-on; didn’t seem to get a break for anything until I finished about half five, when the question reared its ugly head: “When will dinner be ready?” The only answer to that is, sadly, “Oops”; we both thought the other was preparing the meal. After a brief consideration of the benefits of takeaway pizza, I recovered my senses and threw a paella together. We eventually finished up and got the kids into bed late.

Tuesday

The weather’s getting warmer. While I was busy with my meetings, all I could hear was the noise of the kids outside, noisily having fun with the paddling pool in the sun. As usual, spent all my day in meetings; though I got to share the fun a little bit, bringing along my new starter to one of the planning meetings to give her a hint of what it is that she’s going to be doing over the next few weeks. Hopefully I didn’t terrify her too much when she asked for the detailed diagram and I apologised at how enormous it was.

Lunch was delayed, though my mood was much improved by having a quick game of football in the garden with the whole family before settling back upstairs. The afternoon passed quickly enough, then it was dinner and time to catch up with friends online. We tried using Google Meet, and won’t be doing that again; it doesn’t cope at all with more than one person talking at once. Abandoned it in favour of Zoom; whether we’ll be back on FaceTime next week is anyone’s guess.

F mentioned a fantastic deal on Beef Fillet from Turner and George while we were on the call; as a result we’ll all be eating steak soon, and there’ll be plenty to go in the freezer for the net few months. Finished up quite late, but not as late as we have in the past.

Wednesday

I’ve given in and I’ve started wearing shorts. Realistically I should have before now, but I’m in the habit of dressing for an air conditioned office even though I’ve not been near one for two months. Spent nearly the whole day in meetings with Architecture, interrupted only by the arrival of an Amazon delivery – a new water gun for the kids, and various bike bits for me, including three replacement inner tubes.

Once I was done with work for the day, I set about replacing the destroyed tube; at least, I tried to. The first tube exploded again even while I was inflating it, causing my ears to ring for a few minutes, and drawing the attention of various neighbours in the form of “There’s that banging noise again!” . The second tube went on, I inflated it to a sensible pressure and… it went pop ten minutes later while I was preparing dinner, in this case a couple of wonderful rib eye steaks for us and lasagne for the kids. This time the outer tyre was obviously badly damaged; there was a massive rip in the side wall. The bike will be out of action until at least Friday when a replacement tyre is due to arrive.

Thursday

What happened to the rain we were promised? The day started with not a cloud in sight, the temperature climbing again. Just the right sort of day for having fun in the garden. Unfortunately, that wasn’t on the menu; what was on offer was a day of work which I knuckled down to, though I found time to at least attend half of my skip-level boss’s drop in session; he thinks we’re unlikely to see a return to the office for our division before January, which was interesting. Mentioned it to D, who disagreed, but I think January’s closer than any other date realistically.

Broke for lunch for sandwiches made with the last of the weekend’s brisket, and again found time for a short kick around in the garden before heading back to work for a discussion of project progress, then a knowledge sharing session with another team who haven’t started their AWS journey yet, then a check-in with my new starter who’s getting to grips with everything.

Finished up the day with a bike ride, which started out later than planned after dinner took a long time and then my mum called to see how we were. Headed out with Sleeper, Jr at gone 7pm, and was back a little before 8. At least by then the heat of the day was fading, and it was pleasant to move around. One more day of work; I’m ready for a long weekend…

Sleeping Satellite

18th May 2020 18th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , No Comment

Did we fly to the moon too soon?
Did we squander the chance?
In the rush of the race,
The reason we chase is lost in romance;
And still we try to justify the waste
For a taste of man’s greatest adventure…

Saturday

Lazed in bed for a while, then got up at 8am. Showered, then noticed my Fitbit Versa was misbehaving; it was acting as though one of the buttons was stuck down. Rebooting didn’t help; on careful examination I noticed that there was what looked like water on the inside of the screen. That’s been the last straw.

Over the past three years, I’ve been through five fitbits – two Charge 2s, and three Versas. The Charges both developed cracks in the screen, and when I had the opportunity to upgrade to the Versa for (almost) free thanks to my employer at the time, I jumped at the chance. The first one I had served me well for all of six months before it developed a screen fault. The replacement for that one had a bluetooth problem and wouldn’t sync correctly. The most recent one appears to have bad waterproofing. It might be still under warranty, but I’ve lost patience. In the absence of a return of the defunct Pebble Time 2, I’ve bit the bullet and ordered an Apple Watch. I at least have some confidence it’ll last me unlike the junk I’ve had so far, even if it’s expensive.

Both kids were over tired this morning, despite having slept well; think they needed a low-key couple of days. We did a little light gardening and then, because it hasn’t moved in nearly eight weeks, attempted to start the car. Inexplicably it turned over just fine; I took them both out for a spin just to get the battery up to a decent charge before lunch; for most of the trip they were both glassy-eyed, barely awake. After lunch, it was A’s turn to choose a film, so she subjected us to The Little Mermaid. Despite the protestations from her brother that he wasn’t interested, he soon dropped all pretence of paper craft and joined her on the sofa; it’s the right kind of no-thinking entertainment that was needed.

While the terrible two were occupied, I made a start on my attempt at the Detroit-style pizza I’d been threatening. The dough was so loose it was almost a batter, but it worked fantastically; a slug of olive oil in the bottom of a deep roasting tin, keeping the dough from sticking, with pepperoni layered on top followed by cubed mozzarella and cheddar, finishing up with a tomato sauce made by reducing a couple of tins of tomatoes with herbs and garlic. Definitely one to repeat.

Sunday

Well, I’d been threatening it for a week, and this time I actually did it; got up early and was out on my bike not long after nine. Made it to Hampton Court Palace in next to no time, and was delighted to find Kingston town centre full of people on bikes; seems like there were more people cycling than driving by a huge margin. Got a little lost in Thames Ditton on the way back after running into a road closure, but after getting my bearings, I followed the main road into Epsom before heading home. That last bit of the ride was but far the hardest, seems like 90% of the hill climbing was in the last quarter of a 25 mile ride. Got some decent speeds on the downhill though. Most annoying was the last mile home, a road that was incredibly badly surfaced, and I was bumping all over the place. Stashed my bike in the garden and let J go for her run. I’ve been delighted with the it now that it’s run in, and hope for a few more longer distance adventures in the near future.

After lunch, I was asked by D next door if I’d heard the loud bang? Nope, was my reply, though I soon discovered the cause; seems like the cratered road had done something to my tyres and pinched the front inner tube, which had conspired to explode not much later. I stood for quite a while puzzling over how it was possible for a bike to get a puncture standing on a lawn before I figured it out. Once I’d discovered my spare tube didn’t work either (it was already patched, and the patch somehow split when it was inflated over 60 psi), I gave up and turned my attention to the BBQ, where I smoked the most delicious brisket for dinner, accompanied by spicy wedges and a side salad.

In Our Cathedral

15th May 2020 15th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , No Comment

There was a time, you forget,
You were losing every bet.
Your hope was shattered,
Your trust betrayed,
But you found a place where you don’t need to be afraid:
In our cathedral…

Thursday

Settled into the usual routine of dragging the kids away from the TV for breakfast before getting them dressed in time to start some kind of school work around 9am. In theory Thursday is supposed to be a meeting-light day that I’d planned to spend doing some bits and pieces I’d promised members of my team that I’d look at days if not weeks ago; that dream died before it was even fully formed. The morning passed quickly enough with the usual mix of catch ups. I try to take an hour for lunch each day, and have my calendar blocked out to ensure that. Today, however, conspired to keep my lunch break as short as possible and I only managed to snatch 30 minutes with the rest of the family before heading back into what seems to be my role as chief referee between different teams who’ve interpreted the same requierments in entirely different ways.

At one point D pinged me in one of his own meetings because he thought I’d agreed one thing and allowed my team to delivered another and he was getting heat for it. I apologised for the fact that I’d obviously miscommunicated something and then went away, realising a few minutes later exactly what the problem was, pinging him back and establishing that he wasn’t going mad, the person he was talking to was discussing something very different to what D had thought, and no-one was misleading anyone. I seem to be getting good at talking more senior managers down from the edge. Not sure yet if it’s a good thing or not.

Friday

Awoke super early for no reason I could discern. Persuaded the kids away from the TV and got breakfast, then started the workday. Nothing much to write home about there other than two meetings, one in which it turns out we’re not going to be held to the June deadline we’d had agreed on our behalf – in fact the implication was that if we delivered by December, no-one would bat an eyelid. In the other I did something that took me minutes but saved the bacon of the team working with a very large and influential hardware manufacturer. Not sure I deserved the praise I got, but, hey, good feedback is good feedback, right?

Took delivery of a batch of meat from Turner and George this morning; cooked the sausages for dinner and they were by far the best sausages I’ve eaten in a long time. I miss working next door to their butcher’s shop. Also in the delivery were ribs, steaks, bacon and brisket, which I’m going to smoke on the BBQ. We’re going to eat well over the next week or so.

Finished up the day kegging the saison I brewed a few weeks back, and putting the Kölsch on tap. My least favourite part of home brewing is cleaning lines and kegs, but it’s done now, And the Kölsch tastes just right; as does the sample of the saison. I’ve named the former Rehana, because she asked, as the latest in a series of beers called The Beer Called <Name>.

If I Burn

13th May 2020 13th May 2020 by Sleeper in , No Comment

I could beg a thousand times.
I could explain.
I could use rhymes
And rhythms meant to catch your eye,
But I know you won’t see.

Tuesday

Completely failed to get the kids dressed before breakfast. Oh well. Seem to have settled into what seems like a low-stress rhythm at work, which no doubt can’t last for long. By the time I broke for lunch, things had started to go south, of course. There was an interview booked in for the afternoon, which it turns out our recruitment team had forgotten to invite the candidate. D’oh. Apart from that little issue, though, the rest of the day passed reasonably without incident.

Ended the day getting the kids into bed slightly late, then a conversation with J about the nursery arrangements – they’ll be re-opening on June 1st and had asked when each child is expected to return. From July onwards if the kids aren’t back, they’ll be charging half fees. We’ve said early July for now; who knows what will happen in the next seven weeks? Finished up with a FaceTime drinks session; this one was low-key and we finished around 10:30, plenty of time to sleep.

Wednesday

… or not. Woke at 5am and failed to get any more rest. Eventually gave up shortly after 7, and chased the kids, who were downstairs watching TV, back upstairs to dress before breakfast. Miraculously, everyone was ready for the day well before 9am, something that hasn’t happened for weeks.

Any pretence that the wildlife hasn’t completely destroyed the carrots is now well and truly over; I checked on the vegetables before breakfast only to find the planter half emptied, compost and battered looking seedlings surrounding it. Argh. I’m currently planning on sowing some replacements at the weekend and using something substantial, like chicken wire, to keep the blasted animals away. The potatoes at least seem to be doing OK; I’m not sure about the beans which probably didn’t take well to the late frost a couple of nights ago.

Work was… fine, I guess? Some good parts, some bad? I’ve had worse days by a long shot; punctuated by meetings which were broadly productive. Nothing really to report there.

After dinner, took Sleeper Jr. on a bike ride. I’d been researching local routes and found a dirt track not far from us that leads to a decent-sized park right on the edge of the green belt, surrounded by countryside. Was pretty fun, but very slow going. I’d taken the hybrid as I didn’t expect the terrain to be suitable for the road bike. On that I was entirely correct; even that was a struggle with the narrow road tyres it has fitted, making for one of the few occasions that my son was a much faster cyclist than me. On the way home he complained of a headache, which he was really struggling with by the time we got back. I suspect his helmet was too tight, after his sister decided to play with the adjustment dial. Either way it’s a trip we enjoyed on the whole, but we’ll probably not head that way again in the near future.

Tonight I was supposed to be kegging the saison in the fermenter and cleaning the beer lines before hooking up the kölsch ready for drinking; by the time everything was settled, it was way too late. One for Friday. Instead I’ve been planning a vague route for my next road bike foray; I’m pondering Hampton Court Palace and back on Sunday morning.

A Little Less Conversation

12th May 2020 12th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , No Comment

Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music,
Dig to the summer breeze.
It’s a groovy night and I can show you how to use it;
Come along with me and put your mind at ease!
A little less conversation, a little more action, please…

Saturday

Up at 8am, ready to take delivery of the shopping. This time it seems that there’s no preserved sweetcorn in Ocado’s warehouse of any description, be it tinned or frozen. We do at least have the fresh, on-the-cob, variety for this afternoon’s firing of the barbecue.

Mowed the lawn while J did her online Zumba class, while attempting to referee the usual arguments between children. We did the usual things of topping up the compost on the potatoes, watering the beans, and so on, before lunch. After lunch the kids ran around with water pistols, enjoying the warm weather while I mostly skulked indoors trying to avoid the direct afternoon sun. Turns out I wasn’t all that successful; there are definite tan lines on my feet to match my sandals. Lit the fire around 4 and cooked the usual favourites – burgers, corn on the cob and wings, followed by smoked caramelised apples and pineapples, accompanied with vanilla ice cream.

Sunday

Didn’t sleep at all well; despite having retired around 11 the previous night, didn’t get to sleep until nearly 1am. As a result the start to the morning was even lazier than usual, and breakfast wasn’t done until gone 9am.

Went out on the bike a little after 10. The adjustments to fit and brakes I made on Friday have made a world of difference. Put in a 20 mile route in an hour and fifteen minutes, and could have done so much further without needing to be back at home for lunch and the kids. Next weekend I’ll aim for that bit further. This time I got grumbled at for being out enjoying myself, which was fair enough as she wanted to go out for a run too.

After lunch, the weather turned as we’d expected, so time for a film afternoon; apparently it was my turn to pick the movie. Flicking through Netflix the other day we’d noticed The Never-ending Story, which I’d not seen since I was about Sleeper, Jr.’s age. Amazingly, it kept everyone’s attention for the full ninety minutes, including a break for homemade popcorn.

Despite my protestations that it’s a side dish, one preferably dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried, J made a macaroni cheese for dinner, with bacon and mushrooms. Pretty nice, but way too filling; there’s more than enough for a second meal left over.

Kids packed off to bed, I collapsed in front of the TV; a combination of too little sleep and the morning’s bike ride had conspired to tire me out.

Monday

Up about 7:45; the kids were already watching TV downstairs. A decently unhurried breakfast followed by settling into work. A quick catch up with D before the first of (count them) three stand-ups; he’s got the afternoon off work because he has to go pick up his new car. “New Tesla is it?” I joke, and it turns out, that, yes, it is a new Tesla model 3. I’m slightly jealous, but only slightly, because I don’t drive that much anyway and even if I could afford one, I don’t really need more than the sensible and boring car I have.

The afternoon was mostly taken up by the third session of the security assessment we covered last week; in our weekly sync meeting one of the other leads passed on some news that was both unexpected and disappointing with regard to an offer we’d made to a prospective employee. Oh well. Finished up attempting a crispy sesame beef stir fry with green vegetables and baby corn. The beef wasn’t crispy enough but everyone else seemed to enjoy it well enough.

Finished up the day covering over the nascent potatoes; there’s rumour of a frost overnight. Hopefully the other vegetables will survive. Let’s see in the morning.

The Wreck of the Beautiful

9th May 2020 9th May 2020 by Sleeper in , No Comment

When the Beautiful set sail back in 1970,
She was state of the art, the flagship of our navy.
But the salt sea took its toll and the rust began to show,
And with a heavy heart we took her to the breaker’s yard.

I thought I heard her call.
Maybe I heard nothing at all.
I thought I heard her call
From the wreck of the beautiful.

Thursday

Same start as the day before; a swift-is breakfast before a start to the second part of the security audit. Got pinged on Slack by D asking about a blocker on one of my other projects; I was confused because I thought it was all in hand. Following up later, I discovered that it’s some third team who need to make a small change have declined to do so for what I can tell is no good reason; I pulled some strings so hopefully that’ll fall into place very soon. I eventually broke for “lunch” around 2pm.

Took delivery of my new bike in the morning, so spent my lunch break putting the handlebars and pedals on, with the assistance of the kids, before finishing up at a sensible time and cooking a curry for dinner. As seems to happen frequently, didn’t get the kids into bed until late; that said they were both asleep earlier than they’ve been recently. Evidently tired out!

Friday

Bank Holiday Friday. There’s a thing that doesn’t happen very often. Also something that doesn’t happen very often these days is that everyone’s up, dressed, and breakfasted before 9.

Attempted to head out on a ride on my new bike; was barely ten yards down the road when I realised the folly of trying to set it up in the garden where there’s no room to ride. Went back and raised the saddle quite a way. Set off again, feeling a lot more comfortable. Managed the big hill just by my house no problem, but started to realise the brakes aren’t set up quite right and my stopping distance is way too high, reinforced by the heart-in-mouth moment when a car, with the first idiot driver I’ve seen in a very long time, turned across my path without looking. Later on I decided the angle of the drop bars needs tweaking. I also need to train myself out of the habit of putting my hands on the flats, expecting there to be brakes there. Don’t know if it’s because I’m used to that from my other bikes, or some dormant muscle memory from the 1980s road bike I had in my teens which had a way of getting to the brakes there. Biggest annoyance was that the Fitbit stopped syncing ten miles in. No idea what my pace was like for the last seven miles or so. A decent first trip though, was glad to be out despite the sun being a little to warm for what I’m used to.

While I’d been out on the bike, J and the kids had been making bunting for the VE50 day celebration. Had a cup of coffee with them then made the bike adjustments; brakes are now a bit keener and hopefully I won’t feel so uncomfortable riding with my hands on the hoods. Pottered a little with the vegetables, mostly trying to rescue any of the carrot seedlings that the wildlife seems to be trying very hard to pull up.

After lunch, made a pizza dough and set about trying to tidy the garage and clear an overgrown flowerbed in the front garden to grow sunflowers in with the kids. Got there in the end, but it wasn’t quick work, and there’s lots more we really need to do in the garden even if we’re leaving the lawn to meadow. Pizza came out thick and chewy; it’s inspired me to maybe attempt a Detroit-style one soon.

Finished up the day reasonably early and watched Ready Player One in the evening. Not sure what I made of it; I read the book a number of years ago and enjoyed the retro references, not so much the story, especially the reveal of Aech’s real identity, which didn’t fit for me with the way the character had spoken and thought earlier in the novel. The film was better in a number of story related ways, but the nostalgia fell flat for me. Probably a combination of pop-culture-at-ninety-miles-an-hour working better on the printed page, and the problem of licensing. It needed more Simon Pegg too – but then I’m struggling to think of a film where he’s a supporting actor that doesn’t.

Courting The Squall

6th May 2020 6th May 2020 by Sleeper in , No Comment

In the hills it’s an overcoat colder.
Come by, see me…
If big things, life things, are waves at your door,
Come by, see me…
Come grab a sleep on my floor.
No more courting the squall…

Monday

Woken rudely at 6:30 by a request to be allowed to go downstairs and watch TV, which I denied. Got up not long after 7 and had everyone dressed and eating breakfast at about 8am, which seems miraculously early by recent standards. The good start to the day lasted until about 9:30am when I was pinged on Slack to ask why I wasn’t in a meeting I hadn’t accepted. The answer of “I’m in a different meeting” wasn’t well received, even though the organiser hadn’t actually checked whether I was free before sending me the invitation on Friday afternoon. My mood wasn’t helped by the next meeting being cancelled at late notice when one of the key attendees didn’t show, nor by the frustration at being unable to give one of the vendor employees joining my team any work, because somehow he hasn’t been given access to our systems, and no-one can agree on whose fault it is – the resourcing team are blaming the access team, and vice versa.

More meetings after lunch, including three that ran together and all overran, even when I gave the other attendees plenty of notice. I might have to start just pulling the plug at end time; while I can’t help disparate people inviting me to different discussions one after the other, I can at least be brutal about the fact that they’re being rude to others who also need my time. Pottered in the garden after dinner; something, probably one of the local squirrels, has been digging up my carrot seedlings. Grr.

Tuesday

Not quite such a great start to the day as yesterday; by 8:45 the kids were still in pyjamas, but not too terrible. Straight into a discussion with one of my team about how to proceed with an issue he’d had; told him to park it and move on, it’s taken up way too much time already. Straight after standup, another question, this time about how to get a piece of information from one system to configure a dependant one. Architecture meeting was half the usual length, but twice as much trouble as usual; I’ve been pushing back on work my team don’t have time to even consider and someone’s been riled up as a result.

The afternoon was where it all started to come apart; as a follow on from the issues raised in the morning, D and I had a meeting with the architects requesting the work. Turns out that despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I couldn’t give an answer for when the work will be done, she’s already promised someone very senior that we’ve agreed a delivery date. To say I was absolutely livid was an understatement. Fortunately I think it’s going to backfire on her, most likely incredibly badly. Closely following in the horror stakes was a meeting which I declined to attend, believing it to be a waste of my time; D decided to go and was apoplectic to discover that certain members of other teams were arguing against us behind our back; there’ll be fireworks later there too, I’m sure.

Finished up the evening on the usual Tuesday night FaceTime call, which went on rather later than I should have let it. Oops. My only excuse was that I was enjoying myself.

Wednesday

Despite not going overboard on the beer last night, woke with a splitting headache which didn’t respond well to paracetamol. Got the kids dressed and breakfasted and settled in to the first call of the day, a four-hour cloud security review call which is itself the first of three. That went reasonably well; turns out we’re already implementing a lot of best practice.

Lunch break was decent, marred only by a cry of “Can you have a look at the camera, Dad? There’s a big black line on the screen…”, which heralded the fact that one of the kids has hit it (hard, it’s meant to be shockproof) against a solid object; after turning it off and then on again it’s stopped focusing completely. Argh. I’ve ordered them a cheap replacement from Amazon and told them that the next time they’ll pay for a new one themselves. Attended a bunch of meetings in the afternoon, which were mostly productive.

Finished up the day with another father/son bike ride, managing about six and a half miles in our hour. Not what I’d call intense exercise, but good for the mind at least. Got to bed early, hoping to make up some of the previous night’s sleep deficit. Hah.

Hooked On A Feeling

3rd May 2020 4th May 2020 by Sleeper in , , 3 Comments

When you hold me
In your arms so tight,
You let me know
Everything’s all right!

I’m hooked on a feeling…

Thursday

Up at gone 8 again. The waking-up-early stages of the pandemic are well and truly over. Breakfasted quickly and got into work mode. In terms of that at least, an uneventful day, with a decent balance of meetings and decent chunks of time to get things done. The evening was the “Camp at Home” event being run by various scouting organisations, so spent a bit of time here and there getting Sleeper, Jr. to pack his bag to go “camping” complete with sleeping mat, changes of clothes, and so on. Can’t forget a teddy bear or a book to read in the dark by torchlight either.

Cooked pork chops for dinner with roast courgette, red onion, peppers and tomatoes for dinner. Both kids turned their noses up at the vegetables, much to my chagrin. After dinner, created a den in the playroom for sleeping in and got the kids in the bath. Eventually got the boy bedded down round 8:30; he was unsurprisingly still awake at 10 when we headed up.

Friday

One child woke around 7; she was told to go downstairs to watch TV quietly until we got up, and not to disturb her elder brother, who was unsurprisingly still asleep. He eventually surfaced about 7:45, not long after I got up. Despite claiming he’d slept well, I could see this wasn’t the case. He burst into tears when I told him he’d be sleeping in his own bed again tonight; he was absolutely exhausted. I did at least say the den could stay up a few days.

School work was no better; his concentration just wasn’t there and he didn’t do as well on his Maths as he usually would, and after an hour of staring at a blank sheet of paper with a title for English, we let him leave it until the next day. J put a movie on for the kids to watch – Inside Out – but he wasn’t interested, instead preferring to tinker with some Scratch program or other.

Penne bolognese dinner done, we got both the kids into bed fairly early and J and I had a decent chat; she’d found keeping a boy who’d had almost no sleep entertained and happy to be a herculean task. Finished up the evening with birthday drinks for F by way of Zoom, during which I managed to get a delivery slot from Decathlon to order a shiny new (cheapish) road bike. The twitter-rumour was they were released at 11pm, so, still up, I attempted to put in an order at bang on 11; no dice. Tried a few more times before I moved from Safari to Chrome out of frustration, and immediately managed to book a delivery. I can’t help wondering whether I’d have had better daytime luck with a different browser.

Saturday

As usual, a lazy start. We had just about enough milk to see us through breakfast before the Ocado order arrived at about 9:30. By the time the kids were dressed and ready for the day, there was zero chance of me getting out on the bike before J’s online Zumba class, so I didn’t bother, instead taking them both outside to tend to the growing vegetables; of the four potato grow bags we started, two have taken off and the others are going remarkably slowly. Once the gardening, such as it was, was taken care of, I kicked a football around the lawn with them for a while before stopping for food.

After a lunch of sandwiches made with home made (non-sourdough) bread, I took Sleeper, Jr. out for a ride around the residential roads nearby. We managed five and a half miles, though my FitBit conked out at around the four mile mark, irritatingly.

Cooked a lasagne for dinner before packing both kids off to bed reasonably early. Despite not having gone mad with exercise, I was pretty tired. most likely due to the previous night’s festivities. Once they were both tucked in, stuck Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker on the TV – while I saw it at Christmas, J didn’t – she’d been at work while I’d taken the last day of the school holidays as a day off work to spend with Sleepr, Jr. I must have been pretty still; my fitness tracker registered me as asleep for most of the film. Pretty sure I wasn’t, but I was ready to be by the time the movie ended.

Sunday

Up at around 8 again, got everyone breakfast then headed out for the long-overdue ride. Was cloudy and a little cool but I made decent time for the first eight miles or so, but then I started to get a headache and the first spots of rain started to hit. By the time I got home, the rain had passed but the headache hadn’t; nearly 14 miles is a decent bit of exercise at least, even if it’s short of what I’d intended.

Had a break for a cup of coffee then turned my hand to baking cookies with the kids. Knocked together a batch of egg-free chocolate chip cookies before lunch, discovering that you can tell a four year old to mix the dry ingredients and they’ll do it incredibly thoroughly while you measure out the wet ingredients. First few onto the sheet were way too big and fell apart when I tried to put them on a cooling rack post-baking; there was all around disappointment at my insistence that we had to wait for them to cool before eating.

“Dad, when can we play computer games again?” has been a regular refrain in recent days, so this afternoon we sat down and had a game of Super Mario Party followed by a quick championship of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch. Hopefully that’s sated their desire for a while; Mario Party has the advantage that so much of it is RNG based that even the youngest member of the family has a chance of winning, as she did today. I could also cook coq au vin while playing – chop shallots, play my turn, chop carrots, play a mini game, and so on. Worked remarkably well and on the whole was a delicious dinner for very little effort.

Kids went to bed with minimal fuss; we chilled in front of the TV for a while before I headed up relatively early. Tomorrow, back to work…