Certainties in life

Aren’t they death and taxes? Well related to one of those is the certainty that Post Offices attract what can be kindly termed “interesting characters”?

 I just had to attend there to purchase my Road Fund Licence. Well, technically I didn’t have to go there. If I’d been organised enough to do it on-line I would have avoided the trip. However that would have meant missing out on the veritable sideshow that was happening in the queue.

I naively thought that there might be less of a queue, given that there was a postal worker strike today. I was wrong, of course.

Still, there was a rather inebriated gentleman in the queue who was providing music of a fashion. I was grateful to not be the man stood next to him: the singer was trying to encourage him to join in, and act as a prompter for the words that he kept forgetting. I think it was YMCA he was endeavouring to make a rendition of, but I wouldn’t stake much money on that fact!

 Whilst trying to block out the noise, I ruminated on the nature of our “road tax”. As the driver of a large car, I fall into the second highest tax band, it being based on CO2 emissions. So my 12 months tax was £205.

Yet I only drive around 5-6,000 per year. Someone in a  small car, with lower emissions gets to pay around half that, yet they may drive 3 or 4 times the distance I do. So overall they will pump out more CO2 than me.

I shouldn’t grumble really, it’s a small difference, but I think a fairer way would be taxing per mile driven. Although I recognise that the current tax system ensures that drivers hav eto produce evidence of insurance and having a roadworthy vehicle at least once a year.

In other news I will try to get some pictures from last week’s wedding sorted for next week…. but don’t hold me to it!

SATs

We had to go to Godzooky 1’s school last night, to receive the results of his SATs.

I find it vaguely ridiculous that children are tested at such an early age. But, in fairness, Godzooky 1 had no idea at all that he’d even done  a test! Which didn’t inspire my confidence at all!

So how did he do? Well, as expected his worst performance is in writing. His handwriting is pretty atrocious. He can write neatly when he takes his time, but he doesn’t normally take his time.

His reading skills are above average and he is in the top 10% of his class.

What really surprised me was his maths result: he’s in the top performer in his class! I really didn’t expect that.

So overall, if we can improve his writing he’s on course to do well.

Scarily I know that Godzooky 2 is going to far outstrip him, she’s very switched on. She starts the school nursery in September, but already she can count to 15 (and even 10 in Spanish thanks to Dora the Explorer!)

Erm,

I’ve got stuff to post, just no time to do it, besides is that tumbleweed I spy….?

Still

busy, so here’s something that fills the gap:

You Are 36% Gross

You’re a tad gross, but generally you’re a clean, hygienic person. No one can be perfectly clean all the time, and it’s better to be human than a neat freak.

How Gross Are You?

So

I may have been overly pessimistic about the wedding.

Things were not as bad as I feared, details and pictures to follow when I get things sorted.

This is a proper Monday: horrible weather, too much work and not enough sleep.

Roll on Tuesday…

I’m not getting married in the morning

but my brother-in-law is getting married tomorrow afternoon.

It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. We have to drive from Manchester to Birmingham. We can check in from 11am, so we can get ready in comfort hopefully.

Godzooky 1 is a page boy, so his outfit will be waiting for us. He has no idea what he has to do, and I’m none the wiser either, but he’s been promised a present, so he’s happy enough!

I know that Mrs Zilla will not be ready to leave in the morning – she is never ready, no matter what time we will agree on.

I also know that I will be left to sort the kids out in the hotel  – she will be having either clothing/hair/make-up crisis or possibly all 3!

I dread things like this. Mrs Zilla seems to think that because I’m at work all week, I should be the one to run around after the kids at social events like this.

On the brighter side we are staying in the same hotel that the wedding and reception are taking place in. So I won’t have to be a taxi service all day.

I’m looking forward to seeing the kids all dressed up in their wedding attire too. It’ll be a change of scenery too.

Is my enthusiasm for this coming through?

A Water Feature

was what our office aquired over night. When I arrived this morning there was a cascade of liquid from the office ceiling.

Part of the air-conditioning system was spewing lurid pink fluid liberally over part of the office.

Thankfully it wasn’t my desk receiving the direct hit, and I was safely away from the fallout area.

It was our IT department who bore the brunt of the damage.

In particular it was our helpdesk team who had to move. The guys who you ring up to report a fault, and they then tell you to re-boot. You know the ones.

One of them was relocated to our area (we have someone on holiday at the moment) Whilst he’s a nice guy (even for an IT helpdesk person) it’s become clear how little work tehy actually do. He’s spent most of the morning simply reading a magazine. This is probably just bitterness on my part!

It also looks as though I’m about to be dropped into more work chaos. We’re taking over a whole new area of operations in 3 weeks. So I’m up to my eyes in trying to organise procedures and staff to deal with this. Aaaaaarrrggghhh!

In other news Godzooky 2 had another speech therapy appointment yesterday. I though she would be discharged, as she is chattering for Britain, and there must be more deserving cases out there?

The Speech Therapist has decided that she’s not saying “K” and “T” sounds properly though. So she’s going to have group therapy for a few weeks and then it will be reviewed.

Tomorrow: the upcoming wedding…..

Action

I finally got my arse into gear and sorted out a ticket for that concert I mentioned a while back.

So on 26th October I get to see The Wedding Present perform a 20th anniversary concert for their album George Best. They’re playing the whole album, start to finish.

Whilst the lyrics of teenage angst and relationships won’t be quite as relevant to me now, I am looking forward to wallowing in nostalgia.

Around this time I started college, and luckily they were a local group at the time. I think my record for seeing them was 3 times in 10 days.

They had a great energy onstage, and it was commonplace for quite a few guitar strings to be broken. They were also infamous for their encore covers. A personal favourite of mine was “It’s Not Unusual” played at 150mph.

I recall one concert where the lead singer got his mum on stage to sing with him. There were definitely no airs and graces about them.

If anyone is reading this, and they are particularly attentive, they may have noticed that I stated I have got a ticket. That’s because it’s just me going at the moment.

I mentioned it to Mrs Zilla, but she showed no interest in either the concert, or listening to the album.

I have emailed the old school friends I’m still in touch with from 1987 to whom the concert may mean something. (It was an album we were all into at the time, and I wasn’t the only saddo attending multiple concerts!) However as we all now have children, and are spread across the country it’s not easy to organise.

So in a totally selfish way I am ensuring that I get to go. If I end up Billy no mates on the night, so be it. This isn’t going to come around again.

It’s the final countdown

to my brother-in-law’s wedding, this weekend, in not so sunny Birmingham (according to the weather forecast!)

So the weekend was not exclusively a Father’s Day celebration. There were wedding outfits to be found.

Thankfully Mrs Zilla had already made sure she was sorted, so a mammoth search was not required.

I’ll just be wearing a suit, so it’ll feel like another day in the office.

Godzooky 1 is a page boy, and, as such, gets an official wedding outfit. No need to worry about him.

So, just the two youngest to sort out. Godzooky 2 as a 3 year old girl has a wealth of options open to her. We found her a lovely, flouncy dress. Then there was just the issue of shoes. A search of several shops revealed the perfect pair. That was her sorted.

Godzooky 3 was my main concern: what does a 17 month old boy wear to a wedding?

My concerns grew when we ventured into the shops. Everything is set up for holiday wear: bright, short sleeved shirts. More appropriate for the beach than the ballroom.

We struck lucky eventually, and found an off the peg pin striped suit. A quick trip to the fitting room revealed him to resemble a junior Soprano.

I can see him being a distraction at the wedding: a mini mafioso running round the dancefloor.

I know only full well who will end up running round after the kids and ensuring they don’t get into too much mischief. And it won’t be Mrs Zilla….

Father’s Day

came and went. I did get a card, but as I expected no present. However I did get a lie in. No extra sleep, as the kids were charging round the house! I did get brought some toast in bed though, and a lovely wish of “Happy Father’s Day” from my eldest two.

In all honesty I’m not the least bit bothered that I didn’t get a present. There’s nothing I particularly want, and I’d rather the money was spent on the kids that just get me something for the sake of buying a present.

I did get to have some special time with each of them yesterday, and that made the day for me.

We went round to my in-laws house, and I spent time with my daughter doing alphabet stickers, and thinking of words for each letter, which she enjoyed repeating ad nauseam.

When we’d finished she went off to play with her dolls and I played horsey with my youngest. He’s got the most infectious, dirty laugh, and is really turning out to be a real daredevil. ( I think we may have wrapped our eldest up in cotton wool too much, but now we know you have to let kids learn through bumps and scrapes)

After he fell asleep I went to play draughts with my eldest son. He’s not been playing long, but has picked it up quite well. It ended up in a stalemate situation, but I sacrificed my draw position to give him the win, a noble gesture for Father’s Day I thought.

Nicest part of the day? I was sat on the sofa watching the news, when I felt someone climb on next to me. My daughter put her head against my arm and put her arm around my back. Then she said ” Daddy, you’re my best friend, I love you.” She gave me a kiss and then wandered off again.

Moments like that are priceless, and I feel sorry for childless people who will never hear those words.