I'll start with some news.
The Old's have moved church! We are now ensconsed in Rugby Christian Fellowship (Elim) and it's fantastic. Full of challenges, new relationships and new experiences. All very exciting.
Next a quick grumble.
I would dearly love to meet up with the person in the council who is responsible for pedestrian crossings. On my journey to work (approx 1 mile), I pass through 1 lollipop crossing and 4 pelican / puffin crossings! It is utterly insane and has added at least 10 minutes to the journey, which over 1 mile is nuts. If I wasn't doing school and evening activity runs either end of the day, I would SO walk!
Finally a thought.
How come germs are so tiny but cause so much havoc? Sarah had a slight cold this time last week. This cold developed Friday / Saturday into a hideous chest infection which has her signed off work for the whole week. She's been really poorly and all because of a tiny little germ.
Another thought...
With all the money being thrown at formula 1, how come it falls down to the driver to put out his own car fire (Kovaleinen, Singapore)???
Be good.
D
Follow me on Twitter - @derek_old
]]>Thought I'd share an "aaaah" moment.
Last Sunday we sat down with the kids for dinner and suggested that rather than throwing random ideas at us for Christmas, they might like to write us each a list. This is a first as, up to now, we've not done lists with them before.
Anyways, Jamie said, completely out of the blue...."Christmas isn't about presents, it's when we remember the birth of Jesus".
Neither of our kids ever really ask for much and that was so nice to hear.
They both then sat down in front of the telly and wrote down ideas of DVD's they'd like!!!
]]>Last night saw the inaugural performance of the new band. At the start of 2008, Vicky from church asked if Owen and Simon could organise a band to play at her 30th birthday bash. They drafted in Ross and me and the band was formed. We toiled and thrashed and got it together and duly played out last night at the aformentioned party. From what I can gather, it went pretty darn well! It was great fun to play in a band outside of church; a completely different feel and style of music (obviously), but still essentially just 4 mates playing music that they love together and having a great time with it. Thanks to the band for all the work. Thanks to Stewart for dropping the levels sufficiently to stop the volume trip from kicking in. Thanks to Vicky for inviting us to play. Personally too, thanks to an old friend, Tom Mulholland. Once upon a time, he asked me if I'd like to start a band to play with him at church and really encouraged me to do so. Several years on, I'm still playing and loving it!
So that's the start of 2009. Where will it lead? Let's put on our hi-heeled sneekers and find out......
TTFN
Hipp
]]>This one inventively named "Gracefully Old"
yum
]]>She has become rather taken with Whiskas Senior cat food. To such an extent that she is trying to play each of us off against the other by standing near her bowl and miaowing everytime someone goes into the kitchen; in the vain hope that we might not know that she's already been fed!
No idea why I blogged that - sorry.
Now for some (as they say in the Little Mermaid, "Human Stuff"). Yesterday was a very busy day. I left Sarah and the kids at home to go and play my guitar at Church. It was quite an odd service; the address (sermon for older types) was really interesting and educating - all about the start of the Christian calendar - I wonder how many people realise that the years are calculated on a Christian calendar??? It was also odd because, although there were quite a large number of people there, the atmosphere was really flat. Very odd that such a short time after really CELEBRATING Christmas, people seemed to be simply going through the motions of being at Church on a Sunday morning and just reading everything that was put in front of them. Well, who knows what was really going on.
I then picked up the rest of my family for a visit to my Mum & Dad's for the day. They had laid on an amazing spread for us and for my brother and his family. Loads of really good food. Don't know if either Mum or Dad read this, but if you are - THANK YOU!!!! Graham and I took the kids for some de-bouncing in the park in the afternoon and then back to Mum and Dad's for tea!!!! For the main part, all the kids were really good all day and it was very chilled and relaxed. It's great that we all live so close to each other and that all the kids get on so well.
The day ended with the final band practice for the BIG party on Saturday night. I think we have pretty much nailed the set list now and we should be able to make a pretty good sound for all of Vic's guests to have a good ole boogie to. Let's see on Saturday - I'll let you know how it goes - maybe post a pic or two.
TTFN
Hipp
]]>The kids have (for the most part) been on great form. They have grabbed the Christmas spirit with both arms and legs and given it a great big hug.
We had quite an odd build-up to the 'big day'; read Sarah's blog for more info (www.realyouth.net/chalkbored). I was asked to sing in SummerSault's with Renaissance Voices on the Saturday, which was great fun (good food too!). Then there was the carol service at Church on the Sunday. 3 busy days at work followed, during which time, Sarah and the kids carried on with various preparation and tidying jobs.
I don't know who was more excited about Christmas, the kids or Sarah and I. We thought long and hard before getting their presents. Jamie has great ambitions to being a skateboarder, so he has duly been kitted out with a board, helmet (with flames) and pads (thanks to Paul & Weedie). Caitlin just wanted her old DS 'fixed'. We did investigate the fixing option, but it was no cheaper than a new one, so she got a nice new pink one.
Their faces were perfect on Christmas day. True pleasure and excitement. Top responses to make a parent happy.
When it came to our visit to Church, the kids were sitting at the front with the vicar and all the other kids for the traditional "what did you get kids?" slot. Martin (the vicar) asked the kids why we gave presents at Christmas. There were quite a few blank faces - even amongst the adults. It just goes to show how the commercialism of Christmas has taken over. One child was asked who had given us all a special gift at Christmas. The expected answer was God, and the present he gave us is Jesus. The child duly responded "Santa Claus"!!! Much hilarity at the comedic response but also quite telling that Christmas simply means presents.
I'm not really sure how much C & J get about Christmas, but we have not had any "I wants" or "I must have" from them at all....I guess we might be doing alright after all.
Anyways, I hope you all had a great Christmas, despite illnesses or credit crunches.
Back to you soon.
TTFN
Hipp
]]>To start the weekend off, we had a service at St Oswalds. I had a very obscure text message early on the Thursday morning from our vicar, Martin. He had been informed by another (you know who you are) that I had previous at playing the trombone so might be able to play the Shofar at the service on Friday night. My first issue was not knowing if I could help due to Caitlin's ballet commitments. My second.....what's a Shofar?? Google to the rescue..."The Shofar, a well known symbol of Rosh Hashanah, is one of the earliest instruments used in Jewish music. Usually made from a rams horn....."
Anyway, I was free to play so I agreed. By eck it's a wierd old thing. It is indeed a ram's horn and is a good 2 foot long. It is also surprisingly hard to play. When playing a brass instrument, one has quite a sizeable mothpiece to work with; when playing a shofar, reduce that by half. Add to this the fact that I lost my embrachure a good 15 years ago! (If you don't know what one is.....Google it!) It is surprisingly hard to master a consistent technique. The net result was, at the service, really good. It seemed to hit the note (pardon the pun) and was also quite moving to play - quite biblical to be honest.
Martin has since asked me to play again at both services tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. The hairs on my neck will be at attention again!
10:30 (Sunday morning communion) and 19:00 (Prayer event) are the times for tomorrow if you fancy coming to join us!
TTFN
Hipp
]]>We all know when we feel uncomfortable having someone standing too close to us, in a queue or a crowd. It's possibly analogous to claustrophobia.
I wonder though, can the same attribute be added to driving? I hate the feeling of (as my Dad would say) someone trying to drive up my exhaust pipe. I have discovered that my feelings in this situation have moved on from the ones of worry for safety of all concerned, to similar feelings of having my personal space invaded.
This can happen in front of the car as well, if someone cuts in front in a queue. Besides the feelings of "Oi mush, I was there!", there are feelings of "Oi mate, you're cramping my Megane!"
Just thought I'd muse about that in the public domain for a while. Thanks for listening!!! Now give me some room!!
TTFN
Hipp
]]>I had to take Thursday as a "work from home day" as Mastr Jnr Old had an adverse intestinal reaction to something. How the body induces such extreme reactions and yet so successfully recovers and restores absolutely amazes me. Apparently a combination of flat coke and ginger biscuits significantly helps the recovery too!
Anyways, while off on Thursday, I was cooking some lunch and simply coughed. Nothing out of the ordinary most times, but this time "OUCH". Something in my lower back let loose and really hurt. Now, this has happened before and been OK. Other times, it has involved extensive osteopathy. To cut a long story short, I have just got back from the out of hours doc who has very kingly prescribed me a course of Codeine to help reduce the pain! Praying for a quick recovery on this one; a similar recovery time to Jnr would be good!!!
As for the cakes, Mrs O has been a busy bunny again today, creating another masterpiece of bakery for our 'not-so-little-any-more' lady who celebrated 10 yrs on this wonderful planet last week.10 Fab years I must add. The cake is one chosen by the little lady herself and is a house-shaped design, absolutely COVERED in sweet things; icing, dolly mixtures, jelly tots; boiled sweets, lollipos and oh, did I mention the icing???
I'll let you know about the sugar rush another time.
TTFN
Hipp
]]>Quick blog entry this one as I'm soon to get into the M6 car park!
Small pleasures - filling the car up and ending up with the digits in the litres dispensed display showing a larger number than the cost of the fuel dispensed!!!
Big pleasures - going to a wedding tomorrow of a really good friend with the prospect of catching up with lots of old friends. Oh, and the small issue of Caitlin being a bridesmaid!!!
TTFN
Hipp
]]>Why do we get exam nerves? I know that I can't do anymore now. In fact, I read only last night that last minute cramming only serves to fill-up one's short-term memory, making the longer term memory harder to get to (how do they know this???) Anyway, my best will be done and I'll have to wait until December to see how I've done.
Don't worry reader (s?) you will know soon enough!
Happy daze
TTFN
Hipp
]]>On my way down to Basingstoke yesterday, I saw what looks like a great pub (well from the outside at least)
"What made it look so great?" I hear you cry.....
The tag line for the pub, that's what. The pub was called th Star Inn - not sure exactly where it was, but it was on the A339 in Hampshire. Anyway, it's tag line was "Inn Keeping with Tradition".
I think that's cool. Anyone else agree / disagree / have a better one? Let me know.
TTFN
Hipp
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