1607.13 LEAKY TOILET

At the weekend I received a frantic phone call from Morticia telling me that water was dripping from the kitchen ceiling. I was just finishing work so I rushed home (as fast as my legs would pedal). The water was coming from the inlet pipe from the cistern of the upstairs toilet. I isolated the water supply to the toilet so I could repair the leak in my next day off.

My day off was Monday so I put my DIY skills to good use.* I purchase a new inlet pipe and some O rings. It took me a couple of hours but it's now fixed, it flushes and doesn't leak. I was pretty proud of myself and please we hadn't had to call anyone out.

Add this almost disasterous event to the fact that our vacuum cleaner (our trusty old Dyson) started to smell of burning and I could see sparks coming from the motor. They say things come in threes, what's next?

Today we got a new Prime Minister and rather than pay tribute to the outgoing Mr Cameron I thought I'd talk about my toilet.

*My DIY skills are pretty poor, although I have done a fair bit of home plumbing.

1607.12 HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARLEY

I've posted before about our relationship with our eldest daughter. I last spoke to her at Christmas and she has since made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with Morticia or me, however we have tried to make it clear she's more than welcome and this will always be her home. We have no idea if she is safe or where she's even living. People often say that she'll come around one day, I've no idea if that will ever happen, the emptiness is hard to live with.

Harley at her Prom

Today this pain is polarised. It's 20 years ago today that I first became a father and Harley was born. I wish I was part of her special day, she's not a teenager anymore and I wish I could celebrate. I wish I could be part of her life but she is an adult and she has made her choice. If she changes her mind we'll be waiting.

HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY TO MY PRINCESS, MY FIRST BORN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARLEY. XXX

She is never far from my thoughts.

Supplemental 17:30;
Harley visited this afternoon. It was unexpected and most welcome. It's a shame Morticia wasn't here at the time but Harley has promised to come and visit at another time. I am awash with emotion at the moment, scared to get my hopes up but still needing to be hopeful. 

1607.10 EXTRA HOURS

It's been a long week at work as for the first time in ages we got offered overtime (something of a rarity since austerity kicked in). I used to eat hours like this up back in the times where extra hours we aplenty but now it's proving difficult to get through. It was normal to get 16-20 hours a month extra, sometimes even more. It really helped out when you needed some extra cash. Sadly those days have gone and overtime is a rare occurrence.

Still, think of the money. It's come around at the right time, about a month before our holiday. At least I have Monday and Tuesday off to recover.

1607.09 TOUR WEEK 1

Well there's been one name that stands out for this first week of the Tour de France - Mark Cavendish. He's had a great week winning 3 stages, getting to wear the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) for the first time and ending in the Green. His wins have put him ahead of Bernard Hinault (The Badger) and second only to the great Eddy Merckx for individual stage victories. 

Cav in Yellow

Froome and Quintana are sitting in 6th and 7th places respectively and are in perfect position to go head to head in the following weeks. Contador is nursing some injuries following multiple crashes early on. Nibali is not having a great tour and is possibly still not recovered from his success at the Giro but I still wouldn't write him off just yet.

1607.07 BASIC CHILD SAFETY ONLINE

I was prompted to write this post after seeing a friend's child cropping up all over social media and in my opinion started putting themselves in potential danger.

I've always been strict about my children's use of the internet. This lead to quite a bit of friction with my eldest back in the difficult period (which we won't go into now). My rules, hopefully, have kept my kids as safe as can be whilst letting them access to the internet. I supervise as much as I can, online devices must remain downstairs at all times and a parent must have access to all online accounts. Now I know this isn't foolproof but it's also about teaching responsible use of online services. It a frightening world out there and young people are exposed to it too soon these days.

It concerns me when I see other parents not giving a damn about what their kids do online. They hand over a smartphone and don't give a second thought to what they're doing or who they may be chatting to (or worse?).

There's loads of advice online for kids and parents and I think it's a good idea to sit down with a child and discuss it. I have with both my kids. For more info check out CEOP.

In my work I've visited schools and spoken to children about internet safely and hopefully my words have made an impression to some of those kids. At the end of the day it's not up to me, every parent needs to take responsibility for their child's activity online. 

1607.04 POST HATE

Since the Brexit vote over a week ago there has been a nationwide increase in hate crime against immigrants and those perceived to be. It is being blamed on how certain groups ran the 'leave' campaign however I think that certain people are just using this as an excuse to exercise their prejudices. It's sad that in the 21st century these xenophobic attitudes prevail in our country.

With all this comes the rise in the humble safety pin. You may have noticed certain people wearing these on their clothes. No, it's not punk rock making a comeback but a statement, a sign of solidarity with those who share this island with us. To show that the person wearing the pin is a 'safe' person to sit with on public transport or stand with in a shop or pub.

Safety pin on my fleece

I am wearing my pin on my clothes and my uniform at work to show my support. I am disappointed with some of my fellow countrymen(and women) and stand together with decent hardworking people who have decided to make Great Britain their home.

1607.03 SEVENTEEN YEARS

Today is Morticia and my wedding anniversary but because it was Saturday yesterday we planned to go out and celebrate last night. I did have to dash out and buy a card at the last minute. I booked a table at our favourite Chinese restaurant to be followed by drinks in town. It's not a special number but we do feel that every year is special to us.

Our Wedding Day

We started our evening as planned at our favourite restaurant. We were treated really well by the owner (who is a friend of ours), the meal was wonderful as always and washed down with a bottle of prosseco.

We had a wonderful evening

Afterwards we ventured into town where one of the local pubs were having a rock music festival ("Slamfest").

Slamfest

Now, where alcohol's concerned I'm a bit of a lightweight. So unfortunately last night took its toil on me despite only drinking a small amount,  and this morning I woke up feeling worse for wear which put paid to a planned cycle ride with my club.

This afternoon we enjoyed a family meal and tonight we plan just a quiet night in front of the TV.

1607.01 ALMOST LE TOUR

After all the doom and gloom of the last week I'm glad that it's finally July which means Le Tour de France, 3 weeks of the best road cycling set against some of the most beautiful scenery. This year promises to be a threeway battle between Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana. Following some very grand departs in Yorkshire (which I was there for) and various other locations, this year is a more domestic affair starting in Mont-Saint-Michel and finishing at Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

The next three weeks promises to be exciting, anything can happen and invariably does.

1606.28 REMEMBER MSN

From time to time I get asked to fix / work out / play with technology for my friends and family. This week I was asked to give the 'kiss of life' to an aging laptop that belongs to a friend's mother. I got the old machine to boot up and noticed it still had old MSN Messenger on it. That got me reminiscing...

I've had computers since I was 13 years old but didn't connect to the internet until the early 2000s. Some of the first things I did when I got online was; start a blog, learn how to build a simple webpage, use MSN.

The wondrous world of text chatting to your mates (SMS texting was about but at 10p a message was restricted) and if you were lucky viewing them on a dark fuzzy image  if they had a webcam. This was the world of 56K dial up where you couldn't use your landline at the same time as being online. Also our PC was in the dining room so being online, whilst being digitally social was anti-social because you were away from the rest of the family.

I remember finishing a late shift and arriving home at 1am only to jump on the PC and chat away with everyone I'd just seen at work. These sessions could go on for hours with multiple conversations and group chatting.

Far cry from now with WhatsApp and the like in your hand on your mobile practically wherever you go. Always on internet and never being online. Is this a good or a bad thing though?

1606.25 SIGH OF RELIEF

Following a ready bad day for our future yesterday I'd like to share some really good news we had this week. Some time ago I learned that planning permission had been sought to erect a number of flats on the land behind our house. I wrote about it here.

This week I learned that the planning has been REFUSED! I can't express the relief I feel at this news. It looks like the council agreed with mine and my neighbours concerns. They used similar wording to what I'd put in my objection like 'over development' etc.

Notice of refusal published on the local authority website

So now the land stays empty until the owner can come up with more acceptable plans. While they do I'll continue to enjoy the lovely view over the Don Valley.