Back to Life

Strange happenings are afoot.   I have been away on holiday for a couple of week.  One week in Puerto Banus and the second week at the other end of the rainbow in Tenby.  As always the two weeks is never enough especially as I always seem to spend the first 3 or 4 days slumped on a sunbed asleep.  So once you have returned home you quickly find yourself back into life’s routine and looking down at your stomach wondering when in the past couple of weeks you swallowed a beach ball.

The champagne frenzy of Puerto Banus and the “chips with everything” mania of Tenby have taken their toll on my bodily shape.  With this in mind I have decided to give the 5 and 2 diet a go – well my version of it.  I know quite a number of people who have been on it successfully.  Basically during the course of the week you eat normally for five days and for two non-consecutive days you eat only 600 calories (500 for women) losing around 1lb per week so they say.  Sounds great.  Only two days of starvation instead of the full 7 when on other diets.  I just needed to eat healthily for a while until my svelte like body returned.  Then completely out of the blue the kids approached me with their own plan for life

“Dad.  We’ve decided to do our own shopping”

I felt there was going to be some sort of coup d’état about to happen with a prospect of a change of leadership.  I wish!

“Okay!  Why?”  I was a bit taken aback.  Not used to them taking the initiative over domestic issues

“Well we want to eat healthily so we thought we do our shopping and you do your own”.

I thought bloody cheek but at the same I had some sympathy.  Joe must becoming fed up with Turkey Dinosaurs!

“So you want to do the little family thing on your own [a standing private joke in the Watson household]?  Well if you don’t mind I will join your gang.  Perfect!”

Somehow our plans for healthier eating knitted together nicely.  Then the real bolt of lightning hit me

“…and I will cook some of the meals” says Joe

My legs gave way!  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  Joe had been home since May and now a full week before he returns to Falmouth he is offering to do some cooking!  In fact he had done cooking for Georgina and himself when I was on holiday and it has to be said the Vegetable Curry looked quite nice.  In fact I was pleased.  We had all been on a long horrible trek over the past two years and I was starting to see real signs of them coming through it and taking the initiative.  To outsiders this might not be a big deal.  For me it was another step in the right direction for the Watsons.  It is a pity that Joe is returning to Falmouth on the 15^th September but at least I was going to get a couple of meals out of him. 

Joe will be returning to his student house in Falmouth next week.  Basically Joe will be moving house.  All his gear will be going down to Cornwall leaving his room quite empty.  The room will need cleaning thoroughly once vacated.  In fact it could be Joe’s last full week at home if the house sells.

Georgina will be back to Cardiff in a couple of weeks although she does pop home quite often even if it is only to do her washing.  Georgina told me she has been seeing Matt for two years.  It’s been great having them both around over the summer but very soon the home will become a shell again 

The kids are both sorting themselves out progressing along their own paths.  It’s now down to me to put more umph behind my own life.  The main issue is the house.  I have now engaged with a new estate agent Edison Ford based in Yate.  The normal approach of estate agents appears to be much of a commoditised one.  It’s all about a numbers game.  If you throw enough mud at a wall then something might stick.  I get that approach but you still need to present the house in a better light than everything else on the market.  Estate agents don’t always equipped to deal with something out of the ordinary.

I have engaged Edison Ford based in Yate.  Mike, the owner and MD, has devised a selling strategy.  I have been impressed by the way he took a critical look at my house, making suggestions and then providing means of correcting them.  Something I have been asking the previous agent for six months.  The plan to deal with objection again was certainly a step above any other agent.  The whole go to market strategy is much more thought through and compelling.  Obviously, we will see if it all works out.  We will soon see as the house will be back on the market next week.  http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32224122.html. 

So still a huge amount of stuff going on in our lives.  Never a dull moment.  So kids back to school.  Summer holidays fading as a distant memory.  We all know what that means.  We are on the road to Christmas!