Well as the title indicates what can I say…
I’ve recently stopped wearing my wedding ring. I guess that means I’m finally accepting the new order. As far as family life works now, we have an even childcare split of, 50-50, or at least we used to up until March(more of that later). So the children spend half the week between me and Amy and we do alternate weekends. We have tried to make the transition between Amy’s flat and the former marital home as smooth as possible for them. I bought Jake a new gaming computer and Mia new clothes and a nice art box. The main issue is during the school week because Jake and Mia have to lug two days worth of sports kit/books back and forth which is not easy for them. Having said this, they have been brilliant and I can’t ask for better children. They have adjusted amazingly well and I love them to bits.
In the last six months things has seismically shifted for me, my family, and the whole world. And that is putting it mildly. First of all, in September, the eighth of said month to be precise, my marriage broke down. It was a slow shift that somehow crept up on me. Whether I knew it or I let it happen are things are prefer not to dwell on. I have never been the most proactive of souls and my attitude of ‘everything will be okay in the end’ did not stand me in good stead this time. After six months of living apart, it still keeps me up at night. Don’t get me wrong things are a lot better. Amy and myself get on and meeting up is not as awkward as it used to be. Reading through the blog entries on this site is heart-wrenching. I loved bringing up my children, although it was hard both financially and emotional. I may not have prioritised my relationship as I should have but that is something I must bear. I can’t do anything apart from try and move forward as best I can. “I’m 51, and not in a relationship!” These were my first thoughts. I was panicking but with time I have a little more perspective. I still have friends, I’ve reconnected with my family. I believe Amy will always be there for me. Who knows, something good may come out of this.
So mid-march the world succumbed to the new Coronavirus outbreak and COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. In the UK we are currently in lock-down which means only leaving the house for exercise and shopping. I’m not going to go into any more details as reams have been written about this whole situation. My hope is that in the next couple of weeks we will be at the peak of new cases, and deaths sadly currently at 4914, will start to drop. During the lock-down the children have been living with me. It makes sense because the house is bigger and we have a garden and trampoline here. I have moved the trampoline next to the deck so we do not have to go onto the grass. It’s a case of unzipping and diving in.
Cooped up in the house 24-7 has its own issues but overall it hasn’t been too bad. We’ve settled into an uneasy routine of late to rise, late to bed and do your own thing. The latter is key in keeping everyone sane, especially me. Yesterday I introduced family time with all of us together doing an activity or watching a film. Not in an earnest way, just a way to get Jake off the PC and interacting a little more. Talking of Jake he is absolutely in his element in this scenario. As long as he can chat with his friends on Discord he is happy. Yesterday as part of the inaugural family event we watched Monsters Inc. I had forgotten how good that film is. I try to keep time aside to do stuff with Mia and Jake. Mia enjoys bouncing around on the trampoline with me playing dodge the ball with added flair. I get to watch Better Call Saul with Jake later in the evening. We are currently on series 5 and it’s getting good!
Work-wise, day to day, things are ticking along. Defects are fixed when they come in but those have dried up considerably. Most of my time is spent training and getting my skills honed. The good news is that being stuck in the house I do have more time to continue my shed build. The bad news is that I’m too depressed to do it. Actually that’s not strictly true, this weekend the weather gods were happy, the sun shined and I started building some bespoke shelving from 2×4 planks. The shed is full to bursting with stuff stacked up on the floor. It needs some order! This is an ongoing project which I’m hoping to complete soon. I want to be able to enjoy the shed before the house is sold. This will happen, at some point, preferably after the children have finished their schooling.
The third huge life-event happened just after the pandemic took hold. IBM executives thought it would be a good idea to make me and my entire team redundant, all thirty seven of us. At first we thought, surely not now during this unprecedented world event. At least postpone it until things settle down. Sadly it looks like the suits at IBM actually have zero morals and/or consciences and are still planning on going ahead with the ‘resource action’. Total f**ckers. It looks like I will be leaving the company early August. Fingers-crossed that businesses will be actively posting job vacancies by then. At the moment it is drier than John Waynes saddle bags.
I think it is now a good time to close this blog. My first entry was on the first of October 2005 nearly a year after getting married. Nearly 15 years of bloggage. 3 entries per month on average and 455 total entries. Not bad even if I say so myself :-).
p.s. The world needs more smileys.