THE week gone by has felt slow, yet busy, all at the same time, with something going on every day, and every day feeling like a Friday.
A week you’d see reflect a semi-retired person, the odd day at work, doing bits at home, pottering around the garden, a midweek meal out, sports on the weekend.
I could quite easily get used to that sort of lifestyle, but not yet, I have some cool stories to tell, but hundreds more left to create.
It has been nice to de-stress from university work, not that I hate the work, because I do enjoy it, but more so stepping aside from the continuous regimes of university life, to have a few days at home doing stuff on my time.
One of the first things I did at home was cut the grass.
Fortunately, our house is on a nice piece of land which of course has many blades of grass that need to be cut often, especially now the weather has improved.
This is not a chore though, oh no, in fact it is like therapy.
There comes a point in life when you appreciate a good-looking lawn, neat tidy stripes, clean edges, dark green grass, wildflowers juxtaposing yet adding to the aesthetic, it does something to the brain.
The best bit is when I have my headphones in whilst I mow, the engine noise drains out me singing at the top of my lungs as I push the mower in front of me, it’s like my own concert.
It could just be me being weird, but I get it from my dad, who started a lawn-care business when he was my age, so I guess its appeal has been passed down the line.
I also planted a few sunflowers around the garden as they are my favourite flower, I feel like they can resemble a lot of human resemblances – their tall nature, with big vibrant heads, always facing the sun.
Speaking of vibrant heads and facing the sun, I got my hair highlighted for the first time in nearly two years.
I was ‘mmmhh-ing’ and ‘argghh-ing’ about it for a couple weeks as I really liked my dark brown hair, but I feel that I needed to kick start a hopeful fun summer by adding some blonde highlights.
So, if you see a highlighted mullet walking around, no you are not in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, it is me, living it up in the summer of 2024.
As you can imagine, I got some stick from my cricket team mates, but as most of them are balding, I said “jealousy is the highest form of flattery” as I stroke my mullet behind my ear.
We lost both games of cricket this weekend, in which we should’ve won them both, frustrating but there is always another game.
It was perfect cricket weather though, low to mid-twenties in terms of heat, clear skies, just luscious, my whites were absolutely saturated in sweat though and reeked like you’d never believe after they had festered in my cricket bag over night.
I spent a few days at home with the neighbour of our holiday home in Canada, turned very close friend, called Shawna.
She is the most typical Canadian lady you’ll ever meet.
Canadians are known for being sweet and nice, as well as very adventurous, Shawna is that and more.
We toured her around the South, mooching about Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Winchester, and my mum even took her to the Isle of Wight for a day trip.
This was a planned trip, as they were hoping to meet up with my dad and all his mates from our large family friend group who had organised a motorbike tour on the Isle of Wight from Friday to Sunday afternoon.
Back in the day, when my dad and his mates were young, they all use to ride small motorbikes around their villages, all day every day, and went on the occasional tour.
As time went on, they all grew up, had children, and the wives made them sell their bikes, but then a mid-life crisis happened late last year, they organised this island trip and all re-bought the same bikes they use to ride as kids.
Come late Friday morning, with a 3pm ferry to catch, I was seeing my dad off as he wheeled his bike out the garage, geared up and was ready set off.
I had my phone out filming his ‘bon-voyage’ moment, and as he released the clutch to take off, it jolted and stop, to a sound of ‘uh-oh, that’s not good” from my dad.
I was meant to be heading to work in Southampton but instead was now holding up my dad’s bike trying to help him fix a broken clutch just moment before his long-awaited lads trip.
About 45 minutes went by and no fix happened, I had to leave to get to Southampton in time so left my dad to his own devices, hoping he’d get it sorted.
I heard nothing for a few hours on the bike tour WhatsApp group chat, which I assumed was good news, but them a video appeared of my dad on the ferry, but not in motorbike gear, instead with a bicycle helmet on and his e-bike to his side with a very sad face on him.
I laughed out loud but also felt so bad, as they had all been looking forward to ‘getting the band back together’ for another bike tour.
He took it in his stride and actually loved e-biking around, a moment of ‘there’s always a silver lining’.
Read last weeks blog here…
