Testing 1-2 er 4?

Despite the grand title, truth be told the first two months of this year have quietly whizzed by.  Saying that I’ve had more fun than I normally do at this time of year, not had any horrendous colds or feel down in the dumps. In fact I’ve been full of beans 🙂

Never mind the Lady in the Lake, here’s the Boy in the Bath!

Toby discovers we have fish….five years after we first get them

Playing at Tandle Hills Park

New family sofa!!!

Henry gets an award for Persistence at his Taekwondo class’ Annual Awards Ceremony

We had a family out to Trafford Centre…and picked up this entertaining game.

Half term day out to Oldham Gallery: The Big Camera

Half term day out to Oldham Gallery:: Hats!

Half term day out to Oldham Gallery: Making Big Cameras

Toby with Rach’s new friend Charlie the Cheetah

D101 Games stockclearance sale, overseen by the Monkey King

Back at Gulliver’s World having fun despite the cold and wet

We stayed over at the Gulliver’s World hotel, the kids got their own bunk beds

My favourite bit, the Lost World

Their favorite bit, the Joker!

So I completed Fallout 4 Far Harbour last night. I played it over Christmas and it had been a good 9 months since I played the main game. I got caught up in the main plot and felt the desire to help build/maintain the peace between the island’s factions. Then I remembered that my character had 9 months previously joined the Brotherhood of Steel, killed his son and nuked the Institute and generally ended the game as a fascist in a set of power armour. Things did not go well for the Far Harbour Peace plan immediately after that 🙂

January was a roller coaster of a month. After an energetic start to the year, which we celebrated as a family with a breakfast at the John Milne after Rach’s Night shift, both me and Evie were off with obnoxious colds for a week.

Sorted out what I’m doing with D101 this year while the day job remained bizarrely broken, do to a Future of IT programme that sees senior management lay off a third of our department in the name outsourcing ( something that the rest of the world seems
to have given up on).The next working day after the last day of those taking “voluntary severance”, the Head of IT announces his resignation!

Rachel hit 40 … Opps sorry 28 😉 Amongst the Birthday celebrations we had a lovely family meal out at Manchester’s top Chinese Restaurant, Yan Sing and a rather strange trip to the Trafford Centre (which was still too busy after Christmas).

Here’s the month in photos.

Hmmn which pair of trousers shall I wear today? Those annoying blue jeans who keep on getting tighter? The red corduroys which were much more expensive than they made out to be? Those green combats which have been in my wardrobe since my student days, which I’m told are coming back in fashion? Certainly not those obnoxious purple polyester track suit bottoms, they say they are “Made in Britain” but I’m sure the pattern was made in Nazi Germany 😉

I remember the halycon days of blogging, when all my mates had LiveJournal blogs and would pour out the happenings in their lives every couple of days with the occasional big post with images.

Now its all sound bites with the occasional image. Pictures of people’s tea, and selfies have replaced lovely photos of holidays and days out.

I’m just as guilty of Farcebooking/Twittering as the next man – so perhaps its time to make time for more considered blogging 🙂

So here we two weeks into 2014, and 2013 has quietly slipped away.

2013 was a year of high and lows, mainly lows turned into Win (which taught me a useful lesson or two).  It was a quiet year partially because of my mother in law, Elaine, getting breast cancer, but also because as a family we were finally settling into the house after the extension. A process that was six months to late in my opinion.  On the positive side I got a much brighter perspective on Life the Universe and Everything – in  a big picture way that was the Big Win of 2014.

So here’s a year in bullet points!

• My mother in law,Elaine, having breast cancer, which she gracefully overcome 🙂 (Feb-June)
• Conpulsion gaming convention(Apr) had a grand time, but it really is to far to travel
• Toby Tickletail the cat joining the family (May)
• Our two week Norfolk holiday staying Nr Cromer (Aug)
• Furnace gaming convention. Way-hey Furnace! My perfect gaming convention was perfection this year :D(Oct)

Live direct using my teathered Nexus 7.