December 13th, 2011
Katie and I are trying to decide how to travel to visit her parents for New Year. They live in Maidstone, in Kent, which is a really, really long way. Originally we were set on the idea of the car, which will take at least five hours, according to Google Directions. Probably a lot more, in festive traffic!
We’re therefore wondering whether to get the train and make a trip of it – staying at a few places along the way. We’d have to do that, because it actually takes longer by train. It’s a minimum of seven hours with about four changes! Lots of scope for error, there.
But if we stopped off in Birmingham and London for some sales shopping, with a couple of nights in nice restaurants and hotels, it could be really exciting. I’m excited just to be going to new places, as I’m not very well travelled. I’ve hardly been outside Wales, to tell you the truth!
Generally, I am more of a car person. I suppose that comes partly from being someone who has always lived in a rural area, as public transport hasn’t been up to much! It’s also a bit of a control thing. I don’t like depending on other people to get me somewhere. In a car, you can try a different route if something goes wrong, or travel whenever you need to. If you take a bus or train, you have to stick to their timetable and if something goes wrong, you’re at their mercy.
But on the train, we can chat to each other without one of us having to concentrate and get all tired, which is definitely a bonus compared with driving – just as a novelty. Then we’ll have plenty of energy for the New Year night itself. It won’t be a cheap trip – but it’ll be a lot of fun.
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December 12th, 2011
I haven’t been able to do much outdoor PE teaching in recent weeks, as the weather has just been too appalling. I’ve ended up organising games in the gym instead, which is fun, but I’m starting to run out of ideas!
We’ve also done quite a few other tasks, like helping decorate the school for Christmas. I do enjoy it, but I’d rather be out there running up and down the touchlines. I’m having to have a go on Katie’s exercise machines during the evenings, to make sure I stay in shape!
They’re not bad, actually. She says she watches a TV programme while she’s on them, so she concentrates on that instead of the time, so it seems to go quickly. I’ve tried it, too – though I tend to watch sport, which just reminds me of my timing, so it’s not quite as effective.
In the evenings we’ve been staying in quite a bit, saving up money for Christmas. Katie watches some programmes I don’t really like – girly stuff – so while she’s doing that, I sit on the sofa with my laptop. I don’t only play bingo games and doss about on Facebook, though – I’m always looking for new sporting developments and teaching options.
I’ve also been looking quite a lot at cars, even though if I do change my Clio, it won’t be for a few months yet. I was into the idea of a Renault Megane last week, but now I’m leaning more towards a Renault Laguna. If I’m going to get a bigger vehicle, I might as well get something significantly bigger!
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December 9th, 2011
Lots of people like to go to other countries at this time of year. I’ve never really understood that, me. What is Christmas for, if not for seeing your friends and family and enjoying annual traditions?
Though I suppose it depends on what Christmas means to each person. I’m not religious, but I still like a lot of the traditional things associated with this time of year… renewing old acquaintances, decorating your house and seeing the same in others’ houses and public places, giving presents to show you care for each other… all right, it can get a bit soppy, but there’s nothing else like it.
When you’re a child, Christmas is so exciting. That’s mostly because you believe in Father Christmas and are waiting eagerly for his visit. But it’s also just the general sense of celebration and that nothing is quite the same as normal. Even school can seem fun!
A lot of people think that goes away as you get older, but I don’t think it does – not entirely. I don’t believe in Santa any more, fair enough, so there isn’t quite the same anticipation on Christmas Eve. But there’s still something in the air… and it’s so ingrained in people who celebrate Christmas every year. It grabs hold of you.
But there are those who just want to get away from it all and sit on a beach instead. I suppose if you don’t enjoy all the things I’ve mentioned, you’d get pretty sick of hearing about them! It’s hard to escape the theme.
Fortunately, Katie feels the same way as me. I can’t imagine spending most of my time over Christmas with a Scrooge type!
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December 8th, 2011
My finances are definitely better now than before I went back to teaching, but they’re far from perfect. I need to really watch out over Christmas to make sure I don’t get carried away. I’ve budgeted for presents, so I’m okay in that respect… but I don’t have much left over for big events or anything.
Fortunately, most of my social calendar over Christmas will be quite local, most of the time – drinks at people’s houses and stuff like that. And the pub, of course, and the bingo hall, but they’re really good value.
The only big thing will be visiting Katie’s folks for new year, but we’ll be going by car and staying at her brother’s house nearby, so it should be quite cheap. Daunting, too, though – it’s very rare I travel that far!
I do need to ‘tidy up’ my finances, though. I put my debt consolidation plans on hold when my new teaching job came up, but I think now is a good time to look into it again, so I can switch my debt around in January and hopefully save myself some money.
It’s much better to have only one payment coming out of my account each month, instead of trying to keep up with several for different cards and loans. And now I’m back in a ‘normal’ full time job, it’s much easier to get approved for a loan that’ll allow me to put everything into one place. I’ve been looking online to see which options might suit me.
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December 6th, 2011
You know I said I wasn’t stressed about Christmas? Well… I now am, as I’m trying to decide what to get for Katie’s Christmas present. It’s a nightmare! I never thought it would be this hard. It’s difficult to pitch it right, as I don’t want to get anything too trivial, but I also don’t want to go overboard and risk scaring her off.
Christmas shopping in general is very difficult, I think. You trek to your nearest town or city centre, then battle your way through the crowds on the freezing streets… then you get inside the shops, where it’s far too hot and even more cramped! Then somehow you have to look at things and decide what to buy. Then queue for ages at the till to buy it. It’s hell! The best part is always escaping to the pub at the end of it all, feeling as though you’ve successfully run some kind of gauntlet.
Now I’m thinking about Katie’s present, it’s making me wonder if I should be a bit more creative than usual in choosing things for my family and friends. I usually stick to a bottle of whisky for my dad, some pampering stuff for my mum and booze or chocolates for everyone else. But there are all kinds of things you can get – silly gadgets, gift vouchers, ‘experience’ days… it’s really tough to know what to go for.
In fact, that’s what I may do for Katie. Well, one of the things, anyway. There’s a nice restaurant not far away – I could take her for a really posh meal in the new year. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. I’m so relieved – problem partially solved!
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December 4th, 2011
Wow, the weather has been a bit grim lately, hasn’t it? I’m so glad I bought a car when I started my job, instead of relying on my bike. I was actually thinking of doing that, initially!
Bikes are a great thing, generally, but it really depends on circumstances. Where I live and work, the roads are a bit on the hairy side – lots of blind bends and narrow sections. Then when you add weather concerns on top… it just doesn’t really bear thinking about, to be honest.
My little Clio has been doing well, but I think in the future I may opt for a slightly bigger car. Maybe in the springtime, if my finances are up to it. I know it seems weird that I’m thinking about a new car again so suddenly – and the Clio is fantastic, it really is – but I’ve started to notice things that would be so much easier if I had a bigger vehicle. Getting my current car was a quick means to an end, really – I didn’t have much chance to consider what I’d be doing with it.
I spend a lot of time carting about sports kit and sometimes kids, too, when we have a fixture somewhere. If it’s a long journey, a small car isn’t very comfortable. Katie and I also like to go on long drives sometimes, so a larger vehicle would be nice.
I’ve been looking at a few options and the Renault Megane has caught my eye. It’d be quite good to stick to the same manufacturer, as I really have been very impressed with my Clio. I’m thinking of having a look around online to see if there are any dealerships nearby. But I’m going to hold off on buying one for a good few months yet, I think. I might change my mind again before then! I need time to consider it.
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December 2nd, 2011
I can’t believe it’s December already. I just can’t believe it. Where on earth has 2011 gone? It’s not over yet, obviously… but December always goes so fast, with Christmas shopping and social events and so on. A lot of people get stressed, but I tend to view it through a beer-filled haze, which definitely makes it easier. Before I know it, it’ll be January!
A lot of my friends get jealous of me at this time of year because I’ve got two weeks’ holiday coming up. I don’t blame them, either – I can’t believe so many workplaces stay open between Christmas and New Year.
I understand that business often carries on regardless, and some people don’t celebrate Christmas, and many people still want the same services… but really, it’s always a quiet time for working – so why don’t offices go the whole way and just shut the place for a full week? I don’t mean vital services like utilities companies – I mean industries where the world doesn’t stop if their office workers do. It’s good to have a time of year where people can just do what they want and see as many people as they want.
Anyway, that’s how I feel about my friends’ working situations… but I’m really lucky that I get a decent amount of time off – and Katie does too, as she manages her own workload, with working from home.
It’s quite strange that suddenly I’m considering someone else so much, making my plans. I haven’t had to do that before! I usually spend Christmas at home with my family and New Year with friends – but I’ve got a bit of a dilemma now, because Katie’s family is in the south of the UK. We’re thinking about spending Christmas in one place and New Year at another. Or we might spend both days apart – but that would be a bit of a shame. Even though I’ll miss my friends and family on one of those occasions, it’ll actually be quite exciting to have a different kind of festive season.
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December 1st, 2011
I’m sure you’re keen to know, with me being a teacher, whether I went on strike yesterday. Well, I did – but our school closed for the day, so I didn’t have an awful lot of choice, really.
It’s kind-of funny that just as I’ve gone back into teaching, something like this happens! I do care about pensions and that kind of thing, of course, but at present I’m just glad to be back in a job that I enjoy – and things are going well for me elsewhere in life – so it’s hard to work up the motivation to be angry.
My colleagues were very keen on it. There’s no novelty value for them in the same way as me, as most of them have been slogging away for a few years without any ‘career breaks’, or whatever you’d call my time away from teaching.
The local parents weren’t too pleased, having to look after their kids for the day – but quite a few of them seem to sympathise with the reasons for the action.
I think it’s tough that we teachers are getting asked to contribute more to their pensions and get less out at the end. No one can argue with that. But I suppose if there’s not enough money to support the current system, something has to be done about it. I don’t know enough about politics or finances to know if there are alternatives.
A lot of public sector workers apparently took the opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done! I would have felt guilty doing that, as I live in such a small place… so I took my laptop round to Katie’s house while she worked and played bingo games online all day. It was quite nice and relaxing – and I even won a bit of cash! I’ll be supporting local economy by spending it in the pub this evening.
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November 26th, 2011
Well, the bingo was a great success! I’m really relieved, to be honest… it would have been such a disaster if Katie didn’t like it. But I’m taking it as another sign that she’s ‘the one’ for me!
The next test is exercise. It’s something Katie wants us to do together, to motivate each other. As I’ve said, she does have machines at home, but she thinks she’ll use them more if she gets into exercise outside the house first. I’ve agreed to try going running with her.
I did explain to her that I already spend quite a bit of time outdoors, being a PE teacher… but she asked how much running about I actually do – and I realised I don’t, really. I mostly shout from the edges of the game! I do need to be fit, but running is something that I’ve never been too keen on.
I suppose I shouldn’t admit that, considering my job – and especially this time of year, having to motivate the school kids to do cross country. But really, I prefer pitch-based games. It’s weird because I enjoy watching motorsports, which is a similar idea to running – competing on a track or roads instead of on a field… but in practice, I just find running a bit too relentless and dull! And it makes me really tired – really quickly. I don’t think it’s particularly good for your joints, either – another thing I don’t tell the kids. But I’m happy to give it a go, for a while.
It’s going to be really embarrassing if Katie is better at running than me! I’ve warned her that’s very likely.
We’re going to try a scenic route tomorrow morning. Then, seeing as it’s a Sunday, we’ll make a big Sunday dinner afterwards to get our strength back! I know that sounds counter-productive, but exercise is about so much more than calorie balance, in my opinion. And I love Sunday dinners. You can’t beat a nice bit of Welsh lamb.
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