Week wrapped up

As I sat in Morrisons this morning trying to get some feeling back in my fingers, my brain starts going over the events of the week. Back to work, put down deposits for Keegan and I to return to Kaprun, sorting out a new mortgage deal, finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel for a leasehold extension which started about 1 year ago oh and to a lesser degree, my right shoulder finally stopping hurting even though I’ve no idea why it even started hurting to begin with.

Yesterday as I was driving home, I was speaking to my friend Claire and she asked if we’d known each other about a year also (I’d mentioned the leasehold extension). At first my brain said “yeah of course” but then actually thinking about it, no we hadn’t as it has only been about 10 months. That’s made me think about how quickly things become involved in your life and the effects they have be they positive or negative.

Tuesday 5th July 2016 @ 8pm. Seems like an arbitrary date and time but that marks the first time I ever put on a pair of snowboard boots at the Hemel Snowcentre for my first ever lesson with the charismatic Caleb Fields. But it seems like I’ve been doing it for so much longer. So not even two years but when something breeds familiarity it does seem like so much longer, in this case it’s a good thing as none of us like watching paint dry for two years.

But that in turn makes me think about big things and small things we do which have major effects on our lives. Sure, you move to a different town or job you know things will change. One small story I’d share is about my brother in law. He didn’t fancy going out to the nightclub with his brother one night, but his brother persuaded him, so he did, and that night he met my sister. Three houses later and three kids (one niece / goddaughter and two nephews for me) and the rest as they say is history.

Yes back to my snowboarding journey. It’s what we make of these things. I’ve gone from side slipping on the nursery slope at Hemel to having my own snowboard and equipment to as we all know, just having come back from Kaprun with Keegan. But not just that, the people I’ve met and befriended on the way as a result of it plus the stories or memories which have come about because of it.

With anything in our lives it is what we make of them. People we meet become acquaintances and acquaintances become friends. The social interactions naturally break free of the original confines into our more personal and private worlds. To give clarity on that there would be the the people I saw on Tuesday evening at the snowcentre, at the end of that session (and being turfed out of the bar) it was a case of “see you next week”. But those relationships broke free of the confines of the Snowcentre in Hemel Hempstead. I’ve been out for drinks, meals, the majority of my birthday meal last year were people from the snowcentre I’ve been to people’s houses and vice versa.

I know I do seem to bleat on about winter sports but I can 100% say that there have been a crap load more positives I’ve gained from it than negatives. If you want a couple of examples of negatives I’d say they’re injury based. Even now I can see myself with a bag of frozen peas on my left knee because it’s swollen up like a balloon. Yes that’s what happens when you don’t wear knee pads, after a few impacts your body does start to complain when parts of it repeatedly meet packed ice. The other one was skiing lesson related and I came off the drag lift less than gracefully and thought I broke my wrist. That was the last time I wore a pair of skis, shortly after was when I put on a snowboard so I like to think that everything happens for a reason, yes even the bad things. Again, it’s what we make of it.

Anyway, enough about that. I don’t know if you have Amazon Prime Video but if you do then I can wholeheartedly recommend watching “Lucifer”. As you may have guessed it is about the devil / Satan.

The premise is that Lucifer has gotten tired of ruling in Hell and so takes a “vacation” to our mortal realm. It puts an interesting twist on how we perceive the devil. Don’t worry I’m not about to start a satanic cult and sacrificing chickens. Definitely can’t do the latter because DHL screwed up my delivery as well as KFC's 😉. Anyway I digress (I’m good at that). If you may recall, Lucifer is a fallen angel which means that once upon a time it (he?) was a normal angel. Cast out of heaven and condemned to rule in hell. But the most interesting thing is that he is a genuinely likable guy. Yes OK the actor playing him is fantastic (Tom Ellis) and even he (Lucifer) gets upset / angry when he’s being constantly blamed for all the bad things that people do. So, the devil is there to punish evildoers which therefore means that the ability for good and bad is in our own hands. Anyway, I’ve probably made that sound a lot more heavy than it actually is. There are some funny parts in there also 😁. 

So I STILL have an untouched leg of Serrano ham at home from Xmas. I’ve told a guy at work I’m going to bring it in for the office to have a go at. Hopefully I won’t be subjected to a random stop and search by the police. Not because of the leg of ham or stand but because, well, have you seen the length of the blade on a Serrano ham knife?

That reminds me of a story which happened to me a few years ago. I was working in Kingston at a different company and the police seemed to be flagging down cars. So of course, being a good boy, I pull over into a lay-by while thinking “how fast was I going?”. The officer approaches my car and asks me to step out. He then proceeds to ask me “do you own this car sir?” I didn’t expect that question at all. So I reply back “yes, I’ve had it from new” so let’s assume 9 years as it was a 54 plate and it was 2013. 

Turns out the police maintain their own database of cars / owners, you know, like the DVLA do. Well their database was a bit out of sync. I’m not sure who they had in their system as the owner of my car but apparently it wasn’t me. So, a quick verification phone call with the DVLA sorted out that misunderstanding. I get to work a bit later than normal and had fun explaining how I got pulled over because I was suspected of stealing my own car...

To end this rather lengthy post, this afternoon I was walking back to the garage to collect my car so I took a slightly different route through Woking town centre when I spot this hairdressers across the road from me with a very clever name. Now you wont appreciate this unless you're into the Marvel cinematic universe but for your viewing pleasure I give you....