Oldie newbie

Last week in work I finished my part in a project. I have been 2.5yrs away from my old role, and here i am sat in my dark living room, looking out the window, waiting to be picked up to collect a van to take my first baby steps back into my past. What a weird feeling.

And I'm all of a tizz about my painting/collecting miniatures hobby versus my new-found enjoyment of photography. Do i carry both on or focus all my money into the one. That'll be cameras and jazz most likely. Thinking of at least paring down my Oldhammer books and minis collection and using the funds elsewhere. I'm not going to jettison all of my stuff like I've done before - that'd be silly. But a slight cull will possibly help. This is what comes of sitting in the dark, waiting.

Another week

Going up north again. Only as far as Llangollen and Oswestry this time, but I'll be away four days or three nights, however you look at it. Had a good couple of hours with the dettol yesterday, hanging out in my painting area. Didn't do a jot of painting but got the place looking hot. Now it's so tidy I'm feeling sad about leaving it, even if it's so under-used. Freed up all of my paints as well. Next step is incorporating my modest, unpainted collection. A picture or two below...

Anyways, off north now, leaving family and home behind like some itinerant, wandering monk. And on the topic of monks, my company will be Cadfael, on print format. Poetic really, considering I'll be split between Shropshire and Wales.

6 months is a long time in real life

I've neglected the cathartic process of blogging for many months. I thought I'd get better at life, but it continues to have me in a half nelson. Anyway, during some away time with work, now seems a good time to pick up the process again. I may as well start with some stuff that happened (or will come to happen):

1. A big family wedding in Cyprus.
2. Decided to sell the caravan. Currently on the market.
3. Actively seeking to move a bit closer to a local village-within-the-city.
4. Agreed to do a half marathon (but see below).
5. The project I'm on in work has entered its final, frenzied few months.
6. My wife dropped to 3 days work a week to great effect.

I'm pretty sure loads more happened than that. Something about Wales qualifying for Euro 2016 - and then proceeding to electrify a nation by getting to the semis - springs to mind. Got a proper grown up telly as well. I'm not into bling and possessions, but a decent telly is a great investment.

• Paint x1 miniature per month. Guaranteed. No shenanigans. Just do it.
• Cook a new vegan dish per week.
• Do at least 6 decent mountain walks.
• Learn to use my camera in proper manual mode and look like a pro.
• Re-learn French (to be achieved in conjunction with painting).
• Jog twice a week.

To address some of my previous goals as outlaid in my previous post (see above), i have managed to paint one miniature. I have continued to push boundaries with my cooking, but probably failed with one new dish a week. I've done probably one mountain walk. The camera has gone far better, and while i don't do much with it I'm beginning to get to grips with stuff. I need to keep on with that and also develop my composition skills. On the learning/re-learning French, I had a really productive period of listening to French lessons in the car, but i need to get back on them after a period of time away from it. And then the running.... This has actually happened. Or at least it has quite recently. I even agreed to a half marathon, and was of the opinion that i could manage it until even more quite recently I had a minor operation to remove my little swimmers. That put me out of action for a few weeks, and my employment has also now started to encroach on the precious work/life balance, taking me away for some days at a time. This only looks like worsening over the final few months of the project, with trips to the north of Wales for several days at a time likely to be interrupting any routine i was building up with my running partner who, incidentally, is quite apparently far fitter than me. We'd taken our runs up to a 6 mile distance not long before i had the snip, but i fear for how I'm going to get back to that quickly enough and hit a 10 mile target before the main event that's now less than 2 months away. Add to that a constant need to evacuate my bowels whenever i run, I'm in a bit of a dark place with it all. I'm going to get back on it next week and hope for the best.

Here's that miniature i painted:

The final legge

This is the long bit, the rubbish bit before the nice bit, the bit where work will somehow crank up and chuck all sorts of silliness at me before I limp over the line at some point on Christmas Eve. Already I'm due to head north for the first few days of Christmas week to cover annual leave. My hope - and it's a naive one - is that I'll be able to focus purely on what needs doing there, but I'm pretty sure there are going to be a few slippery balls to catch on the hoof, as it were. And this week brings the team Christmas meal. I'm not going to grumble about that as we're off to a wickedly good fine-dining Indian restaurant. I've had to clarify my position (vegan) to them ahead of time and we've managed to make sure I get a  decent bit of tucker. And let's be fair, if the Indians can't cook that stuff well, no one can. So I'm looking forward to that. But there will be a sting in the tail of this week somewhere. I can see it. I dreamt about work last night so it's playing on my noggin.

Anyway, in other news, I have a Slambo miniature being painted for me by a true pro. I'll unveil him when he gets back and give details of the dauber. 

Vegan mushroom pate anyone? I've got a tonne of it. Freshly made by me. And it's almost nice...

All Good Things

So, after 16 days of leisure, it's time to return to one's place of work for a resumption of  the daily grind. What have I learnt during this unparalleled period of rest? Well, I've come to understand that the body can absorb light to moderate alcohol intake everyday for 16 days with only slight psychological, mental and physical wear. I have also learnt that the 9lb of weight that I lost over a period of 3-4 weeks prior to jetting off was pretty easily supplanted by a 10lb gain in little over 2 weeks. Back to the regime...

I learnt the pain that a factory reset to a smart phone causes, especially when contacts are not backed up to a SIM. I discovered a street food event thanks to some returning buddies who rode the Cardiff Velothon, but sadly it was only last night and now I'm feeling the effect of Pipes' Bohemian Pilsner. But most of all, I truly learnt what holiday blues feel like. I'm not a great holidayer in the main, but this time - for the first time - I got really emotional about having to up and off back to Wales, shit weather, hay fever, socks and so forth.

Looking ahead, I am now booked to do the 3 Peaks Challenge next Friday. Dear god, what foolishness! As well as that I'm looking to try to get to Bring Out Your Lead 2015, but my main plan of attack fell by the wayside yesterday. Need to try some other avenues.

Anyway, work beckons. Off I go...