So ... How's Your Girl?

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And after 7 years of suspicions, they've finally told me I almost certainly don't have the prostate cancer they suspected I did. It took a general anaesthetic, 51 needle, biopsy though. (See "unpleasant" above. (lol emoji thing)) See also I'm a fortunate man, no mistake, above.

On the plus side my teenage daughter now lives with me full time, that also brings quite a few challenges. Managed a couple of trips, one semi regular one to the paradise that is Prince Edward Island and I made it to Yorkshire for a week to see my brother. Spent most of the year alone trying not to get Covid (and succeeding – a positive). A boring, rather depressing year. Obviously, I mean no offence to anyone who truly has a debilitating illness. I can’t imagine what that must be like. Health & Fitness (as opposed to quasi-jazz mag Health & Efficiency) has been a big thing for me ever since I sent for a Charles Atlas course when I was 9 years old. Parents these days would intervene and ask why the hell a Year 4 child would feel the need to beef up for self-protection, but they were different times, and thus began the journey, with weight training, martial arts, marathon running and indoor rowing being pursued to sometimes ridiculous levels of intensity. This is a service Hannah used to provide each year – it was good to learn about what everybody had been up to. I hope I’m not treading on her toes in posting this. I look forward to reading anything and everything you want to post. I might even find the time to remember and write up what I did this year.There are so few people who know what it is like in our country for other people from different cultures. Before, it was losing weight (at my lightest this year I was six stone lighter than at my heaviest in 2011). That then overlapped with becoming better at running.

Might as well have been in suspended animation, as far as my social life was concerned, until June when I finaly got to a (socially-distanced) gig at The Jazz Cafe in Camden with a friend. A few other scattered gigs, muchly appreciated, but mostly life was mundane stuff like grocery shopping, car MOTs and services, bills to pay, Covid vaccines and twice-weekly Lateral Flow Tests etc. What is clear is that, initially at least, Brexit is making us poorer. It has contributed to labour shortages in many business sectors as EU workers have returned home. Disentangling precisely what has been caused by the pandemic and what is the result of Brexit is difficult. For Johnson the coincidence of Covid and Brexit has proved convenient in one sense, shielding him from blame and obscuring the picture. But economists broadly agree that the long term economic hit from Brexit will be far greater than from the pandemic. Been working with an Etsy Handwriting Artist to copy loved ones handwriting into frameable art and also a couple of special poems I wrote for people using my own handwriting. Family wise, my Mum is still with us and we did manage to see her a couple of times when restrictions allowed. She doesn’t know who we are anymore but we’ve come to terms with that. Unfortunately my MIL is starting on the same journey but we do know what to expect this time. My OH had a bit of a health scare this year and she made a few lifestyle changes. And to cut a long story short we had some very good news on that front on Xmas Eve. Me? I’m fine, after years and years of health problems I’ve been fine since 2014. Even lost a bit more weight, 3 stone in 2 and a bit years, try the Royal Mail exercise plan is my advice.Big change for me this year (stretching into 2022). I’ve sold my flat after living here for 20 years. I’ve finally decided I want a house, but will be lodging with my partner’s family until we find somewhere suitable. Due to move out in January – just waiting for the date to be confirmed. A combination of life going faster with age (I’m in my 58th year), plus my ADHD tendencies, means that it can be hard to get a coherent sense/shape of this last twelve months. That notwithstanding…

On October 9, at a higher vocational school in the southeastern province of Guangdong, the furious boy tried to strangle his teacher.Not bad at all thanks. No major health concerns for me, other than an ongoing need to try and be a bit fitter…just the ability to have a bit more puff would be nice. The year has just ended with me leaving my job at a college thirty miles away for one only five miles away, so the work/life balance is only going to improve from here onwards. And only five and a half years till I can retire… Your first and second paragraphs are me, too, Arthur. The reason I started my current office job 11 years ago was I spent the previous 9 months WFH (following the fallout from the late 2008 crash) and missed having colleagues to talk to. I love the work, and I love that I learn stuff all the time, both via clients and via loads of CPD courses. It’s a privilege indeed. On the WFH topic, I much prefer in-person work, what with all the non-verbal material that only really becomes clear when we’re in 3D relationship.

I think the UK is finding that it is really difficult to develop and there is more bureaucracy rather than less once you try to change everything,” he says. “The cost of getting all UK companies stamped with a UK mark rather than an EU mark … it is not worth the cost.” Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part So is a very common discourse marker in speaking. It usually occurs at the beginning of clauses and we use it when we are summarising what has just been said, or when we are changing topic:

Apart from my nephew Martin and his long-term partner Trish getting married after being together 17 years. A suitably major event, involving two families and loads of friends at a very nice venue in Surrey. A joyous occasion with no hitches once you remembered it had been postponed twice due to Covid. I haven’t seen my son for 16 months in-person, and that’s starting to grate a bit. Still, hopefully see him next May when he graduates High School and goes to University, a steop I’m really not ready for. It feels like life has been on hold for a year or two and that is not too desirable when you are on the cusp of 60 so realise you don’t have such a large number of years left that you can afford to be wasting them.