Finding balance

Transitions

2011-07-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

We are going to retire. Shirley is retiring from work at the end of October and I am cruising slowly in that direction, doing less work and not actively seeking any. Several things interest me:

Work still trickles in even when I'm not looking for it. It isn't a lot and it isn't the most highly paid I've ever done but it's still there. Makes me wonder why I worried about work drying up for so long.
Seven years ago when I left my full time job I had a few weeks off and then knew for certain I wasn't ready to give up work altogether. Now I feel more ready - although I still need interesting things to do.
I've just been published in a Practical Motorhome magazine. A wee article I put together when on holiday in March complete with pictures. I am chuffed to bits. I really fancy being a part time travel writer.

So with these plans for retirement comes a feeling of endings. We wonder how long we will be in this house and sit and dream of trips we can take and places we can visit. Surprisingly the anxiety of having a vastly reduced income isn't an issue. Living simply here we come!

Family

2011-02-17T00:53:00.001-08:00

This is an exciting time to be part of our fabulous family. About a month ago baby Cara was born to Adrian, middle son and his wife Rachel. Cara is number four grandchild and she's beautiful. On Saturday oldest son Robert, his wife Julie and Iain and Becca (number two and three grandchildren) arrive from North Dakota for two weeks. Then next Friday youngest son Chris is getting married to Mary up in the Highlands of Scotland. The whole family is going to have a weekend together to celebrate their wedding. Abbey, oldest grandchild will be a bridesmaid and the others have special roles to play. The older ones have jobs to do and wee Cara just needs to be. She'll be providing the cuddles.

I am near beside myself with excitement, in a Yorkshire matter of fact kind of a way.

Isn't it great that families continually change and shift, welcoming new members and celebrating with so much fun and joy?

Staying upright

2010-12-21T01:55:00.000-08:00

It keeps snowing. And when it isn't snowing the temperature drops to incredible sub zero temperatures. I had a dilemma. How to walk the dogs and stay on my two feet. An all time low came when Hamish decided to sniff another dog's bottom several yards away and I just slid along behind unable to get a grip.

I got good advice from a resident of even more Arctic conditions than these. "Get some snow grippers for your boots!" Grand.

The said grippers arrived yesterday. Out in the snow with the dogs and I have a fantastic grip of Scotland. Hamish sees a friendly dog and lunges forward, inviting him to play. I keep my grip on the ground ... and tip forward into a snowdrift.

Marvellous.

Keeping it up

2010-11-15T02:33:00.001-08:00

Jings it's hard to keep this blogging thing up.

This account threatens to not be so much about balance as a list of excuses for tardiness ... so I'm not going there.

Being self employed is a bit scary at the moment. Talk of businesses folding and public service cutting back to the bone makes a freelancer a bit nervous. However, so far the fears have been unfounded. I have enough work. Not so much that I'm overwhelmed and not so much that I'm completely free of worry about the future but enough to pay the bills for a while yet.

But there's a little more space in my life than there was and I've been able to do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time.

I've started to write a novel. Actually this is the third novel I've written but the other two feel like practice runs. Maybe this one will be more of the real thing. Maybe not. It doesn't matter that much although I'd love to find my novelist's voice.

So the word of wisdom for me in these belt tightening days is to start doing something that costs nothing but fulfils a long held desire.

Maybe cutting back isn't so bad after all.

End of an era

2010-07-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today we say goodbye to our caravan and take delivery of a motorhome.

It feels like the end of an era and time to acknowledge moving into a new phase of life.

In other words we're getting older.

Caravanning has been a hobby, a source of huge fun and a means of escape for many years. Lots of people don't understand why folk do it but for me it's been relaxing and healthy and a way of getting a break at a moment's notice at relatively little cost.

But it's physically demanding. On our last trip we had to ask men to help us lift the stabiliser arm on three different occasions. They were glad to help but we felt a bit uncomfortable.

The decision was made and a motorhome found.

So today is both exciting and a little sad. Sadie the caravan has been emptied and lovingly cleaned and we wait with nervous excitement for the changeover.

Here's to many more years of the open road.

Mr Brown and the B word

2010-05-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

Politicians are not my favourite people but this week Gordon Brown went up in my estimation. Interviewing a woman who was whinging on about Eastern Europeans taking our jobs he was heard to comment that she was a bigot when he walked away. Sadly he forgot he had a personal microphone on and the comment was clearly not meant to be overheard.

He thinks he made a mistake - I think it might well go in his favour.

On holiday I met a lovely woman out walking her elderly dog. She was so pleasant that it came as a shock when she suddenly remarked that she couldn't stand those people who lived in the South East of England. I wanted to say 'So have you met all of them?'.

When we moved to Scotland thirty years ago I heard loads of people saying they couldn't stand the English. Fortunately they were in the minority and hospitality and friendship has far outweighed the occasional racist attitude.

It's the 21st Century. Racism has had its day. It has killed and injured enough people to last another millenium.

Mr Brown, for once you were right. Don't be ashamed of telling it like it is.

A dog's life?

2010-03-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

I have two blogs. This one and one I write for Hamish our labradoodle. Somehow it feels easier to talk about life from the dog's viewpoint than my own. I wonder why? A lighter touch perhaps, a little less serious maybe, or is it that Hamish has a simpler view of the world? Who knows ... and frankly who cares?? Anyway here's Hamish's blog.

Happy reading...

Maybe it's because spring is near ...

2010-02-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

We're on the lookout for a puppy. Hamish the labradoodle has been such a delight that we're ready to have another one. But a poodle this time.

It feels a bit like choosing to have a second child. Except of course we'll keep reminding ourselves that this is not a child but a dog... and how difficult that is when they are a tiny ball of fluff.

There are other obvious differences between choosing to have a child and a puppy but no need to state the obvious.

Speaking of which I was once given the Basil Fawlty award for stating the bleeding obvious when I worked for a big college that will remain nameless. Not one of my finer moments ....

Tis the season to be tired ...

2009-12-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

I'm tired and have a strong desire to hibernate. Almost everyone I know says the same thing. I think this season of jollity evolved as a way of getting working people through the dark winter months. Sadly we've turned it into something else. But I won't do the usual rant about consumerism and debt. It's all been said before.

I'll just say that I'm seriously considering ways of doing it differently ... watch this space next year.

When is enough enough?

2009-10-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's one of life's universal truths that most of us spend what we earn. Our spending just floats upwards to meet our income when we are doing well and somehow it mostly manages to reduce when we're earning less. When my kids were little and we were on a low income I used to budget very very carefully. It was hard and sometimes worrying but we were well fed and properly dressed.

Now we have stuff - loads and loads of stuff.

I feel an increasing urge to simplify.

I wonder if I can do it.

Back to reality

2009-09-16T08:06:00.001-07:00

We have just returned from a week in the Taize community in Burgundy, France.

Coming home is a bit of a culture shock.

Living in the community means accepting a very simple life. Prayers, which consist of a few simple words said in a range of languages, the classic Taize chants and a lengthy period of silence punctuate the day at 8.30 a.m., Noon and 8.30 p.m.

Simple meals are also served three times a day and are perhaps a little reminiscent of meals in prison. You stand in line and are given a tray, two plastic bowls (one for food and one for drink) and a spoon. A nourishing but basic meal is served to you by other pilgrims and you eat it sitting on benches or folding chairs in the company of hundreds of other pilgrims. There is a steady hum of conversation in a number of different languages punctuated by bursts of laughter.

Perhaps the analogy with meals served in prison is inappropriate as the overwhelming sense everywhere in Taize is peace and freedom. No-one demands that you do anything. On arrival you agree to do about half an hour's work each day and then you are free to simply go with the daily flow of life in the community.

This must be my ninth visit and I've yet to hear anyone in the community insist on anything. It all seems to work in a spirit of co-operation and mutual respect.

But now I'm home and faced with all the complexities of normal daily life.

It took me more than an hour this morning to attempt to organise my diary for the next six weeks and I failed because I'm dependent on other people organising theirs.

It all leaves me with some serious questions about what is really important in life.

Priscilla

2009-08-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! Priscilla Queen of the Desert was wonderful.

It had just about everything you could hope for in a show:

great music
fabulous costumes
laughter and tears (mostly tears of laughter)
camp as all get out
a message

I defy anyone to watch that show and not be glad to be gay - whatever that might mean for you.

Too much of a good thing

2009-08-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking how thin the line is between good things and too many good things.

We've just been away to Yorkshire with family and it was great. We're going tomorrow to London for the weekend and it will be great. But the two are too close together so it feels not so great.

It's a bit like a lovely meal. I've started to think that I would enjoy a special meal better if I could have the main course one day and the dessert a few days later.

Same idea.

We need the familiar routine of work and home with special treats spread judiciously across the year. However we're planning to enjoy London and Priscilla Queen of the Desert (the show).

And we'll soon be back to normal. Whatever that is ...

Keep writing

2009-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

If you want to earn your living, or even part of your living as a writer here's what you need to know:

Accept that you write what other people want. Most of us can't make money only writing what we feel like writing. We depend on commissions. Some of them are boring.
Self starting and self monitoring are essential skills. If you can't work from home and actually get stuff done on time you probably won't make it as a writer.
Meet your deadlines and people come back to you - as long as the work is good of course.
Be warm, approachable and honest with your clients. They like you for it and ... they come back.
If you really love writing do some for fun. Start that novel; write articles for magazines that pay peanuts; jot down your thoughts and observations in a note book. Who knows, one day you might be the kind of writer who writes what you really want to write. That's until the editor gets hold of it of course.

Nadgers, nails and not much work done

2009-07-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a funny week.

First of all some planned training work was cancelled at very short notice. I try to be flexible with my clients but this was two days' notice so I was somewhat wrong footed.

Still, I thought, plenty of web content editing to do. Then my wireless router gave up the ghost and I lost internet access.

So, it's been a quiet week. And a bit of quiet never did anyone any harm.

So I went to the gym. finished an article for a a magazine, spent a bit more time meditating than usual and felt all the better for it.

"So, what's with the nadgers?", I imagine you asking.

Hamish labradoodle has been castrated - and while he was under got his nails cut too.

This has no connection whatever with cancelled training and belly up routers by the way.

Hamish is a three year old bundle of blonde curls, long legs and floppy ears. He was also full of testosterone and recently this has got him into a bit of bother - other dogs full of testosterone taking him on as a potential threat for instance. Hamish had no idea how to fight for his honour and so he's been divested of his testosterone making machinery.

Right now he walks like a new mother but he'll be ok in a day or two.

He has a blog of his own, http://hamishlabradoodle.blogspot.com/ - take a look.

Tomorrow I'm hoping that a new wireless router will arrive. But if not there's always the gym

The need for speed

2009-07-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

So, my internet access is down because the modem and router has died. My only way to access the internet is by using my xda Orbit 2 as a modem. It works, but it's so slow compared with broadband.

It has caused me to reflect on the way I expect everything to happen quickly these days. Do you remember how you would order something by post and there was always a note that said 'Allow 28 days for delivery'?

I'm not prepared to order anything online that can't be delivered tomorrow .... and I expect my internet access to be fast fast fast.

I've forgotten how to wait.