June 23, 2017

One of the joys of being married to the opposite sex is the never ending review of your ‘plans for the day’. As most retired blokes know then apart from tasks that are weather related – scarifying the lawn, washing the car etc. then there are, blissfully, seldom any ‘plans’. Stuff just crops up and gets done.

This morning my wife enquired as to ‘what are you doing today?’ but expedited matters by running through my usual options – a bike ride was had yesterday, continuing to clear a moss and weed strewn path was unlikely due to a back strain and so all that was left was another activity that she particularly admires – my swearing uncontrollably at my rapidly slowing iMac.

She hasn’t realised that the pleasure in this latter activity is that it doesn’t answer back…

Negotiating something when you are not heavily concerned about the outcome is a luxury but a burden for those who are involved, inexperienced and do care. My youngest daughter and boyfriend have been buying a flat and as we are also putting some money in then they have had to suffer me having a view on the property and haggle.

They are acquiring a flat in Didsbury from a vendor who has refurbished and extended a large old house into eleven flats. The property has been shoddily restored and the vendor has ordinarily sold flats to very keen young people who are ‘hot to trot’ with the transaction and will respond to deadline threats despite issues to do with quality, installation and assurances. That just winds me up; in clarifying the detail and snagging has therefore been protracted against a backdrop of deadlines.

We’ve had a right to ask questions. Sophie and Harry have performed well if not a little stressed by our involvement. The exchange of contracts and deposit will take place against some minor brinkmanship. For me it is an insight into some cowboy and high-handed actions by the vendor. A sign of the times, I think.

After my absorption and delight at Breaking Bad I had to dabble with the spin off – Better Call Saul. What a fabulous box set and a superb script and amazing acting. Saul (Bob Odenkirk) is sublime. It’s been a joy and I have two Seasons to go.

So two brief holidays are in the offing, one with the love of my life… Samantha. She’s booked onto the Hull to Zeebrugge ferry and we depart in early July. Hopefully it will be dryer than last year when a canoe would have been more comfortable to navigate through Northern France in torrential rain. One epic morning last June saw Sophie and myself driving through flooded roads near Lille whilst the condensation was so great in the car that we had to stop!

Before that I’m off on a brief cycling tour up the Pennine Cycleway Route with an old pal. Three nights exploring our Industrial revolution heritage and the odd pint of bitter. Stay tuned.