For The Birds

Nottingham Castle goes bust after its rather expensive refit doesn’t pull in the extra visitors they thought it would. Perhaps they should have stuck to hosting the beer festival. 

The World Cup is underway and there are four games a day at different times. This may have kicked off a new wave of working from home. England play Iran first on Monday, are 3-0 up at half time and end up winning 6-2. Nobody saw that coming. They then struggle to a 0-0 draw with the USA on Friday. Everyone saw that coming.

We now have bird feeders in the garden and have quickly been struggling to keep up with demand. L started by putting up some ‘fat’ balls up the garden, which are actually suet balls, but we now also have a bird seed dispenser as well. The problem is both seem to empty in record time and now have a garden full of birds that are too full of fat ball to take off.

The Lad seems to be enjoying the World Cup more than me. I leave him curled up on the settee watching Denmark v Tunisia while I work in my office.

L re-joins her old gym, now run by JD Gyms, on a Black Friday offer. She copes ably with being the new girl and says it's good to be back. Now starts the long process of persuading me to join. It is true I will need a new gym once my office closes next month preventing me going (infrequently) to the one on Pride Park.

Talking of the old office closing, my old MD advises he is leaving the new company on the 19^th December, now that he’s sold everything off. The really sad thing was the small number of people on the distribution list indicating how few of the old company are still here.

I go into the office on Thursday and he gives me, there’s only us and one other person there, that there’s a leaving do on the 9^th. Although I’m not sure getting everyone one drunk would work out well for him. I can’t go because we’re in the Lakes and I’m not rescheduling that.

By lunchtime I’m the only one left in the office so I have a late lunch, spend 15 mins in the gym and then head home. I only use three pieces of equipment at the gym but typically one of them, the leg press, was out of order and there’s no version of that in the free weights. I’m back home for 3pm.

On Friday it’s Iran v Wales and it still doesn’t go well for Wales, who lose 2-0. They were terrible. Naturally L's boss, a Wales man, hasn't been in the office and now he’ll be in hiding.

L says she needs chocolate, cake and wine. I can only assume she's watching Qatar v Senegal.

On Saturday L parkruns at Alvaston, number 251, her 250th t-shirt is now on order. 

In the evening we’re out at Nicco’s in Derby with some friends. While on Sunday it’s the FA Cup 2^nd Round with Derby away at Newport County. It’s live on ITV so the Lad swaps our settee for my Dad’s settee as we both go over to watch the match. As I've said, he does seem to like his football. Derby come from behind to win 2-1, then we head off for our post-match pint. He likes that bit too.

(Sunday 27^th November)