Tag Archives: Christmas

Putting one foot in front of the other (That’s a wrap!)

“Reflect, Recharge, Rebuild—Here’s to 2025!”

Country garden with cat

Country garden with cat

Apologies for not being too active on here this year. Life, as they say, has gotten in the way. The house and garden have kept me busy, and I’ve been working hard on multiple DIY and car projects. The workshop and car bits are still tying me up and as I write this I am in the process of rewiring one of the lawn tractors after blowing the other one up (non profesional, but suspected diagnosis… it was running and then it wasn’t!).

It’s been a strange end of the year. The rest of my family are down under visiting my Sister in Australia and my Father in Law has just left to go home again. We had an early Christmas in November that my parents hosted, which felt very out of place. We had another Christmas meal yesterday and my wife did a cracking job at catering. I helped with the washing up – promise!

It’s nearly 5 years since I was diagnosed with cancer. We had a Chinese on Christmas Eve and my fortune cookie read “Bad things are behind you” or words to that effect. Coincidence or not, the big C did change my outlook on life. It’s very easy just to coast along, and then BAM! Some bad news like that drops on you and suddenly, both mentally and phsically, the rest of your life is impacted whether you like it or not.  You coast along as you don’t think it’s going to happen to you.

I find it very, very difficult to just do “nothing” and always feel like something needs doing. Mostly because it does (house and car lists are VERY long), but relaxing for me is difficult.

I guess the message here is don’t take your health for granted. Don’t waste your time. Get out and do something productive. Find a new hobby. Spend time with your friends and family. Get a dog or a cat now, not next year. Start writing a diary, I did. I don’t write in it every day but at least once a week and try and write a few lines. It’s quite therapeutic.

Enough of that sombre message… with everything else said I do wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2025! I’ll try and update a little more in the New Year!

 

Take it to the limit…

There’s no better feeling than driving a car fast… but it shouldn’t be on a public road when you’re not sure how to handle the car in those conditions.

Forgive me for being a grumpy fart, but I’ve seen too many posts on Facebook recently of people I know writing off their cars (thank goodness without too much injury to themselves) but nonetheless totally avoidable.

I really do recommend everyone goes on a skidpan course to be shown how to handle a car in a skid… but really follow the below:

  1.  Leave 2 cars’ distance between you and the car in front
  2. If it’s below 3 Celcius expect ice, even if you can’t see it – so drive slower
  3. If it’s rained heavily after a period of it being dry, the road can be as slippy as an oil or diesel slick – drive slower!

And for all intents and purposes, if you want to “take it to the limit” take the car to the track!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY5_krxYPeY

The Eagles always do a great job, and the song which inspired this post is brilliant 🙂

Stay safe, and Merry Christmas!