Changes

Hey,

The cobwebs are back, a little thicker than before.

I can see why so many blogs go south; a few posts and then they fall silent.

Things happen in people's lives which can preoccupy them to the point where some of the things they used to do regularly get pushed to the back of the queue, or maybe even fail to happen at all any more.  So many things I used to do with all the time I used to have - where did it go?

Not after any sympathy, here.  I'm just waxing lyrical.

DVD's and video games, for example.  Two things that would eat up serious time in my life, barely get a look in now.  I have piles of both still to watch or play, some of which stretch back a decade.  And yet I'm still sucker enough for a cheap bargain to add to the list of 'to watch', or 'to play'.

For the past decade - from 2005 to the present day, my days have mostly involved 'the films', 'the running' and 'the garden'.  The former two are pretty familiar if you have been here before - my obsessive-compulsive need to see every film I can at the festivals around the UK, and my strategy to maintain a reasonable weight by jogging the flab away have been well documented.  But the garden has been going on largely in the background, although budget- and time-wise, it has certainly been the focus of many a summer; heaving soil into skips and building retaining walls, laying patios and building fences. 

This year, however, it was finally completed to much relief.  Slowly but surely, year after year, the garden turned from unmaintainable wreck to tamed, patio'd sun trap.  The last ten years spent making a home that myself and Ms. Plants can enjoy has come to an end.  I consider it a distinct chapter of my life, done and dusted.

You would think maybe that some of my old pursuits might now get a look-in, but life has a way of making such abandonments pretty permanent, and the next big thing is just over the horizon.

We are expecting our first child in November. 

We have just hit the third trimester.

We are very happy, but we are also bricking it.

The last six months has been a bit of a whirlwind, and any thoughts of far off holidays or festival excursions were put on ice once we knew for sure.  We are not young parents, so we were conscious of the risks of complications, which thankfully have not appeared.  Hopefully, it's a clear sprint to the finish.

During this time, the blog has been the last thing on my mind.  I am sorry, both to any visitors who may read with interest my blatherings, and to myself, as I have found it a useful external memory to remind me of my comings and goings.  I have just not been in the frame of mind.

We've been working hard and altering the house - again - for an extra pair of legs toddling around.  Our biggest scheme - a major kitchen redesign that will involve bricking up doors and knocking down walls, isn't even started yet.  We hope to have it done before the big day.

I hope to be able to return to some form of regular posting at some point; I tried in March, but that didn't keep up for long.  A blog needs an author to be in a communicative mood, and that is something I have just fallen out of being for the moment.

So my life is about to change once again, and some of my older pastimes will no doubt be pushed away as my new role as a parent begins, and replaced by at least a few of the joyful times that parents and children get up to.

Letting go of the old won't be easy for me, but at least some of those unwatched DVD's might come in handy during those sleepless nights..