Sick beds, being kids and the end of winter (almost)

Catching Up – A Lot Has Happened Since November 12th

Looking back at my last post, it was mainly about me being an idiot and falling off Hannah's pink scooter. Well, there's much more to tell on that story, and a whole lot more that has happened since November 12th and the last time I posted.

To start with, my physio appointments made very little headway with my shoulder injury – it just didn't get better. So, just around Christmas, I went through the process of getting a doctor's appointment and then an X-ray with a specialist to see what was going on with my shoulder. On January 8th I was referred for an MRI and given a corticosteroid painkilling injection to reduce the pain for a while.

It's now mid-February and I am still awaiting a date for my MRI. I've become very used to relying on my left arm and hand for a number of things, while being very cautious about using my right. I just have to wait, I suppose!

A few days into December the kids started to show signs of illness. What began as a cough and a sniffle for each of them developed into full-on hot and cold flashes alongside fevers, clammy skin and general overall tiredness. In the three weeks leading up to Boxing Day, there were just 2 days when one or the other of the kids wasn't ill. Just 2 days.

So when it came to Christmas, instead of getting together with everyone for celebrations, we were stuck at home with our kids, opening presents and eating pizza for Christmas dinner. To be honest though, it was actually really nice and we all enjoyed ourselves – the kids were just about recovered by then, and we simply didn't want to risk anyone else getting ill, especially little ones and older family members.

Luckily, by the 27th everyone was fully recovered, and so we headed over to Jon and Susan's for the traditional Cowtan Christmas, with Stef, Pat, Alana and Erika, plus kids. It was so nice to finally get out of the house with the kids for the first time in almost three weeks, and it was a great way to spend 'Second Christmas'.

At least that was all the inllnes over with - Oh no wait...again.....

Just a week into February, I started to feel off. The first weekend was mainly spent in bed, sweating and coughing, dosed up with painkillers for headaches and general aches and pains. I dosed myself up again on the Monday as I had an installation port date at work, but by 3 in the afternoon the drugs had worn off and I was back in bed. I took three days off work that week, and on the Friday I worked from home, sat all wrapped up and drinking hot tea – but still ended up back in bed just after lunch. The second weekend was spent in bed again, even as the kids had friends over to play. I hid away in my darkened bedroom.

Eventually, I made another trip to the local minor illness clinic, and after a chest X-ray showed what the doctor described as a bit of 'fluff' in my lungs – his actual words – I was given a 10-day course of antibiotics and told to rest. It's now 10 days later, nearly three weeks since first getting ill, and I'm nearly back to 100%.

One thing I have noticed is that since I was ill in Thailand back in 2011, whenever I get sick I seem to get hit with it really badly. The virus I had back then – Cytomegalovirus – knocked me out for most of a month while I was travelling, and it can apparently reactivate later in life. I do wonder if that's what happens to me now whenever something comes along.

What makes this all the more frustrating is that I went 23 years in the army without ever really taking a day off sick – apart from one occasion when I was unable to see because of an eye infection. If you know that story, it's epic. If you don't… unlucky!

Anyway,  everyone seems to be better now and I may even get back out for a run late this week. 

Right, that's enough about illness and doctor visits. What else has been happening?

Well, the most important thing happened just a couple of days ago. February 22nd marked 15 years since the Christchurch earthquake of 2011. If you have a magnificent memory, you may recall that on that day I was in New Zealand, just a couple of hours drive south of Christchurch. The bus tour I was on had actually been to Christchurch just two days earlier and had dropped off some friends in the city.

On the day of the earthquake, we were spending the morning at the Speight's Brewery, on a tour to see the beers being brewed, along with a few tasters – we had a lot of tasters actually, and enjoyed our day very much. We all felt a bit wobbly from the drinking, and did feel something of a tremor when the earthquake hit. At the time we had no idea how much damage had been caused and carried on with our day.

A couple of hours later, when we got back to the bus, a certain Canadian girl joined the tour.

Yes, that girl is now my wife – and the earth actually did move the day we met. This year marks 15 years since that day, and later in the year it will also be our 10th wedding anniversary. Crazy days eh!

Heres a photo of me and my mate Rich pulling pints in the brewery and the first photo I took of Buffy- she is stood on the other side of the pub that night, with the girls - the day we met...

15 YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY!

Anyway, enough of the big moments – let me fill you in on what Buffy, me and the kids have been up to recently!

Winter is nearly over now, and it hasn't been too bad this year. It didn't really start with a vengeance until mid-November, and apart from a couple of cold weeks it's been pretty manageable. We had a bit of snow and what was almost a record low temperature for me personally, when the wind chill took us down to minus 47 degrees Celsius. That didn't stop me and Buffy getting out for our early morning runs though, and the kids have been doing great too – keeping their mittens on and getting out and about climbing the ice mountains that build up when the ploughs clear the roads every now and then.

It's been a pretty good winter all in all, but we are all very much looking forward to spring arriving in the next three or four weeks!

The kids are also doing what kids do really well – growing up! They have suddenly hit a stretch where they actually play with each other, and we are able to sit and relax, normally with a brew and a jigsaw on the dining table. It's lovely to hear them both laughing and playing together without any need for us to get involved.

They are both getting bigger and stronger, and I am getting older – at 55, carrying a 23kg toddler on my back is fine for a few minutes, but I can't do it all day! They are beginning to understand that though.

They are also both now able to give as good as they get, throwing sarcasm back at Buffy and me, which is amazing. Being able to have a proper adult conversation with your kids is brilliant, especially when they are old enough to understand the art of taking the piss. It's not normally something that happens much over here in Canada, but coming from the UK – and especially from the north – it's an essential life skill. I genuinely couldn't be more proud of the kids than when they call me a dickhead.

We have also introduced the kids to Minecraft, so we play it once or twice a week now. They play pretty well together and both have their own worlds where they can build, dig and blow things up to their hearts' content. It's a great way to get them together in a relaxed way, and honestly I love that they are spending so much time together – whether that's playing Minecraft, playing games without a screen, or just spending time with me and Buffy and with each other.

Ollie is a bit of a card sharp (or is itshark)  and regularly beats me and Buffy at Uno and other card games. He is also getting so much better at reading and writing and is doing really well at school overall.

Hannah is also doing great. She is the top reader in her class, and often after quiet time – where the kids get a peaceful hour to themselves, and we get an hour too – she presents us with a handwritten book. Not just written by her either; she actually builds the book herself, taping and stapling pages together. She has probably written between 15 and 20 multi-page books now, complete with stories and hand drawn pictures. Just a week ago she even got the chance to read one of her own books to the rest of her class. Her teacher was so impressed that they have helped Hannah set herself goals for the rest of the school year.

They are both doing amazingly – not only with their education, but just in being good kids too. Of course they still lose their shit regularly, like most kids do, but we are seeing a definite improvement in how they recover and how they conduct themselves. They are a joy to be around sometimes and a pain in the arse at others – but that's just how things are supposed to be, 

Well, its time for me to get my old weary body off to bed - Its' been too long since I posted and as usual I will now make a promise to do it all again really soon - Let's hope I get time. 

Please make time to leave a comment if you can - I would love to hear from anyone who reads this, to know who is reading and to see how things are with you!

cheers

Here's a few pics to finish off!

Dont ride pink scooters

Hello Planet Earth…

What’s it like out there? Things are generally pretty good here at the moment — even though it’s a balmy 0°C and windy as a northerner’s bumhole after a night out at a rancid Indian restaurant! Still, all’s well enough.

I somehow completely forgot about this long-running, 15-year-old blog nonsense for over 60 days, and only remembered today because I spotted the little icon in my bookmarks. Otherwise, you poor people might have gone forever without any further updates on the exploits of Hani, Ollie, Buffy and me — and may actually have forgotten we exist!

Kind of like how the kids seem to have forgotten about the big pile of soft toys we’ve hidden in the basement, ready to hand out one at a time whenever they’re being arseholes or having a bad day. Pretty much the same way you’d give a small fix of drugs to an addict. So — you’re welcome!

How’s everyone coping with the impending doom that is AI?
Have you given up trying to figure out which “news” videos and stories are completely fake yet? You probably should — because there’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to tell if anything written here is true, or just complete bollocks generated by a snarky AI named Klunk.

I suppose it doesn’t really matter anymore anyway — pretty soon the world will be void of any intelligent life, and everyone will be watching The Matrix and wondering why we didn’t realise what the fuck was going on 30 years ago.

I mean, we all used to talk to each other, didn’t we?

I bring this up because over the weekend I had a genuinely good experience — we had a whole pile of kids over to watch the Dogman movie, and while they were here, a couple of the parents actually sat and chatted with me while I made a Sunday roast.

It was a surreal 75 minutes of actual conversation — no one staring at a phone, no half-hearted nodding while scrolling through nonsense. Just… people talking. It was really, really nice — and a whole pile different to what happens in normal everyday life nowadays.

So (and I’m talking to myself here too, by the way):
PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE DOWN WHEN YOU’RE IN THE PRESENCE OF ANOTHER HUMAN AND TRY TALKING!

It’s a fabulous way to spend a few minutes.

Oh, and if it does turn out that the other person’s a knob, at least you’ve now got one solid topic of conversation to bring up with the next person you meet.

One last point — The Dogman Movie.

In case you haven’t heard about it, it’s about a police dog who’s really clever and a policeman who’s… well, stupid, but very fit. Anyway, after an accident in which the policeman’s head dies and the dog’s body dies, they sew the dog’s head onto the policeman’s body. Then he goes off and have adventures.

It’s friggin’ awesome!! Even as an adult, it’s funny. So go watch it if you get the chance.

So what’s been happening since September?

The simple answer is: too much to write here and keep you interested — so I’ll just give you a quick (haha, it won’t be quick) overview.

September started with Ollie’s birthday — he’s 5 now! Can you believe it? (I suppose that is how time and age work.) He got some pretty cool presents, including his very own shopping basket, which he proudly took out to a real shop to try out after a big hug from Hannah!

Later that same week, we got the kids a little drive-on electric car to share — and they went absolutely crazy. I moved our white SUV out of the garage and replaced it with the tiny kids’ version, then told them the car had shrunk!

They were a bit confused at first, staring at it like something out of a cartoon, and then went completely mental — playing outside in their new car for the rest of the week. It definitely made for an easier first week back at school!

We had some lovely weather right into the middle of September, so around the time I got really, really fucking old (55 on September 17th), we managed one final weekend out at the cabin.

The weather held up beautifully, which meant we squeezed in one last swim, and the kids got their bonfire and marshmallows on our final night there. We didn’t see any swimming bears like we did a few weeks earlier, but we were just glad to get out for one last weekend before everything started cooling down.

In case you didnt see it - this was the swimming bear we saw a few weeks earlier - 

t’s a good job the bear wasn’t in town a couple of weeks later, because we came across a small group of deer wandering through the gardens one Sunday morning. They were headed north toward Portage Avenue — which, if you know it, is a pretty busy road — so I took a detour through the back lanes, got in front of them, and hopped out of the car to shoo them back south, away from the traffic.

We definitely don’t want a deer getting smooshed by a bus, do we?

The following week was a bit crazy — Ollie, out of nowhere, decided he did want to ride his new bike after all. It had been sitting in the front porch for most of the summer, but suddenly he was out there, helmet on, ready to go.

Within a few minutes, he was off — riding his little heart out. He did take a few tumbles, but Ollie’s nothing if not persistent. He kept getting back in the saddle and tearing off again — usually out of control and heading straight for danger. But that’s Ollie in a nutshell: very stubborn, and pretty much fearless.

He did great, though — learning to ride his bike a full year earlier than Hannah did!

 

I was not as good as Ollie with my riding a few days later.....

As sometimes happens when I’m home for lunch, I pop over to the school to pick up whichever kid is coming home that day (our kid, obviously — not just some random child!).

Anyway, this Thursday it was Hannah’s turn, so I grabbed her pink scooter and headed to the school, riding it the two blocks there. When I arrived, Hannah and her class were outside by the door, with the teacher chatting to them. I rode past and planned to turn around and come back... but...

As I turned, I hit the tiniest, smallest, teeny-weeny stick you could imagine — about the size of a toothpick. Instantly, the scooter stopped dead like it had slammed into an invisible brick wall, and I was catapulted straight forward — right onto my face!

From my point of view, all I could see of my nose was blood, and for a second I honestly thought I’d ripped the front of my nose off. With blood pouring down my face and stars spinning around my head, I walked up to the class — who were all a little shocked, having seen the whole thing unfold. The teacher kindly offered to let me go inside and clean up, but since we live so close, Hannah and I just walked home.

When I got home, I assured Buffy and Ollie that I was fine and went to clean up. My glasses had smashed into the bridge of my nose, scraping the skin off the tip of my nose and upper lip. The blood I’d seen was mostly from that cut on the bridge of my nose — luckily, no real damage done.

This is that scooter and heres som photos of the immediate aftermath and later pics too.

I had a headache for a few days afterwards and even got checked for a concussion — which, thankfully, it wasn’t. 

What I didn’t realise until a few days later was that I’d half-landed on my right arm and messed up my shoulder. At first, it just felt a bit sore, but by the end of the weekend it was clear something wasn’t right. After a week of it not improving, I gave in and went to physio — turns out I’ve fucked up my rotator cuff .

So now, for the last few weeks, I’ve been getting treatment and trying to take it easy. I can’t currently reach very far back with my right hand — wiping my arse is fine (thankfully), but handing things to the kids in the back seat is a definite no-go. The moment I try, my shoulder burns and stays sore for ages after.

I’m managing the pain with non prescription drugs (beers) and some rest (also beers) in between normal work and kid chaos (which often includes beers). It’s all good though — just another reminder that I’m getting old. Fingers crossed (crossing fingers doesn’t hurt, luckily) my shoulder will be back to somewhere near normal before 2026.

The end of summer oozed by with a few little adventures — some trips out with the kids and even a couple of rare nights out for me and the Buffster.

Here are a few highlights from September and October: a night out at Nuit Blanche, a trip to the Fire Station, a visit to Witchy Wonderland, cheering on the Blue Bombers, and — the grand finale — crashing my drone into a tree while looking for squirrel holes. Plus a few snaps from Halloween week at the end!

Okay, if anyone made it to the end — well done! I’m hoping my spelling and grammar are a little better than usual. I’ve been using AI to help me write this, and it seems to be working out so far.

If anything doesn’t quite sound like me, just blame the AI… including this bit! But be nice to the AI — because when they inevitably turn evil, they’ll remember, and kill you quickly and painlessly.