Charleesi

Moving Day

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

The Charleesi and her partner got the keys to their flat yesterday, but only set up their kitchen. This afternoon I helped her move another car-load after her mum had helped her move bedding in the morning. J is visiting his family this weekend, so we’ve enjoyed pitching in.

I’m so proud of her, she’s worked hard to find and secure this flat. There’s a quietly confident glow to her, but it hasn’t been smooth going.

We spent a good few hours unpacking and putting things in various temporary places while she planned their final placements. It’s their first flat so for now it’s all pretty bare, but tomorrow sees her waking for the first time in her own place. I remember doing the same in my first place when I left home, and hope she cherishes the memory.

I Can See The Weekend From Here

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

I’ve got tomorrow off, but unfortunately it’s just so I can have a retinopathy exam first thing and not have to worry about how the drops tend to knock me sideways for a good portion of the day.

So, tomorrow will not be a productive day. On the plus side though I’m not due to work this weekend so that’s an unplanned long weekend, even if there’s a chance I may get called on Monday about recruitment things.

And of course this is also the weekend where the Charleesi and her other half are moving into their first flat, so I’m looking forward to helping with that.

Some good memories coming up I think.

Happy Memory

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

I was having a brief online chat with my daughter this evening, where she was recounting a work drama with her usual dry wit – and she mentioned how her hope for the summer is to be able to drag her boyfriend to Thorpe Park.

Long-time readers and family friends will of course recall our many visits there over the years, supported by Merlin Passes and a love of being flung around complex rollercoasters. She then ruminate that now she’s earning full-time she has every intention of finishing the day loaded down with merchandise.

Pretty much simultaneously we then opined that a return to Alton Towers should happen again, and with that came memories of our staying there for the weekend of her 16th birthday – which still ranks as one of our favourite memories ever

We hadn’t told her we were going there, and it was late on a Friday when we got there, and I’ll never forget the look on her face as we arrived, or when we got to our room to find a cake and a Teddy bear waiting for her.

It was me, Lady M, and the Charleesi, staying on-site and just making the absolute most of absolutely everything. From food to early access on each day I think we hit nearly every ride several times and had glorious sunshine the whole weekend.

Even just writing these words has put a smile on my face – a wonderful antidote to the discomfort of the last 24 hours or so

Congratulations And An Amusing Polyam Moment

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

I was stuck at work, being unable to share my bemusement on Saturday at a conversation playing out in my messages.

The Charleesi had let us know that her temporary freelancing job had just been converted to the offer of a permanent copywriting post within a week of her starting, so we are all very pleased and excited for her in this early stage of her campaign to take over the world.

Talk soon turned to needing to have a celebration, which resulted in a query about our Sunday availability – which clashed directly with the birthday celebrations previously mentioned.

I therefore had the moderately bemused expression of a man seeing his wife tell his ex-wife that we weren’t available as we were celebrating the joint birthdays of our partner and ex-partner in the company of our partner’s partner and partner’s son, and our collective emotional support human/friend – and being unable to tell anyone at work without having to explain an awful lot of history to people.

Needless to say, everyone at the Sunday gathering smirked when I could finally relay it…

In Another World

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

There is an alternate timeline out there somewhere that isn’t being ravaged by, among other things, Covid-19 and the perennially venal politicians mismanaged the while thing in their rush to sell off the family silver.

In that sunny other universe, I would be in Oxford today, celebrating my daughter’s graduation alongside the ex-Lady M, with Lady M and the Charleesi’s uncle and aunt watching across a remote link from a nearby tent.

However, we won’t know the actual result until the end of next week – and there’s still no firm date for when a rescheduled event may take place next year so for now all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and prepare for a lot of excited yelling next week.

The Charleesi is projected to achieve a first, and is currently job hunting.

Happy Birthday Charleesi

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

Its my daughter’s 21st birthday – well that happened quickly! Still seems like moments ago that I was ringing family, having stepped briefly out of the operating theatre to find that a thunder and lightning storm had started at the moment of her birth.

Totally not an omen.

Today we have reasonably clear skies, and gentle birdsong, a marked improvement for a special day. We’re still waiting on the final result for her degree but we don’t need that confirmation to know how amazing she is.

So happy birthday Charleesi, can’t wait to see what you do next.

Mission Accomplished

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

Despite the tiny size of the available car, I was able to retrieve the Charleesi from university yesterday. Even better, I was able to do so in one round trip. We’re still not entirely sure how we did that – there is a suspicion that the Fiat500 is actually a Tardis.

Fortunately, while playing Tetris with bags, books, and assorted household goods we had sunshine and a gentle breeze. Even the Charleesi’s traditional moment of locking herself out of her own flat was taken in good humour by the concierge who ambled over to let her back in to empty the recycling bin.

And so there it is – the end of one chapter, and the beginning of another for the Charleesi. I still can’t believe we fit all that in such a small car…

On a Boomerang

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

We had a lovely time at my cousin’s wedding on Saturday at a grand gathering of family. Readings were delivered by actors, music by string quartets, and the food was stunning. After the wedding, the day was spent celebrating at Hoghton Tower – and it was one of the grandest celebrations it has been my pleasure to attend.

It was also the Charleesi’s chance to introduce everyone to her boyfriend, Sir B and, you know what? He did well. They survived being plied with many many drinks without going over their limits, and given they’d had very little sleep due to train disruption that had got them in to Preston at about 1am, they were reasonably clued up and alert.

Being full time students in their third year, I’d expect nothing less.

It was good to see them properly as a couple too, rather than the hurried crossing of paths we’d had back in May at Comiccon. They’re good together, they’ve my nod of approval. It’s so easy to see how much they care for each other and are comfortable with themselves and each other at the same time. A true delight to observe.

Sunday we drove back home, dropping the kids back at university on the way, and today we just chilled until a few hours ago when we headed down to catch up with lady s.

We’re making good use of our holiday.

Fun and Games

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

The return of the Charleesi had to include both a visit to The Plough and the playing of games, and it made for a lovely relaxing afternoon, evening, and night.

A few drinks in and food inside us, we started to play Rock Paper Wizard – which combines hand gestures and tactic voting with Dungeons & Dragons spells. The backstory is that the players are powerful wizards who have slain a dragon and now stand in front of its hoard – and who then turn on each other to grab the biggest share.

Each round lays out spells to choose and you decide who you will play it on. Each card will either move pieces nearer to or further away from the board, or redistribute the gold coins that each player amasses. At the end of each round, the nearest players to the coins grabs an amount each. When all the coins have been claimed, the person with the most in their hand wins.

It’s a lovely visual game and can be very gently paced, or fast and furious. It also attracted comment and interest from other people in the pub; and the laughter from our corner table soon filled the whole bar.

Our second game, back from the bar, was Temp Worker Assassins – a deck building and piece placing game where you try to assassinate various supernatural corporate beings through the work week. Well-fuelled with alcohol, we played and laughed, and quibbled over rule interpretation – we will definitely be making it a regular centrepiece of evenings I think.

We got home late, but so worth it – Lady M hates being sociable, but she’ll always make an exception for games with the Charleesi.

Aches and Pains

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

My back is playing up a bit at the moment – which may or may not be related to stress levels but in either case is irritating and hopefully will be short-lived.

To distract me then I’ve been playing around a bit with video capture on the XBox and how to transfer material to other platforms so I can display them elsewhere. I’ve started with Overwatch clips, purely because the game captures a highlight in any given game so I don’t have to focus on the creative side first while I get used to the interfaces.

Why am I doing it? Just because I haven’t done it before, that’s all. It’s not like I have any kind of game plan here 😉

In other news I heard from someone who recently left the libraries to work elsewhere that certain people we both worked with had always spoken of me in positive terms, which was an unexpected and pleasant boost to morale.

So while I ache slightly, I’ve been helping Lady M with her costume making for Comiccon – largely by holding material and hoops while she pins them, and in cutting out hearts and shields for her to applique to the dress she’s currently slaving over.

In addition, this afternoon I shall be seeing The Charleesi, who has come home for the weekend – so time to see how the newly-minted student is coming along