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Washing Machines In A World Gone Wrong
Oct. 4th, 2020 09:29 pmDue to potential changes at work, it has been an incredibly stressful week, although there could be a number of positive developments coming from it. However, everything is currently up in the air and nothing has yet been resolved, so it's best to see how things develop this week and take it from there. Suffice to say that I may have a stable income over the coming months and, if we can pull this off, it could be very beneficial ahead of the move to Berlin. However, there are a load of logistical things to consider too and as yet I haven't had the time to work out the viability of the current proposals.
This has dominated much of my week, as has Wolfie's mood, which has been rather listless since Friday morning. I hate seeing him so down, but he's not willing to articulate the specific reasons behind his sadness. I think the enormity of the Berlin move is starting to sink in, not aided by his lack of motivation of being into week seven of a three-month notice period at his current place of employment. Throw COVID into the mix and the fact that UK nationals from my area have to self-isolate for fourteen days on arrival into Germany and the uncertainty is only increasing. The developments in my own work situation over the last few days have also led to me questioning whether this is the right thing to do, but my heart still tells me that unless we try it, then we will always regret it. Despite this, I am aware of the huge life-changing undertaking on which we are about to embark and I am somewhat terrified.
This week has been a mix in terms of social. The Tuesday Pony Chat turned out to be quite well attended, meaning I have decided to keep them running for the time being. The same was the case with today's gathering as well, and with people returning to lockdown and having fewer things to do due to the inclement autumn weather, there's a chance that we can start growing these again. Gothicat's Wednesday set was less favourably received though, with us turning off pretty quickly and focusing instead on our own music. We are therefore likely to skip this in future, focusing instead on the excellent Friday heavy metal offering. Due to Gothicat experiencing technical issues, this week's set was presented by Ulfer, whose metal collection is not as replete as Gothi's. However, it was a decent set, albeit more old-school focused, and we did have a great chat about early Nineties TV shows including Art Attack, Get Your Own Back, Fun House, Finders Keepers and Knightmare. Both Neil Buchanananananan and Dave Benson-Philips featured a lot, and it was great fun reminiscing.
Saturday was a chill day, with Wolfie being out at Geek Retreat doing his little men games. This afforded me some time to cub out before our 8pm Furry Brew Crew IVPA drinking session on Zoom. Alas, it was quite sparcely attended as only Evi/Namonium, Mooie and Vulpes could make it (with a saddened Wolfie only making it about an hour in), but we ended up talking for a good four and a half hours before we had to end the session and join Stray Jim's Jackbox furore. This saw me game up until 5am, thus another four and a half hours, meaning there was a lot of drink to be had. Both sessions were really fun and socialable, and considering that's all we're likely to have in the coming months, it was certainly appreciated.
Not having takeaway last night, Wolfie and I resolved to go out into Pudsey for food tonight, for our first sit down restaurant meals since his birthday. We went to local Italian restaurant Gigis, where we had some delicious cheesey garlic bread and pasta-based dishes. They were very stringent on the whole social distancing thing, with a QR check-in code linked to the NHS Track and Trace app on the door and all staff wearing face masks. They even insisted on us sanitising our hands as we walked through the door, such was their stringency. The quality of the food was excellent and it was good just eating out again, with Wolfie and I also sharing a bottle of cherry-flavoured red wine. The same diligence to COVID was also on exhibit at The Manor Inn later in the evening, with the landlady being quite bolshy with anyone who refused to wear a mask, even during the two steps between our door to the table (or the eight steps to the toilet). The quality of the ale was high and even though it was table service, the genuine pub feeling was largely preserved. Things got quiet by 9pm though and she insisted on closing up, which made sense, but of course the fewer number of people, the less chance of contracting anything. All in all, it was quite a pleasureable mini-evening out and something we'll have to repeat in the future, particularly now the scanning QR service in the NHS app is operational. Certainly I feel reasonably comfortable out and about.
This has dominated much of my week, as has Wolfie's mood, which has been rather listless since Friday morning. I hate seeing him so down, but he's not willing to articulate the specific reasons behind his sadness. I think the enormity of the Berlin move is starting to sink in, not aided by his lack of motivation of being into week seven of a three-month notice period at his current place of employment. Throw COVID into the mix and the fact that UK nationals from my area have to self-isolate for fourteen days on arrival into Germany and the uncertainty is only increasing. The developments in my own work situation over the last few days have also led to me questioning whether this is the right thing to do, but my heart still tells me that unless we try it, then we will always regret it. Despite this, I am aware of the huge life-changing undertaking on which we are about to embark and I am somewhat terrified.
This week has been a mix in terms of social. The Tuesday Pony Chat turned out to be quite well attended, meaning I have decided to keep them running for the time being. The same was the case with today's gathering as well, and with people returning to lockdown and having fewer things to do due to the inclement autumn weather, there's a chance that we can start growing these again. Gothicat's Wednesday set was less favourably received though, with us turning off pretty quickly and focusing instead on our own music. We are therefore likely to skip this in future, focusing instead on the excellent Friday heavy metal offering. Due to Gothicat experiencing technical issues, this week's set was presented by Ulfer, whose metal collection is not as replete as Gothi's. However, it was a decent set, albeit more old-school focused, and we did have a great chat about early Nineties TV shows including Art Attack, Get Your Own Back, Fun House, Finders Keepers and Knightmare. Both Neil Buchanananananan and Dave Benson-Philips featured a lot, and it was great fun reminiscing.
Saturday was a chill day, with Wolfie being out at Geek Retreat doing his little men games. This afforded me some time to cub out before our 8pm Furry Brew Crew IVPA drinking session on Zoom. Alas, it was quite sparcely attended as only Evi/Namonium, Mooie and Vulpes could make it (with a saddened Wolfie only making it about an hour in), but we ended up talking for a good four and a half hours before we had to end the session and join Stray Jim's Jackbox furore. This saw me game up until 5am, thus another four and a half hours, meaning there was a lot of drink to be had. Both sessions were really fun and socialable, and considering that's all we're likely to have in the coming months, it was certainly appreciated.
Not having takeaway last night, Wolfie and I resolved to go out into Pudsey for food tonight, for our first sit down restaurant meals since his birthday. We went to local Italian restaurant Gigis, where we had some delicious cheesey garlic bread and pasta-based dishes. They were very stringent on the whole social distancing thing, with a QR check-in code linked to the NHS Track and Trace app on the door and all staff wearing face masks. They even insisted on us sanitising our hands as we walked through the door, such was their stringency. The quality of the food was excellent and it was good just eating out again, with Wolfie and I also sharing a bottle of cherry-flavoured red wine. The same diligence to COVID was also on exhibit at The Manor Inn later in the evening, with the landlady being quite bolshy with anyone who refused to wear a mask, even during the two steps between our door to the table (or the eight steps to the toilet). The quality of the ale was high and even though it was table service, the genuine pub feeling was largely preserved. Things got quiet by 9pm though and she insisted on closing up, which made sense, but of course the fewer number of people, the less chance of contracting anything. All in all, it was quite a pleasureable mini-evening out and something we'll have to repeat in the future, particularly now the scanning QR service in the NHS app is operational. Certainly I feel reasonably comfortable out and about.
