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So – as
promised - here is the 2nd half of chapter 16.......
Your alarm
goes off. It’s early and it’s the end of the week. You fight the urge to press
snooze as you have changed your alarm to the latest time that you can possibly
get up anyway without being late for work. You know the situation. You have
planned it precisely. You can get up, be showered and be vaguely alive and out
of the house in the space of 23 minutes. On Friday morning – this person was
me. It would be fair to say that I resembled more of a zombie than a normal
person.
I struggled
out of bed by rolling over Wifey in some form of half-arsed army man attempt
and landed firmly on my feet (which in itself was a bit of a surprise given
that my balance at any time is not great). I left the bedroom without turning
any lights on as I didn’t want to wake Cass (I used my hands to guide me – and
on reflection probably looked increasingly like a zombie) and got to the
bathroom. I turned the light switch on (and suddenly wished I hadn’t as I imagine that I looked like a vampire coming to terms with the light). My hand reached inside the
shower and I turned the shower on (whilst still blinded). I got undressed
(Waheh!!!) and stepped into the shower.
I don’t know
at what stage it was that my zombievampireness disappeared and a large number
of expletives emerged from my mouth as replacement thoughts. It felt like a
very slow motion process – like everything was moving at ¼ pace – and that my
mind was slowly changing. But it didn’t matter because my skin was burning, the
heat was rising up – and in all honesty my body was probably hotter than the
sun. I had turned the shower onto the full heat setting and like at the end of
Raiders of the Lost Ark – I felt like my body was melting away. So how did I
escape this situation you may ask? How did I ensure that my near death
experience didn’t become something worse?
A normal
person would escape this situation by turning the temperature down – and in
hindsight that seems completely logical. I however chose to panic. I spun round
and tried to jump out of the shower – completely forgetting in my haste that
the shower door was shut. So not only was my body experiencing heat similar to
being placed in an oven – but I now had a bump to rival a small mountain
emerging on my forehead.
I turned the
temperature down to very much lukewarm and started to cool down. I started to
relax and started to wash. I clearly wasn’t concentrating after my ordeal
however as I had started to wash with Cass’s girly shampoo instead of my shower
gel. Fearing that I could now potentially smell like a flower whilst looking like
some form burnt monster I decided to step out of the shower and give up on
making myself look pretty. But just to top it all off, I’d left my belt on the
floor and without looking where I was going trod on the spiky bit of the
buckle. My leg jumped up in reaction and my knee caught the underside of the
sink catching right on the bone. Luckily the rest of the day went much better –
but this just goes to show that Friday mornings are dangerous and working on
them probably should be banned. I’m all
for a four day week – and I’m pretty sure that someone could work something
with health and safety as a reason not to work…Is that person you? If it
is….please make it happen!
The Cast List
Danny Clack
I’ve known
Danny for about 10 years now but Cass has known Danny for the majority of her
life and he has been amazing friend (and housemate) to the pair of us. He’s a
joker with an “eclectic” taste in music. He’s a chef that is not good in the
mornings (or at least he wasn’t when he lived with us) and he is one of the
most faithful and loyal people that you could ever meet. He’s also bagged
himself a top lass in Charlotte (or Charmind to me) who has done an amazing job
of calming down Danny’s lifestyle (he was a bit of a ragamuffin) and generally
pushed him forward. She’s ace. He’s ace – and combined they are both ace.
I have so
many brilliant memories of spending time with Danny including playing Rock Band,
evacuating on Code 9 alerts, wandering around the countryside looking for a cash
point (only to discover after walking for 8 miles that the VERY FIRST shop that
we stopped in did cash back), enjoying the snow / sun in Finland and so many
more......But when you can tag so many fond memories to one person you realise
that those are memories that will stay with you forever. It’s great to have
shared those memories with Danny and to a larger extent with Cass and Char as well)
Nick Hunt
Nick is a
legend. He makes me laugh, he’s a great friend and he will always be there for
you if you need him. He also has a wonderful quiet wisdom about him where he
takes time to think things through. Unfortunately though – he is a Sp*rs fan. I
try not to hold that against him and I look past it (because I’m kind, caring
and sharing obviously) most of the time unless it’s North London Derby Day
(when the banter between us will start very early on.........). Nick has
recently started a little business as a gardener – and he has just finished our
garden. It looks amazing! – But more on that to follow….
So – without
further ado…let’s get started!
Holibobs!
Wifey and I went
on holiday down to Cornwall
Oh and I knew
that there was some gorgeous scenery located somewhere in this country (probably
in the location furthest away from Slough) – and the
Who have I been hanging out with?
I’ve had a
few weeks of realising (yet again) that I am blessed beyond belief to have so
many great people in my life. I could list everyone that I’ve hung out with
over the last few weeks – but the list would be really long...so I’ll tell you
about a few highlights. Charmind’s birthday saw us not only having a great time
catching up with Danny and Charlotte – but loads of other people that we haven’t
seen in ages as well. It was a really fun night and it was great to see
everyone again.
I’ve also
seen Christine a couple of times over the last month as she gets ready to
explode from babyness. We’ve been playing some Rayman – as well as finding
excuses to go for some pub lunches.... (Something that I don’t normally need an
excuse to do). But as I have a fair bit of time off in the week – it’s great to
be able to catch up.
Last Friday
we went over to Toby and Vicky’s new gaff. A house in the ‘burbs of Cheltenham –
that might as well be in a tiny village. It’s a beautiful cottage with no
network coverage. Thankfully though – my favourite Curry place in all of
Gloucestershire does deliver there...and we got a free bottle of wine!
We invited
Apryle and Wayne (and all of the kids) round on Sunday for a BBQ in our new
garden...a BBQ that ended up being combined with watching the tennis final (the
point at which I realised I had been converted), a debate about religion, some
COLD red wine and some cider. A beautiful day with some great company - What more
could you ask for?
Last week – I
met up with someone called Bean Baker. I’d never met Bean before – but it is
almost surprising that our paths have never crossed before – especially given
that we know so many people in common (and that a number of them didn’t put together
that we both lived in Gloucester). Bean’s a singer songwriter as well as a
worship leader for a local church. He lives on a boat and all in all is a
pretty nice guy to spend a few hours with in the pub!
And finally –
Matt. I have spent so much time with Matt over the last few years that a lot of
moments have blurred into one. But I have so many happy memories – and with us
spending an increasing amount of time in the studio in the run up to launch
time...I’m sure that there will be many more to come!.
Weddings
There are a
number of people in the office who can’t believe how many weddings we are
invited to. Not because we are horrible people or anything like that (or at
least I don’t think so) but simply because of the sheer number of weddings that
we are invited to. It’s an absolutely massive honour to share in a couple’s
special day and in the last 4 weeks we have been to two weddings (with another
4 to follow in the next 3 months). I LOVE weddings. I love loads of people
coming together to celebrate and party. I love the atmosphere. I love meeting
new people. You get the idea. It’s just a real privilege. (Ironically enough –
I can’t remember that much about my own wedding – but the thing I’ll never
forget will be standing at the front of the Church looking down the aisle at
Cass).
Holy Stuff
With
weddings, work and being on holiday I haven’t been able to go to Church much on
a Sunday morning recently. But that’s not to say that I haven’t been involved.
Seek His Face – a cross Church monthly service that a few of us set up is
growing (incidentally if you are around on Sunday – why don’t you come along?)
and I had a great night leading with the Fal-Collective guys in Falmouth. I was
also completely honoured to be asked to cover Padley on Sunday at Cheltenham
Elim. It’s not only a really good experience to do something different – but
it’s fantastic to be alongside a different group of people on a Sunday. In
other news on this front I’ve been working through a Bible plan called “The
Fire Within” which is really cool and I’ve been reading through the book of
Esther again and again. It’s such an amazing story of courage – and highly
recommended!
The Garden / Jungle
About a month
ago our garden was a jungle. As evidenced by this rather unflattering picture
of me. For so long we had intended to do something about it but for whatever reason
(in fact there are numerous reasons….one being that I’m not allowed anywhere
near any form of garden appliance) we hadn’t gotten around to it. So imagine my
joy when on checking the bookface one day I discovered that one of my friends
(Nick Hunt) has recently started a gardening business! Great Success! Fast
forward to today and the garden looks amazing and my secret plan to install a
bar in our garden is now progressing quickly! (Although it’s not exactly a
secret plan anymore…..) Still. If you fancy a bbq…or just to hang out…Come on
round!
Tennis
A piece of knowledge
that is widely known about me is the fact that I hate tennis. But it isn’t because
I don’t like the sport. Not at all in fact. The sad truth is that I hate tennis
because Wimbledon always used to cut
into CBBC – and that memory has stayed with me for all of these years. I didn’t
care about who was beating who or how epic matches were – I JUST WANTED TO
WATCH THUNDERCATS! Well this week - I forgave tennis and in the same vein as a
number of Man United fans....became a bit of a glory supporter as I got caught
up with the Murrayness and thoroughly enjoyed it (even if I did feel like I was
playing tennis on the Playstation). So tennis. You win. I’m in and I forgive you.
If however you start to interfere with any other programmes that I enjoy
watching....you might well find that we end up in this situation again......
Work
A few weeks
ago I had an interview for one of two jobs at work. I didn’t get either – but I’m
really happy for the people that did as they had already been doing the jobs on
development roles for 4 years! The right people got the jobs - and I can say
that with no hesitation – and mean it as well. In a massive morale boost for
our office as well.....8 members of staff have just been made permanent (including these two) – and that
is great news – especially considering the clouded future that our office had
previously been approaching. Congratulations to them!
Summer Is Here
I love the
cold. One of my favourite times of year is when the temperature has a bit of a
bite – yet the sky is bright blue and the sun is blazing down. That is without
question my favourite type of weather. I have however discovered that I have a
high tolerance for cold temperatures (not cold water though!) and that I am
fairly unsympathetic to those that don’t. This however works both ways as I’m
not a massive fan of the heat and have found on countless occasions that some
people who crave the heat don’t really care / think about or understand the people
who like the cold.
In glorious
weather like we are having at the moment I love sitting outside in the shade. I
love the weather – just not the temperature. I can completely understand the
people however that bask in the sun (Cass is one of them) and get as many rays
as possible. You must know people like that as well? Well next time those people
inevitably moan that we never have a summer in Britain – remind them of this
weather we are having now! I for one though hope that we have a lovely extended
summer of weather like this....especially now that we have a garden (complete
with umbrella for me) to enjoy it in.
The Album IS coming
So would have thought it. Crowd funding works! And on the 14th July – my album will have officially been funded. Over the next two evenings Matt and I are finishing off the tracks before they head into the next phase of being mixed and mastered. The artwork is nearly done as well...so all in all...It’s coming together! Two massive ways that you can help me though are by:- Backing the album on Kickstarter (and telling others about it) Yes the album is already funded – but the more backers I get – the more the album can be promoted and the further it can go at this early stage. So please – if you haven’t done it already or got round to it or whatever....would you consider backing the album?
- Voting for my song “Fall on Me”. So – I’ve entered a song writing competition – I’d really appreciate it if you could vote for me....
As soon as I know the official release date for the album though – I’ll let you all know as well!
Right – I do
believe that concludes our catch up. I’ve probably forgotten a lot of
things...but they might come back at a later date. The next chapter will emerge
in about 10 days – with hopefully a massive album update, some (probably) embarrassing
stories from weddings, a report on my nieces dedication, and the next stage of
the bar in my garden complete (The next part of which is quite literally knocking
on my front door as we speak).
Can I just
say at this point though – thank you all so much for your support, your
prayers, your suggestions and your questions. Please keep them all coming via
email, Facebook and the twitter. I’m off now to look at instructions and to
pretend that I can do DIY (before leaving it for Wifey to sort whilst I’m in
the studio later). I’ve also got to carry on taking the house apart looking for
something for someone this week...If only I could remember the safe place that
I put it in........Oh...and for those on resolution count...I’ve mentioned two
(that you didn’t already know about).
God Bless
Andi
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