OK, here's a quick challenge for you... which TV programme am I describing...?
... On his 40th birthday, Tom gives up his job as a draughtsman in a company that makes plastic toys for breakfast cereal packets as he is no longer able to take his job seriously. Their house is fully paid for, so he and his wife Barbara make a decision to live a sustainable, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their beloved home in The Avenue, Surbiton. In pursuit of this good life, they dig up their front and back gardens and convert them into allotments, growing soft fruit and vegetables. They introduce chickens, pigs (Pinky and Perky) a goat (Geraldine) and a cockerel (Lenin).
Fair enough, if you're younger than 30 you probably have no idea but the rest of you will be shouting the answer at the blog... 'The Good Life'!
Well this afternoon, as Natalie was digging over the vegetable patch and I was spraying Weedol over some pesky weed (the name of which I can never remember!), it occurred to me that maybe subconsciously I have taken on the persona of Tom Good from the Good Life. In fairness this revelation might have been sparked, in part at least, because Felicity Kendal had a great arse and this is a feature that Natalie shares with her. And when she was bent over those carrots...
... Sorry where was I? Oh yes, the Good Life! We're not quite self sufficient, in fact the whole of this year's harvest consisted of some small carrots, three courgettes, a selection of very oddly shaped tomatoes and twelve beetroots. I have to say that I'm extremely pleased with this crop. Maybe it's my terraced house upbringing in Liverpool but I still retain a child like delight in eating anything that I've picked myself. Apart from a few blackberries picked of the brambles in the back alley I can't remember anything else I've eaten that didn't come off a shelf!
The garden overall is in a bit of a state... my excuses are as follows:
1. We had a baby
2. The weather has been wet, which has made everything grow really fast
3. The weather has been wet which has stopped me from going into the garden
4. We had a baby
5. I'm a lazy bastard who'd rather be writing a blog than mowing the lawn.
Nat's dad who makes his living by growing things and then selling them (it's a bit more complicated than that but I don't really understand the detail), frightens the live out of me every time I walk around the garden with him. I think he more or less said that it was out of control and would soon be reducing the value of the house... thanks Big Al, I'll sleep much better now! Anyway, if his plan was to frighten me into action, it worked. I've hardly been out of the garden since he went home.
I've just realised that excuse number five above is not technically an excuse, it's actually a reason! But I'm leaving it on my list anyway!
Charlie is beginning to develop a personality. In fairness, it's just a start but he now definitely has a special cry that basically means 'I'm not hungry, I'm not tired, my nappy doesn't need changing, I'm just a bit pissed off for a reason even I don't fully understand but you're my parents and I'm wholly reliant on you to sort everything out for me so I'm making this noise which is a close to a shout as I can get.' Nat and I both recognise this special cry and we both work very hard to make sure that Charlie is not with us when he makes it... it's like a parental version of pass the parcel.
We've had two visitors from the previous place of work this week and it was all very strange. I tried to be really interested in what was going on but in truth it was really difficult. How intriguing that you can work for twenty years for a business and then six weeks later be totally unconcerned about anything that happening there. That's not strictly true... I'm still very interested in the people but not in the other goings on. It makes you realise how attached we become to our places of work. It takes on a life of it's own and we attach importance to it way beyond the reality.
Gosh, that was a bit philosophical... I'd better go and have a cup of tea....!
... On his 40th birthday, Tom gives up his job as a draughtsman in a company that makes plastic toys for breakfast cereal packets as he is no longer able to take his job seriously. Their house is fully paid for, so he and his wife Barbara make a decision to live a sustainable, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their beloved home in The Avenue, Surbiton. In pursuit of this good life, they dig up their front and back gardens and convert them into allotments, growing soft fruit and vegetables. They introduce chickens, pigs (Pinky and Perky) a goat (Geraldine) and a cockerel (Lenin).
Fair enough, if you're younger than 30 you probably have no idea but the rest of you will be shouting the answer at the blog... 'The Good Life'!
Well this afternoon, as Natalie was digging over the vegetable patch and I was spraying Weedol over some pesky weed (the name of which I can never remember!), it occurred to me that maybe subconsciously I have taken on the persona of Tom Good from the Good Life. In fairness this revelation might have been sparked, in part at least, because Felicity Kendal had a great arse and this is a feature that Natalie shares with her. And when she was bent over those carrots...
... Sorry where was I? Oh yes, the Good Life! We're not quite self sufficient, in fact the whole of this year's harvest consisted of some small carrots, three courgettes, a selection of very oddly shaped tomatoes and twelve beetroots. I have to say that I'm extremely pleased with this crop. Maybe it's my terraced house upbringing in Liverpool but I still retain a child like delight in eating anything that I've picked myself. Apart from a few blackberries picked of the brambles in the back alley I can't remember anything else I've eaten that didn't come off a shelf!
The garden overall is in a bit of a state... my excuses are as follows:
1. We had a baby
2. The weather has been wet, which has made everything grow really fast
3. The weather has been wet which has stopped me from going into the garden
4. We had a baby
5. I'm a lazy bastard who'd rather be writing a blog than mowing the lawn.
Nat's dad who makes his living by growing things and then selling them (it's a bit more complicated than that but I don't really understand the detail), frightens the live out of me every time I walk around the garden with him. I think he more or less said that it was out of control and would soon be reducing the value of the house... thanks Big Al, I'll sleep much better now! Anyway, if his plan was to frighten me into action, it worked. I've hardly been out of the garden since he went home.I've just realised that excuse number five above is not technically an excuse, it's actually a reason! But I'm leaving it on my list anyway!
Charlie is beginning to develop a personality. In fairness, it's just a start but he now definitely has a special cry that basically means 'I'm not hungry, I'm not tired, my nappy doesn't need changing, I'm just a bit pissed off for a reason even I don't fully understand but you're my parents and I'm wholly reliant on you to sort everything out for me so I'm making this noise which is a close to a shout as I can get.' Nat and I both recognise this special cry and we both work very hard to make sure that Charlie is not with us when he makes it... it's like a parental version of pass the parcel.
We've had two visitors from the previous place of work this week and it was all very strange. I tried to be really interested in what was going on but in truth it was really difficult. How intriguing that you can work for twenty years for a business and then six weeks later be totally unconcerned about anything that happening there. That's not strictly true... I'm still very interested in the people but not in the other goings on. It makes you realise how attached we become to our places of work. It takes on a life of it's own and we attach importance to it way beyond the reality.
Gosh, that was a bit philosophical... I'd better go and have a cup of tea....!
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