Had a weird week…

We had a load of work done on the house years ago due to nextdoor’s house burning down and almost taking ours with it, but, our insurance sorted out a load of stuff… however… years later it turns out, if you try to put fresh paint on the walls, the previous paint just bubbles up and peels off.

So… after screaming at the walls in 1 room last year, I got a pro in to finish off the rest of the house…

This week he had to strip large chunks of paint back to bare plaster, let it all dry out and then basically build it all back up again.

We now have another fresh magnolia room instead of a grubby, slightly mouldy room.

But, seeing what the poor guy has to go through (when I drop off his coffee) to get each of these rooms done, man, hats off to skilled professionals.

Oh, and one of my best engineers told me he’s applied for another job… no gripes with anyone wanting to improve their career, but man, I’m in trouble if he goes as the rest can’t do what he does.

Was relatively mellow. Staying at my mum’s catsitting and work was pretty chill with it being half term allowing me to catch up on a lot of the busy work that doesn’t get done in the usual hustle and bustle.

Topped off with a 30K run as ongoing marathon training that went really well. Always feels great to get one of those in.

It’s been a long road back to daily routines and normalcy in general. Heavy mental and emotional loads, and that finicky heated moment where you’re almost but not quite out of the woods. Still getting situated after my company was bought out. They kept me and I got a bump, but it’s very different from what I’m used to.

Kind of lucky that my wife hasn’t started her new job yet, she took the kiddo to the Nothe Fort in Weymouth four times last week. He seems really fond of WWII-era stuff.

Now that we have a projector that’s worth a damn, I’ve gotten back into Armored Core 6. Still stuck on the same level as before (CEL 240), but I’m showing some improvement. Playing this in 4K at 120" is almost unbearably immersive. The sensory payload is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, I was actually a little bit shaken afterwards. Good fun, but need to be in the right frame of mind for it.

We also went to a cute cheese and curd shop in town this weekend; Cherry Tree is a strong recommend. We got three types of interesting curd (key lime pie, lemon meringue, and carrot cake flavour) as well as a truffle gouda to go on a pizza I’m making, mushroom and sausage.

The pad thai and peanut satay from last week was good enough, but nothing to write home about. I don’t have a recipe worth submitting, but I do recommend W2Kitchen’s video about pad thai from scratch.

I had a secret holiday this week. No one knows except work and one family member. I’m slowly coming out of my brainfog despite doing nothing but sleeping more and catching up with TV series. Health-wise it’s a downturn; there’s only so much beef jerky and marmite crumpets a man should eat, but it’s been glorious.

I plan to take more secret holidays this year. I love my family very much, but people make plans on your time and sometimes you just need a buffer.