One I wrote last November for Remembrance Day, thought I would share it here;
The Poppy.
I come in many colours, my most recognised being red.
Red.
The colour of blood that has spilt over centuries of battles.
Red.
The colour of mist that sometimes takes us over.
Red.
The colour of eyelids after tears have been spent reminiscing.
Red.
The colour of love which is undying for family and friends.
I am here to help you remember. Take time to do so as one day you too will be remembered.
Today was the day that a very dear friend’s final chapter of his life was closed. This friend’s name was Kieron, and we first met in 2004 as part of an online social gathering. After meeting on that first occasion our friendship grew and grew, and I am truly honoured to be able to stand and be counted as a friend of his.
We had a fair bit in common; both had an evil sense of humour, quick-witted, loved old cars and were born 3 months apart – oh and loved a good sing-along and a gin or 9!!
His farewell was performed in two parts and, bearing in mind what the occasion was, it was a lovely day – one I will never forget. The day began with a service of thanksgiving at Kieron’s church, St. Mark’s Crescent Methodist church in Maidenhead. Kieron was a Christian and epitomised this in the fact that he would always help others whenever he could, and his faith certainly helped him in the final year of his life which was cut short due to cancer. Because the priest personally knew Kieron the whole delivery had a real personal note to it, which made it even more special. The church was filled and part of the service was devoted to Kieron’s life – a celebration as that was what today was all about. Stories were told of Kieron’s antics as a youngster and also about the man he was.
After the service we then went to the crematorium. Opening the committal service was the theme to Thunderbirds – he had always loved the programme and a ripple of laughter went through his friends and family. The same priest performed part of this service too, which again was really nice – I truly believe the priest was saddened on this day as we were.
For me, the most special part was when Kieron’s partner, Tom, recited a eulogy. Amazingly he completed it without breaking down – God only knows where he got the strength to do that, it was humbling. I want to share the poem with you here;
You can shed tears that he is gone
Or you can smile because he has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember him and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
Keiron loved music. The first piece was Elaine Paige, Memory, and we finished the day on Cabaret – I did a little jazz hands as we left the crematorium. We then went to chat, laugh, cry and reminisce with friends at his wake.
So, goodbye my dear friend, I will miss you sorely but you will live on in my heart and fond, fun memories. Until we meet again x
All the pictures below were from a holiday we all went on to Gran Canaria – it was one of many fun times.
Tonight was probably one of the hardest nights of my life so far. I had to say goodbye to a dear friend. Not “Bye” as in “see you soon” but goodbye as it would be the last time I would see him.
My friend, Kieron, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in December 2011. He has been at home since mid January after reaching a certain point in his illness where it was better for him to be at home. He has care daily and his loving partner is there all the time.
Kieron is heavily sedated at the moment so unable to respond but whilst we were talking to him he managed to open his eyes, I’d like to think that was a sign that he knew we were there. Saying my final farewell was an odd feeling. Not sure what to say etc. I did say a few words and then that was it. I will miss him, he was always a good laugh, would talk to anyone and help people. I’ve got lots of great memories of fun and laughs which I will treasure forever.
This is an odd post. I wasn’t sure if I should have posted but then thoughts”why not?”
Well, not long now until we cross off another year, and eat ourselves silly during the Christmas period. 2013 – a year of change for me, with regard to my employment, a little bit of weight and my general outlook on life. I know, I know, contemplation at the end of the year – who’d have thought that would catch on!!
On the work front my first contract comes to end, and thankfully I got a 4 month extension. Working on a new project and hopefully getting the same feedback that I got from my current one. It’s been a really good, and fast, 3 months – great team, delivered a really good product (albeit only a proof of concept but functional) and learned new techniques which is only good news considering I am now a contractor.
My birthday is coming up – 44 this year. Looking forward to celebrating it with some friends at Le Gavroche – yes our second visit, it’s a really great place and if you can indulge yourself you should really try it out.
Wonder what will happen next year? Hopefully we will be closer to getting out deposit sorted out to start looking at a new house; get some holidays booked to relax and discover new places, and keep meeting up with friends, both old and new.
Until then, have a splendiforous Christmas and New Year, best of luck with whatever you choose to do and make sure you ENJOY it!
This was my 5th visit to the Reading’s only Michelin starred restaurant, and it lived up to the expectations. It was also my first company Christmas do!
This is a fairly short blog as the pictures I took with the iPhone, in low lighting and without flash don’t do any justification to the food, so you will just have to go and eat there yourself to get the visual impact.
We chose the Prestige tasting menu. We noticed that the a la carte has now gone, and you have the choice of a 7 or 10 course taster – all good in my book!
Starting off we had Waldorf soup. Served in a little tea cup, akin to a cappuccino. Very nice taste and texture, with a good balance of walnut.
Next we had roast scallops, cauliflower purée & beignet, smoked bacon & curry oil. Scallops were cooked well. The bacon was quite salty (yes I know bacon is but this was a bit more than average). Curry oil had a nice taste to it, not too strong and complemented the puree and beignet. Continue reading
Hate the word dieting, but I couldn’t think of an alternative! I am adjusting my eating habits and looking to lose more weight. Currently I have lost 10kg in my last stint, but I have lost 20kg in total from my heaviest weight.
I’m using MyFitnessPal to help me here, so it’s calorie counting and I am using around 1500 calories per day. I’m not doing this every weekend though, my thoughts here are to shed a decent amount and then maintain it but still allowing myself to enjoy food.
It would be a lot easier if I didn’t like food so much but hey I need at least one vice right! I mean fine dining / rich foods here. I’ve cut out a lot of beer recently, but still enjoy a glass of wine and a gin or three.
So, the next 10kg target has been set and away we go.
We decided a week or so ago to spend a day in London, sampling some cocktails as we usually just have a few drinks in the pubs. I thought I would share where we went if anyone else was interested to try them.
First off we went to Selfridge’s which used to have a lovely little bar, called Gordon’s. Unfortunately this is no more and scuppered our first “port of call”. Thankfully, with the use of technology we found some new places, the first of which was “Mews of Mayfair“. As it was a nice afternoon we sat outside – we didn’t venture inside but looking at the pictures it looks amazing.
Just finished my second week in my contracting role, and it’s going well. A big element of this success is the people I am working with who, on the whole, are friendly and helpful.
It’s another busy role, but my last one was busier than this so I am just about keeping my head above water and not swallowing too much of that water. It’s all brand new stuff I am working on, so I am learning new things each day which to me is another bonus.
I’ve yet to see any money come my way from this, or another piece of work I did a while back, but I guess this is how it’s going to be – you send an invoice and wait some weeks.
My initial period was 3 months, so around 12 weeks. It’s going fast and hopefully the project I am working on gets delivered on time!
On the 31st July, earlier this year, I was officially made redundant from my last role. If you had seen my previous post this redundancy stint actually started off in April. Upon knowing my role was “at risk” I was put onto gardening leave, so 3 months of doing not much. It wasn’t all sat round; I passed my PRINCE2 qualifications, my Enterprise Vault Technical Specialist, set up my limited company and did some volunteering for Age Concern.
Currently I am still looking for work, which is frustrating when you deal with employment agencies – especially as most of the roles are now done through these. I’m still looking to land a decent contracting role, but the clock is ticking here as I don’t want to eat through the severance package – keeping as much as we can means we have a head start on a deposit when we finally start to look at moving. Continue reading
You know when you have good friends when they invite you to join them on an exclusive dining event. Pop up restaurants are all the rave now, and the latest one in London is Noma – the #1 Restaurant in the world. For 2 weeks, July 28 to August 6, René, Matt and a team of chefs from Noma performed ‘A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s’ in London. I believe the restaurant was having some improvements made so this allowed them to continue delivering excellent food and for the diners to not have to wait months to go to the restaurant itself! The event was run by American Express Centurion.
Prior to going into the dining area we had a cocktail in the bar at the hotel, not for the faint hearted! £72 for 4 cocktails!!! Still, and again this is another great thing our friends did, we effectively got a half-price ticket so forever grateful to Dean and Mat. Both of us were celebrating out anniversaries, we share the exact same one bizarrely. This is the second fine dining evening we’ve had as a foursome to celebrate.
The evening started with a meet and greet with the main man himself, René Redzepi. A fleeting “Hello and welcome” but a nice touch. Sat at the table we were then offered a glass of champagne, Laurent-Perrier Champagne Rose NV, to begin with – the meal was a set menu with accompanying wines; the wine glasses were rarely empty.