Build A Bed

Held the fort at home today to wait for a whole bunch of blokes in vans to do various things. First was a TV aerial consultant, second the washing machine delivery folks (the sweatiest) and lastly the chaps dropping off the bedframe. Once all three had been and gone I got to work on building the bed and juggling slats. Rebecca offered to help me build it but I wanted to be useful on my day off, I immediately regretted my choice to construct it solo though because it turns out, beds are rather heavy. Still it was worth the effort, gonna sleep very well tonight and we are both super pleased with it.

Counters and Confidence

Got my computer, desk and the TV moved over today. I plugged in my new processor and basked in the improvements, everything just runs with confidence now and its a delight to use. I cooked my first meal in the house too, got a sense of the hob and the work tops and that was an equally enjoyable experience. I know I keep saying this, but it's all coming together! The washing machine and the bedframe is also due to arrive tomorrow so we really are starting to run out of boxes to tick.

RAM Attack

Powered through work so I could bask in the glory that is my PC upgrades. I was expecting the final part in the mail today and when I got home I found it lovingly tucked under a recycling bin by the mailman. Louis swung by to help me build it all up, it quickly became a bonding experience on account of the trauma we both went through. Screws wouldn't go out, leads wouldn't plug back in, and to top it all off, I purchased the wrong type of RAM. A new stick of RAM is in the mail to me now so this time tomorrow I'll hopefully be enjoying the benefits of a greatly souped up PC.

Chris Pearless was in town this evening so Mark and I took him to a tapas place uptown, forgot just how much I enjoyed the social aspect of tapas and it was good to catch up with him too. We showed him round the new house too and he was almost as smitten as we are with it. Can't wait for all the furniture to go in so we can show it off to more people.

A Handyman

After a blissful lie-in I headed to the house for a day choc-full of IKEA furniture building. Built a Lauters (standing lamp) and a Gamleby (dining table + 4 chairs), that one really took some time on account of me stripping the one screw that held the whole thing together. Some gentle handiwork resolved the problem but it was a little touch-and-go.

To christen the new dining table I popped round to the local bakery which is less than 3 minutes away on foot. Though their coffee machine was down for the day I discovered they do dangerously delicious brownies for a very agreeable price.

Buzzing after the brownie I finished the furniture building and did a lil' bit of unpacking to kill time before our washing machine got delivered. I waited all day and it never turned up. Called their support line and they were almost more horrified than I was to hear the driver didn't show. We rescheduled the whole thing and I got £20 in compensation - my clothes can literally afford to smell for a few more days.

Finally, I drew my attention to putting up the curtains. Mum and Dad very generously lent me their mason drill, a tool I wasn't even allowed to look at while growing up was now revving in my hands. I've never used a mason drill before, nor had I ever put up a curtain rod so I was sweating bullets when I plunged the drill-bit into the wall, eternally marking our new home. Luckily, I did all my measurements beforehand, squaring up the corners first meant the final result looked the part. Most importantly, the curtains can do their function which means that tonight is going to be our very first night in the house. It's going to feel a little odd waking up here for the first time (especially since I've got a 5am trudge to work tomorrow morning) but I'm excited all the same.

As long as no-one tried to break in while we sleep I can rest easy. Any burglars that do come knocking will get a face-full of a mason drill.

Curtains Curtains Curtains

Enjoyed a tiny bit of 'me time' after work today. Just sat on the sofa and enjoyed the thought of not having to rush around and lift furniture up stairs... That'll be tomorrow. Instead Rebecca and I dived into the mysterious world of curtain buying. Perhaps we spent a little too long deliberating on the colour and texture of fabric we'd like, but we walked away with some good picks. I'll learn all about mounting curtain rails tomorrow no doubt. Drained from some late night shopping, we pulled a lazy one and got McDonald's for dinner for the first time in years - well deserved too!

Clawing Back Those 40 Winks

No rest for the wicked, even on a Sunday. Got up at the crack of dawn to open the cafe and work until the sun started to set. I was legitimately contemplating rolling my hat over my eyes and getting an extra 40 winks during my break, but I spent my half-hour researching sofas instead. Once I kicked off my shoes and got home I found Rebecca asleep in the flat, we're both tuckered out after a long and arduous week so we watched The Terminal to switch off l. It was way better than I remembered too! Made for a nice little respite before I'm back to it again tomorrow.

Burns Night 2020

Muscled through a busy day of work before meeting up with both my parents and Rebecca's folks for an extra helping of house moving. Our flat is starting to look pretty bare now, just a pair of desks and some crockery is tiding us over at the moment before we finally commit to our first night in the new house. Lack of curtains is our biggest hurdle right now, as soon as we've locked them in we are good to sleep in a dark room. I sorted out the internet too, that's up and running after a phonecalls with a technician. Only issue now is that the WiFi doesn't reach all the way to the toilet so I can't watch funny cat videos on the loo.

The light at the end of the tunnel for me this week has been the thought of spending yet another Burns Night with Louis and Rachel, and my expectations were heartily met. Haggis, wine and champagne were enjoyed as we shared the first meal in Louis' new house. The atmosphere was one of weary triumph, we've all had a hell of a busy week and it was nice to bask in our achievements and actually enjoy our new homes.

Moving The Mattress

Today was a big one. Mum and Dad drove down to help me, Louis and Rachel with moving. We got a fair amount of my bits all done and dusted this morning, the mattress is in most importantly though it wasn't looking too hopeful when we were squeezing it into the car. We picked up my mini office chair I picked up from Futon too and then daisy chained a whole lot of bits out of Louis' flat. Day went by in a flash but there's still a lot to be done. Rebecca and I are camping out in our living room this evening and I'm working bright and early tomorrow, then its back to packing!

Man in a Van

Grouped up at Louis' flat to help him load up a van with the pre-requisit man. We rounded up all his furnishings, illegally parked in the middle of the road and unloaded everything in a military operation - it was a jolly experience overall.

Rebecca was feeling a bit poorly today so she stayed home, I made two batches of porridge for each of us, first turned out wickedly awful and we rehoused to the bin, the second perked her right up though. Once her cheeks got a bit more rosey we popped out to some sofa shops and B&Q where I picked up my low-key dream house feature: a coffee shelf. Got some wood and some brackets, and it's going to look glorious mounted in our kitchen with all my coffee paraphernalia lined up. Cannot wait to put it up. 

I Can Stand This TV Stand

Following a long shift at work I wandered up to Park Street to pick up a compact (and frankly adorable) little TV stand for our house. While I was in the shop I spied literally my dream mini office chair, this particular one used to be part of the window display so it was heavily discounted on top of the store-wide sale, so I reserved that too to pick up later - couldn't believe my luck really. Carrying back home the TV stand turned out to be a lot more arduous than I anticipated, it was heavy, it started raining, and I really needed a wee the whole way home. Once I got him in set up in the house though I was chuffed, it gave me a real sense of what the living room might look like once it's fully furnished and that 'new house' tingle came back to me.

Heavy Hiking

Filled up my rucksack and a pair of tote bags and trekked up to the house no less than three times today. I hiked over most of my clothes, our ottoman, a coffee machine and various knick knacks, I also ordered a cute little TV stand to pick up tomorrow - basically it's all systems go on my end. I am feeling myself burning out slowly though, I made the effort to take it all a little slowly today so even though I did a lot, I did it at my own pace which was nice.

The thing that really won't help my fatigue levels is an early start to work tomorrow morning - gotta power through it though.

Self-Destructive Passion Project

Loaded up my rucksack after work and walked another load of stuff over to the house, this time I was also ready to murder that wardrobe. I finally know what a protagonist in a Darren Aronofsky feels like, because fixing that wardrobe become a self-destructive passion project of mine today. I was tinkering and screwing/unscrewing every possible bit until I at long last managed to fix it! It came at a cost though, my muscles are already aching from lifting and shifting a triple wardrobe by myself and I already know I'm going to be in agony come the morning. At least I can rest easy knowing another job is done.

Winning the Wardrobe?

A great Sunday breakfast gave us all the energy we needed for an IKEA trip, but not before calling in on Mark to borrow some of his power tools. What a bro. IKEA was fairly fruitful, we selected our dream dining table but discovered that our ideal sofa may be a little too big for our place after all.  Back to square one for us maybe...

The late afternoon an evening was spent shimmying stuff over to the house and tackling the wardrobe. Now armed with Mark's drill, we started making real progress. Took it all apart, got it upstairs, reassembled it, struggled putting the final screw in and couldn't quite figure out why until we took a step back and noticed something wasn't quite right. In truth, we still don't really know what we did wrong, the doors won't close quite right and one side looks like I wasn't screwed in all the way. Looks like I'm dismantling parts of it again to figure out what's wrong, but that'll be a job for another day because we got tired and hungry.  

War with a Wardrobe

After a busy Saturday shift, I met up with Louis, Rachel and Rebecca to do a bit of second hand furniture shopping. We visited a nearby place in the week we wanted to show off to my Brother, plus there was a wardrobe there that caught Rebecca's eye, she kept her fingers crossed it was still there. Thankfully, it was! Now, I sized up the corridors and the stairway in out house and determined that with enough will-power, we would just about be able to get it upstairs into our bedroom. Rebecca even said multiple times that all would be well in the move. Bet you've all heard variations of this horror story a million times before.

To cut to the chase, we bought it, alongside a really great chest of drawers for me, we agreed to get it delivered for a very agreeable rate and expected to get a call when the driver was on his way. Supposedly the driver would even be able to take it round tonight, but 6pm came and went so we cooked dinner and sat down for a chill meal. Two bites into dinner, at 6:45, the driver calls saying he's outside out house so we quickly had to bomb round to the place to meet him. For a chap we left waiting for ten minutes in the cold, he was very friendly and helped us shift the chest of drawers upstairs no problem. The wardrobe was a different story.

He immediately confirmed my worst suspicions, it wasn't gonna go up, the corridor was simple too narrow to navigate. We had a go, but no dice. Luckily, he spotted the whole thing was screwed together and recommended we take the whole thing apart and try again. He jetted off home, and we were left with a massive wardrobe with three dozen screws to play with and all I had was a severely under-powered electric screwdriver. So this was me, enjoying my wild Saturday night.

I got about halfway through before the screwdriver gave up the goat, we're heading down again tomorrow to give it another crack with some better tools. In fairness, it is coming apart ok, so with enough will-power, it will be done, it's just gonna take a lot more than we originally intended.

EU Funding

Sat on a phone call with Mum for most of the day trying to arrange an EU grant for Newbury's upcoming Youth For Europe event. Once we figure out if we are technically eligible for funding, we have to fill out a monstrously boring application form, I chiseled away at a very small chunk of it today but it's gonna take some time to do it right. Once I'd had enough of EU paperwork I decided to do something a little different and go for a run. Haven't been on one since May last year so it was a bit of a rude awakening, but I got into the groove of it pretty quick. Just went for a short run today but I felt good afterwards so I'll certainly be going on more in the future.

Louis and Rachel popped round for an evening of board games and cottage pie. We chatted about our new homes and all the upcoming trial and tribulations that come with it. It's an exciting time for sure though, we are all giddy with home potential and might even be going second hand furniture shopping together tomorrow.

Marriage Story

Swung by our house today to grab a few extra measurements, in particular I needed to size up the doorway so we can figure out what furniture would and wouldn't fit through. I spent longer than I expect to there too, just soaking up the space and planning where to put various bits and bobs.

I'm on a bit of an awards season hype-train right now, and when so many nominees are at my fingertips on streaming sites like Netflix it felt rude not to check out Marriage Story. Effectively a modern retelling of Kramer vs Kramer, the film chronicles a marriage post-collapse. Noah Baumbach's script is expertly written without ever sounding self assured, then there's the added bonus of two great leads who know how to hit all the right notes. Adam Driver delivers lines with a pointed trepidation, like he's trying to keep a golfball in his mouth, but we all know he's moments away from choking on it. Scarlett Johansson too keeps her cards close to her chest, saying one thing but her eyes tell us so much more about how she really feels in any given scene. Maybe the film is just a hair too long, but when it's played this well, you kinda don't want it to end.

We Bought a House

At 2pm today Rebecca and I walked into our estate agents, picked up a set of keys and walked into our new home. The whole process of buying a house hadn't fully sunk in until I stepped through the front door and walked through the empty rooms, this is our house now and we're ready to start making some new memories.

Most of the afternoon was spent shuttling over the first wave of boxes, mostly books and DVDs. We got our first cold caller literally within the first 15 minutes of us walking through the front door and we even bumped into our new neighbours a little later on. We told them we'd introduce ourselves a little more formally after we'd fully moved in but it was remarkable to feel so immediatly welcome on our new street.

Lots to do in the meantime though, plenty more furniture to buy and I've got a smattering of DIY projects to crack on with - mostly shelving, but fun jobs nonetheless.

The Irishman

Sat up at my little makeshift desk bright and early to finish up all my 'homework'. I put the finishing touches on my Death Stranding review and wrote a mini paragraph for a handful of games all for Sick Critic. I'm very eager to share the review but it's currently pending a glance from my editors. I ended up finishing up all my lil' jobs a lot earlier than I expected so I thought to myself 'Why not watch The Irishman?' Now that I've seen it, I could give you many reason not to watch The Irishman.

My word it was dull, painfully so at times. Several scenes long outstayed their welcome and while I love Al Pacino as much as the next man, but his scenes needed some trimming. It didn't really lay much groundwork to start with either, no one character or sequence hooked me into the story so I felt numb to the rest of the events. when I watch a film I devote my entire attention to it, but admittedly, I begun to lose focus at the halfway point, and once it lost me I never quite got back into it - being boring is the most damning thing a movie can do. To its credit, the de-aging tech was convincing and it all managed to coalesce into something meaningful in the last 15 minutes, but it was too little too late at that point. If you're a die-hard Scorsese fan you might find something to enjoy here but I'd struggle to recommend it otherwise.

Buzz Lightyear

Procured a few cardboard boxes from work to help with the move, I learnt the hard way to never walk with flattened cardboard during heavy winds. Storm Brendan was in full swing as I headed back, I looked like a crummy school dress up of Buzz Lightyear, but I wouldn't just be falling with style if I got caught in an updraft. I got home alright before letting Louis mope around in our flat while strangers went to visit his place.

Just a few days left until we officially become home owners, still feels a little surreal. I don't think it'll properly set in for a month of so after we move in. Mark kept saying his place felt like an Air B&B for the first few weeks, guess we'll have to endure that stage too. Its exciting for sure, lots of changes happening which I'm treating more and more like opportunities.

Mid-January Detox

My last day in London with Rebecca's family involved visiting her Nan and eating copious amounts of cheese. I'm very much looking forward to going on a mid-January detox because I've learnt I have the capacity to disgust myself by simply remembering all the chocolate I've eaten over the past fortnight. I'm back at work tomorrow morning for another fun early shift, made my over night oats and packed my bags, I heard it's gonna rain all week and I'm ready for it. 

(Not So) Sweet Dreams

Hopped in the car with Rebecca to go on a furniture tour around Twickenham. We hit up Dreams in search for a decent bed, we actually saw a good one online but this shop just didn't have it. Instead we used our time there to figure out what we didn't want in a bed: we don't want t a fabric bed, a divan, or anything with an end board since my legs are a bit too long. Finding something that fits the above criteria is surprisingly tough, so for now the search will continue. During the evening we enjoyed the company of some of Rebecca's family friends. There were 5 courses over dinner, starter, main, cheese, dessert, Cadbury's Heroes + coffee - don't think I've ever had that many! Plus there was alcohol aplenty to celebrate the very last of my Christmas meals, the fasting begins tomorrow...

Christmas Continues

Brewed some good coffee, set up my laptop and committed myself to a really good day of writing. I'm currently working on a review for Sick Critic on Death Stranding, none of the other staff writers wanted to touch it with a barge pole since it's a faily decisive title. I'm 90% done with it and I'm extremely chuffed with how it's shaping up, after a but of tweaking it could actually be one of the best things I've written.

After the clock struck 5 I packed for this weekend - I'm now in London with Rebecca and her folks for two days of family friends and warm lunches. This is officially my final bit of 'Happy New Year' well-wishing I'll be doing for 2020, I've just handed over (and received) the last of my Christmas presents too - feels like the festivities and excitement is still yet to end for me

How to Shake Hands

Psyched myself up for my interview early this morning, walked all the way there rehearsing my personal bullet points, reminded myself how to shake hands and did my power stance. You know what, it all paid off because it went really rather well. It's early doors though, apparently there's a second round of interviews if I make it into the next phase but I've really got my fingers crossed for this on!

Prep and Pre-emption

Cooked, cleaned and wrote a little more today. I also did a very early bit of packing in preparation for next week. I rummaged through my clothes and finally got around to throwing out all the holey socks I had, my stack of DVDs and games came next, I'm already visualising how good they'll look on our future shelves. Lastly, I did a bit more interview prep for tomorrow, I'm looking to really pre-empt any questions they could throw my way so I can totally nail it all tomorrow morning. I've genuinely pumped myself up a lot for this one, got a bit of fire in my belly too.

Want to Make it Count

Got about halfway through writing a piece for Sick Critic (editors have been barking at people to get back to work since the holidays have ended) and I got a phonecall out of the blue. A job I applied for before Christmas got back to me to offer me an interview on Thursday morning. I was elated, my mind rapidly began choosing my outfit and planning how to shake their hand. I think I've got a real shot at this one so I want to make it count.

My Gaming Picks for 2019

Getting up early is so tough in the middle of Winter, walking to work is even worse during the small hours of the morning. I slogged away at another quiet day of work, counting down the hours until I could get back home to do some writing and reading. I finished up my gaming picks of last year list, I wanted to try and not rank them this time round since it dawned on me that ranking things online is often a fruitless exercise, its good for riling people up and validating opinions rather than offering actual criticism.

Little Women

Finished watching the Switcher TV show, went to look at furniture and headed to the cinema to watch Little Women with Rebecca, and you know what? It's one if the best films I've seen in a fair old while. Greta Gereig just makes it look so easy, threading multiple characters and timelines together yet it never for a single second lost sight of the story's focus. Scenes between the four sisters bouncing off each other have an unmatched sense if authority and energy that eventually becomes infectious - scenes like this are quickly become Gerwig's calling card. Then you have the astonishingly good soundtrack that feels classic with enough flourishes to be distinctive, its all too easy to get swept up in the sounds and transported into the world of the film. Though its a costume drama, it ruled by the ambitions of it's characters and watching their lives unfold was simply enchanting.

Pitch Perfect Packing

Barely managed to lift myself out of bed today, getting home at 2am the night before does that to you I guess. Work was predictably busy with the weekend crowd, mostly older people whoball have a sweet tooth. I couldn't wait to get back home to catch up with Rebecca and the Witcher Netflix series, almost finished it now! In between all that Rebecca and I work on our jigsaw and discuss moving plans. She's already filled our one cardboard box with her DVD's - I was startled to discover just how many Pitch Perfect films we owned.

Su-Beer 2019

Trained up all day to compete in our friendly Smash Bros tournament 'Su-Beer'. Its a golden opportunity to meet up with old friends and play a few games with them. In between bouts of writing I commuted to playing some online matches to get me ready for the tourney. I hopped on a train to Reading, met up with everyone and it was like no time at all had passes since our last meet up. I left the games night too soon on account of work the next day but I left with the trophy, and more importantly a hoarse voice from laughing and cheering during the games.

Rocky 4 Montage

Training for the annual our Smash Bros tournament (Su-Beer) has begun. I discovered I was a little rusty over the holidays, thankfully a bit of sparring online shook the cobwebs off my thumbs. I'm bringing the trophy to the competition of course, but now that we are about to move house the stakes to hold onto the trophy are higher than ever - it would look great on our new mantelpiece...

I'm also in the midst of writing my highly anticipated Top Games of 2019 list, rest assured hungry fans, I shall reveal my coveted list soon. In truth, I can only think of 8 great games last year, I'm struggling to give favourable words to my runner-ups but I'll see how I go.

Puzzle Protégé

The uniform policy at work changed as of today so me and the others in shift all came in the most colourful clothes we could get away with wearing. In theory, New Years Day should have been a sleepy one but a local Rugby game meant the punters arrived in their droves. We actually ran out of food, not a sandwich, piece of toast nor a teacake was left by the end of lunchtime. Leaving that shift was a relief, I got back to see Rebecca in full jigsaw swing - Mum leant her one of her Wasgijs and she's been tinkering away with it ever since. Sadly, Rebecca is back to work tomorrow, the holidays too are officially over in my eyes too. Back to reality, but not begrudgingly. I'm ready to go out there and smash 2020.