The bridge to nowhere

I have finished the bridge, for better or for worse. You can see pics of it by clicking here or here.


Or these may suffice:

A cold Korean morning

The bridge grows, panel by panel

A reconnaissance aircraft swings over low for a look-see.

PS. I just realised that the walk we went on in the last posting was on the hill that Peter Gabriel sang about: Solsbury Hill.

Unemployment

So the hockey season has started again. I can tell because everything hurts. Last weekend we lost 5-2 after going off at half-time at 0-0. Fifteen minutes of madness into the second half and it was 4-0. It took me until Wednesday to be able to move freely again. This weekend we had a 2-2 draw, the defence was tighter, and I should be able to move by Tuesday. Next weekend I'm aiming for Monday... Sadly we are second or third from bottom of the league so well in the relegation zone at this point. Some captaincy.

J made the pain worse last weekend by making me go for a walk on Sunday. I struggled up to Solsbury hill where there is an ancient ramparted fort site with a fantastic view over bath and the valleys. Then we wandered around RAF Charmy down which has quite a few relics of the war years and immediately after. One remaining runway is now used for microlights, and we saw a two-seater Thruster, the big-brother of Dad's joy.

I have made progress on the bridge now that the book has quietened down (more on that in a sec). I have actually finished the bridge side of things and now only (!) have to pose, paint and place the 22 figures.

The book is nearing completion. We proofed the acknowledgements last week, and most of it is with the indexer now. I thought it was to be printed in China but apparently it will be done in Poland. That's the nature of our global economy. I got to see the dustcover as well last week, and it's quite good. Conservative, but that's the AtB style through and through. April is still the projected release date, but I don't know what they do for a launch.

I did my invigilating and some supply teaching, and have one more day booked tomorrow, but otherwise it is time to hit the agents. One job was for an administrator of financial products but I haven't heard from them after I was asked answer "Why are you interested in financial products?" Basically I don't give a shit about financial products so tried to emphasise the technical appeal of the position, but can't have been convincing.

The end of the noughties

New Year's was unspectacular for us though the kids had a good enough time it would seem. (Please note that the following description in no way condones binge drinking.) O was home by 11:30 after pacing himself carefully, though clearly over the wrong distance. He remembered throwing up at the pub, but not at home, a fact that was unpleasantly brought to his (and all of our) attention the following morning. C had got detached from her other friends and spent the early morning wandering around Bath with a stranger, both looking for respective homes away from home. Dangerous, but she got away with it, the silly girl. Sunday mid-day looked like a scene from Dawn of the Dead as the four of them, all still in last night's clothes, eventually found their way through the shower and then back to bed to catch up on missed sleep. God I miss those days. NOT.

C and O are actually officially C nand O, a decision that had been decided a few weeks back but which was announced on Facebook by a change of status followed by a flurry of explanatory messages. That's the modern way I guess. It all seems quite amicable, but O is going to Wellington for Film School and C is staying in Dunedin to finish her Masters.

We put them on the plane this morning at Heathrow, so they should be halfway between Dubai and Brunei about now. J and C were stoic, but it is always hard to say goodbye. Between the two of them they seem to have left a whole heap of stuff behind, presumably because it was too heavy for their bags, but what a waste of money.

I've been wearing a new hat again at Hayesfield, this time exam invigilator for a week or two, but then my time may actually be up for good. It'll be weird as I have been working there a year now under various guises. I've updated my CV so so we'll see what happens.