Back In The Land Of The Blogging

It's been an exceptionally quiet August here on ianfnelson.com, due to Jocelyn and I moving home and hence me being preoccupied with packing and unpacking our possessions, building flat-pack furniture and making several trips to the tip.  But I'm back online now (the BT business broadband has just been activated and is currently showing a mighty fine download speed of  5888 kbps) and hopeful of getting into a more regular blogging habit as the nights draw in and the cold begins to bite. 

Meanwhile, here’s something that I jotted down on July 12th, before we moved home, which I never got round to posting:

Last year's big project in the Nelson household was entitled "Get Married" - a project which achieved all key milestones, delighted major stakeholders, and came in only several thousand pounds over budget.

Actually, as an aside, I suppose there was another big project in the Nelson household last year, entitled "Join Avanade", which also initially appeared to be successful.  However, soon after go-live it was realised that the requirements-gathering process had not been conducted with sufficient care, and the users had ended up significantly worse off than they had been previously.  A roll-back to the previous configuration was hastily arranged, and uptime has been high and without major incident ever since.  But I digress....

This year's big project in the Nelson household is entitled "Move House", and so far eveything seems to be going well.

It's five and half years since I moved into our two-bed city flat.  An awful lot has changed in my life during that time - most obviously, I met and have been joined here by Jocelyn, so we now have two people's lives crammed into one small apartment.  But we're not the only people to marry during that time - so have the other four guys with whom I shared university accommodation at Grove Road, Nottingham (Rich, Damian, Alex and Bruce), plus Daffy, Ross, Simon and others - it's been a prime time for weddings.  Then there have been the ups and downs of the working world - somehow I've managed to squeeze five jobs into as many years (never again!).

Well.  We're moving to Sherburn-In-Elmet, a small town between Leeds and York.  We've bought a lovely big four-bed detached house there which hopefully should suffice for many years.  The sums that the banks are willing to lend at present is quite ridiculous (we were offered almost seven times my salary), so although we don't want to stretch ourselves too far, we're willing to take on some high gearing in the short term in order to have a nice place in which to live.  Sherburn wasn't our first choice of location, but it rapidly became apparent that you can get much more for your money there than in some of the cuter villages closer to York.  Whilst part of me would love to live in the likes of Bishopthorpe, it really isn't worth the premium currently being asked.  Besides, Sherburn is much better placed for my commute onto the M62 "Super City".

It's funny the things that become more appealing as you "mature" (which, incidentally, I now recognise to be merely a euphemism for "grow old and demented").  Five years ago I wanted my new flat to contain a big TV connected to the hi-fi on which I once blew an entire year's student loan... maybe a fridge full of beer, lots of CDs, black leather everything, and be in close proximity to pubs, clubs and pizza delivery zones.

Now?  Now I want peace, some respite from the noisy kids upstairs who laugh late into the night and play their music which is "wholly or predominantly characterised by a succession of repetitive beats". I want a guest room with a double bed so that my (also married) friends can come visit whenever they wish.  I want a dining table so that we can share a meal with them - preferably something weighty, maybe oak.  I want a garage in which to keep my tools, and a lawnmower for.. well, y'know.. mowing the lawn.  I want a door from the house which leads into the garage.  I want an outside tap, and a hosepipe that I can use to wash the Focus at weekends.  I want a dishwasher - too much of my life has already been wasted cleaning dishes.  I want lots of telephones scattered around the house.  I want multiple WCs.  I want an en-suite.  I want some recycling bins - I've always wanted to recycle, but never had the space in which to keep the stuff awaiting recycling.  I want to be able to host Christmas at our home instead of having to rely on the hospitality of my sisters every December.

Sounds somewhat disconcertingly like Renton's "Choose Life" speech, doesn’t it?