1st Jan 2011

Well here it is at last. A new post after about eight months of not posting. And what an eight months. My wife died in July last year after being ill in hospital for three months. That of course made huge changes in my life.

After the initial grief I had to go back to work. Apart from the financial side and I needed the money, I just could not sit in front of the TV or computer for hours on end. I went back full time to another firm called 'New Adventure Travel'. Back to my old job of bus driving.

Because of the retirement rules and my age I could not go back to my old company anyway and this job suits me. There is little stress and I just get on with it. I have been working long hours from 07.00 to 6.00pm but in the new year I have changed for shorter hours just until 4.30 pm. That will be easier and I do not need the longer shifts.

I will try and make this blog up to date more often. If anyone reads this can you let me know just so I know it has been seen.

Thursday 6th May

Well another bloody weird week. I have had to cancel the holiday once again. My wife has fallen down and broken a bone in her knee again. The same knee as the last one two years ago and once again she is in hospital. This time it will be for another two or three months again. I feel for her and she has gone through a bloody awful time, but on a personal note I am sick of hospitals!

Today is Election day over here. The chances of the present government getting back in are very slim I think. I have voted for them but then I have been a Labour voter all my life. But they have had a lot of bad press and the chances are we will have either a Conservative government or a hanged parliament with no party getting overall power. How that will work out who knows.

I am going to try and get out this morning to take some photos. I have a lovely brand new camera and I have not used it at all. I need to take photos!

Monday April 12th

I have finally got the new camera that I have been trying to get for over a week. My wife has been and still is very poorly so we have not been out much. She was a bit better on Saturday so out we went to town to get the camera. Due to the extraordinary kindness of my old work mates I was given a voucher for £430 to spend in a camera shop.

I have always been a Nikon lover and the camera that I wanted and could afford was the D3000 SLR. I wanted a zoom lens as well so by paying just a small amount extra I got a Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens. What a combination! OK so it is not in the pro league but for me it is the best I will get unless I win the lottery! I am going to enjoy this one and want to get out as soon as I can to take some photos with it.

However my wife Mary is still very ill. We went out for a meal yesterday and she just not was not with it at all. When we came back home she went straight to bed and there she has stayed not moving. I will get a doctor today. I think she may have a severe water infection as the urine has just about stopped working. She had kidney failure two years ago and I hope that does not come up again.

Six days off

So this weekend as I have posted I have six days off. So far I have given the kitchen a damn good clean. That was bloody exciting I have to say...

The weather is crap so there is no point in going out anywhere. I will have to go out to the local shop later on but that is about it. I have been updating my other blog 'on the buses' with some memories of the last years.

It is my wife's birthday on Sunday and we have booked a meal in a pub for the three of us and Mum. That will be a nice change as we have not been to the pub since about Christmas time.

I do enjoy baking when I have time and will do a lot more when I retire full time. But I might get some done later on if my aching back stops playing up.

Retirement

Yesterday I put a letter in of my intention to retire early from Cardiff Bus at Easter this year. I have been thinking of it for some time but in the end as my wife is so ill I decided that it would be for the best. We might have to pull our reigns in a bit and the next three years will be a bit of a struggle but in the end I have to get out.

I have worked in one of most stressful parts of my firm for 22 years now and my wife has been gradually getting worse for the last 15 years. Something had to give and in the end it had to be work.

It is a very strange feeling though after putting in that letter. Part great relief and part great sorrow. The job itself I will not miss now as the stress is getting to me more and more. But I will miss the friends and fun that I have had over the years. We still have laughs every day and there is a great comradeship on the job.

However that is one phase of my life nearly over and it is time for the next. Lets go!