Friday 15 May 2009

Just another week... not quite...

Its been quite an odd week, it was rounded off by hearing the news that the chap who gave me my first real job had passed away. Jeff Cowley will be remembered by many, sometimes for the wrong reasons as many people didn't get on with him, but what Jeff represented to me was a feeling of knowing where you stand. Jeff never lied to me, he never misled me, he often defended me and others, knowing that we were in the wrong.

Jeff was an Architect for Sheffield City Council, he put practicalities first, often upsetting the other Architects in the office, but perhaps Jeff's greatest achievement was helping to get the World Student Games to Sheffield in 1991, he attended the 1987 games in Sarajevo and worked hard in enabling the games in Sheffield to take place. The world is sadly lacking people like Jeff, who "tell it as it is". Farewell Jeff !

Another hit this week was the visit to hospital with mum, she has been freefalling for a few years now towards dialysis and if soon to go onto a transplant list, the words mean little to most, but actually getting into the details was quite a reality check for us both. Makes my cold and cough pale into insignificance really...

Sunday 10 May 2009

1000, 2000, 3000, Check Canopy !

Well they say thats good advice for jumping out of an aircraft... Everything appears to be coming together for a very mad few months through May, June and July, what possibly could go wrong !

I've made loose arrangements for the 30th May to have a stroll around Sheffield by way of a "Stag Day", I have a few days in Gdansk in early June, then a 9 day tour of England, Wales and Scotland, culmanating in a mad dash on the 21st June from John o Groats to Lands End, then I get married in July followed by a glorious two weeks touring France, Italy and Switzerland.

Everything is booked bar a few little details, who said weddings were stressful, well perhaps its the paying for them that gets you ;¬)