claytoncast

So after unplugging my headphones and microphone, and then deciding that none of my dictation programs were working properly, I have purchased the new version of DragonDictate. For quite a while now I've preferred to be able to talk to my computer, rather than struggle with typing on it. I needed it so it's a good investment. And then I looked down and found out that my microphone and headphones were unplugged. The basic  element in trying to make  the programmes work! I would regard myself as technologically savvy. I can usually solve almost all problems that occur on my computer, especially since moving over to Mac five or six years ago.  I'm an Apple junkie. The iPhone 5 is on my Christmas list and I am toying with buying myself a new desktop as mine is now 5 years old and would probably benefit from replacing.  particularly having seen them on the website, like most Apple products, it is a thing of beauty and one that I can't wait to ...

I'm  sure I have enthused on my blog before about my love of Autumn. How it stems from my childhood days in the back bedroom above the shop in Yorkshire, where the curtains were a little thin and the dark nights meant that no light would flood through them as I tried to settle down to sleep. Next weekend the clocks go back and Autumn and then Winter will be upon us. I'm not quite sure where this year has gone — a sign of growing older I am told  as each year becomes a smaller fraction of the life that existed before it -  and yet here we are in the last quarter of 2012 hurtling towards whatever festivities you choose to celebrate in mid-December! The last week has felt particularly autumnal. Richard has been in Australia, working hard, but at least having the fringe benefits of walking about Melbourne and Sydney in 27° sunshine. He spent Saturday on a luxury boat pottering around Sydney Harbour, as we endured rainfall and wind. I've had a busy...

So at this moment in time, when I just grabbed a few minutes to catch up on my blog, Richard is in the air about to land in Abu Dhabi. He's on his way to Australia and will be back next Sunday afternoon about 3:30 PM. At 3 PM that afternoon I go off to Paris for three days to do some training with a client over there.  I arrived back from Spain on Wednesday morning and bumped into him in his office after a gap of five days when I was in AKA doing some training work. Ships that pass in the night is the phrase, and it would seem to be true. Yet when we do manage to end up at home together in our bed it is the most wonderful place in the world. We bought it after our civil partnership six years ago with John Lewis vouchers kindly given to us by our friends and it sits in the first bedroom that I have had that I would call a haven.  I don't sleep well. At least I can't get off to sleep. Once I'm asleep, I'm away and have little problem ...

And so, as predicted, things have got much busier. Two trips to Amsterdam in the last 8 days, lots of activity at the Actors Centre, and bookings on the corporate front now stretching through until mid-November. All rather good………… for the bank manager. It's been a lean summer. Amidst all this activity I'm still trying to pack in regular visits up to see Mum. This week I was able to tie in a meeting in Sheffield with a visit to see her for the day on Tuesday. I arrived a little earlier than I normally do on my daily trips and she was still having lunch. I stuck my head round the dining room door and momentarily my heart stopped. All I could see were little old ladies sitting having lunch. I couldn't pick out Mum.  When she first arrived at Rotherwood  on a dark cold unforgiving February Friday afternoon, even though she wasn't at her best she looked different from all the existing residents. I remember walking away from home that afternoon thinking  “Have I do...

I always think it's still rather wonderful that despite it being nearly forty years since I was last in education, the beginning of September always has that back-to-school feel about it. I've been spending the weekend on my own catching up on paperwork at my desk. Rich has been off on a stag weekend  down in the country and will no doubt return happy, and content but tired later this afternoon. Having just completed my accounts, something that I've done on a Sunday morning since way back in the 1970s when I first left drama school, I was looking at my diary for the forthcoming month. Hey presto, it's busier than it has been since June! The new term is about to start. Several trips abroad, albeit one of them being a holiday in the 3rd week of September, and lots of little jobs all over the place until late in October. This gives me that contented sort of feel that I tend to associate with the smoky leaf strewn days of autumn. Although I've grown to lov...

So at long last, after nearly 5 months, my mother's house is sold. It's been a long uphill struggle. After an estate agent that overvalued the property, and advised us that doing a “offers above" price would work best, we've actually managed to sell it. Why anybody would offer more than the price listed on an estate agents card is beyond me. Particularly for a small  2 up 2 down terrace property just outside Rotherham! Anyway, I did manage to get a discount on the estate agents fees by challenging her that I thought the property had been put on the market at the wrong price. Actually the selling price  was rather  immaterial. All the proceeds over and above £24,000 will go to the government  to pay for my mother's care. The slow drip feed of my inheritance into the coffers of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. We accepted an offer from somebody £6000 below the asking price on condition that they were a cash buyer and would move quickly. T...

 So in the week when we thought we all thought we might have  life space to fill post-Olympics, we've actually been rather busy. After the hectic day last Saturday visiting the Olympic park with Richards parents, I awoke hoarse but happy. The four hours we had spent in the Olympic Stadium had been absolutely fantastic. Watching Mo Farah win the 5000 m was one of those experiences that will stay with me for a lifetime. I was already welling up as they announced the name of the runners and  I turned to Richard's Mum and said  “I have absolutely no idea what I'll be like if he wins". He did win in considerable style and amidst a noise so deafening and filling, the like of which I've never heard. Having hugged Rich I turned to the man next to me, a perfect stranger, and he said “Brilliant wasn't it?" “Yes" I replied and then as an afterthought “and I hate sport" He laughed, and to me that's what the Olympics brought to us al...