Blog 37
At the time of writing the last blog, the Christmas parties were in full swing and I was
hanging on by a thread. After the Bristol Rovers staff night out I could have been knocked
over my either my two year old daughter Molly or my, recently turned one, son, Harry. So it
was with trepidation that the famous Cleve Chiropractic and Next Step Christmas party
commenced. This year we stayed local and went to Bottagino’s in Emersons Green, well that
was after and before the pub! The night was going well until Practice Managers Kate and
Sarah decided to start on the flaming Sambucas. Now for all my younger readers a ‘Flaming
Sambuca’ is a type of Exotic African bird …for my older readers, well that’s just what I think I
saw.
Just to add a little spice to the endurance month of December, we decided to move
house…last minute…just before Christmas. We looked at a shiny David Wilson new build
house in Keynsham on the 14 th of November and as they were so keen to pay our stamp
duty and part exchange our house we thought we’d give it a go. Give it a go?! What was I
thinking?! I forgot what stress it is moving house and doing it in 5 weeks pushed the
boundaries of my already overstretched brain. The solicitors, BLB in Trowbridge were
brilliant to be fair, they had to be, but the amount of paperwork and the subsequent
problem fixing when you buy and sell a house at exactly the same time tests your
unflappability. To add to that getting a mortgage isn’t simple when you own and run a
business but Mortgage Express did a sterling job. So in the last week before Christmas on
Monday it was all doom and gloom with moving looking impossible; Tuesday evening the
Mortgage money finally came through; Wednesday afternoon we completed and
exchanged; Thursday we moved into my Mum and Dads and the amazing RJ Removals
packed up our house (they were so good, I am never packing up my own house ever again!);
Friday they moved us and with the steadfast help of Molly and Harry, Jenny and Mum and
Dad unpacked as I worked my last day of the year; Saturday (Christmas Eve) we drove to
Port Issac in Cornwall to spend Christmas with my brother and his family.
The story doesn’t end there. I may consider myself a man of the world but as I was a born
and bred Bristolian I am arguably a ‘city boy’. Now I hear from my brother over and over
that Cornwall is different, it is a country of its own apparently and recently there have even
been reports of an escaped lion killing deer and scaring locals. So on the drive down we
were all on the look out for the magnificent beast when with only 20 minutes to go, what
appeared to be a goat with wings, flew into my windscreen smashing it and even knocking
off my rear-view mirror. I saw it at the last second swoop in and I may have jumped…just a
little. Molly now knows the words ‘Christ’ and ‘that was a big bird’. Not exactly what every
parent wants to hear but hey I’m surprised I didn’t say anything else…but she’s right those
seagulls in Cornwall are massive, it must be all the extra radiation.
At work, January sees all the new year, new you, propaganda and we are no different so
James has set up an indoor boot camp for you all in Mangotsfield on a Tuesday morning at
9:30 am for an hour after the school run for only £37.50 for 5 classes. He’s also doing
personal training 1 to 1 or 2 to 1. You can book a set of 10 1 to 1’s for only £250. For more
details please check out the Next Step Centre website.
