Tuesday 5 March 2013

Welcome to 2013




Dylan finds his mummy in the kitchen, washing up.
 
Dylan: What are you doing here?
Daddy: Your mummy was put on this planet to make wonderful little boys like you.
Dylan: Oh dear.
 
It has been a long time since I posted a blog update and this may well be my last. It’s not that I’ve found a job, it’s more that things feel like they are coming to an end and I need to make the most of my time at home.
 
I passed the Diploma and, incredibly, got distinctions in the exam and evidence file. The exam board said “All the judges agreed that they would wish to employ Chris. His enthusiastic personality and natural communication ability, combined with his clear speech and articulate way of presenting facts, make him stand out from the crowd. He has a vision for the future and we feel he will be an outstanding head of internal communications in a few years.” You’d think this sort of kind testimonial would go a long way towards getting me a job but I’m learning that it doesn’t work quite like that.

Every year I go to the Cropredy Music Festival with five friends. In 2011, we were all employed and pursuing careers. Right now, half of us are unemployed and another one is employed but unpaid. Holly’s brother was made redundant after Christmas. The whole of my old team was disbanded. The job market is bleak and it seems to be affecting everyone.
 
Still, we had a wonderful Christmas and Dylan loved every second of it. He’s doing okay with his letters and numbers, and he knows all the common colours. Occasionally he will tell me what two colours make purple, orange and green. He’s just passed his second badge at Tumble Tots and we have finally started swimming lessons. Unfortunately, the lessons coincide with his nap, so the first week I had to leave after ten minutes with Dylan sobbing in my arms. But we went back and he loved it. We’ve also started making weekly trips to Horseworld as Dylan has become quite obsessed with animals. He knows the names of all the horses at Horseworld and, in his animal books, can correctly identify lions, tigers, cheetahs and leopards, which I think is pretty good for a two-and-a-half year old.
 
Our house is a lot of unfinished jobs. Before Christmas, I started decorating our bedroom, and I’d like to think I would have finished by now if I hadn’t discovered a serious condensation problem in the loft when I went up to fetch the tree. We’ve emptied the contents of the loft into the spare room and my dad is helping me to improve our loft space but it is slow going. Our bedroom is on hold until the spare room is clear and I don’t know when that will be. On the plus side, the long periods of wet weather, followed by the recent cold, have highlighted problems with our cavity wall insulation, which will be fixed tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a warmer, dryer house.
 
I’ve more or less given up on writing short stories. Before Christmas, I started working on a sitcom which absorbed a lot of my free time, and then this was parked to work on a new recording. In January, one year after I recorded Americana, I went back to the studio to record four more of my songs. It was an intense weekend but I’m really pleased with the results, some of which can be heard here. My ‘Song for Christmas ep’ will be available to buy through iTunes and Amazon later this year.
 
I’m still gigging and last month I was invited to play an hour long set at the Pucklechurch Cider Festival. In May, I’ll be playing the first set after the official Page Park bandstand opening ceremony and I’m planning to write a song to mark the occasion. It’s lovely to be invited back to play these festival gigs, especially when I can see Dylan dancing and singing along.
 

He’s always singing nowadays. Loud and mostly out of tune. And he’s always coming out with new expressions like 'What are you doing here?' (meaning: what are you up to?) It seems like only yesterday, when his favourite film told the story of a 'wan' (lion) cub and the circle of life, he proudly stood at the top of the stairs and shouted 'Daddy, Wan-King!)'

Those days are gone but the entertainment never stops. Someday soon I'm going to have to go back to work and, even though I will hopefully be employed in the communications role I've been after for so long, it's going to be really hard to leave my boy.

He's magic.