2020

Been a while guys n gals and whatever you want to associate yourself with these days. So here we are in 2020 and I haven't done much to my blog for a long time so as I found the link today I thought I would add to it.

So what has been happening? I hear you ask, grab yourself a coffee and let us begin.

We are finally getting the house decorated, been a long time coming. We have decorated several times before but we just did something quick and simple like splashing paint on the walls to spruce the rooms up. This time it's done properly and it's looking great.

We have been managing to have a few extra holidays abroad each year, great when you can get some good deals. We have also been and visited my cousin Donna and her family over in Malaga a couple of times, really enjoy our time there, she has such a lovely family and it's great spending time with them. So far we have been to Spain and Spain and more Spain lol...Joking aside we went to Benalmadena,  Majorca, Lanzarote, Malaga, Tenerife and this year we are going to Malaga in March, Barcelona in June and Cyprus in November.

We also made our bucket list, after recent events it was time we put a plan in place and enjoy life more than we do already, giving us something to aim for.

Michelle is still working at the hotel, she is now the Head Housekeeper, basically, she is the manager of her department. Michelle still has her issues with her spine and is having to go for injections under x-ray every couple of months in order to give her some pain relief. Luckily she had a good doctor who managed to refer her to a private hospital as I am sure if she was under the NHS this procedure would have been stopped years ago by now,

This woman became my HERO last year, as she saved my life...more about this when you get to my update...I know right... how could I make you wait?...lol.

Clark is on and off with Simone, They have 3 kids, lives out in Beeford near Bridlington.

Chantelle is with a guy called Adam, nice bloke, Jayden certainly likes him as all he talks about "Hadam" as he calls him lol.  Adam has all the time in the world for Jayden and this is apparent with how Jayden is and the things he does. Chantelle works at the Hotel with her mum, Michelle...sometimes it is bliss and other times they wanna murder each other lol... but Chantelle wouldn't be able to get away with things she does if she was in a different job.

Danielle was working at the hotel too, but I think she wised up and is now a Mobile Carer, I'm certain this isn't the correct terminology but the fact she goes to people's housing and tends to them on a daily basis...fits the bill. She is enjoying it has her career path planned out. She has no boyfriend and thankfully no kids to anyone.

Kaine is a Rep in Tenerife, he is fully enjoying it and apparently has a five-year plan with a few of his buddies out there. We wish him all the luck, there is nothing left in the UK, the best bet is to be out of this country and have a chance at a decent life, especially as he is doing something he enjoys.

Right then onto myself. So I left the hotel and went to another hotel,,, basically, I jumped out the fire into the frying pan, a big mistake that was. Anyhow, we attended a staff fun day at Michelle's hotel on Sunday on August 18th, 2019. As the day progressed we ended playing a game of rounders, then it got competative and it was boys vs girls and there was plenty of cheating involved.
As I was running a home score, I cockled over and from that moment wasn't able to walk properly.

Monday 19th I woke up and my Calf was really swollen and were solid to the touch, so we went to the local minor injuries unit, they told me I have torn my calf muscle and possible Achilles tendon but without a scan, they couldn't be sure, scan could only be done in a weeks time, so they told me to go home and rest my leg up keeping it above my heart...was I supposed to strap it to my head lol

Anyway in the next few days, I really struggled to move, the pain was worse when I needed the toilet I was shuffling along the floor, up and down the stairs on my arse. The pain started spreading into my chest and stomach area, I just put this down to the fact parts of my body where being put under strain due to my injury. Monday the 23rd Michelle came home from early...thank god... she found me struggling to breathe and turning blue, Ambulance was called and I was taken to hospital and admitted into Majors unit. After 3 days I was released back home. It turned out as a result of the bad info given to me from the minor injuries dept I now have 2 clots, 1 on each lung, hence the reason I had breathing problems, Drs said if I was lucky as I wouldn't have seen the rest of the day through.

Things were tough, my mindset had changed, put on blood thinners for possibly my life at this point.
Being told I could actually bleed to death if I cut myself and the bleeding didn't stop after 10mins. In and out of the hospital, Drs and physio appointments each week. Having times where I still struggled to breathe, having weird pains and constantly worrying if I was having other problems again.

Here I am now fully recovered from the leg injury, Still got my pulmonary embolisms till they fade
away on there own. Unfortunately, I am jobless, and now cashless, my workplace told me they had no more shifts for me, and although I am applying for as many a job as I can...nothing is coming my way except for "unfortunately, you were unsuccessful " replies.

Getting annoyed with myself as I have let my wife down, we had managed to get on top of things, hence the cheeky extra holidays we were having, but now with no job I am being a financial strain on my wife.

Past life

For me this is the hardest part to write, but I know I have to get it out in order to, hopefully, relieve some of the burden through the years. I am not good at talking about things face to face and I would rather keep quiet about matters, but I find this has a more detrimental effect.

I think the way I am now is a definite result of past occurrences and I want this to change...I am not a bad person but I do know that I can be cold and hard work, Stubborn as a mule and can also sulk, I also would rather walk away than face upto a difficult situation in order to avoid a scene.

I hear people talk about their childhood and how they remember lots of good things, and I sit there quietly thinking I wish I could.
Growing up was hard for me as my parents had split up and all I remember about that is the numerous amounts of arguing over visiting periods and times, going to the park to play on the swings and then when getting home being sent to bed as I was late home.

One the biggest memories and probably most hurtful memories was going to court over which of my parents would get custody, and my mum threatening me to make sure I said her. How I wish I could rewind the clock and say "my dad".

On many occasions my arse was left bleeding from the belt buckle, seemed I didn't have to do much but open my mouth and I would get it, whilst bent over the settee...hence the reason I keep things bottled up now I suppose.
I remember some wood behind the dining table...I got to know that wood very well whilst my pants were pulled down and I was whacked numerous times with it...this was by my step dad and my mum did nothing to stop it or even tend to us afterwards.

I used to be sent to my room sometimes staying in there for hours and not even allowed tea, I was that scared to leave the room I used to pee in the corner of the room.
It wasn't just the room, but I used to wet the bed, which again led to another beating...I was given the name pissy pants by my mum and step dad. Wetting the bed occurred regularly...I couldn't control it.

We had to cook and clean and if it wasn't done right we was in trouble. I remember on numerous occasions when living down Sandringham Street, we had an out house which was like a tool shed and general dumping ground for rubbish which had to be cleaned out weekly. When I had this job it was great as I took my time and I also got to eat the food that had been chucked out, as I have previously said in this post there were times I was sent to my room with no food at all. Several times I even ate from the dog food tin when feeding the dog.

Whilst out and about either walking the stupid dog or spending hours going to shops, if I spotted food on the floor I would pick it up and eat it...as gross as it sounds...food was food. I even had to prepare food whilst not being allowed to eat and I used to sometimes pinch them joining parts from the breadcakes and quickly scoff them.

I had no one to talk to about this back then but my sister Zoe, as unfortunate for her, she was being treated the same. I remember Zoe running away a couple of times and I so wished I had done the same, but instead I got the beating for letting her go and not knowing where she was.

I remember being hit in the head, by my mum, with a tin of hairspray that she had asked me to look for in the cupboard under the sink, but because I couldn't find it she used it to split my head open!
Zoe had a fractured collarbone, after being swung around the kitchen and rammed into the cooker several times.

I would sit at the top of the stairs and wonder what it would be like if I just threw myself down them, The things I wanted to do just to get away from this place.

I had to wear scarfs in the summer to hide the hand marks around my throat, everytime something happened, we had to lie and say we tripped or something for fear of another beating.

I am 36 now and yet I still have bad dreams and recollections of this, which put me in a downer.
Just writing all this has made me stop and weep, more than once...does this make me weak?

I remember my uncle Andrew used to let me come down and sit with him if I was already in my room, when they had gone out for the night. It was great ...we even played games on the zx spectrum.

My cousin Yvonne who used to also babysit us was another legend, she used to secretly make us banana and custard. This woman used to like her toast burnt...strange woman lol. she also used to make some weird milkshakes.

I will add to this as and when I able to do so!

***This post has sections added to at random points*** 

My 40th Birthday

My 40th

Michelle did me proud on my birthday she had planned a long weekend in London, Fri 28th November  - Mon 1st December. Loved every moment of it. We traveled down on Hull trains, we got into London for approx lunch time, then we had a walk across to Euston tube station and caught another train to Watford, that's were Michelle had booked the hotel as she got a deal through her hotel. Once we arrived in Watford we just followed my instinct as we usually do and we managed to get into the town centre were we found a pub and had a drink and some food.

We didn't really know where the hotel was from here so we jumped in a Black cab which took to us to the outskirts of Watford and charged us nearly £20 for the pleasure...robbing twats!
Anyway, we got booked in and went to our room were we unpacked and chilled for a bit before taking in a recon of the hotel grounds and facilities. We asked the front desk if there was any buses than ran around here and she said the nearest bus stop was about 2 miles away...any way we ventured outside the hotel and found a local Maccy D's were we decided we would have our tea and plan the Saturday...my birthday ;)

Saturday

We got up nice and early, went down for our breakfast which Michelle had sorted with the hotel :) we had a full English and some lovely little patisseries....I was getting hooked on these beauties...image below lol.

Pain Aux Raisans

We did the 2 mile walk to the nearest bus station, had a 10 min wait till the bus arrived and hopped on which took us to Watford city centre, were we then jumped on a train to London. Overall it took just over an hour to get from hotel to London Euston, we then jumped on another train to southbank.

We started the day going around Borough Market, as we had briefly visited it before, we wanted to take in the sights and smells again :). There is just something about the hustle and bustle of the market that attracts you, of course there is the stalls themselves...but the smells you encounter as you walk round, fresh coffee, bbq meat, flowers and vegetables all mingling together...an orgasm in the nose.

After leaving the market we continued to just wander around aimlessly taking in the sights and sounds of the surroundings. We was walking in the general direction of the London Eye, which we could see a mile or so away. we stopped of at a few little shops and pop up art display shops along the way, and getting liquid refreshment along the route, would be rude not seeing as the Founders Arms was right there in front of us.

When we finally left the pub we continued along the South bank, watching the street performers and dodging a father Christmas, taking a look at the book stalls that seem to have been there years.

The guy playing the brass instrument with fire coming out the top was awesome to watch, very clever stuff. Would you believe that London has a beach, nor did we till someone shouted, "Guys don't forget to look towards the beach and see the street performers" there were people in a band playing some great tunes, and even this guy whom had built himself a boat with the sand lol.

There is just so much to see and do you can never fit it all in, we have been going to London for years and there is so much stuff we still haven't seen or done. We have many years ahead and will hopefully, one day see all that it has to offer.
We continued on our route and we came across this stall that was selling toffee vodka, he was doing shots for £1 so you could taste it, nothings free in London, it tasted lovely and even Michelle enjoyed it so as a treat I bought a bottle.

Our plan now was to slowly continue our trek towards the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, we thought it would be a great way to end the night seeing as it was getting dark now. When we did actually get there via the Channel 4 building and houses of parliament, the lines to get in were massive, everyone from London must have descended upon it all at the same time, we queued for a while and as we didn't move we decided to call it quits and go elsewhere.

We continued to walk back to Euston station, where we stopped and had our tea at Nando's in the station square. We jumped on a train back to Watford, had a few drinks in Watford and then hopped on the bus back to the last bus stop and our final 2 mile trek back to hotel, by this time we were done in, feet aching ready for bed. little did we know we was going to have a very active night with the fire alarms going off and having to evacuate the building several times throughout the night.

Sunday

After the BS from the fire alarms and lack of sleep we decided, whilst eating our full English breakfast and pain aux raisans, again ;) that today, was gonna be a shopping and lazy day, We went back to Watford and did some shopping around the town centre and at the Intu centre for a few hours and then went back to the hotel were we indulged in the swimming pool and Jacuzzi for a few hours RnR before our evening meal in the hotels restaurant.

We had a lovely day followed by a lovely meal and a drink with my lovely wife. What a great way to end the weekend off together x I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this lovely weekend we spent together ...it was brilliant...can't wait to see what you got planned for the 50th...Hong Kong ;)

Fire alarm only went of once this night, thank god...but still annoying!

Few more pics from the weekend below

Gorgeous

Beautiful

Danielle's 18th

Danielle's 18th

You know your getting old when your daughter turns 18, how time has flown. Danielle has been an extremely clever, beautiful girl, whom we have loved so much as she has grown up. She is always surprising us with her mannerisms and approach to her life and her fashion sense ;)
She is now a young lady, no longer a girl. It is really nice seeing that she has her mind set on her career and is studying at college to pursue that career.

We held an 18th Birthday party for her at Hull YPI, and it was a great night, much fun had by all and Michelle sorted a lovely cake for her.

As Danielle is a minnie mouse freak and loves all things associated with makeup and nail varnishes she got a themed cake . I will include a few other photos from the nights fun for those that weren't able to come or live bloody miles away.

Glad you had a great night and enjoyed yourself. We love you very much :)

Our Home/Garden Update

Well if you have read the other post you will see that we had lots of things we was going to do in our garden, somethings we did and somethings we didn't and some things still need doing. Its still a work in progress. In this post I will show you what has been achieved so far since you last saw it.

1

 In photo no.1 this is where we left off in our previous post so I thought it only wise to start back at the beginning.

2

 In photo no.2 you can see that we put the fence up and put in a border to outline the lawn boundaries, grass needs feeding and planting and more clean up work to come.

3

 In photo no.3 you can see that the bottom of the garden is now fully cleared, the central piece has been added, borders have been added and plants have been added.

4

 In photo no.4 you can see the garden coming along lovely now, we have added 3 fruit trees to the left borders and put in railway sleepers as edging, Down at the bottom we have a hand built, with my fair hands and some help from Clark ;) , a pergola some decking and a summer house. The pergola has railway sleepers ontop of tree stumps for seating, I have also put a chalk board area for the grandkids, which is used very often, by the adults too :)

As you can see it is a stoned area in between the two sections this was because i had dug a hole 8ft deep x 8ft wide and 16ft in length for a concrete fish pond, this was soon filled back up after seeing the costs of the concrete :( gutted.

5

 In photo no.5 can see where the garden is at this year, a small picket fence has gone up, to segregate the garden from the entertainment area as I am calling it ;) and it keeps people of the grass :)

I still have plans for adding and altering certain sections of the garden, for example in Photo no.5 I want to add a bar to the top left section of the pergola, I want more seating, I want a brick BBQ which has my gas BBQ incorporated into aswel as having a charcoal one.

We are now Grandparents

Yip you heard it right Michelle and I are now Grandparents, now I know I may have mentioned it in a previous post but I think this deserves its own post so here it is.

Clark and Simone had a baby boy on the 3rd September 2013. They have called him Thomas, he is really gorgeous, but since my previous post Chantelle has also had a baby boy born on the 7th October 2014 and Chantelle and Lee have called him Jayden, another gorgeous baby to our collection of grandsons.

Both of them have included my name in the boys names as a sign of respect to me, and that was very touching and certainly brought tears to my eyes. I must be doing something right :).  We have both the boys every 2nd Friday  and it is always exciting and full of fun and laughs had by all. They boys enjoy coming here and are always excited when they come over. Hours of endless fun playing with shapes, batman cave and the toy vehicles in the garden, they love it that much they hate going to bed the little buggers.

Thomas

Thomas and Clark's hand

Clark the happy dad

The photos above are from when Thomas was born, he was 4 weeks premature. He was so delicate, even I was scared to him being heavy handed that I am lol, Michelle was such a natural, but I expected no less really seeing as Clark himself was also prematurely born. Clark has taken to father hood like duck to water, he loves it. Simone and Clark have now moved to a much better house and more local.

Below you will see Thomas now and how much he has changed over the years, When we have him here we just want him to have fun, he  has a favorite tune/song that I have on my computer, which when he hears it he comes running and wants to sit on my knee and we boogie lol. Thomas has very curly hair much like his dad did lol, Thomas also has this little "fetish" dunno if that's the right word but, Michelle has to stroke her fingers up and down his arms when he is tired, he puts his arms up when he wants it doing :)

As you can see he is growing up fast, he loves spending time with us and when we go to see him he gets very excited and dito when he comes to ours. He is a lovely lad and he is loved very dearly.

 Grandchild No.2

Now it's time for you to meet Jayden, He is a very gorgeous individual always smiling, but leave him in a room with just myself and boy oh boy its the devil...he does nothing but cry and scream, he is a right womens child. He has now crawling and boy does he move, blink and he is across the room lol.
Jayden has straight light hair and is a lovely tanned colour, he tans real easily in the sun and turns a gorgeous colour.

Moment we found out it wasn't a girl :(

When we went for the scans and we found out it wasn't going to be a girl the comment "well you best send it back" came out lol. I know for sure now tho, Chantelle is very happy and she wouldn't change it even if she could. Chantelle has made us very proud and has taken to motherhood very well, she does panic sometimes but always seeks advice from her mother or myself. Jayden was very boring as a baby as all he did was eat, poo and sleep, yer I know that's what babies do...but hey ho ')
I cannot fault her and am very proud of her, she has changed over the years and become very sensible, she still has a potty mouth, but Michelle said that whilst she was with her during the pregnancy she did not swear once..the harshest phrase she used was "Flippen Eck"

As you can see from the pics below Jayden has come on in leaps and bounds now.

Some of the comments in this post have already been mentioned but as I am a proud grandparent it is my right to brag :P

Grandchild No.3

I know right here we are again being told we are grandparents again, only this time its a girl. Clark and Simone had a baby girl, called Iris Wynter Middleton. She was born 6 weeks early and weighed 4lb 4oz, she was born at 0800hrs on Friday 7th April 2017.

Her name comes from a special lady in our families life, and that lady was Michelle's mum, and our childrens grandmother, Iris Middleton (RIP)

Iris & Clark's hand

Iris Wynter

Sleepy time

Its Been a while

Not had much time for this place as I have been busy with life. I finished my National Diploma in Photography at Hull College, and was lucky enough to be accepted for my Degree in Lens Based Photo Media, Which I am about to start my 2nd year.

I have been enjoying it and am hoping to have a career from it, hopefully working for myself and obtaining some much needed pennies in the process. I will start slow and learn to walk before I run.

My wife Michelle is still working hard with at the hotel, despite the fact she is always in the thick of it, she still manages to have a smile for me when she gets home. Much love and praise goes to Michelle as she is supporting me through my educational period, and puts up with my tempers when the workload I have sometimes stresses me out. Michelle has also been through a rough time with her body playing havoc with her. Her shoulders, neck and arms have been giving her considerable pain.

Many visits to doctors eventually led to hospital treatment, giving her 3 sessions of spinal block injections, and numerous acupuncture treatments to keep the pain to a minimum, but she is soldiering on and I have a high regard for her...Love you sexy.

Also in the absence since my last post we found ourselves in trouble with the law. 18 December 2011 we, the whole family and friends finally went out for a drink for the first time since the Mother in law passed away (bless her cotton socks). We went down Beverly road for a few quiet drinks and to arrange what we would be doing for Christmas day dinner and at who's house.

I will keep this brief and to the point of the events that took place that night in bullet points.

• My son was jumped on by 3 males on the dance floor.
• A Copper ran in and CS gassed the dance floor, People couldn't see, especially my son who was still lashing out and accidentally walloped a copper.
• I intervened to pull my daughter to safety, when i looked around I saw my son being held against the wall by 2 coppers and a third smacking the hell out of the back of his knee with an asp.
• I ran across and removed the asp, and said "WHAT THE F*CK, is there any need?"
• I ended up in a confrontation with a woman copper who could only say the following 2 words to all my questions "GET BACK".
• The woman copper got pushed aside, as I wanted to check on my wife as the people who jumped my son where hanging around her.
• The lads who started the fight never got stopped or questioned by the Police???
• The police swarmed the pub with Tazers, it looked like something out of Call of Duty.

Needless to say 3 of us spent the night in the cell that night. Chantelle was released the following morning with No Further Action.

I got bailed with assault police, police obstruction and resist arrest. I pleaded guilty. Couldn't be arsed to argue.

Clark got bailed with Assault police. Clark pleaded not guilty, he wanted to stand his ground and he had good points too.

Clark and myself were then put on 7pm -7am curfew, and were banned from all licensed premises. Electronic tags were also introduced at later dates for us both.

As the year progress we were all dragged back and forth through out court, spent more nights in the cells and finally after the trail went to Crown Court we were given our court date and we were sentenced:-

I got community service of 150hrs and a behaviour order for 12mths.

Clark got sent to prison as he was found guilty. He managed to get released just before Christmas but he had to serve the remainder of his sentence on Tag and curfew.

We have managed to put that behind us now but it is hard when you read news paper articles and see other people do far worse things and get let off.

Anyway lets bring some good news to the this blog. Michelle and I are now proud grand parents :)

Clark and Simone have a baby boy, he was 3 weeks early and weighed 5lb and 2oz. They called him Thomas.

After the 3 days of him staying in hospital they stayed at ours for a week so they could get guidance from Michelle in making sure they did things correctly as they no longer/can't be arsed to teach first time parents the skills needed to bathe and feed etc.

Thomas was officially registered on Tuesday 24 Sept Thomas-Clark Paul Middleton. They surprised me with my name being included and I am honoured and privileged, proud as punch to be honest.

Kaine has since left school as we got him enrolled at Hull College 14-16yrs. He is studying Mechanics and engineering, its good to see him come home with a smile on his dial. He was being picked on by certain teachers at his previous school and they was always giving him detentions and isolating him from his class.

Kaine says he wants to join the Army when he gets to the required age so that he can expand his knowledge of engineering but at same time he wants to be like his dad and do photography. He also knows that the RAF and Army have sections that have photography in them, just more for logistic reasons. I am sure he will decide one day and I am sure he will enjoy every moment of it.

Danielle has decided she is going to be a midwife, and she is doing very good at school, she has already picked he life path and what courses she needs to do in order to go down that road to succeed. Michelle and I know she will be a great midwife as we see how she is when we have Thomas and any other kid for that matter, She is like a possessive mum lmfao.

Chantelle has now settled down with a guy called Lee and they have been together for a few years now. Lee is a nice fella and I can actually say he isn't one that I want to kill or throw him of the Humber Bridge.
Lee has a daughter called Tamisha who is 3yrs old and Chantelle is rather protective over her. They are good togther and I am glad to see she is finally happy.

This year for Christmas will be the best one, as no one is on curfew, we have baby Thomas. The roles have changed and I am no longer cooking the Christmas meal, as the men are being sent to Pub and the women are cooking the dinner...will see if that still stands nearer the time ;)