Diary

We will get an updated ATP calendar next week. It looks like the Australian Open will be delayed by 2 weeks. The tournaments in Auckland will be cancelled. New Zealand have controlled the Corona Virus better than most countries and they couldn’t come up with an agreement in time with the ATP and WTA to hold the tournament.

It looks like the players will be allowed to practise during their 2 week quarantine.

On Monday I drove up to Bradford for the funeral. It was a 3 hour drive to be there for 10 am. There was then another 40 minute drive to the crematorium. The local one in Dewsbury was only allowing 6 people to attend funerals. I’m not sure how long the service took but it didn’t feel like more than 30 minutes. Shortly after I was on my way home. My immediate family were having a meal at my parents but obviously the Covid restrictions didn’t allow me into their home. The journey home was delayed slightly but I was home by around 2:30 pm. I was pretty tired after around 7 hours driving so took the rest of the day off. I had worked late on Sunday to get the Monday’s trading email sent out.

I had a look at SKY’s Black Friday deals. They had one for new customers for the Multiscreen. I had looked at that a few weeks ago when they had an offer of £10 per month. I was set to sign up until I saw that there was a £99 set up fee! That’s a rip off. I rang SKY and asked if they could do anything about the set up fee. Not only did I get Multiroom for £7 but I got the set up fee waived. Happy with that! The lady I spoke to asked if I was interested in the Sports channels. I have always rejected SKY Sports as there really isn’t that much tennis on there and you can get bookies streams for the majority of tennis matches. Also Sue hates sport with a passion. The SKY lady suggested I get a second Multiroom mini box for my office. Then I could watch it as much as I wanted. I said I didn’t even have a TV in the office but would bear it in mind. It took me a full day to change my mind. My new TV arrived the following day and the extra mini box arrived on Thursday.

Like most people I have been through periods of my life when money was tight. Being careful with money became a habit. I often have to remind myself that I am allowed the odd treat. Don’t tell Yorkshire I said that.

I am a bit of a snorer. If you were to listen to my wife you would be told the walls shake when my snoring is at its worst. She also snores but I think I am more tolerant than she is! I’m not denying that I do snore. Sometimes my snoring wakes ME up. I had a broken nose as a teenager and my left nostril is very narrow. Anyway I saw something on Amazon. Its a clip that looks a bit like a bull’s nose ring. They arrived yesterday. You get 3. I was a little dubious when I put it in last night but if stops her moaning…

This morning I asked her how she had slept. She seemed a lot brighter than she normally does first thing in the morning. She said she had a great night’s sleep and I didn’t snore once! If you have a snorer in your life give these things a try. Search for “stop snoring” on Amazon.

I think that’s about it for now. Worcester is in Tier 2 from next Wednesday so not a huge change. How bloody cold was it last night?? Minus 2 this morning when I de-iced the car to take Sue to work and it felt colder than that when I took the dogs out at 11 pm last night.

Stay safe.

 

It’s the last ATP tournament of the season with the World Tour Finals in London. The Challenger calendar seems to have been updated since the last time I checked it. There are 2 tournaments next week and 2 the week after.

Unfortunately the WTA tournament in Limoges has been cancelled. This is because of the 2 week quarantine that players must respect if they want to play in Australia.

Something else needed replacing in the kitchen! We have already had a new cooker and a new washing machine during Covid. Last week I noticed that the fridge wasn’t cold enough. The freezer was working fine. A google search came up with several possible reasons and I spent a day trying to fix it in between trades. Nothing worked and as it was about 12 years old we were due a new one. As Sue has more idea now of how much money we have I expected her to push for one of those American style fridge freezers. I was bracing myself for the 900+ quid bill but she was happy with a standard one. It has a lot more capacity than the old one and a cold water dispenser on the front so she’s happy. I did tell her that if she breaks a leg or an arm I will have to throw her out. I can’t justify the expense of replacing anything else.

We will be having our Christmas Day on Boxing Day so Sue has swapped her shifts at work. That means she is working on Christmas day and it’s just me and the dogs at home. I don’t mind that. We have done it before. We’ll go on a long walk and then hit Netflix.

Things have remained pretty quiet around here. Most families are keeping their kids inside during lockdown. There are a few who think they can do what they like. It often seems to be the people who have the most kids that are the worst parents. One family has 9 kids and a few of them have been meeting up with a few from other households. They express themselves by screaming as if possessed. They are far enough away from us for them not to be a problem but I’m sure those parents who ARE keeping their sprogs inside won’t be impressed.

I got some new dog shampoo. This time of year tends to bring a little more of that wet dog smell. I found something on Amazon that claimed to make dogs smell like baby powder. It really works!! I bath them outside so needed a mild day to try it out. I managed to get Molly done last week but it rained practically every day after that so Charlie stayed smelly (not VERY smelly but enough that he was due a bath). The sun was out briefly on Sunday morning so I took the chance to bath him. He smells LOVELY! He goes very fluffy after a bath which seems to depress him for a while. He then takes the first chance he gets to roll in fox shit. This time not only is he fluffy but he smells like baby powder. He’s WELL impressed.

Sue has been looking forward to the new series of The Crown coming onto Netflix. She asked if she could watch it last night. I don’t mind it so we watched the first 2 episodes. That took us to 11pm. I took the dogs out and went to bed. She was up until 2am watching more of it. She got up as normal at 7am but soon went back to bed. When she got up she watched the rest of the series. She said the last one was an anti-climax. She was absolutely bolloxed when I finished work. We ate at 6 and she went straight to bed. She is working Tuesday and Wednesday so she’ll be like a zombie by Wednesday night.

It’s nearly time for the Medvedev v Zverev match at the year end finals. Slight edge to Zverev although I thought the same when they met in the Paris Masters final.

That’s about it for now. Stay safe.