I've decided to start an impromptu series of blogs about a subject that I'm not sure I should talk about. But I think I will.
When I get to these points of thinking, should I, should I not, I always remember that first and foremost this is intended as a diary to myself to read when I'm in my chair unable to walk with my disposable underpants on.
Perhaps I'll not be so far away from that.
First world problem series of blogs which will come ad hoc now and then, depending upon what's happening, are related to the house that Alison and I bought at the end of at the end of April this year.
The reason it's a first world problem is that we are so enormously privileged in the life that we lead, the resources that we have, is that it seems absolutely awful and defensive to even think about speaking negatively about projects or processes that we undergo.
But I think that this is important. Because I think that sometimes people would imagine that because you have done well in your business or seem to be secure, you never have a care in the world – b*lls£*t.
And so, the story starts here ever since I've known Alison since 1995, she's been desperate to have her horse at home.
It's worth remembering that when Alison and I met, I was a senior house officer in maxillofacial surgery in Nottingham, and she was a trainee nurse, soon to graduate and become a children's oncology nurse (a job she still works in today, at least 3 days per week). And so, Alison's worked as a children's cancer nurse for 30 years, and I have worked through dentistry, building a career and building a business over the same sort of time.
Since the get-go, though, since super early, Alison always talked about being able to see her horse from her kitchen window. It was a dream that she had from being a little girl. And even when I met her as a trainee dental nurse, she was working in the shopper's restaurant at the local Asda to pay the delivery for the horse that she had at that time (that she could barely afford).
Fast forwards almost 30 years.
And together we have been able to build a business which is super successful and has allowed us the opportunity to do things we could only ever have dreamed of back in those days when we were both working in the hospital.
We have 3 children, but the two eldest are daughters, who are very proficient horsewomen and one day eventers.
Please don't get me wrong, none of them occupy a high level in the world of eventing or equestrian, but they are very good and very diligent and very detailed in the work that they do with their horses.
Over the years we've accumulated some relatively inexpensive horses and currently have 3, which are on livery at a place close to where we lived until April of this year.
What happened though was we started to look at the possibility of moving somewhere where the horses could be outside, which is what Alison has always wanted.
And one day in March, I was dragged along to a place that we thought was too far away, and shown around by the lady who owned it, who was a bit bonkers.
The problem with Alison and I is that we are relatively impulsive and that we work from the gut. And when I was shown around the house and reached the kitchen window, I could see the field where the horses would be and understood what Alison was feeling at that time that she wasn't saying.
I said to the lady, this is what we wanted.
And so quickly we went on and bought the house without any fuss or nonsense.
One of the difficulties was we didn't sell our current house to do so. So that put us in a little bit of a fix.
It would take months to sell the previous house.
What I want to do in these little series of blogs though is use it as a metaphor for projects and what life is like.
I'd love to tell you that I come to this house every day now and that I love it, and that it's finished and that it's magnificent, but it isn't. I was in my previous house for 22 years and it was near perfect (I’m not a horse rider).
And so what we have undertaken is a project. Not quite the size of the one that I did when we built the practice, but not far off that, in terms of its complexity and it's difficulty in envisioning and its concept.
So, from time to time, I'm gonna update you on the project because the first thing to do was to make it ready for horses.
We haven't done that yet, but we're in the process.
I'll fill you in next time.
Blog Post Number - 4236
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