2004. Bikes led us to a motorbike shop, which led us to KB, which led us to ASW. Si's programming skills were truely put to the test when we were asked if we could write a lap scoring program.
After many months of head scratching we managed to understand what was needed and produced a fairly simple program. Things really escalated from there and a year later our finished software was, even if I do say so myself, amazing. We started collaborating with an overseas partner and produced a transponder system. That caused me endless sleepless nights but Si was confident with it, and it worked beautifully.
Our next step was to produced a fast system for MX and so work began on that.
Meantime we discovered that L was pregnant, we were going to be grandparents. Si was so excited, he could finally be a Grumps.
We spent months developing the MX system and our life revolved around it, working on coding, web promotion, brochures.... Weekends spent testing and re-testing, riding up and down on my motorbike with transponders attached, it was relentless. But our goal was in sight.
In August 2008 we went to Egypt for two weeks, stupidly! L was due a week after our return date so we spent pretty much the whole time away worrying that she would go into labour. She didn't. Three days after our return, at 5am, she did! It was the most amazing experience and Si was there coaching her and smashing her in the face with gas and air, yes literally! I was the first person to see O born, my first grandchild WOW!
Si was such a proud Grumps.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
The middle bit
Si continued to work and study, he concentrated on Microsoft engineer exams and passed them all, he was promoted to IT Manager.
Things were good, with both of us working we were able to holiday in France every year with K, L and J. We always had a great time and in the evenings we played guitar and drank French wine together.
Si always wanted a Triumph Tiger and in 2002 we bought a bright yellow 900. He thought that it was without doubt the best motorbike he had ever owned. In fact he loved it so much he built a website about it. Si's Tiger site
It was around this time that we really began to think more seriously about our business, which back then was called Casimo Computer Consultants. I built websites and Si wrote specialised programmes and repaired PCs.
Life was busy with both day jobs and CCC but we were happy because we were doing it together.
Things were good, with both of us working we were able to holiday in France every year with K, L and J. We always had a great time and in the evenings we played guitar and drank French wine together.
Si always wanted a Triumph Tiger and in 2002 we bought a bright yellow 900. He thought that it was without doubt the best motorbike he had ever owned. In fact he loved it so much he built a website about it. Si's Tiger site
It was around this time that we really began to think more seriously about our business, which back then was called Casimo Computer Consultants. I built websites and Si wrote specialised programmes and repaired PCs.
Life was busy with both day jobs and CCC but we were happy because we were doing it together.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
The early years
Si had to leave his job due to a work related injury so we got to spend all day every day together. For some couples this would be their idea of hell but to us it was an amazing time. I never once tired of his company.
Times were hard, being on benefits meant money was tight but our love was strong and we held our little family together and did our very best to ensure our children had everything they needed. Si made the most of the time at home and with the love of computers growing daily he applied himself to studying computer programming, and understanding the inner workings of a PC.
We made numerous visits to various specialists about his injury and he underwent three exploratory operations, all in vain!
By the time J was 4 Si had become quite the expert in everything PC and decided that he needed to challenge himself further. Despite ongoing pain he wanted to return to the workplace and so started a course of pain physcology sessions to try and get on top of his injury. Within a few months he felt able to do this and was offered a job as an IT officer at a local charity.
Si decided that he wanted to get a motorbike. He passed his test when he was 17 and had ridden on and off ever since. It made sense as he needed a vehicle to get to work and running a second car was too expensive.
I have to admit that I found the first six months of Si working incredibly difficult. All of a sudden I was alone, all my children were at school and my husband was in full time employment. It was hard not to feel jealous, I'd had him all to myself for so long and now he was spending the best part of each day in the company of people I didn't know. I did the only sensible thing and took a job myself.
Times were hard, being on benefits meant money was tight but our love was strong and we held our little family together and did our very best to ensure our children had everything they needed. Si made the most of the time at home and with the love of computers growing daily he applied himself to studying computer programming, and understanding the inner workings of a PC.
We made numerous visits to various specialists about his injury and he underwent three exploratory operations, all in vain!
By the time J was 4 Si had become quite the expert in everything PC and decided that he needed to challenge himself further. Despite ongoing pain he wanted to return to the workplace and so started a course of pain physcology sessions to try and get on top of his injury. Within a few months he felt able to do this and was offered a job as an IT officer at a local charity.
Si decided that he wanted to get a motorbike. He passed his test when he was 17 and had ridden on and off ever since. It made sense as he needed a vehicle to get to work and running a second car was too expensive.
I have to admit that I found the first six months of Si working incredibly difficult. All of a sudden I was alone, all my children were at school and my husband was in full time employment. It was hard not to feel jealous, I'd had him all to myself for so long and now he was spending the best part of each day in the company of people I didn't know. I did the only sensible thing and took a job myself.
In the begining
We met in February 1995 and it was love at first sight. After a month of fighting our feelings we finally gave in and opened our hearts to each other. It was, we believed, our destiny to meet and we knew from the beginning that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives.
Si's Mother, or 'The dragon' as she later became known, hated our relationship, we never understood why. She said we would never last and as the first year passed we celebrated that we were still, and would always be, together.
I had two children, K and L from previous relationships, and Si had one child, Ki. Si loved K and L immediately and always treated them as if they were his own. They loved him so much that they wanted to called him Daddy and vehemently challenged anyone who would disagree! Si's child, Ki, lived with us for the first year of our relationship as her mother didn't want her full time but she was desperately unhappy, she just wanted her Mum.
In 1996 our family was completed by little J.
Within two months of J's birth The dragon disowned Si, and never tried to see J. She caused an extraordinary amount of difficulties in his relationship with Ki. Si said that she never really cared for him and that his grandparents were the ones who raised him, he felt as though he had lost his parents when his Nan and Grumps died. So very sad.
Si's Mother, or 'The dragon' as she later became known, hated our relationship, we never understood why. She said we would never last and as the first year passed we celebrated that we were still, and would always be, together.
I had two children, K and L from previous relationships, and Si had one child, Ki. Si loved K and L immediately and always treated them as if they were his own. They loved him so much that they wanted to called him Daddy and vehemently challenged anyone who would disagree! Si's child, Ki, lived with us for the first year of our relationship as her mother didn't want her full time but she was desperately unhappy, she just wanted her Mum.
In 1996 our family was completed by little J.
Within two months of J's birth The dragon disowned Si, and never tried to see J. She caused an extraordinary amount of difficulties in his relationship with Ki. Si said that she never really cared for him and that his grandparents were the ones who raised him, he felt as though he had lost his parents when his Nan and Grumps died. So very sad.
The Accident
Oh Fuck!
I saw the car, I knew we had nowhere to go.
This couldn’t be happening. It's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream. But if it was a dream why did it hurt so much? Why could I feel myself rolling and hear the sound of things cracking?
And then the rolling stopped and everything went quiet, too quiet.
“SI!” I screamed, “SI, WHERE ARE YOU?” There was no answer so I screamed again and again, and again.
Then came the sound of people running towards me, calling to me, but all I could do was scream out for my husband, my soul mate, my first true love.
“It’s ok, you’re going to be ok” came a strangers voice. But I didn't care about me.
“Where’s Si, what’s happened to Si?” I screamed.
Then I saw the man who changed everything, asking me if I was ok, standing there after smashing into us asking me if I'm ok, with his own blood on his face and mine and Si's blood on his hands, forever. I screamed at him to stay away from me.
Then I heard a helicopter, it was so loud I knew it was landing.
“Is that for Si, oh my god what’s happened, where’s Si?”
I could feel the wind from the helicopter as it landed close by, it was so loud, and I couldn’t hear Si.
People were surrounding me and trying to calm me. My leg hurt so badly and I wanted to lay it down but it wouldn’t move. My arms hurt.
“Leave my hands alone, don’t touch my hands” I screamed out at the people around me, my hands just didn't seem to be where my brain thought they were.
I felt weird, broken.
Then I heard the helicopter take off.
“Have they taken Si? What’s happened to my husband? Why wouldn’t he answer me?”
Then it struck me and I stopped screaming.
I knew, I just knew.
That morning
It was forced upon me. Suddenly and brutally.
I refer to the day it happened as 'the accident' but it was bigger than that, it was the end of my very first love story, the end of my first true love.
It was a chilly, wet early November morning, I remember it like it was yesterday. Some would say it was the first day of the rest of my life, others would claim that it was the end of an era... either way things would never be the same again.
The alarm rang out as usual at 6.30am and we turned to each other in unison and snuggled.
“Morning honey” he said as we snuggled even closer under the duvet.
“Morning baby” I whispered as I nestled my head against his chest, feeling myself drift into the warmth and tenderness of our embrace. Fighting the urge to spend the entire day in bed I forced myself to get up.
I remember smiling as I thought about the weekend, the children had been away.
And now it was Monday.
At 7.25am came the usual “Are you ready?” from Si.
“On my way” I called back, as I finished applying my mascara. I normally got a lie in on a Monday and travelled to work seperately from Si but my bike was in for an MOT so it was an unusual early start for me.
I hadn’t heard any movement from J’s room, so just before I went downstairs I popped into her room and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Wakey wakey missus.”
“I’m awake” came the sleepy reply.
“See you later sweetie” I said, planting a kiss on J’s head.
“Bye mum”.
As I walked down the path I could see Si was waiting to go, he liked to get going by 7.30am so we didn’t get stuck behind the smelly bus! I fastened my helmet strap and hopped on the back of the bike, I put my gloves on and shoved my hands in Si’s pockets, as I always did.
It was a miserable day to ride, but always far more enjoyable than commuting in a car. Sometimes on the journey I would look around me and take in the view, and think how lucky we were to live in such beautiful surroundings.
Being pillion was such a great ride!
I refer to the day it happened as 'the accident' but it was bigger than that, it was the end of my very first love story, the end of my first true love.
It was a chilly, wet early November morning, I remember it like it was yesterday. Some would say it was the first day of the rest of my life, others would claim that it was the end of an era... either way things would never be the same again.
The alarm rang out as usual at 6.30am and we turned to each other in unison and snuggled.
“Morning honey” he said as we snuggled even closer under the duvet.
“Morning baby” I whispered as I nestled my head against his chest, feeling myself drift into the warmth and tenderness of our embrace. Fighting the urge to spend the entire day in bed I forced myself to get up.
I remember smiling as I thought about the weekend, the children had been away.
And now it was Monday.
At 7.25am came the usual “Are you ready?” from Si.
“On my way” I called back, as I finished applying my mascara. I normally got a lie in on a Monday and travelled to work seperately from Si but my bike was in for an MOT so it was an unusual early start for me.
I hadn’t heard any movement from J’s room, so just before I went downstairs I popped into her room and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Wakey wakey missus.”
“I’m awake” came the sleepy reply.
“See you later sweetie” I said, planting a kiss on J’s head.
“Bye mum”.
As I walked down the path I could see Si was waiting to go, he liked to get going by 7.30am so we didn’t get stuck behind the smelly bus! I fastened my helmet strap and hopped on the back of the bike, I put my gloves on and shoved my hands in Si’s pockets, as I always did.
It was a miserable day to ride, but always far more enjoyable than commuting in a car. Sometimes on the journey I would look around me and take in the view, and think how lucky we were to live in such beautiful surroundings.
Being pillion was such a great ride!
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