Michael Here

Hi,
Michael here. Amber asked me to do an update from my perspective, for a change.

My time is largely filled, outside of work, with family activities. I cook most nights, as Amber likes the rest after she spends all day at home~looking after the lil' one. Lately, I have been riding my bike with Sophie in the trailer in the mornings, while Amber does her exercises. She seems to like it actually, because as soon as we start moving, she goes silent and just watches. When we stopped after the ride, she remained completely still in the trailer, as if mesmerised by the motion. It is a lot more work riding with her back there, but that is fine as I am riding for fitness rather than to get from A to B! I had to invest in some lights though, as the other morning, even though the sun was nearly up, a car nearly ran us over in a roundabout! Maybe they were still asleep at the wheel! I now have purchased a light so bright that is is almost equivalent to a headlight. I hope it attracts attention...

The other thing that is keeping me busy, is "house" research. We are not certain, but it looks like our best option for owning our own home will be to build. I am busy pricing every possible cost of a owner built home, which is a deceptively large job! From tools, site insurance, septic system costs, floor coverings, light fittings, council inspection fees... the list grows on! My job is certainly good, in that the hours are rarely longer than 8 per day, so the rest of the time may be spent working on a house. Amber and Sophie look like they will need to learn how to build as well...

Speaking of work, it is going quite well lately. I have a few new projects piled up, which makes me busy - a good thing. As a consequence of the times, economic and technologically, letter volumes this year are down around 20%. This means that spending for next financial year will probably be strongly curtailed, but fortunately our department seems far from needing staff reductions yet. We have had 3 people of 15 retire in the last 6 months, and no new hires...

That is really about the extent of what I am doing in life, apart from enjoying the times with Sophie, Rocky, Blake and Amber...

Michael