A Simple Life of Luxury

It may not be that exciting to some people but I was certainly impressed when Morgan came out with ‘ca’ on Saturday morning when he saw next doors cat walking in front of the window. It wasn’t a one off either and every cat he sees now is greeted with ‘ca’. I can’t help wondering if we’re pushing Morgan to the next step all the time and not really appreciating the time with him while he’s little. It’s hard to believe he’ll be one next month and we’re eagally awaiting his first steps and the next new word whilst barely remembering how tiny and helpless he was when he first came home.

Having to work full time I really value every minute I get at home with him and I’m probably guilty of encouraging him too much if that is possible. We went to the garden centre on Sunday to get some fish for the new fishtank and Morgan now has a new ‘fsh’ sound……..could this be ‘fish’? We think so!

For my sins I have done quite a bit of work over the last 7 years for a local ‘celebrity’ who owns a large mansion just south of Aberystwyth. However, this source of employment has all but dried up now that he and his family have moved back to Germany. I was of course left with a few tasks to complete following their departure. The largest of which was the rleocation of a large fish tank.
Thankfully a recipient was found and the move began last Friday. The tank itself is 6ft x 2ft x 2ft, housed around 100 fish and weighs a tonne. The first job was to buy some suitable holding tanks (plastic dustbins) to house the fish during the relocation. I then removed all the tank furnishing such as rocks, logs and plants siphoned water from the large tank into the bins and then started the difficult task of catching all the fish and shrimps so that I could clear out the tank.
The fish were carefully placed in the plastic dustbins, heaters were placed in the bins and floating plants added. The dustbins were ideal as the darkness kept the fish relaxed and the idea was to relocate the whole tank with as little stress on the fish as possible. Once all the fish were out, the rest of the water was removed and the gravel taken out and placed in buckets.
Eventually we were in a position to man-handle the tank and stand into a van and take it to its new location in Aberystwyth. Once there the tank was set up again, placed on its stand, gravel put back in, it was half filled with water, treated to remove the chlorine, heated up and the fish put back in.
It has taken a while for the water to clear, and the tank is far from being restored to its former glory yet, but the good news is that there have only been two very small casualties during the whole process. What’s more is that it has eventually inspired me to set up my (more modest) aquarium as well. Of course, I tend to get a little over-involved in such projects and shall be setting up a heavily planted fish tank complete with CO2 injection system to provide an ideal environment for plant growth, which in turn should provide a nice home for the fish I get.

One of the objectives of deciding to live here in West Wales, away rom the rat-race, was to eliminate as much stress as possible and live a relatively simple life without too many worries. Has it worked??

Well, most of the time I would say it has, but nothing is ever quite that straight-forward. We would like to say that we don’t have any financial worries and in general we don’t. We could always do with more money as we don’t have much, but our only debt is the mortgage (and my student loan, but I don’t earn enough to have to pay that back at the moment). We tend to live fairly well within our means, but we do still of course have to pay the mortgage, the bills and put food on the table. Thankfully Anna has a fairly secure job so there should always be some income from that. She has however taken quite a pay drop since going back to work after Morgan was born (that is another story entirely), the result of which is that my income is now an important part of the money we need to survive each month. As a self-employed freelance website designer my income can be extremely variable from month to month and I can never be sure of where my next pay cheque is coming from. This obviously does introduce some stress into the equation, but so far our frugal lifestyle means that financial worries have been minimal.

Occassionally my job itslef can be quite stressful too. There can be deadlines to meet, I try to set these myself but sometimes there are things that people need done immediately. There is also a lot of responsibility involved in building and maintaining peoples websites. Sometimes this responsibility gets to me and work can be quite stressful. I think in a way I am guilty of being too conscientious to the extent that even the smallest of problems become a major thing for me. Working on my own means that I can’t ‘pass the buck’ or even get support and advice from a colleague.

Invariably the things that get me stressed turn out to be nothing and I soon get them sorted, but I think I’m becoming a bit of a worrier. My conscientious nature forces me to think through all the potential problems before they occur. This should be a good thing as I can then prevent any problems, but for some reason simply thinking about them ends up with me worrying about them. I’m inventing stressful situations in my head and worrying about them. This needs to stop, there really isn’t any need, and it isn’t doing me or anyone else any good.

A stress-free life by the sea? Well, life could be MUCH more stressful and the worries could be real, but it could be less stressful too if only I stopped inventing things to worry about.