My life is RIP, or has it just begun?

Saturday morning; We had a business and I had some real drive in my life.

Sunday morning; I am sitting on my sofa, talking to you, without a business, without a job and struggling to come to terms how life could have been so cruel in the space of 8 months!!

I was sitting in the first class lounge on the 15th September last year, with my wife of 48 Hours next to me, sipping champagne and feeling rather bloody proud of myself. we had just experienced the best day of our lives. A day that went so smoothly and was so perfect from start to finish I think my new wife could plan military operations! (as long as all the soldiers where dressed by Caroline Castigliano!). We were about to fly off in the lap of luxury to a 2 week honeymoon in the romantic mecca of the world, Italy. We had a bank full of money and we were not going to want for anything.

Back in Edinburgh we had a business that had just smashed the monthly sales projection for the 3rd month running. we had some great staff and the locals loved our "high street pro shop" ethos and no one could see anything but us going from strength to strength. At that point in life I can honestly say that I wanted for nothing. All my dreams had come true and apart from the patter of tiny feet, which we were going to set about creating the second that we returned from honeymoon then life was perfect. I was for once content and satisfied.

We returned to our hotel room in the middle of our stay in Venice, our first of 3 Italian cities, to flick on the TV. The next few weeks of news would change our lives forever. I read that the American investment bank, The layman Brothers had gone the way of the pear, it had gone tits end up, it was pushing up the daisys, it had run off to join the choir, it, was an ex bank!!

Again, while sipping champagne (i could get use to this) that evening, my thoughts turned to the news i had read that same afternoon. 'how could a multi billion dollar bank go under? how could the president et al let that happen? oh well, that's their hard luck, another bottle of your finest 96 Chianti please good man'

What happened over the next few weeks/months i am sure i don't need to tell anyone. To put it in my own very eloquent language, 'The arse fell out of the financial world'! This would over time, effect us in more ways than i ever thought.

We jump forward a few months to new years eve and once again i find myself with a glass of champagne in our hands as my wife and i drink some of our wedding gifts to wave in the new year. I had a few days earlier made a good friend redundant from the business but we knew that with a couple of months in Jan and Feb like they were in October and November then the business would make it through the rough time and we would hit summer being Edinburgh's number 1 golf retail outlet and we would be made for life........Oh how wrong you could be.

A few years ago a group of suit wearing egits who have never lived a normal life in Edinburgh thought it would be a good idea to make thousands of people redundant. To force hundreds of businesses to close. To rip up the cities most famous streets and landmarks. 'Hey, lads while we are it lets turn Princes Street into a ghost town, that will be fun' one faceless suit said to another. and so it was, a few days later the aforementioned egits collected huge bonuses and delivered in return...... The trams.

Some people say that as far as bad ideas go, invading Poland was not that hot a idea. The pole tax, that didn't go down to well. And lets not even start with the Spice girls reforming!!! The tram works though can top all that!! (ok, maybe a little over the top but that is how it feels at the moment)

Edinburgh has the best public transport of any city i have ever lived in. The buses are on time and plentiful. from anywhere in the city you can get anywhere in the city. We have hundreds of Edinburgh people who come in our shop and as the first digger started to rip the heart out of the city we asked people ' do you want the trams', 'are the trams a good idea'. the response was a infatic, NO!

By this point we new we were expecting our first child and although the business was beginning to show signs of straining, life was still good and it was nothing we couldn't handle. Oh how wrong was I........

I am not going to dwell too much on this as it is still very painful and a day after closing my business no one will want to shag a man that cries all the time (a very rough love actually quote). but by February we no longer had a child on the way and to say that customers had stopped walking through the door was an understatement.I was doing my best to ensure my darling wife that everything would be fine and that this was just a blip in our perfect life, that we would be laughing about in a few years as we sat in our million pound house surrounded by our 2.4 children.

Saturday 9th May. The Edinburgh Golf Shop LTD....RIP!

To this date we are still trying to add another element to our family and we are now planning to head back to Nottingham to try and start a new life. I feel like i want to apologies to my far better other half every day for pushing for the shop and basically being a typical pig minded male Boon and not listening to her worries, which were, as we have now found, very real worries! Oh and yes David, they could happen! Lets hope she doesn't do a Elliot style 'i told you so' dance!

I am business less, jobless and baby less. I am moving our out of the first house that we bought together and leaving a city and a country that we both love. In the space of 8 months we have gone from living the life of Riley to becoming another statistic on the government lists of people that have fucked up there lives!!! Sorry baby, my bad!

So David, you wuss. Suck it up and wipe away the tears you girl and lets do something about it!! The future will still be bright cause you are in a very loving marriage, you have a great group of friends and family and you have a lot going for you. So it is time for a change.
This week we are sorting out the paperwork etc that is involved with liquidising a LTD company. Friday we are off for a weeks holiday that is needed more than a poet needs the pain. When we return i will be joined by my parents in law who will help us move house. which brings us to June 1st..

JUNE 1ST!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the day that i have set out to start my training. This is the day that i have set out to change my life around. They say that a healthy body creates a healthy mind. if that is true then bring it on.

I know a little about training etc from my past experiences and from my Sports Science degree. I am not going to quit my life style cause you should never start to hate training or dieting because it is something that is stopping you from being you. I will still eat my Sunday dinner and i will still have a beer with the lads. I will obviously work on my fitness and stamina as 26 miles is no walk in the park. well it is actually at the beginning in Hyde Park! but after that it isn't. I am going to work on my muscles cause i do actually look a little better in a bigger physique than i do a skinny rake. i am looking forward to driving myself and pushing myself through the pain that i know will come with the training.

After what i have been through in the last year i am bizarrely looking forward to the future. I have never been one to stick my head in the sand and to feel sorry for myself. If anything happens in this world then bar a lottery win YOU are the one that needs to make it happen. So that is just what i am going to do. I WILL get another good job that can support my family for years to come. We WILL have a little one on the way very soon. I WILL complete the marathon in less than 3 hours 43 minutes and i will feel total contentment in my life again very soon, don't get me wrong, i am still very happy but as everyone who knows me will testify, i need success to be complete.

So here i am. I will be buying a proper pair of running trainers tomorrow morning, along with the first series of The Inbetweeners (clunge!!). And as far as i am concerned my life starts now. one chapter has finished so it is now the time to turn the page and start a new one.

My god, a whole blog entry without saying the word Rainbow once, i am very impressed with myse........... DO'H! so close.