A little update from me, for those curious what's been happening (1 Viewer)

Cluck

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As some of our longer-standing members will have noticed, I had been taking an ever increasing back seat at RSR, in terms of racing, eventually retiring from racing altogether late last year. With today's real-life events out of the way, I thought I'd finally share what's been going on, just in case anybody gave a fig! Not interested? Stop reading :p.

Back in September my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and although as a family we knew this was the likely diagnosis, we couldn't do anything until we were certain. That had been weighing heavily on my mind for the previous 6-9 months and in all honesty, my heart wasn't 100% into racing or my business, as my mind was too full of what-ifs and thinking about the future. As the months went by and the diagnosis came, all desire to race went out of the window, so my kit went to new homes. All that's left is my very well used Oculus Rift DK2. That's when I stopped racing altogether, so the only time I fire up pCARS2 now is to take screenshots for banners or because I want to take a nice screenshot. I haven't actually done a lap "in anger" since November. It's also nearly impossible for me to drive with a controller as I've used a wheel in driving games for nearly 30 years.

I have just this afternoon sold the business I ran with my father for over 25 years. My house, which I bought 20 years ago, will be going up for sale in a couple of weeks. By the end of April I will be moving 200 miles to live with my parents - initially under the same roof and then into my own new home at the bottom of their garden. Having lived away from them for 20 years, it is not going to be an easy time living with them, not least given my mother's illness, until my new place is built. It is all a massive upheaval in my life and the biggest adjustment I will have had to make since, well, since ever. My business has been my entire adult working life, with my father literally by my side for the first 15½ years of the business. A customer put it very well - it's like somebody put my head into a washing machine with the weekly washing.

There's not much anybody can do but as a family, we will pull together and make sure that my mother and father are as comfortable and happy as possible in the (hopefully) many years they have left. If any of you have first-hand expertise or experience in Alzheimer's then by all means drop me a PM but if it's OK with all of you, this is not something I really want to discuss in public further than this post. This really is me just letting go of something I've had to keep bottled for a long while now.

I have no idea what the future holds in store, but I am looking forward to it with a mixture of optimism and fear. I'm still here at RSR, doing what I can, when I can and I would like to think I'll be around for a good while yet. Will I return to racing? I don't know, I barely know what I'm doing next week, let alone months or years ahead but never say never. One thing's for certain, should I return to racing, it will be here at RSR because this is my home, this is my family and I wouldn't want to race anywhere else :)

And with that, I think I shall now get very very drunk*
 

m4nu

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I revived the "friendly" reaction for this post, because nothing else was really working here.

We talked hours and hours about it, I wish you from the bottom of my heart the best for you and your family for the future!
And in secret I hope to race with you again, to finally beat your a** around Bathurst ;)
 

Cluck

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Forgot to post this :D

6402


(that's retirement from work, not here ;) )
 

Ricardo

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Wish you and your family and the best Cluck if we can do anything just lets us know
 

steveg200

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Good luck with everything mate and if you ever need any coal digging give me a shout.
 

Jonno

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I wish you and your family all the best mate
Keep ya chin up and keep clucking.
 

Jamesl91

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Wish you the best of luck for both you and your family for the future. Just remember we are always here for you should you need us :)
 

Dama_The_Crow

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Hang on Cluck. I wish you very best for this though situation.
I am hoping that all will be fine and well....
 

wabi

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Good luck to good Cluck and his closest ones. Hold on mate.
 
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Cluck

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A small update. The plans for The Coop have gone in to the local council for planning approval. Nothing I can do now except wait patiently for them to give the greenlight to let me build the annex in my parent's garden. The new owners of my business have hit the ground running and met a bunch of my old customers, the feedback from which has been nothing but positive. I'm now donning the hazmat suit and venturing into what was my brother's bedroom to clean that up ready to put my house up for sale. So far, so postive.

Thanks for all the well-wishes, they really do mean a lot. The support from everybody has been nothing short of amazing :cool:. Some of my old customers have gone so far beyond "amazing" that I still struggle to come to terms with how good they are being. From an entire morning drinking coffee and reminiscing on good times to promises of lunches and beers, to another customer posting me a book created specially for a friend of her's that was going through something similar, to various customers who have been through it, to customers that created their own businesses out of their needs to support loved ones, to members on here who have proper experience of what to expect and what to do, I honestly cannot thank everybody enough. It is moments like this that you find out who your friends are and it appears that I have made a lot of unexpected, but very welcome, friends. I am truly humbled by everybody's kindness and generosity.
 

Born2BSlow

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Alzheimer's is such a cruel disease Cluck, I will miss you man! Wishing nothing but good things for you and your family chickenmeister! At least I still have your (many) ghosts to chase, if you're away 5 years I might have actually beaten one when you get back to it... ;)
 

Taorminator

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Hey @Cluck very sad to hear about this and can only hope the future will smile to you. Take care of your loved ones and try to take care of yourself too :) words can hardly heal wounds but I wanted to say thank you for the great time we had at inductions and my best racing memory with you will always be Snetterton in the radicals when you made me sweat for half the race, battling fiercly for a step on the podium, only to be taken out by Ranj in the last sector of the last lap :p just thanks for your time here and I hope to race with you in the future :) as always : good cluck :)
 

Cluck

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Suppose an update is in order.

In 9 days I will finally be moving and putting my house up for sale. There was a bit of a delay due to a hospital visit that subsequently put me out of proper action for 2 weeks (it's a longstanding problem but it made sense to get it sorted whilst I was still here than wait until I'd moved). I'm currently remembering how much I hated interior painting when I bought the house but it's a necessity as the house really is showing 20 years of my living in it!

In theory we are supposed to get a decision on "The Coop" at the end of this week, but due to complaints from both neighbours we have now had to submit "justification" for the size of it :rolleyes: . It's a formality really but it's not entirely helpful to know that I'm moving into a village where both neighbours already resent my presence. Never mind, I'm sure they enjoy very loud music :D .

My mother's condition isn't really changing, it still sucks balls. Just hoping that my presence there will improve things.

Thanks for all the supportive replies, it's helped a hell of a lot :). I'm going to be taking a bit more of a back-seat from the end of next week, just whilst I get settled in to my new life. I'll be keeping an eye on the forum of course and no doubt still be making a nuisance of myself in Discord ;). I'm not going anywhere, that's for sure - heck, I've still got a massive merch order to do :D.
 

miagi

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wow Cluck I totally missed this thread as I'm a rather erratic forum user. Just wanted to say that I was last few days thinking about you and our meeting at the Nürburgring... To be honest I particularly was thinking about the one sentence you know in german, still awesome.
I wish you all the best mate hang in there, big respect to you that you tell us about your situation.
 

Cluck

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In theory we are supposed to get a decision on "The Coop" at the end of this week,
Well, the application was refused :(

Now, for the good news!

My parents had a chat with somebody else in their village, over a nice cup of tea (well, we are English, all good decisions are made over cups of tea :D ), and that person suggested something a little "outside of the box" and looked at things from a different perspective. The idea was "why don't you put forward a smaller annexe and you two (my mother and father) move into it, leaving your son (your's truly!) to have the house and live in it?". Why not indeed. Just this lunchtime we have had pre-application approval from the council to build the smaller annexe. We are one massive step closer!

My father has already said he's not too precious about the house, it will effectively be mine and whatever needs to be done to make it better for me, will be done!

That's it for now. I'm moving on Friday and there is much work to do!
 

hinesy32

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Hi @Cluck

I totally missed this post. As it turns out, I'm in a very similar position to you. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers about 4 years ago. It was around the time I accepted a new job and life in Manchester UK, moving over from Ireland. It has been hugely tough at times. I have also lost motivation for doing the things I enjoy, including sim racing.

If you ever want to chat about how things are going, just send me a message. I have a little more experience now as time goes on.

Take care of yourself, as that is just as important as taking care of your mother and your family.

Cheers
Colin
 

Cluck

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Cheers fella, I might just have a chat with you at some point :)
 

Born2BSlow

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Keep on keeping on Cluck. Sensible solution there, don’t forget to give yourself some me time and headspace. You have to look after yourself so that you can look after others.
 

falcon2081

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Sorry to hear Cluck and good luck in your future endeavors.
 

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