27 Going on 50... (Part 1)

I’ve had a realisation (with the help of the great Dave Gorman’s bloggy-news page). I’m getting old rather quickly. It’s either that or I am even more firmly “uncool” by today’s standards…

- I am already a 'man of hobbies' (albeit if I'd like one or two of them to become my profession).

- I like nothing more than a cup of tea/pint of bitter or ale and a nice sit down with some one or people I like.

- I have been known to use the phrase "I'm not going in there, there are no seats left…" and "what does she think she's wearing?".

- I even grew a beard briefly last year, after Luke was born (I lasted four days. And when I shaved, my face was red from all the scratching I had done when it irritated me) - and that just seals it.

- I don't smoke a pipe yet, but I do own a dressing gown and slippers.

- I also would love a monacle.

- The last time I went to buy an umbrella, I seriously considered getting a big one that doesn't fold down to the size of a 5p piece, just because I guessed I was grown up now.

- I fall asleep in front of the TV. Regularly.

- I have been known to willingly watch News24.

- Lager makes me feel sick – it tastes like the product of a child who’s been on a cola-induced bender all day (fizzy wee). I’d far rather sip at a pint of real ale/bitter.

- I remember discontinued sweets – and when Polos only cost 12p (and have friends I talk this over with).

- I listen to prog rock on a regular basis.

- And I am proud of it.

- I like Richard Curtis films.

- I am very proud that I am “uncool”. And I would be prepared to wear a badge or tshirt that says that. [Then we’ll see who’s cool, won’t we, chumps?]

Thankfully though, I still don’t read the Daily Mail or the Evening Standard. I’m not falling for that…

I am sure I will come up with more reasons I am old/”uncool”. For that reason, I will make this just Part 1...

Worms make you scream

Oddly enough, after a distinctly un-wild evening, I find myself feeling like my head’s been kicked in by a man wearing concrete boots and then had to listen to Ken Livingstone give a 3 hour speech on how brilliant he is.

The reason is Luke – the poor little man did not have a good night last night and that was because of a trip to the park… Aside from playing football with his mummy and making a new friend, he decided he wanted to stop and eat some worm casts. The result was a small man with a nasty tummy ache screaming his little head off, pausing only to make parping noises that would make a Sonic Boom sound like a pin drop.

It does make me wonder. Nikki goes back to work on the Monday after next, and I wonder if he’s realised something big is happening and is trying to get as much of his mummy’s attention as possible. He seems to push me away if I go to get him and call for his mummy…

I'm sure no one reads this anymore. But I'm going to keep going anyway...

I am convinced no one reads this. But never mind, it’s my little space and I’ll keep it going. There is lots to be updated here. There’s Luke, his first holiday, his third tooth and 30 consecutive steps; there’s the allotment (now officially renamed Lottie, as it is marginally easier to pronounce) – which is developing at a relatively speedy rate.

BUT, I’ll save some of it. The first holiday and the rest can wait until I have managed to upload the pictures onto flickr, which should be in a day or so. I know that this blog has become a catalogue of things I promise and never get round to, so maybe that’s an empty threat, but I’m halfway there already, so it shouldn’t be too much hassle!

Lottie. Ah, Lottie. I’ll be honest, allotments used to strike me as a bit of a waste of time. But after a year of Nikki and I spending a lot of our time inside looking after and playing with Luke, and me being cooped in an office all week, anything that means we’re outside for more than twenty minutes is very, very welcome!

That said, it’s not just getting out that made the allotment idea attractive. There is also the fact that we could produce our own organic fruit and veg without having to pay the excess amounts that supermarkets charge you for it. And now I am so far down the road to being a vegetarian (living and cooking and sharing meals with a veggie tends to mean that most of the food is veggie, and that’s not a bad thing), organic veg is becoming quite important to us – especially as it’s the only veg we can give Luke that’s guaranteed not to have anything obnoxious in it…

So, back in July, we got a plot. It’s pretty big, as you’ll see from the pictures that WILL be up on this [link]. There is a lot of work to do, but we already have a few things going in – there’s a group of herbs in one corner, which surround two strawberry plants, and last weekend we added some onions and cabbages, and then some rhubarbs too… We have a blueberry bush and two aubergine plants too… There is a long list of things to go in during the next month or so, and I have by no means got the memory to keep track of them, so I’ll mention them as they get planted.

I must mention, however, that we are – sadly – currently in a state of war.

With slugs.

I HATE the little beggars. And there are hundreds of the little things hiding in the long grass round the edge of the plot waiting for darkness. As soon as the sun falls and there’s no one around to work on the plot, they strike, ambushing the defenceless veggies like there’s no tomorrow. We’ve already lost what fruit we did have there and some of the leaves off cabbages, onions and rhubarb. Gits.

More soon… If you’re unlucky.

A bleary-eyed, very brief edition of "Luke's Corner"

Luke has been sleeping really badly - culminating in last night, where I was up every half an hour until 4am with him, while Nik was waking up everytime she did, so neither of us got much that resembled sleep... I certainly got less than an hour (between 4 and 5am). We're a little worried that he's a bit ill, so we'll be keeping an eye on what he's like and how he behaves over the weekend and working out whether a trip to the doctors is in order (hopefully not the one who had a go at him for peeing when she took his nappy off...)

It's a major reason in my lack of updates - and its not like there's nothing to say - we have an allotment now, and the first plants have gone in already, so we're very proud and rather excited!

The wonderful Stokke Xplory broke spectacularly last week with a mysterious fault - one of the back legs lost a screw and split open all the way down, and stopped the breaks working. Not sure how this happened - we don't even use it that much, and certainly don't do anything unusual or particularly wearing to it.

Seeing as its meant to be suitable from birth - 4 years, it's not very encouraging that so much can go wrong in the first 10 months of use... [the leg break isn't the only problem we've had - the parasol broke off when Luke gave it a tug (he managed to shear the metal, so either he's a lot stronger than anyone we know or there was a fault with it), the rubber coating on the inside of the rain hood is flaking off, and the dye in the material started to run, destroying some of his clothes - we're open-minded people, but a boy in a pink shirt isn't a good look. It looks terrible on men, let alone babies...]

I'm also moving posts in the division - from being responsible for Creative Industries, I'll be responsible for Arts policy from the 18 September (when I come back from holiday), which is exciting!

I'll come back over the weekend and give the allotment story!

Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you...

I have an alibi, I tell you...

From: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-13536210,00.html

“…Officials said eastern Cuba's north coast and southern Florida should monitor the storm.
Chris disintegrated into a mass of thunderstorms when winds fell to 35 mph, below the 39-mph threshold for a tropical storm.
Experts had predicted Chris would be in the Gulf of Mexico, at the Texas-Mexico border, by Wednesday.
The storm's remnants were expected to drop up to two inches of rain across the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and eastern Cuba.
Southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands remained under tropical storm warnings.
Residents were told to prepare for bad weather arriving within 24 hours.
Experts have predicted another active Atlantic hurricane season. But nothing like the record 28 storms seen in 2005, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept into Louisiana and Texas.
They shut down a quarter of US crude output and sent oil prices to then record highs.”

Shamefaced blogger...

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Shame on me. I've just noticed the last time I updated the blog. I'm absolutely ashamed.

So let's do a catch up then...

The main news is from Luke's corner - maybe that's a new part to my blog existence, "Luke's Corner"... - anyway, yes. The little man now has TWO bottom teeth! He's getting very good at using them - especially on Mummy and Daddy when he gets the chance (ie. when they don't move quick enough to get out of the way!), but occasionally, he does use them on food too - he is now a big fan of apriciots, mandarins, breadsticks, gingerbread men, moon biscuits and bananas.

He's eating not just purees now, but puree with lumps, and the finger-food I just mentioned...
He's very nearly walking - just started crawling (we weren't convinced he'd bother with the crawling stage, just get on with it and start walking around...), and has learnt to roll over onto his front (and is more than happy to sleep on his side, and sometimes on his front), and can also now sit himself up again from the crawling or lying position. Which is very impressive for such a young man (let's face it, most of us find that difficult at the best of times!), and is extremely cute to watch! There are two more teeth coming through on the top row too, so we're keeping an eye out for the additional pain when he bites us!

Other than that, I don't think there's much to tell. We're off to Kew Gardens on Saturday to celebrate my dad's birthday, which is great because its one of our favourite places (and somewhere Luke will get very sick of the sight of in the future...). Other than that, I'm planning the worship and some other stuff for the GOGI event (Go On Get Involved, for those not in the know...) which should be good - the only thing I'll give away about this is that its on the theme of Superheroes... But that's not till November, so I'm thinking about it now in the hope that I'll get more stuff out of it than I need and that it might lead me to extra inspiration for something.

I'm also taking a break from church for now. It's not permanent and doesn't mean, by any means, that I have lost faith. I think I said before that I've lost faith in people, but not God. Its just not practical for me to go at the moment - I need the time with Nikki and Luke, and I have to put them first. My faith has always been an intensely private thing for me - and huge group worship has never been something I have been overly impressed by - the only time its been particularly memorable for me is when there's been a personal moment for me in there. But I do need the company of others, and it makes me very sad that I don't feel part of the church in anyway and that I now feel I have to have a break from there, and even worse that my hopes of possibly being a young family connected to that church (even if that connection is just me) is not going to happen. It has made me wonder about the point of church altogether.

Anyway, to break up the confusion at the moment, I've been enjoying the world cup... Well, I say "enjoying" - not the England games - they've been painful at best, but I am optimistic about it all now - after all, we're in the quarter finals, and have a good chance of setting up a semi against either Brazil or France (either of which, on recent form I think we'd fancy our chances against if we hit some form). But there have been some good games, which I've really got into - the Argentina v.Mexico game in particular... I like Mexico, and they were one of my outside bets (not that I bet...I'm not on a footballer's wage...), so I think its a shame they've gone out. I am more interested in past world cups, though, so I've been watching some old highlights and stuff from world cups gone by, especially Mexico '86. Actually, that's something I've always wondered why there's not some kind of historical football computer game - one that allows you to play as, say the England team from 1986 and see if you can get further than the quarter finals, or the 1950 team and avoid losing to the USA... But maybe that's just me...

I'm going away now. I will be back regularly though... Watch this space...

new poem

Sorted!

Being “sorted” is not compulsory.
It’s not an essential state of mind,
required qualification
or entrance exam mark.
Being troubled, now that’s more like it.
Easier to achieve, easier to maintain
and certainly easier to improve.
Doubts, fears,
the seed germ of confusion,
are essential to life.
They are an in-built special feature,
the human airbag
or DVD easter egg.
But being “sorted” is not for me.
I can’t keep up with the levels
of confidence, performance
and bravado it needs.
I have too many questions
and a few little quibbles
(is it so hard for the church to be united?
Or is that just petty and childish)
and I’d rather stick with these.
For a while it sounds so appealing,
so settled and sure,
But being “sorted” is for Jesus,
and I am just human, after all.

Updating and showing off!

Hello there... Long time no speak. Not a lot has happened recently - I've been over-run at work recently (I'm currently covering another post - the busiest in the unit - and keeping a couple of my old duties going while trying to do my current job as well...), and well, there's not been much fun recently.
I've had a mixed bag of a time in the last month - I've really lost a lot of faith in people recently, and rightly or wrongly, this has a lot to do with both my living situation and the fact that I feel increasingly disconnected from the church. I think I can count the amount of times I have managed to get along to a service or meeting there in the last 7 months on my fingers, but I've not been contacted at all to see if there's anything wrong or if I'm ok. I've really needed the support of people - and this has only grown in the last few months. But its not been coming from there. Very often its not come at all. But if there's a good side to it all, it has pointed to me who my proper friends are, and they have been wonderful to me. I won't mention who they are, because they should know...
On the other hand, we had a lovely time at the wedding of Phil and Nicky (aka Barney) in Hereford. Luke revelled in all the attention, and had a brilliant time, and we really liked being away from home. It was the first time we've been away together and the first time Luke's had to sleep somewhere other than his own bed... He certainly didn't have any problem with that! The first night we stayed with Phil's mum, Wendy, and she was marvellous. We felt very welcome and very at home. The second we spent at the hotel where the wedding was held - the place was lovely (if stiflingly hot).
As I haven't shown him off enough recently, I'll finish with a picture of Luke - this was about half an hour before the wedding, after daddy had managed to persuade him he wanted to wear his suit...

Biscuit Consumption Analysis v. The Life Remix

I have been thinking about Lent a lot recently – and I’m getting fed up with some of the stuff I’m reading about it. A few of the sites I read regularly have touched on this, but I thought I’d put some of my own thoughts on this down somewhere.

Lent is thought about as a time to give something up, be it chocolate, sweets, beer, whatever. But that’s not what Lent is for. If you read the Bible, there’s no mention of any of that – why should we make it fit with our over-complicated existences?

Lent is supposed to be a time when we review our spiritual life, think again about what it means to be a follower of Christ, reset the compass of our discipleship and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Easter festival. But often we just give up biscuits. [Stephen Cottrell, I Thirst]

I don’t want to use Lent to not drink tea for 40 days, or make sure I am in bed by 11, or anything like that. I have a bed. I can drink tea freely whenever I want. I can look at my happy little son and know that we can feed and clothe him.

I’m staggeringly lucky!

Many of the problems I face are through my own mistakes or lack of thought, not through the simple impossibility of what I want to do. I take for granted the fact that I can turn on a tap and fill a sink with water without the several-mile-round-trip to fetch the water first.

So this is where the word remix comes in. I’m re-focusing my life in places. Retuning my spiritual aerial, if you like, and trying to improve the reception. It’s not a terrible arduous task – just a case of having a think about what I want to improve, and then doing it.

I can’t claim to be giving up all my comforts to live in a desert wilderness for Lent, but I can be happy that I am doing something positive, instead of something rather inane and pointless like not eating any digestives until Easter…
A few places for you to have a look at if you’re interested:

Desert (flash animation)
Grace’s Lent Blog
Maggi Dawn’s Blog
Jonny Baker’s Blog

A day to be sad

I heard on the news this morning that Linda Smith has died.

She'd been suffering with Ovarian Cancer for the last three years, although continued performing and broadcasting through her illness. I'm glad she did, as she was one of the funniest and warmest people to listen to. She was one of the best reasons to listen to the News Quiz on Radio 4, and her own series (A Brief History Of Timewasting) was a joy to listen to.

One of the best things about her work was that she was always funny, always cutting, and always managed this without being particularly offensive - witty and extremely erudite, with the skill to embark on wild flights of fancy and surrealism without losing the listener, she was one of the country's foremost satirists. And one of the most surprising things of all - she came from near me - she was born in Erith, Kent, and went to school in Bexleyheath...

I, for one (and I am sure I am not alone), will sorely miss hearing her voice. Early Friday evenings will not be the same.

There's a nice article on the Independant website today (here), and there are fond obituaries in both the Guardian and the Independant by Jeremy Hardy and Mark Steel respectively - two other comedy heroes of mine, and worth a read.

These are quoted in the article linked above, and sums up her brilliant wit:

On Jesus: "We know he wasn't English, because he wore sandals - but never with socks."

On her hometown, Erith: "They had a competition to find a new name for the Erith Leisure Centre. The winning name was 'The Erith Leisure Centre'."