Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Camping It Up
So, this was our week, our annual camping expedition to Dorset.
Unfortunately, it rained. It rained a lot. We arrived in the rain on Sunday, and got the tent up in a break.
Sunday night we spent mostly awake, checking the tent's integrity and listening to the torrential downpour.
On Monday we took the steam train from Norden to Swanage, and the kids played on the beach in the sun. We had fish and chips, and then ran for the train to get back to the campsite. Lion was asleep before the end of the train ride.
Tuesday was spent in Weymouth, on the beach again, the kids loved it. TW went swimming in the sea with Tiger.
Wednesday we decided to come home. It was raining and the rain was set in. So we left a day early. That was a bit of a shame.
It was a good break. We went with friends, and they enjoyed it. We'll try again next year...
TTFN.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Unfortunately, it rained. It rained a lot. We arrived in the rain on Sunday, and got the tent up in a break.
Sunday night we spent mostly awake, checking the tent's integrity and listening to the torrential downpour.
On Monday we took the steam train from Norden to Swanage, and the kids played on the beach in the sun. We had fish and chips, and then ran for the train to get back to the campsite. Lion was asleep before the end of the train ride.
Tuesday was spent in Weymouth, on the beach again, the kids loved it. TW went swimming in the sea with Tiger.
Wednesday we decided to come home. It was raining and the rain was set in. So we left a day early. That was a bit of a shame.
It was a good break. We went with friends, and they enjoyed it. We'll try again next year...
TTFN.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Daredevil: Shadowland
Gotta say, am loving the new Daredevil arc. There's a bunch of titles included, and most of them are great. Moon Knight is a bit odd, but I shall re-read it.
I'm planning to stock up on back-issues, I hope that doesn't prove too expensive...
TTFN.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Windy Worthing Seafront
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Worst Day in Parenting Evah
So, am embarrassed to say, I had my worst day in five years as a parent yesterday.
TW and The Girls had returned from a week's camping on Friday evening, so yesterday morning was given over to sorting and tidying. In my view, the house was in a fairly presentable state before they got home, and they arrived like a tornado, turning the house upside down within seconds.
So on Saturday, we organised. We tried to involve Tiger and Lion, asking them to put stuff in certain places. They either studiously ignored us, or resolutely responded 'NO'.
'Darling, can you take this sleeping bag upstairs and put it in our room, please?'
'NO.'
And so the day was set for niggles.
Then we went to a certain supermarket that rhymes with 'Nesco', where they cried, complained of being hungry, or thirsty, or tired, or not tired, or needing a wee. I had to take Lion out of the store and sit with her in the car for twenty minutes or so while she cried. It was a really exhausting, nerve-jangling outing, and I intend never to go to Durrington's Tesco store ever again.
But we survived, and got home and had lunch. Then the girls went out to play, which basically meant they stood in front of a neighbour's house, shouting 'J!', hoping to be invited in. J wasn't there, so basically they were looking like stalkers. We called them in several times and told them not to do that, but they persisted so I called them in and told them that was it.
So they then played upstairs, and this was when I lost my rag completely.
I went up to see what they were up to, and they had emptied a toiletries basket. Not such a big deal, I asked them to put all the stuff away and returned downstairs.
I went back upstairs a few minutes later to check they had tidied up, and found them smeared in Sudocrem. Tiger's hands were covered, and Lion's legs. It was all over their clothes and the carpet.
I saw red.
I raged at them, picked Lion up and threw her in to the bathroom, almost literally, and started hosing them down. Thankfully TW, who had been asleep, came up and sent me downstairs.
Away from the girls, I was sweating, my heart was racing, the adrenaline was up, I was in a bad way. I guess the day of needling and sniping and frustration all came together in that one situation.
I was disappointed - I expected them to know better, I guess. Certainly Tiger, who was five this Summer, who tried to blame it all on Lion. I could have quite happily put them all up for adoption yesterday.
Still, today's a new day, so let's hope for an improvement.
TTFN.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Consumerism
I'm struck by the fact that life seems to be one long consuming experience.
I've been consuming a lot of alcohol and a lot of information off the Internet this week, and I don't feel my life is any the better for it.
That's a bit of a sobering thought (no pun intended).
I am glad The Girls are back, though. They fill my life, even if they do turn the house into a complete cesspit.
TTFN.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
I've been consuming a lot of alcohol and a lot of information off the Internet this week, and I don't feel my life is any the better for it.
That's a bit of a sobering thought (no pun intended).
I am glad The Girls are back, though. They fill my life, even if they do turn the house into a complete cesspit.
TTFN.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A Fine Harvest
Friday, July 16, 2010
10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review
#thankyoujesus for irl and online friends. Couldn't live w/o either.
Laptop down. It's IRL Face Time!
it was so cool meeting you irl! :)
IRL: In Real Life. It's used as shorthand all over the Internet, to distinguish what happens online from what happens offline.And it's a lie.
If we still refer to the offline world as "real life," it's only a sign of deep denial — or unwarranted shame — about what reality looks like in the 21st century.
The Internet's impact on our daily lives, experiences and relationships is real. Our world is deeply affected by networks. From the moment you wake up to news that was gathered online to the minute you fall asleep listening to a podcast, the Internet shapes how you experience the world around you. From the lunch date you make with your BFF ("r u free 4 lunch 2day?") to the colleagues your company recruited online, the Internet shapes who you interact with. And from the boss who fills you in on a Twitter rumor to the kid who fills you in on her Facebook activities, the Internet shapes how you interact with them.
And yet many of us feel like we don't have a lot of choices about the role of the Internet in our lives. We spend more and more time online, but feel less and less connected. We resent our Blackberries but feel terrified if we end up somewhere with no cell phone coverage. We may have occasional moments of delight when we find an online video of Shiba Inu puppies (awww......) but they're overshadowed by the relentlessness and vacuity of an online world in which teens can be literally bullied to death.
Still, the fact that life online can occasionally surprise and delight us points us towards the truth: it's not the Internet itself that leads to pathologies like cyber-bullying, spam and identity theft. Rather it's our decision — individually and collectively — to separate the Internet from the context, norms and experience that guide human behavior. It's our decision to engage in online interaction as if it were fundamentally different from offline conversation. It's our decision to label the Internet as something — anything! — other than real life.
There's no denying the differences between life online and off. In our online lives we shake off the limitations of our physical selves, perhaps even our names and consciences, too. What remains are the fundamentals: human beings, human conversations, human communities. To say that "reality" includes only offline beings, offline conversations and offline communities is to say that face-to-face matters more than human-to-human.
It's time to start living in 21st century reality: a reality that is both on- and offline. Acknowledge online life as real, and the Internet's transformative potential opens up:
1. When you commit to being your real self online, you discover parts of yourself you never dared to share offline.
2. When you visualize the real person you're about to e-mail or tweet, you bring human qualities of attention and empathy to your online communications.
3. When you take the idea of online presence literally, you can experience your online disembodiment as a journey into your mind rather than out of your body.
4. When you treat your Facebook connections as real friends instead of "friends", you stop worrying about how many you have and focus on how well you treat them.
5. When you take your Flickr photos, YouTube videos and blog posts seriously as real art, you reclaim creative expression as your birthright.
6. When you focus on creating real meaning with your time online, your online footprint makes a deeper impression.
7. When you treat your online attention as a real resource, you invest your attention in the sites that reflect your values, helping those sites grow.
8. When you spend your online time on what really matters to you, you experience your time online as an authentic reflection of your values.
9. When you embrace online conversations as real, you imbue them with the power to change how you and others think and feel.
10. When you talk honestly about the real joys and frustrations of the Internet, you can stop apologizing for your life online.
If this sounds like the kind of reality you want to live in, I've got great news: you can move in today. All it takes is the decision to treat your online existence seriously, honestly and attentively, and you will find that the Internet is RLT: Real Life Too.
Alexandra Samuel provides insight and resources for working with social media on her blog at alexandrasamuel.com and on Twitter as awsamuel. She is the Director of the Social Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University, and the co-founder of Social Signal, a Vancouver-based social media agency.
via blogs.hbr.org
Food for thought...
Monday, July 12, 2010
A Good Weekend
So, heading back to work on a grey & dull Monday a.m. But we had a good weekend.
I left a bit early on Friday, about 15:45, and TW picked me up at Worthing. We drove around aimlessly for a bit, and got home about 17:00. I went to meet M & P to see what needed watering on the allotment. Bought some wine on the way home, and that was Friday.
On Saturday we went to Lindfield school fair, so that TW could sell her wares, and so that we could see A & A and their brood. 'Twas a lovely day, TW did okay, and we came home at about three-ish. She wanted to go for a dip in the sea, so called I & H. H was up for it, so I stayed with I and our combined brood and played in the paddling pool.
Can I just say that, on probably the hottest & sunniest day of the year, none of the kids got sunburn? I'm quite pleased about that.
Then we drank loads and had a BBQ at I & H's. We walked home and drank some more.
I had a lie-in on Sunday morning, but was still hungover. We watched a bit of Cricket Writers on TV (thank you Sky!) and then picked up the car. After lunch we went swimming, where [the youngest] loved it. First off, she couldn't hold on tightly enough, but once she was used to it, she was squirming out of our arms, trying to get into the water by herself !
I watered the allotment and then TW had a massage. By the time she got home I was nearly asleep, so that was bedtime.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
I left a bit early on Friday, about 15:45, and TW picked me up at Worthing. We drove around aimlessly for a bit, and got home about 17:00. I went to meet M & P to see what needed watering on the allotment. Bought some wine on the way home, and that was Friday.
On Saturday we went to Lindfield school fair, so that TW could sell her wares, and so that we could see A & A and their brood. 'Twas a lovely day, TW did okay, and we came home at about three-ish. She wanted to go for a dip in the sea, so called I & H. H was up for it, so I stayed with I and our combined brood and played in the paddling pool.
Can I just say that, on probably the hottest & sunniest day of the year, none of the kids got sunburn? I'm quite pleased about that.
Then we drank loads and had a BBQ at I & H's. We walked home and drank some more.
I had a lie-in on Sunday morning, but was still hungover. We watched a bit of Cricket Writers on TV (thank you Sky!) and then picked up the car. After lunch we went swimming, where [the youngest] loved it. First off, she couldn't hold on tightly enough, but once she was used to it, she was squirming out of our arms, trying to get into the water by herself !
I watered the allotment and then TW had a massage. By the time she got home I was nearly asleep, so that was bedtime.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Universal Free School Meals
Just listening to TiP, and thinking that universal free school meal entitlement is a lovely idea, but not really something that should be instituted in the real world.
Labour MPs on Wednesday were using the cancellation of the program as a stick with which to beat the Tories. If the scheme was implemented in full, how would they justify giving free school meals to the children of investment bankers and GPs at a time when the public deficit is ~£150bn?
Labour's approach seems to me to be taking on the role of provider of everything, in return for taking everything, and that way lies communism.
The way they refer to 'money being taken out of the economy' when public spending programs are cut indicates they believe the road to prosperity lies in taking and spending our money. I believe the private sector is where wealth and new money is generated. If all we had was the public sector, sooner or later the money would dry up.
So, those who can afford school meals, or prepare packed lunches for their offspring, should. No school meals are being taken away from the less well-off, the fact is that the scheme isn't being extended. And that means the funds which would have been used there can be used more effectively elsewhere.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Labour MPs on Wednesday were using the cancellation of the program as a stick with which to beat the Tories. If the scheme was implemented in full, how would they justify giving free school meals to the children of investment bankers and GPs at a time when the public deficit is ~£150bn?
Labour's approach seems to me to be taking on the role of provider of everything, in return for taking everything, and that way lies communism.
The way they refer to 'money being taken out of the economy' when public spending programs are cut indicates they believe the road to prosperity lies in taking and spending our money. I believe the private sector is where wealth and new money is generated. If all we had was the public sector, sooner or later the money would dry up.
So, those who can afford school meals, or prepare packed lunches for their offspring, should. No school meals are being taken away from the less well-off, the fact is that the scheme isn't being extended. And that means the funds which would have been used there can be used more effectively elsewhere.
- Posted using BlogPress on the move.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Don't Do It Kids - the perils of excess
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Three Men in a Boat...
Posted via web from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site
This picture was taken during the day while we were treating the girls to a day out. Then, after pizza last night, they became the most unmanageable trolls ever. Shame to end such a nice day with pointless tantrums.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Recent Events
You might have noticed there's been an election recently (in the UK). It was a good opportunity to blog, which I missed. Thoughts are:
- It's a shame the Lib Dems didn't realise their potential (again)
- People wanted to vote against Labour, but they don't want to vote Tory.
The visceral reaction against the Lib-Con coalition is unnecessary.
Both sides want power. Both sides have priorities. In order to come to an agreement, you have to negotiate. That'll mean that both parties (Con & Lib Dem) have to trade their priorities.
In my view, the current anti-govt. feeling is completely media-driven. Anyone with any political savvy knows that these guys (and they are mostly guys) retire to the bar and congratulate each other on a battle well fought after a day's hard debating on the green chairs.
I believe the current coalition has a >50% chance of enduring.
I don't believe that's contraversial, that's just pragmatic.
In my view, I believe the LibDems have a good chance of curbing the Tories' capitalistic tendencies, and they have a chance to 'prettify' the Tory policy. Dave might be 'wetter' than the right wing ever thought...
Wouldn't that be a thing?
TTFN.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
ECB warns free-to-air TV ruling threatens Test grounds and counties | Sport | The Observer
ECB warns free-to-air TV ruling threatens Test grounds and counties | Sport | The Observer
But if people can't watch it for free, people will no longer be interested in cricket as a national sport. How much is that worth?
Ten and eleven year-olds won't be clamouring to play it, dads won't be pressured into taking their kids to local grounds, there won't be any fresh talent. How soon until that adds up to £137m?
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