So what have I been up to?

Quite a lot really, in the last few months I've;

Looked at some weird bikes,

Enjoyed the weather,

Spent some quality time with my boys,

Been to my brother in Laws wedding in the beautiful Gougane Barra, West Cork, Ireland,


Been camping in France in our new tent and spent 4 days in Euro Disney with G +D and their boys,

Anything else? oh yeah I got a new job.

I've been in developement for a diferent role with the same company for years now but there have not been any vacancies. Last year there were two and I failed to get either. Bollocks. But earlier this year another opportunity opened and I got it. Yay!

Although due to various complicated internal wranglings I haven't actually started the job yet but officially I'm no longer a mere engineer, I am now a Post Sales Analyst, Hurrah!. Which is an I.T based role supporting clients software, print servers, workflows and numerous other things. I'm looking forward to getting started properly in the next 2 weeks.

So what what does the new job mean for this blog?

Well a bit tricky to answer, I'm in two mind's whether or not to continue with it. If I stopped completely no one would notice a difference! I have lost interest in blogging and really can't match the enthusiasm of people like Gemmak who blogs daily, and NML who runs several blogs as a business. For ages I stopped updating this blog but continued to read my favourite blogs but now I don't have the time or the inclination for that either. I do like the idea of chronicling my life to look back on it but that will only work if I make posts, So I think I will see how the new job goes and have a rethink in the new year.

TTFN, and have a nice christmas.

Must. Update. Blog.

AAAHHhhh the pressure!

anyway to pass the time here is a couple of tim vine jokes,

I told my girlfriend I had a job in a bowling alley. She said "Tenpin"I said, "No, it's permanent."

I met this bloke with a didgeridoo and he was playing Dancing Queen on it. I thought, "That's Aboriginal

Batman came up to me and he hit me over the head with a vase and he went T'PAU! I said "Don't you mean KAPOW?" He said "No, I've got china in my hand."

I'll get me coat.

Life begins.

Sunday was my beautiful Wife's 40th birthday and in a break from the norm I managed to not fuck it up.
After months of teasing her about a surprise "pink princess" birthday party, which she would have hated to the point of divorce, I did actually manage to surprise her.
Wifey believed we were going out for meal with our friends G & D but unknown to her I had arranged for some other friends to be at the restaurant already and nice surprise , and an excellent meal with some good company followed.

Don't believe what you read.

The UK paper the Daily Mail has an article on women seeking "e-venge" on cheating boyfriends using blogs or reading their e-mails etc. One of the women featured is NML (whom you will see listed in my sidebar) I have been a reader of NML's blog. "Tired of men" since 2005 and this article does not represent what her site has ever been about. I would therefore suspect that the information about the others is also inaccurate and badly reported (read as "made up").
There are lots of unfair comments left which are solely based on what the commenters have read, I have tried to leave a comment on the article but it's in moderation and I suspect it will never appear.
Another favourite blogger of mine, the girl with a one track mind, was also stitched up by a newspaper and lost the career that she loved because of it, although she seems to have done alright out of it in the long run (I rarely read her blog now as it's blocked by the corporate firewall for being too saucy).
NML is now a mother and in a loving and stable relationship and the site is now more about the craziness of family life, if you've never read it go and have a read and say I sent you :-)

The moral of this post is, don't believe what you read and be very careful if you ever have cause to talk to the press or media.

Vote for London

I'm not a very politically minded person, I really don't take much interest in anything political but if there's one thing in politics I'm sure of it's that Ken Livingstone is a nasty man. He is a horrible arrogant person who seems to think he owns London and thinks he doesn't have to answer to anyone. Some of his ideas are pretty sound, others are badly thought out but overall he is a wrong 'un.
I'm not going to tell you who to vote for in the mayoral election, just don't vote for Ken.

My prediction for the election is that Ken will get back in, but not because the majority of Londoners want him but because there are too many other candidates. The votes will be too divided and even though 70% of Londoners will not vote for Ken he will get in on a technicality. 28% might vote for Boris, 28% might vote for Brian Paddick, 14% will vote for others and Ken will get in with 30%.

Walking fat, Roman witches, fanny faced Ood's and disappearing Bees

Doctor Who is back oh yes!

Pretty good so far, Catherine Tate is different from your run of the mill assistant, not as hot as the lovely Freema Agyeman or as bushy eyebrowed as Billie Piper but still good in a sort of argumentative stroppy way.
Next week starts a two parter featuring returning classic baddies the Sontarans, and I'm gagging for the season finale featuring the return of an Uber baddie, which if you don't know who it is already, I'm not going to tell you.
By the way, why are the bees disappearing? Google it and find out.

Bad Parent's Club

Blimey I was in danger of missing my "next post in Q1" deadline.*



Well as usual lots going on, too much to write about and not enough time.

No1 son has been going to cubs for well over a year, he goes every week and last year got an award for the highest attendance. He is not a fairweather cubscout. The cubs do lots of excellent activities and camps etc and one of the things he was really looking forward to was the upcoming "Kip on a ship". This involves two cub packs spending the night on HMS Belfast and the day in London visiting the CBBC studio all in a fantastic trip. We put his name on the list for this trip last year and had heard nothing since. A couple of weeks ago when I picked him up from Cubs he tried to tell Akela on the way out that he hadn't been given a letter with the final details on it like the others had, but she was busy. I waited until she was free then asked her myself, she said she didn't have any more and would send one out. Half an hour later she was on the phone asking if we had received a letter to confirm No1 son's place etc, we hadn't. The bottom line was, no letter, no confirmation, no place. He couldn't go. He was devastated**. Of course in No1 son's eyes this was all our fault and we are the world's worst parents, why can't he go, he is deprived etc etc etc.
It seems we somehow got missed of the list when the letters went out. Part of the problem is that Akela runs a cub pack of 40 boys all on her own and she didn't have time to chase up people who didn't respond, there is a parents help rota but some of the parents seem to think that this is optional.
So in order to help Akela and possibly prevent any future "administrative errors" I have volunteered to help out at Cubs on a regular basis. There is a fine line between brave and stupid. So far I have survived two sessions and it hasn't been as bad as I dreaded (having three boys of my own is good training) although I've seen a different (not so nice) side to some of his schoolfriends who are in the cubpack. Anyway I've said I'll help out as much as I can, work permitting and I'll just have to see how it goes.

* it was over a week ago that I started writing this post and I realise that now I now have actually missed that deadline. Another nail in the coffin of my career as a journalist.

** just to put this in perspective, he also is devastated if he misses an episode of Ben 10 or Pokemon Diamond and Pearl or finds out that his brothers have gone to Burger King without him (this happened last night, and resulted in tears and sulking in his room). I shouldn't laugh.

News just in...

A few weeks ago No1 son went on a bike ride with the cubs and performed a first class face plant, knocked himself out cold and spent a night in hospital. He is fine now, he recovered very quickly and was soon back to his grumpy ungrateful, pokemon obessessed self!
*if you're not sure what a face plant is, search on youtube for it and you'll soon get the idea.

Last friday Wifey went out with the ladies from her work to Yates in Romford and was surprised to find out that this "pub" had poles in it. I mean poles for poledancing not people from Poland. Poles that "ladies", including someone from her work, were gyrating around and grabbing like they were someones member (Wifey's choice of words). She was home before 11:00.

Tonight I'm going for beers and a curry at the most excellent Tale of India restaurant in Docklands.
Tomorrow, day off, kids nativity play followed by the dentist (which should be pleasant the morning after beer and curry!).

end of bulletin. next update planned for Q1 2008 :-)

Happy Christmas.

A Facebook moment.

Beep Beep " 'scuse me mate...."

if someone in a car parked at the side of the road calls for your attention you would be likely to think that they are after directions. You wouldn't expect to be asked for directions by a London Cabbie though. So I was a bit confused when this cabbie tooted and called me, it got worse when he lent across the seat of his cab, held his hand out for me to shake and said "alright mate, how's it going?"

Nothing, nada, not a sausage, no hint of recognition entered my head as I stared blankly back at the mystery cabbie. Obviously realising that I was clueless as to his identity the cabbie said "you used to go to Jane So and So's parties ", pause, "remember?"

A small light flicked on, "Jane So and So" I knew "Jane, yeah right, I'm sorry I don't recognise you though"

"Steve" he replied as if that would clear the matter up straight away.

Nothing.

" I've got little boy, Jamie," hang on that sounded a bit familiar, something vague started to stir in the depths of my memory, "my wife's Karen" Bingo! got it Karen, red hair, cracking bird, I quite fancied her, little boy Jamie two weeks younger than No1 Son, it all came flooding back. I still didn't remember him though.

Jane was a work friend of Wifey's, she had a little girl who was two when her dad was killed in a bike accident.

I met John at a party held by someone at Wifey's work, we hit it off straight away and discovered a mutual interest in Star Trek and motorbikes. We became good friends and used to go for rideouts until his taste in Bikes started to go awry (he bought a Harley).
I hadn't seen John for a while and had last had an e-mail from him a few weeks previously, moaning about the unreliability and lack of parts for his Harley, when Wifey phoned me at work on a Saturday "John's dead" I can't remember what I said but it was something with no point or meaning, Wifey continued " Jane and John had split up and he was living with another girl and she had a scooter and he had an accident and died" "WHAT!" now I really was stunned, my mate killed in a bike crash I could accept as something of an occupational hazard for bikers but that they had split up and he was living with someone else WTF!
Anyway, shit happens, I went to his funeral, Wifey stayed their home and looked after No1 son and John and Janes little girl, I said goodbye to my mate, the cabbies wife held my hand and I cried my eyes out.
The world moved on and we drifted out of contact with Jane and haven't seen or heard from them in a good few years now.

The cabbie said he'd seen me a few times wandering about and wasn't sure if I was who he thought I was, we had a chat and a reminisce and I went back to work.
It's a funny old game, life, innit?

Now, will ye have a cup of tea? oh go on, go on , go on ...etc

Righto, I'm back and ready to write a long, interesting, informative and funny post on this blog. But seeing that has never yet happened I don't see why I should start now, so here is the normal drivel.

The last week in August the family of Mick all traipsed across the sea to Ireland. We stayed in a lovely cottage with the Wifey's parents which wasn't that bad and worked out quite well.

One of Wifey's cousins was having a Christening for their newest family member, Éile (they have a thing for traditional Irish names that don't sound anything like how they're written, this one is pronounced "ayla") so we went along for that which was a great day. The kids had fun on a bouncy castle and Big'un became good friends with his Irish cousin who is similiar in age (they have a mutual interest in Pokemon games)

Little'un and the Baby, bouncing

We visited Bunratty Castle and folk village, which is an attraction we have done to death now and won't be going to again. It is very interesting and well worth a visit.

A dramatic picture of Bunratty, taken with my new Panasonic FZ-8 camera.

We had a lovely time in Ireland, it has been 4 yrs since our last visit but we will be going back next year because Wifeys elder brother is getting married out there.

They grow up so fast!

Well some changes are going to have to be made to the naming convention used here. Big'un had his 9th birthday on the 4th sept and the baby had his 3rd on the 13th. So although "Big'un may be suitable for a nine year old, "the baby" is not for a three year old who has just started pre-school. From now on then my boys will be referred to in chronological order as "number 1 son", "number 2 son" and "number 3 son" (I don't like doing "real names, too many weirdos about).

I've reached page 27 and no one has died yet! (sorry if that's a spoiler).

Well I have started reading the Deathly Hallows (if you don't know what I'm on about then you must have been living in a cave, yes Bin Laden I'm talking to you!) So far I'm a bit disappointed, not with the book, just that I wish it was twice or ten times the thickness then it would be longer until it's all over, and because this is the last book it will be over. If that sounds a bit sad that a 42 year old married man with 3 children is getting upset by reading a childrens book that's because it is sad. I'm a saddo, deal with it!.

The UK has been flooded again and loads of people were stranded in houses and in cars on motorways over the weekend unable to get to Tesco or Asda to buy their cheap copies of Harry Potter. I believe the government may have to intervene and airlift books to these people so they have something to read whilst waiting for their carpets to dry out.

Wifey and I are planning to see the fifth HP film next week when we will be childless! No I have sold them on Ebay, all 3 are going to stay in a caravan on the kent coast with Nana and Grandad for a week. A whole week. A whole week with no children. We will be able to do whatever we want, things like tidying up and sleeping. Yippeee!

quick post to test the new layout and commenting.

Breaking-news-flash-update-bulletin-broadcast.

well to say I've been busy would be something of an understatement. So here's a very brief update of events from Chez Bloggocks

No comment :- My (rather unreliable) comments provider, Enetation, went offline for a while and although their website stated that no users would be affected the comment code prevented this blog from loading so I had to remove it. I found that the reason I can't get Bloggers comments to work is due to this being a custom template that I fannied around with a lot so as soon as I can get round to it (don't hold your breath) I'll be changing the template and layout of this blog and ditching Enetation.

Ouch! :- A couple of weeks ago Little'un shut his little finger in a door at school and has lost the nail! Wifey is very squeamish about this. He was very brave and is fine now.

Commutation :- Well I'm sad to say my bike has been sold and now I join the great unwashed hoards on the tube every morning. There will be more on this.

Holy Communion Batman! :- After much preparation, much decorating (including a complete refit of my manky old bathroom), much charging about and a great deal of money spent, Big'un made his first Holy Communion last Saturday. It went really well and I'll give more detail when I can devote a bit of time to it.

Communication breakdown :- I have changed my phone line back to BT from Bulldog (only to take advantage of an offer from Sky Television who insisted I had a BT phone line, not because I wanted BT or that there was anything wrong with Bulldog). So on friday, the day before the Holy Communion malarky, my phone was cut off. After two hours and several frantic mobile calls to BT it was all sorted. I am not a fan of BT and it is not often that I would have a good word to say about them but in this case they were very good and realised that it was an important day coming up and that I needed the phone. Well done BT.

I'll have no internet access at home for a couple weeks which is a pain.

and finally :- We are now the proud owners of a nintendo Wii. Big'un keeps whooping me at Wii sports tennis.

This sign now sits where I used to park my bike at work.

Canary Wharf have removed virtually all of the free motorcycle parking areas around the Wharf due to their desire to build on every available inch of land.

First of all the areas at each end of Ontario Way went so the power station there could be enlarged. They set up a temporary bike parking area under Westferry Circus.

This was the temporary bike parking area. It was very temporary it lasted three weeks.

After they put up the signs I parked here for a couple of days. Until I found a "parking enforcement warning notice" stuck on my bike.

This is the one remaining free bike parking area. It is now rammed with bikes and scooters.I thinks it's days are numbered aswell.

My Sv650s, looking a bit sorry for itself lately.

It is highly likely that having to pay for parking will mean getting rid of the bike :-(

The Riverside developement that caused all this.

I took this picture because they dug a big hole and appear to have uncovered a wall!

This is where I park now. Well technically in the carpark underneath.

WTF?

I have been paying to park for a few weeks now and unfortunately the bike will have to go. This may seem a bit harsh and I'm quite sad about it but it was inevitable as we are in need of a second car and the fact that there is a possibility of a job role change for me later in the year which would mean not being able to use the bike for work.

I have been commuting by bike for 20 years and what has upset me the most is that I'm being forced into giving it up by a money hungry corporate real estate company.

Long time no see.

Back in October I wrote about an old friend finding this blog and contacting me, well Mark is in the UK for a couple of weeks and we met up for the first time in 10 years last week for a beer or three.
Recalling the stories and our lives from the past was great, we chatted about our sadly departed friend Bryon. On Monday we visited our old Kung Fu club. I actually trained for the first time in years and it didn't kill me, a fact I was surprised at.
It was a bit of an old boys club reunion as a few other faces from the past turned up aswell and Mark and I accompanied by another face from the past, Richard (who has got his whole family interested in martial arts now and they've travelled the world for their son to compete), went to a pub in Romford market place where we met up with Bryons daughter and her friend.
I'm hoping to go to another training session on sunday with Mark before he returns to singapore on tuesday. If I can go I'll try to get some photos.

Shit happens

Car issues 1: knocking
we have had a bit of a knocking noise from the steering in our Ford Galaxy when turning the wheel hard. Bazza (who used to be an AA and RAC patrolman before he joined the glamorous world of photocopier repair) told me its the CV joints that need replacing. I got the following quotes
Ford main dealer £ 726 for both sides, couldn't do it until around the end of this week.

Delacourts garage, Blackheath (no where near me but highly recommended family business) £331 for both sides, couldn't do it until 18th april.

Nationwide Autocentre (recommended by the AA) £200 all in for both sides and they could do the job on good friday.

£200? seemed a bit cheap to me but they could do the job before the week end and the car was now undriveable so in it went.
Then the problems started,
"we can't get the old joint off"
"we got the wrong part, but there's another on the way"
"the other part is wrong aswell and all the suppliers are closed now for Easter"
We were meant to get the car back on friday and as off saturday it still wasn't done and wouldn't be untill tuesday. Knowing that the cost will have gone up now owing to all the hardship they have had I asked what the cost would be now?
"currently £454" and they hadn't started the second side yet.
"£454 FUCKING HELL! that's a bit different from the £200 I was quoted"
"oh yeah well, Fords you know, expensive etc etc blah blah"
Tuesday morning. " the (3rd lot of) parts I got from Fords were wrong aswell but I've got the right ones on their way"
"I'm a bit concerned about the cost (understatement of the week)" I asked.
"when I get the parts and I know the price I'll break it all down and do the best I can for you"
Tuesday afternoon. "I've got the parts and we are fitting them this afternoon"
"so it won't be ready today then?"
"er, no. but as a good will gesture because we have had the car for so long I'll knock off an hours labour and charge the parts at cost so that'll be a total of £354"
Well, given that I knew £200 had to be wrong, £354 is not bad (half the price of the Ford dealer) and all the hassle with parts wasn't their fault, shit happens so I'm happy with that. The fact that the garage made a concession and knocked money off without me neeeding to complain is a sign of good service. Well done Nationwide Autocentre, Romford.
As I type this I still haven't got the car back though, but I'm assured it will be ready for me to collect when I finish work today.

Car issues 2: The MOT is due in a month. It definitely needs 2 front tyres (around £150 from Costco) I really hope it doesn't need anything else as all this car expense is seriously eating into my new bathroom fund.

Car issues 3: This is the real pisser. Last week when Wifey was at work some dirty little-hoody wearing-low life-chav-scumbag keyed the car. Yes the little toerag ran a key the whole way around it. Every panel except the drivers door is scratched. A moments boredom for a chav has caused thousands of pounds of damage to my car.
If I had a fancy Porsche or something you could say it's jealousy but a people carrier with child seats in it? The unpleasantness I wish to visit upon the perpetrator is immense.

Space Rhinos on the moon

Oh yes! Doctor Who is back.
Great opening episode and the new assistant is smart, sassy and very hot!. Don't get me wrong Billie Piper is a babe but I struggle with the blond hair and brown bushy eyebrows look.
Also I finally managed to watch the final episode of Primeval, the time travelling dinosaur show that featured Hannah Spearit (from Sclub 7) in her pants nearly every week. A very good ending, with neat twist, this series got better every week.

2007 Budget summary.

you are worse off.

No comment!

seeing as some people, including are me, are having trouble leaving comments I have turned on the Blogger comments. We'll see how it goes.

"HELLO, I'M IN THE CAR DOING 120 ON THE M4"

Last week the fine for being caught using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving you would be doubled to £60 and you would get three points on your licence. If you get 12 points you are automatically disqualified from driving. Using a mobile when driving has been illegal since 2003 but has stopped just about no one.

This is one of those laws that should never exist, it should not be necessary to make a law to stop something that no one with half a brain would do. It is also one those laws that is very hard to enforce due to the lack of police on the roads and the reliance on cameras to do the police's work. Fortunately the papers have been publishing pictures of drivers flouting the law on the first day. This is good, naming and shaming will do more to stop it than just increasing the fine.

Using a hand held mobile phone when driving is stupid and dangerous, I know because everyday I have to dodge idiots on the phone who change lanes without looking or who just drift about instead of going in a straight line. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of people who drive dangerously without the help of a mobile.

Ask yourself, is that call worth dying for? is that call worth killing for?, people who do this are putting themselves and others at great risk for no good reason.

Anyone who uses a handheld mobile while driving is stupid, if you do this then you are stupid. End of.

Pearls of wisdom from my Dads desktop calendar #2

Preschool children asked about the difference between mums and dads;

"mums work at work and at home, dads just work at work"

"mums know how to talk to teachers and dads don't"

and my personal favourite which is certainly true in my house,

"dads are taller but mums have more power"

Lots going on at the moment, Big'un will make his first communion this year which will involve having a small party at Chez Mick so there is loads of work to done (and finished ) on the house.
Not being Catholic myself I don't really understand what this communion business is about, but fortunately the school is providing parents meetings to help me. Thanks.

Big'un and Little'un both had Kung Fu gradings on saturday. It was Little'uns first one and Wifey took him but forgot the camera (which normally my job, forgetting it that is, aswell as not making sure the battery is charged or that there is any room on the card) He did ok and has settled down a bit now during the classes as he was a bit disruptive at first but he is only 4 and 3/4. I took big'un to his grading which was much later and he did better than last time and I think he will pass with no problems. They both get the results in a week or so.

I stared at him in disbelief, with a disgusted look on my face...


...as the dirty, inconsiderate fecker leaned with one hand on the coffee machine and looked at his reflection in the front of it, whilst in his other hand he held his battery powered shaver. He was having a shave, in the coffee point, leaning against the machine that was in the process of making me a well deserved cup of hot chocolate. I cannot rightly comprehend why someone would shave in an area used for food and drink preparation when there is a toilet about 10 seconds walk away. He had to move so I could retrieve my now probably whiskery drink, I put a lid on it, walked back into the printroom and binned it.

That's amore

So it's Valentines day, the in-laws are having all three boys for the night and me and Wifey will be on our own. What have we got planned? well first of all Wifey wants to go and see some awful Chick Flick starring Huge Grunt, surely there must be some violent zombie/vampire/martial arts film on that she'd rather see? Oh well then we might get in a bit of food or a swift pint then back to Chez Mick where, although the will be no kids to interupt the flow of love, there will be the bloody cat! That pesky pussy spent the whole of last night sleeping on my bloody legs. Seeing as he's built like Garfield it wasn't very comfortable. And there will be no kids to come into the room during the night and no kids to wake me up early but there will be the bloody cat scratching at the side of the bed at 05:30 meowing pathetically as if to say "feed me, I'm starving, I haven't eaten for hours, look at me I'm wasting away, get up and give me food you lazy good for nothing adoptive owner"

This is my back garden at 06:00 this morning.

I think I'll go by train today, it looks a bit cold for the bike.

Let's celebrate !
Because according to my "Dads Desktop Calendar" that I got for Christmas, today is Waitangi Day.
If you live outside of New Zealand or are not a Kiwi, or are not familiar with New Zealand history then this fact will probably have escaped you (as it did me until I tore off yesterday's page from the calendar).

Anyway a quick browse to Wikipedia turned up this;

Waitangi Day is the national day of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on February 6 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.

There is a vague possiblity of more informative nuggets of information forthcoming from my "Dads Desktop Calendar". So beware.

Oh YES!

Santa is running a bit late but he should be delivering this beauty to chez Mick on monday.

Big Brother and Media Control

Earlier this week on "celebrity" big brother, Jack something or other (he is "famous" for being Jade Goody's boyfriend, Jade is "famous" for being on big Brother) was thought to have called Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty "a fucking P@ki" in a whispered conversation to Jade. 200 people phoned channel 4 and complained after the show was broadcast. The next day it was reported in the media, the following day 10,000 people complained. Now either these extra 9,800 people were so shocked that they couldn't pick up the phone or they were jumping on the bandwagon of what they correctly sensed would turn into a major issue that has been blown out of all proportion by the media's constant reporting of it.
Channel 4 stated that they have carefully listened to the tapes and what he actually called her was "fucking c*nt". Phew! that's all right then.
The arguments and tension in the Big Brother house have increased and Jade and her gang have been bullying Shilpa relentlessly. The media has been highlighting the racist elements of the bullying, labelling all involved as out and out racists. Now I have watched most of BB (sad, I know) but, excuse the pun, racism is not a black and white issue it comes in many forms and can blatant or very subtle and frequently innocous comments are falsely labelled as racist.
What is going on in BB is out and out bullying carried out by one person and supported by two others who have latched on to Jade Goody. Undeniably there have racial elements to some of their comments but they have not been bullying Shilpa because she is Indian, they have been doing it because she is classier, prettier, more successful, and all round better than they are and pure and simply they feel threatened and are jealous.
After an outbust by Jade directed at Shilpa in which she called Shilpa " a fucking loser" Shilpa said to the other housemates "I'm representing my country here, is that what the UK is like now?" Yes Shilpa, sadly it is.

In the meantime here is a picture of Jade, enjoy

What's new pussycat?

Things (as always) have been pretty hectic at Chez Mick lately.
Big'un is very busy with activities, he has french on Mondays, Kung Fu (sometimes) on Tuesdays, cubs on Thursdays, football on Fridays and swimming and Kung Fu on Saturday morning and he is now in year three at school and will make his first communion so he has "communion classes" every few Sundays. Phew!. Little'un has started Kung fu now at age 4 and 3/4 and he is very enthusiastic at classes but not always about doing Kung Fu. He likes to punctuate his vigorous training with bouts of just spinning around, sitting down or running up to Sifu (the instructor) and punching him on the bum! The baby just rounds around laughing when you tell him off and saying "whatever" all the time.
Puss Puss the cat has made himself well and truly at home and now wakes us up by scratching at the bed when he want his breakfast. He spends most of the time sleeping and has a few "mad half hours" where he charges about like a little furry ginger missile. He has taken to sleeping in Big'uns room, either on the floor, under the bed or on the bed. Big'un hates this and gets a bit scared when he hears the cat making noises during the night and calls me to "make Puss Puss go away"
Any way, work to do so, in a blatant attempt to increase readership here are a couple of cat pictures.

...and so this is christmas....
Merry Christmas and a Happy new year, I might try and post a bit more frequently after the break. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Woggles away!

Big'un has been a Cub scout for a couple of months, he goes with the beast next door and this weekend they have gone to cup camp for two nights. My Big boy is staying away from home for the first time at somewhere other than his nana's.
He has been alright about it, Wifey has been alright about it, I have been shitting myself. He'll be well looked after and I'm sure it will be a fantastic adventure but I'm still worried for him.