¨°º©[ Fink ]©º°¨

Walking and waiting...

2012-01-31T08:37:00.006Z

Hrm...How right they were when they wrote that sign. It really hit home, sloping in (again) yesterday morning to the Antenatal day unit's very small waiting room, with it's very small TV and very small radio...Flyingpops was asked to make a very quick visit to the little girls room to provide a very small sample (for mysterious testing purposes) and then, in very short order we were having another of the very short treatments designed to hurry up the little baby who is clearly enjoying it's not-so-short gestation (far too much)...

...and so we walk...

...while Thomas climbs up things...

...pretends to be Maria von Trapp...

...or Ray Mears...

...and we walk some more...

...while Thomas pretends to be Tenzing Norgay...

...or Peppa Pig...

...and we wait and we wait (and sometimes even manage to get some sleep)...and one day, hopefully in the not-too-distant future (insert slightly inappropriate "Very Hungry Caterpillar" reference about beautiful butterflies and nibbling holes here)...

Come on baby...I'm not sure the house can stand much more nest making before it just gives up and collapses around our ears and I'm pretty sure my shoes have already worn out...! ;)

The potty is the place!

2012-01-28T16:18:00.007Z

Okay, so we've sat quietly for about 6 weeks and not said anything at all on this subject, as we didn't want to jinx anything, and with the new baby due any day now, it perhaps isn't the best timing...but Thomas seems to have has decided that the 'Potty is the place' (to quote one of our little toddler books)!

Cast your mind back to before Christmas when quite spontaneously, Thomas got up from breakfast sat down on the potty and had a wee...I was so genuinely pleased (prior to this he point point blank refused to even sit on the potty) that my smile, clap and cheers dancing around the room were enough for him to realise how clever he was. This went on for the next hour or so as he continued to get a round of applause for every tiny wee, no matter how small was the amount he squeezed out. Poor Fink was on his way into London and got a text message every time and must have had about 10 when he finally finished his commute (as I was slightly impressed to say the least)!

Anyway, we didn't *really* want to be potty -training- so just sat back and followed Thomas' lead putting him in pants whenever we were home and nappies to go out. Initially, we introduced a small bribe (a single raisin or sultana) for a wee along with a 'big clap' and (no joke) he just seemed to get it (only taking a couple of days)...we've had a (very) few accidents, but you can count the number on a single hand...so I then stalled - our next step was to decide when to put him in pants going out (eek!)...This bit, I've been dreading...I'm heavily pregnant, its hard enough going out and about chasing a toddler around without having to worry about carrying potties/pants/shoes/changes of trousers etc.

When in the home, Thomas now automatically takes himself off to find the potty each time he needs a wee so I finally decided that I needed to be brave...and to my astonishment, he has taken to it like a duck to water! The novelty of going on another potty is so great, that we seemed to spend more time in various toilets than enjoying toddler groups or visiting friends houses!

Mummy and Daddy are very impressed with the progress so far, we do (admittedly) still have to tackle number twos (he desperately spins around demanding a nappy to be put on immediately) and getting through the night is still a long way off...but for now I'm just so very proud of my little boy...

If anyone is reading this and thinking, when should I potty train? I would honestly say it's right to follow your child's lead and start to watch carefully for their signals...Thomas really did show us he was ready and if he regresses a bit when the new baby comes along, then so be it! All children get there eventually and by exerting no pressure what-so-ever we have a very happy little boy, wearing some pretty cool Lightening McQueen pants and weeing on some very impressive VW Beetle potties (even if we find ourselves caught short in the middle of the countryside)! :O)

Hanging on in there!

2012-01-25T11:09:00.003Z

I can't believe I am now 39 weeks pregnant.. it just goes to show that no two pregnancies are the same and you just have to go with the flow! (Something against my planning/controlled/organised nature) Everyone is excited, you can feel it in the air.. a bit like waiting for Christmas to come.. although I know that those 'on call' are just waiting now to spring into action! I've had a few niggly Braxton hicks, a little bit of monitoring at the hospital for lack of movement, but so far everything is fine and Baby is just happy to wait before making their grand entrance!

Now, little one...Mummy, Daddy and Thomas have cuddles waiting for you.. whenever you are ready. xxx

Happy Birthday Flyingpops!

2012-01-18T10:48:00.003Z

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! This morning has already seen lots and lots of lovely presents waiting on the breakfast table (which Thomas helped to unwrap, when he could keep his eyes off the) -

...lovely (hopefully) cake (thanks to Mum and Jamie Oliver for their help cooking it and thanks to Thomas for help filling it and decorating it - and not eating *too* much of it before it was finished)...

...and Thomas even sang Happy Birthday to Mummy...! Oh and everyone is looking forward to our lovely meal out later on...! Many happy returns of the day! ;)

Ready for the new baby?

2012-01-11T08:26:00.006Z

Well, here we are at 37 weeks (or "full term" as it is generally known), for comparisons sake, Thomas was already born 2 weeks ago(!) when it was his turn - we have the names chosen (no idea if the little one is a boy or a girl so we need both to hand), we have the bags all packed (ipod - full of relaxation music, portable CD player, Shinco portable DVD player, battery powered speakers (with spare batteries), high energy food and drinks, wash bag, lots of Mummy clothes, lots of teeny tiny baby clothes, lots of teeny tiny nappies, 99% water baby wipes, a big bath towel, a V-shaped cushion and even a little present for Thomas (from the baby))...the big new camera has a nice clean memory card in it and two fully charged batteries standing by...Mummy is huffing and puffing and walking around slowly holding her tummy (or bouncing around on her birthing ball)...Daddy and Thomas are creeping around quietly trying to avoid being told off, the changing station is down in the living room and the nursery has been patiently waiting for weeks (now it is free of Christmas goods)...just one teeny tiny thing we need to arrive now! ;)

Thomas sings ABC

2012-01-02T11:14:00.001Z

Aw, not much more to add to that really! Clever boy... ;)

Guess who got a new scooter from Father Christmas!

2011-12-28T16:43:00.004Z

Thomas had a lovely boxing day playing with Auntie Dawn and Uncle Dan, followed by more present unwrapping with Nanny & Grandad later in the afternoon. Mummy also found Thomas'solitary brussel sprout under the table, so looks like he lobbed it when we were not looking (probably the only thing we've found he won't eat!)

Yesterday, we decided it was time to get out, let Thomas burn off some energy and test drive the new scooter... Our destination - Priory Park, Reigate (which was completely rammed with lots of parents pushing children on new bikes or scooters)

Lots more pictures added to our Christmas set, so click here if you want to enjoy them! ...

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T22:10:00.003Z

...MADE IT! Thomas *loved* every second, didn't get completely out of control with excitement and played very nicely...also had a good chance to play around with the new camera a bit (a *very* welcome Christmas gift, but more on that later)... ;)

Absolutely loads of pictures from the day here...or a slideshow if you prefer... ;)

La la la is dum dum to hmmm... ;)

2011-12-24T20:59:00.001Z

La la la is dum dum to hmmm... ;)
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

Yep, I think *someone* is going to be rather excited when he walks (all sleepy) through the living room door!

Merry Christmas Everyone! :)

x

Happy Birthday Fink!

2011-12-23T08:11:00.005Z

Hope you have a wonderful day.. Thomas has helped to wrap your presents and is now wanting to open them... He's practiced singing 'Happy Birthday' and is ready to eat the birthday cake for breakfast! Tonight, I asked if he would like a curry with Daddy, Nanny, Grandad and Auntie Lucy and Uncle James... he replied 'How about a banana naan?'

Love you lots and here is to a better year ahead..

xxx

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THOMAS...

lkj=[k[lploiuyewq -KSAPOK#,WER#U\JPO;opa#jmB >

Thomas in Shepherd Outfit

2011-12-14T14:55:00.002Z

My beautiful Shepherd in 2010...

And one year on, the costume still fits and he is happy to wear it! :O)

Thanks Auntie Alan and Uncle Ruth

2011-12-11T18:09:00.004Z

Ok, so Thomas is a little confused with your names, but you know who you are!

After a frantic hunt and a very long wait, Thomas was given his birthday present.. everyone was excited as it was a really 'cool, thoughtful gift' and .... he cried and it had to be put back in the box! ... Yes, I know, how ungrateful but kids are kids and can be silly sometimes!

So, we left it a few weeks and this morning Thomas woke up to find it on the play mat... such a treat! Daddy spent a few minutes demonstrating it and he hasn't stopped playing with it since! No joke, he loves it and I would highly recommend it to anyone out there! He's always had a fascination with rubbish trucks as we watch them every Friday and he announced this morning that he wanted to be a rubbish truck driver!

Thank you so much... he loves it and we've loved the peace and quiet whilst he's played!

Thomas the Donkey!

2011-12-10T22:07:00.004Z

Thomas is going to be a donkey in the preschool play and we've just convinced him to try on his costume... How cute does he look? and plenty of growing room for him!! He was crawling up and down the living room, saying 'eeyore eeyore' ... Love him to bits!

Freezing COLD!

2011-12-02T08:56:00.000Z

Oh boy, totally freezing today, had to scrape the ice off the car first thing (the de-icer spray had managed to get lost somewhere too, which didn't help), didn't take my gloves off all the way in (most unusual) and peering out the office window it looks like all the buildings are on fire thanks to all the moisture clouds billowing from the air conditioning units on the rooftops...

In other news, between now and January the 4th I now don't have to work any more than 3 days in any one week! Woo hoo!! :)

Free Innocent Apple Juice

2011-12-01T08:51:00.000Z

Wow, lucky I got in a bit early to the Wharf this morning! Spotted from the DLR (across the water) a feeding frenzy of commuters spewing from the Jubilee line and devouring huge pallets of free goods directly opposite...turns out (when I ran down there) that it was hundreds of free bottles of (family size) Innocent fresh pressed juice drinks...my bag is going to be pretty heavy to carry on the way home now!

Our morning went something like this...

2011-11-30T07:39:00.005Z

6.30 am... Mummy gets up, rather sleepily and gives Thomas his new lamp in an attempt to get 5 more minutes in bed!

6.35... Thomas wanders into our bedroom to show it to Daddy for the first time.

6.40 ... Daddy to Thomas ... 'Whats that, your new Christmas lamp?'

6.41 ... 'No Daddy, it's my fiber optic lamp!'

6.41 ... Mummy can't stop laughing, out smarted by a 2 year old and it's not even 7am! Love it! ;o)

Canary Wharf Ice Rink

2011-11-24T08:59:00.000Z

Here we go, they've got the ice rink back up and running ready for Christmas, doesn't look like anyone's actually using it yet, but it won't be long! ;)

Children in Need

2011-11-18T13:46:00.002Z

I absolutely love Children in Need and am so grateful to have a happy, healthy little boy... Thomas coloured in a picture of 'Ponsey' as he calls him this morning and we've been playing the pairs game on the laptop this week too... Please everyone, show your support and donate a little to this fantastic cause... every penny really does count...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/games/

World Record Breaking 3D Art

2011-11-18T08:47:00.000Z

Wow, had no idea all this was going on at West India Quay yesterday or I would have popped over to have a look, guess I know where I'm going at 1pm...!

Lots more information about all the things I missed over here...

Olympic Site seen from One Canada Square

2011-11-17T13:53:00.000Z

...and on a related note to my last post (the weather being rather nice again today) a quick shot of the Olympic site, showing (to the right of the stadium, if you click it to zoom in) the "ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture" (at 114.5 metres being the tallest sculpture in the United Kingdom) now complete! Just got one more thing to go and catch up on now...see how the crossrail is coming along! ;)

Day 1 Maternity Leave

2011-11-16T07:49:00.003Z

Ok .. so day 1 of maternity leave is here... a little earlier than anticipated but it just sort of happened that way. Thomas and I are going to spend some lovely time together before the baby arrives although it is very quiet in our house at the moment and he keeps asking when his friends are going to arrive and play.

Right, duty calls... we are going to build Canary Wharf out of bricks and a train set! ;o)

The Shard seen from One Canada Square

2011-11-15T09:01:00.001Z

Wow, check it out, that is the early morning winter sun striking the Shard building by London Bridge station (as seen from the office) - it's the big bright thing near the middle, zoom in if you like by clicking it - sorry it's only a mobile phone shot, but you should get an idea of quite what a landmark this building is going to be when it's finished...and they still have about the top fifth of the building left to glaze! It looks like something the ancient Egyptians would have dreamed up! ;)

Happy Halloween everyone!

2011-10-30T20:46:00.005Z

Happy Halloween everyone... I've just got back from Nanjans house where Pops didn't even recognise me when I knocked on the front door (I did have my mask on and I was a day early!)... Mummy and I had practised 'trick or treat please' and when Pops realised who I was, he let me in and I was very lucky to get some cake, pear and a satsuma... nothing made it into my my bucket as I ate them all... nom nom nom!

I'm a banana mummy!

2011-10-26T20:28:00.003+01:00

With bonfire night approaching, I thought I would try to squeeze Thomas into last years snow suit ... its at this point I realised quite how much Thomas has grown in a year. The arms now stop at the elbow and legs just below the knees.. Still, Daddy needed to go to the station and Thomas wouldn't take off the suit, so he waddled out to the car and as I strapped him into the car seat, he told me it was tight (yes Thomas, I know - that's the exact reason I asked you to take it off again!). We got home about 10 minutes later, having waved at trains from the comfort of the car as it was absolutely tipping down. Needless to say, when I suggested taking off the suit he was very obliging. As I undid the two zips, our conversation went something like...

(T) 'Thomas like a banana'

(Me) No, darling, you're not a banana... would you like a banana to eat? (he doesn't really like them, so I was a little confused)

(T) 'No Mummy, Thomas is a banana, Mummy pealing off the skin from Thomas'

(Me) catching on and starting to laugh.. 'Oh yes, you are a bit like a banana with mummy peeling off the snowsuit'

What a clever boy hey? Got to love his imagination!

25 weeks pregnant!

2011-10-18T06:59:00.007+01:00

Life is so busy that I very rarely get time to think about being pregnant, so am always thankful on a Tuesday when the app on my galaxy pops up and tells me that I'm now into the next week and gives me a short update as to what's going on with the baby!

Today, it tells me...

There are 104 days until your due date on January 30, 2012.
You are 176 days pregnant.
You are 5.8 months pregnant.
You are in your 6th month of pregnancy.
Your 1st trimester: April 25, 2011 to July 24, 2011. (0 - 12 weeks)
Your 2nd trimester: July 25, 2011 to November 06, 2011. (13 - 27 weeks)
Your 3rd trimester: November 07, 2011 to January 30, 2012. (28 - 40 weeks)

As Thomas arrived at 35 weeks, I'm wanting to be super organised and have so far

painted the nursery, put in the nursing chair and built the changing station
got everything down from the loft, started going through it and have already put 2 loads through the washing machine and a car seat sitting waiting to go into the car
ordered the crib mattress (which arrived today!)
have a new Phil & Teds pushchair sitting in mums caravan that I'm itching to use but am being patient
bought all the bits for my hospital bag - just need to pack it! (Hopefully not when i'm in labour this time!)
bought 3 brand new babygrows and 3 little hats, for when the baby is first born

There is very little we need to buy this time which is a little frustrating as I simply love shopping for baby bits, but we literally have so much stuff and with so many happy memories of Thomas being so small, it'll be nice for the new baby to play with the toys and wear the clothes.

We've still got to finish the nursery; put a blind up, pictures on walls...however I love taking a little time out from my busy day to think about holding our little baby and imaging their little smile and wonderful cuddles. Our next biggest task is to decide on names.. so far, we don't have any!

Rufus comes to stay for the week

2011-10-16T21:51:00.006+01:00

Meet our new pet Rufus... Thomas has been asked by preschool to look after him for the week. We've taken him on a few adventures already, Thomas loves him and is thriving on the responsibility of looking after him!

Campervan!

2011-10-09T21:41:00.003+01:00

This is super cool... love it and think it would make a great addition to my collection! Shame about the price tag though! I can just imagine camping in it on a uk campsite!

http://www.firebox.com/product/3644/VW-Camper-Van-Tent?video_id=3403&itc=298&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=VWTENT_384&src_t=nwt&src_id=384&via=nlmain#videos_h]VW

What's the word of the day Thomas?

2011-09-29T20:00:00.005+01:00

"Condensation Mummy!"... yes, that's right - My clever 2 year old likes to say condensation! It all started when Daddy was drinking some cold sparkling water in a tall glass, Thomas started drawing with his fingers on the side of the glass and was told what it was and then the following morning, he just pointed and said 'Draw condensation Daddy'!

Yesterday's favourite word was (amazingly) - Nocturnal - "Mummy bats nocturnal" he continued to chatter as I put him to bed!

Also, apparently he pointed to "The Stig" in my mums bathroom and was insistent he was peering at an "Oh look - astronaut" and since getting a Buzz Lightyear toy (from a second hand sale), he keeps on saying 'Infinity and beyond"!!!

I really am very proud, I think he likes the sound of long words as they trip off his tongue and the ultimate smile he gets from a very impressed Mummy!

Now, where did my little baby go that could only say 'agoo' and 'dad dad dad' all the time?!?

Doh!

2011-09-21T07:19:00.003+01:00

Two year olds are great fun, they have you in stitches and make you laugh most of the time, but also push the boundaries whenever possible testing your patience to see what they can get away with... Yesterday Thomas threw a metal car at the glass window... Yes, I was impressed it was a decent overarm throw.. however inside the house? me thinks not! So, he sits in the corner for 2 mins as punishment (we had given lots of warnings). After the 2 mins is up, I ask him 'What do you say to mummy?' his reply 'Doh!' hmm.. how I managed to remain composed and didn't laugh in his face I don't know... I just wonder what he was thinking in his little head 'doh, I got caught?' ... after a little thought, he went on to say 'Sorry Mummy, love you good boy!' and gave me a cuddle and thankfully peace is restored again!

Whats in my tummy Thomas?

2011-09-17T07:34:00.000+01:00

A Baby! Love you Baby... Mwah...

What's in your Tummy Thomas? My Dinner!

He is going to be such a good big brother.. love him to bits!

What do you fancy for breakfast...

2011-09-15T11:00:00.005+01:00

...young man? Was the question I posed to him the other day...the answer, with a shout and an enthusiastic jump into the air?

"ROAST BEEF DINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!"

;)

Our beautiful baby scans...

2011-09-14T11:04:00.006+01:00

Here we go then, just a few pics from the recent scans, first up our baby at 6 weeks and 4 days measuring 6.6mm in length and we see a tiny heart beating (and that's about it)-

At 9 weeks and 1 day, our baby has grown to 21.6mm...still very tiny, but having almost tripled it's length in just 3 weeks.

Then at 12 weeks...we finally see the familiar shape of a baby on the brand new flat screen TVs in the scan room ...With a wonderful sonographer taking lots of time to describe everything and confirm the baby is all OK. At this stage, the baby is 58mm (Crown to rump) and my dates are moved a little forward (meaning we are due a January baby)!

Then here we are today...officially half way through the pregnancy and Fink can again have a insight into the pregnancy and witness some of the kicking that is happening all the time. This little one is very, very active making it hard for the sonographer to get all the measurements. She has to wobble my tummy lots, poke, prod and get the little one to roll over to get everything she needed. Technology has improved so much so Thomas was scanned, we got to see the eye sockets, lenses, face, lips, chambers of the heart, arteries, liver, kidneys...just amazing!

A hand and a leg (responsible for all the kicking)...

An arm....

...and the big question...did we find out the gender? No...we've been through so much and really don't mind as long as it's a healthy baby (and a nice surprise)...However, I couldn't help asking the sonographer if we did want to know would she be able to tell us...her response..."Oh yes, I know what you are having" but even then we didn't cave in and ask. Now, I'm analysing every part of our conversation and trying to see if she gave us any clues...but we'll have to wait till January to find out for sure!

At the end of the scan, we came out so very happy at how amazing this whole experience is... we are going to be a mummy and a daddy again and it's so incredible to be responsible for this little life. We celebrated by going to "Next" and buying our first piece of baby clothing...just so they have something new to wear when they are born! A very, very exciting, happy day!

The Wheels on the Bus - Our version!

2011-09-07T07:37:00.004+01:00

So, Mummy was very bored of singing the same song over and over and over again... So, we made up our own version of the Wheels on the bus... feel free to add your own suggestions as my imagination is letting me down!

When Pops is on the bus he plays on his IPAD

When Nanjan is on the bus she reads her book

When Emily is on the bus she looks out the window

When Ollie is on the bus he jumps up and down

When Daddy's on the bus he plays on his PSP

When Grandads on the bus he reads his paper

When Thomas is on the bus he (and this often changes, depending on his mood, but he prefers to bump up and down)

(Mummy is often sick on a bus, so we don't sing that as it's not very nice!)

Then we get to the end and he says... more Pops on the bus please mummy.... and so it begins all over again....

What a lovely bank holiday weekend!

2011-08-29T19:09:00.004+01:00

I think we got a bit carried away with Thomas starting preschool in a weeks time and went to Crawley to buy him a new bag, drinks bottle, joggers that will be comfy and easy to wash and then discovered his feet have grown so new shoes were also added to the list...he was so excited to be shopping...especially as he has a Lightening McQueen rucksack that is almost as big as he is from his all time favourite movie - "Cars"!

Fink and I pondered whether to buy the T-Shirt or Sweatshirt that goes with the Preschool and I've started to explain to him that Mummy will be leaving him with his teacher (Nicole) and then going home and he replies 'Thomas play with trains and cars, then mummy come collect me'. Having only left him with close friends or family thus far, it's going to be really hard walking out and leaving him there (especially as he will probably cry), but its all good for his independence and I consider myself very lucky changing career and being able to watch every step of his development since birth.

Late Saturday afternoon, a very tired, overexcited little boy fell over a toy train and hit his head on a dining room chair. Catching the bit just above the eyebrow, it bleed quite heavily so a trip to A&E was called for (thankfully we live so close and can walk there!). Here our wounded soldier, given some butterfly plasters and a Lion shaped sticker for bravery and was then discharged.

Sunday and Monday have been a lot more relaxed...we've almost cleared the spare room and the next phase will be stripping wallpaper ready for the new little one...exciting times!

Thomas is going to be a big brother!

2011-08-24T21:31:00.007+01:00

So, the best present you can give your little boy...... a brother or maybe even a sister... Yes, our household of three will become four at the end of Jan 2012 (Lets all hope this one isn't 5 weeks early too!). We are all very excited and Thomas can't wait to be a big brother... already cuddling/kissing my tummy and saying 'Love you baby'... he is simply going to be the best big brother in the world and we are thrilled to be having another baby!

Today (24/8), I heard our babies heartbeat for the first time... Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotion you hear when the midwife puts the doppler onto your tummy and you wait the few seconds whilst she locates the heartbeat... then before you know it you hear an incredibly fast "whosh whosh whosh whosh whosh" .. my eyes fill with tears, relief and happiness... then close as I imagine our little baby inside my tummy growing ready for the outside world!

We've had a stressful 17 weeks as my pregnancy has been so different to Thomas. Without going into detail, I've had the most terrible sickness and have only just managed to overcome this in the last week. Never ever before have I felt so helpless and poorly, unable to curl back under the duvet as Thomas needs me to be strong and life needs to remain as normal as possible for him. Today, everything seemed to fall into place... we heard the baby, the midwife confirmed everything is absolutely perfect and I'm beginning to get the pregnancy glow! *quick lets get out and enjoy it and hope its lasts!*

Watch this space as we'll be posting pictures, updates and lots more posts from me, Flyingpops over the next few weeks as I document the pregnancy! For now, I'm just sitting enjoying some of the blog posts Fink wrote when I was pregnant before with Thomas (named MJ then!)

Be careful what you say!

2011-08-23T19:29:00.003+01:00

Two weeks ago, I put Thomas into his hooded jumper, pulled up the hood and said 'Now you look like a hoodie thug!' He found it really funny and couldn't stop laughing... Then in the rain this morning, I got out his coat, did you the zip and he was pulling at his hood... then turned to me, smiled and said 'Thomas hoodie thug!'

So, just a nice gentle reminder that we all need to be very careful what we say around him in the future!

Thomas goes into a 'Big Boy Bed'

2011-08-21T19:08:00.007+01:00

Now I'm two, Mummy and Daddy have decided its time for me to move into a big boy bed! I'm very excited when they tell me I'm getting a "Thomas the tank engine" one but then have to wait all week for it! On Saturday Mummy goes into my bedroom, makes a great big mess pulling out all my toys, gets Daddy to move furniture around and then it looks so much bigger and I eagerly await the new bed, due on Sunday....

5.30am Sunday morning, I wake up very early as I'm excited and I'm very lucky as Mummy buys me a new duvet and pillow when we go shopping...

When I get home, we have to take them out of the wrapping very quickly and then test them out for size in the covers Uncle Keith got me for Christmas...I then practice going to sleep in the living room....

Then I leave Mummy and Daddy with lots of poles, screws and they make a mess whilst I go to play with my friend Lovely Louise for a bit!

When I come back, my room has been transformed and there is a new bed waiting for me!

You can see how Happy I am as I put my head down, then roll around in the new duvet...

I cuddle my teddy, then discover that it really is a Thomas the Tank engine bed, with a special holder for my cup!

I'm far too excited to go down for a lunchtime nap and spend all afternoon playing in my bedroom, cooking up a storm in my toy kitchen and making Mummy pretend coffee... After a delicious roast dinner, relaxing bath, episode of In the Night Garden and short story, Mummy takes me to bed. At first, I get up lots and try to turn on the lights (but Daddy took out the lightbulb!) and after 15 minutes, I'm happily snoring and dreaming of my new bed...

Mummy and Daddy wonder how tonight will go and what time I'll wake them up in the morning.. we'll have to wait and see!

Flyingpops'Links

2011-08-19T13:46:00.001+01:00

OK, so its Friday links time and I've only had time to find one.. but I found it very funny!

Enjoy!

http://storify.com/rhodri/your-awful-dates-in-140-characters

Thomas has Two parties to celebrate being 2 years old!

2011-08-18T21:14:00.008+01:00

So, with Thomas being 2 and us having lots of family and friends, we decided to have 2 parties on the same day... 3-5 for toddler friends... 6-8 for family and friends...

We had prepared lots of lovely toddler friendly food including Bagel snakes, egg toad stalls, cheesy feet and a few tasty treats that make it a party (including party rings and cheese balls!)

Thomas got his wish to eat cake (and not being used to cake, the sugar rush that followed afterwards!)

All the toddlers made hats with Lovely Louise, ate lots of food, smeared even more into the carpets and played happily in the garden in the Play house, sandpit and on the ride on toys... Thomas loved celebrating with his mates, couldn't quite take in that everyone was here together and when we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to him, he smiled as we all sang his name, then said 'No'. There were absolutely no tears/tantrums until it was hometime when the over excited little ones, just didn't want to leave! (and we fall onto the sofa for 10 mins happy that it was such a success!)

But, no rest for the hosts as a few of us tidied up, hoovered the crumbs, and got ready for party number 2.... where an excited Thomas was insistent on wearing his new PJ's from Brenda! We didn't take many pictures at this party, but celebrated with close friends and family who all enjoyed Chilli, Jacket potatoes and Birthday cake...

Thomas was literally asleep on his feet as we put him to bed at 9.30... and he collapsed into bed after a fantastic day knowing full well what a birthday entails ... he had happy dreams until gone 9 the following day and Fink and I were wide awake at 7 and actually went in to check him a few times as he has NEVER slept till 9! (and Sunday morning was present time as there were even more to unwrap!)

Thanks everyone for all your help, presents and making it such a special day ;o)

Thomas 2nd Birthday by Flyingpops

2011-08-18T20:11:00.009+01:00

I absolutely love reading back through Fink's blog and often treat it as a diary, reminding me of birthdays, holidays and am very guilty of saying, "We must blog about that when we get home" (but never get around to doing so)! However, life has been fairly busy over the last month, and Fink hasn't had a chance to blog, so as a dutiful wife and having only ever posted a handful of times, I thought I would try and help record a few recent events...

So, rewind your Hermione Granger time travelling clock and meet me back on the 6th August...Thomas' 2nd Birthday!

Initially, Thomas didn't really understand what a birthday was...he was a little confused as his friend Hugh was 2 a week earlier and we had celebrated with cake and presents in the park. When asked if it was going to be his birthday, he always said 'Huga Mooga birthday' and 'cake', yet as the event approached and my excitement built he could definitely sense something was happening...At one point, he really thought inanimate objects like a cement mixer, tractor and recycling trucks had a birthday too (sweet!)...

So, I set about filling the house with homemade posters, banners, blew up balloons and wrapped all the presents. I'm really not sure who was more excited, but when Thomas went to bed on Friday evening, he definitely knew there would be a birthday, presents, cake and a party the following day!

When we all woke up on Saturday morning, there was a large stash of pressies waiting for our special boy...

As soon as he woke, I lept out of bed and we all raced downstairs excitedly... singing Happy Birthday and doing lots of cheering!

Thomas quickly learnt to open the big ones first, was taught to shake, smell touch and then tearing open paper (something I love to do myself!)

And loved trying out his new helmet and arm, elbow and knee pads for the scooter!

Then, with presents open it was time for Thomas to enjoy a special treat breakfast of Cheerios, watched Cars on DVD, then completely exhausted from the excitement, fell into bed at about 11 o'clock giving us plenty of time to start chopping, grating, chilling and preparing for 12 toddlers all due at 3pm..

"The Lady" is coming!

2011-07-26T13:01:00.000+01:00

Gosh, this is a hard one, both to get the head around *and* decide how to deal with...the situation is thus - with the development of imaginative and abstract thought, an (utterly immaterial) "enemy" has arrived in our lives - Thomas is (slightly) obsessed at the moment with theoretical situations whereby "The Lady" can deny him things, hide things or scold him - nope - not anyone we know, not even a real person, but after some time considering the situation (after being assured by Thomas that, if we weren't diligent, "The Lady" was about to take our TV away) I think I have worked out where she came from (and perhaps how we can banish her)...

Picture Thomas (for example) in the Supermarket, bouncing around watching the trolley piling up with yummy food, even being able to hold bits (to yells of) "Hewp Daddy holdin' PEEZE!!", but when he goes to take a hearty bite of (e.g.) jalapeño pepper, is told "No Thomas, we have to pay the lady first! Don't eat it!"...or when yanking litre-sized glass bottles of olive oil from the shelf (that we don't need) being told "Thomas, *don't* drop that, the lady will be upset!", or getting on a bus "Come back here Thomas, the lady won't let you on the bus without getting a ticket!"...it seems fair to say that this horrible old lady has a lot to answer for, frankly, when it comes to toddler rights and merits some discussion about quite where the line is to be drawn...

So, if even only to narrow down *which* particular "lady" we are supposed to be worrying about, it's time to start referring to people as their occupation, rather than just their gender, in the supermarket we will have to pay the "shop keeper", on the bus we will pay the "bus driver" (and so on)...and hopefully (as we subdivide the barrier) that will be the end (or at least dilution) of that!

Whatever will be next? ;)

A very strange dream...

2011-07-25T08:52:00.000+01:00

...last night, dreamed that we (Flyingpops, Thomas and I) were on our way to Oslo (destination obviously the result of predictable influence from the recent terror atrocity) to go and visit a museum/zoo (bit far to travel, but okay) but when we got there I remembered that I was responsible for setting up and overseeing a modern day-twist on a Shakespearean play before we could do our visit (of course I would be! Thanks unconscious mind!), so I set about recruiting Norwegian actors, allocating roles, rehearsing and then finally to the actual performance, which went...perfectly okay...getting a nice round of applause, and then we went to this museum/zoo and Thomas kept on tearing off around the place and climbing up things or running down steep slopes too fast, only to fall off or tumble over...but each time he was...perfectly fine...

So we had the *perfect* setup for (at the very least) a decent anxiety dream, but what happened in the end was a worry-about-it-if-you-like-but-everything-works-out-okay-in-the-end dream...

Never known anything quite like it! *shrug*

Finks Links #144

2011-07-22T08:35:00.001+01:00

Friday!! That means it's link time once again! So, please check out -

A nice video about 3D printing...

Life on a lost shipping container...

A swimming pool on the 57th floor (hotel in Singapore)...

Connecting to the Internet using a 1964 300 baud modem...

Methanol Fire = SCARY...!

The Internet of Things infographic (from Cisco)...

Canopus (French nuke test)...

The ghost shuttle...

Inside a Google server module...

A "Super Earth" spotted only 40 light years away...

...and finally - Just what I've always wanted!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Android Spam Notifier bar - How to Remove Zoosk

2011-07-21T08:29:00.001+01:00

Ah well, that was nice while it lasted...you know, having my device all to myself, the only apps running being the ones *I* want to run...about a week ago a strange little star started appearing in my notifier bar prompting me to "Find local singles in my area" from a company called "Zoosk" (this was after I updated a few apps), so I knew *something* had installed some push advertising onto my 'droid without my permission. The only problem? I kind of like all my apps...

Thankfully there was a fairly simple, two step solution to the problem (follow me in this direction if you have a similar issue) -

1) Go into the "Market" app, hit the "Menu" button, choose "Settings" then scroll down and uncheck the box next to "Receive interest-based ads", then hit back until you get back to the home screen...
2) Next, go into "Settings", choose "About phone", choose "Phone identity" then go here on your PC browser - http://www.airpush.com/imei/ - carefully type in your EMEI number (from the phone screen) and then hit "Submit"...

...and that, for the time being at least, should be the end of the spam messages and (for bonus points) let you carry on with your existing apps without interruption or removal...if, by some horrible development those steps don't work, then make sure to only update/install one app at a time, keeping an eye open for spam and then leave very negative comments in the marketplace for the evil culprit... >:(

Oh, and for the record, the evil app in question on my phone was "Blogger-droid" (which I still think is very useful and good, *despite* this little hiccup)...

BBC UK 3G Survey App

2011-07-20T08:26:00.004+01:00

Thought I would give the BBC's new Android App a little try, basically it's does two things -

1) Gives you access to graphs and (Google) maps showing where your signal has been either 3G (full internets), 2G (crap or zero internets) and no signal at all
2) Upload this information to a company called Epitiro who are going to put it into a highly detailed map (with everyone else's results) and make it available to all on the BBC website (most mobile provider's coverage maps are extremely vague, so this will be just about the biggest independent survey of UK network coverage ever conducted, assuming enough people join in, of course)...

It's *only* available on Android at the moment, and I strongly suspect it won't ever appear on the iPhone/iPad simply because Apple don't want you seeing the holes in their coverage (and can control which apps are approved for use on their devices), they have even hidden signal strength information behind an engineers code (as I mentioned previously)...bit silly...

Anyway, I've been running it for three days now, my preliminary results are as follows - 80.2% of the time I have 3G coverage, 16.8% of the time I only have access to 2G and 3% of the time I have no network coverage at all...so actually not *all* that bad (considering the amount I travel around the place), but that does equal 12 of the 72 hours I have been using the app where (had I needed to) I wouldn't have been able to use the Internet on my telephone...hrm... :S

Anyway, I'll keep you posted with results (if they change dramatically) and let you know when the map is up and running (it's supposed to be ready sometime late July, early August)...read more about it over here (if you are interested in this sort of thing)...

Back in the Witterings...

2011-07-19T08:29:00.001+01:00

So last week we were lucky enough to have a week staying in "Caravan Bella", the last time we were there (Flyingpops reminded me) she was still breastfeeding baby Thomas(!), this time he was all *over* the place, exploring (almost) as excitedly as the Apartamento in Spain... ;)

The first day of the break we spent largely on the beach, Thomas finding plenty of mischief to get into, splashing -

- digging with his "Bob the Builder" Backhoe loader -

- sliding down the dunes -

- and snacking on sand (and a little food) in his little UV tent -

- and when we got tired of the beach we came back to the caravan and had a little walk in the fields out the back (although the terrain was a bit challenging for Thomas with all the churned earth) he still had a great time trying to work out where the "Wabbits!" were hiding... ;)

Back from Holiday...

2011-07-18T08:25:00.000+01:00

...updates to follow, as usual, but suffice it to say we had a lovely time, had great weather, and pretty much the beach to ourselves (most of the time)...

Sneak peek at some of the pictures over here (if you are interested)...

On the beach...

2011-07-11T12:08:00.001+01:00

On the beach...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...in beautiful West Wittering...wish you were here! :)

Finks Links #143

2011-07-08T08:17:00.000+01:00

Friday!! Link time!

Proof that Dyson Airblades are definitely from the future...

How to Tennis!

An optical illusion in Paris...

A lovely new (live, streaming) camera for the ISS... ;)

109 tube journeys that are quicker on foot...

Baroque Obama

Working in an Indian call center...

NASA's got a brand new bag!

Listen to a Thunderstorm on Saturn...

Polar Bears originated in Ireland (of course)...

STEP AWAY FROM THE BELL!

...and finally a McDonalds Maths fail and a great emergency escape priority fail...

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Toddler Memory (or Ramps and Rainbows)

2011-07-06T05:22:00.000+01:00

Once...just *once* (and this must have been at least six months ago), when Thomas and I went on one of our highly-prized "Daddy Walk(s)!" (a very popular weekend occupation thanks to the close proximity of a) SWINGS! b) COWS! c) TRAINS! and d) AIIIPANES!/HEWICOPTERS!) instead of doing our usual walk into the woods (I forget why) we decided to head towards the hospital (just to start with) where we found a big ramp in the footpath and zoomed down it - Thomas laughing hysterically ("That was a ramp Thomas, did you enjoy that?" and next on our "long-way-round" route we then happened upon some paving where (presumably) a child had spent some time carefully drawing a rainbow with lots of colours of chalk...I stopped the pushchair and pointed it out to Thomas, telling him what it was (which he repeated "Oooh...Wainbow!") and then off we sped to find the cows, dogs, cats (etc.) without a backward glance...

Last weekend we had to get some money out (ready for the aforementioned hair cuts) which was a great excuse for a Daddy Walk, and the nearest free cash point happened to be in that sort of direction, so (Thomas strapped into his push chair and equipped with plenty of dried mango and "Agua por favor!") we followed a similar route...not only did Thomas get *very* excited when we approached the location of the ramp (saying "RAMP! RAMP! WHEEEEE!!!!") *astonishingly* when we passed the (obviously now completely plain) paving slab where the chalk rainbow had been all those long months ago (where we had spent all of about 6 *seconds*)...he pointed down and said "WAINBOW!!!", I frowned for a minute, observing the total lack of clouds/rain and then suddenly the memory returned to me (OMG! Are you *serious*?) "WOW! Yes Thomas! VERY clever boy! There was a rainbow drawn here, a chalk rainbow"...and spent the rest of the walk home in a slight daze...absolutely staggering...

So, one *very* important lesson (from one impressed, but slightly shaken parent to another) - Watch *very* carefully what you say around your little one (it's *ALL* going in)...

More information over here...

Toddler Cooking

2011-07-05T08:22:00.007+01:00

Flyingpops gave me pause the other afternoon by saying "This is what you were waiting for wasn't it? It's so good to see you two pottering around together"...and I was like "Eh?", but on reflection I actually think it's true, just lately Thomas' comprehension and ability to intelligently participate has absolutely *rocketed* (not that he wasn't extremely clever before) meaning we've been able to engage in increasingly complex ways...rather than just "What's this Thomas?", or "Can you see the (whatever)?" it's becoming conversation - "What do you fancy doing Thomas?" "DRAWINN!", "Okay, what shall we draw?", "Outside! Chalk!", "Oh, okay, you want to draw on the blackboard outside?", "Blackboard!" (once outside) "Okay, what are we drawing?", "House! Tree!", "Okay, here we go" (scribble, scrape)..."Daddy, Chalk Thomas!!", "Oh, okay, here's some chalk for you", what are you drawing?" "A CIIIIRCLE!!!" (and he draws a large, messy oval - Saying "Egg!" as if he meant to do that all along) etc. etc. ;)

Cooking is another fine example, when I'm in the kitchen rattling pots and pans, Thomas is usually to be found standing at the gate yelling "OPEN! OPEN! COOKIN' PEEEZE!!", if allowed, he runs in shouting "STEPS!! UP!! SEE!!" (and again, if allowed) he climbs up the steps and hangs on at the top, pointing out and naming everything he can see (and trying to eat anything tempting looking). When it comes to preparation he knows how to add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, add a pinch of salt to heating water (he, in fact, reminded me the last time we boiled some potatoes) season meat with pinches of salt and pepper, can go to the garden on request and retrieve chives, rosemary and/or thyme (usually mixing them up, of course as they all look fairly similar, and admittedly gets lost trying to find mint, but that's a bit high up for him) and obviously also stands a better-than-average chance of being distracted by the odd ant/woodlouse...it's amazing how enthusiastic he is, and how generally *capable* he is becoming...he can even (when watched) carefully stir sauces on the hob (as long as you remind him they are hot each time he goes to put the spoon in his mouth)... ;)

Another of his tricks is to help crack the black pepper for the week using the pestle and mortar (although I have learned only to put a *few* pepper corns in there for him to bash away at or he just eats it by the handful, much to Mummy's displeasure and Daddy's stifled snigger)... ;)

The most impressive achievement so far? Asking him to tell me how we went about making pasta the other day (retrospectively) and him (thoughtfully) answering (including some fairly long finger sucking pauses) "Onion...chop...OIL! Frying! MEAT! Maaato! COOOKING!!!" - Okay, there were a few more things that went in there, but that's a basic bolognese recipe right there (quoted from his memory) if I have ever heard one, and he, not even two years old!

Well done, clever boy! :)

Thomas' first (real) hair cut

2011-07-04T08:27:00.003+01:00

Okay (I admit) he's had a tiny little trim once before (just to stop his fringe getting in his eyes), but this was the first time he has had a *proper* haircut (as he was starting to look like a 70's version of Owen Wilson from the film The Wedding Crashers)...although when we asked him first thing in the morning if he wanted one, the curt response was, of course, a firm "NO".

Anyway, bribed with a great big handful of "TWIGETTS!!!" he practically flew up into the high chair and sat there very quietly, watching his hair vanishing onto the floor-

-where Mummy harvested a little handful to put into the baby memories book before Daddy swept it up and put it in the bin...the good thing, unlike some of his little friends, whose first haircut permanently removed their cute baby curls, Thomas' just sprang back up (the minute the "HAIR TIP!" was removed (just a little bit shorter)...looks like he's got something more in common with Daddy then... ;)

Finks Links #142

2011-07-01T08:26:00.001+01:00

Friday again, already!! Where are the weeks going? Anyway, on to this week's links-

An incredible (advertising - but still cool) game - Magnum across the Internet...

A juggler giving up on the dream...

Runaway truck ramp...

A very large cactus...

Meanwhile, in Belgium...

Watch a video of Volvo's crash avoidance technology in action...

History of the Giant Squid...

...and finally just a very slight translation fail...

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Online marketing show...

2011-06-30T06:56:00.001+01:00

Online marketing show...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...bit of a mission to get here, but finally arrived... ;)

Thomas and "dip dip!"

2011-06-27T08:38:00.002+01:00

Sunday had been a "FOOD!" themed day from the off, Thomas had started by snaffling some baby wipes while I was doing his morning nappy, then proceeding to (violently) clear every work top at his height (his little cupboard and the incidental table etc.) of any toys while I was in the kitchen doing his milk drink, forcing me to issue a sharp "QUIET Thomas! Mummy is sleeping!"...when I turned around and opened the ~~stair~~ kitchen gate I realised he had cleared the tops of toys in order to thoroughly clean them with the wipes...So, he got a "Very clever boy!" for that, which was answered by a quick dash across the living room, the words "FOOD PEEEEZE DADDY!!!" and a firm point at the play box containing his little saucepans and plastic and wooden food items...Okay, no problem... ;)

We spent the next hour repeatedly, but happily, eating chopped wooden pears prepared in various ways (pear a la kettle, fried pear with potato, oven baked pear with asparagus) each time Thomas saying "All Cooked Daddy!", me taking a pretend nibble and then saying "Mmm, thank you, that's delicious! Yum yum!"...

So him being in a bit of a foodie state of mind, when it came time for breakfast and I asked him what he wanted he said "Bread - DIP DIP!" and then "Pasta!", "Okay" I said as he reached up to be lifted into his high chair...after slicing some nice, fresh granary bread and pouring him a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a dish I popped them down on his high chair and went back to the kitchen to collect him some olives at which I was suddenly subjected to the most horrific gagging/drowning sound I think I have ever heard, causing me to immediately drop everything and rush quickly back into the living room where I was *just* in time to see him *drinking* the last drops of the dip (blinking tears from his eyes with a very miserable look on his face)...I handed him his water double quick saying "Thomas, drink this it will make it feel better" (which he did)...and (thank goodness) his normal colouration and rate of breathing slowly returned...

The next words (croakily and quietly) out of his mouth ?

"More...dip...dip.......peeze"

*face+palm*

Finks Links #141

2011-06-24T12:50:00.000+01:00

Friday!! Thank goodness...time for a few links...oh and sorry for not posting much lately, promise I'll get around to it soon...!

Fvision - a nice Japanese glasses free 3d table...

Chill guy is *chill*...

Disposable Camera goes through the post... ;)

Protect your caterpillar from Kimbo Slice...

Rush hour in the Netherlands...

Who says nothing ever happens in Margate?

Heavy Metal flowchart...

Have a play with a Lytro picture(I sort of want one)!

...and finally the break-dancing cat incident...

Have a relaxing weekend everyone! ;)

Thomas and Spiders...

2011-06-20T08:52:00.001+01:00

So on Sunday, Thomas was busying himself noisily making a huge mess with water and sand in the garden (as he does) when all of a sudden he comes flying through the patio doors holding his dripping spade yelling "Pider!!! Pider!!!" (and looking a bit freaked out) - which was rather unusual as the last *two* times he came across one - while on holiday in Cornwall and while in Reigate Fort - it required great restraint to stop him crushing them to death in his enthusiasm to become more intimate...So, stepping outside (him clinging, wetly, to my leg) me clutching a newspaper (picturing some sort of Shelob type encounter) we prowled the garden cautiously until I saw the source of his alarm, a little bumble bee, suspended in the rain water half-filling his sand table..."That's not a spider Thomas, it's a bee" I explained and suddenly all his nervousness disappeared..."Hewwo Bee" he said and poked it with the spade at which it gave a very unenthusiastic twitch, but was certainly still in the land of the living, so, I grabbed the spade from Thomas before he accidentally crushed the poor little creature to oblivion and we lifted it from the water and set it in the sun, sitting and watching as it slowly dried out, finally (after much experimental wing flapping) flying away to it's hive (much to Thomas' delight - "FLYINNNN!!!" he said pointing into the air and jiggling up and down...so when this morning he announced "PIDER!!!" again I was quick to correct him, "No Thomas, it was a bee wasn't it, did we save it from drowning in the water?" but such was his insistence as he said "PIDER!!!" again, I left the kitchen to come and check...and yep, there was a little spider cowering in terror as Thomas' huge hand hovered inches about it's head, so I got a bit of tissue paper and we rescued it into the garden (to a little wave and "Bye bye pider!") but I have to say, I am a bit confused as to exactly when spiders became something to be (if even just ever-so slightly) wary of, rather than to chase and attempt to eat (like ants/woodlice/grapes etc.)...is this something we have unconsciously managed to pass on to Thomas (even though on each occasion we've encountered one together before I've been *very* brave) or is this some sort of genetic defense mechanism manifesting itself?

I'll have to do some research... ;)

Finks Links #140

2011-06-17T14:00:00.000+01:00

Friday!!

Chain Reaction!

TRON cave!

Wunderwaffen...WW2 German "wonder weapons"...

REM concert...

Goodbye Spirit...

Toothpaste cross section...

Soyuz's user manual...

A heart with no beat..

Urm, what?

...and finally, deep down, advertisers obiously don't like people very much... ;)

Have a relaxing weekend everyone! ;)

Spotted this in the Wharf...

2011-06-15T08:48:00.000+01:00

...the other day, a massive commemerative plaque to the building of West India Quay, it's about two stories high...! Bet they never imagined for a moment what would become of the place... ;)

Racing things...

2011-06-14T12:58:00.001+01:00

So yesterday, after spending an awfully long time watching the ~~rain~~ Formula one, Thomas came over clutching a number of objects (his latest fad is to try and hold at least three things at once, preferably more, while he is walking around), the first was put on the table in front of me and Thomas announced "Racing Car!" to which I replied "Yes Thomas, that's right! Racing Car! Have we been watching racing cars on the television"? He Formula-One-car-noised it rapidly over the table a few times and then turned to the little model horse he was clutching under his arm. "Racing Horse!" he said, putting it carefully down - "Yes" I said "You can have *race* horses..." (correcting him slightly) and he clip-clop-noised it quickly across the table stopping next to the little racing car...last but not least, down went the final object...(and after thinking carefully for a moment) "Racing Cow?" he proposed..."Urm" (I said, pausing to think for a moment myself) "no...no not usually" I was forced to admit..."Okay" said Thomas, and pushed it onto the floor... ;)

Finks Links #139

2011-06-10T08:44:00.000+01:00

Friday!! Link time -

Some incredible behind the scenes shots from classic movies...

The most creepy potato sack in the world...

On the subject of passswords...

The future of food?

An important film to watch about Planking!

Cat cuddle...

IBM's basement...

Deep inside the world's longest tunnel...

It's honestly incredible that hard drives ever work at *all*!

A nice organised desktop...

...and finally, a fairly non-typical checkout guy...

Have a lovely relaxing weekend everyone! ;)

Teaching a Toddler about Colours (etc.)...

2011-06-09T09:01:00.002+01:00

Well, Thomas seems to be finally starting to get his colours, the trick was to divide the statements into two when instructing him, our first approach had been to explain to him "That's a Red Car", the trouble was, he had already imprinted that the correct answer to the question "What colour is it, Thomas?" was "Lellow"...He hasn't nailed it yet by any means, but (Daddy trying very hard to remember) saying "That's a Canoe - The Canoe is the colour Orange", in much the same way as he constructs little sentences like "Stones - Lots!" (at Brighton Beach) he has begun to say "Canoe - Orange", I think it would be wise to try and limit the colours at this stage, but at least we've managed 2 or 3... ;)

On the bad side? An oddly negative Baby Einstein experience...each morning (at the moment, a few weeks ago he was obsessed with "Mr Men") he emphatically demands one of the episodes (usually "Animals!", "Shapes!" or "Go!") and they *are* brilliant, they have helped to add so many words to his vocabulary including things like "Macaw", "Trigger Fish" and "Meerkat", the only problem was catching him the other day (only the once, but still) saying the word "Giraffe" in a perfect American accent...hrm...have to keep a close eye on that one! ;)

CONGRATULATIONS!

2011-06-06T11:12:00.002+01:00

To G & S on the birth of their new daughter (and my niece) after *quite* a while spent at East Surrey Hospital, can't wait to meet her...! ;)

Kids Entertainment at Holiday World Benalmedina

2011-05-31T08:43:00.001+01:00

Had we wanted to, not that I would wish it on anyone unrelated (as we toddle into the terrible twos), we *could* have unleashed Thomas on an unsuspecting entertainment team (and retreated to a safe distance) for pretty much all of the break...

When we first arrived at the resort I was astonished to find that (in almost) whichever direction I pointed my head (down by the pools) I could pick out at least *six* members of First Choice staff engaging kids in various activities - zorbing across the pool, egg and spoon races, dancing lessons, raft building, canoeing...

...even as I gawped at the hive of activity taking place around me, a Harry Potter party traipsed past me all dressed in robes (just caught the tail end of it there with the camera) yelling out "Expelliarmus!!" and waving their glittering-kids-club-constructed wands (held together with copydex)...Admittedly, all this was aimed at little-ones a little bit bigger than Thomas, but for him was the soft play room, equipped with one member of staff between every three kids-

- and was filled with all manner of toddler-goodies -

- including dressing up costumes and books -

- *endless* playmats and toys -

- and drawing facilities...

Outside there was a selection of climbing/sliding facilities-

- which Thomas called his "Swings" (even though there wasn't one)... ;)

In the evening the stage came alive in the ballroom-

- for a series of energetic shows (featuring the same, now presumably exhausted staff members who had been running around after the kids all day long)-

- to which Thomas danced and yelled until he collapsed, equally exhausted, into his push chair... ;)

...and this is, of course, not even to mention the swimming pools and the excellent food... ;)

Finks Links #138

2011-05-27T14:00:00.001+01:00

Friday!! Sorry for not updating so much lately, just been a bit of a stressful time (for one reason or another)...got some great links to (hopefully) cheer everyone up though... ;)

First off, a Mexican Wrestler, at a protest, on a motorbike, being fired on by riot police (in real life)...

Catman!!

Globe genie!

Rolling robot transforms into helicopter...

The size of Africa...

Silly goalkeeper...

What *do* all those buttons do?

A rather "difficult" document...

...and last but not least a very, *very* patient cat... ;)

Have a lovely weekend everyone! ;)

A trip into Benalmadina town...

2011-05-25T08:58:00.003+01:00

So on to the third day of the holiday, and we woke up to a bit of an overcast day, it was still definitely shorts and T-shirt temperature, just not very much blue in the sky, so we decided to take the bus into the center of town and have a poke around the shops (in the hope the weather would improve enough for a nice afternoon pool session)...the bus stops were conveniently located right outside the resort so we traipsed down to one of them, trying in vain to conjour enough Spanish to ask the kindly elderly people waiting there if this was the *right* bus stop...Well, I managed to *ask* the question (I think) we just didn't understand very much of the rapidly delivered 300 word reply (which was coming from 4 directions at once), so I thanked them kindly (anyway) and we crossed the road to the other side in the hope of finding some people that spoke English (or slower Spanish)...when we got there (and discovered that we were now at the correct bus stop - which the old people were probably frantically trying to explain to us)...we waved them thanks, at which moment their bus zoomed up, prompting them to fly into the road desperately trying to signal to the driver (apparently in vain) as he just completely ignored them and drove straight past...just as well we didn't want that direction then! :o

Anyway, our bus finally arrived (already almost full) after about a thirty minute wait, we managed to (just) secure the last two fold-down seats as all the other people waiting crammed on (it was bedlam) and then it lurched off on it's twenty minute roller coaster ride into town, literally slamming on the breaks every 40 feet to let people off and cram more on (there seemed to be a bus stop literally outside every single hotel the entire way along)...so, slightly green and rather ruffled, we arrived in town where 90% of the passengers disembarked, struggled to get the push-chair to go back up (where it had been so squashed underneath us) and finally headed off, consulting our little map to see where the best shops were likely to be)...

Turned out the best shopping looked like it was at the "Puerto", so we followed the signs, coming at last to a very large marina, you get a good idea what the area was like from the overhead view...Thomas was *very* excited to see all the boats, and Flyingpops was pleased to see all the shops, so we pottered around-

- noticing the Segway Rides (ten euros was a bit expensive for a guided tour of the car park though)-

- and all the expensive yachts, moored right next to their owners apartment blocks like cars parked in the drive (wow)...

...found the "Fish!" Thomas had been confidently predicting...walked past the Sea Life Center (having just visited one a few weeks ago we saved it just in case of a rainy day later in the break) and then strolled down to-

-and along the beach-

- eventually finding a (very steep) way up the cliffs back to the main road...we found a little supermarket to stock up on some water and crisps etc. (the supermarket on the resort was roughly double the price!) and then found a bus stop where we waited for about half an hour for another extremely busy bus to turn up, Flyingpops only got a seat when she almost fell over holding Thomas and someone gave their seat up, and I struggled up the aisle trying desperately to hold onto multiple shopping bags, the push chair and the rucksack holding all the changing things, bashing people unavoidably until they couldn't stand it any more and allowed me to drop everything in a little bit of space they managed to find near the exit (and then held on for dear life as we lurched all the way back)...it seemed to take forever, and when we *finally* pulled up outside our resort I practically fell off the bus and then felt sick and had to lay in the dark (for about an hour) until everything stopped spinning...No more buses for us... >;P

Oh, the weather did cheer up in the afternoon though... ;)

Grand Theft Light Bulb?

2011-05-24T08:53:00.001+01:00

Very odd...not noticed before thanks to the twin factors of increased foliage and it being light when I'm setting off in the mornings, but it appears that all the street lights that line this path here (which is the route I commonly take to get to Earlswood station) appear to have been vandalised...

It doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me at the moment of course, but come the winter months this path (if they aren't repaired) is going to be absolutely pitch black instead of punctuated by the incredibly useful occasional pool of light to aim towards as you crash through the woods...Now, the lights are fairly numerous, and also extremely tall which basically means actually going about breaking them would have taken a *considerable* amount of effort, making me wonder what the motivation was...thrill seeking is basically out, climbing up all those slippery poles (dodging attacking crows, squirrels and sharp branches) and bashing away could hardly be considered a form of recreation (unless you are incredibly daft), which only leaves two other possibilities (that spring to mind) - One - the light bulbs are sufficiently valuable to merit going to all the effort of stealing them (but then why aren't we seeing more of this sort of thing?) or -Two- (much more sinister) that someone wants it very, very dark down there at night...

Hrm... :S

Update - They aren't terribly valuable apart from the flashy LED ones (£200-odd quid), which these weren't, they were £20 sodium ones...

Finks Links #137

2011-05-20T08:38:00.000+01:00

Friday!!

First up, the adventures of Superman in England! ;)

The Blue Dragon, Portugal...

35 years backwards through time...

There was another child who found a golden ticket...

Domino rally from 30,000 dominoes...

Wow...a Beagle trained to catch a ball (in it's little paws)...!

The disappearing face of New York...

Concrete Canvas...

Creative lego ads...

Bionic hand for 'elective amputation' patient...

King Goujian's army (read the last line)...he had a nice sword too... ;)

...and last but not least a rather impressive bowling fail... ;)

Have a great weekend everyone! ;)

Swimming at Holiday World, Benalmadina!

2011-05-19T08:24:00.003+01:00

Oh boy did those baby swimming lessons pay off...Thomas was fearless *and* perfectly safe, he backed carefully into the water and held onto the edge (where appropriate) and behaved with total confidence, when asked what he wanted to do each morning he practically yelled the roof off the apartamento with his enthusiasm for the "SWWMMMMMMMNN POOOOL!!!!!!!!!"...over on our side of the road there were two large pools, one a shallow toddler splashing pool (which the kids could merrily run in and out of)-

- and the other a bigger, deeper pool for proper swimming -

- this is where we typically started our day, collecting (complimentary) towels from the life guard (although there was a deposit of 15 euros to worry about if you accidentally lost one, so we were quite careful)-

- and then across the bridge (which was, admittedly, a bit of a struggle with a loaded down pushchair) was the other part of the resort, which I can only refer to as a fully fledged water park...just amazing...

There were (I think) 6 pools across there, this one was the one by the spa (up on top in the middle of the ruins), this pool had a large pirate ship with stairs and a slide into the water (of which, inexplicably, I don't appear to have a better picture of), the middle pool (where we normally hung out until lunch time) was another paddling pool (which featured a lot of spraying elephants)-

- then there was a panoramic pool with glass walls looking out to sea, next to the rubber ring ride-

- a dark and spooky underground crash pool, and a wave pool right at the bottom with water guns (etc)...

At the top of the park (by the lunch restaurant) there was a large number of water fountains (that kept Thomas busy by swapping round all the time)-

-the volcano pool-

- and two other smaller pools around by the bar-

-which Thomas kept going back to (on his own) asking for Gelato (roughly Ice Cream)... ;)

There was also an amazing tree house and a fake lighthouse -

- to explore if all the water became too much... ;) And so we pretty much (blissfully) spent our days, breakfast, first two swimming pools, over the bridge, bottom three swimming pools, lunch, top couple of swimming pools, then back across the road for tea! Maybe stopping at the buffet for some ice cold melon and spicy chicken wings... ;)

Food at Holiday World, Benalmadina

2011-05-18T09:01:00.003+01:00

So just before we went to try out the restaurant, we popped quickly out to check out the pools and stumbled upon one of the pool bars, specifically the one with the "All-inclusive Buffet", Thomas and Flyingpops seated safely in the shade, I went to check it out, but was stopped in my tracks by an elderly gentleman who (seeming slightly agitated) was desperately trying to get my attention..."Yoose just arriived?" (he said in a thick Scottish accent), "Yes" I replied..."Ah, then a worrrd te the wise" he winked, "We been eatin tha' sh*te fa *faw* days noo" he said, pointing to the buffet "but ye can owda fresh cooked fer fereee from they lassies at the bar!", "Oh, thanks for the tip!" I replied, "Ay, just wish summon had clued us in, ken?" he remarked bitterly (and returned, wistfully, to his garish cocktail)...

So, forewarned, I perused the buffet, noting 4-hour-old (now slightly crunchy) pasta, steamed burgers and floppy chips (oh and a 'fridge absolutely full of fresh, crispy watermelon which I gathered up and delivered to a delighted Thomas and Flyingpops on a little paper plate) and then returned to the bar to check out the menu, and yes, next to about 40% of the items was a small picture of a drowning man indicating that these items were (indeed) free to wrist-band holders! I ordered Texan chicken wings, which arrived sizzling from the kitchen about 10 minutes later (requiring that I steal the bottle of Tabasco from the bar) and were delicious...so thank you elderly Scottish gentleman for the heads up...! ;)

After this we (slightly greedily) headed to La Perla (the main restaurant), handing over our room key at the entrance-

-passing the chocolate Taj Mahal and being directed to a distant gentleman waving a blue drinks menu guiding us to our seats, we collected a high chair (there are many) and parked Thomas and then checked out the offerings...and it was very impressive -

- absolutely heaps of fresh fruit (it varied day-by-day) -

- piles of sliced cheese, cold cuts, olives, pickles (etc.) -

- a griddle where meat or fish is freshly cooked for you on demand (bacon/omlettes at breakfast time, misc meats and fish for lunch/supper)-

- and a huge selection (10-15 dishes, different every service) of other foods, ranging from kiddie friendly chicken nuggets, 4-5 vegetarian choices and usually some sort of roast dinner (with all the trimmings, yorkshires, gravy, mint sauce etc.)...

...and drinks of all sorts, soft drinks were self service (some people managing coke for breakfast - yuk), alcoholic drinks were served by the (ever-bustling) waiting staff...

Desert was equally lavish, supplimented by infinite ice cream (with sprinkles), a selection of yoghurts and even, on two occasions, a biggest chocolate fountain I have ever seen...

...all in all, the food was pretty much faultless... ;)

Om nom nom... ;)

Arriving in Holiday World, Benalmadina!

2011-05-17T06:17:00.004+01:00

So we swung (after a very short transfer), in air conditioned (although admittedly slightly cramped) comfort around the many elephant-themed roundabouts surrounding the resort up to reception where we made priority one the grabbing of the push chair, into which Thomas was restrained while I battled to get our suitcases out from under the coach-

- admiring the amazing scenery and wondering what the view was going to be like from our room (suffice it to say we were in for a pleasant surprise)...

Anyway, we were greeted by a nice lady who gave us a number of chilled, red-coloured fruit drinks (Thomas' one went in his little cup) and joined the back of the queue for check-in-

We were given our "all-inclusive" red wrist bands and told our room number (which was 536) and headed off to discover what that actually meant, popping into one of the (many) little lifts by reception, noting (with a smile) that floor 5 was the top one-

-unfortunately though, the lift was so full (with push-chair, suitcases, Thomas and Flyingpops) that I had to get back out and wait for a second one as the door wouldn't close with me in there, finally ascending and gazing (with raised eyebrows) at the yacht(!) in the building-

- and then walked along to find our room (which turned out to be practically the furthest possible distance from the entrance that it could have been - right at the top and right at the end (bar about 2 other apartments) and the view when we got out on to the balcony made all the effort of getting there worth it-

I don't exaggerate when I say it literally took Thomas three full days running around -constantly yelling with excitement- before he calmed down enough to *touch* any of the toys we had brought along with us...He was just *so* thrilled (as to be almost irrepressible)... ;)

Anyway, we got a bit of unpacking done (well, Flyingpops did, while I stopped Thomas turning on the bidet, opening the 'fridge, turning on the TV, trying to thrust himself under the glass on the balcony to fall to his doom, opening the front door and running off down the hall and calling the lift, pulling the drapes open and closed, yelling, climbing into the bath, dismantling the drain cover in the shower, pulling the chairs over, pulling the drawers out, pushing daddies socks through the gap at the bottom of the balcony, jumping on the bed, turning all the lights on and off, exploring the bin, screwing up carefully unpacked clothes and putting them back into the suitcases and poking his fingers in the electrical outlets)...and so, ~~organised, refreshed and calm~~ giving up the game as lost, we headed down to the main restaurant for a welcome bite to eat... :)

Finks Links #136

2011-05-16T08:28:00.001+01:00

Friday!! Well, I would have posted this on Friday, but Blogger has been having some problems, anyway, a little late - it's link time! Real mish-mash this (last) week, but some rather good ones...! :)

Wolverine vs T-Rex!

The work of Luis Wain...

Gentlemon...well, quite... ;)

A rather ingenious Tokyo home (24 rooms in one)...

Another secret door in Castle Mario (quiet nod to Ripley)...

Diving between tectonic plates... ;0

Testing the breaks on a 747...

A *brilliant* bumper sticker...

Fukushima plate...not *terribly* practical, but a nice idea...

Soap in a microwave...

MMOWGLI (sounds like fun!)

Ice cream with one ingredient...

...aaaand *finally* a rather hilarious Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner) fail and a brilliant Buffet sign fail...

Have a great weekend everyone! ;)

Car in the middle of Woodlands Road

2011-05-12T11:49:00.001+01:00

Why, oh why does this sort of thing always seem to happen to me? Especially when I'm supposed to be hurrying home to babysit Thomas...thought I was doing quite well to start with, managed to score a "fast" bus yesterday from Redhill (the one that goes via the hospital *before* going half way round the rest of Surrey) got as far as Woodlands Road and a car rolled backwards, directly across the road in front of us and pulled suddenly to a halt, then proceeding to just sit there (as you can see it above), we waited, and waited as a little traffic jam formed on either side of it until finally I decided I had waited long enough and told the driver I would hop off and go and see what was going on, when I got up there a small group of local residents had begun to gather around it (having come out to discover why quite so many car horns were suddenly blaring out in their quiet little road) and it quickly became apparent that there was no driver in it! Evidently what had happened was that the handbrake had either *partially* failed, or wasn't applied properly enough to counteract gravity and it had bumped itself down into the road (completely blocking it) and then (miraculously) managed to reapply itself *just* before it struck the two cars parked on the opposite side of the road...I spoke to the residents, they said they knew who the owner was, but they had tried and there was no answer from their door...a little frustrated I tried to push the car (on my own) but the handbrake (of course) was now firmly wedged on...the bus driver tried in vain to reverse up the road (more cars and buses kept on arriving behind us), some of the residents announced the police had been called, but despite much false hope (sirens in the distance that then just faded away) no rescue arrived. Eventually nurses due for start of their shifts at the hospital were forced to give up and start walking the rest of the way and then, when I had almost decided that I was going to have to do the same a bloke appeared next to me, as I was giving another desperate shove to the back of the vehicle and announced that you can trick a handbrake into disengaging (momentarily) by bumping the back of the car up and down, we did this, and lo and behold, it moved - just a little bit - at this two other people from the crowd, heartened by our minor success, came and joined in, and so, with much bumping and huffing and shoving, we managed to get the car back up onto the drive, calling out (fairly urgently) for bricks (before it rolled back and ran us all over) which duly appeared from the garden of a lady from over the road...the bus driver was extremely grateful (having done absolutely nothing to help) and I got a few smiles and waves from the remaining couple of passengers when I got back on board, but of course everyone we picked back up along the way had no idea of my role in their rescue, so I had to content myself with modesty (and only being half an hour later than usual)...

Thomas and Aeroplanes...!

2011-05-11T09:01:00.002+01:00

So, back to the start of the break, the alarm going off at 0330hrs (zzzz) we dragged ourselves downstairs, my folks knocking on the front door shortly after, we shuffled, zombielike out to our car and loaded up all the luggage into the boot, my dad taking the wheel (thank goodness) and were whisked the 15 minutes from our front door to the entrance to Gatwick Terminal 1 (we were later to meet a nice family who had driven *four*hours* - which I can't even start to imagine). We checked in our bags (queue of about 6 people) smiling slightly as we passed the queue of 400 bodies in various states of catatonia awaiting check in for one Easyjet flight (or other) and slipped quickly through security (my shoes beeping for some reason, so I needed to take them off and pop them through the machine - not that they seemed to mind Thomas' bottle of milk that went through accidentally in my rucksack - hrm)...anyway, we emerged into the Duty Free area and found, to some dismay, that it was so early in the morning everything except Boots the Chemist was closed, so we headed up to the 24 hour cafe area on the balcony above (after picking up some essentials) and contented ourselves with some floppy, aged sandwiches and a couple of hot drinks until the time came for us to go to the gate...I have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation as to how Thomas would cope with the flight, as we neared the waiting room - would he panic? Would he get bored and strop and scream and turn *every one's* flight into a nightmare? We had packed books, stickers, snacks, drinks even the Shinco portable DVD player loaded up with hundreds of episodes of Mr Men, Thomas the Tank Engine and In the Night Garden (just in case)...as it was...

He absolutely loved it, getting more and more excited as first we boarded the "BUS!!!!!!!!!!" then went up the "STAIRS!!!!!!!!!" and then finally onto the "AIIIIIPANE!!!!!", found our seats (only about 100 people on our flight, so we both had two free seats next to us, which was brilliant) and then Thomas bounced around thrilled by the takeoff and the "CWOUDS!!!" out the window until everything proved too much...

...and he fell into a deep sleep for the remainer of the flight, allowing Mummy and Daddy to read their books, which frankly couldn't have gone any better, never even got the Shinco out of my rucksack... ;)

He woke up upon landing (flight to Malaga is only about 2 hours, but we had been delayed on the ground for a little while thanks to French air traffic controllers being - very oddly - on strike again) and then Thomas helped me get a little trolley, our luggage (and push chair) came out practically first and then we were on the transfer bus (after a baffling series of directions down to the car park) -delayed only briefly when it was discovered that we had a stowaway that should have been on the bus next door- the transfer was only another 20 minutes, during which Thomas excitedly explained to us what all the other vehicles on the road were...and then we found ourselves walking into reception (well before lunchtime)!

Back to the real world...

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000+01:00

...after a lovely dream in sunny Spain...I've made a start on picking through the photos and will obviously write about our experiences at some length later, just still a bit tired from the journey home (got back rather late) and the shock of returning to a London on high terror alert (Police with guns at Lewisham station, of all places)...

Anyway, if you fancy taking a sneak peek, some of the pictures are over here...(or as a slideshow if you prefer)...

Finks Links #135

2011-04-27T09:00:00.000+01:00

Friday!! Well, actually this time it's only Wednesday thanks to even *more* days off! Yay! ;)

Anyway, let's start with the World's biggest Pacman...(seriously, *seriously* big)...

Find out what it's like to play games if you are colour blind...

FOOD FIGHT!

NASA's Earth day photographs...

Forced perspective with a moving camera...

The Scale of the Universe...

The recurring-prop-newspaper...

Don't muck about with the marching band...

Ant vs Spider (*not* a good idea, ant)...

RIP Manual typewriters...

In space fuel stations...

Man discovers new life form...

...and finally a brilliant Royal Wedding memento...

Have a brilliant *second* long weekend everyone! ;)

Back to work...

2011-04-26T09:05:00.001+01:00

...after a lovely few days off, got Flyingpops holiday book ordered, exchanged some Pounds for Euros ready for hols...and just been offered free Burger King at lunchtime (no idea why, but)...yum yum! ;)

Finks Links #134

2011-04-21T08:46:00.002+01:00

Friday!! Well, Thursday, but effectively Friday thanks to the Bank Hols (during which I imagine I won't be near computers very much)... ;)

So let's kick things off by taking a sneaky peek at (the now abandoned) Holy Grail of UK Urban exploration (finally breached) - the Mail Rail under London...cool! :0

In fact, the entire site probably deserves a look...SilentUK (if you like this sort of thing)...

...and following the theme, the other lost mail tunnel under London... ;)

A (perfectly safe) machete slingshot...

Hoverhands!

Who's suing whom (at the moment) in telecoms?

Lucusfilm's Animation Team have some new offices (which look darn familiar)...

Children don't cheat if 'Princess Alice' is watching...

Can't decide what you want to drink? Things just got a *lot* worse...

An *amazing* Japanese TV commercial...

Facinating Russian Science illustrations from the 60s and 70s...

...and finally - Wow! Look - quirky "dog bone" paper clips...! Hehe...oh...urm, nope, no, actually, that's not really what I was looking for... >8(

Have a brilliant long weekend everyone! ;)

TFL SNAFU

2011-04-20T09:07:00.001+01:00

A really hearty well done there...*again*...especially as we are, oh so ready for 2012, apparently...

Hilarious Fellowship...

2011-04-19T13:04:00.000+01:00

...spotted this on a discussion thread of reasons why people weren't currently playing the (newly released game) Portal 2, after a few "meh, can't even afford to eat"'s and "know how you feel, man"'s this little variation on a meme popped up...it would have been even more hilarious if I hadn't had to clean my mouthful of tea from my keyboard and VDU right afterwards... ;)

Denbies Raptor Show

2011-04-19T09:01:00.002+01:00

While the actual word that came out of his mouth was "Owls!" (well done Animal book/drill), that -look- *definitely* said "Woah...Just hold on one minute while we get this straight...these things are actually *REAL*?"...

Brilliant capture by Flyingpops... ;)

Goodyear Blimp at Canary Wharf

2011-04-18T13:05:00.001+01:00

Wow, it's all happening today, first free cake then the Goodyear Blimp zooms past us up the Thames (going *very* fast actually)...click it to zoom in... :)

TRON Legacy cup cake

2011-04-18T13:02:00.001+01:00

...that's nice, a new TRON film comes out on DVD, we get free glittery cake! Do I even bother to try and get it home in one piece to give it to Flyingpops? Never gonna happen, is it?

Getting Ready for Holiday...

2011-04-18T08:57:00.000+01:00

Well, not long now, just a couple of (rather short) weeks before we jet off to Sunny Spain (although actually the weather in Blighty has been perfectly good just lately anyway!) so this last weekend saw a bit of a flurry of activity, Flyingpops flew to the shops and returned clutching bags full of summer clothes (for all three of us), I now have a hat (apparently all *10* of my hats had managed to, very successfully, hide over the winter months) and a nice pair of sunglasses (nope, no idea where my old ones of those went either), we went up into the loft and got the big suitcase down (it's now laying on the bedroom floor waiting to be populated) and we also (finally) got round to testing out the Shinco battery, playing a DVD (i.e. it's most wasteful power mode) on Saturday I got 3 hours 40 minutes life out of it (or *almost* twice through Star Wars - A New Hope) and the flight is about 4 hours, some of which will be eating, nappy changing, reading, walking around and peering-out-the-window-pointing at things (I imagine)...so it looks like we have *plenty* of available distraction time, should it be required by way of Baby Einstien, Thomas the Tank Engine and In the Night Garden...phew! ;)

Finks Links #133

2011-04-15T09:03:00.001+01:00

Friday!! Bit of a fight on the train this morning (very nearly involving me), passenger alarms and transport police, but I made it to the office unscathed, despite the World *definitely* having it in for me the last few days...Anyway, time for some links to cheer everyone up-

LASER! Although admittedly it would have been slightly more impressive if there hadn't been plenty of time for the target to get out of the way (or hold a tiny mirror up)...

BLAST WAVE!

US Nuclear evacuation map!

Google Earth's wibbly wobbly world... ;)

Valve actually have a turret in reception...

A Lego Lovecraft house...

Following the theme, the World's largest Lego tower....

Be a virtual Yuri Gargarin...

A *very* small camera...

...and finally a funny Japanese Girl Prank...

Have a great weekend everyone! ;)

Yay! The Hobbit is underway...!

2011-04-14T15:53:00.002+01:00

War and Peace (or "More" and "Please")...

2011-04-14T09:02:00.000+01:00

So the current little bit of linguistic reasoning being played out in Thomas' mind is to establish precisely what the difference is between "More" and "Please", they are being interchanged experimentally (and somewhat successfully), offered the chance to come into the kitchen to see me prepare his breakfast (on Sunday) I got a correctly applied combination of both - "More See Peeeeeze - Steps! Hup!" (as he couldn't really see what I was doing from the floor, and he knew the solution, his little set of folding steps, which he was rewarded with for being so polite)...but on most other occasions, at the moment it's (for example) "More Bilk Daddy!", "You would like some more Milk, Thomas?", "What's the magic word?"...(he thinks for a moment)...

"More"...

Random Mobile phone pics...

2011-04-13T08:54:00.003+01:00

...just been tidying up my telephone memory, found an old folder full of a few *rather* random pictures, thought I would share... ;)

(wow, look how small Thomas was!)

I dunno, I was obviously half way to a blog idea and then forgot about it (several times!)...more over here... ;)

What do mobile phone signal bars mean?

2011-04-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's a constant moan when trying to use a mobile 'phone at 'The Wharf', "I've got full bars, but I can't make a call!"...this annoyed me...if we are at (apparently) full signal strength, what on earth is going on? It turns out, those silly bars? You can basically ignore. Apart from being a subjective measurement (varying from device to device), the absolute killer is that they are purely a measurement of signal+noise...that microwave oven running nearby? Those computer monitors? Those other mobile telephones near you? All that noise that's completely useless for making calls? Yep, they are all added up into your happy signal bars...it's a waste of your time even looking at them...

Want to know what your *actual*, (error corrected) connection level is? It's actually pretty easy-

On Android, go into "Settings", "About Phone", "Network"...

On an iPhone (you lot aren't trusted to know this information, as Apple routinely fib about how good their devices are) so you need to trick your brick into an engineers testing mode - dial *3001#12345#* and hit Call...

The number you are interested in is the dBm (the error corrected measurement), on your 'droid it's under signal strength, on the iPhone it's in the top left of the screen, and (if I have understood correctly) you read it thusly...

-63 (ish) - Perfect signal, i.e. you are practically feet away from the nearest base station
-89 (ish) - Borderline for successful communication
-103 (ish) - Basically useless, anything much less than this is "no signal"

Up on the 22nd floor, my 'phone waves wildly between -70 and -112, as does my neighbours iPhone, so there's not much surprise service is slightly erratic up here in the clouds, down on the ground, and I've walked around a *lot*, everywhere I have checked is a totally solid -63, so absolutely no problem with connection, our problem in 'The Wharf' would appear to be the sheer number of people connecting to the base stations trying to make calls, so mystery solved, plenty of coverage, but not enough bandwidth - mobile operators? Care to help us out?

Anyway, this should (at least) help you diagnose exactly what is going on when your telephone is being silly...

A quiet walk to Reigate Fort...

2011-04-11T08:51:00.005+01:00

Ah, so the brilliant weather continues (although from the sounds of things today is the last day of that for a while, worse luck)...yesterday, after Thomas had his (extra long) lunchtime nap, we decided to go for a nice relaxing walk in the sunshine...

Our chosen destination was Reigate Hill (even though Thomas was absolutely convinced we were going to the "Sea side! Animals!"), he was, none the less, satisfied with the view when we got to the car park at the top, declaring that it was the "Sea side" after all (and then pointed roughly in the correct direction for Brighton) and the large number of dogs present did (admittedly) qualify as animals, so we couldn't really fault his logic or prediction in either case...

Anyway, we toddled up the hill, Thomas eagerly pointing out (and being swiftly distracted/hauled from) some nettles, some dog mess, the Catteries' front garden, a barbed wire fence, a smelly pond and a huge pile of horse manure...he resorted, with a confused, hurt look on his face to sucking dusty stones (whenever he could get away with it), as all his other obvious potential avenues of pleasure had been so inexplicably and cruelly denied...

After about 40 minutes we completed our 200 yard marathon to the top, and Thomas decided we were going into Reigate Fort (as the opportunities to place himself in danger so far plainly hadn't been sufficient) so in we went noting (with some alarm) the live electric fences ringing the site -

- a proliferation of tempting sharp, rusty objects -

- a multitude of treacherous, stone staircases -

- and venomous native snakes...

After weighing up all the remaining options, after trying and failing to mountaineer up to the electric fences...

...Thomas finally selected a small pit to throw himself into where he had a standoff with a rather large spider living in a drainage pipe -

- which the spider decided rather quickly it didn't want to participate in (and when Thomas finally consented to have his arm pulled back out of the hole) I lifted him back up onto the grass (where he sat perfectly still until all the food ran out)...

Of course, when it came time to walk back down the hill, Thomas wanted absolutely none of it, nor would he entertain (even for a moment) that Daddy carry him, so poor tired Mummy had to hand over all the bags to Daddy and pick him "Hup! Hup! Mummy!" and slog back down to the car in sub-tropical conditions clutching a wriggling toddler (who kept dropping his hat)...

What a lovely, relaxing country walk...*collapse*...

More pictures over here, if you like...

Finks Links #132

2011-04-08T08:58:00.000+01:00

Friday!! Just a few links today, I'm afraid, but hopefully they entertain... ;)

Let's start off by introducing you to Copenhagen Suborbitals who are about to launch a rather big rocket...

Following the theme, meet the Falcon 9...

Where Pringles came from...

A pinhole Hasselblad...

Drying clothes outside in America (not quite as simple as you may think)...

How to make a Lego ship in a bottle...

The Möbius Gear...

A new director starts at the National Railway Museum (aw!)...

...and finally an amusing sign in the window of a closing down book shop...

Have a great weekend (preferably with BBQ) everyone! ;)

Tilgate Park Slideshow

2011-04-07T08:57:00.002+01:00

This is *really* for the benefit of Thomas, but you are welcome to come along for the ride, a nice slideshow of pictures I have taken at Tilgate Park Nature Center (including all the recent additions)...

Enjoy! ;)

Office Lights update...

2011-04-06T08:56:00.004+01:00

Well...isn't this nice?

They have multiplied (and by multiplied I mean more than tripled in number)...I'm starting to get a serious headache now...and I thought it was bad beforehand! People walk sadly and aimlessly round and around the office pleading (to anyone that will listen) for alternative places to sit and have their meetings rather than brave the neon nightmare... >;P

Still, it will be *perfect* at Christmas time... ;)

A day trip to Brighton...

2011-04-05T13:02:00.004+01:00

So last week, taking advantage of the slightly unseasonally good weather, we decided to take a little trip down to Brighton to visit the Sea Life Center (traffic driving into town wasn't actually that bad, for once)...

...parking was still a bit of a pain (as usual) especially as the first ticket machine I managed to find was flashing "Out of Order"...

I did, eventually, find one, and we set off on our walk along Marine Drive -

- splashing in the puddles (when there was a convenient lack of speeding push bikes) -

- and enjoying a little toddle on the stony beach (to which Thomas, quite correctly, announced "Stones" Lots!") -

- (then proceeding to attempt to collect every single one that he could carry to bring with us) as we headed back towards the Pier...

Anyway, we decided we would do the Sea Life Center before going to get some lunch (slightly foolishly, as it would happen), we managed to pay, had our hands stamped (for free re-admittance) walked through the first door (Thomas getting very excited)-

- managed to take about 1 picture, and then all hell broke loose, an absolute coachload of French exchange students crashed through the door and started taking hundreds of pictures (with the flash set to auto, obviously) and all the fish promptly vanished into the corners of their enclosures in terror, thereby making the whole process slightly pointless...

So we went to the pub...

A short wait in the bar for a table later -

- we were sat down to a lovely steak (etc.) dinner -

- which Thomas seemed to approve of (sorry for the blurry pic, he was jiggling around too much with enthusiasm)... ;)

Anyway, when we thought enough time had past for the French people to be off in the distance we worked our way back down to entrance, stopping briefly to stand on the model of the Nautilus submarine -

- I had to close my eyes because Thomas was bashing with excitement -

- and then we were back in, and had the place pretty much to ourselves (about 3 other couples with small kids- hurrah!)...

- for a very enjoyable, quiet walk round, looking at the very many fish, touching the odd polyp (where allowed)-

- and enjoying the other sights, including the bent shark cage (oo-er) -

-and then we lugged the push chair up about 3 flights of stairs (grr)-

- to see the big pool (which used to be where they did the dolphin show (when this was the Old Brighton Aquarium - click that link for the 1972 guide book), if memory serves-

- it now has a glass bottomed boat ride (extra cash to do that though) and an underwater tunnel where Thomas correctly identified a "Shark!"...and that done, we decided to take a little walk along Brighton Pier-

- then finally, as Thomas was very tired from all this excitement, we headed back home... ;)

Thomas finds a Spider...

2011-04-04T08:56:00.000+01:00

...and explains to Daddy that Spiders (of course) have 8 "tails" rather than legs (it was rather obvious when I had actually had it pointed out to me)... ;)

A Little Adventure...

2011-03-28T13:02:00.009+01:00

So on Sunday, Thomas and I got kicked out of the house by Flyingpops (for simplicity reasons due to extensive cleaning requirements) and decided to pop over to Horsham to see Nanny and Granddad (And "Cat!", And "Dog!", as Thomas pointed out)...

In what should have been a relatively simple exercise - we set off for our exciting adventure, well - just as soon as we had finished watching the F1, anyway - (Thomas practically running out to the pram, ten minutes too early, when he was offered the prospect of seeing a train - reacting like we had just had to explain to him that Santa Claus didn't really exist and he was going to have to sleep in the shed from now on when we asked him to come back inside for just "one minute", requiring we both wrestle him back into the house, fending off flying limbs and Toddler language that would have been unprintable, even had it been comprehensible)...

It all went a bit downhill from there...

First, we discovered that the next available train to Horsham from the train station that we could easily walk to (naturally) was at 6am the following day, so we shrugged and pushed our way to the hospital to try and catch a bus (which was 22 minutes late, and almost completely full by the time it finally wobbled around the roundabout)...then we learned that the fare had gone up by 10 pence so we didn't have the correct change (which was greeted with very little enthusiasm by the designated driver), despite this, Thomas clutched my ticket (apparently for dear life) as I desperately tried to stop his pram falling over while we screeched around the corners nervously singing "The Wheels on the Bus", during which Thomas continuously frowned with ill concealed concern at the peculiar and precarious position in which I had apparently decided to place him (which admittedly bore very little resemblance to the words coming out of my mouth)...

More by luck than anything else, we arrived, slightly ruffled, in Redhill and spent 10 minutes standing behind an elderly gentleman who clearly didn't know how to use the ticket machine (but was trying very hard anyway) he finally gave up, after several rejected offers of help, and walked straight through the open barriers without one (which he could have just done in the first place) we followed suit (with our long-awaited ticket) and then realised that it was going to be impossible to get up to the correct platform from that direction due to the enormous quantity of stairs...so we went back the way we came, crossed back across the road and puffed half way up Redstone Hill to the other entrance, banging noisily on the locked gate to Platform three for five minutes until a sleepy guard appeared to let us in...

We spent a very happy twenty minutes waiting for our first (and as it happened, only) train, Thomas pointing and shrieking as all the trains we didn't want zoomed merrily past, saying "Train, Useful!" - which, in my experience (at least) they often aren't, however Rev. W. Awdry (and his son, Christopher) appear to have already successfully convinced Thomas otherwise...I'll leave Southern Trains to complete his education on the matter when he is older...

At Gatwick Airport the train absolutely filled up with French people, who all appeared to need the toilet (which we, of course, were blocking with the pushchair), but at least that stopped me managing to change Thomas' nappy in the tiny cubical (I was terribly sad not to be able to avail myself of that opportunity, as you can imagine) and then we disembarked at Three Bridges, only requiring the assistance of three foreigners not to tip Thomas down between the train and the platform, as we hopped lightly out...after we had both calmed down (with the help of a box of sultanas), Thomas politely exclaimed "Bye bye train, bye bye peoples", and gave them all a little wave...

Finding, to my very great relief, after peering down a very long flight of rather dark stairs, that Three Bridges many platforms are accessible via elevator (thanks to a kindly guard), we then discovered (to some, not inconsiderable, dismay) that the reason 40 men in high visibility jackets were standing around supervising one person with a laser spirit level (up above us), was that our onward journey to Horsham was not to be by another train, but by a replacement bus service...to this piece of news, Thomas promptly fell fast asleep, my phone battery died and I spent the rest of the 40 minute journey wishing I had brought any book with me other than "My First Animal Words" (which Thomas hadn't even glanced at)...

It probably would have been easier to QWOP into Mordor (I'll let you Google it)...Lunch was delicious though... ;)

Finks Links #131

2011-03-25T08:31:00.000Z

Friday again, second set of links of the week! Wow! Lucky you... ;)

Let's kick things off with an *excellent* radiation dose chart...

Following the theme - playing with an X-Ray machine built in 1896...

Tomtom HD traffic service for free!

How to drill a square (or hexagonal) hole...

Supermarkets, the next step - light up packaging...

Innate Knowledge?

The engine that will take us to Mars (in only 5 short months)!

Wow - Time Tunnel got a 2002 makeover, watch the full (unfortunately not recommissioned) pilot episode here... ;)

Wow, must have missed these back in the day! Would have been the top of my Christmas list!

Welcome to ~~the Dagobah System~~ Louisana...

Dancing Ninja Assasin...

...and finally a DANGER K-9 Fail and a Magazine headline fail...

Hope you enjoyed those! Have a great weekend! ;)

Hello and Bye Bye!

2011-03-24T08:44:00.000Z

Thomas is going through a severe affirmation stage for two phrases at the moment..."Hello" and "Bye Bye"...Every morning (while he and I are still in bed) it's "Hello Daddy...Hello Daddy...Hello Daddy" (getting frustrated) "Uh oh..." (pause) "Hello Daddy...Hello Mummy?"...until I eventually appear at the door (rubbing my eyes and yawning) to a triumphant "HELLO DADDY!!!!! UP!!! UP!!! BILK!!!" (the current word for Milk), it's then (as we stumble together around the house) "Hello Shower, Hello Bathoom", "Bye Bye Shower", "Hello Stairs", "Hello Door", "Bye Bye Stairs", "Hello Window", "Hello Gaaarden", "Hello Cwouds" (if it's cloudy) -or- "Hello Ducks" (if it's not, as he knows ducks live in the pond at the end of the garden), then while I'm warming up his milk "Hello thats-mummies-laptop" (prompting a panicked dash to put it up out of danger), we then get five minutes of silence (apart from the sound of milk vanishing), followed by "Bye Bye Daddy - Work - Train - Toot Toot!!", which is usually very sweet, "Yes that's right I'll be off in a little while, probably better get dressed first though", but actually really quite sad when he does it on a Saturday or Sunday morning, as he's obviously expecting me to vanish any minute...

"It's okay Thomas, Daddy isn't going to work today, it's the weekend, we can play all day"..."Daddy HUG!"... ;)

Lewisham in the sunshine...

2011-03-23T09:07:00.001Z

Had a bit more of a chance to walk around this morning, thanks to the DLR breaking down...doesn't look half as bad on a nice sunny day, does it? Well, apart from the fuming commuters, the two bikers who crashed right in front of me on the roundabout (didn't take any pictures, of course), the beggar in the underpass near the DLR entrance (who knew more about where the buses went than the members of staff) and the guy that stands directly opposite the Metro newspaper stand trying to flog copies of the Sun (but whose accent means that he is in fact asking everyone very clearly to purchase some "Sandpaper" rather than a "Sun Paper")...they, of course, just look at him slightly strangely and pick up the free alternative...did (eventually) make it to work in the end...pfff... >:S

Urm...really office?

2011-03-22T14:00:00.001Z

I go away for a few days and *this* happens *right* in front of my desk?

So now I don't work in Little Chef, I seem to now work in a fair ground...or maybe anti-grav Lightsaber storage...or how about 2001 Odyssey...?

I even went and asked the guys who (so far) have taken 6 hours installing the 8 lights if there was going to be a bit of frosted glass or anything put up to moderate the display, the answer - shrugs and apologies... :S

Hurray... :(