daddacool

Suffer the Children

2012-05-31T12:07:00.001+01:00

Nope, this isn't a #shareniger post but if you've not heard of it, I thoroughly recommend having a look and getting involved.

Nor is this a rant at the brutality in Syria, which saw 50 kids murdered systematically, which is still shocking me to the core weeks after the event.

This is a rant about the treatment of a 9 year old girl in Brazil. She'd been sexually abused by her stepfather for up to 3 years and found herself pregnant with twins when she went to hospital complaining of stomach pains. You can read about it in full in the Independent here. The story itself is terrible but the girls treatment, the treatment of her family and the doctors that basically saved her life by the Roman Catholic Church turn my stomach.

The girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to the emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather. Apparently, with full support from the Vatican (or the Vatican't), the regional archbishop has stated that whilst child rape is a heinous crime, it's not as bad as abortion, which is "more serious". So the paedophile, whilst facing a lengthy prison sentence, can still attend Mass, take confession to atone for his sins, and be part of a community that probably wont want him, but the victim's own mother cannot. The very people the Church should be supporting are, pardon the metaphor, publicly crucifying them.

My mum is a lapsed Catholic and I attended a traditional Roman Catholic Primary School in the early 80's, attached to a very traditional Roman Catholic church with a proper fire & brimstone Irish priest. There was a sense of community and belonging that was apparent to me as a child, even though I was somewhat of an outsider, never attending Mass outside of school.

At the heart of religion should be the family. Christianity has an emphasis on being members of Gods Family, so this just seems like a gross and insensitive perversion of that to me. I'd be interested to see what you think about it...

A Thank you and also a "You're looking very verdant" :-{O

2012-05-30T09:27:00.001+01:00

That was a line a Baptist minister once delivered to a good friend of mine. He (the friend, not the Baptist minister) had a full on beard at the time and so the statement was rather apt.

Until last Friday I too had become rather verdant. When Nissans the Big Turn On competition finished at midnight on 30 April I vowed not to shave until the winner was announced. Of course I didn't realise at the time scrutineering would take over 3 weeks, so by the end of it I was more than a little verdant myself. In fact half the office had taken to calling me Catweazle, which I decided to take as a term of endearment, regardless of intent.

I still have a 'tache you know!

So when I received a call at 16:08 on Friday 24 May to tell me I had actually won the UK blogger challenge of Nissan's Big Turn On, I was stunned. I certainly didn't come over as excited as I should have on the telephone, nor did I feel as excited as I should have. I think I was in a state of shock. Or perhaps gently caressing my beard had placed me in a trance-like state.

But I am extraordinarily excited and happy! In case you weren't aware, the prize that we had all be competing for was a Nissan LEAF electric car. And although I was declared the winner, I feel like it's all down to my friends online really. After all, they're the ones that pushed the Turn On button for me. I tried my hardest to make things interesting, although I know I get a bit too much for some people!

Unfortunately due to the vagaries of twitter (specifically it not storing hashtag details for more than a week), I've been unable to compile a list of everyone who contributed and supported me, I only have the last couple of weeks. So if you're not on the role of honour but should be, I'm sorry, let me know and I'll add you. Of course this list only contains a snapshot of the people that either tweeted or hit the tweet this button, it doesn't include everyone who simply just voted. So if you're not on the list, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

I'd also like to say a special thank you to St Albans, what a great city! The lovely bloggers who jumped in my car, the great people who saw me in the local paper or heard me on the local radio, through to everyone who looks into the #stalbans hashtag and got behind me, you're all lovely.

A special thanks to wifey, who was very supportive of me, who put up with my stresses and me spending four or five hours a day at it, as well as blogging and helping out herself, and to BeingMrsC who was my unofficial campaign manager and did a super awesome job of it, as well as Muddlingalong who organised all the St Albans bloggers into the LEAF challenge.

To each and every one of you, thank you very much:

_firsttimedaddy

2_pots_boiling

4_My_Girl

ActuallyMummy

AislingCahill

alex_cutmore

AliJarvis

alisonbyway

annieqpr

archaeolokids

attemptingTO

Automedia1

B4kersgirl

badja

BeingMrsC

BellaAngel

benjiboyW

bepersuaded

Bobsickle

BumpWearClaire

CabbageDan

carlymorson

ChelseaMamma

CocoonPhoto

Cuthberts_Toys

DaddyNatal

DaddysinCharge

Dadyougeek

DanceStAlbans

dapperdan75

dawnwithanawn

DebutotsNWHerts

DKLblog

dorkymum

EmilyQuinski

emilyquinton

endlessdelirium

evinschmevin

FatherEd1

frugalfamily

geekisnewchic

geekmummy

geekymamaplus2

heavensacupcake

HJAloeVitality

jetts31

JLNewhouse87

johnmadden78

Kahanka

Kanga_Rue

katgold

kayels

kbmanc

Kim_CocoonPhoto

Lilian_Goldberg

littlemissalien

Littlesheep

liveotherwise

LockeTribal

Lutrus

mattbigg

mediocre_mum

mike_1727

Miss_Beehivin

Mrs_Bslife

Mrs_W1

MuddlingAlong

MummyMusings

MummyReviews

MummyWhisperer

mumonthebrink

nataliehertsad

NaturalPapa

needaphone

Officieus

ourfamilybudget

PardonMyPoppet

pintofsimilar

planetf1

pminthepub

R2UK

rachelclarkef1

raich1

realmattdaddy

RenBehan

Review_Eagle

richthedad

sabjc

scrummycupcake

simongoldsays

SimonGrover

slimclaire

southportlush

spinkeriffic

stalbansguide

StAlbansLP

stellian

SteveLBP

swhittle

tall_rich

thatkat

TheAngryScot

TheBookMums

themummysphere

toddhalfpenny

topcitybird

Twinfamy

VanessaStAlbans

veggiexperience

WestHertsDrive

wiggled

zooarchaeologis

Bad hair day

2012-05-29T13:58:00.001+01:00

I hate it when my hair gets to a certain length. it's too long to be standing up on its own but too short to be undisturbed by a night of slumber. The only effective way to get to lay down is to wash it.

Of course, with Fifi usually standing in the bathroom doorway (the boy still being asleep most mornings when I get up and go to work), so I have to mess around a bit and get her to laugh. Some brisk towelling to the bonce usually helps!

We should not be ashamed to be Dads

2012-05-28T10:46:00.002+01:00

There are some headlines you din't expect to see in this day and age and the Telegraphs, "NHS removes 'Dad' from parenting leaflets to avoid upsetting same-sex couples" is one of them. I'm no longer a Dad as far as the NHS booklet Ready Steady Baby is concerned, I'm now a partner to someone who is having a baby.

dads not welcome, don't even mention us for fear of offending!

I can't be a Dad because according to one single solitary complaint it might offend a female same sex couple expecting a baby. I completely agree with Robert Oxley of the Tax Payers Alliance on this one, it's barmy.

It's more than barmy though, it's part of modern societies attempts to impersonalise the family at every basic level. I'm fed up with having to correct people when they ask me about my "partner". She's not my "partner", she's my "wife", I'm married to her and I'm the father to our 3 children. As a society we're so keen to not offend people that probably wouldn't be offended anyway, that we end up pleasing nobody.

Feed me, feed me, FEED ME!!!

2012-05-28T09:58:00.001+01:00

top scoff mummy!

We should find it easy to keep track of all the milestones in Dangers life. After all he was born on new years day, so counting stuff off should be very straightforward.

Somehow though we managed to miss the date where we could move him on to solids. And by miss, I mean we missed it by several weeks. I have to admit I was beginning to wonder why he was eyeing up pretty much everything I was eating ALL the damn time but this probably explains it.

It also explains why hes decided to skip the usual baby trick of rolling the baby food around on his tongue and spitting it out everywhere. He's obviously been paying close attention to the boy too, since what goes in stays in and disappears in quick order.

Current favourites and Ella Kitchen Organics Banana and Apple, with Hipp Organic Beef Stew getting the thumbs down.

So far so good then, and I've also managed to miss any of the nappy changes that have stemmed from solids. Marvellous. But what it does mean is our little fella isn't quite so little any more.o

Wrapp- social gifting

2012-05-25T09:04:00.000+01:00

I got a subscription to Wired for Christmas (cheers inlaws) and there have been some interesting articles in the magazine that have been completely off radar to me. Shame the iPad app seems completely broken, especially as it's free to subscribers.

One of the articles that piqued my interest was about a start up called Wrapp. You can read the article here. It's a really clever or devious idea, depending on which way you look at it. It's clever as the company has found a way to give vouchers with an actual cash value away completely for free, devious because the reason they can do this is you're pretty much guaranteed to spend a lot more than the face value of the voucher. The CEO of Wrapp is quoted as saying that everyone wins, the retailer, Wrapp and the customer.

It works as a Facebook application, so you do need a Facebook account to be able to use it.

Well, I've signed up for it, so if you're a friend of mine on Facebook and are going to buy from any of the retailers that are covered, poke me and you can have a free gift card.

I have not been paid to write this and have had no contact from Wrapp or any agency involved with them whatsoever.

Daddacool Show episode 7: Road Trip!

2012-05-22T22:17:00.002+01:00

I went on a German road trip with Yuri from UrbanVox last week. Our destination: the Nurburgring, our chosen approach, non-amphibious VW Scirocco and an aversion to drowning that would be sorely tested...

Asleep in the sunshine

2012-05-22T13:15:00.000+01:00

Peace at last...

Drive of a Lifetime! Win Tickets to this Year’s British Formula One™ Grand Prix

2012-05-21T16:37:00.002+01:00

As all F1™ fans will know, the competition on the track is hotting up with every race. So far this year, we’ve seen Jenson Button win the Australian Grand Prix, Alonso performing at his peak and now only 10 points off the lead in the championship and Vettel coming from behind to win the race in Bahrain – surprising everyone. Anything could happen and the British F1™ Grand Prix at Silverstone on 8th July 2012 will be no exception – the race is set to be an exciting one.

Thanks to Shell V-Power fuels, I have one pair of Grandstand tickets to this year’s British Grand Prix, worth £500, to give away! So you can witness for yourself the best, the worst, the most exciting and the most nail biting performances.

All you have to do is answer this question:

With the competition heating up since the start of the year, this year’s track performances at the British Grand Prix will be something to look forward to. What, in your opinion, is the greatest ever F1™performance and why?

Please give your answer in no more than 150 words in the comments below. Make sure you leave either your twitter address or other means of contacting you. Entrants who are not contactable will not be included in the competition.

A driver’s performance comes down to many things: the car, the weather, his sheer determination and the fuel that he uses. Shell V-Power fuels have unique formulations designed to enhance engine power through active engine protection. These are designed to help engines to perform to their optimum potential. Shell V-Power fuels’ unique double action formulations are designed to actively clean the engine and protect vital engine parts to help deliver more power.

Whose performance will win them this year’s British F1™ Grand Prix title? You could be there to see for yourself. The competition closes at midnight on 18th June 2012 and I’ll announce the winner on 25 June 2012. Full terms & Conditions are here

If you’re not lucky enough to win this competition, there are more tickets up for grabs as Shell customers have the opportunity to win pairs of British Grand Prix tickets with Shell V-Power and Shell Helix purchases at participating Shell sites across the UK. Simply fill up with a minimum of 15 litres of Shell V-Power Unleaded or Shell V-Power Diesel or purchase any Shell Helix product on site, swipe your registered Shell Drivers Club card and you’ll be entered into the draw. Entrants must make sure their card is registered at the time of purchase or before the draw takes place.

Good luck to everyone!

St Albans: Why closing Victoria St to cars but not buses is ill thought out

2012-05-21T13:36:00.001+01:00

5 buses head down Victoria St in convoy

I was at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast last month where Cllr Beric Read (Con) spoke about initiatives to revitalise the town centre. Some of them seemed vaguely sensible, some of them completely ludicrous and this particular one very poorly thought out.

The aim is a noble one, to improve air quality and reduce congestion in St Peters Street, the main shopping street in St Albans. Many have tried in the past and all have failed- the part pedestrianisation was such an unmitigated disaster it was abandoned after a matter of months. This plan is also doomed to failure. Basically, the intent seems to be to close part of Victoria St to cars, basically making the Maltings car park entrance/exit an exit only, with a forced right turn away from the town centre. This would stop cars going up to the T junction of Victoria St and St Peters St.

Where this plan falls down is in the traffic that uses Victoria St in the first place. I walk down it at around 7.30am, up it at lunch time and at home time, I head up it again. In terms of road space, I'd have to say buses currently occupy at least 75% of the road. Even this lunch time, I happened to snap the photo above that shows 5 buses heading down in convoy. Needless to say most were virtually empty.

Of course the proponents of this daft scheme will (and have) said that buses are operated by commercial businesses and wouldn't run the buses if they were uneconomical but it still stands that if so many buses are empty, perhaps it should be the buses that are moved from St Peters St and Victoria St, rather than cars. After all, ever since the bus station disappeared from the train station, St Peters Street is clogged up with chatting bus drivers sitting in the bus stops.

Nissan LEAF Nürburgring Adventure LiveStream #TBTO

2012-05-18T15:00:00.000+01:00

George and the Magical Mixture

2012-05-18T11:35:00.000+01:00

No, this isn't a badly plagiarised Roald Dahl book but rather the infernal invention of one of the boy's classmates.

The boy is somewhat gullible at times, and coupled with a vivid imagination and love of all things "super", whether of the "hero" or "natural" bent, this can cause trouble at times. And this is one of those times.

George, the little darling, has told the boy that his parents are both scientists. Unfortunately he has managed to imbue scientists with all the sort of mysticism that only a 5 year old can, so the end result is sort of a lab coat wearing Dumbledore, with powers beyond the ken of man. You see, George's parents apparently have developed a magical mixture that can turn them into ghosts without actually having to die first. There has obviously been some discussion amongst the five year olds over this because I was sagely told that when I took the magical mixture, I'd have to take my glasses off or my head would be visible. Furthermore, as an accountant I was officially in a "poo poo boring accountant job", rather than anything exciting like, for example, a scientist. Fortunately I have the patience of a saint (Saint Monica, if you ever wondered which one), and was just about able to deal with the enthusiasm after a long day at work.

I've not seen the boy this fixated about something for a very long time. Between getting home at 6pm and bed at 7.30pm (for the kids, not me) last night, all I heard about was the magical mixture and questions about when we were going to go round Georges house to get it. The boy doesn't know where George lives, other than on our estate, so he proposed we went round to every single house until we found Georges. George had also told him that Fifi had to be left behind, so I was constantly asked what hour we could leave because we had to make sure Fifi was asleep.

Suffice to say, if he applied himself to his school work with this single mindedness, he'd be about to graduate from Oxford University at this point in his young life.

Nürburgring (and possibly the Guinness Book of Records) here I come! #TBTO

2012-05-18T11:09:00.000+01:00

I've been lucky enough to do some thoroughly entertaining things in cars over the last two years. As part of the Shell Network of Champions I've driven Ferrari 458s round Ferraris Fiorano private test track in Italy and I've been taken around the Yas Marina GP circuit in Abu Dhabi in a two seater race car. Volvo kindly let me razz around the Top Gear track in a ludicrously powerful S60 T6 (3 litre V6 engine pumping out over 300bhp through an all wheel drive system, since you asked).

I doubt I'll ever drive a car as beautiful or powerful as the Ferrari 458 again. It's an astonishing car, and Ferrari's private track is a great place to drive it. Equally the Volvo was a bit mad, and the Top Gear track madder still. The track is almost just like some kids playground game, marked out on the playground with chalk or cones. How they make it look like an actual track is beyond me.

Now, thanks to Nissan, I'm about to add the legendary Nürburgring to list of tracks I'll have driven on! Nissan are taking part in a Guinness World record attempt to get the largest number of electric vehicles driving in a circle. It involves loads of different manufacturers but Nissan are actually entering one of the 100% electric Nissan LEAFs from the Big Turn On Challenge. I was lucky enough to drive NissanLEAFcar21, and Nissan are entering NissanLEAFcar20, the one driven by Jeroen De Hooge, so I'll be looking out for horn marks in the roofing material.

car21, much like car20 hopefully

The Nürburgring is one of the worlds most legendary race tracks, originally built in the 1920s but really came to the fore post war when a select group of Ringmeisters arose to dominate the GP racing – Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx. I might have had lunch with John Surtees (he's a lovely chap) but I've never been on a track that he's dominated on. Or even been on for that matter, so this is a golden opportunity.

The weekend itself is all about the ADAC Zurich 24h Race but for us, the chance to get on the track and try to beat a world record will of course be foremost in our minds.

Coming with me, is fellow TBTO contestant and all round mad chap, Yuri, who blogs over at Urbanvox. Last I heard, he was juggling with the luggage allowance by keeping all his tech gadgets and taking out all his changes of clothing. That's bloke power!

If you're of a mind, you can keep an eye out on what we're up to under the #TBTO hashtag.

Note to self: change nappy during night

2012-05-17T17:11:00.000+01:00

3 out of the last 4 nights that I've been in charge of Danger, he's been wet* by 7am. I am reasonably diligent, when I give him his 11pm/2am/5am bottles, I have a feel around to make sure he's not wet but I don't tend to change his nappy if he isn't at the very least damp.

Of course what this means is little Danger is generating enough wee to unleash a torrent of it when he's fast asleep at around 5.30ish, which in one foul swoop soaks what little absorbency is left in his size 3 nappy and then spreads out in a pool of warm, comforting, yellow all around him. It stays warm enough for an hour or so and then he gradually begins to wake up, realising he is in fact wetter than the boy or Fifi are during the middle of their weekly swimming lessons.

I've never quite managed to suss the train of logic my sleep deprived and addled brain comes up with in the middle of the night that makes not changing his nappy a really good idea. Perhaps I should write down my thought process one of these nights and open myself to ridicule in the morning.

Meanwhile, Danger will be swimming again tonight.

*nearly floating in one instance. Who'd have guessed the moses basket was so watertight?

We chucked it all in the boot and drove off for the weekend in a Volvo V60

2012-05-16T09:54:00.000+01:00

Volvo V60- awesome boot space as you'd expect

I am a diehard, old school Tetris fan. back in my days at university I could play the Nintendo Gameboy version so well, the screen used to blur. Nowadays this skill comes to the fore when I have to load our car to go away for the weekend. Everything has to be packed tighter than a load of Tetris shapes, and then taken out and repacked fifteen minutes later when a large bag I was unaware of appears in the hallway. Such is my lot in life but it gives me an excuse to keep out of the way of the bedlam that kids getting ready to go away generates.

Unfortunately this weekend just gone, I had no such luxury. Volvo kindly lent us a V60 D3 for the weekend to go up to Norfolk in and it genuinely was just a case of opening the boot and lobbing everything in. So I had to help the kids get ready. At various points they were both ready to go, unfortunately never at the same time and then when they were, Danger needed a nappy change and a bottle. Still, if you look hard, you can see an Out & About pushchair, a moses basket, wellies and a load of holdalls (well you can't see the holdalls because they're buried in the back of the boot but you get my drift) just casually slung in the boot.

The V60 is sort of an estate but at the same time not. It lacks the angular shape of traditional estates and looks for all the world like an elongated hatchback really. Volvo refer to it as a sportswagon and that's fine with me. The D3, a 2.0l diesel, has plenty of oompf whilst proudly proclaiming it could do almost 600 miles out of a tank of diesel. That got us up to Norfolk, around and about for the weekend, back, and we still had well in excess of 200 miles range left.

You may have noticed the weather was great this weekend gone by. That was indirectly our fault too- since the roof went on to our garage conversion there's been an upturn in the weather. Yes, the wettest April on record was entirely our fault. Sorry about that. Still, it meant we got to do some nice driving around in Norfolk and I got to remember what it's like to overtake on single carriage way roads. Putting your foot down in the D3 is a pleasant experience, as the car surges forward in a most remarkable fashion. Looking at the numbers though, I have sworn I will never ever get in my mum's car to go anywhere with her, since she drives a V50 D5, and that's more than half as powerful again as the V60 D3. I can now pinpoint to the day when my dad's hair went white, it was the day 4 years ago they picked up the D5 from the Volvo dealership.

You can see we got up to some fun stuff whilst away, plenty of sunshine naturally lead us to the beach on more than one occasion and Fifi proved invaluable in pushing Dangers buggy along. The boy went on a mini bug exploration adventure and the only bit of drama we had was getting two exhausted but very excited children to bed in the lovely suite at the Red Lion pub at Stiffkey (thankfully for once the sign naming the village hadn't been vandalised. They often have the "k" painted over). Even filling the kids up with food didn't make them sleep but if you're ever up that way, I heartily recommend the food at the Red Lion.

The V60 has some very clever trickery in it. I liked the blindspot cameras that flashed an orange light on the inside front of the drivers and passengers door to show when there was a car in your blindspot. Although our kids are too young at the moment, the way the rear seats folded up to provide built in booster seats was also very clever too. The remote control for the stereo baffled the pair of us, although it was very well built and had more buttons than our Sony mini system in the sitting room does.

What impressed me the most though was the ability to get two kids seats and a baby bucket car seat across the back. It was a bit of a wedge but they all got strapped in properly and were wobble free and safe in that way you only get with a Volvo. I remember my dad's first Volvo, a metallic light blue 240 back in the 80's. That felt like a tank and even had a mysterious "overdrive" button on the gearstick. The V60 feels like a tank too and even packed with all our gubbins was completely and utterly rattle free.

When we bought our 5+2 (the two being pop up boot seats) Vauxhall Zafira, I was slightly in two minds over people carriers. Before the segment was created families seemed to do more than well enough with estate cars. I think the Zafira, based as it is on the Astra, confused me. It's considerably more narrow than the V60, so we actually have to use one of the pop up seats in the boot when all 5 of us our out and about, a need that's obviated by the slightly wider V60. But to be fair, I've not come across that many cars that are wide enough to take all 3 kids seats without complaint.

So when we're looking to replace our Zafira, I'm not going to be as blinkered. In that sense the Volvo V60 has really opened my eyes.

If you fancy a weekend away courtesy of Volvo then keep an eye on @VolvoCarUK twitter page. From 10am until 6pm today (May 27th) they're running a promoted twitter trend (#V60getaway). As well as giving away family holidays (such as a glamping weekend and a trip to Scotland) there are iPod Touches, Kindles, in-car DVD players and Merlin premium annual passes up for grabs.

Gold Medallists

2012-05-15T20:13:00.001+01:00

If the Olympics weren't a once in a lifetime experience as it is, the Royal Mail are going to the unprecedented step of actually opening 500 post offices on Sunday. "Why?" I hear you cry at your monitor. Well, gather closer dear internet chums and I shall tell you.

Royal Mail are going to be celebrating Team GB's sucess at the London Olympics by issuing new stamps with Gold Medallists on, the twist being they'll be doing it faster than our postie whizzes round with the mail! During the Games, picture editors, graphic designers, printers and drivers will swing into action, working around the clock when Team GB strikes gold to meet the challenge of getting the stamps on sale by lunchtime the next day, even if a Team GB medal win is late the previous evening.

I imagine these stamps are going to be pretty darn collectable,as well as being useful to sending letters and cards. As I'm a fairly obtuse individual I intend to celebrate every gold medal by sending a postcard to my parents highlighting the stamp on the postcard and saying nothing else that's remotely meaningful.

500 key post offices will get the stamps the next day, and you can buy them online at the Royal Mail website as well. the stamps will also be distributed to a further 4,500 post offices 3 times during the Olympics, so everyone will have a chance to get some funky stamps. Some of the 500 offices will even open on a Sunday for the first time, no doubt causing mass confusion amongst the elderly and unemployed who seem to seek meaning in post offices across the country.

Royal Mail has a proud history of commemorating the London Olympic Games, having issued four stamps for the 1948 Games bearing the five Olympic Rings. Olympic stamps were not issued to mark the 1908 London Games as Royal Mail stamps then bore images of the reigning monarch only, a fact that will probably crop up in pub quizzes all summer long, so don't say that I never help you out.

I was chatting to someone who used to be involved in the higher echelons of football administration the other week and he was adamant that the Paralympics would be the most successful ever, so it's perhaps fitting that Royal Mail will also be the first postal administration, whose country is hosting the Games, to issue a set of stamps to celebrate the start of the Paralympic Games on 29th August.

Personally I'm rooting for gold medals from our beach volleyball team, the synchronised swimmers and the women's hockey team. Lets see the Royal Mail get them on a stamp!

If you want to Be The First in the queue you can r egister your interest now. My best bet is our first gold will come on 28 July, in the cycling, from the legendary Mark Cavendish goes for gold.

Sponsored Post

and then I woke up sobbing

2012-05-15T08:56:00.001+01:00

I'm not one to have nightmares or even particularly odd dreams, insofar as I remember them at any rate, but last night was a pretty stand out affair by any stretch of the imagination.

This is your fault Eddie.

The mundane nature of it was the shocker. It wasn't a dream filled with giant spiders, car crashes or death. Oh no, it was a dream filled with cooking. I apparently was attempting to cook a large meal for the 5 of us, the inlaws and a random group of Chinese people. I think the Chinese people cropped up because I caught a bit of Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child on Film4 recently, but I digress.

I was cooking on some sort of industrial cooker, with a variety of things on the go, like trout and steak but the killer was one of the Chinese women, who demanded that the donuts should be handmade and not shop bought. In an attempt to appease her I forgot to turn the oven on properly while I was making the donut mix.

As dinner got closer and nothing was vaguely ready, the panic grew and the fear of letting everyone down massively rose and rose. In the dream I went to the sitting room and lay face down amid a pile of Lego I'd failed to tidy up and started sobbing. Without the film like segue into the waking world, I was immediately in my bed bawling my eyes out into the mattress.

The moral of this story is probably twofold: 1) complicated catering is beyond me; and 2) never revisit old Eddie Murphy films from your youth.

Isabel Ashdown and the NACOA Literary Dinner

2012-05-14T13:50:00.001+01:00

A couple of Thursdays back I ventured out for some top scoff and bookish stuff at St Albans Town Hall. The evening was in aid of NACOA UK, the National Association for Children Of Alcoholics.

L-R: author, sponsor & organiser

It's only a small charity but does perform an incredibly valuable service. There are apparently over 1m homes where kids are growing up with a parent that has a serious alcohol problem. NACOA is there for these kids. If it's something you'd like to get involved in, be it with a donation or other form of support, their information page should help you out.

The evening was well supported by Lussmann's, Sopwell House, and Waterstones, as well, obviously, by local author Isabel Ashdown.

It was nice to recognise the odd face from outside our book group, like Jessica Chivers. Not that I'm suggesting she has an odd face you understand! I may have quaffed rather too much wine but it certainly wasn't the company that drove me to it, nor the food or the talk from the author. I find it interesting to hear how writers develop their ideas and progress their writing, so it was fascinating to hear Isabel talk about finding a voice for a character and then things happening around that. I suppose it's the difference between character and plot driven writing. Or something.

Anyway, the astute among you may notice in the following photo's I am wearing my "I'm being photographed" tee shirt that I invariably get pictured wearing. I'd like to say I have a wardrobe full of identical shirts but sadly that's not the case. Also, special mention must go to Marcus's incredible quiff. I don't need to point him out to you, it should be self evident.

I'll name that tune in one

2012-05-11T12:15:00.000+01:00

a taste of things to come from years ago

The boy is an inherently musical chap in ways that I'm evidentially not. That's not to say I don't love listening to music but if you've heard the theme tune to my vlog, the DaddaCool Show, you'll know that as far as reproducing anything vaguely sounding like music comes, I'm near the bottom of the heap.

If you ignore the fact the boy is a big fan of 80's rock group Boston, his taste in music is pretty good. But it's becoming increasingly obvious he has a real ear for it. I find him humming songs or theme tunes pretty much perfectly after seeing a film once or twice or listening to an album in the car a handful of times. I couldn't work out the tune he was humming endlessly last week until Fifi demanded to watch Cars 2 and lo and behold, it was the main theme tune from the film.

This leads on naturally to the question of whether we should encourage* him to take up a musical instrument. The boy and his sister recently slightly knackered wifey's Fender, so the guitar is off the menu at the moment and there is no way on God's green earth I am every going to agree to a drum-kit, and besides, drummers seem prone to die young (John Bonham and Keith Moon being the two obvious causalities), so that leaves either the keyboard, recorder or the ukulele. And the ukulele is subpoenaed for blogging purposes for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately music TV is a bit sexual for a 5 year old, too much groinal gyrating and cleveage, and whilst I can see the benefits, I'd rather he didn't at his age, so at the moment it's mini-disco time until I can suss it out a bit more...

*he's a boy. "Encourage" is a euphemism for "push" because given the choice he'd just sit on the sofa all day.

Soreen Toastie Loaf Review

2012-05-11T05:37:00.000+01:00

I have eaten a lot of Soreen Toastie Loaf in the last week. An awful lot. I've had it toasted (as the name demands), I've had it "raw", I've had it with butter and without butter. The permutations are pretty much endless.

One thing is constant though, whenever I attempt to whip my camera I end up with a picture like this:

there used to be Soreen Toastie Loaf here...

The Toastie Loaf is a treasure trove of tastiness- it's pre-cut so you don't have to worry about squishing it to bits in an attempt to cut it thin enough to toast. When you toast it, the Toastie Loaf goes wonderfully gooey in places. It's not messy to pick up or anything but somehow is a delightful sticky mess once it's in your mouth.

I've genuinely not been able to pop out into the kitchen without scoffing a slice or two since I ran out of the banana lunchbox bars earlier this week, which has proven an excellent excuse from doing anything vaguely chore related in the kitchen.

As it's 5.30am, I'm off to break my fast with some more toastie loaf. Starting early today...

KIA Dubstep Contest Euro 2012

2012-05-10T10:48:00.001+01:00

When I was a teenager I was a big fan of the Mary Whitehouse Experience, a sketch show starring Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt, David Baddiel and Rob Newman. The humour in it was very disparate, from the lewd to the surreal but one of the characters that stuck with me was Jugh Dennis' Embarrassing Dad. He was one of the recurring characters that would often pop up when something cool was happening, usually involving music and say, "What's this? It's got a good beat!" and do an incredibly embarrassing Dad Dance- you know the sort of thing, swinging arms, bendy knees and a cheesy grin. Subconsciously I have channelled Embarrassing Dad, much to the amusement of our kids. And lets face it, if a 5 year old knows your dancing is silly, then it must be pretty silly!
So it's been with great trepidation and more than a little behind-closed-curtains action that I've entered the Kia Dubstep Competition to win a trip to the opening match of Euro 2012, and maybe, just maybe a KIA Picanto.
You can see what I like to modestly refer to as THE BEST INTERPETITIVE DANCE you'll ever see below, but really it's up to you to do better. The competition closes on 13 May, and entrants have to be over 18 (videos can contain under 18's though) to be in with a chance of winning. Enter the competition now! The full terms and conditions are on the Facebook page but briefly:
All entries must have the dubstep tune from DJ Flux Pavilion "I Can't Stop" within their entry. This is the song you are dancing to!

Participants can enter alone or as a team (there is no limit to participants) but please keep in mind that a maximum of 2 can claim the prize to Euro 2012.

Minors (under the age of 18) are not permitted to qualify for selection as one of the finalists but they can contribute to the video.

The 8 finalists will win a trip to Euro 2012 that will include flights, hotels and a ticket to watch the Euro 2012 opening match in Warsaw, Poland.

The grand prize winner will receive a new Kia Picanto.

The competition will end on May 13th so ensure all entries are in before then!

Sponsored Post

A squidgy past and a squidgy future

2012-05-08T08:57:00.000+01:00

Some of you may remember my recent reminiscences about Sunday tea-time when I was little, and how Last of the Summer Wine was a fifth columnist infiltration device.

One of the things I remembered about those days back in the early 80's was being forced to have very milky tea from the best china and a couple of slices of heavily buttered Soreen malt loaf. Eventually I was rescued from Last of the Summer Wine by a tiny black & white portable telly with a dial on the front to tune it (as Ted Lowe said, "for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green") but the milky tea and malt loaf remained pretty much into my teens.

I recently rediscovered malt loaf, mostly thanks to a mixture of Boots including two slices in their meal deal snack section and Iceland having them on special offer. They've fitted in well with my diet too, espcially as I'm indifferent on carbs, I'm just focusing on calorific intake.

So when Soreen dropped me an email and asked if I'd like to try out their lunchbox loaves and toastie loaves, I jumped at the chance. And not just because I like free stuff either. Anything that isn't a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar that can fill the role of a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar is a great idea as far as I'm concerned.

Pick of the crop by a country mile is probably the banana malt loaf lunchbox loaf. If the names a mouthful, rest assured the snack is too. They come in a pack of 5, and pretty much every time I cracked open a pack of 5 they all disappeared. They boy loved them, Fifi loved them and I usually polished off the remainder. I did try to get some photos, honest I did but all I managed to get was pictures of empty wrappers. I even bought two to work with me to photograph but I ate them on the way in. The banana malt loaves are lighter in colour than the trad ones, but just as moist and squidgy.

The boy has school dinners, so he's had to resort to snacking on the lunchbox loaves at breakfast, after school and for his "mid-time feast" (his version of a midnight feast- he has to go to sleep earlier than that!), so I've actually been using the bright yellow Soreen lunchbox at work. And yes, I've just been packing it full of Soreen lunchbox loaves. I'm always up at the crack of dawn with one or other of the kids so don't ever have the time to make a proper packed lunch. This is ideal although probably not recommended.....

There will be photos to follow, but my smartphone isn't up to it. Expect to see suited people marvelling at my lunchbox. And that's a pun worthy of Last of the Summer Wine!

A tune for Friday

2012-05-04T08:16:00.003+01:00

I've never really been a fan of the Doves but whilst looking for the Mint Royale remix of Terrorvision's Tequila, I found a compilation album called best of the bands that doesn't really have a duff track on it. Most of it's outside my usual listening circle too, so I thought I'd link one up for your Spotify users below. Just to balance it out, I have been listening to some Arlo Guthrie this week too. I'm not that mainstream :)

Extreme Ironing with Mamasaurus #blogitforbabies

2012-05-02T13:11:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Mamasaurus for the sponsored shirt ironing. You can read about the campaign to support build it for babies here.

The boiler of DOOM

2012-05-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

You know when you move house and are confronted by a clanky old boiler that's bigger than your fridge? Well that's what happened to us almost 6 years ago.

Our boilers been like the cantankerous old uncle that's determined to ruin Christmas for you. In fact, one year it did almost ruin Christmas by packing up on Christmas Eve, just after an 8 and a half months pregnant wifey had been discharged from hospital with a nasty case of pneumonia.

horror film material

We've had it serviced but it seems like it's been on it's last legs for as long as we've known it. So recently we scraped together all our pennies and decided to replace it. No big family holiday for us this year because it's cost us about 6 times what we normally spend on our summer holiday to replace it! Being a home owner sucks at times, especially when the expenditure isn't particularly of an improvement nature but is more of a replacement.

Having said that, we decided to replace our old gravity fed system with a pressurised combi boiler. So we could bid farewell to the tanks in the loft... if they weren't too large to fit through the loft hatch. I need some time with my hacksaw up there.

The kids have had fun watching the plumber trying to keep his language clean as he's had floorboards up to reroute pipes and everything seems to have fought him every inch of the way.