Getting out of cooking

Today, when at work (ill with ManFlu), I got a call from my wife.  I was not able to take it, but soon after got a message from my manager that my son was injured, having cut his hand.

All sorts of things went through my head, did he have an accident cycling being the biggest one.  But my wife had gone to get him and it turned out that he had cut his hand when cooking.  She took him to our local walk in centre and I joined them when I could.  I was going to spend time there, but she got time off work and stayed with him instead.  His wound was reviewed and glued and sent home. I am not at home yet, but am at work still, waiting for the traffic from the football match to subside.  All in all, it has been a stressful day for my wife, me and most importantly, my son.

What will be interesting is the reaction of his sister.  He has to keep his dressings dry and that means he will not be able to stack and unstack the dishwasher. Which means that she will...

A walk in the park

This week, the entry is more about my son than my daughter. At school, he has been asked to present the advantages of his school at his old school. Despite leaving in July, he says that it is smaller already!

And today he took part in the Park Run at Old Heath recreation ground in Colchester.  I got him here late, and without his registration card (which my wife had printed earlier) but he did really well.  I did see him walk for a bit, but he ran further than I could.

Needless to say, I am very proud.

I suspect Momentum want a Tory government

It is the Labour Party conference.  With a general election probably coming up soon, this is the time for Labour to present a vision of a nation run #ForTheMany,  Labour have published many ideas today. But most of the nation will not see how Labour can benefit the nation.

Instead, the nation woke up to a story about a plot to remove the Deputy Leader of Labour.  Jeremy Corbyn moved to end this plot, but the damage was done.  Instead of learning how Labour want to make electric cars more affordable in an attempt to fight climate change and to help them become accessed by all and not just the better off, the nation saw infighting.

The Lib Dem’s have had a huge resurgence thanks to a clear policy on Brexit, as well as how Labour have not addressed issues of antisemitism in the party, or by supporters.  Friends of mine have joined or declared for the Liberal Democrats and it is becoming increasingly harder to convince them to vote Labour.

The change of mind with Labour has not helped. We were out for dinner today and we heard people laughing about the Brexit policy.  It was a party of a managed Brexit deal, but now appears to be undecided.  My personal view is that Labour should have stayed a party of a managed Brexit, but promised a second referendum on any deal to include the options of a hard Brexit as well as the option to remain as alternative choices.

The clear messages Labour need to communicate have been hidden by stupid infighting as well as a change in a promise made in the last election.

The Millennium Falcon

I am annoyed.  This year, my son gave me his Millennium Falcon.He said that I was not allowed to play with it and that it was for the children at my work.  It came with BB-8 and Chewbacca.  Kids have loved it and have played with it and the characters.  A few weekends ago, when walking in the town centre with my son, me came across a new shop selling figures and I bought Rey, and even they were to a different scale, Iron Man and Black Widow.  But this week BB-8, Chewbacca and Iron Man went missing.  

It isn’t just that the children stole the characters, it is that the parents have not returned what the children stole. I think I know who took them, but I have no proof and therefore the selfish actions of a minority have made things worse for others.

Honda JAZZ Tyre Repair Kit

Monday was an interesting day.

My car was noted to have a nail in the tyre last week.  The tyre was stable and I was not able to get it changed on Saturday, and it drove well.  My aim was to take it to a garage on Monday, but I had forgotten about a meeting at work and a home visit which was a bit out of the way as well.  And with a member of the practice team being away on holiday with another away on compassionate leave, the day was a tight one.

I drove to a nursing home as part of my morning and as I was blocked in, I drove over a kerb to get out of the tight space I was in.  I have done this loads of times, but I had forgotten about the nail.  I remembered when my flat tyre warning light came on and as I drove into the car-park, the car was not handling well and on getting out, I saw that it was completely flat with no nail.

After seeing the patients, I found the repair kit, and tried to use YouTube to work it.  Earlier in the day, there was an issue with the 4G signal, but by the time I had left there, it was fixed, which meant I was able to inflate the tyre using the kit in my boot.

I learned a few things.  Try to have the leak at the bottom, and be prepared to move the car once it is being repaired.  Pay attention to find out what pressure the tyre is to be inflated to, I had not.  And also, once inflated, wait ten minutes afterwards for the seal to set, which I did not.

I did make it to Kiwk Fit who were very prompt at changing the tyre.  I may remember to use the place next to them next time, but being stressed at the time and trying to get my tyre changed, my brain was not working as well as I would like.  And hopefully, there will not be a next time for a very long time indeed. 

Saying that, I did look for the nail when I got back to work, and while I did not file the culprit that ruined by day, I found two screws ready to cause havoc on others!

London in September

It was a busy weekend.

One of the good friends of my wife celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary on the weekend and we went down to London for the event.  The kids are old enough to look after themselves but, they do have a tendency to bicker and we had an option to leave them at my in-laws, and then stay the night there afterwards, or stay in London close to where the event was being held.

With my wife having to complete her dissertation for her masters, we opted for the least stressful, but more expensive option.  On the way into London, we visited my mother who is to travel to India for a month.  I had meant to call my youngest brother to let him know we were going, but forgot.  That was a shame as I do not see him enough and he and his partner love to see the kids.

After that, we went to central London where my wife had her eyelashes improved and while she was doing that, I took the kids to Foyles.  They love books, and the promise that I would buy them books was greatly appreciated by them.  It was a bit of a walk for them and on the way to Foyles, we came across a Jazz festival in the street and in Soho Square, a Trans Rights protest.

Afterwards it was to the hotel.  My wife and I had stayed there before, during the life before children, and it was a different, but pleasant experience to take the children there.  They loved it, my daughter falling in love with the bath, almost as much as I did with the shower.

The night with Mariel and Robin was great as well.  We got to catch up with my wife’s old school friends who we had not seen since the birthday celebration of my wife.  Back then I was too busy to spend lots of time talking, but this time, as a guest that was different.

In the morning, while my wife slept, the kids and I went for an early morning walk.  They got on so well, I started to have doubts that they were my actual children.  We had fun in a playground and they had fun with some squirrels.

Once at home though, it was back to reality with a visit to work, where I tried to catch up with some paperwork and then later, swore while doing it while listening to the Arsenal match.  I will try to post more about that after watching the highlights!

Invasion Colchester

Yesterday we all went to Dedham in the morning.  It was brunch for my wife and son, but my daughter and I had already eaten.  So while they had a proper breakfast at the Hall Farm Cafe my daughter and I shared a bagel.  We tried the cakes there, but they were not up to the usual standards according to my wife.  The breakfast was amazing though and I would definitely go back there for that.  After food, my daughter and I went on the farm trail, fed some animals and put her in the stocks.

Later in the day, I had to drop her off in town and then I went walking about to have a look at Invasion Colchester.  I have enjoyed it in previous years, but this was the first year that I visited it without my son.  It is great to see so many people meeting superheroes.  And it is all for a good cause.

And today I took my son out cycling.  We needed to practice him getting to and from school by bike and he is improving a lot.

Back to school

The kids are back at school. For my daughter, it is a new year and a new group of peers, the form that she is in being mixed up after two years.  For my son, it is a new school which means much more of a change for him.

He was meant to cycle to school today, but with the pouring rain, he opted to be dropped off by car.  I was both pleased and disappointed as I had been hoping cycle in with him, but this way, his mother was able to be there for it as well.  I cycled to work and got back home in time to pick him up.  He appeared to have had a great day, and on getting home, I found that my daughter appeared to have a great day as well.

Hopefully this will continue for both for a long time to come.

Teaching other nations how to ignore democracy

Our nation may not be able to lecture others about democracy soon.

I object to the drive by Momentum to purge the Labour Party of MP’s who do not share enough values with them.  I consider any plans to do so to be against the broad church ethos of the party.  And the media have called such actions Stalinist (though this would actually be entrism and an act of democracy).

But we have a Prime Minister who has threatened to sack any dissenting MP’s, forcing them out of parliament come the next election.  Corbyn has not done so, and while the media would be right to publicise this story, had they done so, the media seems to be less vocal about far worse actions by BoJo now.

And there is the small matter of the forced closure of Parliament.  If this happened as a result of the loss of control of Parliament in Russia, Zimbabwe, Iran or the like, the UK government would be chastising them.  Instead, our Prime Minister is in effect to impose direct rule, at least on Brexit, to get what he wants.

Just imagine what would happen if Jeremy Corbyn did this!

Anyway, if the suspension of Parliament does go ahead, this government will have no moral right to complain about the lack of democratic rights in Russia, Hong Kong, Iran, Venezuela, Zimbabwe etc.