I've been listening to my radio all night. It's definitely off

Good evening.  It had been a while since I posted about the family.  They are doing well, but I have to say that I am getting annoyed that they are growing.  They are of the view that I will be the shortest in the family.  Not counting the women and their grandfather that is.  They state that out of my siblings, I am the little one.  But I am the oldest and therefore my siblings are by definition, little.

My birthday has passed and we spent it at the Old Siege House.  I have always loved the setting, though this time, the food, while good, was not as good as I was hoping it would be.  I am spoilt in that I have a wife who is an amazing cook, but that means that I am more fussy when we do eat out.  And for many, I would say that the food is good.  It may have been an issue that we went midweek, but the great thing was that the staff were friendly, let us in early when it was freezing cold outside and while the waitress was not able to answer questions about the food when asked, she was more than happy to ask about it.  The downside was that the kids food was charged at full price (though that may have been due to use using a Tastecard there) and as I said, the food was not as nice as I would have liked.  We may go back there again, but I suspect if we do, it will not be for a long time.

More recently, we ate in a place in East London called the Taste of India.  Now there the food was great, the service not as good as it was at the Old Siege House, it never is, but the service is okay.  The food, vegetarian, has never disappointed us.  Now that is somewhere that we will keep going back to when we are in the area.

I am going to have to go, and that means that I will not be able to discuss the Arsenal game.  Needless to say those I meet at work who support the other team are happy...

Best thing about the recent outbreak of measles at Disneyland is that all the lines for the rides are now short.

Birthdays have been going on, well, there are always birthdays, but it has been a month for them at work. As you can see, there are at times more evil ways of looking at January birthdays...

Peace in the Holy Land, 2014, a missed opportunity

Almost the end of the year and so much has happened.  There could be many things that I post about today, but due to a discussion on Twitter, I have decided to post about this.

I support a just peace for all religions in the Holy Land.  I think that it should not be too much to ask for Muslims, Jews and Christians to live side by side in peace.  I understand the reasons that Israel has to fear its neighbours and I also understand why Palestinians feel that the world has left them to rot.  This is not to say who started what, or what violent actions are right on one side or another but rather this is a post about why I think that 2014 has been a missed opportunity for peace.

Netanyahu and Obama have not seen eye to eye and it is that which is the opportunity for peace.  There is huge pressure in the US for support for Israel, and while I am not against that, up to a point, it makes it harder for any leader in the White House to bring about change in the Middle East.  The bottom line is that Israel is a democracy, whereas Gaza and the West Bank are not really the same.  Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank was meant to finish his term in 2009.  While Hamas were elected, they have not allowed free and fair elections.  The simple facts are that most people in the west are interested in a fair peace in the Middle East.  With Obama as President in the US, the people of Palestine have a chance to work for that.  And they should bring about fair elections as soon as possible in order to help allies in the west help them.

It may not seem like much, but it makes it easier for people like me to lobby my Member of Parliament to try and get the government to work towards peace, a peace for all.

Anyway, I have to go now.  Have a Happy New Year!

99% of the people in this world are stupid. Luckily, I'm part of the other 5%

Finally, it is the end of a long weekend.  My Daughter is loving her bow and crossbow that she got for Christmas while my son is loving the singing Olaf that my brother got him.  Git, Frozen was hard enough to love with before without the most irritating character from the film being in the house all the time.  But, the good thing about Olaf is that I can not be shot with it.  Guess who has been the target...

As an avid UKIP supporter, I blocked the chimney this Christmas to stop any Laps getting in. They come over here, take our mince pies and carrots...

Christmas was great, and I wish a Merry Christmas to anyone who is reading this. 

I was a bit evil as my daughter was awake after six in the morning and while my wife was asleep, I heard her go to the toilet, and then later, she came into the room to see if we were awake.  And then finally, when she did return, she decided to wake us up!

The kids got a letter as well as presents from Father Christmas (who was nice enough to give us a present as well) and then after watching Frozen, the sing along version, we got round to opening the other presents.  And to say that they loved them was probably an understatement.  My son, who has been prone to annoying his sister more than normal recently, ended up playing with his Transformer for most of the day.  They are asleep now, but hopefully they will treasure memories like this for a long time.

Well, good night all, and once again, have a Merry Christmas!

All these movie tie-ins are getting on my nerves. This morning in the supermarket they had "Frozen" peas...

Well, it has been ages since my last post.

A lot has happened since then.  Amongst the recent things have been the preparations for Christmas.  The kids are looking forwards to it and I have to admit that I it brings me joy.  They love the Christmas tree, are sending cards (note to self, write cards) and in the last few days, they have been at school Christmas services.  A Nativity Play for my son where he was singing (last year he was Joseph) and a Choir service for my daughter.

I do need to post what they are up to here as they do grow up so quick.  And when I look back on the things that they have done in the past, it does make me smile.

Joining Alan Sugar on the next series of The Apprentice will be Judas who, from just thirty pieces of silver, famously turned in a prophet

My family are back! On Friday, my daughter went to spend two nights with the Brownies on a Brownie Holiday. When asked about this by my wife, who was not too sure about this, I said yes to her going. As the time got closer, we both realised just how much we were going to miss her. She of course was getting more and more excited by the prospect of not just days filled with activities, but having a sleep over as well. After dropping my daughter off on Friday my wife and son drove to spend time with her parents and I met up with them in London. My wife was exhausted as she had let my son sleep in the same bed as her and he had kicked, and kicked and she kept walking up worried that he was trying to kill himself by suffocating in the pillows or duvet. The only downside with checking is that my son gets into all sorts of positions when he is asleep. So after meeting up, we took him to the London Cable Car.  He loved it and while he missed his sister, he loved the time he spent with us.  We collected her earlier today, have taken them to lunch and am now at home again.  We have been watching Strictly Come Dancing but while they love each other and missed each other, they are back to bickering...