My worse bike ride so far

Today has been interesting. In the morning after waking up, I started to watch Divergent.  For some reason, my daughter, who I offered to get her watch it, decided that she would rather be alone!  But later her and her brother came in and we had a great morning in bed together, all four of us and it was a very memorable time.

Later, she went on a bike ride with me.  She was not too keen on this at first, but later appeared to enjoy the thrill of riding a bike again.  My son on the other hand decided that he did not want to do this.  Now, my aim of getting them on their bikes is so that they get some exercise and become fitter.  She states that this has helped her with PE at school, and he, like his sister has improved when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting balls from when we practised during the summer holidays.  He went out, then decided to cycle slowly, and then got even worse, not being able to cycle along a path.  There were tears and tantrums with him throwing down his bike at one point.  And in the end, I lost me temper.  But one of the good things about his punishment is that our toilet is cleaner!

Later on, it was lunch with friends and a few episodes of Modern Family.  But despite what is probably my worst lunch ever, it was a really good day.

Beer glorious beer

It was the real ale festival in Colchester today. Held at the Arts Centre by Camra there was beer and lots of it.  My wife took me into town, but we arrived at the wrong time as it was very full. The kids left with my wife but then loads did as well and there was more room later. Next year I will need to arrive sooner...

Would you be tortured if it could save lives?

Torture has been in the news recently, but Trump has stated that it will not go ahead in the US.  There have been loads of arguments for it.  I have to say, that a terrorist who has murdered children deserves torture, but I have several concerns. One is the effect torture has on those interrogating suspects. The next is that one mans terrorist is a freedom fighter to another.  An example of this were the French Resistance in World War Two who were considered terrorists by the Germans and Vichy France.  And if torture against terrorists is okay, then the Nazi's were okay to torture them along with the members of resistance groups across occupied Europe.  Another example of this are the volunteers who are fighting in Syria against Unislamic State.  They are considered, by both Russia and Syria, to be terrorists. 

But the last is the risk of torturing innocents.  So my first question to those who back torture is this. Would you agree to be tortured for a week along with nine other terrorists to save the lives of others? Would you agree to have your child, or another loved one tortured knowing they were innocent, along with nine terrorists, so that the lives of others would be saved? Because when it comes to suspects, they are just that. Suspects.  And we know that we have tortured the innocent before.

The next refers to the volunteers who I mentioned before, fighting against Unislamic State.  Is it right for Russia and Syria to torture them if they are captured?

A flat day

The pictures are from last week.  I like them.  Back then, cycling to work in the freezing cold I had to stop to take a picture when in Castle Park.  On that day, the kids were behaving themselves mostly, though my daughter had been in a bad mood at the beginning of the walk to school.  But we had left with time to spare and the kids appreciated arriving early as that meant that they could talk to friends in the playground before school.  Before I got to work, I cycled to a nearby bicycle repair shop as my bike was very overdue a service.  And on collecting it, I really appreciated the difference the service made.  My brake pads were worn before, a light was not working and also in addition to this, my gears were sticking.  Having the bike serviced changed all that and also it rode better, which meant that I was able to cycle up hills that I had started to give up on!

On the weekend, my daughters fish tank was cleared. but we changed a lot of water, and due to concerns about the water temperature afterwards, we went to the pet shop to get a thermometer for Nevyn, the Siamese fighting fish.  He had not been named, so I named him after a favourite character from a series of books I read from years ago.  The kids are aware that they are not allowed to read them until the are aged over 18.  In fact, I would rather they read Game of Thrones before the Daggerspell series!  But going into the pet shop we ended up leaving with a hamster in addition to the thermometer.  His name is Ron, and he was named this in the shop.  He was up for adoption and we all loved him on seeing him.  He was the maddest hamster we have ever seen and this includes the Syrian hamsters that my wife had 20 years ago when we were going out with each other.  Ron though is a Roborovski hamster and is very fast.  I have seen him run on his wheel so fast, that when he stops he spins round 360 degrees (once this was 720 degrees as he spun round twice).  He has a tendency to nip when we put our hands in, but unlike the Syrian hamsters my wife had in the past, this one does not draw blood and only seems to bite to see what we are.

And today on cycling to my other job I found that I had a flat.  I had to stop in the town centre to pump some air in, and had to repeat this twice before I got my bike to the shop it had been in last week.  I am sad in that I can not even change a tyre, but to be fair, today I did not have the time as I needed to work.  But it is great to have the bike back.  Cycling was becoming a chore before, and now is fun again.  Part of me is tempted to think what it would be like with another bike, but I think I should be faithful to this one.  I had not treated it that well, and it has been true and faithful to me.  And I love riding on it, though that enjoyment had started to go before I had it serviced.  When cycling on Sunday to do paperwork, I had fun and on cycling back, I made it home in record time, and that included slowing for a Pokéstop!

Today, the kids have been very patient with me.  Last week, my son had to attend a hospital appointment.  This week we went to our GP surgery where I got something for one of the children.  The other was very curious to find out what it was, but on getting back, they put up with me and my various demands about them doing one thing or another.  And, with my son being unwell last week, both appear much better today, and long may that continue.

How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise MY hand!

Hello all. 

Cycling was not as good as it was earlier in the week when I went to work in the morning, nor was I up to targets that I had met last year but I am going to blame the wind for that.

But after a few hours at work, it was back home where we went down to a trip to London.  We ate in East Ham as we were starving, before doing some shopping there and then later popped into see my mother.  My mother-in-law did try making contact with us in the day as well, but decided to FaceTime us when we were in the car with no WiFi connection to use.    Anyway, my mother loved seeing the kids.  It was great as not only did my wife and I have a much appreciated chance to recharge our batteries, we also looked through a collage of old photos of the children.  And yes, it reminded us of how quickly they grow, and how lucky we are to have them.  

With chess, another tournament has been completed, and sadly, this was one there I had not done as well as I wanted.  But every game is a learning experience.  And I may get to watch the Arsenal game.  I did not mean to find out the score before watching Match of the Day, but thanks to FaceBook, my joy at watching it without knowing has been spoiled. 





And this might bring a smile to your faces if you don't like the videos from The Voice.

A bloke goes into a pub with a glum face and the barman says "Wassup?"

The bloke says "I'm in the doghouse"

"Why's that?" says the barman

"I didn't open the door for the wife"

"Hardly the crime of the century" says the barman

"I know, says the bloke, I just panicked and swam for the surface" 

Exercise

Yesterday was my first bike ride of the year. Mainly due to illness, this being one bout of man-flu followed by another, I was not able to cycle earlier.  And this meant that I got the kids to walk into school, and they were nice to each other for most of the way in. I am used to a bit of squabbling and there was a small amount, but overall, they were great. But it was a hard day to be on a bike due to the wind.  I had to cycle to a meeting later and the wind had picked up and it was a lot harder then. The cycle home was also a challenge but while I had been dreading getting back on my bike, it was not that bad.

After school it was a trip for the kids and I to the dentist. My son had asked for a snack before and although I said no at first, I changed my mind. But he saw the trap and did not eat the Wagon Wheels before seeing his dentist!  

Anyway, he has signed up to join the school chess club and his sister wants to play netball. They both make me proud.

Watergate

There are allegations being spread on the internet about Donald Trump.  At this time, they are allegations and Trump is right to refer to it as Fake News. However what is ironic is the way he spread fake news in the past.  Some argue that this means that he should not be President and to them I say, tough.  

Concerns about Trump and his links to Russia were rightly raised before the election in November and he won the Electoral College that decides who wins the election.  Which means that even if these allegations are true, and there is no evidence that they are, then the people of America had been warned.  And they chose someone who had stated that he sexually assaulted women and also said he could shoot someone and still have loads of support.

Just before I leave, I would like to remind people that he is a germaphobe and while urine is sterile when it comes out of the bladder, bacteria soon use it to grow.  In addition to this, the intelligence services would not have wanted this to be leaked and I am certain that they will take action if the source is found.

Last of all, some Fake News that Trump spread in the past...