"Please scream as loud as you possibly can," says the dentist to his patient. "The waiting room's full and the football's on in ten minutes."

 

Well, the screaming is what my kids have been doing today. My wife, since her trip to a mud pit has not been well and has been resting this morning, which means that they have felt the need to scream, and scream, and scream.  That and not eat the lunch that she has made for us.  Being a glutton is not a problem for either of them.

Earlier in the week, my wife took the kids to the Discovery Centre in Braintree.  As anyone in the UK knows, it has been raining and raining.  She thought that it would be inside.  It was not.  There were lots of bark chips about and things for kids to play on.  The only problem was that the bark chips had been trodden into the mud.  Walking down one hill with the kids she came to a puddle.  She got my daughter to jump across.  My son decided to as well, but while holding the hand of my wife and not telling her he was going to do this.  One slip later, and my wife was in the mud.  Getting up required her to put her hands in the mud, and my son, refused to hold her hand as it was caked in mud.  Her coat, leggings and boots were covered.  He decided then that he wanted to go home.  The sensibile decision was to go to the toilets to try to wash some mud off.  Fifteen minutes of washing in the toilets there, things were a bit better.  Needless to say, it was a memorable trip for my wife and the kids.  I am glad that I was at work instead!

Anyway, take care all.

My mate asked, "What do you know about 'the Seven Deadly Sins'? "Not much, I tried sloth once and couldn't be bothered with the rest."

Every now and then I think that I am in the wrong job. I think that I should be earning more and that if I had done something like work in the city, that I would be earning more.  But I forget, that more money does not mean that you would be happy.  That and the issue that I would not survive in the city (assuming that I would be smart enough to work there), and that I love my job.  Although I make a very small difference with my job when it comes to people, it is a difference, and I think that it is a good one.  Not only that, but I have to be grateful for what I have.  And while it is natural to want more, I should be grateful for what I have, for things could be a lot worse, and to be fair, when I really look at what I have with my children and my wife, I am very, very lucky.

2013 Bet the Mayan's did not see that one coming.

Well, it is 2013. And I hope it starts out better than last year.  Saying that, last year was not terrible.  It was interesting and I think that it ended well, especially the drinks last night.  I am still a bit fragile, but it was a very good night.  We had some friends round, the kids (ours and theirs) watched a film and my wife cooked, and cooked and cooked.  To say that there was food left over, would be an understatement, but at least that means that she will not have to cook for the rest of the week!

So, after waking late today to the sounds of the kids making loads of noise as they were playing, we finally got out of bed, fed and watered them (and ourselves) and since then have been pottering about. My wife at present is making yet more food, the kids are playing with the various toys they had got for Christmas and I took them out earlier, my daughter on her bike and my son on his scooter.  Just a few more hours until they are in bed, with me soon to follow!

Well, Happy New Year everyone!

I've found the perfect cure for insomnia. Two pints of lager, a glass of sherry and a plate of turkey dinner.

Evening all.

The day started early today, my daughter waking up early in the morning and prbably not getting back to sleep.  At 0600, we gave in and let her come out of bed.  To say that she was excited was an understatement.  And when she saw ther size of the present that Father Christmas had left her!  My son was the same, but later in the morning.

My Mum and two brothers came up from London for lunch.  I had made a late breakfast for the kids while my wife had been cooking lunch and they had a great time.  The kids however were shattered towards the end of the day, more so my daughter who spent the first few hours as if she had a sugar rush.  I think that the last time I had seen her with so much energy was when she was very little and I had given her a sugar straw to play with.  I turned away for five seconds and when I had turned back, she had managed to bite through it and had eaten all the sugar.  But that rush did not last the several hours this did.  All in all, a good day and one where we finally finished a bottle of Whiskey thanks to my brother.  Once upon a time, when one of our friends Tony, lived close by, in the years before kids, we did go through a lot of drinks.  The whiskey though has been untouched since he left the area.  Afer ten years, it was finally drunk!

Anyway, Merry Christmas all.  Take care.

Christmas Eve

Christmas is almost here, it almost being the night before Christmas.
The kids are excited, and they are on extra special good behaviour.
And we are going to go out to a Christmas eve meetup before going to our local Church for a Christmas Eve service.  The kids have loved it each year so far.

But I can not help but think of those for whom this is not a good time.  There are those who have lost loved ones both nearby, as well as those abroad, and of course, those in the Holy Land.

For the record, I am in favour of a just peace for all those in the Holy Land.  One that does not mean living under threat from bombs, missiles and one free of injustice and oppression.  Israel has been accused of behaving like Nazi's and I think on the whole, this is not a fair comparison.  Even though I feel that they are stealing land from the Palestinians for Living Space, they do not murder in the manner that the Nazi's did.

While I do think that Israel should exist, and that people of the Jewish faith should have the right to return to Israel, that should not be at the expense of the people who have lived in Palestine before.  The Holy Land is being tainted by violence against Jews, Muslims and Christians, which is sad when all three religions preach peace.  Arabs in Israel had more rights comared to Muslims in most other 'Muslim' nations, but the Arab Spring has put and end to that with democracy spreading.  The sad thing is that democracy should have come about in Palestine.  But after Hamas won the elections in Gaza, Bush the second with the PLO plotted to over throw the democratically elected officials in Gaza.  Mahmoud Abbas was elected into office but from what I understand, he has held onto power beyond his term, and therefore like Hamas who have refused to hold any elections, is in essence, a dictator in name.  And while this goes on, more land is stolen from Palestinans and the world watches.

Tonight I will be saying a prayer for all those in the Holy Land.  A prayer for a just peace for all.

And I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

I don't understand, why everyone was getting so worried about the apocalypse. If the Mayans where that good at predicting, there would still be Mayans today.

Okay, I will admit that the title is not right are there are Mayan people still around today.  But you know what I mean!  Well, it has been a while since my last post.  Let me update a few things.  My daughter had her nativity play.  Last year she was a narrator, this year she was in the choir.  My son who last year sat with his arms round two girls just wanted to spend the time singing all the time as he knew all the words as well.  Both love their advent calenders which are helping them work out how many sleeps it is till Christmas.  I did threaten them earlier today that I was going to leave a message for Father Christmas so that when he came, he would just leave knowing that they were naughty.  And then today, when I was at work, they did do something.  Something bad.  So bad, that they might not get a present!  My son is convinced at the moment that he has a box from Father Christmas with nothing in it.  He knows this because he has shaken the box and could not hear any noises.  While I have told them that Father Christmas will allow them to be a little bit naughty, I have also told them that I was too naughty when little to get a present from him.  I have been told by then (after telling them off) that I might be on his naughty list this year.  They loved watching the Strictly Final.  My daughter wanted Louis to win, my son prefered Dani to win.

Anyway, Arsenal have won a game, thanks once again to some dodgy decisions from the referee.  Time to go.  Good night.  The song is for my daughter who loves it.

Inspired by Movember I decided to get my prostate examined. I got two thumbs up.

Well it is Movember, or rather, it is coming to the end of it.  I was going to take part, but kept forgetting to not shave my moustache off!  One of my friends however has managed to keep his and while he has yet to update his photo on his page, I have been sent an updated image from my spies.  As you can see, he has just been told that at the end of the month, he is to have every hair plucked out one by one...

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