"It's important we remember the true meaning of Easter" says The Archbishop of Cadbury.

Weekends with the family are great and it has been great these last few days over the long weekend.

Most of the time, I feel that I do not get to spend enough time with the kids when I have enough energy to appreciate the joy that they have to offer.  When I get back from work, I am tired, and so are they.  I do the best I can when I get back, but the combination of tired knackered kids and adults is normally not too good.

But this weekend, I have had the chance to spend more time with them and more importantly, quality time.  It has been a great weekend spent with them.  We have been to Orford, Snape and have been out and about in Colchester.  And of course, there has been chocolate.  The long weekend is not yet over, but I am so grateful for the time that we have had as a family, my wife making sure that it has been enjoyable for all.

Unfortunately, the Voice UK has ended, but all good things come to an end, and the kids are already looking forward to the series next year.  We all have had our favourites, and while I am sure we all wish Stevie McCrorie the best, he was not our favourite.  Come the final, the house was united behind Lucy and we wish her well for the future.

Orford Castle was a great place to visit.  It is somewhere that I have wanted to visit for ages and thanks to the kids, I know more about how to use the toilet in a castle.  My wife and I have been to Orford before and even stayed at the Crown and Castle in the life that we had before children.  The meal there was as good as we remembered.

But in between the castle and lunch was a trip to Snape Maltings.  While my son stayed in the warm with my wife and shopped, my daughter and I went for a walk, hence the photographs below.  Yesterday was a trip to the Waiting Room, one which I hope to return to as the kids loved eating there and next time, I hope to not be full from breakfast so that I can join them.

I would love to post more, but I am knackered.  Good night!

I'm watching the "El Classico" tonight and the commentator says it's a very clean, equal game, but I think it's looking a little bit Messi

Evening all.  It has been a while since my last post about the family.

Mothers day was great.  The kids had made cards, both at home, and also at school which was appreciated by their loving and amazing Mum.  Unfortunately, I was not able to see my Mother myself but later in the day the kids and I spoke to her on the internet, the wonders of which allow her to see us and vice versa.  For lunch, we went back to the Bildeston Crown which was a great experience for us all again.  My son had forgotten that we had booked it the last time that we were there and did the best they could to distract my wife so that she did not know where she was going.  It was a lovely drive there, and once there it was, as before, an amazing meal.  We ate in the fine dining part and the kids loved it that the staff remembered us from before.  The service was great, even when one issue arose, the staff rectified it instantly.  It is a bit of a drive for us to get there, an hour in fact, but the food is certainly worth it.  Though I have to admit, we well not be able to go there anywhere near as often as we would like.  

As for this weekend, the kids helped me put some drawers together, my daughter helping the most as it was for her room.  They had been to a science fair as well, and both love science.  And of course, there was The Voice.  Unfortunately my son fell asleep when watching it, but one joy of that is that later I might get to watch it again.  The downside of that though is that the person I think was the best singer has now left.

Later, I hope to watch the Arsenal match.  It is a shame that ManUre won today, but our destiny to finish third is in our own hands.  And of course, we beat ManUre in the cup.  While loads of fans think that we are certs for the final, they seem to have forgotten that the last time we played Reading in a cup competition, we were lucky to have won.     

MH17 and why I think that Russia was responsible for it being shot down

On July the 17th, I posted an entry on my blog about MH17 and the aim of the post was to show that the rebels in Ukraine were responsible for shooting it down using a Russian surface to air missile.  I knew that any smoking guns on the internet at the time would be hard to find later.

Basically, after MH17 was blown out of the sky, posts were made that the rebels had shot it down.  Once it became apparent, that the plane that was destroyed was a commercial airliner, those posts vanished as they were deleted.  However, ITAR-TASS reported the destruction on the day of a plane and stated that the rebels in Ukraine shot it down and that this occurred on the outskirts of the town of Torez.

I have posted this on Twitter and it has led to confusion as the article also refers to a plane shot down on another day.

So I have decided to include links about the ITAR-TASS article with this post.


DONETSK, July 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) brought down a military transport Antonov-26 (An-26) plane of the Ukrainian Air Force on the outskirts of the town of Torez, eyewitnesses said. A missile hit the An-26, it fell on the ground and caught blaze, they said. On July 14, militiamen of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic downed another An-26 of the Ukrainian Air Force.


As you can see from the links the Ukrainian air force has had planes shot down (and it has accused Russia of some of these incidents directly) but only one plane was shot down on July the 17th (this being MH17), and only one plane has been shot down near Torez (this being MH17).

So, the article which I linked to, where ITAR-TASS reports on Ukrainian rebels shooting down a plane on the 17th can only refer to MH17.  Which means that Russian news states that the Ukrainian rebels shot down MH17.

Please tell me if I am wrong about this claim or if there are flaws in my argument.  And thank you for reading this.

We found our son's hamster dead today. "I don't want him to get upset," said my wife, "Why don't we just replace it with a puppy?" "Because he'll notice the difference." I replied.

Quite a bit has happened since I last made a post about the family.  We have had a birthday, a birthday party, and a few meals out.

First of all, the birthday was one that was enjoyed by both the children,  They enjoyed it and now have more weapons with which to fight me.  As for the birthday party, it was held at Pizza Express and they managed it well, the kids enjoying the interactive party.  My view is that if you love pizza, you will have to love Pizza Express, and today, they did not disappoint.

And on the topic of Italian food, another great place to eat in Colchester is Granata which serves authentic fresh cooked Italian food.  Considering the competition that it faces with some very good Italian style chains, it holds its own and is certainly worth visiting, for we loved the service as well as the food.  Why it was not more busy when we went there is beyond me.

I would love to post more, but I am knackered today.  Goodnight...

You are much more likely to be treated by an immigrant than be in the queue behind one

Today I have been listening to Any Questions on Radio Four using the Radioplayer function and have heard an interesting error by the UKIP MEP David Coburn where he said that for years that neither the Conservative nor Labour governments have trained enough doctors or nurses in the health service citing that we are stealing those from abroad.

He is wrong, training numbers have been cut, against the advice of the BMA, but that is not the reason that the numbers of healthcare professionals in the health service have fallen.  It is because, doctors and nurses have left the NHS.  Doctors, once trained have become disillusioned with the NHS and political interference and leave.  The UK trains enough doctors, but once these doctors have qualified, after they become consultants or GP's (i.e. after the five year post graduation stay in most cases) many leave to work in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Middle East.  As for nurses, even when we import them, many do not stay in the NHS.

The bottom line is while there are some ideas to improve the NHS, unless staff are looked after properly, there will be few people to work in it.

Star trek legend Leonard Nimoy has died. Beam me up Goddy.

First of all, it is a loss to all who loved Science Fiction that Spock has died.

Many do not mourn other deaths, and that is not logical.  First there is the murder of a blogger in Bangladesh, Avijit Roy appears to have been killed just for his views on religion which angered Islamist hardliners.

The other murder is that of Boris Nemtsov a critic of Putin, and one who has like so many in the past, died.

I mourn the death of Nimoy, my memories of Spock are to be treasured for the rest of my wife.  I also despair over the other two deaths which have been reported and the way these two men were willing to risk all to speak out for what they felt was right.

It's rumoured that the 0 2 stadium in North London (formerly WHL) is to be renamed again to the Tutu stadium in honour of the bunch of ballerinas that were unable to hold on to a 0-2 lead with just ten minutes to go.

Restaurant meals were great for us this weekend.  It was a trip to Suffolk, first a meal in Ipswich at Isaac's which I thought was okay, a welcoming atmosphere and food that the kids loved.  I am always sold on sweet potato chips so that was great for me.  We were lucky and managed to bag a parking space outside which also helped and it has been a while since we have been to that location (it was a Vodka Bar when we were last there).  It has a great location overlooking the Marina and it is a place that I would return to again.

Later in the day it was a trip to Bildeston to stay at the Bildeston Crown.  It was a great stay, they welcomed the kids, had two kids beds in our room which we all loved staying in and when it came to eating there, amazing food.  The sound system in the room was great, and the shower was amazing.  It was a shame to leave it, loads of power and lots of heat, and I am very fussy when it comes to things like that!  The restaurant had great service and catered really well for our children.  While there were no things for the kids to do (no colouring sets or kids menu) eating at a restaurant that good is not about things like that.  Like the rest of the hotel, they were great with the kids talking to them, and where appropriate, servings suitable for them and adapting to them.  Now this is a place we certainly would love to return to, be that the restaurant or the hotel itself.

And later on Sunday, it was a trip to Hollow Trees Farm, a petting farm that the kids loved.  Fortunately, we had brought the Wellington Boots of the kids, which considering that it had been raining at times was a wise choice.  While my wife waiting in the warmth of the Farm Shop and Coffee Shop we explored the petting farm feeding animals, and enjoying the child friendly activities.  Again, if we are in the area, the kids would love to return as we spent an hour there and it was not enough.  And from there a journey to The Swan Inn in Monks Eleigh were again we were spoilt with a great meal.  I have to admit, while my wife assured me that it would be great, when we drove up, I doubted her, especially after dinner the night before.  And on entering it, while clean and very welcoming, again, I expected normal pub food.  But the food was great and while not as fabulous as that Bildeston, this is somewhere I would strongly recommend for those in the area.  I was amazed, considering how good the food is, that more people were not eating there.  If we lived closer, we would be eating there more often.

Anyway, good night once more.