Archives: the kids

Type anything to start typing… Having trouble thinking this morning. Jude & Eve were awake an hour before I’m due to get up. Eve wasn’t making a fuss or anything, & Jude wasn’t being that loud, but they were awake at the perfect time to throw my sleeping pattern. I think I’d rather have my eyes closed this morning; mitigating circumstances are: I can’t think.
Eve was on the ‘Nyeurks” again yesterday. Not full on, but being a bit of a pain. One day off, one day on? Louise & Eve may be going to college today – there apparently being a spare place at the play group there. Interestingly, it seems that the college has been making it difficult for the playgroup – rising rents, poor facilities… Jack’s school has had a new porta-cabin installed & it looks as though they are going to move to that (they have close links with the school anyway as the playgroup to nursery to reception class thing has a consistency of the people involved. Really, this can only be a good thing for Eve as she will be going to that school. It’s a shame the college seems to have taken, if not a negative attitude toward the playgroup, certainly a uncaring one. One of the reasons it was initially set up there, I believe, was so that those taking classes there could have some form of facility of their young ones…
Shortsightedness & ‘market forces’ win out again. <sigh>

Mmm – the weekend’s ‘Agricultural Show’.
Well, last week was pretty wet, but it seemed to be getting better toward the end of the week. The Show was getting ready on Thursday & on Friday the fair set themselves up. Unfortunately there was then a cloudburst on Friday evening – a thunderstorm – a downpour. It was quite impressive really. Jack went from front window to back window to catch the rain pelting (or “hitting” as he puts it) down. Not good for ‘The Show’ though.
We dallied on Saturday morning – there was some football on the telly to watch, but eventually we made our way down to the park to ‘The Show’. People were coming out with shoes & trousers plastered in mud; pushchairs with caked wheels – didn’t look good… Once through the gates you could see the deep furrows the horse trailers & lorries had left over the grassed areas that’re supposed to be the footy pitch… A major annoyance was that as people were reluctant to park their cars on the grass, some fool deemed it OK for them to park on the children’s playground. One suspects the decision maker did not have children of their own. I dislike cars at the best of times, & was not able to just pull back a swing & let it smash into a car because there were actually people sat in some of them… darn.
We went around the paved walkway circling the park (& the show) to survey the prospects of an easy access. Disappointed that the livestock were not here last year. Apparently latent Foot & Mouth fears persist. In a way, it’s just as well as Eve does not like animals really. She was quite scared of all the horses that were around & needed to be carried everywhere. Could not risk putting her down once the decision was made as she would have got muddy feet & thus I would be muddied. We ended up back at the playground & managed to find a little room between the impromptu car park to play. There was even nearly enough room for Eve to have a swing. Shame she had to kick a car while she did it, shame I didn’t let her get her bots muddy & shame some unsporting official asked us to move while another car moved out of the way (further onto the playground…).

I still have the sort of feeling I have in my head when you are 1st woken by the alarm clock – dull fuzzy ache.
I would much rather be getting more sleep. The night before last was a poor night & last night was even worse. I have a cough, -so was tight chested & wheezy, & having to get out of bed regularly for Jack, as the night before. It’s odd – he’s been sleeping so well for the past couple of months, but these last few days he’s been making a fuss in the night, because, when it comes down to it he says he does not want to sleep alone. This is not a habit we wish him to get into, so we are discouraging it, but it’s hard work. Oh & Jude is jolly loud when he wakes up as well.
Heh – back to my selfish immediacy – I am tired. There’s bound to be more I’d like to report about ‘the hols’ but it really feels like I should stop as I’m feeling left behind.
uh oh – typing stop; I’m too much of a dullard this morning. If I could converse rather than type I’m sure the nudge of a conversation would keep momentum, but I type, & my hands fell heavier than they should and

Not feeling grand this morning… Ah well.

Holiday:
Friday was also sunny. Jack & I spent a good long while building a large sandcastle with a moat. Eve nearly helped. I got rather burnt, as was evident the next day at the comics convention in Bristol. Jack & I set off with dad early in the morning (he was off to the Fruit & Veg market to stock up). The veg market was quite fun for Jack as well – it’s a vast area of wholesale sellers. We had breakfast in a little porta-cabin as the main cafe seems to have closed down – shame. We then were dropped off by The Watershed in Bristol where I assumed the convention was to take place (as per last year). Should have checked really – ah well. Anyway, as it was rather early Jack & I wandered round a bit in town waiting for the start time. Picked up a couple of records I’ve been looking for, for a while in a decent independent record shop – that sort of thing. Then off to the convention itself, when the true location was found. I did not enjoy the convention, but I will be lazy & not repeat myself, merely repeat a mail I sent round the Bugpowder mailing group:

sigh

I’m very glad that nick had a good time. I’m home now from my hols that incorporated a most pleasant break at my parents, but have to admit my day in Bristol was the Nadir of the holiday. My Yahoo mailbox is full, & Nick’s mail on the subject is all that I have – I do not want to bother with looking at the web for the group replies direct. I want to mutter on for now.
I apologies for not hanging around for the small press talk. I should have, there were only 20 more minutes, but if you are somewhere you don’t want to be, then 20 minutes is irrelevant.
The whole set up reminded me of an old TUC building comic mart. It was not a convention. It was a crowded, hot sweaty room of people selling comics of which I felt distant to. The fact that there was a good small press presence there couldn’t get over the fact that my whole mind set was disengaged by all the crap. Is this my problem
well..
after scant consideration i deny that this is a problem that I should get over.
This convention seemed to pride itself on the fact that it was family friendly, but it was not even vaguely friendly. It was oppressive & my son was keen to leave as soon as he arrived. I concede he may have picked up on my unease, but he is smart enough to make up his own mind. There were small oasis for him – like R2D2 – which was about his height.
Again I declare this was no convention.
For those of you staying in hotels, you had that part of the day to be social, but where was the social area at the event? There was no space!
If it were not for the fact that they had decided at the train station that day to check everyone coming & going on the platform had a train ticket, then there would have been very fine bar there we could have gone to. I’m not saying that a license for alcohol is needed at the event, but areas nearby where socialising would be possible would be good. Somewhere separate from the general mass would be good. A pleasant accessible nearby pub a bonus.
What I’d really like to see a move away from though is the grid of tables stacked with boxes of comics as the focus of any ‘convention’.
You go to record fairs & mart for that stuff. It does nothing to change the public’s view that comics are shite for that to be so central It’s just a lack of imagination.
I came home with a total of 3 comics, & only one of those I could call a ‘small press’ thing. This is very bad as there were many many comics that I have not seen before, & it’s in my nature to want them all – to explore all – naturally I can’t afford such things, but I feel ZUM! taking a wider & wider orbit in the small press world. At the moment there’s little I can do really. I cannot spend the time I want to write reviews organise & even gather the comics. I lament & hope for the future, with a wistful wish that I could have someone help me with it… but pragmatically, I will just have to continue to lament. I have never liked ‘ignorance is bliss’ though. On personal level it gnaws at my soul.
OOP
drifted off topic into the area I might have briefly bemoaned at the talk so – anyway – can we have it a little more ‘people’ orientated next time?
I wish I could go to caption – but I can’t afford – It’s not practical.
hey ho
wishing for a better world
paul

<sigh>
I wonder if I should comment further on this? Jack’s response to the
whole event was to get away. He was taken with the idea of going to start with & he liked the venue of last year’s event. They’ve been doing redevelopment work down at The Watershed & there are some interesting features like fountains & a big silver globe. The comics convention site was by the train station. As we arrived there were a couple of storm troopers, Bobba Fett (or was it Jango Fett? – I don’t really know, but he did have a considerable beer gut & bad trainers) & Darth Vader. They had fake guns & Jack did not like that. We have no toy guns in the house, but other kids around have them. In those circumstances he knows that they are toys, I guess… I don’t think he expected adults to play with such guns. A brief reassurance got him past. He was pleased on getting in to have a gnasher badge, which seemed to be the “I’ve paid to get in” badge. He did not really like the crowds of people much. He liked the Metaphrog people as John gave him some leaflets for his bag & spoke to him & was a pleasant fellow. We met Darryl, which was a very nice surprise. He gets him confused with my brother a bit, but then he gets my brother confused with Darryl. Dark hair angular face is about as far as the similarity goes. He was keen to be out of the crowded heat of the ‘main hall’. I lost sight of him once, which panicked me. We spent a while outside, but eventually went back in again. There were a couple of rows of Playstations, cubes & Xboxes set up for people to play on like an arcade area & Jack leapt up to them to have a play. He had little idea what he was doing & I had only marginally more (too many buttons). After a while swishing a light sable around, piloting an uncrashable space plane & making spiderman jump around at random we finished with that. Jack was then keen to leave again, & I was in wholehearted agreement. I was due to be on the small press talk though. It was only half an hour away. I checked the room in which the talk was to take place & ‘Little Room’ was a very good description. Realising that it would be even more hot & sweaty & probably akin to torture I went to the bloke who I think organised it, made my apologies & then scarpered.
Anyway – getting home was not a great success either. I left in the hope of catching a specific train & asked which train & time it might be when buying a ticket. I did not think to double-check, & if I had thought about it properly I would have. I was pointed at a train that was later than the one that I should have caught… so I did not have any time to correct the mistake when I realised the error – so Jack & I had to wait a good while longer for the next train. I suspect it was over an hour, but I don’t care to recall.

Weird – it’s 2 weeks since our 1st day of holiday in Somerset already. I say weird, but I’m always playing catchup – so I can’t really be surprised, now, can I?

Mum took us to Weston-Super-Mare that day & I bought a new modem for my parent’s computer. I was to regret this, but how was I to know? Jack was really, really wanting to go to the beach, but the weather was undecided; showery and also windy. I think we resisted Jack’s will that day & avoided the beach.
Later, I tried to install the modem & it wouldn’t have it. Didn’t want to sit on the comm port, basically. The computer did have a 28K modem, but that was doing the same – so that modem was probably OK. Still – that was a bit of a -um- nuisance. I spent a good long while at night when the kids were asleep fixing the darn thing – or rather failing to fix it. Fortunately my parents have 2 computers – both inherited from people upgrading, so that gave me more options. One was failing to boot up in the end, but I managed to get the name of the corrupted file off the faulty one & grab a replacement off the one that was working. I found the reason while the applications kept performing ‘illegal operations’ on that one as well – the date kept straying to 2097. Suspect battery problems. Old computers get cranky as part cease to work as they should.
Still – at least we got to the position where both computers were working properly, & my parents can get on the Internet; I’m quite pleased about that.

The Wednesday we succumbed to the pleas to go to the beach. It was a brief visit – Louise had to retreat with Jude as he does not like the wind, & it was very windy. Jack bought his scooter along & found that it did not work on the sand; too soft – the wheels sunk. Still he could go along the sea wall at a pace – the sea wall at Burnham has large steps up to the curved wall that deflects the waves – presumably to ‘disrupt’ a storm wave as it comes in. Perfect for scooting along – but Jack was not so keen as the sand was more fun. He wanted to run off & have a laff & gad about, but we had to cut short & retire home as Eve needed changing.
Friday was a better day in general. We spent a good long time on the beach then. The wind had abated, the sun was out – the tourists were out. Weird – Burnham gets a high Brum quota to its holidaymakers. It’s more prevalent than the south west accent during the ‘on season’.

Arriva Trains Northern strike morning, so the ‘turnaround’ run by First Northwestern is here. No table to type on, so I am doing a little typing on my lap before we start to move – whence I will just have to read. I don’t wanna be feeling rubbish through typing on my lap on the move.

Holidays. Yes – they were very good holidays.
My parents have a new house.
We set off Monday night in the car & Jude & Eve were already out for the count. Placed in the car already in slumber. Jack on the other hand was rather excited. After all – Grandpa was here & we were going on holiday & we were going in the car & we were going on the motorway. How glamorous!
He sat upright in the car for a good long while. He was behind dad who was driving, & managed to position himself eventually to a point where he was looking over dad’s shoulder. It was a pleasant sunset & the light lingered on the horizon long after the sun had gone, showing us where the small clouds were stranded in the sky. Stars eventually came out, & Jack eventually gave up trying to look at everything at about 10, or was it 11:50?
Oh well – this train starts to move.

Traveling to work on the train as usual. Back to working again after my holidays.
“…oh, …good”

I would like to chat about my holidays, but an image of a girl being hit by a van keeps plaguing my mind.
I was returning from shopping yesterday with the pushchair. Louise & the kids had taken the bus as it was raining & we had not expected this, so were unprepared. I was just turning up a back cut to the hill up to our house when there was the sort of sound you hope to never hear behind me; the screech of brakes & a thud. Span round to see a girl being knocked over by a van. A flat fronted open backed mini-truck type thing. She was about 7 or 8. The van knocked her down then kept going by momentum. Fortunately the wheels did not touch her. I surmise she was following her mum across the road as she was headed toward me at the time. Again I surmise that the mother may have been getting a younger (4 or 5) boy who was on my side of the road. I spotted him dithering a little later & took him back across the road to his other bothers & sisters while the mother crouched protectively over the girl who was screaming for her. The mother was reassuring her daughter & trying to get the emergency services to her at the same time.
I dwell on this a lot.
I left as I saw what I think was the dr’s/paramedic’s emergency car arriving. Now I wonder if it was a police car, & feel guilt at assuring the mother that there was something arriving. I thought I had a clear picture of what was happening, but I’m not really that sure now.
I think, as the van could not have been going too fast (things would could have been a lot worse) that she will be OK, in that she will survive with bruises, scrapes & possibly broken bones. It was something I never want to see again. It’s something that I would rather not think about, but I keep seeing it.
I will try to write bout my holidays. I thought that writing the above may help set my mind at rest, but it seems to make no difference.
It’s funny, I kind of remain emotionally detached from it all, but it’s never far from my thoughts. Sometimes think of each of the people involved & wonder how they are coping.

Oh well – so much for writing bout the holidays. Manchester is here again, I must to work (work might ‘help’).

Was going to do some attic painting last night – but it was 9:30 before I surfaced from the kids room (urg). They were not for sleeping last night. Eve ended up in Jack’s bed & Jack ended up in Eve’s bed. It might have been a coming storm that did it. As I Louise nudged me awake (I’d fallen asleep with them as usual) it was bucketing down outside. You could hear the water sloshing down the back street. It’s difficult to be really certain, but it seems like the attic wall is not getting any wetter – the leak may be cured! I just wish it would actually dry out – then we’d be sure.
Jack called just the once in the night, but I think that was more because he had kicked off the cover & needed it back. He went straight back to sleep.
A week today we’ll hopefully be headed off on holiday.

I forgot to mention last week how well Jack has been sleeping of recent. He went 4 days last week without waking in the night; 5, if you count Saturday. Unfortunately he was reluctant to go to sleep on Saturday night. Not really sure why. He might have rested on the train back from Elaine’s… or something, I dunno. I read to him until I had to take a crying Jude from the room. Jude calmed down, but Jack protested as I calmed him, so Louise came up & read to Jack for a bit. Louise left him just about asleep, but he was not, so he called out again. I went up & stayed with him a bit. He drowsed, & then checked to see if I was there, drowsed some more etc. I eventually fell asleep, so he found there was no need to check on me. I think it was after 10 before I returned from my doze. I often do this falling asleep with him thing. Next day Jack was … challenging. He gave me such a stare when I told him not to do something. A real, ‘how dare you?’ look, to which I replied, “how dare you?”
He was in for playing up, being silly & antagonistic when he was with us. He spent a great deal of the morning out & about playing with Jessie & his big brother Frank. Plants & ants & bikes & trucks. Eve was tagging along merrily as well. On the way back from the supermarket Jack managed to antagonise us enough to get himself ‘grounded’. You are not playing out for the rest of the day – you have to stay inside. And thus the conversation ran, most of the way home:
“Am not.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
“You are.”
etc.
Eventually he realised it was not a game & started crying.
You then feel like a heel, but he would not be in this position if he paid attention to what we said. Due warning was given many times. He asked later in the evening “Why was I grounded?”

Jude is very nearly rolling himself over. He’s rolling himself onto his side, so it’s only a matter of time now. He’s quite a happy vocal boy. He will smile at anyone who smiles at him, usually letting out a little ‘James Brown’ squeal/scream of delight. Another slightly odd thing is that he has on just a couple occasions seemed to ‘parrot’ a word or sound. It’s a bit early for this sort of thing, but Louise & I have noticed it on different occasions, in that you say something & he repeats it. Probably just coincidence, but they are different noises to his usual squeals.

Have proper bags under my eyes again this morning. Up to late doing a spot of decorating with Louise.
Well – Jude does not have a cough in his chest – although he sounds wheezy, it’s all ‘in the head’. Eve does not have a heart murmur, but there is no diagnosis as yet as to why she seems to go a little blue-lipped occasionally. The Dr commented that she had dark rings on her eyes – which is something we hadn’t really noticed. She wants to give her a blood test, but being new to the practice (apparently) she wants to check with the health visitor & a pediatrician 1st (I think that’s what Louise said). She took Louise seriously, which was good – Louise did not feel that she was facing skepticism over what we were saying, perhaps because the Health Visitor had assured the Dr that we were not wastrels? We’ve also been given direction if Eve seems to do the same again. All in all a positive step forward.
Everyone was in the park when I got home – which was a bit weird. I didn’t know where anyone was, but I suspected, & went looking. When we got back Jack pestered & pestered to have the stabalisers taken off his bike. I wonder what put it in his head? I was not willing to start with as the brake is in an awful position for him to be able to effectively use it. Andy – our good neighbour adjusted it for us (so now I know how to). Now all I need is a spanner that fits that bolt. Jack woke before I left for work again this morning. The 1st thing he asked was whether I would take the stabalisers off today…