Eve fell asleep in her high chair on Sunday night. She had not had her normal daytime snooze. She missed her chance when we went to the supermarket. We dashed off, perhaps earlier than we had planned, as Ruth (Hamish’s mum) had taken Jack, Hamish & her others to the park. We took it as a good opportunity to do the Sunday run for shopping. Poor Eve. I had changed her nappy before tea, & she was not happy about it at all; too tired & a bit of a sore bum. She was contemplating the possibility of snoozing when I was putting her back in a “happy-nappy” (turn over, eye rub). She was still grandly upset though,so I picked her up & cuddled her downstairs. Tea was then ready – so into the high chair for the distraction of food! She does love her food. Heh – yesterday we were out on the backstreet when Louise proclaimed from the kitchen that tea was ready. Eve immediately dashed off inside. She knew what was going on there. Anyway – as tea dispersed on Sunday, Jack went off into the front room to watch the pop archaeology programme ‘Time Team’, (“look how much mud they’ve dug now!”) I followed,& Louise started the tedium of tidying up after tea. Eve was happy enough to stay in the chair. Left a few minutes unattended Louise motioned me into the back room a few minutes later. There’s poor Eve struggling to stay awake with the last of her tea still in front of her. Not long later she had dozed off… Louise got her into her cot a few minutes later (sans shorts) & she was off for the night (just a little earlier than usual). Jack got to stay up later than he usually would as having a bath might have disturbed Eve; their bedroom being next to the bathroom & Jack not being a quite sort of lad, it seemed prudent. I read to him downstairs on the sofa, where he was keen to sleep, he thought for the night – but no, we took him upstairs to his bed.
Eve must just have had a growing spurt. She seems that bit bigger. It struck me when Louise took her upstairs asleep. She’s got to that stage where she cannot quite be comfortably carried as a baby any more. A parents cradling arms are not enough – legs seem to dangle as if off a too small bed. Caroline, our neighbour, also commented that she seemed to be bigger when the kids were running about on the back street before tea yesterday.. Feet seem bigger, (that’s just the new shoes) legs seem longer – that sort of thing. Kids do that to you though… it’s like anything that gradually changes, but is constantly observed I guess – there comes a point when the realisation of change dawns.

Heh – was nice to have a 2 day week last week – but back to a full week of toil this week – boo!
Went to Louise Mum’s on Saturday in Bradford. It was for Jack – a sort of picnic party, but, like not quite a picnic, & in terms of ‘party’ – not such a big deal for him as not many of his pals were there or anything… Just Hamish in fact… Oh, & Eve of course… As well as assorted relatives from Louise’s side. Not all could make it, but some did. Louise sister, brother-in law + 1 nephew. Louise’s mums’ sister, her daughter, & her daughter (latter a little younger than us) – so no other kiddies. Hmm.
All went a lot less stressful than worried about. Louise’s cousin bought along some little spades & some crayons & paper – which was very good. Jack & Hamish enjoyed a little of one of their favourite occupation of ‘mud digging’ & then some scribbling. Jack is still too impatient for drawing & enjoys making marks on the paper quite a lot.
Umm… what else… well, the day at the picnic was quite uneventful really – as I said – not as stressful as anticipated, & time passed well enough.
We set off for home late afternoon evening. We were waiting by the bus stop when a new red Corsa (car) stopped just past the bus stop & reversed sharply back to where we were standing. A bloke stuck his head out of the window & asked us if we were going into town…
“Yes…”
“I wouldn’t”
“?”
“There’s a full scale riot”
Merd. There was a BNP (aka racist shitheads) march planned in the city centre today – which was wisely banned. While we were on the way through town on our way to Louise’s mum’s I saw an anti-Nazi league rally in the town centre, which reminded me I saw a small news report in the paper that the BNP had been banned.
There was quite a evident police presence as well – presumably as a deterrent to the BNP…
So what happened during the day for everything to escalate into what turned into a messy, dangerous & uncommonly ferocious (stolen cars driven at police lines!) riot? Who really knows. It’s just tremendously sad – it besmirches the towns reputation. It isa town where the is peaceful interracial society. Tolerance is the norm.
I am at home now on Monday Evening, & Jack would like to write something…
uy8loi65r593e=rly7o u874i654 uypo98r Jack ‘l
waAQ234476-=UO[\U7gdkiahjhdsio
(Jack can pick out his own name on the keyboard when promoted & helped with the caps button)

Sigh…
Back to work today…
Louise was saying while we drifted off to sleep last night that she thinks that Eve will saying, “Where Daddy?” all tomorrow.
‘Where’ & ‘Why’ is something she’s really got into saying the past few days.
Had a lovely holiday. A real good taste of how life could be, but the ugly subject of earning money always seems to come up – so it’s back to work… Sigh…
Jack had a good birthday on Tuesday. Mum & dad came up for one of their flying visits. Arrived at 7am as they said they would. I, fortunately, had decided that it would be a good idea to get up for that time in case they did arrive. Fortunately they had made some error in navigation along the way or they would have caught me asleep.
Not sure Jack will have enjoyed the quick look in at Ikea we sneaked in (heh), but the Toys r Us was great fun for him. There was a section that had ride on bike, trikes, tractor, cars, & – well – al sorts. He was particularly fond of a go-cart which he zoomed around the shop in for quite some time with one of us in pursuit. We spent a good long while there messing about chasing the kids & fraying our nerves a little more, but always just keeping the right side of sanity. In the end we got Jack a few items of junior meccano & a tunnel for his lego/duplo railway. Eve got a tricycle, & they both got a small slide for the garden… And a lolly. We would have liked to have got Jack the go-cart, but we’ve nowhere to keep it other than outside, & then not even in a shed, so, unfortunately it was just not possible. It seems odd, that on Jack’s birthday we got Eve a tricycle, but Jack has just got a new bike, which was for his birthday, & he can still fit on the trike. Eve cannot reach the pedals as yet. She can on Jack’s bike as she uses them to climb up on it, but she cannot do anything other than sit there once she has climbed up onto it, whereas she can push herself along on the trike.
Day at work complete – homeward bound now – phew – another over the top hot day. The office is stuffy as Matt has ‘borrowed’ the office fan, altho he’s also on emergency leave due to family emergency… bah.
Jack was fun yesterday evening… He has a Thomas the Tank Engine helium balloon for his birthday & he & Hamish were playing with it in the house after tea. They had made up a little game hiding & finding it, so I joined in & foxed them a little by hiding it under something (helium balloons float – so they were looking up). Jack thought that this was great fun &was all excited by it. They had a go at hiding it from me, & Jack simply couldn’t contain himself!
“Your turn Paul!” (Jacks started calling me ‘Paul’ – dunno why really, must be as that’s what Louise calls me – I don’t mind)
Jack, gleefully; “We’ve hidden it-“
“Don’t tell me Jack!”
“OK… …It’s in the back room! …It’s in that box!!”
This sort of scenario was repeated several times. No matter what he – just – couldn’t – stop – himself. Hamish would say, “Oowww Jaaaack!” & I’d have to tell the pouting boy that Jack just couldn’t help it. He was trying, but it was too much fun.
Jack & Hamish have been playing well together again. There was a day the other week that Jack was distinctly ‘unkeen’ on Hamish – saying that he was ‘threatening him’. Not sure really what that means as Jack’s understanding of a word we do not really use is curious.
Hamish has helped with the eating of birthday cake over the last couple of days & will be going to what is billed as a ‘picnic’ on Saturday with us at Louise’s mum’s. This was initially going to be a proper picnic in the park near Louise’s mum’s, but has since relocated to the lawn/drive outside the flats where she lives. Not really sure why – it may have been because there are a couple of older members of the family who might have found sitting on the grass in the park a little difficult, but that also may be an expeditious excuse. So, Louise’s extended family will be there, & Jack, Eve & Hamish. No other children… so I can’t really bring myself to call it a children&’s party, as it is really meant to be.
For Jack’s party we were initially hoping to rent a hall in the local Sports Centre – bouncy castle, kiddies climbing area – that sort of thing. We could have just about afforded it if we ‘doubled-up’ the party so that another kid would also be having their birthday party too… but the other parents dad vetoed on the grounds of it being too far from his kids actual birthday. Bah. A shame that the only ‘event’ is the ‘picnic’ but we are too timid & certainly the house is too topsy turvey to hold a party at our house for Jack’s (many) pals. sigh.
I managed to get a wee bit of decorating done over my holiday. Well short of what I would have liked to have done, but that was to be expected. A good start on things – that I can hopefully maintain some form of momentum with. I so needs to be done! There is (typically) too much to do…
Ah, if only I were at home instead of working, I could see me actually being able to get on with it all! Shame, shame…

Eve did not, as Louise predicted, say “Where’s daddy” a lot yesterday… The kids accepted that I was at work & got on with things. It would have been nice to have been missed, but that is just vanity, really.
It was an open day at Jack’s school – a sort of ‘see how your child is getting on’ type thing. It would have been good to be able to go to that, but it was not to be. Jack bought home a picture book & a writing book that he’s been working on. Makes you happy & proud to look through it. I can’t say whether he is particularly good at anything, as I have little criteria on which to base anything, but that is not the point. The existence of a book of his drawings & his writing of his name is enough to give a parental warm glow.
Jack went off to sleep better last night. These exceedingly warm days seem to cause him problems relaxing off to sleep. He had been late off to sleep for a couple of nights previous & was getting a little tired & irritable because of it. We still count ourselves lucky though as they are pretty compliant regarding sleep. Although it seems to have been very difficult to convince him to relax, he’s not been foolish or irrational about it all. Just wriggling – saying that he cannot get comfortable, & chatty, as he cannot ‘switch off’. Normally I read him to sleep, but if I’m worn out, I’m in danger of falling asleep before he does. I get a brisk’ “Read daddy!” to remind me that I am supposed to be awake. The bedroom he & Eve are in is pretty small, & if there’s the 4 of us in there, it can get a little too warm as well – thus if Jack is too uncomfortable he is better moving into our bed to drift off to sleep. We can put him back into his own bed when he’s fast asleep proper. He usually finds his way back to us before the morning. Eve usually drifts off of her own accord. It must be part of her ability to keep herself occupied in general, but once in her cot – she accepts where she is, & generally will slip into sleep slowly. She was however jumping around in her cot before sleeping yesterday, but her afternoon nap was a little late. I laid her down & put my hand on her head, or chest, & she sloooowly drifted into sleep. A few smiles, but mostly sleepy nodding off. Sweet. Eve more or less sleeps through. She occasionally stirs in the night,out as I have said – she is very self sufficient.
You have to wonder if it’s because she is the 2nd child & as Jack does demand a certain amount of attention, she compensates? I was a 2nd child though, & I’m sure that I was probably more demanding when a young one than my elder brother.
Neil has announced that he & Jess are having an engagement party come September! EEP! It will be in the south east somewhere, as that’s where her parents are… so we will have to start mentally preparing ourselves & putting something aside for the train fare.
Sometimes you think a car would be a nice thing to have, but on the whole I am glad we have excluded one from our lives thus far.

Louise is going to the dentist in Hebden Bridge this morning. Just a check up. One of the benefits of pregnancy is the free NHS stuff; there are areas like dentistry & opticians that you have to pay a nominal fee for, but not in pregnancy.
Jack was in the garden 1st thing this morning playing with his wheelbarrow. It’s another ‘early’ birthday present. He was not keen on the idea of going to Hebden Bridge, but has come round now. He wanted us to stay doing the garden. Granted there is a bit to do -weeding, lawn privet hedge trimming, but we are better off going to hebden with Louise. He made a long exhausting fuss over the principal, but has accepted it now. We go in 5 mins.

Lawks – I knew I would be neglecting making daily notes, but I’ve not been writing much at all. I have been using the eMate for writing, but I have managed to install a bit of new software that allow it to read an ATA flash card (with PCMCIA adapter) – so that I now have 4Mb of storage – wooo! Some teething things like it causing the eMate to ‘reboot’. Normally you can just open the lid of the eMate & start typing – it stays in ‘sleep mode’ while not in use, awaiting use. Don’t see a logical pattern to the reboots, but as the software is still in the Alpha testing (not even Beta testing before release) then it’s not really unexpected. The fact that it works is wonderful in itself… must get round to writing a thank you to the s/ware author…
Decorators did the ceiling. Took 2 days – one for the papering, & one for the painting & putting up of the border. All very pleasing & looking good. I say it took 2 days, but the man hours were considerably less – they didn’t hang about. The colour we ended up choosing for the ceiling was a little spur of the moment is a little more intense that we would have chosen. Yellow Ochre nearly. Bit lighter, naturally. Nice & warming, but leaves us with a quandry over what colour to do the walls. I had initially envisaged a light apricot colour – twixt ping & orange, however this is too ‘sherbet’ for Louise’s tastes. She seems to be leaning more to a linen colour – which is a bit too … ‘gray’ for me… sigh… As the ceiling is leaning more to an orange yellow that we initially realised, we may get some form of warm light yellow. Still at the ‘looking at samples’ stage.
I’m supposed to be decorating as well this ‘holiday’. Not had a lot of a chance thus far. Perhaps I will… at some stage. I’ve ‘primed’ the wall to which I am going to put some of that polystyrene wallpaper as an insulating under thing. We’ve decided that this is most likely what we need to cure the ‘cold spot’ on (presently our, but to be the kids) bedroom wall. Oh I did manage to tidy the kitchen ceiling a little as well & do a spot of ‘once in a blue moon’ tidying up while Jack was at school the other day.
Jack had ‘sports day’ on Friday -so I had to go to that! He did very well… all his class did because there was an awful lot of hanging around between races. We’ve just put a film in to be developed, so we’ve bought a new film… so I took a few pictures. Nice aspect – chaos of a few kids running at the camera. The sports day was held in the local park, so there’s the trees going up the hill at the back of the park in the background hopefully.

Well – the decorators were supposed to be here between 9 & 9:30 – now I start to type at 10:25 – they arrive…
17:25 now. Tea time soon. They stripped & papered the ceiling & return tomorrow to paint & put the border up that we diligently chose last Saturday. They’ve taken a sample of the border as a reference of the paint we’d like them to get. I hope it s not interpreted too dark. We’re hoping for an off white yellow thing – not a full blown muddy yellow.

Wheee – last day at work for a little while! Holiday starts tomorrow!
Did not play on the mac at home – did not collect my eMails (not that I had any – I checked this morning) – did not web page messing about. Jack simply could not get off to sleep… It was not as if he was not tired; on his was home from school Louise said that he was saying that he wanted to close his eyes & go to sleep. He would have if she let him, she thinks… But he could not ‘switch off’. I read him stories until I fell asleep a couple of times. He said that he wanted to move to our bed, so I indulged him. Interestingly he then said he wanted to be left alone to sleep – so I popped down stairs (ooh – 9:40 already). Now then, the windows are open, as it’s so hot at the moment. It took a couple of minutes before Jack trotted to the top of the stairs to report that he heard a strange noise, so I went up & stayed with him a bit. He muttered about this ‘strange noise’ – wondering & wondering – so I tried to tell him that as the windows were open it must have been outside… Which made no difference. So I eventually realised I would have to be more reassuring, & explained that he was OK now as he was in mummy & daddy’s bed.
Dozed off myself again, as I was woken at 10:15 by Louise. Took Jack back to his bed & went… to bed (after a bit of tidying up outside). It did not feel productive, but it did rest me well – all that dozing as I was trying to get Jack to follow into slumber & not staying up late messing about on the computer.
(train home) On the way home – I am on Holiday now! Just a little chore of sorting a staff web page tonight & that be all – my time be my own… I can… um… decorate to my hearts content (hey ho). I would imagine I will be writing less, as I will have less ‘idle time’. My daily train journeys are wonderful for this little bit of free time. Tweaked my web page while at work (oooh – naughty – company time!) to include an old photo of me. Was taken (ahem) some years back by a lad I was doing an “Enterprise Awareness” course with. Created especially for arts orientated individuals as a year’s prep before going on the old “Enterprise Allowance” scheme. Read as: a year’s nonsense course learning about tax & marketing oneself. The reward? No hassle from the Job Centre for a year & no obligation to take up the old Enterprise Allowance. I recall it quickly became clear that the Enterprise Allowance, although a little more than Income Support, was not really something I could maintain, as you would need to show a semblance of being able to make something tangible… not really possible with small press comics.
“So then Mr. Schroeder, lets have a look at your accounts…Hmmm… I see that you have spent the majority of your monies on photocopying…”
“Yes, well, that’s for the printing of my comics which I’m selling.”
“Selling — oh, good. So what are the returns on these?”
“Um… Well… There’s a couple of Central London comic shops that have taken 5 copies Sale or Return… & I’ve given away about half of them”
“Given Away? OK, so how much money have you made this month Mr. Schroeder”
“I was supposed to make money?”