The music of our lives

When I was younger I wasn't really interested in music, I couldn't see the point. Much better to have an story tape to listen to on long car journeys. I used to love long car rides as I got Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island or some Paddington Bear. My disinterest in music probably wasn't helped by my parents taste in music either. My dad tended to listen to Nana Mouskouri, The Carpenters, the New Seekers and Simon & Garfunkel. Simon and Garfunkel are excellent, so in that he had great taste but when you're under 5 you wouldn't appreciate it. My mum was a huge Cliff Richard fan. Nuff said there.


Since I was born in 1975 and can clearly remember the first  two albums I bought, I know that I was 14 before I started showing an interest in music. I still have the tape copies of Tranvision Vamps' Velveteen and the Fine Young Cannibals Raw and the Cooked somewhere.


It wasn't really until I got to university I started listening to music properly and became a ferocious devourer of all sorts of stuff. Like most lads I went through my heavy metal phase, but I listened to folk, country, 70's heavy rock, 50's rock and roll, ambient dance, prog rock, 60's pop and rock, the list was almost endless. Ironically I tended to steer clear of contemporary stuff like Oasis (derivative) and the whole Britpop thing as I'd become a bit of a musical snob- why listen to bands inspired by 70's stuff when you can listen to the original music yourself? I'm not so up myself now thankfully.


The thing that strikes as odd now days is if you ask people what they like musically, all you'll get as a reply is, "oh lots of stuff," or "this and that." it's like people are evasive about what they listen to or embarrassed to admit to it. If that's you, it's okay to like Meat Loaf, it doesn't matter.


If I had to give a list of my all time top spine tingling tunes (because a great song should do just that, it should bring you out in goosebumps), it would look something like this:

1. The Who - Baba O'riley. The driving arrhythmical synth coupled with Roger Daltrey's voice almost shouting the lyrics are sublime. Never fails to get the blood pounding.
2. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. Considering the Floyd are better known for their complicated orchestrated proggy stuff, this acoustic track off the eponymously named albums is wistful, sad but beautiful at the same time.
3. Terrorvision - Alice, What's the matter? This was new when I bought the album! It's under 3 minutes of the most frenetic infection pop-rock you'll ever hear. It's brilliant.
4. the Flaming Lips Do You Realize? Completely and utterly out of this world. And lovely to boot.
5. Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill. This is a classic from the ex-Genesis front man better known for Sledgehammer but once you've watched this video, you'll indelibly link him with small childrens bicycles forever.

I could go on and increase the list to 10, 20, 30 or 40 songs. It's that easy because there is so much great music out there.

What made me think about this though was our kids reaction to music. Unlike me, they both absolutely love it. The Boy has been dancing around to music since before he can walk. He spent his formative months going to sleep with Cat Stevens greatest hits playing gently in the background, he was (accidentally) born to Megadeth's Symphony or Destruction: music is in his bones. Fifi is the same, even if at the moment her dancing involves rotating on the spot waving her hands around until she's so dizzy she falls over. They jammy little so and so's have a 14 year head start on me, and for that I'm quite jealous.

Ker-ching, win a year's salary with Paypal

If there's something I know about myself and by extension all intelligent, loveable and dashingly handsome people, it's that the idea of something for nothing is a bit of a no brainer and I'll have some of that please. Paypal are currently running a competition where you are in with a chance of winning £40,000 (a years salary apparently- wow!) simply by using Paypal to buy stuff. If you didn't know it, loads of retailers accept Paypal now days, it's not for buying and selling on ebay any more. I happened to use Paypal the other day to buy a Sumovision HD movie player from Memorybits you know and if I won £40,000 for spending a more than reasonable £19.99, I'd splash the cash in a rather epic way. You see I've always fancied my own private island. For around £40,000 I could get about 40 acres of island in Nova Scotia. The idea of being alone on my own island, with just the lapping of water on the landing to keep me company is very appealing. Must teach the nippers to swim first though! You have to be in it to win it as they say, and to be in it you should read the terms here . Every time you make a purchase you get entered in the weekly competition to win £40,000.

With Christmas coming you can even do your shopping online at Toys R Us and pay with Paypal. Personally I'd be after the Lego Creative Pack, some Peppa Pig stuff, maybe a Transformer, and a Dolly and finally, ahem, Fifa 11 ;)
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The negotiation of a cuddle

Both our kids can be more than a little bit mercenary at times. Neither are particularly quick to give a nice cuddle. The boy would rather thump you one and Fifi prefers clinging dramatically rather than a nice gentle cuddle.

With the pair of them I sought to get round this via social conditioning- if you want the telly on, give me a nice cuddle first; if you want a biscuit, give me a nice cuddle first; if you want me to get that toy off the high shelf, a hug for your mummy is in order.

My logic to it all was to get them used to the act of cuddling and then they'd be more inclined to give them out for free as it were. It's mostly worked but I can almost hear both the nippers timing their cuddles in certain situations- an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine requires a 9 second cuddle, while Roary the Racing Car needs a full 15 seconds and so on.

Still, a cuddles a cuddle isn't it?

Having a Big Brother

I myself am a big brother to my little brother. I say little, he's around six feet tall and 33 but you get the general idea. Likewise wifey is a big sister to a little sister. With the boy and Fifi, we both vicariously now have our first experience of different gender siblings.

And it's not working out the way I had expected, truth be told. I expected Fifi to be something of a tomboy, and whilst she does get stuck in and enjoys scrumming & wrestling as much as her brother, she is also somewhat of a fashionista too. There are certain items of clothing she point blank refuses to wear and other dresses she hunts around for at the tender age of one and three quarters. Heaven help us when she gets older.

What's surprised me in a good way is how careful the boy can be when it comes to looking after his little sister. Many's the time we've both been told off by an irate 3 year old as he defends his sister from the wicked parents seeking to discipline her. What's surprised me generally is how much of a ring leader little Fifi can be, dictating all sorts of naughtiness and leading her brother astray. What's surprised me in a bad way is the uber aggression she can sometimes turn on, whacking her brother or us and even throwing things at us out of the blue. I think I had an unrealistic view of little girls and Fifi is quickly disabusing me of it :)

She is unbelievably lovely though, she's been a bit poorly recently and when she kicked up a fuss after bedtime on Sunday, I ended up sitting in her room while she slowly went to sleep on me, patting my arm until she drifted off.

It must be odd having a big brother when you're a little girl.

More nocturnal adventures

When the wee lass has a cold, we all suffer. The other night she was up and in our bed at about 3am. Where she felt the need to scream herself hoarse in her cot, in our bed she was happy to jump up and down like a loon and play hide & seek. Such is the nature of children.

Her cold had improved by last night however, so we packed her off to bed calpol'd up to the ears (within the safe dosage for a not quite two year old mind, we are responsible parents) at her usual time. She'd spent the day alternately rampaging and tantruming her way round London Zoo and was very tired. At about half nine she woke up for some other medicine and I had a lovely cuddle getting her back off to sleep. Made me feel like a proper parent who knows how to look after his kids.

Of course all that was merely a distraction as Fifi's brother was brewing the main event for the night. At 2.38am she tag-teamed him and the shouting began. I made it into his room and had his complaints about wetting the bed voiced at me. At three and a half, he is still in a nappy at night as he is i) a very deep sleeper and ii) lazy. I discovered to my bemusement that the little fella (literally and figuratively) was mostly naked, garbed only in his pyjama top. Once I'd moved him out of Lake Urine, onto the shores of Dry Bed, and dressed him, I demanded an explanation.

"Me took my nappy and trousers off to play with me willy before going to sleep."

Well yes. Perhaps I took the cowardly route but I decided 3am probably wasn't the right time to tackle that answer, so we adjourned to our bed where we could sleep in the dry.

After twenty minutes of being kicked repeatedly in the back and mindful that wifey wasn't very well herself, I grabbed a pillow and a throw and kipped on the floor by the radiator, listening intently for the sound of trouser removal until I drifted off to sleep.

Aunt Bessies Hostaroast

When Aunt Bessie (she's real, I've met her, she's really into sci fi and some of it quite hardcore, she's a big Kim Stanley Robinson fan you know) offered to chuck me some vouchers to take part in their hostaroast thingamebob, I jumped at the chance. Anything that involves food usually gets me jumping at the chance, often to work up an appetite so I can scoff more food. I've been known to skip breakfast and lunch on the day of the office Christmas party. I'm not some huge bloke though, my waist and age are in communion at the moment and I'm only in my mid to late 30's.

I was a bit sceptical when a fivers worth of vouchers arrived since wifey often spends three times that when she pops out for a pint of milk in the evening. We are lucky and cursed to have a small supermarket a couple of hundred yards from us you see. Lucky as it's handy and sells nice scoff, unlucky as it's perceived as rather expensive in comparison to the competition. Still, it was good to see that Waitrose stocked Aunt Bessies wares and even better to see that a fiver went a long way. A lot longer than I had expected truth be told. We got 12 large Yorkshire puddings and a bag of roast potatoes.

Since we had a vegetarian friend down to stay for the weekend, our hostaroast was a roast in as much as Aunt Bessie provided up with spuds of a roasted variety. We eschewed the roast joint in favour of some epic experimentation with the Yorkshire puddings. I knew I was onto a winner as our visitor hails from the one true Riding of Yorkshire. The place where they drink Yorkshire Tea, wish destruction on Wetherfield as though the War of the Roses is still ongoing and think that Monty Python's Yorkshire Men sketch is a homage to greatness. Yorkshire puddings were always going to down well.

After a few rousing choruses of Heart of Oak  we got stuck into the food. Fortunately it was the week before HMS Astute ran aground, so there wasn't an atmosphere at the table, just an air of expectation. I'd whipped up some bean chilli and a mini veggie sausage casserole and an ill-thought out cheesy thing to act as fillings for the Yorkshires. I had loved toad in the hole when I was younger and thought that this would be an eminently good opportunity to experiment with the fillings.

The chilli went down well in all corners, the sausage was popular with Fifi but I must admit the cheese just didn't work in the slightest. Fortunately I hadn't pre-filled the Yorkshire puds as I thought it would make them a bit soggy, so we ended up with a small bowl of wasted yellow goop.

In the Yorkshire vernacular, "It were right good scran." Nuff said really.

Effortless Cool

Someone told me I was cooler in real life than I came across as on the internet the other day. Not entirely sure their opinion counts for too much due to overt Northerness but nevertheless it did make me think. At school I wasn't one of the uber-spanners but one or two of the uber-spanners did hang out with me to increase their chances of not having their school bags attached to the light fittings on a regular basis. I'd sort of progressed to the level of watching those around me getting picked on rather than getting picked on myself.

I suppose being 6ft 4in tall and not in the school rugger team made me stand out a bit but at least I didn't have a briefcase, even if my hair was unmanageable. The side-quiff is now managed by brutal cutting and washing but it used to stand up like a shark fin when I was younger.

I've definitely grown into myself, both in terms of looks and self confidence (even though I've developed what is know as "the paunch" in the last few years) but I think I'm what is known in the business as a late bloomer.

What makes me laugh though is M'laddo and his easy class. He's only 3 but he's already choosing his own clothes and looking effortlessly cool as a result. At his age (and for around 3 times his age) I was still in M&S stuff that my Mum had picked. He's a real ladies man where I had to wait until I mastered Latin and moved on to the more complex language of talking to girls before I managed to even string a sentence together to a member of the opposite sex without either passing out through effort or choking half to death on the sudden surplus of saliva that appeared.

For whatever reason, I was an immensely insecure child and teenager and part of me hopes that we're giving both the boy and Fifi such secure and loving home that they wont have insecurities. It certainly wasn't my upbringing because my brother was much like the boy, he was popular and cool. 5 inches shorter than me too, so maybe height is inversely proportional to self confidence?

Even to this day I've never put on an outfit, and marched into the bedroom with its full length mirror and said, "Wow! Me look really cool!"

Next Baby Boutique Competition- sponsored post

When they're not doing their best impression of Old Testament demoniacs, our two children can be quite photogenic. Obviously as their daddy, I'm completely and utterly impartial but the Boy is definitely a ladies man, be it little girls, school girls, uni students, mums or grandparents, he can charm every single one of them with next to no effort. I suspect he gets it from his grandparents, it's certainly not from me.


The wee lass is equally photogenic but has the added bonus of being in the right age category for the Next Baby Boutique Competition.

Next (in association with Prima Baby) have just launched a nationwide search for a ‘superbabymodel’. Well, two ‘super baby models’, actually. They’re looking for one baby aged from birth to 18 months and one slightly older baby (19 months to 36 months). Each has to have the cute grin or adorable smile that cameras love.

The competition is all happening on Facebook. Entrants will have their pictures posted in an online gallery and a public vote will determine the top 24 babies (12 from each age category) – all of whom will be invited to the photo shoot finale. Both winners will receive a £500 spending spree at Next and the winning models will participate in photo shoots for Next and Prima Baby magazine, plus win a year’s contract with top junior model agency, Urban Angel.

The competition opens at 9.30am tomorrow, the 22nd October and runs until midday on 16th November. Full terms and conditions are on the website. What the terms and conditions don't say is that you're all doomed to come second to the wee lass. The boy at 3 and a half is the reincarnation of David Bailey and he's on to using my DSLR now, so I've got him prepped to do a 'shoot tomorrow.

"Why do people have to die?"

I was hazily involved as a spectator in a conversation between wifey and the boy at around 2am on Monday night/Tuesday morning. I'd come up to bed later than normal (it was nearly 11pm, and no I hadn't turned into a pumpkin), to find the lad fast asleep but utterly clamped to his sleeping mummy. He was so clamped, I had my pillow all to myself and no sharp toenails digging into me either.

I drifted off to sleep, only to surface a bit at around 2am. I heard M'laddo whisper in that special sort of whisper that's louder than talking (he's inherited that one from me), "Why do people have to die Mummy?" The asking of difficult questions in the middle of the night is definitely something he's inherited from his Mum- a few weeks ago she woke me up at 3am to see if I'd MOT'd my car. He really is a blend of the two of us. 

Wifey gave such a lovely patient answer, if I'd have been more awake I would have written it down. But I didn't and the sleepy elegance of it is now lost to me. I do remember however she managed to find out that the thing that had sent him on this line of questioning was Toy Story 3, more specifically the cymbal clapping monkey, which he decided had died in the film. I remember seeing the monkey in question but was too caught up in having a sort of internal fit that it had cost the two of us £25 to see the film with meager refreshments, to remember what became of him. Even so, it was months ago we saw the film and I really hope the little fella hasn't been contemplating death (by monkey or otherwise) ever since.

Ben 10- Alien Swarm Review

If there's one thing you get to know as a parent, a Dad especially, is that there are some special forms of torture aimed directly at us. They're called Bad Kids Telly. You soon develop the ability to tune most stuff out (apart from Lenny Henry, that's technically not possible you know) but there are some programmes that you find yourself watching rather than enduring.

For example, we have this 12 DVD box set of the original Ben 10 (when he was actually ten you know) and it has been an absolute life saver on rainy days, sick days, days with the elderly grandparents and days when simply nothing else will do. So when we were tipped off that a new live action Ben 10 film was out on DVD, we (and by this I mean me because I am still a kid at heart) leapt at the chance to have a borrow of a promotional copy. Purely for research purposes you understand.

Ben 10 Alien Swarm is based in the Ben 10 Alien Force Universe. For those of you that don't know one from the other, Alien Force sees Ben and his chums a bit older and edgier in a child safe sort of way than in the original series. Before I get into the dangerous territory of  beginning to sound like a trekkie, I better move on to the film itself.

The characters from the TV show are very well realised and the production values are pretty high for what is effectively a straight to video release. Seeing his favourite characters rendered in the flesh more than made up for a slight lack of action- I guess having Ben transform every couple of minutes in animation is no more expensive than having him walk along the street, but in live action stuff this isn't quite the case. It's something I noticed but our lad certainly didn't, he was as pleased as punch and has constantly asked for Big Boy Ben 10 to be put on.

I think live action is an important facet of childrens programming, it gives them opportunity to study and understand human interaction better than cartoons do. Not that our lad will be considering that, he'll just be pestering me for a copy of Ben 10 Alien Swarm until I cave in.

Ben 10 Alien Swarm was released on DVD and Blu Ray last week (Monday 11 October 2010), just in time for the predictably horrendous weather we'll no doubt have over half term. Grab yourself a copy and have a sit down and a cup of tea while your little darlings are engrossed.

Fisherprice Trio review

When I was a lad, Fisher Price were owned by the Quaker Oats company and a Trio was a biscuit, rather than a Fisher Price construction toy. The disgorged contents of the parents loft hauled down for the delectation of our two little ones is testament to this. Please take note: the cord on a 1970's Chatterbox Phone is much longer than the current one, long enough that the phone can stay on the ground whilst a child picks it up.

Some things have changed aside from the length of the cord on a Chatterbox Phone, Mattel now own Fisher Price instead of the Quakers, but the name Fisher Price is still synonymous with quality in children's toys. With this in mind, I sat down to do some serious construction with the Fisher Price Trio Construction Blocks. The Boy wanted to help and I suppose since he was in the target age group, 3-5, it would have been churlish if I hadn't let him join in. The boy is 3 and a half and has played variously with Megabloks, Clippo and Lego. The Megabloks and Clippo are fair too young for him now and his manual dexterity with Lego can't keep up with his vivid imagination (yet).

1-0 to the Boy

Sure enough, after a while I was relegated to pushing the car around (the chassis detaches so you can make more exciting wheeled vehicles if, unlike me, you're allowed more access to the blocks) whilst the Boy went on his usual odyssey of making spaceships. The blocks click together well and make a much sturdier connection than his usual building materials which means they can survive 3 year old play a little bit more easily than Lego or Clippo.

The building set with storage we were playing with has 100 pieces and costs a shade under £30. This isn't an insignificant amount of money but its a toy that's only really limited by your child imagination. Since we've been playing with it, certain constructs have remained built for days on end, only disassembled when it became apparent Dad wasn't going to pop out and buy more, however vigorous the pleas became.

Certainly one to recommend for the 3-5 year olds, especially if they like stuff to stay together once built so they can, you know, actually play with it rather than look at it.

I like to ride my bicycle- sponsored post

Did I really wear shorts that short BC (before children)?

One of my life long passions has always been cycling. When I was younger it gave me a freedom I couldn't get any other way. When I was in my early teens and my Mum no doubt thought I was a mile or so away, I was often 10, 15 or even twenty miles distant. Sometimes I cycled places for a reason (most often a computer games shop our crummy town didn't have) but mostly it was just to be outdoors on my own. We lived in a part of Hertfordshire that was only a mile or two away from narrow country lanes where you were surrounded by fields and hamlets. Which was nice.

At one point I even spent a considerable amount of time perfecting riding around the neighbouring estate hands free; a tricky proposition given the number of bends but it was pre road humps, now a days it would be pretty much impossible.

I can vividly remember my first new bike too. I'd had a number of hand me downs from my cousins, who were all about ten years older than me, so by the time I came to ride a kids bike, early 70's stuff stood out like a sore thumb but it didn't stop me going like the clappers. Sadly I never did inherit a Chopper either. One Christmas I got a Raleigh Grifter and my brother got the smaller Raleigh Striker. It was modern, had a twist shift for the gears and made me feel like a proper grown up. It also weighed about a tonne and felt like it was forged from one solid piece of iron. Probably a good thing in many ways, as I still have the cyclists legs it gave me to this day.

To my satisfaction, we even took our bikes on our honeymoon, strapped to the back of my bright yellow car on a bike carrier. When we stayed overnight on our way down to Cornwall at the swanky Vineyard Hotel, the staff even carried them into storage for us, which was great.

The coming of M'laddo has put a temporary kybosh on cycling truth be told. I'm not one of these parents who thinks it's a good idea to strap a small child to the back of a bike but as he heads towards 4 years old, we'll get him off his scooter and on to a bike at some point I'm sure. We'll probably have a rummage at the kids bikes from Tesco Direct too. I can understand now why my Mum and Dad gave me hand me downs until I was at secondary school, bikes can be blinking expensive. And considering that Tesco Direct even stock brands like Muddyfox, it's not going to be a cheap pile of rubbish either. Unlike the bike we bought wifey at auction once. Fortunately that got stolen but I digress!

I'll be able to show the boy my scars from various biking accidents (nothing ever broken thankfully) as a warning to take it easy though. And perhaps I'll think about GPS tagging the bike, just to make sure he's still in the right county ;)



This post is a sponsored post- the content is all my own work but the links were provided for me and I have been compensated for their inclusion.

Looking out for each other

So fast they blur

One of the blessings of have two children as close in age as our two are- two in January and 4 in April- is how well they can get on together. I wrote last week how sometimes the lad needs a bit of space and quiet from his sister but when we went to the Scandinavian show on Saturday, he showed just how well he can look after her. Fifi can be a stubborn little soul at times. I ask her to hold my hand and I get a "No way!" as she tucks her hands under her armpits but then the lad steps in and gently takes her hand and they march off together. It's funny really, he can be such an impatient boy at times and has a temper on him but equally he can show such a lot of patience with his little sister and she loves him for it.

Despicable Me- Review

A couple of weeks ago we were all lucky enough to go to a preview screening of Despicable Me. It's out at the cinema this Friday and I feel I must exhort you to go and see it. I think now days animated films are getting so good you can't just view them as cartoons, they have to work as films in their own right.

The story follows Gru, an ageing super villain as he tries to keep up with the young upstart who happens to be the son of the Evil Banking boss.

From the point that Gru gives a small child a balloon purely for the purpose of upsetting said small child by popping it with a pin, you know you're in for a treat. The script is very sharp, it's got enough to keep adults happy as well as keeping the kids very amused.

I think I loved it and it was a bonus that both the nippers liked it too, which is the wrong way around for a kids film but doesn't really matter does it?!

Despicable Me is out this Friday, 15 October.

If you go down to the woods today...

The boy has been a bit antsy recently. I think a lot of it has come down to him feeling muscled out of things by his sister. None of it is malicious on Fifi's part. She's just an over excited one year old with lots of energy and a strong personality. We sit down to read a book, and she comes and sits on my lap, we play sword fights, and she's giving me a hug, he goes for a wee, and shes passing him a bit of loo roll to wipe his willy with. It's lovely most of the time but sometimes the boy just wants a moment of peace (don't we all) for a quiet cuddle with his mummy or daddy.

With this in mind I decided to take him for a scoot on Sunday morning. Just him and me, a bit of father and son time. Before we got half way down the street he was grinning ear to ear and I knew it had been a good decision. I'm trying to take him out for a bit of exercise regularly at the moment because he's turning into a bit of a lay about couch potato but I only intended for us to be out for about 20 minutes. Two hours later we came back after an awesome adventure.

We did plenty of scooting, then did a trek over a freshly ploughed field (the farmer had even ploughed the footpath- genius), and ran around the woods. I even had the infamous phrase, "Daddy, me need poopoos". I selected a wide variety of leaves to wipe his bottom with, but then he changed his mind. Understandably.

We chatted all the way and it was like he was showing me the way, we went a route he's gone blackberrying on with his mummy. He told me about the field, the radio tower, the woods and the ploughed field.

When we got back, we listened to the ZingZillas album and Fifi joined in with some awesome jumping around and everything was awesome.

All in all a great Sunday morning.

No Fifa 11: or the way things have changed

One thing has been fairly consistent for the last 15 years and that has been my purchase of a Fifa Football game. Currently we're up to Fifa 11, and since that means 2011, and the first game I bought it the series was Fifa 96, that's a lot of football games.Some years there have been world cup or European championship editions as well, and I've bought them too. My personal situation has changed a lot in that time, I've gone from being a student, to living at my parents, to moving in with a lovely someone who later became my wife but one of the constants has been playing footy computer games.

In the last few (post kids) years the time I've had spare has been scant and the spare time I've had I've not really spent playing video games. So my Fifa playing changed as well. I tended to only play multi player with my best mate who still lived in the North. A few games and a chat over Xbox live were what kept our friendship ticking over. When he moved down south for love, we saw each other a bit more and played games a bit more, in the same room this time, like we did when we were younger. He was best man at my wedding and I returned the favour twice. I didn't even recycle (m)any of the jokes.

We were heading towards the point where I would have known him longer that not (we met in the first year at uni) and were still good mates despite distance, and how we'd changed/grown as individuals over the years, although I'd be the first to say we weren't as close as we had been, when that arsehole Gordon Brown called a general election. The one thing we've never agreed on is politics and we've always tried not to talk about our political views. Suffice to say we didn't in this instance but I did do a blog post that mentioned something he said in a post himself. I didn't attribute it to him but I suppose he read it and didn't like it. It was a throw away opening paragraph but that was it. Blocked on Facebook, MSN, twitter and I've not heard a peep since. We used to chat every day on MSN. Nothing consequential for such is the nature of blokey chat but it was really regular.

I found it odd and wondered if anything else had happened behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of. If there were other cumulative reasons, perhaps he shouldn't has agreed to be M'laddos godfather. Wifey has urged me on numerous occasions to email/phone him and patch things up but I think if he really doesn't want to talk to me that much, what's the point? I still stand by my original point any way, tolerance is a two way street, and if you don't agree with someone's opinion, calling them a mouth-breathing fascist isn't the most appropriate way to show them they're intolerant.

Therein lies the problem with blogs I suppose. It's all very well expressing an opinion publicly but if you don't like equal public criticism of that opinion, you've got to wonder whether you should express it in the first place. As it stands in late April I lost my best mate of 17 years and it makes me sad.

Playskool Chase Me Critter: Review

The Chase me critter is a smashing little toy. It's versitile too- nice and speedy when it moves so a crawling baby will have to put some effort into keeping up but there is also a stand still mode as well for when you don' t want them chasing here there and everywhere or for a baby who isn't yet crawling but can sit on their own or in a Bumbo (though they will need a helpful older sibling to return the pinging balls if they can't move).The balls are appropriately soft for balls which ping through the air at baby height too.

Noises are sweet little yays and hoorays and music is ok as far as toy music ever is. For once I haven't felt the need to take a screwdriver to the speaker housing, which is always a good sign.

It looks cute, with bright colours and it's also durable. I accidentally put it through the drop test and it survived unscathed, so its definitely a sturdy little toy. Good quality in an age of cheap plastics.

There are only two issues with it, and these are both minor. Firstly the balls are small versions of those you get in ball pools so will likely get squashed if sat on by a clumsy baby. Secondly, it's a test for the thought I put into assembling a good collection of batteries for the emergency battery drawer as it takes C cells, which unlike AA's and AAA's, most people don't tend to have sitting around and it doesn't come with batteries.

Other than those two really minor points I simply can't fault it. Good quality, fun, and an age appropriate toy.

There is also no silly packaging that takes ages to open while an excited baby gets frustrated. Actually I think its a real gem of a toy that I'm really pleased to have it!

There is a chance to get 50% off Playskool products if you click here too!

What do the changes in child benefit mean for you?

I've read a few posts and a lot of comments on twitter about the governments announcements on the changes to child benefit and I suppose if you're the sort that still picks up a news paper, you will see it plastered all over the cover for the rest of the week. I thought I'd do a brief summary of the changes and what they mean to me.

There is a freeze on the increase in child benefit for the next three years, so that will affect everyone. In practical terms, the real hit comes in after 5 April 2013.

Currently if you have one child, you get £1,055.60 a year tax free from the Government. For each subsequent child you get an additional £696.80, so a two child household would receive £1,752.40 and a three child family £2,449.20. This is received until they are 16 and continues to 19 if they are in full time education.

The Government has decided to stop child benefit completely for families where one parent is a higher rate tax payer from 5 April 2013.

The current threshold for paying tax at the higher 40% rate is £43,875. If you earn this or less, and your spouse  is in the same position, you could have joint earnings of £87,750 and still get child benefit.

If you earn more than £43,875 but your spouse is for example a SAHM, you will get nothing.

If you earn more than £43,875 but your spouse doesn't, you will still get nothing.

By 2013 the figure of £43,875 will have changed as future budgets alter the personal allowance and the tax boundaries but as of today it is a good ballpark figure to work with.

How much will it save the government? £1bn a year is the estimate. Is this a good way of saving £1bn a year? Last year The Public Accounts Committee found the Government was losing £1bn a year because the tax credit system wasn't working properly- it was giving people too much credit. So the question has to be why the government have decided to save £1bn by cutting benefit to children instead of saving £1bn by fixing the appalling state the working family tax credit system is in.

The answer is depressing- it's easier to cut the child benefit.

The coalition have already said it would be a logitiscal nightmare to calculate household income and picking on households with higher rate tax payers is easier, so I can imagine fixing the tax credit system would be harder.

Easier for them though. Our joint income is around £25,000 off the potential maximum joint income a couple could have and still get child benefit yet from April 5 2013 we will get nothing. Wifey works part time because of the children so gets a pro rated salary accordingly. The situation will be worse for full time SAHMs where their partner is a higher rate tax payer. They could earn as a couple over £40,000 less than a couple that still get child benefit. Crazy.

There is some talk of a married couple allowance being introduced as a sop but this misses the real point. Rather than cutting benefits, the system should be improved to stop waste.

It's like the water companies urging us all to conserve water by sharing baths when their ageing system of pipes loses a fifth of the water supply.

Like a lot of the so called middle classes we actually use our child benefit to benefit our children. We paid for swimming lessons for our 3 year old last term, and the two of them often go to an art morning on a Friday. They've both been to music classes as well. All of this costs money, money which will be tighter from 2013.

There will be some crazy situations to come for people too. Can you imagine telling your boss you're appreciative of the pay rise offered but actually you don't want it because you'll be out of pocket? If you have two kids and get a £2,000 pay rise that takes you over the threshold for losing your child benefit, chances are you'll be out of pocket thanks to your pay rise. Personally, with two children, I'd need a £3,000 pay rise just to stay where I am once the cuts happen.