the generation game

so, farewell then, the so called "golden generation" that were, apparently, destined to deliver success. instead they decided to deliver one of the greatest ever displays of indifference and self-interest.

are they distraught and broken by the disappointment and failure? no, not really. their self-centered, blatantly non-committal stance means they can barely bring themselves to shrug their shoulders.





growing up in Middlesbrough, all you ever wanted to see was your team do their best. go down, lose by 3 or 4, but just do your best. that's all, really. it shouldn't be too much to ask of those who have carved out a (healthy) living doing what they love, but apparently it is.

they of course have managed to garner an excuse for this inept display, as highlighted by several jokes on their excuse, the one below being the best of them.





and speaking of the best, how is it that a certain player is hailed as a "world great", yet in two appearances at the stage for the world's greats to do their thing he has failed to deliver just one single, solitary goal?





the interwebnet is filled with rants and raves about what happened one Sunday afternoon in Bloemfontein. instead of looking back at that too much, all i ask is that the next time a side is needed, fill it with people with a desire and passion to play. i, and the majority of fans, couldn't care less how popular and glamorous they are - just field people who actually want to be on the field.

another fine day out with Dad.....

hey everyone

well, i will confess to being rather tired and exhausted at the moment. i probably shouldn't be attempting this update now, but it's fresh in my mind (and Dad is keen to read it), so let me have a go!

as you will recall from my last post, on Wednesday i was the rather brief victim of a pickpocket. well, last night i got a call from the police. it seems that those who are holding a certain event here at the moment are reviewing any and all criminal cases which occur at their events, and took a very dim view of this matter. they were insistent that full charges be brought against the culprit, and i was duly subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness today!

i must say, there was no messing about - the court agenda was cleared to make way for this case as best it could be, and key individuals (prosecutor, witnesses) were rushed from miles away to be there.

first, though, not all cases were cleared. Dad, who kindly and considerately took me to court today, and i got to witness a case that was supposed to be winding up. the suspect in a shoplifting case, let's call them Suspect M, was supposed to plead not guilty and have a date set for trial. Suspect M, however, apparently took a shine to the life of a lag, as they ranted and raved about how good prison was and thus they wished to change their plea to guilty!

it takes all sorts, i guess. it was rather fascinating, mind, to see that the family of Suspect M bring a meal in for them to eat. in the dock!!!





whereas Suspect M certainly seemed to be loving it, neither the court police officer nor the judge were impressed with seeing Suspect M tuck into a Big Mac as the advocates did their thing. the judge was even less impressed with the amended plea given in, but it's not for me to report on that!

anyway, on to the details of my case, or at least the case to which i was a witness. now, i have no idea legally what i can and cannot write of, so all you John Grisham junkies shall have to look elsewhere for full accounts i guess.

(Michele says it's public record and my case so i can say what i like. who knew she had a legal degree or two hidden away?)

the defendant, who to the bewilderment of all in court and had opted to defend himself, started with a very interesting defence indeed. very interesting. he claimed, via a translator, that he was not guilty because he was not there. let us not forget that his claim on the evening, and he has been in police custody ever since, was that it was an "unlawful arrest" as a woman officer was involved.

anyway, how did he substantiate that he was not there? well, in my testimony i stated that the suspect i saw and took hold of was wearing a blue-green turquoise jacket. to counter this, he decided that, with my permission, he would produce the clothing that he wore that evening. the court asked my permission, and thus he produced the jacket he wore that evening. can you guess the colour of it?




yes, that's right, turquoise.

without so much as an explanation or reason given as to how it was that he was there after all after stating that he wasn't, the defendant-defence lawyer then unleashed a bizarre, bewildering range of conspiracy theories about what had actually happened that evening. i was concentrating more on listening to the questions he eventually had for me, as well as to the instructions of the presiding judge, but from what i recall these are some highlights of his version of events.

first up, despite the fact that i had never seen this person before in my life, he claimed that in fact he had gone along with me and my Dad to the event, and we had spent quite some time talking to each other. then, for no given reason, myself and my Dad, in collusion with the arresting officer and a woman whose description and details were not given, decided to frame this chap. apparently, in his words via translation, i gave my wallet to this woman, she ran 3 metres away, i shouted for help, the police officer detained him, the woman then ran back up, gave the wallet to the officer who then gave it to me.

he then asked what would i say if the woman in the above scenario was brought before the court. i answered that as i was unaware of any woman being involved in him putting his hand in my pocket and taking my wallet i would not be able to give any testimony or answers about her other than to say i was unaware of anyone else being involved.





another theory presented was that i had in fact dropped my wallet, and he was simply attempting to return it. can i add anything to that?

one of the more bizarre theories presented, following on from the first one i recalled for you, was that it was my Dad who had taken my wallet and then, feeling a sense of guilt presumably, decided that instead of returning it he would plant it on someone. as at various points in this theory my Dad was in front of me, behind me, next to me and off colluding with the police officer and "mystery woman" about the story, i guess i really need to get my eyes checked as he appeared to be right in front of me all the time!

when the defence lawyer of the decade was asked if he had any more questions for me his response was "no, because all of the things he says are lies".

my Dad was called in to testify after me. i needless to say rather went off outside for a cigarette or three than listen to him, but apparently at one point another theory came out; this time being that it was impossible for the crime to have been committed because the security fences made it impossible. i am not sure if the prosecution advocate or the judge asked him how it was possible for his theory of events to happen yet impossible for my account of events to occur in the light of the security fence factor, but you would suspect it cropped up in conversation.

the verdict? i do not know. me and Dad were exhausted, and decided to head home since it was not long off the time i would need to go and fetch the boys anyway. after us the police officer who detained him was due to testify, and then sentencing would be passed. if i find out, i will let you all know!

how do i feel about all of this? confused, really. on the one hand it's an absolutely horrible feeling, having someone physically remove something from you, but the circumstances - more or less immediate return of my wallet with nothing missing, strong support and assurances from the police and staff at the stadium and then a rapid court case being set - kind of prevent me feeling angry about it all.

one thing is for certain, though - i do feel an overwhelming sense of thanks and gratitude to the police officer who came to my assistance and resolved the matter. i don't know if he will ever see or read this, but thank you for your dedication. this probably goes without saying, but the same level of thanks goes to my Dad. thank you, Dad, for the support and standing by me today.

and how did i show my thanks to Dad? well, mindful of the start of this post and an incident mentioned in my report of the day out on Wednesday, how else could i say thanks other than buying him a McDonalds and a bag of mints?


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

an interesting night in a great stadium

hey everyone


well, last night i went off to my second and presumably final game of a certain event being held here. and what a venue to go to for such an event too - it's easily one of the finest, awe inspiring venues i have ever been to!

if you want a short version, the evening started off interestingly, took a rather bad turn, had a happy and fortunate ending to the bad turn and then ended up being a spectacular evening.

the interesting start was arriving at the park and ride venue, the most splendid Wits University Campus, and being presented with a gift from a student there. the student made it clear that it was part of their "HIV Lifestyle" project, and thus i was not surprised to receive a tin of condoms. i just shoved them in my pocket and thought nothing more of it, but Dad seemed rather enamoured by the gift.

when i asked him why he was so happy with them (which in retrospect was a brave question), he said that he thought it was brilliant that they were giving him a tin of mints to take with him to the game. when i pointed out that they were not in fact mints he looked somewhat alarmed and soon got rid of the gift!


onwards, then, to our destination. our bus drove us right up to the stadium, and then 3 or so kilometers right past it to our parking location! quite a walk to get to it in the end, but by my word it was really worth it to see the place in all its glory!





sadly, it was at the stadium that things took a bad turn. petty crime (if any crime could be considered petty) is, alas, rife at major venues and events, and so it came to be that i was the victim of a pickpocket. well, i was briefly the victim of a pickpocket; a pickpocket who must surely be considered, after you have read how this turned out, to be the single stupidest criminal in history.

for reasons best known to himself, this pickpocket decided that the ideal to strike at me was at the main entrace to the stadium. this main entrance is noted for two things - having more light that all the Christmas trees in the world going at once and being heavily populated by police & security officers. how fortunate that i felt the guy take it and grabbed him, only to find that a couple of police officers had seen him and grabbed him too!

my wallet, happily, was thus returned in moments when the main officer searched him, and he was whisked off to a cell. i went along to make a statement, and it was at this point that the criminal made his case for being incredibly stupid. the line of defence he went for was that he was the victim of an "unlawful arrest" because - get this - one of the officers arresting him was a woman. yeah, that's a good one!

so, at this point then, a very big thank you and well done indeed to the law and safety enforcement officers at this event! criminals were warned not to try anything because reprisals would be both swift and severe, this is certainly the case!

a distinctly unpleasant experience, then, but one that had a fortunate and good ending (except, you would hope, for the idiot criminal), and not something that was going to stop us enjoying the evening!





as for the match itself, well, the reviews and results are all over the place i would expect, so let me instead share with you a few of the few pictures i took inside the ground - needless to say, i wasn't in all that much of a mood to take too many images!





once inside the place it really is breathtaking. especially, i suppose, if you get a police escort through the VIP area so that you are not inconvenienced any further!





other than the actual match, there were some pretty interesting sites to see, really. a particularly curious case was that of the gent wearing a Yamaka. i would not be sure which side between Germany and Ghana he was supporting, but he seemed to be smiling at the result as he left!

there was also a rather large Ghana flag on display with "Luton" written across it in absolutely massive letters. i would very much like to meet the chap who you would assume moved from Ghana to the tropical appeals of Luton Town, only to head back this way to follow his team!





one of the oddest sites was probably a gang of England fans. it's not so much that they were there that's odd, it is their passionate, joyful celebrations and flag waving when Germany scored and eventually won. either they are brimming with confidence for reasons that i cannot comprehend from what i have seen of England thus far, or they were simply unaware of what Germany's win meant for England. i guess they will find out this Sunday....






so, there you have it. a colourful night out, and one that did not end quite as late as the time in Rustenburg! it was great to go and see it with my Dad, who was as entertaining as ever! i am now too tired and too broke to go to any of the other games, quite frankly, but shall enjoy watching the rest on TV!

and, to answer a few questions - Scott, no we did not have any ginger biscuits, Eddie no we did not need to try and earn 50p or R50 in any manner you suggested and Gillian, oh yes i shall probably be posting my tin to you at some point!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

James and William in June

hey everyone

well, it's dawned on me that i haven't really given you an update on the boys for a couple of weeks. chalk it up as being very, very cold for messing around with cameras, and indeed us all being somewhat distracted by a certain event going on down here at the moment!

here's James showing off exactly how cold it is here at the moment!





and indeed William is not finding it any warmer!





not that the cold weather is putting them off their stride at all. James has had a rather good weekend, taking Grandma and Grandad, not to forget Marmite, off for a walk over the weekend. he also got taken to the toy shop by Grandma and had a whole load of something called "Bakugan" bought for him. i mention this because later James told me, in precise detail, what roads and turns i had to take and into which shop i had to go from Grandma's house to get him more!





William, meanwhile, is developing an incredible appetite for eating. we are still giving him bottle, of course, but he's well into eating now too. most cereal and those first fruit puree thingies. you know, like the ones RoboCop ate in RoboCop. he's also really finding his voice - happily mostly giggles, but every now and then a scream when he wants his food.

what kind of scream? ever see Father Ted? remember Father Jack? yeah, something like that!





the pic above and the one below, by the way, were it seems taken by James whilst i was out and about shopping today. i came home and found them on my camera!





well, there you go! will try and make the next update a bit sooner! as William did a bit of a roll on the bed today (mostly to just try and grab James) i am expecting crawling to start soon!

hope wherever you are is warmer than where i am!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Nolan We Trust

hey everyone

i think it goes without saying that Christopher Nolan is one of the most interesting, talented film directors on the go at the moment, if not the best currently making films. why? well, if you take away his two biggest films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, you are still left with quite an impressive cannon of films - Memento, Insomnia and my favourite, The Prestige. thus far, mindful of the fact that i have not yet seen his current effort starring a certain Leondardo Di Caprio, it seems he can do no wrong.

here is a link to a recent interview conducted at a film festival, and if you read it you can understand why he is a success - he wants basically the same thing as film fans want to appear on screen, rather than some obscure vision or something that "research" has said will work.





the two aspects of the interview that i found particularly appealing are his comments around this whole 3D business and the use of CGI in films.

in short, whereas certain great visionaries of cinema, as well of course as one of the biggest egomaniacs to ever walk this earth, are getting all excited about films in 3D, Nolan puts it into the right perspective, seeing it as a "novelty" that doesn't actually add to cinema. well said!

as for CGI, there's an interesting part where he recalls challenging some CGI experts to "recreate and surpass" a film scene he did for real. guess which one looked better?





one can only hope the common sense approach by Mr Nolan eventually prevails across all cinema!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one day and night and morning in Rustenburg....

hey everyone


well, my head has sort of rotated back around after quite an adventure yesterday! off it was to go and see England play the USA in Rustenburg!

there are many, many fine stories to tell of the 12 or so hours out and about, really. certain ones can never, ever be repeated, but the majority i will try and remember for you here!

the day started off in an innocent enough manner - here's some of our party getting ready to board the bus. you may wish to pay particular attention to Scott, a fine gent who i was hitherto assured was a midget, stood between myself and Dad.





now, showing respect for the massive list of rules and regulations the company organizing this event put in place i didn't take my camera along with me, so the rest of the images are off my phone. sorry for the poor quality of some of them, but how much of that is the fault of the phone and how much it is that photography + ale seldom work out is anyone's guess!

after stopping off along the way from Johannesburg to pick up quite a few more lads we eventually made it to Rustenburg. no tales from the trip? well, one or two, but i will tell them as we go. in the mean time, here's one of us at a very fine shebeen about 5kms from the ground.





it was a most excellent place - the majority of visiting and based here England fans congregated here for the pre-match watering rituals, as you can see from this banner!





yes, i took a snap of that for all my many friends from the fine City of Liverpool. and, speaking of Liverpool, we had our very own Scouser with us - one of the blue persuasion, known to many around the world as Eddie...





now then, that England flag is not the one Eddie started his journey out with. in a rather unfortunate incident Eddie trusted my Dad to wave his flag out of the window of the bus. you can pretty much guess what happened next and thus Dad bought him a replacement one as soon as we got to Rustenburg.

Eddie was the star of the show on the bus trip in many respects, in particular as he regaled us with tales of imaginative ways of earning 50p a go by performing certain acts that i cannot list here whilst visiting provincial towns famed for their mining exploits....

moving on, and from what i can gather, TV audiences around the world are getting quite upset with the loud and proud sound of the vuvuzela at all matches. well, what can i say but toughies - they are a big part of the game here, and the fans visiting from around the world have taken a real shine to them. here's Paul, one of the lads we picked up on the way, showing how to go with the flow.





nice one Paul! the sound of them does, i admit, seem to be isolated on TV - in the ground they are nowhere near as deafening or "annoying" as some seem to think and suggest, if anything they build up a real excellent atmosphere.

anyway, moving away from that particular debate, here's a shot of the crowd at the shebeen we stopped off at. as you can see, mostly us England supporters, but one or two Americans slipped in!





after a crate or two of ales it was time to take a walk down to the stadium. well, the intention was to walk. it was a rather pleasant stroll too, but then Richard went and commandeered, for the price of a beanie and a flag, a rather smart flatbed truck and driver. we thus stood on the back of it down the main road and made merry noise along the way!

here's Dad and Little Scott, signing and celebrating away on the back of it!





we did, however, eventually get to a "no drive zone" and had to disembark from our ace mode of transport. sensing that the amount of ale being consumed would probably need the balance of food, i located a street vendor frying steaks on a corner and bought several of them.

i mention this to justify the inclusion of the picture below. i don't know much about her at all, but this American lass got some of the lads with us (names withheld, of course) very excited, and for some reason they insisted that i get a picture of me eating one of the steaks whilst stood next to her.





i can only assume i was introduced to the picture business to give them an excuse to take pictures of her. not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. if i recall correctly, she was in fact trying to sell tickets for the match. quite annoying, that - despite claims of the games being all sold out, there were plenty of tickets available outside, and the attendance figure was some 6,000 below the capacity for the ground.

anyway, onwards and in to the ground, where Dad chose to show off just how many ales he had by waving both an England and American flag around, and of course Richard showing off exactly what he thought of the one with stars on it!





such antics were soon stopped, however, for fear of upsetting the fine members of the Nottingham Constabulary who had flown over to "keep an eye on things". they were friendly coppers, mind.





exactly how 3 or 4 police officers from England were going to enhance or improve on the genuinely very good safety & security job that the heavily armed SA Police Force were doing is a little beyond my understanding, but good to see them all the same!

into the ground itself, and here's me and Dad enjoying the spectacle!





the Freddie Boswell out of Bread wig and look was entirely Dad's own doing, but up to now absolutely none of us can remember how or when he got his face painted! must have been a random act of kindness by someone or other!

as for the actual match itself, well, after a promising start, the less said about how England petered out the better! i didn't take any pics of the game as such, preferring instead (as you will all no doubt understand) to rather sit back / stand up and enjoy it all.

i did, however, get one or two snaps of the players warming up. well, i thought i did. it seems i got "zoom" mixed up with "reduce" on my phone, so as it turns out i do not have as many pictures as i thought! here are one or two, though!





if i am not mistaken, that in the middle of the penalty area in the pic above is a Mr W Rooney esq., no less. i had not seen him in action before, and all said of him is true - when he takes possession of the ball, dear me it's something else to watch. no matter how he and England do, he truly is one of the best in the world.

and here we are with what turned out to be the starting 11 warming up. one or two of them can be starting to pack and go home early, if you want my opinion, but i suppose let's wait and see if they improve next week!





and, in the interests of balance and objectivity, here is one of the more interesting Americans at the game, along with a lady of apparent Asian origin who he grabbed from somewhere to be in this picture for no apparent reason.





Captain America here and my Dad had a rather frank and forthright exchange about the game, it has to be said. i think we shall call my Dad "Mr Ambassador" as a result of the advice he gave to the captain and indeed the whole of America. i am not sure if they will follow precisely the advice that my Dad gave them, but if they do, i imagine reaching the telephone to answer calls will be difficult whilst they are doing it, so don't take offence if you are trying to speak to American and they are not answering!

whereas the Americans were rather visible and vocal outside, inside it was all dominated by English fans and flags. here's some of the English boys, hopefully if they stumble on this site by accident they are pleased to have a pic of them!





and finally, here's a picture of me and Richard before the game kicked off and the sun went down, showing off just exactly what the whole day was about.





Richard, for the most part, stayed awake for the bus trip home - all 5 hours of it. i dozed off a bit, but i do recall him expressing hitherto unknown joy and delight at something called jazz rendezvous coming on the radio. i am unfamiliar with the general concepts and style of this, but what i heard suggested it would be wise to catch some sleep as the bus made its way home!

i did wake up, though, when we stopped to drop Eddie off at an entirely random petrol station. Scott the midget, who had fallen over once or twice in the stadium (apparently due to "structural flaws in the stadium" which affected no one else), saw this as an opportunity to buy some food. never in my life have i seen such enthusiasm for getting your hands on an unspecified pie, a litre of milk and a now infamous packet of ginger biscuits at 3 in the morning!


well, there you have it. whatever shortcomings there were in the England game, we had a fantastic time out with all the friends, family and visitors who are here to witness this truly special event.

a very big thanks indeed to all the people of Rustenburg for not only putting up with the 30,000+ visitors, but for going out of their way to stand and say "welcome" to us, and indeed to join in and make the good spirits what they were.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nothing happened today.....

......after 12 noon that is!!

to mark a certain event starting here in a few days time, everyone was encouraged to head out and wish the national side good luck and all the best.

here's a few shots from our place of verk!!





as you can see, all and sundry that could get out on the street to make a celebratory noise did so!!





the next month or so is going to be very excellent and very, very loud!!






be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Zealand birthday celebrations

hey everyone

well, some of you may suspect that i am going to fill this particular post with comments about the unusual and comparatively strange ways the people of New Zealand chose to celebrate birthdays. i am not, you may be sad or happy to learn, going to do this.

i am, however, going to take you on the journey of the - to us normal types - unusual way my dear brother-in-law Grant celebrates his birthday, if "celebrate" is correct. the fact that he is celebrating in New Zealand is inconsequential - the routine would be the same no matter where on earth he resided.

Grant, you have to remember, was one of the most feared, respected and significant figures in the revolutionary accounting wars of the mid-90s. it was a time of fear and doubt where the world split into two - those who did accounting with a quill and a ledger, and those who embraced all this "software on computers" business. well, yes, there was a third group - those of us, in a substantial majority, who were deeply disinterested so long as accountants did whatever the hell it is they did, but in Grant's world, the world was in two.

as is his way, then, celebrating a birthday is not as straightforward as the rest of the world. far from just waking up and appreciating the good wishes, Grant embarks on a bizarre series of standard, revolutionary and counter-revolutionary accounting principles to make sure that the event of a change of age balances correctly with the relevant ledgers, is audited (internally and externally, naturally) and then makes absolutely certain all the criteria is met for the change management channels and filter instructions.

once he has done that, invariably the time to celebrate is the day after his actual birthday, sadly. however, safe in the knowledge that the spreadsheets and whatever else it is accountant types work with are all balanced and correct, absolutely nothing further stands in the way of him celebrating his birthday. at breakfast.





i am not sure at all that Katie and Daniel appreciate the rigorous, some may say hard core, accounting gifts that Grant brings to annotating and amending various documents and reports to reflect his birthday change management request, but they certainly appreciate a good slice of cake!

here they are humouring Daddy by joining him in giving the official, unofficial accounting auditing sign for "all clear, everything balances". or something like that.





Daniel, no matter how hard i will bet you Grant has tried, hasn't really grasped the history and importance of doing birthdays in accordance with proper and exact accounting principles as such as yet. instead - some might say rightly - Daniel has taken a shine to celebrating his birthday in a very carefree, jolly way, demanding cake for every day for an unspecified amount of time before and indeed after his birthday.

Mummy is, of course, happy to oblige!





well, there you have it! a belated happy birthday to Grant, and a sort of early happy birthday to Daniel!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rock and roll dreams come true

hey everyone

well, the single biggest even to hit the African continent happens, as we all know, in June 2010. what some of you may have missed, however, is the fact that it happened on Friday! yes, Lyla's first ever school concert went off without a hitch. despite fears, there was no delay to the start, no power cuts and absolutely no problem accommodating the overseas visitors for the event. nice one!

needless to say, with the estimated worldwide viewing figures, Lyla was somewhat apprehensive and a little nervous before it all started.





however, with such careful preparation, and by all accounts a good deal more successful and smoother ticket sales than the lesser event which starts next week, Lyla was soon able to avail herself of all such fears and concerns, for the concert was a most triumphant success!





after the concert it was time to bask in the glory if what a success it was. Lyla told Grandma all about the trials and tribulations of putting on such a show and the various dramas backstage, whilst Grandma explained that they used to have the same problem backstage with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who.





knowing the cultural, economical, social and to a degree political, importance of the concert, it was decided (rather wisely) to film the event, both for historical reference and so those many millions who were unable to get tickets could watch the event at a later stage.

the wisdom of decision was placed in the hands of Richard to act on, and fortunately Dad managed to take one of those highly iconic images of Richard in action.





the image of Richard filming this event shall no doubt reverberate throughout history, both through the world as we know it and whatever species evolves after we are all gone.

Richard, my brother, i am proud to say will now be heralded as an icon of cinematic genius, just like the greatest living director in the world at the moment, Martin Scorsese.





indeed, if i may be so bold, the image you see of Richard will stand in good ground next to this famous image of the greatest director in the history of cinema, the late, great Stanley Kubrick.





the iconic image of Richard will be cemented, however, in a way that those of Scorsese and Kubrick never were. as far as i am aware (and i would sort of welcome correction to this statement if you have evidence), unlike Richard, Scorsese and Kubrick were never recorded giving their arse a good, enjoyable celebratory scratch after a successful film shoot....





we are delighted to see and hear that the concert went well! we are looking forward to seeing Richard's presumably excellent film of the event!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

William and the Walking Ring

hey everyone

well, William is now six months old! to celebrate the occasion, and to respect his desire to get up and going, Michele got him a most splendid walking ring device today!

although it is a walking ring, it isn't actually a walking ring as such yet. we've got the break thingies on it for now, so it's more a kind of a standing / sitting ring whilst he gets used to the idea.

and, if we say so ourselves, it's an idea he seems pretty happy and content with!





there are many buttons on the device, buttons which if pressed make an impressive array of noises. that was all the inspiration James needed to come along and help out his brother with his new toy!





the more purist of parents out there will of course argue the merits of making sure babies can crawl before they walk. no fear, for William is already having brief goes at that too. as i recall, James spent a good deal of time pushing himself around in his walker before having a go at crawling, and doing the two at the same time certainly hasn't harmed him!

after a while, William seemed to get the idea that climbing out of the walker might be a good idea. well, it was either that he wanted to climb out of it or he wanted to "make it go" - see for yourself.





and why would William wish to either get around or go for a walk with it? well, there have been these two furry things around the house that he keeps seeing and wishing to grab. i believe that he feels this walking ring device machine thing is the means to the end of grabbing at least one of them. look carefully at the next picture!





dear me, look at his face as he thinks he can at last obtain the tail! it is going to be excellent when he is capable of chasing cats all by himself!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!