wa-hey! Dad's mid-life crisis turns up....

hey everyone


well, firstly, apologies for a distinct lack of updates here this December. i have been, if you will, "babysitting" the two boys for the last week or so, and whilst we've been having enormous fun (William in particular took a shine to a jaguar at the zoo, for instance), it's been quite tiring, really. i should in fact be in bed now!!

however, precluding sleep is the event that Richard, Gillian, to an extent our Mum and certainly I have been waiting for for quite some time. there has been the odd hint of our Dad having his mid-life crisis so far, illustrated by incidents such as purchasing a shed, building things and indeed testing the patience of any sort of "special relationship" with Americans in, of all places, Royal Bafokeng Stadium. today, however, behold - the mid-life crisis decision we all dreamed he would make, kind of....





a beauty, isn't it? we did suspect for a while that he would plump for a quad bike, a Harley or a convertible, but we are glad to have been proved wrong with this purchase of a vehicle of class and distinction.

mind, what this picture doesn't show is that he took it for a drive in those lovely red trainers he has.

we look forward to seeing his next investment, of course. driving gloves are pretty much a given, as indeed would be some sort of driving hat. we're not certain which we'd like to see - if he bought a second one like this we could of course call him "Two Jags" or "Prescott", but then again if he just got himself some leather pants (which is very, very likely) we could call him Joey Boswell instead of one of his current nicknames, Freddie Boswell.

nice one Dad, have fun!!!!


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

so, 1-1.........

well, i can think of better news to wake up to on a Sunday morning than your side, who crushed their opponents a few days ago, lasted less than an hour. on paper alone, England's win by an innings sounds more impressive than Australia's 273 run win at the WACA, but we all know the truth - England were humbled here in a way that we have seen frequently.

one hopes not, but this Test has looked like we are back to business as usual - a devastating Australian bowling attack up against a competent England batting line up that just fails to stand up to the challenge.


up front, though, we must celebrate Australia's dazzling display. the comparatively weak Australian performances in the first two Tests left a lot of us followers of the game scratching our heads. the only time we had seen an Australia so lacking in ideas before has been on those instances when they had been stripped of players for "rebel" tours, rival tournaments and things like that. it is genuinely good for the game that the current crop of Australian players have, as the saying goes, "come right".

i am particularly delighted that, for the moment at least, the good name and reputation of Ricky Ponting will not be further tarnished.





oddly, Australia might very well go into the fourth Test without Ricky, depending on the extent of the finger injury sustained whilst helping a very elaborate catch. hope he's fit and ready to play!

as for England, well, i believe it would be fair to suggest that any lingering arrogance around their second Test win has been knocked out of them. time to knuckle down and give the performances of their careers if they wish to carve a slice of history.





winning the Ashes in Australia is supposed to be difficult, overlooking the border of impossible. so it shall be, but i still suspect our chaps can do the business.


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

when i'm five....

hey everyone


well, it's late and i am falling asleep, but it would not be fair if i didn't fire off a quick post to say Happy Birthday James once again, and share some of the pictures from today!

i can share pictures with you but, alas, we can't share this splendid cake across the internet - digital technology is not quite there yet!





it is something of a tradition at James and William's day care to bring in a cake for everyone on your birthday, so top marks to Grandma for arranging this fine Bakugan one for him! he certainly had fun blowing out the candles as we all sang!





after blowing out the candles it was time for everyone to have a slice of cake. now, we did our absolute best to sort of control and supervise James in his ambition to cut it all up himself, but it's not quite as easy as you may think to do this.





a bread knife isn't quite as spectacular as a chainsaw or a lightsaber, i suppose, but to James it is a most excellent thing to be handed to you and (more or less) allowed to be let loose with!





you go for it, son!

now, i am not sure if James' intention in the next picture was to evoke memories of King Julien out of Madagascar, but that's what he does with some ease!!





meanwhile, once back home, it was time to tackle an impressive pile of cards and presents! you may recall that James was only too happy to "help" William open up all of his birthday presents. in fairness to James, he was very eager to get William to help him with his, but for the most part William took an "observe and eat" role in the proceedings.





thank you one and all for all the cards and presents received thus far, by the way! very difficult to tell which is his favourite, but the Super Hero Squad game from Grandma and Grandad has been a hit. as has, indeed, the most excellent Star Wars dining set that arrived all in one piece from New Zealand!





now then, here he is showing off his birthday card from Great Grandma Harland. i include this one as a reminder - Gran has written "buy ice cream" on the inside of the envelope. this could be a subliminal suggestion to us, or it could be one of her usual shopping lists, as unusual as the item would be with the weather in Yorkshire at the moment.





anyway, if someone could remind Gran that she needs to get ice cream, that would be excellent!

well, despite rain for most of the day (preculding James from trying out his ace new swimming pool and saving us from blowing it up) we have had a fantastic time of it! James is now KO on his bed, and i think as soon as i have whacked publish on this post i will be crawling off up to mine!


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

hark! herald the Harlo tree....

well, just as Gillian and i had speculated, certain people couldn't send Gillian images of their tree as they had not so much forgotten to put one up as they had not quite remembered to do so.

never mind, for the Harlo gand have foisted upon the world this beauty!





nice one!!!


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

weekend pictures

hey everyone


well, just a few images from the weekend of the boys for you all! sorry, no further pictures of Grandad's excellent train set, although i did note that the last time i saw it the set appeared to be in more pieces than it was when i first did!

James has developed quite an interest in carrying William around with him, without particularly thinking of where he is going to take him and put him down, it has to be said. never mind, here he is on a visit to Grandma and Grandad showing off his new trick!





now, once upon a time, Grandma had the distinct pleasure of loading me, Richard and Gillian up in one pram and pushing us to the shops through the snow. it seems to be a lot easier to do with only William and James on board, and with not a drop of snow in sight!





up until now it seems that William has been somewhat wary of his Grandad. not any more it would seem, as Grandad got some most excellent pictures of him!





also over the weekend James and William had a little impromptu birthday party, with a most splendid cake provided by Grandma!!





it did indeed taste as splendid as it looks, if you are wondering!





and it was more or less in nice slices too, despite James having a right good go at it with a knife whilst his good friend Kyle watched on!





nice one Grandma! as you can see, though, William would rather get on with eating it than he would pose for any more pictures!





hope you all had a rather good weekend!!!


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

more tales of the trees

hey everyone


thus far, it has to be said, there has not been the worldwide enthusiasm to respond to Gillian's call for people to send her pics of their Christmas trees. between Gillian & i we have come to the conclusion that certain people we won't name (hello, Harlo gang) have probably forgotten to put their tree up.

no such problem out in the tropics, however, as Richard and Erika have forwarded on an image of their magnificent tree! Lyla certainly seems impressed with it!





yes, i hear you - it is surprising that Richard didn't put a fairy with a black and white striped shirt on the top of the tree. i would imagine that it's purely because so many fairies seem to wear those shirts that he simply couldn't pick one!

as well as the tree, Erika also sent along a lovely collage of pictures of Ruby Lee!





nice one, she is clearly looking forward to her first Christmas with us all!

right, if any more people rise to the challenge set by Gillian i shall surely be posting the images here! it's a bit disappointing that Uncle Trevor has not sent anything yet - we are all expecting a glitter festival from him on his!


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

the last train to Clarksville

hey everyone


well, in the midst of a discussion around the vagaries of international fund transfer and clearance, my Dad mentioned with some disappointment that his class new train set had not as yet featured on the blog. as one of my more enthusiastic readers, happy to remedy that, Dad!





it does look rather class, but not as stable as it could be. and when i say as stable as it could be, James and William shall be visiting him rather soon. the pictures of the train set after they have "seen" it could be rather interesting!





i am not sure what toy Dad has lined up for himself next as such. perhaps he will go for an Action Man, or maybe even some classy Bakugan "brawlers" so he can play with James? will keep you posted!


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

towards the end of the year

hey everyone

well, as the countdown to the end of a rather varied year moves close to single digits it was time for James & William's daycare school to do their usual annual end of year presentations. we had already had a most splendid concert, of course, as seen in an earlier post, but but the teachers and the children were proud to show off all the other stuff they did - and rightly so!

first off, though, to mark the end of the "formal" year, it was time for an early visit from Father Christmas!





James is rather wise to the ways of this Father Christmas bloke, and was very excited indeed to see him! for William, though, it was a first encounter, and it was one that could have gone better, but could have been worse too! he was rather curious at first, but oddly gave a bit of a cry when he was handed a present. i don't think that trend shall last!


after Father Christmas had been and gone it was time for the children to show off the many, many wonderful things they had been doing there all year. a big part of that was music and dancing, which they showed off in a couple of ways. the big opening for the show was a wonderful, very well done Zulu song and dance, in full outfits too, as you can see from this small-ish picture of James! he loved it, as family members reading this will see (eventually) when i get around to sending off a disc of the film i made! i have no idea how accurate all the music and dancing was, and with an English father i suspect James should rather have been dressed in a big and bright red jacket with a lovely white hat, but all and sundry really enjoyed it!


there was also some ace 50s style good, old fashioned rock and roll dancing to be done too!





James had a semi-serious look on his face for most of the dancing, it had to be said. he seemed terribly concerned about making sure he did all the right moves instead of just letting go and having fun!

Tanganastix, the mix between aerobics and exercise they do each week, is a big favourite of both James and the vast majority of children there. well, it does look like jolly good fun, and for the demonstration i am delighted to day that James decided to come and stand rather close to the camera!





Tanganastix is done by a wondeful gent called William, a good role model and someone we suspect James may very well have had in mind when we let him select a name for his brother that was not Batman or Superman!





other than this they had a display of all that they do with Soccer Stars, but they were just moving too fast for me to get a clear picture. certain readers of this blog that i would rather not name (hello, Dad!) get quite upset when i put slightly blurred pictures up, so i try to avoid it!

at the end of their presentation there was a wonderful ceremony where the children all got certificates and medals for all their extra activities during the year. James was very impressed with his haul!





well, there you have it! a wonderful day watching them doing wonderful things!



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

Bono in town?

hey everyone

on the music front, the slightly bigger news here than either MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice doing a gig here or Duran Duran pulling out of their tour would be that U2 do a couple of gigs here in early 2011. it would seem, however, that curious frontman Bono has decided to pop over a bit sooner than that, and indeed hang around our house for a bit!





going on how he looks with it smeared all over his face, it seems he quite likes mushed up butternut as much as William does! or maybe it is just William messing about with James' Spider-Man sunglasses and Bono hasn't come to visit us?





believe me, by the way, those teeth are as sharp as they look!


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

Christmas trees from around the world (*)

(*) well, from two different parts of the world!


hey everyone

i got a most delightful mail from Gillian yesterday, showing off their splendid Christmas tree as it stands in NZ, and Katie looking rather delighted with it!





Gillian went further and called upon all on the mail to send a picture on of their Christmas tree. i was happy to oblige!





James did most of the decorations you can see, and thus far William has not managed to get at it and pull it down or over! James must have had a little word with him and explained lots of class presents get put there by someone called Father Christmas if you don't tamper with it!

as you can see below, James and William are both very happy with how our tree looks!





as of my email this morning only Dad had also sent along a picture of the tree put up at South Fork, looking as majestic as ever!





no doubt some more will follow soon - i am certainly looking forward to seeing the tree Richard has done, and won't be surprised to see a fairy on the top wearing a black and white striped shirt!

hope you've all got your trees up and are having fun!


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

so, 1-0......

well done lads, nice work!!!





beating Australia in Australia is quite an achievement, no matter what they are saying of the current crop of Aussie players. to dominate them for 5 days, arguably the last 7 if you include the finale of the first Test, is something else!

there can be little surprise, despite further heroics from Alistar Cook and some sublime bowling from Jimmy Anderson and Swann, that only one man was spoken of in regards of the man of the match. welcome back, KP - it may very well have been a "difficult" year and a half since your last ton, but so what considering your dazzling display with the bat and, indeed, ball these last five days!





as delighted as i am with an England win, there's always my good Yorkshire pessimism to count on. this was an impressive win that was nearly turned into a worrying draw due to the ultra-conservative tactics of Mr Strauss, it has to be remembered. he batted far, far too long on the forth day, keeping the batsmen out for at least an hour or about 50 runs too much. a win by an innings and 71 runs speaks volumes of the extra amount he decided to let the team bat; the weather not two hours after England sealed the win showed how little real time he allowed his bowlers to do their job.





going on his conservative approach, i was beginning to fear England would have four draws going into Sydney and then have the Aussies destroy us within 3 days at the SCG! i guess that's not going to happen, at least!

as for is it England are that good or Australia that poor for this Ashes, a hard call. this is one of the best, most effective England teams ever, but the results Australia have posted over the last 12 months are less than inspiring reading. considering the famous encouragement and development of talent in Australia, why the team is so lacking of character at present is a bit of a mystery.

a big concern would be the seemingly unavoidable departure of one of the finest players of the game on a distinctly low note. Ricky Ponting has been an ambassador for the game and his country, respected around the world beyond the boundary ropes. at the moment, however, he's failing with the bat, falling short as a captain and is in the hitherto unthinkable position for an Aussie captain - if he lasts the series, he could well be the first Australian captain to lose three Ashes series. this is not a fate he deserves, as much of course as i want England to win.





going into the third Test, England have a major problem in the form of Broad being out for the remainder of the series. he may not have got the wickets in the first two Tests, but dear me has he put some astonishing pressure on the Aussie batsmen with some superb, disciplined bowling. i am not sure who England will draft in as a replacement - is Monty really worth another try - but we shall miss him as much as he shall miss not being a part of the remainder of the series.

anyway, concerns aside, time to celebrate a fine win, and what better way than with a pic of the man who seems to be the life and party of the series so far!





so, off to Perth we go, then. England have nothing to fear but being complacent, Australia need to hit back, to para-quote Tony Grieg, hard and fast. it should be fascinating, if very late night, viewing.



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

William's first birthday!

hey everyone


well, wow, what a day, what a year! all that stuff about time flying, or if you are one of those academics time and space being relative to the self, certainly feels true sometimes. for us, none more so than today when we have celebrated the first wonderful year of many, many wonderful years of William being with us!

here's the birthday boy at around 6am this morning!





there was a little-big party for William at his daycare today, and Mummy went along with a most splendid cake. Mummy also wisely took pictures of the cake before anyone got their hands on it!





many thanks indeed to Grandma and Grandad for organizing the cake! it looked splendid, and by all accounts tasted splendid too!

William is rather fortunate that he has a loving big brother on hand to help out at all times, in particular if it involves things like blowing candles out!





everyone at the daycare school got a slice of cake, in particular the birthday boy himself. it was, to the best of my knowledge, the first time he had tried the luxurious tastes of the birthday cake. he seemed to be quite partial to it, which isn't that much of a surprise since he is very partial indeed to anything that is edible, and a few things which are not!





all in all, it seems he had a wonderful, fantastic day, and got an excellent new hat too, which should impress a very dear friend who happens to share William's birthday!





on top of cake, there was also cards and presents at home for William. i must say thus far William has not tried to eat quite as many of his cards that i suspected he might, which is rather nice considering the excellent one his brother wrote for him!





yes, Grandma and Grandad, if that card looks familiar, it is because James picked the same style of card for William as you did!

it's not only blowing out candles that William can call on his brother to assist with. oh no, far from it - James was very eager indeed to help William open up all his cards and presents!





James as we know is very close to his Grandad, and seems to be learning from him too. James got very excited indeed when some money fell out of William's cards from some very generous relatives. however, his learning is not complete just yet it seems - James committed the folly of actually asking if he could please keep the money from the cards! nearly there Grandad, i am sure you will teach him how it is done in the near future!

of all the presents William got, one called Domino The Dog seems to be the number one at the moment! he was very excited with the noises it makes, in particular the noises that it makes when you bash it on the head rather than just press the strategically placed buttons!





he also likes watching Domino walk around, but does tend to get upset with him/it when it walks a bit too far away, which is to say when it walks too far away for him to give it a whack!

one of the most important factors for William with his presents was establishing if you could eat what he has been given. just in case you think i am kidding, here he is trying to eat some lovely books Auntie Gillian sent from New Zealand......





....and here he is trying to eat the lovely "Ducky" book we got him!





all in all, a very wonderful, tiring, beautiful, busy day! in less than two weeks we get to do it all again for James!

William, it's been a wonderful first year, here's to the next 99 or so!


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