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Category: Tom

  • Why we are not exactly leaping around at the moment

    This week has included:

    • learning that a friend and client is very unwell
    • literally dozens of phone conversations with two different sets of lawyers and two different sets of surveyors
    • realising that I’ve cocked up my plan to go to a trade show in Poland (note to self: VIII means August, not September – d’oh!)
    • dropping a client because he is really not on my wavelength and I can’t be bothered to struggle for what would be a potentially small reward
    • getting a very long document from the Borough Council
    • not getting a whole bunch of things sorted out that I planned to do this week
    • cleaning up purple projectile vomit after Tom had blackberries for tea (he’s fine now, but I’ve got to redecorate a wall)
    • having to clean the cat litter tray every day after one or other of them decided that the garden was too cold and wet to use now that the weather has turned.

    And that is just what I’ve had to do – Hels has had just as much. 

    But there are positive things too:

    • Sussex beat Durham in the cricket
    • it rained (very good news in this part of the world)
    • we caught up with some people in the pub
    • it’s Friday
    • we’re going on holiday soon
    • Tom “pulled” a waitress in the place we went to today for lunch (very funny – you had to be there)

    So it’s not all bad. It just feels that way.

  • 33 things to do before you are 10 years old

    This list of things that "every child should do" comes via the linkbunnies. I like the idea of number 32.

    How many of these things did you do before your tenth birthday?

  • Not a good week so far

    Let’s make a list:

    • broken router
    • broken down car
    • tenant in H’s flat has served notice to leave – we’re advised to expect two months without rental income
    • car still faulty
    • two hours on hold to BT
    • uncomfortably hot
    • one of my customers is misbehaving and it could, potentially, end in litigation
    • mother-in-law melted some of Tom’s bottles (don’t ask)

    And it’s only Wednesday.

  • Childminder run

    This morning, I think I became truly middle class. I achieved this by putting Tom in his seat in the back of my car and driving the mile-and-a-half to his childminder’s house (I have considered pushing Tom in his buggy, but it’s a very dangerous lane). There were two other parents there dropping off their children and, on the way home, I had to fight my way through the congestion around Ruralville school where dozens of parents were delivering offspring.

    Tom, like the rest of us, is struggling with the current heatwave. We reached 36 Celsius yesterday here and the poor lad was wilting a bit. He sleeps in the afternoon more than usual and then is awake in the evening when he would normally be in bed. So life is all a bit upside down.

    Today the temperature is a little lower, but the humidity is up so it is no less comfortable. I’ve struggling to keep going, my PC fan is going mad and the cats can barely drag themselves around. Typical English – never satisfied by the weather.

  • Quiet around here

    For once, this isn’t a post making lame excuses for the lack of new content on this site. Instead, I’m remarking on the fact that it’s a bit quiet at home today, even though Tom is here, my mum is here and the two cats are around somewhere (although trying desperately to find somewhere shady and cool, much like the rest of us).

    The reason it is quiet is that Hels has gone back to work today for the first time in seven months. To say that she was not looking forward to it is an understatement – the thought of having to deal with daily stresses, irritating people and a stifling office environment are not the things that encourage someone to be enthusiastic. Added to that, H feels guilty at leaving Tom. Tom, of course, is going to be ably cared for by a combination of grandparents, childminder and me, so he’ll be fine. Furthermore, H is caring for him in a way by going out and earning the money we need to keep home and family together. So I’ve suggested that she shouldn’t feel guilty or even worried, but I guess it’s a natural reaction.

    Meanwhile, I’ve had my mum for company today and she and Tom have taken a nap this afternoon on the lawn in some shade. She’s ably dealt with trying to get Tom to eat food he doesn’t really like, drink water that he doesn’t really want (I’m concerned about fluid intake in this heat) and is currently poaching some chicken for his tea this evening.

    But it’s not the same as having Hels here every day. Anyone want to make a cash donation so we don’t have to work and can just enjoy Tom together?

  • Just not cricket

    Last night, we took Tom to his first ever cricket match, the Twenty20 fixture between Sussex and Hampshire at the gorgeously beautiful ground at Arundel. It looked like we (Sussex) were going to lose for most of our innings, but a late flurry of boundaries soon put paid to the opposition. Tom clearly is a lucky person to take along – maybe I should take him to a few Seagulls fixtures next season. He took the whole thing in his stride, as he tends to do, although he was a little alarmed by the shouts from the crowd and the loud music as Luke Wright and Yasir Arafat (insert joke about dishdash here) swiped umpteen boundaries in the last three overs to wrap it up.

    One thing the BBC report doesn’t mention is the way in which Matt Prior was dismissed. Chris Adams was batting at the other end and was caught from a no-ball. He started to walk but then people in the crowd shouted that it was a no-ball. By this point, the Hampshire players were together celebrating and Matt Prior was still half way down the strip. Everyone looked to the umpire, who confirmed that the batsman was not out, at which point the Hampshire fielders realised that Prior was out of his crease and threw down the stumps. Prior briefly protested to the umpire (he clearly hadn’t realised that it was a no-ball) before walking. Is there a Law on how a no-ball should be called by the umpire? In any case, it was certainly pretty unsporting on the part of the Hampshire players.

    We topped the night out with a cup of tea with the bikers at the Hikers café at Whiteways on the way home. Frankly, if ever you think that a bunch of bikers makes you feel threatened, you should go and see the bikers there – mostly middle-aged men (some women too), standing around drinking tea and discussing health issues and the correct daily fluid intake (presumably in the form of tea), as far as I could make out.

  • Rowing

    Man rowing

    We stopped in West Cove, Co. Kerry, because we saw a sign that said there was a bakery selling pastries and ice creams. We never found the bakery – instead we found a small cove with a pretty quay and a handful of houses. It was almost deserted save for a few blokes going off to harvest mussels and this chap, rowing his way across the bay in his yellow boat.

  • Off-road buggy

    on the beach at Ballinskeilligs

    Fording a stream on the beach at Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry. Buying the expensive all-terrain pushchair proved to be a worthwhile investment as we explored one of the cleanest, most peaceful and beautiful beaches I think there must be in the British Isles. Mind you, I’m sure that salt water and sand do nothing for a pushchair’s longevity.

  • The first 100 days

    Tom = 100. A few thoughts and observations:

    • becoming a parent is daunting. But once you get into it, most of the day-to-day stuff is actually quite straight forward, at least with a very young baby. There isn’t much more to do that put food in at one end and deal with the product at the other end. But there is interaction too, an increasing amount as the baby grows older. Tom now giggles and laughs at his silly mum and dad, and he is curious about everything that is around him. And that is very rewarding.
    • I don’t know if we are very lucky with Tom, but he has turned out to be very adaptable. We spent all of last week in Ireland with Tom spending long periods in the car, being in a new place every day and sleeping in four different cots over an eight day period. But was he fazed? Not a bit. He takes it all in his stride, either because he is a happy baby or because we try not to coddle him too much and have, right from the first days, encouraged him to feel confident in his environment by being there, caring for him, but not smothering him.
    • as parents, you must be adaptable too. We’ve found ourselves changing mucky nappies on the floor of restaurant toilets. A four hour car journey becomes a six hour trip once you build in a couple of Tom breaks in service stations for bottle and bottom. Early to bed and early to rise is the new reality (still looking forward to the wealthy and wise bits). But, in the grand scheme of things, these are not major changes – you just need to think ahead a bit (and I must admit that Hels is better at that than me – she’s the one who always packs plentiful supplies of nappies and wipes as well as a change of clothes for Tom, wherever we go).
    • you will find yourselves pulled in all directions. If you think that, as a couple, you find you are short of time compared to when you were single (two lots of family, two lots of friends), add in a baby and that feeling is doubled, trebled. Everyone wants to spend time with the baby (apart from those who don’t want a baby anywhere near them) and you could easily find yourself running here, there and everywhere. Planning is the key again – we try hard to block out chunks of days where we don’t have anything to do or anyone to see, just so that we get some “we time” (“me time” is a thing of the past).
    • having a baby is expensive. Child benefit helps, but it pays for little more than nappies and wipes. And there is a certain competitiveness amongst parents of a certain sort – they want the best push-chair (guilty as charged – but well worth it), the smartest clothes (Tom has smart clothes, but a very large proportion of his wardrobe was purchased second hand, either via the NCT or from a couple of good second hand stores), the most toys (Tom has some, but not thousands – and we tend to prefer simple toys to fancy things with flashes and beeps) and the best of everything else. It pays to step back and remember that most of it isn’t necessary – we didn’t have it when we were children and nor did our parents. And the less you have, the more room you will have in your house!
    • you will catch yourself swearing in front of the baby (for instance, when you pour scalding water over your hand when fighting with the microwave sterilizer) and think “hmm, I really should stop that, else his first word will be fuck”.
    • and it’s all worth every minute, especially when he has a "chat" with his dad in the morning.

  • Video question

    Here’s a question for all of you who know about this sort of thing. My camera can record video in Quicktime .MOV format and I’ve used it to record Tom. The problem is, I’ve held the camera in portrait position (as Tom, when being held by his mum, is more vertical than horizontal).

    When we play back the video using Quicktime viewer on the laptop, we can see him beautifully and hear his gurgling noises wonderfully. However, we see him beautifully in landscape format – he’s on his side. Nowhere in the Quicktime controls (I’m using the free download, not the Pro version) is there a "rotate" control.

    Any ideas for either:

    • a player that can view .MOV files and rotate them (preferably a free player), or
    • a player that can play other formats and rotate them, and a converter to convert from .MOV to the appropriate format (can Windows Movie Maker rotate? if so, I have that, but need a (preferably free) conversion tool).

    Suggest-o.