Friday 6th December…

Goodness, I’ve not posted anything in aaaaaaagggggeeeess! It’s been a one hell of a busy time lately, and, with all that’s been going on with work & family life I’ve largely been finding myself more inclined to veg in front of a movie or a good TV show than sit down and write something.

I do write little bits n’ bobs now and again; mostly little paragraphs of thoughts that, true to form, are usually little moans about things that have pissed me off or little giggles about funny things that have happened.

So – this is a collection of all the unfinished blog posts and these little snippets that have been sitting around on my iPad for the last couple of weeks.

I’ve been on the road a lot these last few weeks and have decided that British Rail Firms are the new Mother-in-Law in my life. By this I mean: an aspect of my life that I hold significant grievances against but have to live with as a necessity I cannot escape. I have 2 recommendations to share with you off the back of this;

1. Avoid First Transpennine Express trains from Leeds to Manchester between 5pm – 6pm;
2. Deliver the bare minimum amount of conversational niceties with the Mother-in-Law to secure babysitting when needed and nothing more

There is a poster I keep passing at my local station that states “British Rail! The most improved railway in Europe”, which is the most outrageous example of “Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics” I’ve seen. On Wednesday night I squeezed onto the 1740 sardine tin from hell in Leeds and watched as the volume of passengers trying to board were so high the platform staff had to deny access to quite a number of people to the train. The ensuing ruckus on the platform I saw from the window as the train pulled out was comical – I’d have felt sorry for the stationmaster getting balled out if I wasn’t myself on my phone having a twitter rage @TPAssist!

Suffice to say – the young lady beside me and the guy in front developed quite an unspoken rapport through subtley communicating with a selection of uncomfortable fidgets & shuffles. There’s nothing quite like shared hardship to bring the people together. (Power to the People!)

Speaking of train travel: I came very close to getting stuck in Newcastle on Wednesday night. As I arrived at the station I was checking out the board and watched as numerous trains became cancelled, or had significantly delayed times pop up. The tannoy was repeatedly citing the “MET Office Severe Weather Warning” as the cause while I anxiously watched the electronic timetable, nailing a steak bake from Greggs, crossing fingers and toes my train was not affected. As the departure time got closer nothing had changed with regards to my train so I happily plodded across to my platform and tracked down my reserved seat and waited to leave. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. The departure time passed with no movement. I could sense the disquiet throughout the carriage, as everyone was clearly thinking the same as me: “they’ve gone and cancelled the train and not told us!”

Thankfully, after an additional half-hour chill on the platform the train left and a carriage of people sighed in relief. That is, until we got to Darlington, and had another 20 minute chill out at the platform, and then again, 90 mins or so later, when we stopped in the pitch black middle of nowhere somewhere between Huddersfield and Manchester. All-in-all it took about an extra hour to get back to Manchester… stupid weather.

It was also Mrs Six’s birthday last Monday. The usual arrays of gifts were bestowed on her by me and the kids. (They’re very clever my little ones – they’ve already mastered internet shopping and the use of Daddy’s wallet!) On the Sunday, over dinner, I decided to have a bit of playful, teasing conversation involving Little Miss Six & Mrs Six. It went a little something like this:

Me: “It’s a very special day tomorrow, isn’t it Penny?”

Little Miss Six: (Giving a cheeky glance across the table to her Mother) “Yes it is”

Me: “…and why is tomorrow so special?”

Little Miss Six: “The new episode of ‘Sofia the First’ is being shown on the Disney channel.”

We really know how to make Mummy feel special round my way! Any of you who regularly watch Disney Jnr (I’m certain all of you) will know that they’ve been advertising the special Sofia the First double bill like maniacs for weeks, especially highlighting the guest appearance from Princess Ariel , the Little Mermaid herself. It’s pleasing to know that in terms of impact on that busy little mind of hers all my bigging-up of her Mother’s birthday rated below a 60 second trailer for a cartoon! Next time I’ll prepare a colourful Powerpoint or put a video request form into the production team at work or something…

Christmas fever has landed in our house – this is the first year that Little Miss Six is really “getting it”. Mini Mr Six, at 4 months, is non-the-wiser, but Little Miss Six is exuding enough excitement for the both of them – so all is OK.

It’s early December as I write this, but already she’s met Father Christmas on two separate occasions! He’s a busy guy around this time of year – but he found the time to fit 2 days in the Stockport area – very good of him. Each time, despite the fact I can’t get her to stop wittering on about something or other usually, she clammed up and displayed a level of shyness that is not normal for her at all. I wouldn’t mind; but I was getting charged £2 a throw by each of these Santas for her to shyly cling to me tightly like I was about to throw her of a cliff.

The ability to internet shop makes spending money at Christmas even more easy than it already was. Half-an-hour with an iPad and my wallet on Sunday morning and the large majority of my Christmas shopping is taken care of. We’ve got an inordinate amount of plastic shit ready to invade my house on Christmas morning – the most of which is somehow Princess or Fairy related – I’ve no living idea where it is all going to go. Let me give potential parents the benefit of my experiences so far this festive season:

1. Batteries = noise;
2. Cartoon channels = toy adverts;
3. Toy adverts = potential bankruptcy

Only 3 weeks away from Christmas and Cath Kidston pulled a blinder with one of Mrs Six’s surprise Christmas pressies. It was this subtle piece of work:

The game has most definitely been given away!

That’s it for now – you’re all caught up with the few little drafted bits I had lying around.

See you on the other side.