Life Stuff

The Second Year. #baby #daughter #fatherhood #life #alwayslearning #amnotwriting

Santorini’s volcano once blew the island apart in the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history… yet I just walked to the top of it in my running shoes, a Panama hat, and a pair of dangerously cheap sunglasses. Here’s a few of my thoughts on history, nature, and the human spirit.

Fatherhood: One Year In. #baby #fatherhood #life #alwayslearning #amnotwriting

Running. Why do I do it to myself? I’m still not sure, but I kind of like it! TLDR: I need to keep pace with the child. It helps the brain. Michael Johnson says so. #life #running #exercise #healthybody #healthymind #amnotwriting

Fatherhood: The First Three Months. #baby #fatherhood #life #alwayslearning #amnotwriting

No drama, she said. Turned out to be the most dramatic day of my life!

Sooo…. I’m going to be a Dad soon, and I just want the world to wake up and sort itself out so it’s as good as possible for the new arrival. In today’s episode I tackle #Trump, #Brexit, and #Nazis!

The First Anniversary – That day my Grandad lost a sock. Oh, and I got married!

Steve Eightlegs might be gone, but his legend lives on.

Just vote, will you. Unless you’re going to vote Tory. In that case, just don’t vote. Thanks.

Weeks have passed now since we said goodbye for the last time. Not that I knew it was the last time, so well you hid it. That’s why I’m here to say it again.

Do you remember the day we first met? I was younger then, fresh faced and bright eyed, with far more hair on my head and fewer lines around the eyes. I’d just started out in college and History was still the lesson of choice, partly because I  hadn’t completely given up on the idea that…

My sister turned the ripe old age of 30 today. That’s my baby sister, by the way. She turned 30! Like a lot of people who have reached this particular milestone, she probably thinks she’s dead old now. And, in some ways, she’s right. After all, a lot has happened in those 30 years, some…

Here it is. The return. Sixteen months have past since I last posted here (I know, I can’t believe it either!). It wasn’t an easy choice to stop, but I knew something had to give. Either I put all my efforts into finishing that novel I’d spent so many years on, or I continued to…

The Cotswolds, they call it. A land of stunning beauty, complete with sweeping landscapes of rolling hills, quiet woods, and sleepy villages, it is the perfect place for a quiet weekend.  Or so you’d think, but it turns out that things may not be quite what they seem in the Cotswolds… We travelled down on…

It’s been a while since my last update. Truth is I’ve been kept busy. First there was Christmas, when my time was clearly too important to be wasted in a dark room writing a blog.  It’s a time to be spent with friends and family, sharing gifts and making merry.  So, in that spirit, I…

I wasn’t going to write this. I’ve already done one annual review this year, another would surely bore my dwindling number of avid readers.  After all, there are only so many ways you can laud the virtues of growing your own beard. Then Facebook had the temerity to rub it in my face.  “Anniversary with…

Soooo… we’ve got our winter quilt on.  And what a marvel it is!  Forged in the fires of Ikea, it is an exact replica of our summer quilt… but with the opposite end of four buttons in the corners.  The intricate workmanship is so accomplished, so beautiful, that when the buttons are brought together and…

Today, after a long hard shift in the office, I had to struggle home on foot. It wasn’t easy.  Leaning into the wind, one hand held up against the lashing rain, I had to force myself onwards one step at a time. It was an epic journey, filled with action and adventure, and I faced…

When it comes to will power and self control, I’ve always considered myself to be blessed with it in abundance. Sure, like many men, I’ve lost years of my life to the computer game, Football Manager.  But rather than look at the number of hours I’ve wasted on that game, you should look at the…

As the dust settles on yet another year of my life, it has begun to dawn on me just how momentous the past twelve months or so have been. Having finished university way back in 2006, I quickly got myself a job and moved into a pretty sweet flat with three of the best people…

Just like Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, and Carlito Brigante before her, I fear Jen is finding it more and more difficult to resist the allure of the criminal underworld. It started innocently enough.  After an unfortunate disaster with a casserole dish, Jen made it her mission in life to get a replacement, first by appealing…

I thought it was over. We had made our peace with the Arachnids.  They had learned the hard way that their numbers counted for nothing against the technological superiority of our House.  When they could not overcome the glass prisons and the powerful suction device we set against them, they had no choice but to…

It was on Tuesday night, out upon the flood-lit pitches of the Mystery, with winter closing in, that I learned the truth of the old adage, “No pain, no gain”. The match unfolded in thrilling fashion, running end-to-end, full of action and high drama.  We started badly, falling behind 4-nil, before clawing our way back…

The first time I saw Jack, he was chasing a beautiful blonde through the park. She was moving effortlessly, her long, elegant strides made all the more impressive by the bounce of her golden locks.  Jack, on the other hand, was moving less gracefully.  He was breathing hard, tongue lolling out, as his short stumpy…

I have learned many things this week. Firstly I learned that Le Creuset is the bees knees when it comes to cooking utensils.  Jen was genuinely over the moon when she brought home a Le Creuset duck-egg blue casserole dish.  It seemed to be the final piece of the jigsaw, as though the household was…

Of all the spiders to have come crawling into my life since moving house, none have affected me so profoundly as this one. He is known to his people (I’m almost certain) as Ivan the Great.  Not much is known of where he came from, only that he fought his way up from the filth…

Every relationship is a mountain, they say. I don’t know who says it, but they’re right. We are merely the mountaineers, you and I; the brave souls striving to reach the top first… so that we can look down upon our counterparts and smile. When it comes to me and the girlfriend, I was there…