Operation Sunflower - Part Two (Who Is Pete Potts?)

There was more hard graft along the fence on Saturday morning, and as you can see, we did a pretty good job! The back is definitely broken on the clearing up, all that Dad needs to do is finish off the last few bits then prepare the soil in readiness for the seedlings.



Sam caught someone out while they were skiving....

We're using peat pots to get the flowers going, that way we can just stick them straight into the ground. 48 peat pots from Poundland and a bag of compost from the same place takes the total spend on this project to a whopping £2. And Sam did, really, ask "Who is Pete Potts?" when I was outlining the day's itinerary.

Planting seeds is great fun, and a very pleasant, tactile activity whether you're six, or forty two.....

Last job of the day was to thoroughly water the seeds into their new homes.

Car Wash

It's very handy having such a helpful chap around....




In amongst all the digging and chopping we decided to wash Lightning, our car, and made a trip to the shop in preparation - imagine Dad's delight when we found that they were selling buckets for just £1 each.

So Lightning was washed with help from the local gaggle of teen girlies (who Sam likes, despite his proteststions otherwise) and now looks rather shiny.

And thank goodness, Sam had the obligatory bucket accident, and absolutely soaked himself, requiring a complete change of clothes. Good fun!

Operation Sunflower - Part One

We decided to do something about the mess of brambles along the fence opposite the flat....we decided to clear it and plant sunflowers!


Discarded ideas were a water park, a nice flower bed of small flowers, a zip line, and blackberry bushes. You may be able to decipher who suggested what.



So we decided to (hopefully) create a wall of sunflowers, to cheer everybody up. Who doesn't like sunflowers?


Thank you Auntie Lou, for sending us a packet of sunflower seeds. Thank you also Jennie from work, who has loaned us a sack-load of gardening tools and gloves to get the job done.

It was after school on Friday that we began work....the vegetation grew to a metre out from the fence, and at its highest was over two metres tall. NO PROBLEM!

We set about our spiky foe with gusto, with Sam to the fore but Dad actually doing most of the work. But it was a team effort, and every chunk of hedge removed was a cause for comment...."Look at this big boy Daddy!"...."Ow, buggrit, me arm.....again".....

When we decided to call it a day we had already given the hedge a haircut that hinted at further snippage.

An extra piece of entertainment was provided by Dad when he was disposing of some clippings and didn't see a hole in the embankment....cue full falling in and thinking he was going to die, ended almost immediately by a safe cushion on a bed of thistles.

Operation Sunflower is go!

Hande Hoch!

Well, I'm not sure if that;s what Clone Troopers really say, but this threatening specimen beamed down into our hallway recently.....

I told him that I'd be reporting him to the local Kingdom Hall for going OTT in delivering The Word.

FA Cup Final 2010

The FA Cup is the greatest club football competition on Earth!


That's a fact-a-mundo.


Dad's first cup final that he can remember was in 1975, when Fulham were playing West Ham. As I remember it, my Mum and Dad would go out for the day and I'd spend the morning and afternoon glued to the telly, with Grandad for company. Now, Grandad was the chap who inroduced me to betting, as we'd watch the ITV Seven on telly in his flat in York while Mum and Dad were doing their own thing. After the racing we'd watch the wrestling, proper wrestling, with Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki, Big Daddy ["Easy! Easy!]


And in May 1975, Sam's Nana and Grandad went shopping in Boston, and I was with them. I was already a Subbuteo fan, and already had a claret and blue team (they were Burnley, West Ham, and some others). I wanted to buy a Fulham team so that I could recreate the FA Cup Final for myself, but my Mum tried to dissuade me, as "it's got no colour....just black and white". I insisted though, and spent...I think....75p to buy Fulham - white shirts, black shorts, black socks....could also be used as West Germany and Port Vale.


I don't remember the game, but I do remember seeing the game....does that make sense? Tommy Taylor scored both West Ham goals in a 2-0 win.


I do remember the build-up on telly. It started well before noon. There were player interviews, fans' Mastermind competitions, cameras at the team hotels, cameras on the team buses, shots on the fans walking up Wembley Way. It was MAGIC!


So, Fulham and West Ham was in 1975. One month from my seventh birthday. Yesterday Portsmouth and Chelsea played one month from Sam's seventh birthday. Another huge milestone.


I thought it might be a good idea to implant the FA Cup Final into Sam's pysche. So we went shopping for pizza and ice cream on Friday, and on Saturday we dined heartily during the match. In future years we'll share a pint, but for now Sam scoffed Hawaiian pizza, Dad pepperoni, and we delighted in Flake ice cream.


The game should have been a walkover. Chelsea had won the league the week before, and Portsmouth were relegated and in administration. Chelsea hit the woodwork five times in the first half, but Portsmouth also missed an open goal. In the second half Pompey won, and missed, a penalty, Didier Drogba scored a delicious free kick. Right at the end Frank Lampard missed a penalty, but Chelsea won the game 1-0.


Sam didn't sit and watch the whole game, but I doubt that I did back in 1975. But we had an AWESOME father and son afternoon.


I hope Sam remembers his first FA Cup Final as warmly as I do mine. We had a good day.

World Cup Fever!

Three and a half weeks to go! If you're female you probably won't know what Dad's on about.


It's only The Football World Cup 2010!


This was a great weekend for Sam and Dad. We decorated the car to show our support for Ingerland, and we've been practising the Great Escape tune. You know.. ..der dut.. ..der der der der dut... ..der der der der der der der der dut... ..der der der der dut... .der der der der dut.. ..der derrrr der der derrr der derrrrr ENGLAND!



We have passed through the rites of passage that is the World Cup Wall Chart. Above you can see Sam scribing on the, now-dominant, feature of our living room. And below you can see what he wrote.

There was a little flag-waving.... Sam felt so patriotic that he wore his Sport Relief medal....

Fantastically, this weekend was also the FA Cup Final. See next post.

Our Tame Ducks Return....And So Does The Bullfinch

Only a week or two ago Sam was asking whether the nearly tame pair of mallards who used to visit us were still around, or if they'd gone away. It was a tricky question, as Sam is quite sensitive to keeping things stable and secure, especially where any kind of emotional bond has developed....and we really used to love the way the ducks (the man's called Crispy and his missus is Pancake) came waddling up to the windows of the flat hustling for food.


Yesterday they came back, hoorah! Sam wasn't here so I snapped them on the mobile phone's camera and sent the pic to his mum's phone....apparently he was very excited! Today after school I spotted them outside again, so Sam was able to re-acquaint himself personally with his inappropriately named chums. They're a nice old couple and amble to within a metre or so for their bread. Occasionally Sam's been able to feed them straight from his hand. Welcome back, duck dudes!

Equally amazing was another return visitor, spotted this very morn. I keep a record of the first visit, and also the most recent visit, of all the varieties of birds we see here. This morning I had a fancy to see which one we hadn't seen for the longest time - it was the bullfinch, last spotted in May 2008. Unsettlingly, an hour later I glanced up from my Weetabix and there was was a huge, bright red blob of colour sitting outside - a bullfinch! Not just the male, he had his moll with him too. I took the picture below, which is a bit rubbish as the camera was zoomed to the max. Welcome back bullfinch dudes!

So it's a lovely time for reunions at the moment. Sam and I celebrated by wolfing down the new, favourite meal, the home made meatballs and spaghetti.

Meatballs!

Sam had mentioned that he liked eating meatballs when they appear on the menu at school - I decided we could probably make a tastier, and less unhealthy version at home. Dad was right....


Using the fabulous After School Meal Planner book by Annabel Karmel, we used her recipe for turkey meatballs, but substituted minced beef from the butcher instead of the turkey.


I hope Sam will be able to navigate his way round the kitchen by the time he leaves home. It will be a useful tool for survival if nothing else, plus he'll be an even bigger hit with The Laydeez if he can feed them as well as flirt with them. And I'll need someone to cook my Sunday dinners when I retire.


Back to the meatballs, and this is a great meal for a youngster to help with. You can get a little messy when you mix your meatball ingredients together, making the balls and popping them into the pan is fun, and they cook quickly so there's not a lot of waiting round.


Meatballs mastered!

R.I.P Private Bill....And Lieutenant "Bill's Teeth"

A sad evening tonight at 2-Sox Towers. A brave soldier, Bill, was bade farewell with a guard of honour of fellow toy soldiers, close to the place that he met his maker.


The place that he met his maker was the toilet. During a routine water gun firing exercise, Private Bill toppled from his lofty perch atop the cistern, and landed on a raft of floating bog roll. Rescue attempts were made with a bent kitchen skewer, but unfortunately Bill slipped from the grasp of safety, and with a sad bubble of air slipped down the pan. And was flushed.


Hence the impromptu guard of honour of fellow toy soldiers along the edge of the tub, come bath time. The Commanding Officer (that's me) made a passionate, yet touching, speech about Private Bill's life and deeds. Of most surprise was the revelation that Private Bill's teeth had pursued a much more successful military career than their owner, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. Lt Bill's Teeth won the Distinguished Bravery Cross for a string of exceptional actions, including chewing their way out of a Nazi POW camp, chewing their way through the hulls of three U-Boats as part of a commando raid, and unsuccessfully attempting to chew the head off Adolf Hitler (they escaped through the Berlin sewers disguised as one of Herman Goerring;s number two's). They were also pictured escorting Vera Lynn to a performance of Ooops Vicar, How's Yer Trousers in London's West End in 1943, although Bill's Teeth denied any relationship.

Private Bill, and Lieutenant Bill's Teeth, will be sadly missed. As C.O. I had to reprimand the rank and file several times for laughing during the valediction (Sam kept bursting out laughing). As a tribute, Sam asked if he could don his Dad's old RAF Sergeants' Mess mess dress, which of course he was allowed to do. And below you can see the comparison.

Grand East Anglian Run

No, we didn't take part....simply because Sam isn't old enough! I was raring to go and complete the 6.21 miles in super-quick time, but then who would look after The Boy?

Instead we gallantly braved the chill breeze and planted ourselves among the small band of supporters on Red Mount, to cheer the runners along their way.



Sam's still wildly enthused by his run in the Norwich Sport Relief mile, so we're looking round for other, short runs to enter together....know of any?

Banger Racing On A Bank Holiday Monday

Guess where we went today?



Yep, we headed to Norfolk Arena for the smash, bang, wallop crashfest also known as Banger Racing. It's virtually the law round here. Above you can see a typical first corner during the 1300cc Bangers races.....below.....

The "Girl Bangers" (their name, not my invention) don't do the stereotypes any favours by turning up in bangers typically decked out in shades of pink and purple! Having said that, the girlie races are excellent, and the ladies give it their all, providing some very exciting heats. It's just a good thing that they don't have to park when they've finished.....

The feature of this Bank Holiday meeting was the Figure Of Eight racing. Awesome. Above is a snap of the intersection with cars flying in from two directions. But have a look at the top left of the picture. Dead cars in the fence. The reason being that when the track was watered it made it a "tad" slippery. And, for the first two Figure Of Eight races, the cars blazed into their first "hot" corner, couldn't turn, and piled up in the rigging. Hilarious! Almost like watching Lewis Hamilton losing his temper.

Fantastically, in the third FOE race, the drivers had obviously learned from the first two heats. So, when the lead car at the first turn turned in order to avoid ploughing straight on, he did it too early and rammed the end tyre, creating another, yet slightly different, pile-up. BRAVO! Great entertainment. Anyway, the pics show a "typical" crossover, with cars just missing each other, a "good" crossover, with a dead-on T-boning taking place, and (below) a standard casualty of banger racing, with both back wheels now merely adding weight.

Of course, as with any motorsport, people really go along to see crashes. And banger racing provides plenty. The majority of cars end up as dead as the one below (driver can't bear to part with his pride and joy, and riding to the pits on the roof), and I salute the drivers and pit crews who put on such a great show for no return. Thank you!

But unlike Formula 1, Touring Cars, Speedway, the Most Excellent banger drivers put on a final show for the spectators - the Demolition Derby. In this final race of the day they sacrifice their vehicles, and crash at maximum speed head-on into each other, trying to achieve the most damage possible, in as spectacular a manner as they can manage. They bloody love it! And so do we, the paying public. Below is a pic of the denouement of today's DD. It was AWESOME! Thanks guys!

Sam enjoyed his afternoon.....

And so (candidly snapped) did Dad....

Sleaford Skate Park

Off to Sleaford to visit Sam's Nana! Sam hasn't been up for a month or two so Nana was very pleased to see her youngest grand-child. A plus point for Sam is that there's a nice skate park in Sleaford, and he was soon padded up and ready to roll....




As his balance improves he's getting better on the board.

But of course there were still a few spectacular prangs. Hey, it's all part of the fun!

1 May 2010 - Spalding Flower Parade

Our annual pilgrimage to Spalding was as much fun as ever! The over-crowded public transport is all part of the fun, as are the tat-vendors, dropping your chips, and tutting at the young people. Tut.

A police car usually leads the way, and this year was no different. The first band was close behind.

Men in skirts, in rural Lincolnshire, who'd have thought?

There were lots of street dance groups who'd put loads of effort into their dancing and costumes.

The enormous Mister Tulip was there of course....

....as were Coventry Scout Band....

....the vintage bicycle group....

....(who had a new, junior member)....

....and a debut appearance from Darthy Baby.

The Simpsons float was pronounced the winner.

Even though a two metre Bart Simpson made of flower heads was a bit....odd.

More men in skirts followed....

With more Screen Heroes (this year's theme). And we finished with an updated Blues Brothers, which seemed very popular with the Dads. No idea why.

So we're looking forward to next year already, SEE YOU THERE!