Monday, 11th December 2006
Just the other day mummy gave me a new book to read. Great I thought, a nice picture of a little boy playing with his potty. Interesting subject matter but no doubt another literary classic. However, mummy then produced another present – a pair of pants. Uhm. Something fishy going on here I thought. Yes readers, mummy was actually suggesting that I give up the comfort of my nappies. Having read the book a couple of times I felt that I’d grasped the theory and so willing to give anything a go I put the pants on.
Although I looked pretty cool wearing my new pants, to my immense disappointment I discovered that they were not meant to go on my head. However, I think I would look good in theatre; a possible career in the medical profession could be a distinct possibility.
As you’d expect the book made it look so easy. Charlie Thomson (the kid you see on the book cover) might look cute but boy is he smug. Charlie got the hang of it pretty quickly but it took me less than 5 minutes to pee in my new pants and experience the unpleasant sensation of having it trickle down my leg. You’re going to need more than 2 pairs mummio if you’re going to persist with this crazy idea. Bring back my nappies NOW!
Mummy’s clearly taking the pee – for the nappy was doing it perfectly well thank you very much.
Yours grudgingly
Isaac
Posted by Isaac @ 7:09 PM
Monday, 27th November 2006
Sunday 19th November marked a monumental landmark in my life for it was my 2nd birthday. What a rollercoaster of a ride it’s been so far. Unfortunately my birthday was marked in another, less pleasing way; marks that have hopefully come out of my pajamas by now. Generally speaking I’m a pretty healthy dude and never to this day have I spent the entire day in my pj’s. However, a few days previously I had a fever and was then sick all over my favourite teddy Herbert who is yet to forgive me (he had his mouth open at the time). Sick as I was feeling, it didn’t stop me enjoying my birthday cake.
Birthdays are great aren’t they? I must admit that I didn’t appreciate that fact last year and so apologies to anyone who thought that I was a little disrespectful then. However, everyone just keeps giving you presents to open and so I just wanted to say a huge thank you and if you forgot like my uncle Jonathan did, don’t stress, just get me something bigger and better for Christmas which I understand is only a matter of weeks away.
I loved all of my presents but I have to admit that my new train track takes some beating. I’ve got so much track that Daddy says we’ll have to move house if I want to use it all at the same time. It’s great fun designing new rail networks. When I get up in the morning I often discover that Mummy and Daddy have relaid it all over again. I think they’re having just as much fun with it as I am in all honesty.
Well I must get off to bed now so adios amigos
Isaac
Posted by Isaac @ 9:50 PM
Thursday, 19th October 2006
Yes, it’s over. At least for the time being. On Monday morning I took my latest Open University exam on State, Economy and Nation in nineteenth-century Europe. The exam went very well and all that revision certainly paid off – I hope.
So I have approximately 4 months to enjoy study free before I resume in February.
Yesterday I had a very interesting day as I visited HMP Whitemoor in March, Cambs for the Family Friendly Prisons challenge that Action for Prisoners’ Families run each October. Together with a couple of other visitors I was given a tour around the prison establishment to see first hand the workshops, education dept, gymnasium, chapel and one of the wings. It was quite emotional especially as my two other visitors had loved ones on the wing. For them, to be able to visualise where their loved ones lived and worked each day is so important. “I always imagined that everything was grey” said the mother of one of the inmates. It was a true honour to share that moment with her and I don’t mind saying that it brought a tear to my eye. Later in the day I got the chance to meet her son and to watch them share just a few precious moments together. I was also privileged because HMP Whitemoor is a high security prison and therefore it was the first time that the prison had run an extended family visits day and to open up the establishment for us to visit beyond the visits room was groundbreaking. In fact, we were the first civilians to have ever been shown around the prison.
For more information about Action for Prisoners Famiiles click onto www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk . I have been working for APF for over 4 years now on a part time basis and have learnt so much in that time about the needs of prisoners families. You can find out more by looking at the website above.
That’s it for tonight but be sure to keep a look out on the bathtimeblog as I’ll need something to do until February.
Posted by Daddy @ 8:49 PM
Wednesday, 4th October 2006
My latest blog entry has been written as a tribute to our great friends Jon and Nick who entertained us wonderfully over the weekend. We had a lovely time, visiting the Science Museum on Saturday when we took Isaac on the London underground for the first time (not that he looks excited by it).
On Saturday evening however, Heidi and I experienced sushi for the very first time. What great fun. Nick and Jon assembled all the various bits and pieces and away we went, spreading rice over seaweed, laying salmon and vegetables delicately on top before rolling it all up with the sushi mat. Once we cut the strip up it looked great and thankfully it tasted great as well.
Incidentally, just in case you think I’ve gone completely bonkers, the title of this latest blog entry will go over your head unless you’ve seen the film Monsters Inc.
Despite Heidi’s look of horror she enjoyed the sushi feast immensely whereas the artistry in making the food was just as exciting. It was just like playing the Generation Game.
On Sunday we had another enjoyable, and thankfully a more relaxing day when we went for a walk around Forty Hall in Enfield. Nick and Isaac took it easy most of the way as you can see.
It was the first time that we had seen Nick and Jon’s new flat which they moved into when they got married in April. It is a lovely welcoming home. Nick is Isaac’s Godmother however Jon was barely on the scene when Isaac was born. Nevertheless, having had sufficient time to vet Jon’s character and worthiness for the job, Heidi and I decided that we would be honoured if Jon would be Isaac’s Godfather; a task that Jon duly accepted. We know that Isaac is in very good (and strong by the looks of it) hands with Jon and Nick praying regularly for him (and contributing towards his trust fund, a side issue that we forgot to mention at the weekend).
Heidi, Isaac and I had just spent the previous few days in Ross on Wye, staying at Nick’s parents house. They kindly offered us their home whilst they went to somewhere more exotic. We had some lovely days in the Forest of Dean, cycling one day and going for a wonderful walk following a sculpture trail. If you fancy having a look at the trail then click on the link below which has pictures of most of the sculptures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91913958@N00/sets/72157594314443292/
Isaac rode on the back of my bike in his own seat for the first time. He loved it. What a cool dude.
Well that’s just about it for this blog entry, after all I only have 9 days to go before my exam. Trust me I have been revising since I last wrote to you.
Posted by Daddy @ 7:37 PM
Friday, 22nd September 2006
On 16th October I am scheduled to sit my exam for my latest course through the Open University. This year I have been studying State, Economy and Nation in nineteenth-century Europe. I completed my final essay on August 25th and so had a good 7 weeks or so to revise. However, as I am sure most of my readers would quickly recognise in themselves, I have a tendency to procrastinate when it comes to revision, finding many other things (with the notable exception of repairing the stairgate that Isaac broke off the wall) to do around the house instead. I have never found a way of revising that works particularly well for me. I tend to reread just about everything and make copious notes which I should have taken when reading the text the first time around. In the end, I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to read something completely unrelated to my course following my last essay. After all, was I really likely to remember things I revised 7 week ago. I doubt it! So, I picked up a book that my sister bought for me for my birthday. I remember at the time being somewhat taken aback when I received the book because I hadn’t asked for it, nor did I know that he had written the book. However, Chris Patten’s Not Quite the Diplomat turned out to be a great read and I can now thank my sister for her inspired choice.
Patten’s experience of working in the European Commission offered a thoroughly enlightening glimpse into the world of European politics. Ironically, had it not been for the course that I had just completed, many of Patten’s anecdotes may have gone over my head. The book also gave an excellent insight into Britain’s relationship with America, a nation that Patten has a close affiliation to yet he is equally scathing towards many aspects of its administration and particularly of those in positions of power (such as Dick Cheney who Patten is especially antipathetic towards). Most worrying is Patten’s projected analysis of the role of India and China on world politics and the global economy. I suggest that we begin to teach our children Chinese at the first opportunity if they are to compete on the same economic level as the Chinese.
When I finished Not Quite the Diplomat on September 9th I still had approximately 5 weeks to revise. So what did I do? I picked up a book that I had bought to give to my brother for Christmas, extracts of which I had heard a few weeks previously on Radio 4’s book of the week; I Was Vermeer by Frank Wynne. This is the story of Han Van Meegeren, arguably the worlds most notorious forger. Van Meegeren loved the works of the Dutch Golden Age of Pieter de Hooch, Rembrandt, Hans Fral and most of all Johanne Vermeer of Delft. His own work sought to emulate these great artists of the 17th century however he failed to make it in a world of art that was adopting the modernist works of Picasso, Chagal, Cezanne, Dali et al. in the early 19th century. In order to challenge and expose the art critics that had ridiculed him, Van Meegeren painted what was supposedly one of Vermeer’s greatest pieces that had lain undiscovered for 3 centuries. The Supper at Emmaus was completed in 1937 and was so good that it even passed as a genuine Vermeer when scrutinised by the great Vermeer expert, Abraham Bredius. Van Meegeren’s plan was to wait until the painting hung on the wall of a prestigious art gallery before revealing his fraud and thus exposing the art world for the hypocrite that it was. All was well, for The Emmaus was indeed hung upon the walls at the Boijmans Museum in The Hague; only greed prevented Van Meegeren from revealing the truth.
This fascinating true story is a must read and not only for art lovers. As well as being a great story, the book also offers a fascinating insight into the chemisty of art, in how to make one’s own paints that were used in the 17th century and how to make a forgery stand up to the highest level of scrutiny in the days of X-rays and forensic testing. I found this book so compelling that I finished it within a week, leaving me 4 weeks to revise.
However, of all the books that I have read whilst avoiding revision, the best by far was Cranky which I have read to my son at least 2 dozen times. It is a story of rivalry, bitter jealousy and ultimately, sweet revenge on the pertetrators of injustice. This is the story of Cranky the Crane who works at the harbour on the island of Sodor. Thomas and Percy regularly receive the loads taken off the ships but Cranky, being the Cranky that he is, ridicules Thomas and Percy, calling them ‘useless little bugs’. Oh but Cranky soon gets his comeuppance when one night a storm hits the island and cranky comes tumbling down to earth, quite literally. Who helps to pull him to his feet, only Thomas and Percy. Yet, it is not long before Cranky forgets the debt that he owes to the little engines below and not before long he is again calling them names.
Cranky is the story of the proletariat triumphing over the ruling aristocracy of an unjust, absolute state. Thomas and Percy’s actions are clearly governed by Marxist philosophy, cooperating as one in a suppressed society. The triumph of the bourgoisie is heartening to all fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends who are sick and tired of seeing the Fat Controller judge the little man for accidents that are entirely out of his control. When will the drivers of these engines ever get sacked or better still hauled before a public enquiry. As a shareholder in Sodor railways it breaks my heart, not to mention my bank balance, to see the disgraceful state of affairs regarding the public utilities of the railways on Sodor.
Enough said, after all I have a lot of revision to catch up on.
End.
Posted by Daddy @ 8:32 PM
