Friday 23 November 2007

Practice makes perfect

We had a morning Ante-Natal class today; I was the only man able to make it, Olga was very proud :-) We're such a team! Part of the class was the inevitable "nappy" lesson. We split into two groups and could choose between trying to describing how we would change a nappy (what we'd need, how we'd do it, etc..) and how we would bath baby. I jumped in for the nappy scenario, I know even less about bathing a baby than changing its nappy, and there seemed more things to get wrong with bathing, and I didn't want to be the first one in the group to drown the doll.
Our little group of myself, Olga & one of the other mums-to-be, Susie, got most of the theoretical things right in the end, it was only the practical aspect where we tripped up. Those nappies should have Front and Back written on them, otherwise it's far too easy to put them on back-to-front. Would that be too much to ask? At least put that on the "newborn"-style of nappy, or put a pretty pattern on the front, so we know. It's not immediately obvious that the fastening tapes should go at the front, is it? If you were being neat and tidy, wouldn't you put them at the back, out of sight?
Anyway, one of us put the nappy on the doll back-to-front, and I'll never reveal which one of the three of us it was.

Besides that, it was a very useful session, and things are moving quickly now; on Sunday evening we're all going to the Maternity ward at Wycombe General for a look around.

At home, more things that Olga has ordered on the internet are arriving. Last night the dining room table looked like it had come from a UN Refugee Camp, so abundant were the blankets and towels. We had a little play with the Quinny pram, trying to work out the brakes - that could prove useful in Wycombe, although chasing a pram down a steep hill is a quick way to lose those post-natal kilos.

We're going to have fun trying to work out how the car seat fits in the car this weekend....

The Crooners


Instead of watching the football on Wednesday evening, Olga & I went to see Chris & Cara sing at Borlaise School in Marlow. They've secretly been attending singing classes this autumn and this was their "passing out" concert. Each member of the class sang one song, and then there was a team rendition of the good old Timewarp.
Cara sang Somewhere Out There, from An American Tail, and Chris sang "The Way You Look Tonight" by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields (never heard of them? Me neither, and nor had Chris, but it has been sung by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, Rod Stewart, Bing Crosby...). They were both very brave, there must have been 200 people in the audience, and I'm no expert but they sounded great. Once I get it the OK from them, I'll load the videos I took up to YouTube and put a link on here.
No Royalties will be payable, guys!

Euro 2008? I told you so



I wasn't bothered at all about watching the England game on Wednesday night, I don't think we deserved to qualify, and McClaren needed to be sacked - you heard it here first - I'm such a pundit!
Coincidentally, I won an auction on eBay on Wednesday for a Russian National Team football shirt, so I'll put that to good use next Summer.
Who should they appoint now though? I don't think it should be anyone "big", they should appoint a caretaker until after the Euros and see who's available then. Gus Hiddink? I hope so, he was my choice 18 months ago... who does he manage now? Russia.
For the time being, why not Ricky Tomlinson? He did OK as Mike Bassett, England Manager.

Who needs Business Class?


The flight home on Tuesday was mostly uneventful; BA has introduced "on demand" video now for Economy passengers, which is great, you can choose your film or TV programme from a very long list (probably 30 or so films and 20 TV programmes) and you can start it when you like and pause it when you need the loo / a drink / a snooze.
Apart from me putting my still-turned-on mobile phones in my hold luggage rather than my hand luggage when I checked in - I owned up to this and the Chief Steward checked with Biggles in the cockpit and was assured the plane wouldn't fall out of the sky - everything was hunky-dorey until we tried to land at Heathrow. The cloud cover was very low, and we ended up having to abort our landing. Biggles came on the intercom to say it was a combination of us turning in for our approach too early and they aircraft in front of us not clearing the runway quickly enough. It was all very exciting, but just meant that even more passengers were desperate for the loo when we finally made it to the gate.
So, why is Jeremy Bowen's mush staring out at the top of this post, I hear you ask. Well, he was on the flight too, in Business Class I assume. I was standing next to him at the baggage reclaim for 25 minutes (why is it your bags can travel 2000 miles in 4 and a half hours but then take 25 minutes to travel half a mile?), and my bag arrived before his. Ha! There is justice. He's planning to go to America on Sunday, using his spare passport, which is the one he used to go to Cairo, in case you're wondering what his plans are for next week. The things you learn by listening to other people's mobile phone conversations.
Then it was home for a snooze and Tuesday night's Ante-Natal class.

Monday 19 November 2007

Stonehenge? A B&Q garden ornament


Here's the view at 5.30pm from my balcony, it's the only time the smog has lifted enough to see the pyramids. You can't quite grasp how big they are until you see them up close, but this gives you an idea, seeing as they are 10 miles away (click on the picture for the full size version - it's not perfect, I took it on my phone). Stonehenge is nice, but I doubt you can see it 10 miles away.

I was thinking of going out tonight, but an hour's worth of free Happy Hour beer and a Chivas Regal for Eve Lawrence has made me think I'll just hang around in the room and see if I can beat the £40-odd I spent on room service on Saturday night...

Tough work if you can get it

The work is all finished and I'm back at the hotel, enjoying a beer on the floating bar (a bit rocky when a boat goes past). Traffiic was bad, but maybe that was because David Milliband is in town, giving a talk at the university, or because Tony Blair will be here tomorrow, probably not because I'm here!
So I'm going to enjoy a few local stellas on Ant'n'Bec's behalf, but not too many, my car is coming at 6am tomorrow...

(Water) Breaking News!! NOT OLGA THOUGH!!

Here's this morning's big news... Becca gave birth to Eve Lawrence at 11.20 last night. Mother and baby are fine, Dad's delighted but tired. I assume mum is too! Photos to follow in good time...

Sunday 18 November 2007

Saturday in Marlow

Lucy and I went for a walk by the river in Marlow on Saturday afternoon. Here is one of the pictures.

Waiting around

It's 6pm on Sunday in Cairo and i'm hanging around in reception at the client's office, waiting for three Italian gents to finish their meeting so we can share a lift in the company car back to the hotel. I've already been halfway there in one car, before the driver understood he'd taken me to the wrong Sofitel, and rather than take me to the right one, then go back to the office and get the three Italians, then go to our Sofitel again, he's brought me back here to wait. For an hour and a quarter. Oh well, it's not like I've got anything else to do!
The job's gone very well, despite me oversleeping yesterday morning and keeping the driver waiting for 20 minutes. The hotel really is very posh, I'm on the 'executive' floor, I couldn't resist the whole rom service thing last night, although I didn't do the James Bond thing and order the beluga caviar (£90) and champagne (the cheapest was £250 a bottle). I just went for the beef medallions at £15 and a bottle of egyptian rose. Yup, it was as bad as you are thinking! I'll let the client treat me to something european tonight seeing as i'm working up a thirst just sitting here.

Well, thanks for helping me pass half an hour. Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes, it's very fiddly typing on this pda!