Shakers for the Cup

Look at Bury go! I hadn't realised they'd sacked the manager until tonight, when they were the Shock of the Night on Sky Sports while I was watching Liverpool win for beating Norwich 2-1. I thought it was a little harsh of Mike Newell to say something like "if it'll rain anywhere, it'll rain in Bury".
They'll play Southampton in the 4th round at the end of January, at St Mary's. Hmm, I'll have to see if Ola and Lara fancy a trip to the South Coast that weekend for some sea air? I've probably still got my inflatable black pudding somewhere!

Hooray for ASDA

I've been turning in Victor Meldrew for some time, so a piece on the news this morning was right up my street. Asda are bringing in fines for people who park in disabled and parent & child spaces when they are not entitled to. About bl*ody time! It had bugged me before we had Lara, but since she was born we've been to Asda in High Wycombe three times with her and only once did we get a parent & child space, and that was the last one, and it was at 10.30 at night! I don't believe for one second that all the other cars there were parents with children. I've been ready to have a moan at the next selfish driver I encountered who parked where they shouldn't, fully expecting a load of abuse back, but now I can just report them and watch them get fined. Actually I'm not that bothered about them getting fined and having to pay the £60 (although the profit goes to charity) but at least Asda will have people out there actively shoo-ing people out of spaces.
Here's the full story: http://www.asda-press.co.uk/pressrelease/151

Nearly the weekend at last

This has felt like a long week. As early as Tuesday I was looking forward to Friday, and it's finally here. We need to take the Christmas decorations down now, we felt we were justified in leaving them up past 12th Night on the grounds we were still celebrating Russian Christmas, but even that has passed now.
There seems so much to do at the moment, beyond just looking after Lara's normal daily needs. I need to finish the summerhouse, dog-proof the garden (Mishka has taken to being the Neighbourhood Watch Dog now and jumps onto the garage roof, which means he's very close to being able to escape into the street), hang the pictures we've had framed, sort out various wardrobes, organise all our holiday photos and videos on our PC, and make sure Olga feels like the Princess she deserves to be (Ola - you come first!!)
You can tell we're busy at the moment from the lack of new photographs I've uploaded. This weekend - Sunday - I promise! Tomorrow is already booked up with those jobs I mentioned (oh, if the weather's nice tomorrow morning we're all going on a big family walk, then I'll do those jobs!) then we're going to Reading to celebrate Simon L's birthday. Hopefully we'll bump into Ant'n'Bec'n'Eve too and compare nappy-changing frequency.
Lara is being all funny about her sleeping habits again. One night she set a personal best by sleeping from 11pm till 4.30am, and we thought we'd cracked it, then the next night she was up almost every hour having a little feed. It did mean that one morning I was downstairs with Lara from 5.30 and I was able to watch a film I'd Sky-plussed eight or nine months ago!
We've decided it's not collic that keeps Lara awake, as one of the symptoms of that is that she can't relieve trapped wind. Trust me, if there was an Olympic event for relieving trapped wind, Lara would be leading out the GB team at the London Games, aged 4 1/2. It's a good job they've banned smoking in pubs, as you wouldn't want a naked flame near her within 30 minutes of her having eaten.

So, it's time to go home and do one of those jobs I didn't list earlier - finish programming the Universal Remote Control I bought on eBay to control all the electrical things in the lounge. The main reason was to control the wireless media streamer - Mishka ate the remote control for that 6 months ago....

Merry Christmasovitch

Just a quick thought - it's January 7th: Russian Christmas Day!

It's been a few days

It's amazing how time flies! It was Thursday when I last posted but it seems like one day. What's happened since then?
Well, on Friday afternoon I had my first proper baby-sitting session while Olga went for a haircut; she had been observing a Russian superstition not to cut her hair while she was pregnant, so it had got pretty long and she decided it was time for something new and easier to manage. I'll put a pic up here in the next day or two, but it looks great.
I also got our new webcam up and running and had our first two-way Web Conference with mum & dad. It's the future! We just need to get Cath and Nick online at the same time and we'll be the archetypal 21st Century Family.
On Saturday morning Mother Nature invaded the next-garden-but-one from us - a Monkjack Deer! I tried taking a photo but he/she was very camera shy, and hid behind a bush, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but here's someone else's photo of one, so you get an idea of what was wandering around in someone's back garden!:

We went for a stroll round the shops - we picked out a few frames for some pictures and photos I wanted to hang at home; we had some lovely prints shipped home from Hawaii in 2006 and I've been wanting to hang them since we moved in.

On Sunday the weather was lovely so Mishka and I went for a walk in near West Wycombe Park and the Hellfire Caves, home of the Hellfire Club of 18th Century aristocrats. It was a lovely, crisp, clear, frosty Sunday morning, and there's a church on top of the hill over the caves, and we went for a stroll round there. Again, I've pilfered someone else's photo:


Olga didn't want to miss out either and she took Lara down to the main park in Wycombe town centre. In the afternoon I actually went back to the Summerhouse and made some progress towards finishing it; I put the doors back on and some of the glass in the window frames. I should have it finished on Saturday. Famous Last Words!

Monday's been my first proper day back at work, it was busy, but went quickly. Olga coped perfectly with looking after Lara and Mishka on her own. I'm writing this late at night and spoilt for choice for which of 1987's best films to watch - Robocop on Sky One or Predator on ITV1.

I'll give you a clue as to which one won - you have twenty seconds to comply......