Good grief! Woke up this morning at 10.30am ans everywhere is covered in my favourite stuff - SNOW! It is freezing, literally. Kim went nuts 'cos she's never seen snow before. It was a lovely day, but it was not long before the snow clouds rolled overhead. I've never been in such a blizzard since England's bad winter 4 or 4 years ago (note; WAS it a bad winter in 1986-87?)
Met a nice guy called John from Luton. I went through murders trying to arrange for money to be wired from California to Grand Canyon. Won't be able to get it until tomorrow. S**t!
Well, it was so cold today, it looked like tonight would be a hell of a lot colder so me, George, Kim and John booked into a chalet room. $54 for a room with two double beds - good job I've got my new sleeping bag - bathroom and a TV, fully heated of course. We bought some beers - a suitcase of bud - some wine, and sat watching TV until midnight in the warm when we all fell asleep.
Absolute bliss!
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"Just a little something to break the monotony ..."
' just thought I'd drop in something a wee bit more up to date, for your perusal.
Did I mention recently, that our DVD and Freeview equipment has gone up in smoke, like, literally? In order that people aren't permanently hissing the words "bad parent" in my general direction, my children don't get to watch TV from Monday to Friday.
They don't miss it, as they're too busy doing other stuff; playing with their toys, reading the hundreds of books they've amassed, not to mention doing their homework and their musical instrument practice.
Ironically, this is another reason my own mother questions my parenting skills (along with not giving them chocolate and sweets whenever they ask for it, because "all kids like sweets"). Amazing the difference one generation makes.
Anyways, on this occasion the children were watching the TV (for 'twas the weekend) and I was lying on the floor, still wading slowly through the supplements that came with the Sunday newspaper from the week previous, when suddenly, there was a loud bang (ok, a pop then, but it was a loud pop) and the screen went dark blue. I looked up from my reading, Joseph asked what had happened, but all I could offer was a rather pathetic, "I'm not sure".
Although I was still looking at the blue screen, my nostrils filled with an electrical burning (it wasn't the rosacea this time!) and I looked down at our slightly dated Freeview box, perched in the small shelf under the TV, whereby I discovered the source of the electrical burning. Smoke started to puff slowly from the vents on either side of the machine, before becoming stronger and thicker. I leapt into action, Bodie and Doyle styleee, and grabbed the plug out of the wall (having had to toss aside the kids' playboxes), gathering up the smoking machine and running down the hall, before opening the door and literally throwing the, by now "past-it's-best" Freeview box, into a puddle in the front garden, where I would've been more than a little impressed with the cooling "hiss" it let out, if it weren't for the fact that I knew we were now down to just five television channels.
Well, four really - I rarely watch anything on 5 (sorry 5!)
Anyways, just for a real laugh, fate then stepped in to really bugger things up. The very next evening, the DVD tray refused to come out, trapping one of the kids' movies inside, and refusing to play even that!! Of course, the children were quick to accuse me of not keeping my end of the bargain, with Joseph firing this at me - "you said we could watch TV and DVD's at the weekend and now (cue annoyed dance by him) we can't do either of those things" sob sob, whimper whimper, annoyed dance continuing with gusto.
Well, he did have a point, so after comparing prices between Ebuyer, Amazon, John Lewis and Argos (hey, I like to explore all avenues), I eventually ordered a PVR from Argos and a DVD player from Amazon. I could bore you with the picture quality of the DVD player but I figure I've bored you enough lately, so will endeavour to crack on and get to the point.
After installing the above equipment on a Friday evening (see what I did there? All ready for them to come downstairs to on Saturday morning, clev-verrrrr!), I asked for a drum roll and then flicked all the switches and pressed all the buttons, firing it all into life. Saturday morning means cartoons and one of Annabel's younger programmes had various animals wondering what to do for their friend's birthday.
The animal whose birthday it was was a panda, and they were discussing various facts about pandas. We were all staring at the TV, albeit for different reasons; the kids because they were back to having access to a ridiculous amount of channels to flick through, and me because I was quietly smiling to myself at our lovely new visual equipment. We all heard the facts however, which went something like this;
Did you know that pandas spend most of their day eating? (At this, Joseph turned to me and said "cooooool" 'cos eating is one of his favourite things to do). The narrator on TV continued.
Did you know that when a panda isn't eating, it is either resting or sleeping? (Joseph turned to me and let out a louder and longer "cooooooooooool, I'd LOVE to be a panda!!"
At that moment, I honestly think Joseph was imagining himself being reincarnated as one of these large black and white beasts.
The narrator wrapped up their piece to camera. "Pandas stay very close to their mothers for up to the first three years of their lives (Joseph still smiling) ...... before heading out into the wild on their own".
Annabel and I looked straight at Joseph who looked horrified, turned to me with no hint of a smile on his face and simply said, "maybe not!"
Even Annabel thought it was hilarious - just not as hilarious as me!
' just thought I'd drop in something a wee bit more up to date, for your perusal.
Did I mention recently, that our DVD and Freeview equipment has gone up in smoke, like, literally? In order that people aren't permanently hissing the words "bad parent" in my general direction, my children don't get to watch TV from Monday to Friday.
They don't miss it, as they're too busy doing other stuff; playing with their toys, reading the hundreds of books they've amassed, not to mention doing their homework and their musical instrument practice.
Ironically, this is another reason my own mother questions my parenting skills (along with not giving them chocolate and sweets whenever they ask for it, because "all kids like sweets"). Amazing the difference one generation makes.
Anyways, on this occasion the children were watching the TV (for 'twas the weekend) and I was lying on the floor, still wading slowly through the supplements that came with the Sunday newspaper from the week previous, when suddenly, there was a loud bang (ok, a pop then, but it was a loud pop) and the screen went dark blue. I looked up from my reading, Joseph asked what had happened, but all I could offer was a rather pathetic, "I'm not sure".
Although I was still looking at the blue screen, my nostrils filled with an electrical burning (it wasn't the rosacea this time!) and I looked down at our slightly dated Freeview box, perched in the small shelf under the TV, whereby I discovered the source of the electrical burning. Smoke started to puff slowly from the vents on either side of the machine, before becoming stronger and thicker. I leapt into action, Bodie and Doyle styleee, and grabbed the plug out of the wall (having had to toss aside the kids' playboxes), gathering up the smoking machine and running down the hall, before opening the door and literally throwing the, by now "past-it's-best" Freeview box, into a puddle in the front garden, where I would've been more than a little impressed with the cooling "hiss" it let out, if it weren't for the fact that I knew we were now down to just five television channels.
Well, four really - I rarely watch anything on 5 (sorry 5!)
Anyways, just for a real laugh, fate then stepped in to really bugger things up. The very next evening, the DVD tray refused to come out, trapping one of the kids' movies inside, and refusing to play even that!! Of course, the children were quick to accuse me of not keeping my end of the bargain, with Joseph firing this at me - "you said we could watch TV and DVD's at the weekend and now (cue annoyed dance by him) we can't do either of those things" sob sob, whimper whimper, annoyed dance continuing with gusto.
Well, he did have a point, so after comparing prices between Ebuyer, Amazon, John Lewis and Argos (hey, I like to explore all avenues), I eventually ordered a PVR from Argos and a DVD player from Amazon. I could bore you with the picture quality of the DVD player but I figure I've bored you enough lately, so will endeavour to crack on and get to the point.
After installing the above equipment on a Friday evening (see what I did there? All ready for them to come downstairs to on Saturday morning, clev-verrrrr!), I asked for a drum roll and then flicked all the switches and pressed all the buttons, firing it all into life. Saturday morning means cartoons and one of Annabel's younger programmes had various animals wondering what to do for their friend's birthday.
The animal whose birthday it was was a panda, and they were discussing various facts about pandas. We were all staring at the TV, albeit for different reasons; the kids because they were back to having access to a ridiculous amount of channels to flick through, and me because I was quietly smiling to myself at our lovely new visual equipment. We all heard the facts however, which went something like this;
Did you know that pandas spend most of their day eating? (At this, Joseph turned to me and said "cooooool" 'cos eating is one of his favourite things to do). The narrator on TV continued.
Did you know that when a panda isn't eating, it is either resting or sleeping? (Joseph turned to me and let out a louder and longer "cooooooooooool, I'd LOVE to be a panda!!"
At that moment, I honestly think Joseph was imagining himself being reincarnated as one of these large black and white beasts.
The narrator wrapped up their piece to camera. "Pandas stay very close to their mothers for up to the first three years of their lives (Joseph still smiling) ...... before heading out into the wild on their own".
Annabel and I looked straight at Joseph who looked horrified, turned to me with no hint of a smile on his face and simply said, "maybe not!"
Even Annabel thought it was hilarious - just not as hilarious as me!
Ha - Vintage Dad!
ReplyDeleteAnd thinking of the Panda thingy - it might actually be a good thing if you roll forward nine or ten years.........
after all they're only interested in sex for a few days each year!
Have a good weekend.