Bethany was due her one year jabs this morning but it was postponed a week as she was a bit out of sorts with the runny nose she has had for the past week giving a little cause for concern. Instead we just got her weighed and she had actually lost a bit, although they expressed doubt over the scales as a number of other children had apparently also slimmed a bit. She has not been eating as much as normal recently and she is walking around so the loss is possible but was still within the parameters nonetheless. After the upset and fuss undressing and redressing Bethany we took her for her first shoe fitting where she was good but too tired to play ball and walk around in the shoes to see how well they fitted. For the record she was measured at 3.5E on one foot with the other slightly larger. Obviously the smaller size was recommended and I cynically assumed it was so you had to buy the next pair sooner but rode with it. I think Alison was more impressed with the shoes as the little lights on the side entertained her when the shoe was banged slightly as Bethany demonstrated perfectly later on with her heavy footsteps.

An enjoyably hectic day as it's Bethany's 1st birthday and after the initial excitement of tearing wrapping paper all over she seemed to enjoy herself playing with the new toys even if she was unaware or cared as to why she got them. As the well travelled cliche has it "children prefer playing with the box" and while there was a brief flirtation with the large glittery bag the presents came in she did actually play with the toys albeit more so with the simpler ones ie stacking cups occupied her more than say a musical pull along duck with flashing lights and various noises. With family coming round for a buffet tea at 4pm we actually found ourselves with time on our hands after a quick tidy so that we were able to catch up on watching some recorded programmes which included Bethany's favourite theme tune "New Tricks".
   The car / walker that we got Bethany a while back actually got some use anyway as after the first day she decided that she did not like being sat in it where she was confined but Nathan was not as particular and enjoyed playing with it even though it is pink. Typically the table is still full of food now covered in cling film, despite Alison's protestations that I should cook more. At least lunch tomorrow is taken care of as well as Alison's bait for work and the embargo on snacking on the crisps and nuts when settling down at night has now been lifted.

Bethany has been fussy with her food again and I tried another tactic which worked for a short while. This is not a method I would recommend but she started doing it herself so I carried it on. After a few mouthfuls of cauliflower and broccoli cheese (without the cheese! - none left so I made parsley sauce) she refused any more and so we gave her a chocolate dessert. Whilst feeding her this she started dropping bits of vegetable into the chocolate jar and fishing them back out. Inspired by this I started coating bits of cauliflower in the chocolate and she happily ate it although the choco-broccoli was not so successful. This was not necessary for her tea but I did have to prepare about three meals so that after she had picked at all the bits and pieces she had just about managed a meal. The tray from the high chair looked like an explosion in a restaurant with bits of stew, fishfinger, bread and apple strewn all over.

I've just created another blog as I try to restore some semblemce of order to this one. I will try to confine this to personal info and my various trains of thought on others. So for the time being Sports Thoughts shall house my sporting related rants and I intend to create one for currrent affairs called News Views. I was considering an entertainment based one as well but that may be for a later date.
   As Bethany's first birthday approaches she seems to really developing. Her first tottering steps have progressed to walking between rooms but she does look like a drunk zombie when she does so. She is also learning as she plays, reassembling three bathtime boats that interlock and used a spoon to feed herself with. Granted the latter saw as much yoghurt down her arm and smeared around her right eye but she did get some in her mouth as well.

Effectively we're having a weekend apart as Alison and myself won't see much of each other. At the moment she is round her mother's to share in the Children in Need experience, which is a little tradition they have and I may stop up long enough to see her before going to bed ready for my overtime tomorrow morning. When I return Alison is working tomorrow afternoon and for 12 hours on Sunday and she will get back in time then before I leave to start my night shift. So providing she doesn't get any more shifts I might see her when I get up on Monday afternoon. I suppose this will happen more and more as we organize shifts so that someone is always here to look after Bethany.
   To continue from last night, there may have been other points I wished to make but what I can recall is something I meant to mention a while back but had my memory jogged by my rant against Jane Moore. Referring to Mohammed as being the top name for boys (despite officially being Oliver) I remember checking the list when they were first published to see how our little contribution to the statistics had fared.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282

Bethany is ranked at 53 with a total of 1135 babies named such in 2009 - a drop of 3 places from the previous year. Curiously it had dropped 42 places since 1999 - I say curiously as I was not aware that it had been so prevalent 11 years ago although I must confess not to have really examined these statistics in much detail before, only the most popular names from every so often kept popping up in the various baby name books that we looked through and it didn't seem familiar. Anyway I, in a strange way, was quite pleased with this position: not too popular to be commonplace and possibly confusing with the potential of a number of classmates having the same name and not too rare as to be deliberately obscurantist with a name that frankly could be just made up. Happily coasting along in mid-table, which, along with all the other reasons previously discussed was another consideration when deciding her name, or at least the short(ish)list.

I had the urge to set up a website for no particular reason than I had a couple of ideas and thought I would be interested in them so why not? My initial idea was one I had thought of for a while and was based on me occasionally wondering if a long unheard of celebrity was still alive or not. To be called Dead or Alive I felt it may be of passing interest to similarly forgetful people. Secondly I thought of writing a load of quiz questions, with answers, in varying categories that may be useful for compilers of pub quizzes called simply "Pub Quiz". Thinking it best to check the Internet first to see if nothing similar existed I was mildly disappointed to see that both were already fully fledged services with the same names - oh well always one step (at least) behind.
   A couple of quick lines to follow up previous posts: firstly with regards to the Royal Wedding it seems strange for the media to refer to Kate Middleton as a commoner. This is a word that just feels politically incorrect and applied by tabloid editors, many of whom had regular upbringings - comprehensive, redbrick universities, lorry driver fathers etc - to a public school educated daughter of a millionaire seems surreal and makes her sound like a chav. It doesn't say much for the rest of us.
   I did say a couple of lines but I can't be bothered now as it's getting late and now Ali is back from her first shift at the home I'll save it for another day (if I can remember or be bothered).

A dull, grey and foggy day that saw me dig my jumper out of my locker for the first time this season, although it only lasted half an hour as I soon worked up a sweat. I say that but working on the panel besides 300 odd barrels of beer on the boil helps raise the ambient temperature. The dullness of my workday was enlivened by Bethany starting to take a few more steps who was very pleased with herself.
   Returning home I was immediately bored when I heard the news of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton knowing that this would dominate all programmes for the foreseeable future. Even the broadcaster seemed fed up with the regular interruptions to his show so that we could hear the thoughts of a friend of one of the couple's aunt's neighbour to the extent that he encouraged listeners to contact him with more tenuous links. It may be time to hibernate until Spring.

I feel dirty. Whilst having my bait at work last week there was a copy of the Sun lying around and I flicked through it. Knowing the editorial stance of the paper even the piece condoning waterboarding was hardly a surprise - although it does become quite comical when after picking sides they refuse to accept their man can ever do anything wrong and that those opposing his views are never right (a nice get out clause at the moment as negative news stories are Coalition policies not Conservative ones, hence the scrapping of the Child Trust Fund being accompanied by a photo of Nick Clegg. What bothered me was the accompanying article by Jane Moore where I detected some snide racism as she went off track to complain about chanting extremists outside a courtroom noting that two of the three men were called Mohammed and that this was now the most popular name in the UK for boys. I felt compelled to write a comment on their website concerning this and wondering as to the relevance of the name (the number of which had actually fallen) and pointing out that it smacked of incitement stirring up right wingers "Look at them coming over here, taking our names". Given that Phil Woolas has been suspended from Parliament and a by election called in his constituency for lying and using inciting language in his election literature I wondered what the difference between the rules for politicians and journalists was. Strangely enough they didn't post any of my comments and I'm left with the filthy stain of signing up to their website.
   On a positive note, yesterday Bethany took a couple of tentative steps causing much excitement after racing around with the walker she seems about ready for the next stage. However, the last few nights she hasn't been going to sleep, or dropping off only to wake a little later wanting to play. Teeth keep getting blamed and whilst they may well be a major cause she has also started putting her hand to her ear making us wonder if she has an infection - based solely on a doctor at Piper House asking if she had done that, indicating that it may be an ear infection. We had never noticed before but ever since when she does so we wonder if she may have an infection or is simply scratching.

Yesterday as I was walking back from town I saw some gig posters in a shop window and had a quick look to see what was on. A tribute act calling themselves "The Kinx" was unsurprising and may be fun and I could hardly believe that Sham 69 were still going, but the poster that really grabbed my attention was for "The Glitter Band" featuring Captain Sensible.

http://www.theglitterband.co.uk/

Now I may be mistaken but they might struggle to sell all the tickets for that one. By all means continue to play but you do realise the associations people make with that name so to still trade under that banner will be an issue as it is so strongly linked to Gary Glitter. I understand that if you used a new name people wouldn't know who you are but surely that's better than trading on the back of a convicted paedophile and advertising yourself to the pitchfork wielding members of the community.
   Opinion seems divided over Ian Holloway and his decision to make 10 changes to the Blackpool team who narrowly lost to Aston Villa last night. He has received support over his threat to quit should he be fined by the FA for not fielding a full strength team and others point out that as Mick McCarthy was fined last year for resting players ahead of a more winnable game with Wolves it would be unfair not to do likewise. The difference then was that McCarthy was upfront about his motives giving the FA no option but to follow there poor law. Every team indulges in this, although not necessarily to this extent and with the bigger clubs it is called squad rotation. The whole point of the 25 man squad was to bring more young British players through and last night Holloway fielded 8 Englishmen giving them a chance as he rested some of his more regular players. Sure he will have had one eye on the weekend but he still put out a team with the intention of winning and what was best for his team. As he said he does not want someone from the FA telling him what his best XI is and players will need rest at some stage. As it stands there is nothing from stopping a manager claiming a player has a knock or that there is a virus in the squad and the League Cup has been a regular arena for blooding younger players by the bigger teams for the last few seasons.

I'm sure it's not a new phenomenon for a delegation of business leaders to accompany politicians on state visits but Camerons's trip to China felt particularly like he was little more than a pimp. Given the multi million pound contract that Rolls Royce secured I wonder if these companies have to pay for the privilege of accompanying the Prime Minister given the potential rewards on offer and if not how do you get an invite as I fancy a holiday. Other than making a few introductions it is hard to see what Cameron himself achieved for the UK aside from some mumbling about human rights which he was obliged to do and which the Chinese authorities politely entertained before completely ignoring by sentencing Zhao Linhai to two and a half years  for inciting social disorder after complaining about the tainted milk that made many children, including his own, ill.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s3063001.htm

It's probably still too early to comment on the Zulqarnain Haider case as I feel there a few developments yet to be revealed, suffice to say whilst some commentators question his methods of fleeing Dubai and claim asylum in London rather than report any match fixing through the proper channels are understandable the extenuating circumstances may be genuine. If, as claimed, he and his family have received death threats then that may cause some panic as you put those you love first, although the asylum claims do seem strange as they tend to be in cases where the individual is running from the state. As far I know the threats were from illegal bookmakers not the Pakistan state.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davidbond/2010/11/mystery_continues_in_haider_af.html

Domestically a few daytime sit com moments especially when Anna baby sat yesterday afternoon whilst Alison went for an interview. The door handle broke on the living room door trapping her and Bethany in the front room. A few phone calls for help resulted in Paul coming round who was luckily off work and who unscrewed the handle and freed the Darlo 2. Aside from that Bethany is gaining great amusement by helping with the laundry - by which I mean each time I hang an item on the clothes horse she takes it back off. As she can only reach the smaller items on the bottom we generally have a trail of socks and knickers around the dining room just after the washing machine has finished. This morning, however, Bethany tried wearing them and spent much of this morning with a pair of pink knickers over her head. She at least found this hilarious.

Saturday evening was the night of the firework display in South Park which we are lucky to see from the warmth of our bedroom and this occasion was the first for Bethany and quite possibly the last for a while. They started around 7:30pm by which time she was already tired and rather underwhelmed by the whole experience save for a few chuckles at the lights and one startled jump at a loud bang. Slightly curious as to the voices below, Alison was aware enough to realise that a family were shouting up to ask if it was alright to park across our drive for want of anywhere else and had consented before I realised they had been addressing us. I must confess to getting bored by the display as fireworks have never really impressed me and there are only so many times when you can say "Woo another bright flash" before it starts to annoy. This is exacerbated by being removed from the action and it was better last year when Joshua wanted to go into the park and I accompanied him with Paul and the atmosphere generated by the crowd made for a far more enjoyable experience as well as having enjoyment by proxy via Joshua osmosing itself upon me. That is why it would be such a wrong headed decision to cancel the display in future years because of "The Cuts". It may save a few thousand pounds but in the grand scheme of things this is nothing and the goodwill generated is priceless to say nothing of the lack of revenue stallholders will face if this and other festivals are axed. There are precious few other events that can bring the community together so it would be a shame if it were to go and the busybody charter that is "The Big Society" may as well have been on the bonfire. Nobody is going to work together with neighbours if they don't know them - besides I'm too busy so stop bothering me.

Cotton is great. Soft and comfortable and versatile enough to produce differing materials from denim, corduroy and moleskin as well as other industrial uses like nitrocellulose. That is why there is no better feeling than climbing into bed after a night shift after it has been freshly changed with newly laundered cotton sheets. Unfortunately Alison changed the sheets for the shiny polyester ones which have a habit of clicking on the rough skin on my hands and feet. As I toss and turn in bed I feel like a sticklebrick wrapped in Velcro - I suppose I should moisturise.
   A 1-0 win this afternoon when giving Bethany her tea. She's been getting antsy of late when feeding, taking only a few mouthfuls before getting upset, refusing any more other than dessert and biscuits. I made cauliflower cheese and she took a bit more than normal before she started crying. To calm her down I gave her a yoghurt then rinsing the empty pot put her dinner in the pot. She realized from the first mouthful that it was no longer raspberry yoghurt but with a spoon in one hand to play with she ate her dinner with me topping up the pot a couple of times.

Collecting a parcel from Royal Mail the other day I noticed a poster that was somewhat out of place. It was advertising the fact that they were open late on Wednesdays until 8pm and basically that was all it said on the poster. The trouble was the design in that the message was spelled out in neon sign letters on a brick wall backdrop. Nothing wrong with that you might think only rather than informing the public that you can send a recorded letter later on a Wednesday it looked more like a kebab shop letting us know we could still get our takeaway later during the week. Have we become desensitized to simple words on paper that we will not look unless they are accompanied by flashing lights and a few whistles. I was waiting in a queue with nothing else to do so would happily read any messages you displayed no matter how plainly presented they were.
   This week is dragging now, possibly knowing the extra shift on Friday night is going to make it longer is not helping as is the lack of sleep - one of those horrible moments at work the other night when I actually nodded off during a quiet spell for a minute before my head nodding forward woke myself up. That's one of the main reasons why I prefer to be busy all the time rather than this week where everything can happen at once then calm down for half an hour. Hopefully, as well, I might find room in bed in the morning as opposed to squeezing myself into the whatever space has been left. This morning for instance Alison had somehow propped herself up in one corner of the bed using every pillow and Bethany was laid across perpendicular to her allowing me a narrow strip at the edge up against the bedside table whilst getting kicked in the back each time Bethany moved her feet and making do with a cushion instead of a pillow. Just as I was managing to nod off I was brought round by Bethany, now fully awake, climbing over me to play with the toys she'd found on the bedside table. Opening my eyes I saw her waving my Nectar card and a ten pound note with everything else on the floor save my glasses which had disappeared. Thankfully Alison found them under the table just outside the radius of my blindly waving arm.

A spare ten minutes before I go to work so a quick update. Bethany has had diarrhoea for a few days now although it does not seem to be troubling her too much despite ruining one sleep suit that went straight in the bin. It is hard to know whether she has an infection or it is one of the many side effects put down to teething. After a number of sniffles in the last few weeks since starting nursery it was easy to forget about her teeth, but the top two at the front breaking through directly above her other two has reminded us. Today she also showed signs of learning as she picked up a toy phone and held it to her ear, copying what she had seen us do.
   Alison had a pleasant surprise when Mencap phoned to offer her an interview for relief work, allowing her to have a few to pick and choose around my shifts. Anyway after arranging the date and time Alison recognized the woman on the other end of the phone as an old class friend. Slightly startled at this coincidence she called her mother to tell her and I was impressed that she never once mentioned "It's a small world."