Rose arrives, we move house and get a dog

A dog being overloved

So it's been a while but now things have settled down I've decided to pick up this blog again. A lot has happened since I last posted it seems.

For starters we have a new child. Yes, a whole new child and once again it's a girl, born in November 2011 and just before my birthday making sure all future birthdays will be little more than an afterthought after hers.

Lisa wanted to call her Hattie. I wasn't as keen. I preferred Heidi. Lisa wasn't keen on that. After she popped out we deliberated for a while and decided on Rose. Not Rosie, Ros, Rosemary, Rosemarie or any other permutation but just a good old-fashioned 'Rose'. Having said that we soon began calling her RoseBoze and that name has just stuck (and since been adopted by Maisie and Lois too). She's loud and she's rough but she's cute and she's funny.

And now in no time at all it seems, she's already grown to be 3 years old. Wow.

What else has happened in that time? We moved house (we were getting a bit too cramped in the old one, which we bought about 10 years ago, before we had kids or had even started thinking we might grow into a family, let alone a family of 5).

And then there was the dog acquisition. A rescue dog. Maisie had decided that we needed a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. And a rescue dog came our way. Unfortunately, he was 5 and already had a name. His name was Louis. Our cat is also called Louis. We tried to make it work but it was becoming too confusing when you shouted one of them and they both turned their heads. So, we gave the dog a new identity and rebranded him as 'Jake the dog' (inspired by the Adventure Time cartoon which was very popular in the household at that particular time. He is now more commonly referred to as 'Jakey-Lakey'.

Cheddar chests

The girls were given big pink (lockable!) treasure chests for xmas. And surprisingly their popularity lives on in the house 4 months on. They like putting things in them, taking things out of them and moving them around from room to room. I recently noticed that all 3 of them are still struggling to actually say 'treasure chests' properly. They are therefore more commonly referred to as 'cheddar chests'. And they would be ideal for storing cheese too if only they have some built-in refrigeration. Sadly they don't.

Bloody iPhone buyers!

Not sure whether subconsciously this is a rant aimed at iPhones themselves or just the people who would do simply anything to get their grubby mits on a new one.

So I get on the train this morning. It's an early train. 6.42am to be precise. So early that in fact it is too early for most commuters and this is nice because it is empty and clean. But this morning something was afoot. A woman got on with a baby in a buggy.


A man helped her get the buggy on the train. As we were about to get off I was stood near the door preparing to alight and she was saying to her baby (but aloud so I could hear) "We're off to get the new iphone aren't we. We've got to have a better phone than Daddy"

I despair

The youth of today

So there I am at Marks and Spencers yesterday buying some bits and bobs for tea. And I sensibly avoid the checkout manned by the over-talkative assistant who is surely Germany's answer to Victor Meldrew, forcing you to engage in small talk as he process your goods, very slowly. Instead I opt for a shorter queue at a fresh-faced boy's checkout. I had not seen him before. He must've been new. To be honest he looked way too small and young to be in full-time employment already.

Anyway, Lisa had given me two string bags as I had rushed out of the door in which to put my purchases. I hadn't really noticed but one was black (originally from M&S no less!) and the other was bright pink. Anyway just as I'm packing my things the young worker boy comes out with a shocking and sarcastic pride-hurter: "Nice manly bag that".

The cheeky, unmanly, pre-pubescent swine :)