I thought I would add some detail for my last brief entry.

Weekend with the kids
We had a great time overall. No upsets or anything silly happened, as we all just carried on from where we left off several months ago. Chandlers speech is coming on in leaps and bounds - we only had a couple of problems, but these were quickly and easily sorted out, generally by him repeating himself a couple of times by which point I picked up what he was saying. He is now fully toilet trained (including the nights) and gets himself up to use his potty if he needs to. We went out and bought a potty, step-up and kiddy-loo-seat-thingy for him so that he can use the family bathroom without any problems. Saturday saw us all in town doing some shopping, buying them both some clothes, pyjamas, underwear, etc as my Nan had given me some money to help out, as all the stuff I had for them was too small of course :) Cooking for them was as per normal and we all ate well over the weekend. Rhiannon was pestering to go and visit people/friends we haven't seen for some time, so I think we will start that this weekend. I had thought this would be a slower process, but I will take it at their pace and they are pretty relaxed about the situation.

Paris
I didn't have the kids on the Wednesday evening, as Shell and I flew out to Paris on Monday afternoon from Heathrow andn didn't get back until Thursday afternoon. We had a great time - mainly shopping.

The Case of the Missing Hotel Room
The one mishap occurred on the evening we arrived at the hotel. We booked in and were given the pass to room 406, so we merrily made our way up to the 4th floor to find out. We stepped out of the lift (a very small lift we could just fit in with our bags) and found rooms 401-405 and then 408-412, but not 406 and 407. We tried every door that wasnt a hotel room but there was no room 406 to be found. We went back down to the foyer and explained the problem to the night porter, who obviously thought we were slightly mad. He told us the room was behind another door, so we went back up to try again. We tried every door (including several other hotel rooms) but still couldnt find our room! So I went back down and after a bit of huffing, he handed me the pass to room 404 - which we had found.
Next morning, I walked around the corner from our room and found rooms 406 and 407 - indeed they were behind a door - but the previous night, that door had been locked shut! We went downstairs, chatted to the receptionist (who spoke far more English) and transferred to room 406. It was a little larger and had a double bed instead of 2 singles which we had pushed together the previous night.

Shopping In Paris
10am found us up and out of the hotel - and we started shopping. On Shell's previous visits to Paris, she had found a shop she loved, so I had looked up all of them on the net and we steadily made our way round all of them. There are 8 Pimkie's in Paris (although 1 of them I didnt know about) and we managed to visit 6 of them. Along with all the other shops in the street, of course. Shell bought a couple of outfits, a coat, a couple of pairs of shoes and some presents. Me - I bought absolutely nothing apart from Golden Virginia. Even the bottle of Rum I brought back, was bought by Shell! Thursday saw us getting up with aching feet and legs and lugging the now much heavier luggage to the airport.

Travelling
I found travelling around Paris on the Metro and RER much easier than navigating around the London Underground. We had bought 2 Paris Visite tickets from Allo France (the cheapest place to get them in the UK incidentally) and these allowed us to travel on all public transport in and around Paris, including to/from the airports. They were possibly the best thing we bought for the holiday, as we zipped around the Metro like crazy over the 4 days.
The flights with Air France were quite "interesting". We were offered a snack and drinks on both flights - outbound we had biscuits and inbound we had salmon sandwiches!

Massage
While we were waiting for our flight at CdG airport, we spotted a little cordoned off area where they were offering a massage to travellers, so we booked Shell in for a 10minutes Japanese Accupressure massage. Apparently, it hurt quite a bit but did free up her back and shoulders. The following morning when we got home, she got out of bed with no creaking or cracking of her back and not hunched over, so it did her pretty good. The fact that Shell felt so good after her massage got me thinking that maybe we should get one on a regular basis. However, all the massage parlours I have ever seen in my local area are pretty seedy and generally offer "extra services" - which isn't quite what we are after. I think we might have to join a local gym, although a search on google revealed an old school friend of mine in the local area who does massage at her salon in Locking Village!

Peace and Quiet
We stayed in a holiday mood up until Sunday evening. Up to that point, my mobile had been turned on once since the Monday that we went away. We lazed, we visited the ducks, we played board games, we saw Fat Cat playing at Back Bar on Friday night, we ate at Subway - ie we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

Unfortunately, Monday meant coming back to work and for me - a night working late upgrading and enhancing some security systems for internet access.

We are already thinking of going away somewhere else, in maybe November - either Amsterdam or Copenhagen - not for the shopping but for the getting away. I already have some free flights to Paris to use at the beginning of next year, so we will probably go back again :)

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[link]   Posted @ 16:27

No I'm not dead. Haven't updated for a week due to:

• First weekend with the kids:- went absolutely brilliantly. Collected them on Friday afternoon and had them through to Monday morning, when I dropped Rhiannon off at school and Chandler back home (although he wanted to stay with me). Chan is now dry through the night as well, he gets up and uses his potty, and his speech is coming on really well. We spent the whole weekend at home together, playing, drawing, watching films, etc. We havent been to visit any friends or family yet - that will come later. A brilliant weekend that we all enjoyed. Next time should see us venturing further afield and maybe going out and about some more.
• Went to Paris: Shell and I went on a shopping trip to Paris. Shell's main interest was to visit Pimkie - her favourite clothing store. So we visited 6 of them around Paris! We went all over the city, visited the Eiffel tower, had an evening meal by the Seine nr Notre Dame, all sorts, but mostly shopping. We both have very sore feet now, and a lot less money than when we went away :)

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[link]   Posted @ 08:51

Good: The kids came round for tea yesterday. I was expecting it to be a little, but I was knocked back by how relaxed it was. They were both pleased to see me when I collected them and they came round to the house. They explored the house for a while as I started cooking their tea and then after eating, Rhiannon watched her "Animal Shelf" DVD while Chan played with his cars/trucks/diggers. They both wanted to stay over, but I told them they were staying over at the weekend, so they were happy about that.

It was great seeing them and watching them play again - I'd forgotten how fulfilling it is to watch them making games up or drawing, etc and I was happy to just be in the room with them. Roll on Friday!

Good: After dropping the kids off, Dave, Shell and I went to Cardiff to see Jim Davidson live. His warm-up act was called Kevin Orkian - a comedy pianist. Truly excellent and very very funny. Jim came on to rapturous applause and proceeded to launch in his routine. It was very laid back and hilariously funny. Bloody rude of course, but so so funny.

Bad: Just a couple of little lines to sum up my life at present:

Luck - she giveth with one hand and slap you in the face with the other
Life - a collection of misfortunes geared to cause maximum misery interspersed with moments of intense pleasure.

Read into that what you will, but here's a poem to go along with it...

You are the sun which lights my world, blowing away the darkness of my misery.
You are the sweet buds of lavender, bringing smiles and relaxation to my soul.
You are the personification of strength and of beauty, my pillar, my rock.
You are these things and much more. But most of all you are you, and for that I shall always love you.

A couple of work related blogs - Morrisons Employee and Call Centre Employee

Feeling down? Need a pat on the back? Then Flatter yourself.

What is it we are looking for in an ideal partner? This is someone who is pretty specific - Man Seeking Woman

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[link]   Posted @ 09:46

I'm sat at my desk, looking at the snapshots of the kids that are affixed around my monitor, feeling quite nervous, with a touch of butterflies :)

Today is the day that contact starts with the kids and I. Nothing too exciting this afternoon, just come back to the house to have a play and have some tea, before dropping them home for bed. Friends and family have been asking about seeing them, but I will be taking it at their speed - re-building our relationship comes first. They are coming again at the weekend and again, it will just be us, doing the things we enjoy doing.

I've arranged alternative working hours with my employers to enable me to leave early on Wednesdays and Fridays and arrive late on Mondays and make up the hours on the days that aren't affected. I'm happy, they are happy (they like having cover outside of 9-5), so it looks pretty cool. I'll update tomorrow with how it went.

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[link]   Posted @ 14:18

Thanks for all the comments guys! Its touching to know that people care about me and what has happened. But now the past is something to put behind me and starting working on a bright future.

I've been thinking about music over the last few of days. Great events have been happening in my life and I find that I relate music to these events and sink into a music mode.

I've been listening to someones Top 1000 Rock Songs compilation while travelling and a Top 100 Guitar Solos compilation while at work. Both were from usenet and they had essentially taken great tracks from various different compilation albums and put them all together. The Top 1000 is an eclectic mix of artists, which is something I appreciate as my music tastes are pretty varied (although I have a sincere preference for RAWK!).

My current favourite track is "Maggot Brain" by George Clinton, along with various tracks by Ed Alleyne-Johnson. I have his UltraViolet (2 of them, original release) and Purple Electric Violin Concerto albums. Do a search for him and read about the way he makes his music. Its original and very, very impressive.

This has made me look through the various live music listings on the internet for groups I might be interested in. Bristol Bierkeller has Nazareth, Magnum and Deicide playing before the end of the year. Add Whitesnake and a load of local bands and my rock quota should be back to normal this year. Next year - maybe 1 concert a month if I can manage it...

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[link]   Posted @ 15:10

So I spent some time in court yesterday and here is the outcome:

I was granted shared residency of my children!

Contact between us is as below:

• every Wednesday between 4pm-6pm
• alternate weekends from 4pm Friday til Monday morning (dropping them at school/home as required)
• 1/2 of all school holidays
• alternate Xmas from 6pm Xmas Eve to 10am Boxing Day

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[link]   Posted @ 07:20

I have been thinking recently about how the kids and I will be when we start having contact again. Their bedroom, etc at my house is still as they left it the last time they were there. Nothing else has changed very much in the time we have been apart, so I'm hoping that they will be able to slip into normality of being with daddy pretty quickly.

6 months of being without them has been pretty weird, I can tell you. Those of you that read this who are parents should hopefully be able to understand it a little, but its felt like having a chunk of me missing or lopped off. Yes, they tired me out, yes they were sometimes noisy or naughty, but I have missed:

• their little smiles
• random hugging
• cuddles before bedtime
• wanting me to be involved in their games/stories/activities
• the way Rhiannon would play on her own and put on little voices as she pretended in her little world
• Chandlers infectious giggle
• bleary eyed mornings
• reading stories at bedtime
• having the car seats in my car
• carrying a rucksack and wet wipes with me at all times
• cooking their meals
• helping them choose their cloths
• teaching Rhiannon French words
• having Chandler sat in my window watching trucks and diggers in the mornings

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[link]   Posted @ 14:33

A whole week without updates! Where shall I start?

Shell and I have been watching the Olympics at home, almost continually (apart from being at work). It's the first time I think I have ever watched so much athletics/swimming/sport, etc and quite frankly I'm surprised I enjoyed it so much. Shell is a big athletics fan and we watched some of the meets prior to the Olympics.

Great Britain did pretty well over all - especially the sailing and the sprinting. Considering the size of our nation (compared to the US or China), we did incredibly well.

I got home on Thursday evening to find a copy of the CAFCASS report regarding contact with my children. Favourable to say the least :) I'm back in court this Thursday for the Pre-Trial, so hopefully something good should come of that.

Friday lunchtime, I drove up to London to my friend Eddies house and prepared for Frightfest 2004 - and what a cracker it was. The freebie bag on the opening day (for pass holders) netted me 3 T-shirts, a DVD boxset and more. Another T-shirt a couple of days later too. One of them (Alien vs. Predator) is a Medium though...

Films of the festival (in my view):

• Switchblade Romance - 8/10
  
• Deep Red - (unrated as not new)
  
• The I Inside - 8/10
  
• Hellboy - 8/10
  
• Monster Man - 9/10
  
• Code 46 - 7/10
  
• The Eye 2 - 9/10
  
• One Point O - 7/10
  
• Casshern - 10/10
  
• The Machinist - 8/10

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[link]   Posted @ 12:03

2 things:

• I need my hair cut. If I leave it another month, I might have a mullet. Then I would have to shoot myself (before anyone else did)
  
• The mouse on my Amiga died yesterday. It's been pretty erratic for the past few weeks - randomly pressing its buttons, stalling, etc but yesterday it gave up the ghost completely. I'm now using some crappy thing until I can find myself an optical scroll mouse (with PS/2 attachment) for a reasonable price. I shouldn't be too upset as the mouse only cost me something like �1.74 a couple of years ago...

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[link]   Posted @ 10:14

Did very little. Friday night we stayed in, Saturday night we went out. Sunday found us visiting the ducks and also cleaning out the mice!

Oh god - yeah! Those damn mice! We moved the mouse house thingy so it could be cleaned and when I went back to vacuum up the mess from where it had been, I noticed a hole in the carpet. About an inch oval hole down through the carpet and the underlay to the floorboards! WTF?

So we looked at the mouse house and the little critters had chewed through part of the base (plastic) and had then proceeded to chew into the carpet,etc! Fortunately, I have a large amount of spare carpet so I can get the section on the landing replaced pretty easily. We took the base sections up to Dave and he has fashioned some stainless steel sections to go in the mouse house that will prevent them from doing it in the future. I has of course increased the weight of the thing by about 200%, but we don't want them escaping nor causing more damage. I will post pictures of what they have done later this evening.

Going back to the ducks for a moment. We have been going for several months now, every other weekend, to feed the various ducks, geese and swans at Backwell Lake Nature Reserve (next to the Nailsea & Backwell train station). A couple of months ago, we found one of the swan pens was trailing 6 cygnets behind her. They were superbly cute and the pen, although very hungry, made sure they always ate first. She kept all other birds away from the cygnets while they were feeding (grabbing some of the ducks by their legs and/or wings to get them out of the way) and was pretty vicious - but not to us. She almost seemed grateful for the attention we gave her and her young. We have seen them grow up over the past couple of months and they certainly seem to recognise us - they allow Shell pretty close and almost manages to hand feed them. They are now full sized but still grey (reminiscent of the Ugly Duckling tale). Unfortunately, there are only four now. It makes me wonder how the other 2 fared considering this is a nature reserve, so I suspect it was due to natural predators or sickness as opposed to human interference.

In other news, it would appear that my kids have moved house. I haven't been informed of their whereabouts (again). I despair sometimes, I really do...

Finally - some links for you all. Big thanks to #!/usr/bin/girl for these. She consistently finds great stuff on the net.

We've all heard about Friendster, etc - the social networking sites. But now, try Introvertster - Create your own barrier to protect yourself against interaction with people

Check out some ACSII manipulation of images found using Google Toogle - The most comprehensive image buggery on the web

The United States Postal Service contains details to help home movers, which includes packing advice. Check this page for more - especially if you need to pack a Hippo!!

Found a truly excellent magazine on the net that can help out all you people who partake of the occasional alcoholic beverage or seven - Modern Drunkard Magazine

Ever been chatted up and wanted to reject them nicely? In which case, give that annoying someone your email address. From The Paper Napkin email rejection service

UK government release computer game shock!

Outstanding thesis - The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.

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[link]   Posted @ 10:40