A Walk Through The Woods

Yesterday I and my son visited my parents, to get my mum's new computer up and running (which it is very nicely, although it needs a network cable to get the internet at full speed - it's currently using a WiFi adapter I actually bought for my Raspberry Pi, and I'm quite surprised that it works at all on a normal PC).  Once we'd finished, and ate whatever I could find in my parents house that we could categorise as lunch, we made our apologies and farewells and left.

While heading back to the car my son expressed his enthusiasm for "an adventure", and having the afternoon to spare we decided to go for a wander.

After walking through a couple of fields and through an echoey tunnel (I should note that my son enjoyed hugely discovering a landscape feature that allowed him to be even louder than usual) we took a stroll through the woods near my parents, down to the river bank, where he spent a good while half way up a cliff playing.

We had a really nice time, I used to walk through those woods all the time when I was a kid but it must have been years since I went through them, so it was nice to make the memories come back.  And on the way back my son told a dog that it was cheeky because it came up to him and viciously wagged.

Today, meanwhile, we've been to the park, run around a good bit, found a ladybird, and then took a detour to the pub for lunch.

My son with the aforementioned ladybird

Pub!

The pub we went to had a jazz band, Adrian Ingrams Jazz Dawgs, playing, which helped the time pass pleasantly, and I even got to eat most of my lunch except for two pieces of toast which my son informed me were actually his.   All in all it's been a nice weekend :)

How's your weekend been?

PS - Mike is still gathering sponsors for his Robin Hood's Bay roadtrip next month! From just £1 you can sponsor a third of a pint of beer... :)

Woe is me...

I have to report a loss in our household.

My PC is dead.

Last week it refused to turn on, so after replacing the power supply with no success, I gave in and sent it to the repair shop, and they've told me that the motherboard is fried.

So, until I get a new motherboard/CPU/memory combo (which isn't something I budgeted for right at this moment), I'm on the laptop.

But there is something different on the horizon - this weekend, I have the house to myself while my partner and my son are away.  Don't get me wrong, I love them both very much and I'm sure by Sunday afternoon I'll be waiting for them to come back, but the novelty of this weekend is still something that I'm looking forward to right now.

I've been working up a list of everything that's happening in Hull this weekend so I can go out and make the most of the time.  As things stand possible activities include:

• Remembrance Weekend at the Streetlife Museum
• Going to the gym
• Buying and wrapping Christmas presents
• Clearing out the garage
• Going to a lecture at Hull Uni about "northerness"
• A poetry reading at Central Library
• A matinee showing at Hull Truck Theatre
• The Freedom Festivals "Freedom to Tell Tales" storytelling project
• Sunday jazz at Pave Bar
• Blogging / making videos
• Going out Saturday evening (actually that one isn't optional, it's the reason I'm at home)

Or of course I might end up spending all weekend playing on my partners PC, with a bag of snacks and beer within reach.

What are you up to this weekend - and which of the above do you think I should do?  Let me know in the comments.

The beauty of a weekend chillout

I've been chilling out at the weekend.

Not all weekend, of course.  That would be extremely lazy (and lovely).

Basically, my Saturday and Sunday morning chillouts take up the first two to three hours of the day.  I get up with my son, make us both some breakfast, and then eat said breakfast whilst watching Glee.

Yes, I know, Glee is a dreadfully cheerful and uplifting piece of televisual entertainment, but sometimes I just want to feel good!  It's a modern musical and the one thing musicals do is touch your soul.

And breakfast is essential for absorbing the alcohol from the night before.

Breakfast was especially good this weekend, due to buying bacon last week.

And when I say I bought bacon, I BOUGHT BACON.

In the interests of supporting my local shop, I went to the butchers, with the intention of buying somewhere between four and eight slices of bacon.  However, they had a special offer of two pounds (about one kilogramme) of bacon for £5.70.

That's not actually a special offer, it's actually the going rate for bacon, but I couldn't resist - I bought it.

Now I have lots of bacon in the house.

Two bits of news - firstly, I have a video collaboration being organised as I type, no details yet but hopefully a new video will be arriving in a couple of weeks (apart from any others I knock together in the meantime)

And secondly, fingers crossed I have a new YouTuber interview coming through very shortly, if so it'll be featured this week!  Stay tuned.