Snow snow go away come again another day

The snow doth returneth. Our back garden again looks like a scene from the start of "The Empire Strikes Back". Indeed I'm sure I saw Sima attack a Taun-Taun when she went out for her pre-bedtime poo last night.

We have a few photo's for you today, albeit the above being the only non-squint one. This was taken on Wednesday when his Granny dropped him back here after his night away. If you squint you may notice his left cheek (your right) protruding further out than the right. For those of you who's memories are longer than mine (pretty much everyone then) you'll recall earlier that same day he'd rammed his face against Anne's coffee table.

Here he is again, with this photo taken yesterday. I took this a little close to the window as the winter sun warmed our frostbitten toes.

Same again. I like this one though. It's almost religious in tone, with the thoughtful expression and blinding white hue combining to provide a very ethereal appearance.

Luca loves having his picture taken, but as yet can't comprehend why he needs to stay still. "Cheeesse" he'll cry with his ivory teeth glinting in the sun, before quickly tiring of the experience and hunting down his next experience.

At last we're getting closer to the main point of this segment of pictures - identification of his bruise. Can you see it here? "Is is still sore?" I asked him this morning. "Yes. it still sore" he muttered quietly, while gently poking at the afflicted area.

Again, not a great snap, but present mainly for Luca's benefit - he likes looking at all the blogs. He sits on my knee and squeals with delight at the pictures. "Granny Jo!" he'll call, or "Aunty Lucy, Aunty Lucy!". He seemed to like this picture perversely, so I've posted it purely for his benefit.

A picture without Luca! I snapped this snowy view yesterday from inside my car, once I'd parked up beside Pittodrie (Aberdeen's football ground) for the big game. What was the score? Can we talk about something else?

Catch me, catch me.....

Our mutts love scrapping in the snow. Sima particularly gets excited by the white stuff, and as such Isis' nose and legs pay a painful penalty every time the icy coldness arrives.

Ooops, I have to go - Mum and Dad have just arrived for their tea. I have much more to report but it can wait until tomorrow.

In the interim, check out this website - www.christinesparks.com. Carole seems rather taken by them after having met them at (another.....) wedding exhibition today. Looks like they'll be the ones making the music you'll (hopefully) dance to come October 30th.

**Question of the day - Why is it that when dogs are soaking wet they wait until they're right next to you before they shake?**

Call Social Services......

Luca came home last night having spent the previous night at his Granny and Granda's house. He wasn't quite the same child who left though - he appeared with a big bruise on his cheek.

I've not had time yet to snap his aforementioned swollen face, so instead you get a picture of Amy Winehouse with a big bruise on her cheek.

I would surmise, however, that Winehouses mark was incurred in a different manner to Luca's (I won't speculate for fear of entertainment lawyers who spend their days browsing nondescript blogs looking for suing material). It transpires that Luca and Granny visited Anne (one of Granny's chums), from where Luca's "testing" of the bounciness of Anne's sofa backfired wildly as he sprung off at a near 90 degree angle, landing with his face lodged on the side of her coffee table.

"WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

He's OK though. The lump isn't too obvious, although I did feel sorry for him this morning. I woke him up to get him ready for nursery, so he sat up, put his hand on his cheek, looked up at me and said very quietly "Luca's got a sore cheek"

He'd pretty much forgotten about it by the time I dropped him at nursery - those little legs sprinted toward his friends with only a distantly echoing "Bye Daddy" as he disappeared into a scrum of small people.

Today was the first time in many a month that I've dropped him off. He had a bemused, albeit happy smile as I lofted him into my car this morning. His Mum is taking a "duvet day" after having spent much of the night awake caused by incessant coughing fits. Likely she's up out of bed by now though, and I expect enjoying the rare sense of peace and tranquility - which will end in spectacular fashion when my clumping boots and Luca's gale force powered voice re-enter our home as the clock strikes 6.

**Useless fact of the day - The loudest voice on record would be the singer of the British punk band Gallows. The band claims to have achieved 132.5 dB**

So Very Alone

Hello? Is anyone there? Am I the last blogger standing? I feel so alone, I'm starting to get scared - it's so very dark and cold here on my own!

Please join me and blog soon before the scary monsters get me!

**Useless fact of the day - Sightings of the Loch Ness Monster have been reported since 565 AD and every few years an expedition obtains funding to "prove" the truth once and for all. In 2003 a BBC expedition surveyed the entire Loch using sonar. They concluded that no monster exists**

With my lack of weight long having been a cancern, today I attended an appointment at the doctors for a checkup to find the reasons why.

The results were surprising to say the least. After various checks and discussions it was determined that I am:-

Height - 6ft 1 1/2 inches

Weight - 80kg (12stone 8lb approx)

BMI - 23

Which means I'm exactly where I should be, a long way away from being underweight. Between 20 and 25 is where a mans BMI should be. I am 4kg (9lb) heavier than the last time to doctor checked (in late 2008) so I suppose that makes a difference.

Although the visit to the doctor proved to be a little pointless considering the results, I did enjoy the opportunity of a slighly long lie in this morning - my appointment was at 9.10am so no point going to work beforehand. Luca kept eyeing me suspiciously at the breakfast table as the clock neared 8.30. The confusion on his face as he and his Mummy left the house before me was palpable.

We're just off the back of a quiet weekend. I was away from home all day on Saturday (various activities such as gym, football, etc, etc) while Carole and Luca stayed home to read and play puzzles. On Sunday - as you'll have seen from the photo's on yesterdays blog - Carole and Luca got a bit arty and made a paper mache elephant.

Actually, can I retract that? Yesterday Carole spent 4 hours making a paper mache elephant. Luca watched his Mum make a paper mache elephant for 5 minutes before wandering away to play with his cars. ""The instructions say I need to put four layers on this bl**dy thing"" wailed Carole 3 hours in as her resolve disintegrated faster than errrmmm, a disprin in a glass of water.

She got a chance to relax later on, however, when we settled down to watch the movie "Blindness", a compelling Kapra-esque take on a typical sci-fi genre. It was intriguing, and as with all good films asked more questions than it answered.

**Useless fact of the day - In the UK 4% of men and 6% of women are classified as underweight**

Book your flights

With a blog even briefer than Scientology's popularity (well, did you want to subscribe to the same religion as Tom Cruise?) today's post is designed for only one announcement - 30th October is confirmed, ladies and gentlemen please buy your hats.

I've received an email from Meldrum House confirming the booking so any trepidation about the reliability of an almost pre-pubescent wedding coordinator has now passed.

Now for the fun part - organising everything. Much of my day today has been searching for a band to play at the reception. Do you know how much they cost? Do you have any idea how far out our original estimate of £500 was? Scary. Rather interestingly, however, I discovered that we could book "The Macdonald Brothers" from television's "The X Factor" for £1950. Utterly irrelevant but there you go.

**Useless fact of the day - Jane seems to have lost interest in blogging already. Come on Jane!!**

The Long Wedding March

That's the wedding booked for 30th October..................almost. We still have the large deposit to drop off at the hotel, which will be done tomorrow or Monday. However, overcautious or not I'm still anxiously waiting this final confirmation. The wedding coordinator at Meldrum House is perfectly pleasant, but she doesn't seem the most switched on of people. I'll be happier once I see evidence of our name in their book.

This little man, however, is perfectly switched on - as is the TV anytime he's in the vicinity of the living room. Here he is after having finished his night time milk drink. He's pretending the programme is so engrossing he can't hear the dreaded holler of "Luca, up the stairs, brush teeth and sleepy time".

Same night different time. Nice to see him close up, but I timed this picture wrong. Had I taken it ten seconds later you would have seen his face contorted in fake rage as he jumped on top of me, teeth bared, shrieking "I'm a dinosaur - I get you!"

I'm getting better at taking photographs. Fuzzy - yes. Blurred - yes. Squint - yes. But inappropriate? No - my "hand of God" covers his modesty. "What you doing Dad?" he asked. "I'm hiding your willy" I countered. "Luca's got a little willy" he replied, with an alarming look of self awareness spread across his sad face.

And here he is now - or ten minutes ago to be precise. I, as is standard now, sneaked into his room to photograph/disturb/blind my son with the camera as he slept again.

Can I change tack slightly before I move on? Kelly - it's OK, that's a perfectly reasonable price to pay for a tooth destroying, tongue discolouring, dangerously "e" congested can of Tizer substitute. Anyway, with the value of the AUD doesn't that work out at about 12 pence in real money anyway?

Back at Castle Greyskull, we've had a busy week. Amongst the normal trials of work, fitness classes, gym, football (my leg is still swollen - I'm getting old) and toddler wars we've also had wedding arrangements to occupy our time.

Most particularly, Carole and I took Wednesday afternoon off work for a tour of Meldrum Houses wedding facilities. It was useful to get our questions answered and be shown around - the bedrooms, with their enormous size and vintage decor, are fantastic - but unfortunately we weren't able to view the conference section of the hotel, where the actual wedding will take place as it was booked out that day. Predictably I wasn't greatly pleased with this, I thought it showed an inherent lack of organisation. Or perhaps, as Carole would say, I'm just "Victoring" again.

This aside, it's a beautiful location, and being a country house also has such facilities as a golf course. Which will be perfect for me on the morning of the wedding when I'm wound up and nervous and need a distraction from the prospect of committing myself to a lifetime of living with and loving someone and raising dogs and children. Oh, wait a minute, already doing that. In retrospect I think I'll be OK......

With that mention of children leading me neatly onto Inverurie's toddler version of Josef Stalin We can't stop him singing at the moment. He bursts into song without even a grain of encouragement. My personal favourite (I must get this on video and post it on the blog) is "Down In The Jungle" which seems to be endless, and where most amusingly every verse climaxes with a section where he (in a Barry White-esque tone) mumbles "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" while wiggling his booty with his hands on his hips.

You know those things in life that are incredibly funny, yet "you have to be there"? Yep, this is one of them.

I have much more to report, but with the cold dark skies tempting me toward the warm embrace of bed I'll instead leave these for another time. In the interim please help our wedding arrangements by voting on today's poll.

**Useless fact of the day - One of the most popular songs at a wedding is "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Middler AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH**

Desktop Drudgery

It's lunchtime on Tuesday afternoon and I'm struggling through a working day of endless quotes and accounts issues. My spirit is sagging with the drudgery - I'm glad I've a couple of days holiday booked for tomorrow and Thursday.

It's been a struggle of a week so far in fact. Monday morning started with a frankly apocalyptic Luca tantrum where Luca flew into such a rage over being told what to do that he slammed the living room door in his Mum's face.

The word "pandemonium" could have been created to describe this exact period.

He's going through a rather wilful stage just now (by wilful I mean he's being a little ******) and the past week in particular has brought endless challenges. He's not taking kindly to his burgeoning responsibilities, chief among them getting himself dressed. "I can't do it" is his catchphrase, with the word "can't" peculiarly accented in a Buckingham-esque brogue. He can though and will.

Carole was still shaken up by this in the evening, and was positively rigid with tension when I arrived home. Thankfully he was a little better behaved, albeit only after a couple of warnings from Dad:-
"Stop it Luca - do you want Daddy to smack your bottom"
"Noooooo. I need a cuddle......"

He often reverts to a cute, obedient and subservient child when feeling under threat. Funny that. Is it genuine or a ploy? I think genuine but then again he's proven to be a wiley operator previously so........

We got him to bed quite sharp (his usual delaying tactics notwithstanding) allowing us an exhausted dinner of sausage and mash (me) and salad type stuff (Carole).

We tried a new routine with Devil Boy this morning, where we both got up half an hour earlier so we could tag-team Luca's waking and breakfast routine. It worked a treat (he was well behaved and enjoyed the undivided attention from both parents) but the dogs appeared a little put out by the arrangement. As I opened the back door at 6.30am to take them for their morning walk Isis looked up at me, enormous tongue lolling around the floor as always, with an expression that equally conveyed "What's going on?" and "If you think I'm getting out of bed just now you're sorely mistaken"

She did make me pay for it with some disobedient (Carole calls her "strong willed") behaviour in the park. "Isis, come here" I hollered over and over into the rising sun over Garioch Park. "No chance" was the message returned from her backside as she demonstrated her stubborn streak.

Sima is torn at times like these. The eager to please pup in her keeps her sat beside my ankle, but I'm sure there's a little bit of devilment within that will eventually force her to run with her sister and parade her equally beligerent butt.

Tonight we'll be playing a game of "Pass The Luca" as Carole has a fitness class and I have a game of football to play. Hopefully he'll demonstrate his more genial qualities tonight amid the cut and thrust of desperately tight crossover timings.

Tomorrow is our appointment at Meldrum House. I'll update as soon as we've been, hopefully with the good news of venue suitability and confirmation. Great news to hear it looks likely that both sisters (and family of course) will be coming across from America and Australia respectively. I'd discounted the possibility of this, so to say I'm chuffed is an understatement.

And Kelly, I'm sure you'll find the Scottish Autumn far more spritually stimulating than your planned expedition to a yoga retreat in Bali.

**Useless fact of the day - A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta in Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island**

Can someone make me a fry up?

I have a little alcohol poisoning today. More on that later, first the pictures....

Here's Luca from two nights ago. Yes, I'm still sneaking into his room late at night to set a camera flash off in his face. No he hasn't woken yet. Yes, he will eventually. I'll let you know his reaction when he does.

Sorry, wrong picture. Perversely you can't delete pictures from the blog once you've uploaded them, so please enjoy my attempted picture of whatever it was. To be fair I'm pretty certain I could mail this off to the "National Enquirer" as "conclusive proof" of a UFO/a Yeti/the Loch Ness Monster/whatever.

The rest of today's pictures are on their side. Why? I don't know. I've tried rotating them but my PC is moaning about write protection and other such fanciful computer terminologies when I try to re-save. As I'm hungover and have no patience you'll simply have to tilt your head from here on in. The one above was taken yesterday as I passed Aberdeen Beach on route to meet Carole at a wedding exhibition. The picture was intended to to be a visual descriptive of the extreme wind conditions we suffered yesterday, causing the waves to lash high against the waterfronts protective walls.

Here's me from this morning modelling the Christmas present I received from Lucy et al. Yes, her Christmas gifts for us just arrived on Friday! "Better late than never" as the old cliched adage go's. In all seriousness we're really grateful - January is perennially a depressing month, so to receive gifts unexpectedly brings back that warm Christmassy feeling. My only disappointment arose on discovery that these "Superman" pyjama's came without a cape......

Here's Luca from a little earlier today. Carole's on call this weekend, and received a call with a mail/server related problem to resolve. In order to allow her peace to do it Luca and I bailed out and made hay toward the swimming pool. He was good again, albeit suffering a mild panic attack when I tested his competence by letting him go in the middle of the pool. His little legs thrashed around under the water as he desperately doggy paddled, and much to his credit he stayed afloat. The wee chap was a shivering and teary eyed infant as I took him in my arms again. "No do that again" he sobbed into my shoulder.

The two photo's above were taken after we'd escaped the chlorine soaked verruca-fest and searched for a suitably unhealthy lunch. We eventually plumped for the cafe above the local Tesco supermarket. Luca was well behaved - translated that means exhausted and consequently too tired to be naughty - and matched me chip for chip and sausage for sausage as we battled for dominance across the single plate of artery clogging greasiness we ordered.

He was a little more reticent when it came to sharing his juice though. "Can I have a drink Luca?" I begged. "No Daddy" he replied sternly, "You go get a cup of coffee. Coffee is Daddy's and juice is for Luca"

It's been a busy weekend thus far. As mentioned earlier, Carole and I visited a wedding exhibition at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre. It was the highlight of my year so far, as I handed over sixteen of my hard earned pounds at the door simply to be allowed access into a big hall where a variety of wedding related companies attempted to sell me their wares. Is this the biggest rip off since the UK's banks almost went belly up due to their negligence forcing us (the taxpayer) to bail them out to the tune of £500 billion? Without a hint of exaggeration I would say yes.

I won't mince my words. It was rubbish. Never, ever again....

I suppose that's the point though isn't it? As most people only get married once they're not really relying on repeat business are they? They'll have a fresh batch of suckers to shaft year after year after year after year......

With the one nod to our entrance fee - a fashion show - being oversold (weirdly it was held in a small room despite the days attendance reaching into tens of thousands of people) we instead escaped to the cinema. The day's first bright point for me being a surprisingly enjoyable Denzel Washington film called "The Book of Eli". It was a tad over-reaching and the message of religious (Christian) tolerance was clunking but I'd still recommend it. I'd imagine the original source novel to be a little more cerebral however.

After navigating through the flood waters to get back home (via Banchory to collect a predictably reluctant Luca) we got him quickly to bed in order to allow us time to discuss the wedding guest list. As you know, my intention is to keep the wedding as small and minimalist as possible, but it proved surprisingly difficult to whittle names off the list. I've personally had to leave some really good friends out which is causing me chagrin, yet the numbers are still far higher than I'd anticipated.

With the difficulty of this task we were forced to open a bottle of sparkling wine. Then a bottle of strong sherry. Please don't ask me the final numbers for the wedding as I think I'd even forgotten my name by the time we collapsed into bed.

Finally, before I lose the will to type, I have to pay mention to the arrival of another baby into the world. At 0636 this morning Harold Findlay Watt was born, first child of Donald and Luisa Watt. Donalds my oldest friend, so I'm absolutely delighted with the safe arrival of the 9lb ragamuffin.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I visit - I decided not to while they're still in hospital. Unfortunately though, unless technology move forward rapidly in the next couple of days I won't be able to post that great and indefinable "new baby" smell on the blog too.....

**Useless fact of the day - New babies are purported to smell somewhere between vanilla and exotic fruits**

Provisional Wedding Date

October 30th - mark that date in your diary. It's the date we've provisionally booked for our wedding. After close consideration (during which the prospect of eloping was seriously mooted) we've instead decided to hold that date open at Meldrum House (www.meldrumhouse.com) pending a final decision on it's suitability upon being shown the facilities next week. More news to follow......

From the upbeat to the absurd, today's first featured picture is of my new hat. With temperatures having dropped perilously close to -20 degree's over the past couple of weeks my bonce has been taking some punishment. As such, albeit poorly timed with the recent rise in temperatures, today I invested in possibly the ugliest looking hat you may ever witness. Did I care, though, as the stupendously warm noggin garment and I braved the elements (amateurishly) fixing the dog pound today? Absolutely, indubitably no.

Luca was another of my responsibilities today, as while Carole had a long day of work and fitness class I afforded myself the day off. I've still got several days left of last years holidays I'm desperately trying to use up, and today seemed as good a day as any to take one. Not much of a holiday though, as the recent weather has left an insurmountable number of jobs in and around the garden and house for me to complete. Granted it's satisfying getting things done, but with my DIY skills probably comparable to a lame budgerigar I do tend to frustrate even myself.

Luca was good though. I actually sent him off to nursery this morning with his Mum in order to allow me to get on with things. It was nice, however, to pick him up that afternoon. My days frustrations always seem to pretty much just ebb away when he sees me, flashes that smile and runs toward me like a rampaging bull. "Daddy Daddy Daddy" he squeals as various startled toddlers in his path get bundled aside like bowling pins.

I'm not sure why I took two photographs of him on the potty either. I can report, though, that even now there's a faint stench of Luca poo permeating around our living room.

We phoned his Granny tonight just before bedtime, which was a good idea gone bad by poor execution. I forgot to switch the television off initially, which predictably caused little goggle eyes to sit silent on the phone engrossed in "Ben & Holly" while his poor Gran talked herself to death in the background. That said, that's not uncommon for conversations with my Mum.

I'm just kidding Mum!

Eventually, after I switched the TV off Luca sprung to life and regaled his Gran with stories of his day. Including the one where he fell off his space hopper and whacked his head off the wall. The girls at the nursery said they didn't see it, but sure as heck heard it. Thankfully Luca seems fine, I can't even find a bump. His thick head does pay dividends sometimes.

It was sad when I quizzed him about it after getting home. "Where did you hit your head Luca?" I queried, "There" he said while pointing to the left side of his face, "It's very sore". His face started to crumple at this point so the interrogation stopped and a very sorry looking young boy got a quiet cuddle.

**Useless fact of the day - Almost 90 percent of volcanoes are in the Ring of Fire, a band of volcanoes circling the edges of the Pacific Ocean**

New toy

I had originally planned to enter this entire post utilising the Christmas present I got from Carole (a windows mobile smartphone) but after staring blankly at it for about 20 minutes - rather akin to a monkey looking in the mirror - I decided it was a bit technical for me.

Still, in the football world they say a goals a goal no matter how it's scored. With that in mind I'll steal that thought and paraphrase it after screwing up it's intrinsic meaning. As such, a blogs a blog no matter blah blah whatever.

That first picture was me trying out the smartphones camera for the first time. And no I don't normally make a habit of photographing myself in bathroom mirrors. Wish I'd at least smiled or something rather than look constipated. My second picture was off Sima. That's not a happy puppys face. Perhaps I should have switched the flash off rather than blind her from point blank range.

Luca, of course, always provides good copy. This is him sleeping soundly, with the picture only taken little more than ten minutes ago. He's started humming in his sleep now. A very musical child looms I feel.

I hope the world is ready for another blog. For, as of yesterday, Caroles sister has started her own - http://www.magicjaney.blogspot.com/. We had a good read of her first entry last night, and I have to particularly admire Janes predilection toward moaning about the little things in life. This could be a blog to identify with during those "Victor Meldrew" moments.

**Sweden has been voted the world's top moaner nation in a new survey by NOP World, with 41 per cent of its people admitting that they had complained about something in the previous 12 months. It is followed by Britain, where more than a third are likely to complain against a company or organisation, than people in most other countries. While Australia and Canada came third and fourth with 30 per cent and 26 per cent votes respectively, America, Brazil and Argentina jointly got the fifth place with 23 per cent of respondents making a complaint. People in Taiwan were least likely to complain, with just 1 per cent admitting they had spoken out in the last year. They were followed by Saudi Arabia (3 per cent), China (4 per cent), Poland (5 per cent) and Russia (6 per cent)**

I think my toes have fallen off

With the snow seeming to offer a brief respite I decided yesterday to go ahead with my plans of driving to Glasgow to cheer on Partick Thistle in their big cup tie. Unfortunately, Mrs Weather was merely teasing me, as no sooner had Colin and I left Stonehaven (Colin's home town) the skies opened and dumped all manner of icy whiteness on top of us for almost the entire 140 mile journey.

Here's a picture taken from the passenger seat of the car not long after we joined the dual carriageway. At this point we were debating whether staying local and going to Aberdeen's game instead might be a wiser idea.

However, not being wise we continued our slide down to the Central Belt, eventually arriving only minutes before kick off. Here's the scene from within the ground (taken just as the game kicked off). Please don't look at the empty seats in the background and think we were only ones stupid enough to turn up in the freezing conditions - according to the official match attendance there were another 4451 sorry souls alongside us.

I eventually got home just after 9.30pm after what turned out to be almost a 12 hour day - all for a one and a half hour game of football. That we lost two nil. In temperatures of minus 11 degrees.

Still, the photo above shows what was waiting for me as I arrived home. Firstly, he looks gorgeous. Secondly, he was sleeping so being greeted with perfect peace, quiet and tranquility certainly didn't suck......

I took another photo just in case the first was a bit blurry.

And then I took a third simply to see how close to his face I could click the camera without him waking!

He stayed asleep - he could sleep through a nuclear holocaust.

Seems Carole had fun with Monster Boy while I was gone. Apparently they spent the day reading, playing card games and having a picnic. Carole's friend Annie came round too (Luca peculiarly calls her Auntie Auntie) which seemed to please him. However, his obtuse nature showed itself again when I quizzed him about it:-

"Did Auntie Auntie come to see you?"

"Yes she did. I like Auntie Auntie. We had fun. But she went home"

"That's a shame. Did that make you sad?"

"No"

His final word was accompanied with a quizzical glance which seemed to question why I would even ask such a question. He's an odd boy at times.

Anyway, back to Saturday. I arrived back at the house with a bag of chips - I hadn't had tea - only to find Caroles eyes locked more on greasy paper bag than on her loving fiancee. So my tea ended up being half a bag of chips. Which I had to fight for.

We watched a movie together before my eyelids gave up on me. "Hostage", starring Bruce Willis. Rather good it was to be fair, but seemed pretty much to be a copy of "Die Hard". Except Bruce Willis had a lot less hair and little more tummy.

This morning I ran out first thing to the gym, primarily because I was feeling a bit grotty after yesterday. The usual case after a whole day of driving, all you eat is takeaway food and sweeties. The session did me good though, and I took Luca to the swimming pool and shops as soon as I arrived home. He had fun again and is quickly gaining his water legs. "We swim back again" was his cry each time we completed a breadth of the pool. Very funny watching those slightly uncoordinated legs kick energetically through the water like a crocodile in a death roll.

**Useless fact of the day - The capacity of Partick Thistles Firhill Stadium is 10,921**

It's a bit snowy

As Britain continues on it's valiant attempt to "one-up" the Antarctic my PC has similarly remained frozen. Most disappointing as I've had a number of photo's on my camera since the weekend. As follows.........

"Gotcha!" cries the devil with the brown eyes as his snowball makes contact with Mummy's leg. Well, snowball is a bit of a misnomer as he hasn't quite perfected compacting and balling the snow. Instead he tosses handfuls of loosely bound snowflakes at whatever body part is eye level with him. Naturally we've learnt not to kneel down outdoors under any circumstance.

There's those demon eyes again, readying himself for a "Dad attack"

The first two pictures featured were taken on Saturday, while the above was captured on Sunday as Luca and I attempted to escape the icy confines of Inverurie. We've pretty much been snowed in since Hogmanay so the (marginal) improvement on local roads on Sunday was gleefully embraced. With this we quickly loaded ourselves into my car and took off toward Aberdeen to exchange some Christmas gifts for those in sizes that don't cut off your circulation. Once complete - along with the additional purchase of a new dog coat for Sima (surely destined not to last more than a week on our sharp toothed and flexible headed pup) - we detoured into Bucksburn to try out their swimming pool.

And here we are in the pools changing room. We'd originally intended to pay our usual pilgrimage to Inverurie pool, but with burst pipes causing it's closure we were forced to seek this alternative. Luca, as with most things, seemed exceedingly pleased to be exploring another new environment.

Indeed, his was a smile that simply never ended.

He had a great time again, with his confidence in the water growing further. His favourite part was when he did the front crawl whilst laid across my back - as I swam fully underwater! "Daddy's heads very wet" he giggled as I came up gasping for air each time.

The last two pictures were taken after we'd come out the pool, with Luca a little unimpressed with the end of his swimming time even though over an hour had passed. Notice the Damian-esque look in his eyes here?

Of course, his moods rarely last more than a few seconds.

Since the weekends finish, and our return to work after the New Year holiday, things have quietened down to a steady daily routine of:-

1. Take dogs out for morning walk whilst continually falling over in snow drifts (Daddy)

2. Attempt to rise a iron willed toddler from his cozy and warm bed to face freezing cold mornings and nursery (Mummy)

3. Drive to work on whichever side of the road the ice decides to take you (Daddy)

4. Walk a gurning toddler through 2ft pavement snow, all the while avoiding random (albeit poorly packed) snowballs (Mummy)

5. Work for too many hours (Mummy and Daddy)

6. Repeat 3 and 4, just in reverse

7. Get Luca to bed sharp, then quickly regret the absence of the human hot water bottle as we shiver on the sofa (Mummy and Daddy)

Thankfully Sima has proved herself an adequate, albeit rather minuscule, hot water bottle alternative.

With the week - most gratefully - nearing its end, our weary bodies are looking forward to the weekend. Not too much rest for the wicked however, as I'll be going to Glasgow to watch the mighty Partick Thistle tackle Dundee Utd in the Scottish Cup while Carole stays at home to reacquaint herself with the Devil child we spawned three years ago.

Luca's been difficult of late - no surprise to anyone even remotely au fait with his indomitable will - and I think Caroles looking forward to having the opportunity to re-ingratiate herself with Shorty.

As you can probably determine from my blog history, Carole takes care of Luca most weekdays, while I take over at weekends. It's a system that works well (albeit one that needs a little oiling in order to allow us to spend more time together as a family) but is flawed insofar as it colours Luca's perception of each of us.

Carole's seen more as the authoritarian due to time constraints (getting him ready early in the mornings, teaching him basic skills such as dressing himself, getting healthy food in him, etc) while I'm seen more as a playpal with weekends affording a greater degree of flexibility, time and fun activities.

Hopefully Saturday can be a start in addressing this.

What else? Plenty. But it's 11.05pm now and another day of running an understaffed company as my boss (and many others) cower at home in fear of the snow looms only a few hours sleep away. I know we're all a little inconvenienced by the endless snow and freezing temperatures - but really, this is Scotland. As Jocks we get sunburnt when the temperature hits 10 degree's:-surely the snow and ice is closer to what we're designed to tolerate?

**Useless fact of the day - The winter of 1962–1963 (also known as The Big Freeze of 1963) was the coldest winter on record in the United Kingdom. Temperatures plummeted and lakes and rivers began to freeze over. In the Central England Temperature (CET) record, extending back to 1659, only the winter (defined as the months of December, January and February) of 1683–84 has been significantly colder**

Overdue blog

With our New Year announcement I'm pretty certain you all expected an earlier blog. Can I blame the snow for the tardiness of my related blog? No? Well I'm gonna anyway.

Here we are minutes after my proposal. Fergus and Guthrie (our Hogmanay visitors) took several pictures and emailed them to Carole. For some reason Carole's forwarded the only one where we look even drunker than we actually were but there you go! For those of you who haven't yet been regaled with the story Hogmanay was actually my third attempt to propose! I'd initially intended to on Monday night, but my attempts to convince Carole of the benefits of an 11.30pm drink in the bar where we first met all those years ago were stymied by her desperation to get home to Inverurie. Take two was the following night (remember Luca was with his Grandparents), and involved an attempt to take Carole out for a romantic meal after work. Again her heels dug in deeper than a BP oil pipe with her preference for a cuddle on the sofa after work/fitness class instead. Thankfully it wasn't strike three at Hogmanay and instead I hit it out the ballpark. Rather conveniently timed when I took her outside was a snow shower with beautiful thick flakes, and the noise of dozens of fireworks going off in the background.

On a different subject, above is a selection of pictures taken on Luca's 3rd birthday. As you can see he loved his Peppa Pig birthday cake!

And, possibly for the first time, I will take no blame for the fuzzy photo's - sadly I was working that day and due to meetings wasn't even able to pop home at lunchtime.

And back to the main theme, I've been asked a couple of times now whether this is a long engagement or not. The answer is - how long is a piece of string? No, the honest answer is we haven't yet discussed any details. Our hangovers on awakening yesterday were on the stiffeningly painful variety!

However, just to give you an idea, it's most likely to be quite small and will - in all certainty - be this year. PS - vote on the new poll on the right hand side please!

"That'll still give you time to grow your hair then". See, I can read my Mum's mind.

Yesterday was a bit of a write off not only due to hangovers and lack of sleep (not in bed until after 3am, then up 5 hours later as Luca announced "I had a nice sleep"!) but also because the snow - as gorgeous as it was at midnight - had refused to stop throughout the night resulting in our being snowed in.

Luca and I did attempt a venture out at one point, to walk out and buy the day's paper from the local shop, but this resulted in our returning in snow filled clothes, sore legs and exasperated hangovers.

The latter affliction obviously being affecting me. That said, Luca did have a small sip of my Jack Daniels and coke before going to bed the night before. I think it will be his last taste for many a year though. "That not taste good Daddy" was his stern faced appraisal.

Today, regrettably, the weather is unchanged. Annoying as there's a million and one things outside the house I need to be getting on with. Still, Luca and I braved the foot and a half deep snow and trudged slowly to the supermarket for urgent supplies. Which turned out to be more tiring than expected. With most paths not having been cleared (incredible how our local council seem to be surprised by this weather EVERY ruddy year) our journey was certainly long and laborious. Is it a surprise I was forced to carry him most of the was home? "I very tired Daddy" and "I very cold too" were two main phrases which, allied with those big sad brown eyes, forced me to relent and sweatily lug his ever increasing bulk home.

Tonight? Again we don't have too many options because of the weather, so I think we'll plump for a home cooked meal (salmon pasta, yum) and a horror movie. "Perfick" as they would say in "Shaun Of The Dead" (Caroles favourite film of all time).

And tomorrow? Hopefully the roads will have been cleared enough to get the cars out again. All being well, we'll get to the swimming pool, cinema and city centre shops. Then home again afterwords to slump down and pat my burgeoning "holiday time" chocolate and mince pie grown belly!

"Hmmmpphhh" I hear the blogs female readers grump in harmony as I inwardly giggle and scratch my skinny butt.....

**Useless fact of the day - According to Google, at 6ft 2 my ideal weight should be between 12 and a half and 14 stone**