As recompense for the long delay between entries of late, I felt it best to begin with a couple of pictures of Luca. Is he still at the "awww" age, or are we starting to think "crikey, he's becoming a big lump"? Let's find out, please vote on the the poll on the right hand side of the page......
Carole and I are escaping our little lumpus for a weekend shortly. In the last weekend of June we're (along with a couple of friends) flying to London for a mini break. Caroles experience of London is surprisingly limited so this is an opportunity to show her the attractions (and detractions) of the UK's capital. Our hotel seems perfectly nice - www.hilton.co.uk/islington - although the intent is not to spend a great deal of time there. With much still to be planned, our itinerary already includes:-
London Eye
Madame Tussauds
Emirates Stadium (Arsenals ground)
Camden Market
Soho (at night.......naturellemant)
Club Koko - NME Tour (indie music gig)
Wimbledon
House of Parliament
If anyone wishes us to deposit any flaming bags of excrement to the latter attraction please let us know. And please be assured they'll be delivered with gusto.
During our London visit we may even bump into Boris Johnson. Can you imagine what a treat it would be to kick the posh, smug, conceited, racist toff endlessly in the cojones? It would make my year :)
Political negativity aside, there's still much to plan for our intentionally cliched touristy-esque visit. And yes, we're flying. Perhaps Carole can knock me out A-Team/BA Baracus style in order to avoid my girlish squeals as the aircraft rattles it's way up the runway.
Most likely Carole will be fit by the time we travel. She's currently under the weather to such a degree that I (as in Mr get-out-of-bed-at-the-last-minute) have been responsible both for the dog walking and Luca duties in the mornings while she snuffles distressingly in bed. The dogs are easy enough, but Luca is a different challenge. It's commonplace for me to forget to put my underpants on before my trousers at 7am, so to have to remember to put the right clothes on the toddler, feed him the right breakfast, give him his tablets and inhaler, brush his teeth and hair, wash his hands and face and make sure he has a stallion-esque wee-wee too is a challenge akin to that faced by the tortoise in his race with the rabbit
Except without the happy ending
Dinner has been a challenge too. Luca has continued to eat well. but Carole and I less so. I've attempted to cook healthily, but I'm certain I don't need to spell out the fallacy of my attempts. I've since learnt that frying isn't healthy, and that you don't empty three quarters of a jar of chilli powder into any dish, no matter how bland I felt it was.
And me? I'm starting to resemble a plate of chips.
So what is wrong with Carole? As you know she was recently diagnosed and treated for tonsillitis. However, she has never recovered and as such I made another appointment for her for today. Interestingly the doctor feels the original diagnosis was incorrect, and it's more likely she has glandular fever. Blood tests are following tomorrow so I'll post another update as soon as the results are in.
Luca has been busy of late too. His football training has continued unabated and his progress has surprised me. He can now dribble the ball, keeping it between his feet at all times. I can't do that! He also caused me much amusement at Sundays session. I'd always thought he was a lefty, but of late he has been using his right foot a great deal more prominently. With this in mind I enquired of him which foot he preferred. "This one!" he declared proudly, kicking his right foot into the air. However, his over-exuberance was his (literal) downfall as his upward motion was too great and physics took over........
He also has a new favourite film. I discovered an old copy of "Transformers The Movie", a cartoon film from my childhood (1985-ish) and so put it on for him, fully expecting a derisory reaction to the rather dated visuals. However, quite the contrary occurred and he's now viewed it on at least 7 or 8 occasions now. I watch it with him, but only for the sake of keeping my son company you understand.
Being on call this past weekend left me trapped locally, so Carole took Luca for a visit to the Macduff Aquarium. He's obsessed with fish and excitedly returned home with a present he'd brought home for Dad, a rubber octopus. "I got a present for you!" he squealed as he ran into the living room on his return, "an octopus for Daddy!". "Thank you Luca" I happily replied, "can I play with my new present?"
I still don't think I've touched it. Indeed, I think Luca is sleeping with it again tonight.
**Useless fact of the day - "Transformers The Movie" featured the vocal talents of the legendary Orson Welles, filming his last ever movie before he died**
