Wednesday, December 12, 2012

If you find a cat....

consider this:

When walking home today i saw a sign on a tree saying that a cat had been found, and was being kept at a local house, accompanied by a contact number. Now what is the difference between people finding a cat and kidnapping a cat and keeping it in your house?

If someone had locked my cat in their house down the road and then expected me to call them and thank them, i'd be pretty annoyed.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

Eleven reasons to raise a child in Norwich

1) They will learn to stand in a dead straight single file queue to get on the bus

2) No falling over. Children in Norwich will never fall over once they have learnt to walk, as the people in front will be walking so slowly they will be forced to pay exquisite attention to every step.

3) 365 Pubs. That's an awful lot of places as a teenager to attempt to get served.

4) Living close to Carrow road and affordable Premiership football. Bonding time with daddy! (coffee with a book time for mummy!)

5) A tolerant middle classness who cope with ridiculous students on a daily basis and don't even blink. Purple, red and blue hair, unwashed clothes, the odd protest with placards declaring a right to choose what everyone else eats- all accepted!

6) Snow. Every winter without fail. Learning to fall off a sledge- integral to every childhood.

7) Jarrolds. The department store. Quality cooked breakfast, eggs cooked infront of you, unlimited coffee, and dignifed people serving you in old fashioned aprons, who seem to love their jobs!

8) The LCR. Is there a better place to meet a potential spouse than terribly drunk on £1 a pint beer, sitting on the sticky floor of the dark university night club?

9) Pedro's restaurant. Wear a sombrero AND eat dinner at the same time?!? Does life get better?

10) (I'm running out of ideas now, can you tell?) school friends with webbed feet!

11) Learning about mustard in th Colmans Mustard museum?

A potential Norwichite. However she didnt seem to like it there!

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

A baby of your creating.......

This weekend Xss, Starbucks and I went to Norwich, for a treat. We love Norwich ('A Fine City' according to the signs on the way in), Xss gets to go see the football, i get to relax in cafes and soak in the alternative environment and slower pace of life. However, Starbucks did not enjoy Norwich. That is an understatement, Starbucks HATED Norwich. Well at least she hated the travel lodge we stayed in.

Starbucks is usually the most laid back, quiet baby, happily laughing at most things and barely crying unless very hungry or very tired. By the end of this lovely relaxing trip Xss and I were the ones crying with hunger and tiredness on the way back to the station whilst she slept blissfully in her buggy.

Something weird happened to Starbucks and she broke. When we arrived we went about the bedtime routine as normal in the hotel, bathing, reading, putting to bed. But then she woke up ten minutes later and screamed for 2 hours. Eventually we all fell asleep in the bed, with Xss and I laying either side trying to soothe her and acting as human buffers to stop her rolling off the bed as she screamed. Standing up, sitting down, walking around the room, looking in the bathroom mirror, rocking, leaving her alone, none of it helped and she screamed. She then woke up all night screaming and i soothed her back to sleep rubbing her back. Then i fell asleep rubbing her back and she would cry again.

The next day she was miserable, had a rash and was lethargic. So we took her to the doctors who told us she was teething. We therefore continues to allow her to sleep, carried her everywhere (the buggy induced more screaming), and were generally very nice to her. The next night (round 2- ding ding ding) we again tried to act like normal, but simply got a repeat of the previous night. Poor Starbucks teething and in pain.

We have now returned to London, and Starbucks slept peacefully all night, the rash is going and she is happy. Its hard to determine, but perhaps she was awake at night as she had slept all day, irritable all day as she had not slept all night, and actually had a heat rash (from our over reaction to the cold weather in Norwich - is tights, trousers and then a snow suit too much?) not a teething rash. I think we created the monster. That or she really hated the travel lodge!