An eventful week....

Well, to say it's been an eventful week would be an understatement.

Tuesday morning, 3:15am, house alarm goes off. Thinking that my 2 year old son has tripped the alarm again by going downstairs (which he's done before), I wander downstairs. As I open the living room door, I see two burglars in the kitchen. Well, I (as anyone would) run towards them, yelling all manner of things... They, of course, decide to make a quick exit. A tussle occurs between one of them and myself, resulting in a minor screwdriver stab to my upper arm. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they bolt over the garden fence, and are gone.

Turns out that I'd left the patio doors unlocked, which I never usually do, and they'd been a couple of scally chancers who had been trying the houses on the off chance that someone (like me) had left a door or a window open. Actually, one of the burglars had reminded me of the fact when they were leaving, shouting "Remember to lock your doors in future!". Fantastic, community safety advice from burglars.....

Anyway, a visit or two from C.I.D., uniformed police officers and a forensic officer taking prints, and I'm back to normal again. I'm not going to deny that it was a scary experience, but at the time (with your family in the house with you), the adrenalin starts pumping and you don't really think about the threat, all you're concerned about is getting them out as quickly as possible.

On a lighter note, I went to see my daughter's nursery graduation today. That's right, today is her official last day before she starts school in september. It was also my son's last day as well, since he's moving to a different nursery in september, so it's all change. It was very emotional. The staff always get emotional, which you expect, since they've known the kids for over two years, most of them for most of each week, and then they go off to start whichever school they've managed to get in. My wife and I certainly got emotional, since it's very much the end of an era. As much as I know they're going to enjoy school and the new nursery, I'm going to miss that nursery. It's a lovely place, the staff are great, and it's a place which I've seen my kids develop from being babies to being young, confident children.

On the viewing front, I watched Jimmy Carr's 2005 stand up show Stand Up 2005. Yes, I agree, imaginatively titled.

Anyway, what a funny guy. I never used to be a big fan of his, until I watched him hosting 8 out of 10 cats, along with Sean Lock (another comedian I'd love to see in a live show). Jimmy Carr's fantastic deadpan approach I find hysterical.

Givin' it both barrels...

I've blogged about this before in a previous blog incarnation, but I've just re-watched Al Murray's Givin' it both barrels on DVD. I'd forgotten just how amazingly funny he is, and how so refreshingly politically incorrect.

One of my favourite lines (amongst the ones that I can actually blog about!) is "Look at Switzerland, what an unfortunate position they've got themselves in.... France to the left, Austria to the right, Germany above and Italy below them.... you'd never sell that flat would you?"... Class.

technorati tags:Pub, Landlord, Al, Murray

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Going to the zoo....

Haven't blogged much recently, so thought I'd just waffle on about the wonderful day we had today. Took the kids to Blackpool Zoo, with a preconception of rain all day. However, by about 11am, we had glorious sunshine, and it lasted all day. Also, it's been a while since I've been up there, but what a change! Pretty much the whole zoo has had a complete makeover, a fantastic new entrance facility and a new dinosaur section (obviously, not real dinosaurs, that'd be quite a catch!). Well worth going to see, and it's definitely a full day out. True enough, it's not as big as Chester Zoo, but it's still amazing. One thing to definitely see is Amazonia, a free-roaming monkey enclosure next to the elephant house. Entering the doors, you are greeted by a great number of squirrel monkeys all jumping from one side of the path to another, jumping on your pram (if you have one) and attempting to steal things from pockets! One of the staff commented how a few weeks earlier, someone brought a newborn baby into the enclosure, and one of the squirrel monkeys jumped into the pram, took the baby's dummy (pacifier, for the non-UK reader) and made off with it! Funny to look back on, but not funny at the time, I bet! ;-) What an amazing day, though, and certainly a trip that I will be re-doing very soon.

technorati tags:blackpool, zoo

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Well, the observant amongst you may have noticed that my fortean / heritage site, strangehub.co.uk went live yesterday. Log on and have a look, give me your comments. I'd love to get any feedback / ideas about possible additions, etc.