Freedom of Speech

I grew up in a generation where everyone's grandparents had been part of the war effort. My Nan machined ammunition and both of my grandads fought in the war. I remember being told many times that this has been for our freedoms and the term 'freedom of speech' was bandied around a lot.

It's sad then now that we live in a time where a country like North Korea can try and dictate what films can be made and distributed, terrorists attack publishers and scare others into censorship but sadder is that the large organisations with the most clout and power seem to buckle and cower before the people on the street do. When events like this occur you MUST publish perhaps with even greater gusto to emphasise that they have will not be allowed to win.

More bizarrely is that we are increasingly being gagged by our own Government where people are have to be careful over their use of social media for fear of upsetting or offending people with their Tweets or status updates for fear of legal retribution.

Freedom of Speech means you will always be liable to offend someone. It also means you have to be prepared to let other speak freely whether you like or agree with them.

A quick note from your sponsor...

As every one jumps on the fitness bandwagon and starts signing up for events, a polite note regarding sponsorship requests. My chosen charities are NSPCC, Alzheimer's Society, Parkinson's UK, and The RNOH Charity . Like many I have leant towards those that I have a connection with. Where possible I have tried to support these by way of monthly direct debit as I believe this is most beneficial to them. In the past I have cancelled some of my direct debits and instead sponsored individuals as I felt bad turning them down and think it important to encourage people to support charities but cannot afford to do both. This of course has meant that I am supporting your chosen charities and not mine. By all means ask but please don't be offended if I decline your request.

Note:  I will be more inclined to sponsor events that pose a real physical or mental challenge e.g. NOT a 5k fun run.

P.S. and please whatever you do don't ask me to sponsor you so you can fulfill some bucket list item under the guise of charity, like a parachute jump. If you want to do a parachute jump pay for the cost of it yourself and put all sponsorship money to the charity (as well as your donation) instead of funding it out of the sponsorship money!

Curse of the home worker

The are many advantages to working from home but it is not so straight-forward as one might think, especially if you have a wife that works part-time as well as being a mum. Being at home frequently can make you become a household 'resource' despite the fact that it is your place of work.

Little things start to slip in. "Are you going to be in if I get the groceries delivered?". Of course once the groceries are delivered at the very least the fridge and freezer stuff needs to be put away.

"If I put a laundry load on can you hang it out?". Invariably it will rain and I will have to bring it in and then the sun will come out and I'll be expected to hang it back out and of course it's not two sheets, it's about 100 pairs of kids socks and knickers.

"Can you put the dinner in the oven at .... ?", which of course becomes "and turn it over/serve it up if I'm running late".

Arguments about doing the washing up have advanced with technology to arguing about who loads/unloads the dishwasher.

Then of course there is the ad-hoc school drop off/pick ups, trip to doctors, nipping out to pick up some urgent groceries, the watching the kids whilst "I pop out quickly" or "go to my exercise classes". 

When they get in from work there is also the air of "I've been busy/at work all day and you've been at home so it's  my turn for a break whilst you help out". 

Maybe I sound like a dinosaur but as the major source of income to the household I think my work at least deserve some consideration. Rant over. Still love her.

Size Matters

I think an important gauge in a relationship is the size of the things that annoy you or cause arguments. My wife is lazy very efficient/economical. Like Lewis Hamilton, if she can shave of a few seconds here and there through out the day she will. For example, we recently installed fitted wardrobes in our bedroom that have sliding doors. The doors alone cost around £300. My wife saves time by constantly leaving the doors open. Had I factored this in then as well as saving time we could have saved £300.

Another example is her keys, again she saves time by placing them at the first convenient place upon entry to our home. The place varies subject to what is most convenient at that particular moment. This does however seem to cause an issue the next day when she is late for work and cannot find them consequently spending five minutes running around the house cursing,  frantically looking for them.

Similarly, our kitchen has limited cupboard space. The best way around this limitation is to stack/organise items within the cupboard. My wife found this cost her valuable seconds and has found it far more efficient to grab an item and then when replacing it put it to the front of the cupboard and push everything else back. The challenge is further compounded by the fact that when doing the weekly shopping my wife purchases pretty much the same things each week saving valuable time by not checking what we already have. (It's not been unheard of to find four large boxes of All Bran taking up half a shelf). However, this seems to cost me time due to the fact that every time I open a cupboard, any cupboard, several items fall out and I then struggle to fit them back in the cupboard.

Of course my wife is not really lazy. She has a part-time job, looks after our kids, does the housework, etc, etc. So I guess my point is that if little things like these are my biggest gripes then I guess we're doing ok.

Paranoid Android

This morning was my eldest daughters leaving assembly at infant school as come September she'll be moving up to Junior school. It was an emotional event for many of the parents and staff made more so by the fact two key members of staff were leaving. During these reception years the kids have formed many friendships and as they move schools some will go to different schools, many will go to different classes, and yet more friendships will be made. This mornings proceedings kick off with an announcement that angers me every time I hear it: 

"Some parents have requested that photos not be taken of their children so please only take photos of your own children. Similarly please do not upload any such photos on to Facebook as it then becomes a Child Protection issue." 

For f*cks sake! The kids are packed in and the only way you're going to be able to isolate your child in a photo is to fit a telephoto lens and zoom in so only their face fills the picture and what's the point of that. It hardly captures the occasion. Now first off I do not blame the head teacher for making the announcement, and secondly I appreciate that paedophiles are the scum of the Earth but really?! 

This is paranoia to the extreme. I mean sure I wouldn't want someone taking a picture of my kids but if they're taking a picture of theirs and mine are standing next to them or in the background then so what. If that's a problem, what's with selling class photos? 

Just because these parents can't seem to look at their own kids without viewing them in a sexual light doesn't mean anyone else in the room does and if you're that f*cking paranoid then take them out of the assembly to protect them and let everyone else get on with capturing a key event in their kids childhood. If we're not careful we're going to end up with a generation that only has close up facial photographs of their school years. 

Rant over.