Man's work

Jon Absalom writes in today's Guardian on the joys of being a househusband:

It is difficult, being a househusband; certainly more difficult than I had imagined. The practical aspects of parenting - naps, meals, baths, bedtimes - are well established. So are the basics of keeping house. None of it is the least bit difficult, once you know how. But a lot of it is boring. And the hours ... they start when it's dark and cold, and they last for an unreasonable amount of time. There is little time to yourself; no time for mulling over your emails, or surfing the web, or popping out for some pleasure shopping. There's no breakfast and a shower before work. You live and sleep on the shop floor.

I tend to refer to myself as a full-time father rather than a househusband, but the work's the same. And it leaves very little time for anything else.

Autumn break

We just got back from our first trip to Center Parcs.

I was hoping to blog while I was away, and maybe catch up on some e-mail, but I couldn't find a wi-fi connection and access to the resort's computers was limited and expensive.

Anyway, it was great to get away and the boys really enjoyed it - they went swimming every day. It was a nice, relaxing break.

But, here's something that struck me when we arrived: the Gideon's Bible on the bedside table seemed strangely out of place. I hadn't expected to find one there and it jarred a little. I had thought we were still in merry old, multi-cultural England but Gideon seemed to be saying:"Welcome to Christendom".

What's going on? Is Center Parcs a specifically Christian organization, or are the Bible Boys paying for the privilege of leaving their trash in my room?

Really, I'd like to know.

Something different

Every now and again, I like to try something new, something I've never done before - and then go at it with a will.

This year's "something new" is acting: I've started a drama course one evening a week. Yes, I'm learning to be an actor!

Last night in class, I acted out a scene from one of Shakespeare's plays and was so surprised by the teacher's response that I have to say, at first, I doubted his sincerity.

T: Ah! You've played this role before.
Me: No.
T: But you've seen the play?
Me: No.
T: You've done a lot of acting though.
Me: Er, no.

Quite embarassing, really - especially having to reveal that I trained originally as an accountant and have spent my working life in business. Maybe I missed my vocation!

Somehow, I doubt it. But you never know!

The Politics Test

Yep, I took it. Turns out, I'm a democrat. Who'd have guessed?

The daily round

Well, Mac left around 8 to go to work - it's the first day of her new job - and I'm back to being full-time father, househusband, head cook and bottle washer.

Hopefully, I'll be able to find time in the day to do some blogging. But before that, there's menu-planning, shopping, cleaning and tidying to be done.

Back later.

Toady's typo

Mac starts a new job on Monday. All this week, she's been getting e-mails from her current co-workers wishing her goodbye and good luck. This one left her somewhat bemused:

"Good luck. I was great working with you."

Heh.

Poker for bloggers

Pokerstars are running a free online poker tournament for bloggers. So, of course, I signed up.

I don't know how many of the bloggers on my blogroll play poker, but I've heard rumours that one or two of them do.

Anti pig control

They can have my stress pig when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

The Daily Ablution

Scott Burgess is back at the keyboard, fully refreshed and in fine form.

Family time

Did I ever tell you how proud I am of these guys?



From left to right: The Big Fella, No 1 Son and Spud behaving for the camera - it's not a pose they can hold for long.