Welcome home Dandy.

Meet Dandy he's moved in with Kat and I. He was taken off the streets by the cat rescue in Canning Town in December and by all accounts he was in a bit of a state with no fur left on him and a food allergy that made him very ill. He's now living in Hackney with us and still looks a bit of a rat bag but he's well looked after and he's going to make a full recovery if he manages to stay awake or more than 5 minutes at any one time. To say this cat likes to nap is an understatement I have a theory that after his hard knock life on the streets he's now in cat retirement and aiming to make the most of it.

This is hilarious.

You know those times when...

you want the ground to open up and swallow you whole.

This Saturday afternoon I went down the main part of Covent Garden and whilst walking back to work via Drury Lane I saw this sideshow. The quiet looking city boy on the horse had got married earlier in the day and the brides family had obviously decided on some traditional Hindu marching the groom up the road on horse to the reception ceremony. Picture it 3 o'clock on a busy Saturday in central Covent Garden on a horse being walked at plod pace up one of the main thoroughfares. You could see the dread in his face as he got on the horse as about 150 tourists stood around pointing and taking photos of him. Things only got worse for the groom as the loud six piece band piped up in front of him to lead him up to the Royal Opera House(WTF? as they say) where the family were waiting. The 100 metre journey took a while so on top of the band you had the accompaniment of half dozen taxis honking their horns trying to weave their way through the growing crowd of bystanders, the groom's face was saying 'this was a much better idea six months ago' on it. To cap it all off when he finally reached his destination the family showered him with rose petals and the large crowd all cheered as he disappeared into the lobby of the opera house. Rather him than me.

Yeah Eddie!

I felt nephew Ed hadn't had enough blog coverage so I thought I'd give him his own post. Aside from being one of the worlds largest new borns he's also the worlds happiest baby who never cries and always has a smile for you. Missing you Ed.

One day clean

My chocolate habit has got a little out of hand recently so this week I've been working hard at getting it under control as I was feeling like Augustus and if left I would end up some fat, toothless blimp.

They're just jammin' man.

After the showdown Ray Barbee and Tony Alva jammed for everyone which sounds good but they got a bit noodley and it was verging on jazz sometimes. Tony Alva's a bit whatev's but Barbee's a legend and never stops smiling.

26 hours in Turin

Last weekend Kat and I were taken on a flying visit to Turin to go to the Vans Downtown Showdown (thanks NIck and Victoria) which was on the roof of the old Fiat building. It was my first visit to Italy and I got to hang out with some friends who I don't see too often like Jasper who was a party soldier that night and just about got home intact.

This is my autumn song

I think Neil Young may have received more air time in Slam than any other artist and if you work there you become a fan of his whether you like it or not. This song reminds me of when I first started there which is nearly five years ago and makes me think of how much has happened in that time.

This was on the wireless a moment ago

There's a new sheriff in town.

Whatever...

Everyone loves a meerkat.

Sandy Park!

This was Ed's first time in a swing whereas Emily and William are experienced swingees and Joel is a seasoned professional.

A new thing to get into

On the way to Gatwick I helped guide Kat through her first Sudoko puzzle which after all the previous it looks too difficult comments she seemed to find pretty easy to finish. As you can see she wasn't the least bit pleased with herself.

Crew Shot

I went to Jersey at the weekend for nephew Ed's christening and got to spend a few days with the family which was a lot of fun although every day started a little bit too early for my regular life schedule. There are many more photos from my excursion to the channel islands so I promise I'll blog more of them asap. This is also the first appearance of my Mum on my blog so welcome to the internet Mum.

Sunday Afternoons

I forgot I had this photo from a few weeks ago when Kat and I spent the afternoon at the pub reading the paper and eating lunch. It was pretty much amazing.

Motown in the morning.

Step away from the Ipod.

Bev's back! This is a slightly drunk Bev heading towards the ipod in search of music to dance to in her living room as you can imagine this was highly dangerous and both Erasure and the Communards got some air time that evening. That said we had fun and I made up for Seth's reluctance to dance, there was also talk of Monopoly! Whilst I'm happy for this whole family thing they've got going on I've missed the aggressive monopoly shark Bev, happy days are here again.

Sorry it's been a while.

My internet has been a bit mal so my blog capabilities have been nil the last week or so, to make up for it here's a picture for the nephews of a fire engine that Kat took shortly before she came home. I'll be more frequent with the updates from now on hopefully.

Definitely mid-life.

This is my regular morning set up:

Guardian web-site

Granola (today I opted for soya milk over yoghurt)

Coffee (Monmouth of course)

Water (filtered)

The further into my thirties I go the more I embrace my mid-life urges and I feel perfectly fine about it.

Buses for the nephews

Hello William and Joel here's a picture of some American school buses which Kat very kindly took for you guys she hopes you like it.