POST OFFICE ROBBERY

Today my thoughts go very much out to the staff and owners of our very own local post office near where we live.They're the nicest bunch of people I've met since I moved here just a few months ago.

But last night having popped my head out of the window having heard a helicopter circling very close by with its search lights on and seeing the many police officers walking around outside, it turned out that the post office had just been robbed and the perpetrators were on the run.
I have to say that the police do a great job in times like this and I hope their hard work pays off.
There isn't much else to say as the details are not altogether very detailed but I hope all are ok at the Post Office and knowing them it'll be work as usual today.

LUCKY ESCAPE FROM HOUSE FIRE

I didn't realise the extent to what I was witnessing as we drove past several fire trucks on 28th this month. I took a couple of pics for my little one who actually pointed the fire engines out in the first place.



But a phone call the other day from a friend who explained how some neighbours living across the road saw their neighbours house on fire and phoned 999.
The story I have since read states that eight children and two adults were saved from the house on fire owing to the aforementioned neighbours Mark and Anne Street who noticed the curtains were alight in the downstairs sitting room in the house in High Road Trimley.
Luckily no one was hurt.

POLLUTION

WELCOME TO FELIXSTOWE........

What a mad few days it's been. It's hard to know where to begin.

So, in not exactly a chronological order but done as best I can, here is the latest to my life....

Right now it is a Saturday morning 11.27am. Mums just stopped by as we're all going out to feed the ducks. It's one of those things that are free to do in life, bar the price of a loaf of bread and is just plain ole good fun.

My daughter certainly loves throwing bread to them. Last time we did it we ended up forgetting the shopping in the back of the car which consisted mainly of my everyones favorite ice creams "mini feast". So I ended up scoffing the remainders..

Anyway....once we all ready thats where we are going.

I spend a few hours on the beach on Friday afternoon whilst little one was at playgroup. I was simply enjoying the fresh air walking alone past Felixstowe Pier. One point I couldnt help noticing however is the amount of waste lurking both on the seashore and on the top of the water


I couldn't help but pick the litter up and put it in a bin. So below is the new updated shot of how the beach SHOULD look.

A lot of the rubbish perhaps comes from the dumped items from cargo and passenger ships, but then again I would imagine that the same goes for people around here who just throw their unwanted bits and pieces and then walk away.

i digress.....

Changing the subject somewhat....

I remember as a child going to the cinema with my parents regularly. On a Saturday as I got older it progressed to going with my two brothers to the Saturday morning matinee where they would put on those great London made primarily for us kids.
Those were great days and some wonderful memories.

I recently introduced my little one to the Walt Disney film Bambi as it was one film in particular I remember seeing at the cinema all those years ago as a child and have wanted her to see it too. At first she sat there with a million and one question about who what why....you get the point...Like young children do I guess.

But after the scene in which Bambi is born and the "new prince" is introduced to all the wild animals....she went nuts and loved it. I am glad the editors edited out the shot in which the hunters catch up with Bambis mother. Luckily all we saw and heard was a gun shot and a change of scene .

It's lost none of its original appeal that much is true. Its still a wonderful children and adults alike film. I am pleased to say she ended up watching it twice again over and over.

I JUST WISH WALT DISNEY WOULD NOT PUT TEN MINUTES OR SO OF THEIR OWN ADVERTS ON THE DVD BEFORE THE ACTUAL FILM STARTS AS IT IS WRONG. EXPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONCIDER THAT IT COMES AS A TWO DISC SET. SO WHY ON EARTH DONT THEY PUT THE ADVERTS ON THE OTHER DISC OR AT THE END OF THE FILM.

I digree....

More news.....I had to take my little ones cat "blue" to the vets as she was going through the motions if you know where I am coming from. I admit it would have been nice for my daughter to have experienced her cat having her own kittens as a good learning and life experience. But obviously money.....time and effort and room all came into play so I believe I did the right thing. I have had her sorted out now and had her claws clipped as she tends not to go out much. She was making so much noice prior to the op..every day and night in fact to the point that perhaps any uneducated neighbours near where we live might have thought she was in pain. Those in the know would have realised that she just wanted to go out and hang out with the other puddy cats. Saying that though, every time I tried to get her to go out she refused and ran back in.

Anyway,she is happier than ever now and seems so loving and fussier that ever before.

As you may be able to see in the picture that didnt come out to well as I copied it from a video I took when she got home, the only signs that shes been to the vets are the shaven side of her lover half. Shes been wonderful too though as the stitches that come out next week have caused her no problems whatso ever and shes not even chewed at them as I thought she would.

The only problem if you can call it that is that the cat is now learning not to expect to rip holes in objects like my legs as she stablizes herself to climb up. God that hurts when she used to do that.

Apart from all this theres not alot to say apart from a bit of important new that I am unable to write about on here about my little one which I hope is going to turn out being on the positive side

Bye bye for now....

Nick

DREAM

Woke up at the 6am alarm call this morning from a strange but vivid dream.
I lived through a nuclear war. The dream started with me sitting infront of the computer reading my daily news feed from AlJazeera (have gotten hooked on its reporting of world events without the normal default attitude of negativity toward one direction that has become the norm in the UK press be it in print, TV etc)...And a the phone rang. At the other end was an unfamiliar voice. All I remember was hearing the person tell me to turn the TV on turn the TV on......
I go into the other room. Switch it on...news24 is showing live images from on top of a domed building and from the viewpoint in the distance a massive blinding light begins to erupt into almost sun power. People are running in the distance calling out in a language I have never heard and don't understand. Within a moment as the flash comes closer and closer to the camera the static of non transmission kicks in and the feed is lost. I pick up the phone....But the phone is now silent. I try ringing out but after a moment the phone line is also dead, there is not even a dial tone.
I hear whispering and dogs barking from outside the window....I go to see whats going on...on opening the window I see that the sky is in total darkness. The clock on the wall says 8am. Somethings wrong. I get up to try the house phone....The door bell rings.....I answer the door to a woman in a white robe with a red bandana...she tries to tell me something...but is too quiet for me to hear the words. As I look at her the words seem to turn into images of different buildings I recognize from around the world. I look her in the eyes. She taking me by my arm and motions for me to go with her.....As I leave and close the door...there is a large car waiting outside. As we approach I am told from a man who I remember looked like the US president that the woman is his robot version of Condoleezza Rice and that the real one was kidnapped in the Far East.

As I get into the car I am told that the world needs my help....we travel along the road and talk for a while. I am trying to stay calm and not ask too many question although I remember feeling like being part of a matrix film. All of a sudden the car sprouts props and we begin to accent into the clouds at faster than light speed....It was here that I woke up.........

NEW TATTOO

This is a quick snap I took of the shop I had my new tattoo done at recently.
It's called H.B.A and is in Tacket Street, Ipswich not far from Cash convertors and is by far the best place I have found for tattoos. They also do many other body treatments too and are well worth a visit. They are certainly well managed and everything is noticably lovely and clean unlike some of the places I have seen. If I get the chance I want to book my mother in there for one of there PAMPER DAY treatments. She deserves it and I think she'd love it. Better start saving my pennies.

Anyway....I had been promicing myself a tattoo for quite some time. I originally wanted a small black panther but found an image of a black cat with claws out streched that I chose instead.

Thanks to the tattooist by the way, as I'm very happy with the end result.

Here's a pic of the finished article. It's not too clear but you get some idea of what it looks like. Not a bad photo though considering my nearly 3 year old daughter took it for daddy. She's getting good at framing the images she sees through the view finder prior to snapping the photo and shes learnt to keep the PDA camera steady too.

Photo by Sophie Endean

I digress.....

Todays thought is simply "how wonderful and privelleged I feel to be part of my daughters life"
I understand totally now what is meant when people say that children are a gift from god and are the future of the planet we will one day leave behind.
I've been thinking too about how much my life has changed since becoming a parent.
I know I am good dad....no...scrub that....I AM A WONDERFUL DAD.
I think the best thing of all is watching children pick up and learn new things on a daily basis.

I have taught my daughter so much in her short life and am amazed on a daily basis as to how in the heck she remembers everything. More times than I care to remember she interjects the odd words that I forget when I am talking about something and can't remember a name or a place. Especially when it comes to characters in books or CBB's. We watch and make lots of things together and have gotten into using sparkling pipe cleaners to make pictures in 3d. She loves it and I have to admit that I love it to...watching her face light up when daddy smiles with agreement at each of her graphical and colourful masterpieces.
She loves the feeling of acomplishment as we all do but I love pushing her mentally to do things for herself.
She feels so good about herself which is so great to see and makes that proud as punch happy feeling almost jump out of my heart.

On daily outings in the car to different places, shes been watching me take photos and videos on my pda phone. Last week she took her own set of pictures after asking if she could take a photo. I showed her that the lens which I told her was the phones eye, needed to NOT have her hand on it else it wont see what she sees. She fully understands it now and has taken video and photos of birds....the park....the beach.....xmas trees...loads of things.

Who knows maybe she'll grow up and be a professional photographer or a video or film producer or director.

Bye bye for now

CAR CRASH

Friday 13th January 2006

On the way back from posting an assignment at college on Friday, We were in the car driving home and saw what was obviously an accident that had happened moments earlier. On the A1156 near the Nacton Heath turn off a grey van or people carrier had flames coming from the engine and seemed to have been hit with some serious force. A young lady was lying on the ground a distance from the vehicle whom was being comforted by what looked like a passerby just as a marked police car pulled up. I couldn't see any other vehicle or vehicles that may have been involved. We had to return to Ipswich later that day, by which time the whole area had been cordoned off by the police. I can only imagine as I said at the time that the crash forensics people needed to examine the scene for evidence. At the end of the day at least we along with other drivers were fortunate enough to be able to get home. I can only pray that the people involved in the accident will be okay. I have since heard that three people were hurt in the crash and taken to hospital one with life threatening injuries, so our thoughts are most certainly with them right now.

Vision Express,I love you

So much has been happening in my life lately. It's been hard to keep track of all the positive changes that have been taking place.
To begin with I have just got some new glasses with money I was given for christmas. Took ages to decide on which to get. Everyone likes a change and as it's a fresh new year and my other glasses had a small piece of the lens broken I had to sort it out.
I only go to Vision Express because the staff are the best around, service is the best and speed of service remains unchallenged from any of its rivals. I would never go to Specsavers again owing to a problem the last time I got a pair of glasses from them. I am not alone with having problems with them, but I am not here to talk about them so I wont.

Anyway....I got a nice pair of black rimed glasses which were literally completed and on my face within 35 minutes. The lady who dealt with me called sheila was wonderful and even got some of the other staff to put my ever untrusting mind at rest and assure me of my choice. I made up my own mind having tried several out prior to asking for help but it's really nice to have your own decisions backed up as correct.

I was that happy when I got home that I typed up a letter to the manager which I hope should have got there by now.

bummer..

This is a quick blog as am trying to juggle several things at once.
Am whilst my little one is busy on her singalonga mike I am free for a second.
I quit smoking for just over four days. I have to start again tomorrow as I screwed up a got stressed a wee bit after dying my hair for a new year change and HATED IT.....got so moapy over it that I regretfully lit up a cigarette.

Thats all I have got to say on the subject as it depresses the hell out of me. But I've done it before for two weeks so I will be starting again tomorrow....Sunday 8th...

At least I still have faith.

difficult day...the worst yet

DAY 4

I am late writing this as its gone twelve oclock midnight already. I had wanted to add to my quite smoking blog all day but have not been had the time.
I am lying in bed about to crash out to a dvd very soon so will keep this brief.
The truth about today is that the cravings for real nicitine got to the point that I forced myself to go to bed for a few hours at about 3pm or so else it would have been much harder finghting it.
But it worked and I did it. I suddently realized earlier on waking up that my patch was not on properly so it didn't help matteres either. I tried a minute amount of low powered nici gum but that was useless.....so I guess the best advice I will remember in the fitire is just to crash out and relax in bed for a bit.

Happy new year to everyone whom knows me and I hope that all you wish for out of life for now and the future is both reaschable and meets with your expectations 10 fold.


Cu.