I don't want to go overboard, but......

did any of you see the Cutting Edge program on Channel 4 last night? The title was 'Strictly Baby Fight Club'.

It was perhaps one of the most distressing programs I've seen for a while. It was about these parents that make their kids do child Thai Boxing. These kids are in the ring in organized fights from the ages of 4 or 5 in some cases.

One family take there kid to Thailand for matches as there's more money involved, but the kids do not wear any guards for protection. One father described these fights, "the Thai kids just see a foreigner in the ring and want to smash them in".

One 5 year old little girl was being obviously forced rather than willingly to fight another 6 year old girl in the ring, who had beaten her the time before. The parents were shouting at her to beat this other girl in! The father almost ridiculed the fact the little girl cried after the fight and wanted to go home and play with her dressing up stuff and tiara.

I can understand (not agree) that some kids may desire to take up boxing and like that sort of thing. It's not my style, but I can see it could provide an outlet for a kid with too much energy. This was taken much further than this and was prizefighting for infants, who were being trained to show exceptional aggression in infancy. Parents have a unique responsibility to bestow a gift to there children that will help them in life, but these parents have given the gift of violence. It has been proven time and again that Violence begets violence. Violence doesnt provide security and protection, it doesn't prepare people for love and consideration. (i'm going to have to stop now)

When we hear about abuse in the world I can't help but think that people like this are doing exactly that. They lose their rights to have children in my opinion. My feelings on this are much stronger than I wish to convey in this post as I don't want to be provocative.

Please review the program if you get a chance and i'd be interested in your opinion.
here's a couple of Youtube links to clips from this program.
Clip 1
Clip2
Clip3

I'll leave this direct quote from the Channel 4 website about the little girl of 5 i mentioned above.

As the father of a daughter in particular, Darren feels that it will help Miah to stand on her own two feet and encourage her to be able to take more care of herself when she is older.

Determined to make champions of his kids, they are encouraged to train three times a week and compete in the ring against other children. But pre-match jitters often get the better of Miah, who has to be coaxed into the ring on more than one occasion. "Every time she goes in that ring, there is always a worry she will start crying", admits Darren. But nonetheless he remains determined and ambitious.

For her next fight, Darren is taking no chances. He has 'bulked' her up so she is not at a weight disadvantage against her older opponent. Will this be enough for a win to make daddy's day or will the five-year-old, with a penchant for disco dancing and dressing up as a princess, go home empty-handed once again.

The difference 2 days can make.

I don't plan to be another Englishman that talks too much about the weather, but I'm quite amazed at the difference 2 days makes. I'd heard snows was coming, but never thought it would hit this far south.


This was taken early Friday evening after a Fish & Chip supper down by the sea. All day had been tee-shirt weather.


Never would have thought that 2 days later on the Sunday we'd be pulling sledges through the snow. We had a stormer of a snowball fight in the park over the road, screaming and shouting with fun and laughter. When my son got too cheeky I just reminded him of some yellow snow we'd seen, that sorted him out!! ha ha


It's melting already and I can be pretty sure that by tomorrow it will be clear again.


btw - don't forget to read my previous posts if you haven't already!!!

Ashes to Ashes....

Ashes to Ashes, Funk to funky
We know Major tom's a Junkie.......

This song has been going around my head for weeks now and I know why. It's the drama on BBC that's just finished it's first season.

Coming on the back of 'Life on Mars', which set is 1973, 'Ashes to Ashes' is based in 1981. Both shows are about police officers that are injured on duty and end up in a coma whch sends them back in time. The unusual link is that the other characters in the show are the same. (more or less) The real gem is that both shows introduce us to Gene Hunt, the straight talking, sexist, macho brother of Jack Regan. Every profane comment that comes out of his mouth is pure gold.

If I had to make a choice over which series I prefer I think i'd go with 'Ashes', just because the vibe is more upbeat and the music is much better. 'Life on Mars', reminds me too much of the 70's and how grim it was. The feeling is captured perfectly. I can almost taste the Homepride white bread and smell the dog pooh. I get reminders of walking to school with holes in my shoes and watching Big Daddy wrestling on a Saturday afternoon. Which doesn't sound all that bad I guess, but the memory seems to be set in a dirtier and greyer time in my head.

The 80's weren't perfect by any means, but choosing 1981 for 'Ashes' was a good move. It was the start of changes in peoples lives. A little less hand to mouth for many. Music was powerful and a lot of new sounds were being born out of punk. In fact i think this may have been my personal experience rather everyone else's life too. I just wish I had been that bit older in 1981, so that I could have immersed myself into the sounds of the time. I was only 10 or 11 years, which was too young to truly appreciate the innovation and rawness of music at that time. When I was shopping for music everything had gone drastically downhill. Stock, Aitken and Waterman were playing with our minds and our tastes. I think it was this that drove me to listening to old time Motown, Soul and Blues, which is as far as I could get away from the bland blended benign commercial muck of the later 80's. ( my music influences, thats for another post I think)

So i've come to a conclusion that yes I prefer Ashes, but thats more to do with my association with the time than the show itself. These shows are the most original TV drama's to grace our screens for a very long time, and because of this the producers will flog it to death until we are sick of it. I wish we had the same originality with comedy, which in my mind had its greatest decade in the 70's. I can replay some of the scenes from Christmas specials over and over in my mind without getting bored of them. (Four Candles) That my friends is a story for another time....

been making my mind up!

Sounds very Bucks Fizz-ish I know.

I never make decisions that involve technology quickly, that and the fact is hate paying over the odds for ANYTHING. I'm almost so obsessive that i'm daring the prices to go down after I buy things. I torture myself by checking the prices for weeks after a purchase. Am I the only one that does this?? Surely there aren't others too? If i searched the internet I'd bet there a name for it even. Some phobia like post-purchasaphobia! In fact there you go I've invented it!

So anyway as it stands, I have finally made by new TV purchase. I phoned up my local Richer Sounds store in Brighton (local 45 mins away!!) and reserved a Sony Bravia which according to almost everyone I had spoken to and the professional reviews was the best. I had spent weeks comparing reviews so that I didn't get this purchase wrong, and was confident i'd done my best. Last Wednesday I went to the store and had a great shopping experience with the top notch staff there, and inevitably returned home that evening with a .......Philips! (click link to see my choice)

Why the change of mind. For a start that's typical of me. Then it comes down to one simple fact, reviews are a total waste of time and you have to decide for yourself. To me the choice was obvious when i compared products.

So my advice for the future, when making your mind up I suggest you do just that. Make YOUR mind up and ignore anyone else's. And also if you are going to buy Audio or Video go to Richer Sounds as they have the best display and the most knowledgeable staff. (and the prices are very good)

I Can't Stop Crying...........read and see why

Crying is a powerful visual show of emmotion, but we cry for many reasons.

For instance:
- Crying because we are heartbroken or upset over a sad news.
- Chopping onions causes us to cry.
- Glare from the son, or bright lights when driving at night can do it too.
- Crying because we have been physically hurt. Like a child in the playground who has fallen off a climbing frame.
- Sobbing out of frustration.
- Then there's the crying because you are happy, tears of joy!

Well yesterday I had an occurance that other guys will relate to i'm sure. Firstly it started when the kettle stopped working, which made me feel a bit miffed as I had to use the saucepan on the stove for hot water. It was obviously the day for electricals to die as in the afternoon my son came up to my office to tell me the telly was playing up. Huff-Puff oh what have you done now and the like came from my mouth. I am convinced nobody else in my household can use anything electrical other than me. I feel I have to make a presentation to the whole family explaining how something works everytime we get a electrical appliance of any sort. I'm standing there with a flip chart explaining what a switch does on the kettle. Also how hot water only happens if you put cold water in it first.

I tried this too when we originally bought the telly. I had diagrams and practicle training sessions on the workings of the off and on button along with use of the volume control on the remote. I'll limit my comment on 'using the remote control' session to a simple nooooo you just dont get it!! This led to the type of crying known as 'sobbing out of frustration'. It has hasnt got any better since, because no matter how many times I explain how the telly works (dont get me started on the differences between composite and RGB, or switching between the Digi Box and the DVD player) 10 mins later the family are back asking the same thing over again. So having my son tell me it was up the spout brought on despair as here I go again! Anyway, immediately I can see the image on the screen jumping about like TV's did in the 70's when you hit them to fix them. Sigh....it must be a knocked out connection or something. After some basic fault checking I realised no this was the real thing the TV was broken. Here's where the crying comes into its own! First i felt a crescendo of despair, 'oh no not something else that's broken'. Then it became tears of sadness over the end of a good television and the subsequent cost of replacing it. Finally and i'm sure you fella's will relate to this, it was the tears of joy! I'm going to buy a new telly!!! I'm going to check all of the reviews and test out lots and lots of tellys to find our new one. I can only explain this feeling as like discovering that chocolate is in fact non-fattening and should be eaten twice a day for a healthy lifestyle and complexion.

So don't concern yourself about my tears, be joyful that i'm entering the world of widescreen LCD entertainment! In fact rumour has it the my darling wife thinks it would be a good idea to get Sky+ whilst we are at it too. Who am I to say no. Ok Ok the reality of all this is that i'll be explaining how it all works again to the family, but thats a small price to pay for the male equivalent to lying in a bath of creamy cadburys.

Can you hear the screams??

I though i'd give you an update on Delmonti's condition. (in fact he has blogged from his hospital bed this morning too)

He had the hip-op on Monday morning, not to be confused with hip-hop which is a long way off for the fella I think. I believe that was all as successful as hoped. In D's own words, "they haven't put an offer in for my shoes, so thats a good sign". He was quite chirpy and chatty on Monday as the anaesthetic hadn't worn off. Needless to say that changed later in the day!

He hasn't really been able to sleep much due to the pain since the operation. Tuesday the physiotherapist had him up taking a few steps and bringing on floods of pain and a great variety of colourful words and thoughts, he certainly has a vivid imagination and vocabulary. No greater moment was this demonstrated than with the catheter removal, which produced a noteable mention in the screeming like a banshee contest. According to the nurses they hadn't heard anything like it since that famous delivery in the maternity ward of baby X, also codenamed 'Melon Head'. The mother was said to be screaming for 17 days and 14 hours AFTER the birth of the baby with the record breaking head.

I do recall mention of horse tranquilizers to beef up the morphine, but i'm not sure if that was just wishful thinking or not. I am quite happy to fund a visit from the vet if he thinks it would help. It should be a simple thing as these guys normally have to deal with moving targets.

I hope the cranky fella recovers soon, and wish him well and a super fast recovery. I've just heard he's been up on the crutches again today so thats a great sign that things are going the right way.

I was hoping to get some celebs to pop in and cheer him up, but sorry mate this was the best I could do.

With appreciation to the cheeky girls for dropping everything in their busy schedules to show consideration to the public like this.

Photo's

Things seem more stable at the moment. The Old Fella (father in law) has after what everyone thought was going to be the end, recovered a bit. This has given us all a bit of mental and emmotional rest for now which was needed. Also it's given me a chance to post again, but i've obviously got a lot of catching up to do. Here's some photo's of things we've been up to that i'd like to share.

The kids are getting a science lesson from uncle Geoff. We had some good fun with explosions and chemical reactions that day.

Taken at Highpoint wood not far from us. We needed to get some freshair and decided on a family walk that afternoon. Kids loved it. Bit muddy though, and I made everyone except me of course take their shoes off before getting into the car. There's lots of these sorts of places to discover nearby. This is the first of many this year i'm betting. In fact this weekend we even went down to the beach and kicked the ball around and chased the waves, making ourselves wet. It was great! I can see it's about time to get the kites out again, maybe this weekend?

This was from 2 weeks back. The kids along with myself and my mate Dave went for a wonder and checked out some of the pools. It had been a sunny day but we didnt get a chance to go out till later in the day. The sun was going down and it was much colder. It's always fun and interesting walking down by the sea though. There was loads of wood along our beach from this shipwreck in Dorset. Amazing how it came as far East as this. Most of it has already been scavaged by locals, and my new decking in the garden is looking a treat. :)