HERE IT IS

We appear to be up and running again so here, for you all, is our new kitchen

Enjoy! (please ignore the washing ..... a new floor will be going in in due course!)

Kershaw-Moores offline

Hiya everyone. Now that I have remembered my Google Account log-in details and not the old Blogger ones and that I'm in work for more than 5 minutes; I can let you know what's happening.

If you've been wondering why it's all been a bit quiet from Bristol vis e-mail / blog etc it's because we appear to have been suffering some serious IT problems which resulted in me not being able to send e-mails for nearly three weeks and, more recently, being unable to obtain any internet connection for nearly a week!! And I now can't receive e-mail either: apparently it's something to do with a network router or something.

Hopefully access will be restored soon and in the meantime I am online at work between Tues & Wed (alex@merrettandco.com)

And yes, if you're wondering the kitchen is in - that took the best part of two weeks too! And yes it looks fab and, once internet is back and running I'll let you have piccies.

until then, our phone is working ..... I think!

Daniel Update

It now appears he doesn't have chicken pox after all!
It's all very confusing

Not so cheerful

Dan's cold seems to have turned itself into chicken pox. :-(

So he's spending quite a bit of time sitting with us sucking his thumb and watching TV (I have been digging out suitable baby-friendly "poorly DVDs". But he still manages to spend a bit of time crawling round the room, shaking his rattles and bashing his bricks

How long do these chicken pox thing last anyway?

Reasons to be cheerful

1. It's not January anymore
2. It's definitely not dark at 5pm anymore
3. It was very nearly "not dark" at 7.15 am this morning
4. It hasn't rained (really) for quite a bit
5. The weekend is looking sunny and fresh
6. Our new kitchen is coming a week on Monday

"Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy" (Kermit style)

It even makes the fact that Dan and I have colds bearable! (he didn't have one in this piccie!)

Dan's Doins Vol 7

Greetings all. Dan here. Now that Daddy has shown me how a keyboard works and what a computer is for I thought it was hi-time I sorted out Mummy's appalling posting record. You've not heard from me since before Christmas and no Dan's Doins for ages!!

I will put this right
So I AM ONE .... one what?? - this is apparently a good thing (and Daddy says quite an achievement) Here am I eating cheesy scrambled eggs on my birthday.

Daddy has a new job which he is starting in the middle of March (not sure what that means but apparently it's important). He's going to work for Thales in Wales: no that's not right it's Trellis in Wellis ..... no, no, no, it's IN Wells and the company is called "Thales" but it's pronounced "Tallis" ??? Mummy says he will be paid lots of money - does that mean I can have lots of new things? Toys do get boring after you've played with them twice.

Mummy & Daddy have been spending lots of money on a new fireplace - you wouldn't believe how quickly I have to keep moving in the sitting room to prevent getting cold - and an extremely lot of money on a new kitchen .... which might have to be cancelled if Mummy is offered and accepts the job she interviewed for in Yeovil today.

What else? I am standing upright and pushing things around as fast as I can. It is my favourite game. And apparently Mummy is trying to organise a different sort of game called "Charade". I don't know what it means but she says it's something to do with "a play". I don't see what the problem is, I play all the time and it's no effort.

Just before I go, here is a picture of my birthday cake which - in case you can't tell - was a drum. But I wasn't allowed to hit it .... perhaps just as well since it didn't make the usual nice bang noise that drums do make. (and I don't know where the drumstick has gone!)


Bye bye; love Da-da-da-Dan xx

Christmas Time; Santa trains and wine

For tis the season to be jolly
take a trip, it won't be folly
on a steam train, with Mummy & Dad
this is bound to make me glad

... especially if there's some sherry in it too!

West Somerset Railway
Saturday 9th December 2006 (the one sunny day in December!)

A frosty start

Our back garden
Thursday 02 November 2006
about 7.20am
First frost of the autumn


all gone by midday (mostly!)

Who needs toys .........

Baby inna Box!!



And he's as happy as ... well a baby inna box!


Wondering if he can make it go onna big adventure

Dan's Doins Vol 6

No, no crawling to report but I thought you might like to see what he looks like in his high chair. I choose this shot because - although he's got his eyes closed - you can see his two little teeth (honest! - well you can on my photo editor!) and I can tell Aunty Helen to "look at the top" !

Yes, he finally fits into the fab top Aunty Helen bought him nearly two months ago and it looks great! Trousers still a bit on the big side but I can see they might fit befor long.

He's having his hair cut on Thursday - and in the meantime is continuing to roll and squidge his way around the room.

Dan at 8 Months

So you can see how he's doin ......
I'm afraid the teeth aren't really visible unless he's crying!









but of course when vacationing with Aunty Sonia and Uncle Tim in Cornwall there's nothing better than crashing out with Daddy

....Or getting a hug with Aunty Sonia (according to our camera, this was preceded by a quick game of "airoplane")!!

Dan'sDoins Vol 5

Or, Two teeth, a cold and a cleaner

Yes we've noticed that there hasn't been an update from young Dan for a few weeks. He is now the proud owner of two little teeth (they're at the bottom in the middle) which appeared without anyone really noticing. They are now firmly established and there may be more on the way since Dan has had little bouts of unhappy discomfortness.

To add to all this, he's got a little cold which has made him a bit miserable - though generally he is still his happy chirpy self. He moves around by rolling from back, to side, to front to back again.

However, he will soon have a much cleaner floor to do it as I have engaged a cleaner. She is the granny of one of Dan's friends from my Ante-Natal group and once a week she has promised to take on this bomb site and try and make it a bit more like "other people's homes". It may be a long job! I'm now off to see if I can locate the connecting cable for the camera so that we can publish a couple of progress photos - I fear Bella may be catching up!!
happy gurgling

The End of An Era

Just felt I had to break into Dan's doins to say a word or two about the news we've all been expecting but is still so momentous.

Yes Michael Schumacher - our lovely Schumi - has finally announced that he's retiring at the end of this season. Okay maybe he's not everyone's cup of tea but if you know me you know that he's played a VERY big part in the last 12 years of my life and his going will mean a huge change.

So I'd just like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the greatest racing driver ever (and please don't bother arguing with me!) and say Michael it's been such fun and I've loved watching every minute.

Is it the right decision? Well I think yes it is. Whilst his loss will be huge, he must have been realising that the reflexes are not quite what they were: his one mistake per season was becoming three or four; younger guys were not intimated by him and happy to drive right round him if they could. And we wouldn't want him to keep going until he was languishing in the midfield, the best of his talent gone. We always knew - deep down - that 2006 would be a swansong - but the thought of only "having" him for another three races is taking some getting used to!

It does of course leave open the question that the pundits have been completely ignoring - far more significant in my view. Will I be watching F1 next year?? I'll leave you to speculate - if you want to .........

Oh what a lovely weekend (DD Vol 4)

Hello Dan here! Mummy thought it was about time I got into this technology stuff and I thought - YEAYYYYY!!!. (Mummy helped with the spelling (though)

I'm pleased to say that the camera is back and thought you might like to see the latest shots - of me!

This was on Bank holiday Sunday. Look at me sitting up all by myself. And the tree in the background has lots of lovely pears on it which Daddy says I can eat soon!!


On Monday, Mummy and Daddy took me on the swings for the first time. It was such fun watching Daddy coming towards me and then going away again.

Dan's Doins Vol 3

Two matters to report on:

Dan's first proper trip to a coffee house* - Starbucks in this case - where he sat on one of their squashy sofas between us and drank apple juice out of a cup (that in itself a bit of a first but that's a longer story!!)
*there have been previous ones but he was usually asleep

The second of today's firsts are his first breakfast, lunch and dinner. He seemed fairly happy with the idea of three meals instead of his usual two though I'm not quite ready to report it a full success just yet. More updates will follow

Dan's Doins Vol 2

His first adventure in a high chair. Well okay it was only one of those basic wooden ones provided by service stations / cafes etc but he did sit in it (almost) without falling out and enjoyed chewing on the edges. It was situated in the restaurant at Slimbridge for those who wish to know details - and he finds geese very amusing.

He's working on the sitting and, when on his front, is definitely trying to get his feet/legs moving. Our possessions may not be safe much longer!

Unfortunately our camera is still out of action but in case you're wondering where he's at; here's a photo kindly provided by Aunty Sonia. He's not my little baby anymore!

Weather wanderings

Is it just me or is it not really summer anymore? There's a definite September feeling around Bristol at the moment - and when I was woken up at 5.15 by a rather genteel thunderstorm (it's bigger, more bullish brother came along at 10) it was dark!! Actually dark - not a bit light, not dawn-ish but dark. When did that happen?

Maybe that's why we all have colds? Dan still happy chewing everything in sight - unless it's food in which case he doesn't seem too fussed!

Dan's doin's Vol I

Just a wee progress report ........
My little Dan is sitting up!! Just thought you might like to know. Unfortunately our digital camera is out of action with a flat battery and no new one yet in sight so I cannot verify his new achievement with visual images but he is sitting. Okay so he will roll over after a few seconds / minutes but you do get to play the great game of "baby left; baby right" :-)

He can also roll onto his front though he doesn't seem so keen on doing that and he's been working very hard on the letter "B" - for some reason!

Weight as of Monday 7 August: 14lbs 8oz (about 6.5 kilos). For those that remembered yes he has actually lost 2ozs in the past month which has been put down to his unwellness and not-eatingness recently (now hopefully recovered)

On the beautiful Danube

Or perhaps that should be "in the beautiful Danube"?

Yes I am of course talking about the Hungarian GP. Well Dan's not up to much that's new at the moment and Sunday's event does merit a mention or two.

What a race!!
Way to go Jenson - hooray and werrr- who ; but could anyone have predicted that things turned out the way they did!?! Fantastic stuff except for my silly Sky+ box that, for some reason, ended the recording just before the podium ceremony (ourselves having been out at a Slow Food Fair during live transmission) - DOH!!!

And do Bridgestone need to re-think their unclement weather tyres? But maybe with Michelin leaving at the end of the season they figure they don't need to. All the same does anyone know what actually happened to Schumi at the end? I didn't see any damage ......

and can Anthony Davidson give up racing and be a commentator instead - he was sooo good at it! :-)

A sort of wondering

There's a song out there at the moment; one I really like "Unfaithful" by Rhianna - I think. But there's a part in the chorus which goes

"I don't wanna take away his life .... I don't wanna be a murderer"

Everytime I hear that on the radio I just want to shout "Well Don't Kill Him Then!! Just LEAVE!"

Am I missing something or is this woman seriously suggesting that the only way out of her relationship is to kill her bloke?? Answers on a postcard please :-)