A wet day in Aberdare Town Park. Even when it's wet it's a beautiful place. Full of memories for me of when I was a child. Today we only had three slices of bread, so not enough to feed the fishes, only the pigeons had their fill. The ducks too missed out, as they were too slow for our crew.

Bradley was a bit scared of the ducks, mind he was a bit scared of the pigeons too, until he found that he could chase them away. Here, he has his back to the wall for protection.

We took a trip down to Quicksave to get some milk and some other bits and pieces. Most of the time Nanna was racing ahead, I think she forgets that it takes ages to pull up the rear flank. Mainly Bradley - here in the middle picture you can see him looking over into the river. Come on Bradley! OK. Bye. Waaaaaa. And He runs to catch us up.

And the weather was appalling. Just after the right picture was taken it began to rain. You can see how dark it had become.

Middle pix. Again Nanna is too far in front. Where's Bradley? And finally we make it to Quicksave, and they get a ride or three, until the 20p pieces run out.

I guess it's most marked with Bradley - how fast kids grow up. As my Mam, hasn't seen Bradley for three months she noticed his speech straight away. And so have I since then, he's come on leaps and bounds. Though you have to guess at what he's saying, his dictionary is quite big. Coming out with stuff I had no idea he knew.

They both tore into the wrapping paper. But I sensed an anticlimax once Esme had opened everything, particularly as Bradley still had plenty left to unwrap, and some of the toys had to be assembled by myself. Well, OK that's Xmas for you.

Watching the skating in Telford. I haven't done this since Bradley was only a few months old. Esme and I used to do it regularly. Today the game was to climb over all the chairs to get to the top. Esme found this pretty easy - Bradley, well he did it, but boy was it a struggle.

To throw the bread a long way takes a lot of preparation and determination.

Whereas Bradley prefers to just pinch a little bit, and drop it close to the geese. Which, is a little bit dangerous as these geese will snatch it out of his hand if given a chance. He's been in tears a few times because of this. They've even shocked me a few times and those beaks have rasping 'teeth.'

Piece and quiet for a few minutes as Esme watches TV. She's going to grow up to be a good looking woman.

Esme looks such a girl in this left pix. Why do kids like bouncing on beds so? And why am I so jealous? Bradley likes his new one piece PJs. Especially that they've feet with stars as grips.

They become facinated by the video camera. I hope that I'll be able to train them to use it well. And the other little digital camera. And as soon as they're ready I'll get them a cheap DV. Must try to get Bradley to not eat the camera though.

Sometimes they get on well. Even when they're fighting, I suspect that most of it is bluster. Creating noise just for the sake of us parents, with smacks and pinching that doesn't really hurt.

Blue whale photographs

"When feeding, the blue whale's pleated throat balloons with water and trapped krill."

Fascinated by blue whales, like most people I guess. One thing I hadn't realised was the size of a mouthfull of water!

A blue whale about to be chopped up.

A sperm whale. Ugly looking critter.

It's hard for a four year old to decide which smile is the best smile. But better if there's someone else in the picture, namely her new Xmas doll -- Baby Chu Chu.

Babe 2: Pig in the City

"You're just a little pig in a big city," Ferdinand, the duck, tells his old friend Babe. "What could you possibly do? Why try?"

As the rest of the family have gone visiting, I'm in tears as I watch the darkest most worrying film I've seen in a long time. The sets are menacing, the characters uncaring, cynical and pessimistic. But Babe's open heart turns them. The pitbull rescue and the baby chimp's fall had me enthralled. Brilliant. Just like the first, though for an older audience this time. Apparently the director, George Miller, did Mad Max and Dead Calm.

ZDNet: Sendo filing accuses Microsoft of dirty tricks

""Microsoft used Sendo's knowledge and expertise to its benefit to gain direct entry into the burgeoning next-generation mobile phone market and then, after driving Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy, cut it out of the picture."

A high-profile arrangement with Microsoft would have been attractive to Sendo, a small Birmingham-based mobile phone startup formed in 1999 by mobile phone industry veterans."

Everybody knows that when Microsoft comes-a-calling it's time to shit yourself.

Mind I think they're probably right, that it'll mean jack shit what mobile platform you use. It'll be more, what OS it uses. And As everybody is using Microsoft (except m e) everybody will want to tie their phone up with their PC. Unless the phone does everything - which it won't considering its size.

ZDNet: BT acts to combat broadband slowdown

"BT is taking this action amid concern that ADSL connection speeds are falling as more people sign up for broadband. This is because ADSL is a contended service - 500kbps bandwidth is shared between up to 50 consumers, or 20 business customers.

Given the bursty nature of Internet surfing -- where users are only sending and receiving data for a small proportion of their time online -- users should still be able to enjoy fast surfing even if they are sharing the available bandwidth with many other customers."

Still, 50 to 1 ain't good. Not when you're suffering. Here in Telford where there ain't many cable broadbanders, I reckon I'm much better off.

Soon they'll be in bed. Ah! "Say goodnight then." Says Amanda. They started at 8:30am this morning, or at least Esme did. Don't think she could rouse Bradley - took me a few attempts. He was very snotty, that and the fact that he fell out of bed twice.

He's a good kid, and his speech is kicking in now, tells me a long story when I ask him what happened at school, no idea about the detail, but usually something to do with the actions of a song they've been singing. He can also count to ten, at least I heard him saying it to the telly as something was counting on CBeebies.

Guardian: TV's terrestrial slump continues

"The changing face of the nation's TV habits have been highlighted by new figures showing viewers in multichannel homes now spend more time watching non-terrestrial channels such as Sky One and MTV than BBC1 and ITV combined." I watch very little Terry TV now. Not much there, same old same old, but the Discovery Channels - WoW!

Hmm. Tungsten, fluorescent what is the light in the kitchen? ";->" I know, just got it wrong again Betty. I'll play with some Photoshop filters and just drop them on the widget things, maybe even tie them into Radio with some nice borders...

This has printed out perfectly on my photo printer. Looks like one of the old masters in colour tone. Mind Esme's colouring suites that type. Her rosy cheeks really do look sweet.

Digital camera for xmas - YaY! Tankx Santa. £129.00 with 16 megs, tripod and some cables. Took some pix in the bath, as usual, at least they're pretty still there. Gotta get a handle on the controls - esp the exposure and colour balance. I'll get the hang of it soon.

IZsraeli Army: Hamas children's newspaper continues to educate based on virtues of suicide attacks

"...Oh my dear mother ...do not grieve for me, be happy ...I will marry [72] girls in heaven ...I ask you, once you've heard that I have fallen in the name of Allah, praise and thank Allah and distribute candy and drink to glorify my soul ...I ask you ...do not cry for me but utters sounds of joy as this is your son's wedding day [according to Islamic faith - anyone killed in Jihad is allowed entry into Heaven and is allowed to marry 72 virgins of Heaven]."

Digital Spy - Blueyonder announces 250,000 subscribers

"In need of some festive cheer, Telewest has announced that it is ending 2002 with a quarter of a million broadband internet subscribers"

And 10% of those are 1meggers. But putting that in perspective, Telewest has 1.8 million customers and passes 5 million homes. That's 5% of their possible market.

BBC: Eden offers taste of rural broadband

""In five years time ADSL will have become like dial-up internet is today. We won't know how we lived without real broadband," she said."

That's a nice quote. And I do like the idea of connecting small rural communities together via broadband. I wonder how complex it is for non techie farmers.

ZDNet: BTopenworld, NTL top complaints charts

"According to the latest Oftel figures, BTopenworld and NTL lead the way when it comes to customer complaints

NTL is the most complained about telephony provider in the UK but when it comes to Internet access, there can be only one 'winner' -- BTopenworld.

Oftel figures for the fixed line business and residential voice markets released on Wednesday put NTL out in front, scoring 0.8 complaints per 1,000 users, with NPower and Telewest tied in second place on 0.5. Next up, and the only others above the industry average, are BT and Eurocall on 0.4.

However, BTopenworld is the nation's least favourite ISP as far as Oftel's figures are concerned, registering 1.6 complaints per 1,000 customers. The only other ISP above the industry average of 0.4 is Pipex, on 0.6. Rivals Blueyonder (Telewest), Freeserve and NTL all score 0.1, while AOL is virtually off the radar screen with less than 0.1 complaints per 1,000."

ZDnet are very pro AOL, they advertise there, hence the skilled copy writing virtually off the radar screen my arse. Europemedia says:

In the internet service provision market, BTOpenworld overwhelmingly came out as the ISP with the most number of consumer complaints. According to OftelÕs figures, it scored 1.6 complaints per 1,000 customers, compared to the industry average of 0.4. Pipex is the only other ISP above the industry average on 0.6 Rival ISPs Blueyonder (Telewest), Freeserve and NTL all registered 0.1 complaints per 1,000 users while AOL had less than 0.1.

5 complaints per 10,000 against 4 for BT on the phones.

BTopenworld is now proved to be shit -16 complaints per 10,000. 1 for Blueyonder... That seems high. ";->"

Scene 27

"JAILER: We've-- we've got lumps of it 'round the back."

---

MR. BIG NOSE:
Who are you calling Jewish?! I'm not Jewish! I'm a Samaritan!
GREGORY:
A Samaritan? This is supposed to be a Jewish section.
PARVUS:
It doesn't matter! You're all going to die in a day or two.
GREGORY:
It may not matter to you, Roman, but it certainly matters to us. Doesn't it, darling?
MRS. GREGORY:
Oh, rather.
GREGORY:
Under the terms of the Roman occupancy, we're entitled to be crucified in a purely Jewish area.
PHARISEE:
Pharisees separate from Sadducees.
WELSH MAN:
And Swedish separate from Welsh.

---

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle. That's the thing.
And...

Brian Denies Messianic Attributes - Life of Brian Scripts

"SIMON: Don't you 'shhhh' me. Eighteen years of total silence, and you 'shhhh' me!

BRIAN: What?

SIMON: I've kept my vow for eighteen years. Not a single, recognisable, articulate sound has passed my lips.

BRIAN: Oh, please. Could you be quiet for another five minutes?

SIMON: Oh, it doesn't matter now. I might as well enjoy myself. The times in the last eighteen years I've wanted to shout and sing and...

BRIAN: Shhhh.

SIMON: ...scream my name out! Oh, I'm alive!

BRIAN: Shhh.

SIMON: Hava Nagila!

BRIAN: Shhh.

SIMON: Hava Nagila! Hava Nagila, ha ha ha! Look out. Oh, I'm alive! I'm alive! Hello birds! Hello trees! I'm alive! Get off. I'm alive! Hava Nagila. Hava n'ra n'--"

Scene 16 Crucifixion: Could Be Worse... - Life of Brian Scripts

"MATTHIAS: My legs are old and bent. My ears are grizzled. Yes?

CENTURION: There's one place we didn't look. Guards!

MATTHIAS: I'm just a poor old man.

clomp clomp clomp...

My eyesight is bad. My eyes are poor. My nose is knackered."

Scene 15: Bloody Boring Prophets - Life of Brian Scripts

"BLOOD & THUNDER PROPHET: ...And the bezan shall be huge and black, and the eyes thereof red with the blood of living creatures, and the whore of Babylon shall ride forth on a three-headed serpent, and throughout the lands, there'll be a great rubbing of parts. Yeeah..."

Life of Brian: Scene 10

"CAMPAIGN FOR FREE GALILEE:
Shhh! Shh. Shhh. Shh.

DEADLY DIRK:
Campaign for Free Galilee.

FRANCIS:
Oh. Uh, People's Front of Judea. Officials.

DEADLY DIRK:
Oh.

FRANCIS:
What's your group doing here?

DEADLY DIRK:
We're going to kidnap Pilate's wife, take her back, issue demands.

FRANCIS:
So are we.

DEADLY DIRK:
What?

FRANCIS:
That's our plan!"

The Welsh accent always has me in stiches. Valley Boy. Who was Deadly Dirk? Turns out to be John Cleese.

We went to the small park in Dawley. Bitterly cold though it was I couldn't get them to come home. The camera seemed not to like the cold either, at least that's what I think caused the jpeg artifacts.

washingtonpost.com: Conservatives Dispute Bush Portrayal of Islam as Peaceful

"American conservatives, many of whom are coming to a conclusion reached earlier this year by Norman Podhoretz in Commentary magazine. "Certainly not all Muslims are terrorists," he wrote. "But it would be dishonest to ignore the plain truth that Islam has become an especially fertile breeding-ground of terrorism in our time. This can only mean that there is something in the religion itself that legitimizes the likes of Osama bin Laden, and indeed there is: the obligation imposed by the Koran to wage holy war, or jihad, against the 'infidels.' " "