George Vernon Hudson must die!

Film pitch: An inventor creates a time machine. His exhausted assistant, completely frazzled after the loss of an hour's sleep, travels back in time to kill George Vernon Hudson before he can propose the idea of changing the clocks twice a year.

It could be called Saving Daylight.

Domestic bliss.

On Friday I went to Martlesham on emergency leave to look after Arya. She had a bit of a fever from an ear infection and Hanna and Andrew have blown most of their leave already. It was also a chance of some extra time with Arya, which is not to be passed up.

The big stories of the weekend are the nursery/Arya's bedroom, which has had a dramatic overhaul, and the switch to BST, which turns out to be way more disorienting with a child involved.We spent much of Sunday in a collective fog and it was perpetually an hour later than we thought. It didn't help that Saturday night was hit and miss for sleep, although on Friday night Hanna and I got to cuddle up together and have the bed to ourselves all night for the first time in... I don't know how long.

Eschewing the many TV shows we have to catch up on, Hanna and I watched Transformers: Age of Extinction (thank you, LoveFilm) and Edge of Tomorrow on DVD/BluRay. One of these films is very good.

There is probably more to say, but I'm still a bit discombobulated. I love my family; that bears repeating.

So do you!

In 1940, the idea that 'alien' meant anything
except 'foreign' was apparently... well,
alien. Also, get the fuck out of Harwich, yo!

This weekend I traveled over to Ipswich to spend time there, as Hanna was working Friday and Saturday. This was a pretty demanding run, but since Hanna was working until 8.30 both nights, I can't really complain. We went to the Ipswich Museum, which has a bomb shelter exhibit featuring a police notice regarding the Aliens (Protected Areas) Order, which basically says no aliens are allowed in Harwich (and defines what they mean by Harwich.)

I got to spend plenty of time with Arya, although I am missing time with Hanna. On the upside, this week was a bit of a one-off to claw back some of the hours lost in transferring (and from the nightmare commute to Greenwich) and she's unlikely to be as tired and as busy in general. We've got a lazy weekend together planned for the next.

I've had a bad week for eating and I need to get a handle on that. I want to be sure I cook properly this week. I also want to get to the cinema, both to use my card and because there's stuff I want to see - Chappie, probably Seventh Son, even though I am sure it's going to suck, and what the hell, Insurgent - and I've already missed Paddington and Big Hero 6. Cinderella I'm going to take Hanna and Arya to see, even if we don't make it past the Frozen short*.

So, yeah; I feel lumpy and a bit short on spoons at the moment, but hopefully a week of living right - and keeping my diet - will help get me on the mend.

I'm also getting alternately psyched and terrified about spending the whole weekend solo with Arya over Easter.

* Ah, Frozen Shorts; that takes me way back. Also, I am now bummed out to learn that Gary Rosen died. Stupid nostalgia.

Enphoned, like an upwardly mobile monkey

Andrew and I adopt what I am sure the world
sees as our 'gay dads'  aspect.

This weekend was very heavily about Arya and Hanna, being the former's birthday (almost) and the first time I'd seen the latter since her birthday, as well as Mother's Day.

We took Arya to the zoo, which she appeared to love, although the stuffed owl that she chose from the gift shop went out of favour as it was being paid for. It feels hard to complain when that was her only serious present from us, and came in cheaper than one zoo ticket, especially as there is every chance of a change of favour any day.

One girl!
Girl for sale!
Going cheap,
Only seven guineas.

I loved the zoo as well. I've always loved a good zoo - although I have dim memories of one in, I think, America that was so dismal that it just made me very sad, despite the fact that I was only a few years old - and Banham is pretty good, and there was a flying display with an owl who was comically resistant to trainer instructions. I was dressed a little fancy, as is my wont, and in retrospect I think the combination of baby reins and steampunky waistcoat and watch chain might have looked a little like I was trying to sell Arya.

Then we went to visit my parents, and I admit I always enjoy an opportunity for Arya to spend time with them. In this instance I kind of fell asleep on the sofa (rough night + four hours of walking around a zoo,) but it was a good time and Arya seemed to remember them well enough this time, which is a big part of the point. I guess the polyamory is still new enough for me that I want to be sure the family is working.

On Sunday we went swimming, then had brunch at Chiquito's so we could go into town and Hanna could get shoes. Hanna's shopping was unusually positive (in addition to new shoes, they told her they would accept for exchange the ones that never fit quite right,) and we were able to get two damaged charms from her bracelet replaced or repaired without caviling about receipts (always tricky for gifts.) On a personal note, I popped into the O2 shop and explained that as the local Carphone Warehouse had shut down, no-one had contacted me about the end of my contract, and could I sort something out so that I didn't have to keep paying through the nose for a phone I owned outright.

I am now the (proud?) owner of an LG G3, which is so far pretty good, and most importantly is no more than I was paying. It is also scarily fast compared to the old Note 1; Plants vs Zombies is scary as hell.

Back at home, I cooked a big roast dinner (chicken) for Mother's Day, which ran a little later than I'd planned, but did work out pretty well. I also have leftovers.

Forgive me if it goes astray

I have an evil persona. Well, not really evil; he's more of a whiny, passive-aggressive dick. He comes out when I'm tired or stressed or especially hungry, and while I mostly have him in hand these days, I still have moments where I become the whiny, passive-aggressive me and I hurt the people I care about.

In place of a picture of me acting like a dick,
here is a gorilla painted like Iron Man.

Please note the careful use of pronouns there. While I consider this side of my personality to be 'not me', I'm not writing off responsibility for my actions. Whiny, passive-aggressive dick me is still me.

On the upside, I deal with this better than I used to. I manifested this side of myself on Saturday night, or rather Sunday morning, and snapped at Hanna. It was utterly uncalled for, horribly unfair and frankly ungrateful. I immediately regretted it, but you can't take these things back. I'm just glad that Hanna didn't drive off into the night with Arya swearing never to speak to me again. It might have been an overreaction, but not by very much.

Anyway, as was my response to this would have been to justify myself, but I've grown as a person. When Hanna sent me to bed with a flea in my ear I lay awake for a while, running through the various justifications in my head. This gave me the chance to assess just how much of a moaning tosser I would have sounded like and realise that when you do something for which you can expect no forgiveness, the only thing you can do is ask and hope.

And Hanna is an amazing person. I'm not saying I won't pay for this later, but she certainly didn't make a thing of it when we were both still exhausted, which shows far more wisdom than I did.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, for it is better to seek to do better than to crave indulgence for past failures. This weekend I shall not see Hanna and Arya at all, and that will sting, but the reason is that I am attending my first field LRP. I'll be crewing at No Rest for the Wicked, at Castle Fansh near Haltwhistle. I have... some kit options in hand.

I have also resolved that for financial reasons I am going to try to mod my own Nerf guns.

This does mean that I will miss Hanna's birthday, but I am instead letting her use my flat for a girly sleepover, which thus means this week's evenings will largely be given over to some manner of tidying and laying in of luxury hot chocolate components. We then have a plan to take Arya to the zoo next weekend, have a birthday tea with my parents and then a family mother's day.