Category: News from the front

Bling! it’s Pop-ster, biggin’ it up with the East-Side posse. OK, she’s just wearing a beanie she was bought for her birthday, and has borrowed some of Mums jewelery. But she looks the part.

Off we went with Mr Welsby (aka Stag-boy) to Innsbruck, to commiserate celebrate his wedding in April. A fine bunch of well mannered respectful gentlemen accompanied the stag to Innsbruck for a sedate spot of snowboarding, and an occasional ale. I’m pleased to say nobody was arrested, assaulted, deported, unconscious, incoherent or incapacitated.

Things I learnt this weekend:

1. Stag-boy seems to be rotting from the inside out. He is contributing to global warming, and should only be approached from an up-wind direction whilst wearing the right safety equipment
2. Renting a jacket from a Casino is not a pleasant experience, and can take the edge off your potential high-roller sheen.
3. “ein beer bitter” is truly the only German you need.
4. Music, in Austria, has not moved on from the 80’s- power ballads are particularly hip. *(ok, Italian techno arrived, but that doesn’t really count.)
5. £50 in a casino takes less time to go than it does to say “did I win?”
6. Every city, regardless of where it is, has a curry house and an Irish bar.
7. Stag-boy is curry and beer fueled. Without regular dosing he suffers from bouts of lucidity. If curry were a breakfast food, he’d do mornings.
8. Anti-snoring breath-right nose strips don’t work.

Here’s some of the highlights-

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Here’s the airport- you fly between the mountains then over the city to drop into the airport- lovin’ that view from the airport.

For more- see the rest of the story..

Continue reading “Innsbruck Stag”

This weekend Deird let Poppy free with the paints. You might notice that there is more paint on Poppy than on the paper. In fact the paper is the clearest thing- compared to Poppy, the floor, her clothes. If you look closely you can even see it under her toe-nails.

And as if you had to ask, yes, the painting is currently stuck to the fridge door.

On a car the other day, I saw sticker which said “Princess on-Board”. It made me think- is Poppy a princess? I’m hoping not. Princesses are doomed, from what I can tell. Here’s 10 reasons I think Poppy’s better off not being a Princess.

1. There’s always someone out to get you- a wicked queen, an evil prince, trolls, witches, paparazzi.
2. Sleep is always going to be a problem- whether it’s sleeping for a hundred years, or not getting a decent night’s kip because someone put a pea under the mattress.
3. Would you kiss a frog? Regardless of what it may turn into, you still have to pucker up to something green and slimy.
4. No matter what a princess believes, not everything can be fixed because you have great clothes and hair- like land-mines, aids, poverty.
5. Princesses are not great at helping themselves, and need to be rescued frequently- by a handsome prince for example.
6. Princesses are not known for their intellect, and don’t go onto higher education. Who ever heard of Princess Buttercup PhD?
7. Princesses never know how to fight, or punch or kick, and will (in most cases) stand in the corner squealing, waiting to be rescued.
8. Princesses have guaranteed lousy taste in men- ending up with philanderers, playboys, soldiers, reformed monsters or dodgy princes. (Prince Charming for example- for one thing, he calls himself “charming”- doesn’t that smack of just a little egotism?)
9. Princesses don’t travel well, and require Chauffeurs, footmen, valets, and everything in first class. All of the chauffeurs, footmen and valets will write their memoirs afterwards of course, so there are no secrets.
10. Everyone knows everything about princesses- clothes size, medical problems, holiday destinations (including favorite rehab centre), who’s the latest squeeze, where’s good to ski, drink, party etc. A bit of privacy please.

Deird says if we have a princess,  it has to be a warrior princess (Xena). ho hum.

Poppy did well on her birthday. She has so many new toys, she’s not sure what she’ll play with first. She got some wooden building blocks (thanks guys- you know who you are) and, well, lets just say there’s some natural talent there. 10 minutes after the box was open, Poppy had run up a really impressive structure.

We talked about perhaps looking at colour coordination of the blocks a little more, or maybe stabilising the higher blocks in the structure to firm it all up, but Poppy explained she’s only built the tower to test her theory on the indeterminacy of final structure through violent chaotic events such as, for example, a toddler knocking down a block tower. She’s very clever you know.