We spent ages weighing up the pros and cons of a big holiday with a little baby. It’s a big deal really trying to get things right because we wanted to get on with things and have some fun – for Lily, Katie and I – but to have a bit of sanity / settled, relaxed homeliness for Elsie (now nine months). Continue reading “Our half term hols… Peebles and Edinburgh”
Elsie the quadruped
On the eve of being nine months old, our little girl Elsie has crawled across the floor today. A full three months ahead of Lily, she seems very eager to get moving. Mild panic as we realised we needed to get hold of a stair gate, Now on order. Doors shut in the mean time.
Good Sense of Humus
Just had a few random tracks playing in the background when I was working yesterday and heard one of my old tracks pop up – GSOH. I really enjoyed listening to it again after a long layoff.
High point for me is still the lovely sample I nabbed from recording a play on radio 4 – Alan Bennet saying “Go you hear that? That’s the bass – giving the beat”.
It was one of the first tracks that I made when i moved away from using big loop samples and sequencing my own synths and drums..
From the album ‘Living With the Pond Life‘.
Listen Up! by Merchandise
Merchandise‘s new single arrived with me yesterday and seeing the cover, that familiar toon style of illustration and the brown/orange thang is really starting to stamp the Merchandise brand on all that they do. Continue reading “Listen Up! by Merchandise”
A tooth for a tooth
Lily lost her first top tooth on Sunday and looks like a classic little cheeky girl now – if she didn’t do before. It’s been wobbly for ages. In a strange ironic tooth equity occurence, on the same day, Elsie popped out her first top tooth – on the same side that Lily’s departed.
Refrigerated convert
God – what a great day out. I normally sit at my desk in a fairly uniform day at work. Not that it’s unenjoyable – I love my job – but once in a while you get to do something that’s a bit more fun. Today, I went through what would have been my childhood equivelant of playschool’s Round Window… today I went on a factory tour to see how Refrigerated Panel Vans and Refrigerated Rigid truck conversions are done. Not your normal day out for a web person.
Continue reading “Refrigerated convert”
Table Frisbee
Given the fun that my dog Elvis has with his frisbee, I thought it fair to show you a video of a new way humans can discover a newfound love for this simplest of ace toys… Continue reading “Table Frisbee”
Recruitment SEO
… a brief success story and a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A few weeks ago my colleague Dave and I launched a new blog – Recruitment SEO – all about what we have learned, and continue to learn and discover about optimising recruitment websites for search engines (our core business these days seems to be recruitment website design). I just saw today that – almost inadvertantly, it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
(SEO= Search Engine Optimisation). We never intended that website itself to do well in the search engines, it was more an opportunity for our clients and friends to follow our opinions and tips. As it happens, through naturally good optimisation, I seem to have got the site onto the first and second pages of Google results.
Abigail’s Legacy – a haunting coincidence
Sometimes some coincidences are a bit too wierd. Katie and I lost a lovely friend just before Chtistmas in 2001 – Abigail. Abi was only just 30 and died of cancer, and as always seems the case in these dreadful losses, the last few months were horrible for everyone involved. Abi was dignified and humerous to an extent that still sends shivers down our spines. But a strange anecdotal coincidence occurred the very last time we saw Abigail. Continue reading “Abigail’s Legacy – a haunting coincidence”
Lily dancing to Boards of Canada
Had a nice teatime chill with Lily and Elsie last night whilst Katie went out tot he gym for the first time since Elsie was born… including some freeform art dance by Lily, totally unprompted, to my favourite album of all time. Continue reading “Lily dancing to Boards of Canada”
Omnipresent
Teatime in the Haygarth house, and Elsie’s at the end of her third hour of eating, Lily, who has an allergy to sitting at the table, has arisen and decides to make herself omnipresent
Derby National Trophy – the cyclocross season ends
Sunday was the last race in the 2009 Cyclocross National Trophy series, where I finished 21st overall… my best ever. It’s more a case of lies, damn lies and statistics though when you look at it. I gathered very steady points (apart from the first race in Abergavenny where I had a bit of a mechanical), and all around me people seemed to have poor or inconsistent seasons. Continue reading “Derby National Trophy – the cyclocross season ends”