Babies have always been in my top 3 favourite things in the world, so this film already looks like it is my favourite film ever!
I enjoyed this honest and funny account of modern fatherhood by Phil Hilton in The Independant today.
I particularly liked the image of Dads racing home after work, trying to get past one another in the belief that the other dads are doing better than them!
So what does it take to be a SuperDad? There are no real conclusions, but some good pointers. Here are some good quotes from the article:
“Child-rearing has become a scientific project. Children don’t grow up; we feel we have to bring them up and raise them. We are very competitive and we want to give our children the best ever. In the past, before we adopted a scientific model, parenting was about children fitting into our lives.”
“I need answers; I need to know what the hell quality time really is, and I need to know exactly how much I’m supposed to deliver every week. I’m a man; I want targets, measurable targets”
“So I’m building a better understanding of quality time, but now I need to know which method works best – should I be child-centred or middle-aged man-centred?”
“Looking deep into my son’s eyes, I tell him he can pick something to do on Sunday that he’d enjoy and that Daddy wouldn’t normally want to do. My face is filled with optimism for our future and eager curiosity as to his choice. “I could hit you in the penis with a baseball bat,” he responds and falls about laughing.”
I just came across this film called Being Dad. It looks like a wonderful affirmation of fatherhood including the fear, joy, humour, and inexperience of becoming a dad. I’d love to see the whole film - nudge nudge Mary-Lou! Here’s the trailer:
Since I saw the teaser for the upcoming film 2012 I’ve been excited. Then the trailer came out and it looks awesome! However, this trailer sums up the film well enough if you haven’t heard about it yet:
There are too many smushy gushy cards out there wishing others well and reminding us to be happy - eurgh! That’s why I like Mean Cards, here’s a few of my favourites:
Wednesday 20th May
Yesterday we went back to Stanley Park to go on the Miniature Railway and to the Childrens Farmyard. Toby was excited when we were on the miniature train which Mary-Lou also enjoyed greatly. I liked the animals in the farmyard which included alpacas, llamas and bunny rabbits!
On our way out of Stanley Park, we stopped at a bicycle rental shop to ask about when we rent them. They don’t attach buggies to Tandem bikes so we would have to have 2 seperate bikes, but Mary-lou can’t ride a bike. However, she had a go and did really well. She and I were both very pleased and proud of her!
Today we went whale watching. It was amazing! Killer Whales are actually Dolphins, I didn’t know that and was a bit disappointed to learn so! We took a boat from Granville Island and it took 1.5 hours to get the whales, then the boat engine broke, so we were floating around for an hour while the guide tried to entertain us with stories and books about Orca’s. The captain managed to fix the engine and we headed back to the whales and saw one breach (jump out of the sea), Mary-Lou was so excited. Because the engine wasnt working propetly it took 2.5 hours to get back and they took us to Stevenston harbour where we got taxi’s back to the house. We got in tired but happy at 9pm.
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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.
Monday 18th May
Ulrike and Craig were with us yesterday and we all went to Granville Island Market. The Public Market is very big and exciting with all sorts of fresh food. We also saw live crabs and a live Lobster waved at Toby!
One public performer at the Market did juggling on top of a stack of a box, a stand, another box and a skateboard. I found him quite funny and his mannerisms reminded me of an old friend, Isaac. We all went to Bridges for lunch which was very nice then Craig and Ulrike bought some food for our English Breakfast dinner later that evening which was yummy!
Today has been a “mooch” day. Ulrike and Craig left this morning so we went up to Commercial Drive to have a mooch around. 
We had lunch at a Carribean place called The Reef. Mary-Lou REALLY enjoyed her dish, but I didn’t think the flavours of mine went together. Toby just ate his without fuss, as usual! Then we went shopping for some more stuff and came home to watch the finale of 24 in the evening! A nice relaxing day.
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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.
Saturday 16th May
We went to the Museum of Anthropology this morning - it was a BIG dissapointment! It is undergoing expansion so they’re charging half price, but the museum is very small. It is trumpeted as a highlight on Vanocouver but it really isnt. I was expecting something like the Natural histroy Museaum in London and I was looking forward to learning about the history of the First Nations in Canada, but all it had were lots of totem poles, nice as they were! We then tried to find something to eat and ended up eating a Subways sandwich in the Students Union of the University of British Columbia - not one of our best meals!Â
Afterwards we took a bus to Kitsilano and walked to Kitsilano beach which was nice with great views. Toby didn’t like dabbling his toes in the sea, but he did like the swings in the park! We took a walk around the Kitsilano pinicula with great views of the tall buildings in downtown and walked over Granville bridge on our way to “nu”, a nice restaurant which we felt very under-dressed for! Before we got to “nu” we took a rest in a park where I lay down for a rest and  Toby enjoyed watching some cute dogs play.
This morning we headed to Stanley Park to go to Vancouver Aquarium. It was really awesome compared to the Museum of Anthropology! We all really enjoyed watching the fish and turtles and sharks and Dolphins and Beluga whales and everything else. The new baby Beluga snorted water over Mary-Lou, which is quite an honour!
Afterwards we went to Commercial Drive to get some food for us and Ulrika and Craig who have come this evening for a couple of nights. I’m looking forward to learning a bit more about living in Canada from them.
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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.
Thursday 14th May
It was a long, long journey from Manchester to Vancouver. A Flight to Amsterdam, then Minneapolis then on to Vancouver. Toby was wonderful during the journey, he didn’t moan too much and was jolly most of the time. I was a bit nervous of flying, particularly the take-offs and landings, so I carried a bar chart of the deaths per billion kilometers from the different forms of transport from a New Scientist article. It showed 0.1 deaths per billion km for airplanes, somehow it made me feel safer!
When we emerged from the cloud layer on our approach to Vancouver Airport, it was night time and the city lights looked very clear and sparkly. The sight raised a feeling of excitement and the hope of something new in me. We got a taxi to the apartment through East Hastings, which is where the homeless and addicted hang out. Even at midnight there were alot of people on these streets and we past a few Salvation Army centers and other charities.
The Apartment we are staying in is very swish and not very baby friendly. It has been done up since the photos on the websites were taken which is a bonus. It feels very comfortable and homely as well as luxurious and special.
On our first day, Wednesday, we chose to mooch and walked to Commercial Drive to see the shops and cafes that Deanne (the owner of the flat) has recommended. We had breakfast at a great cafe 
called Uprising Breads which is a bit like Unicorn, they make and package all their own products, mainly baked stuff like bread, cookies, muffins, pies, etc, all organic - Mary-Lou loved it! In the evening, once Toby was in bed, we snuggled and watched the LOST finale which was AWESOME!
Today we took a bus into Downtown and walked up Robson street, the main shopping street. We ate lunch in a nice restaurant called BREAD GARDEN then walked down to the north shore. The Mountains are so beautiful to look at and we felt safe and comfortable in Downtown. Vancouver has no litter, it’s lovely!
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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.
This is a brilliant and poignant video. 50 people were asked what they would wish for by the end of the day. Funny and moving.
Fifty People, One Question: Restored from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.
2nd anniversary of Amy’s stillbirth, planting a tree for her, grief, Toby rolling over, first game with Toby, Toby weaning, Toby sleeping in nursery, getting better sleep!
Download Episode 18
To hear The Daddy Diaries before they are put on this blog and to download them automatically you have 2 options. You can Subscribe to The Daddy Diaries in iTunes by clicking here, or you can subscribe to the podcast feed by clicking here.
This is a really well made and funny video about how great Fatherhood is. I couldn’t agree more!
Special with Mary-Lou, Toby’s mornings, growing out of clothes, baby groups, Mary-Lou’s thoughts on Amy, time with Mary-Lou’s parents, injections, puking, raising boys, male mentoring
Download Episode 17
To hear The Daddy Diaries before they are put on this blog and to download them automatically you have 2 options. You can Subscribe to The Daddy Diaries in iTunes by clicking here, or you can subscribe to the podcast feed by clicking here.
When I started this Blog, back in 2003 (yes this blog is 5 years old!) I did alot of Bush Bashing. Then Mary-Lou challenged me and reminded me we ought to love our enemies, so I was humbled.
There is a difference between abuse and criticism, and G.W. Bush deserves all the criticism he gets. This guy is deeply critical and you can tell he just wants to abuse Bush, but he holds a great balance of intelligence and eloquence and raging anger!
He ends with this:
“This last piece of advice. When somebody asks you, sir, about Democrats who must now pull this country back from the abyss … about the cooked books and fake threats .. about your gallant, self-abnegating sacrifice of your golf game … shut the hell up!”
It’s about 12 minutes long, but it’s 12 minutes you’ll be glad to have spent watching this:
Mary-Lou and I are well into LOST and are working our way through the 4th Season at the moment.
This is a great video about how they came up with the title music. You might be a bit lost if you haven’t seen LOST.
I saw this many months ago and really enjoyed it. It’s a rip off of a R Kelly thing where he split a really long song into short ones and it was about midgits or something. Enjoy:
Feeling tired, broken monitors, Toby reminds us of Amy, grief so far, smiles and baby noises, Nando’s and Raising Boys.
Download Episode 16
To hear The Daddy Diaries before they are put on this blog and to download them automatically you have 2 options. You can Subscribe to The Daddy Diaries in iTunes by clicking here, or you can subscribe to the podcast feed by clicking here.
A few days ago there were riots in Manchester after Manchester City Council invited then allowed 150,000 Rangers football fans to come to the City Centre and drink in public from 6am when the match was later that evening.
I was appalled by the violence and still feel very angry towards the City Council for letting it happen. I fully agree with my friend Paul’s review of the whole thing.
But something beautiful happened that evening too. A chap called Tom, walking out of an internet cafe, saw a baying mob kicking, punching and stamping a Police man on the floor. He ran over, grabbed the police man, helped hiom up and ran with him to a Police Van, despite another Police officer hitting him with a baton.
Later, he helped Firemen rescue a drowning Rangers fan in the canal, shoulder lifted an unconscious man to an Ambulance and chased off two Rangers fans who were looting a Police Van, locking it up afterwards.
In-amongst all this horrible violence and disgusting preference of economy by the City Council, goodness, love and peacemaking was found.
Well done Tom.
On Tuesday 6th May, Police beat and attacked members of the public outside Bridgewater Hall including a prominent Peace Activist who I know. See the report on the MEN website here.
Basically, there was an event showcasing the talents of young black people across Manchester in Bridgewater Hall. Just as the event ended, outside, Police stopped and searched a car believing there were drugs or weapons inside. The passengers started getting agitated as people started streaming out of the Bridgewater Hall, some of whom came over to see what was going on. The Police sent a distress signal which menat that many other Police rushed to the scene. Police then started attacking people causing some serious injuries, including Raymond Bell, who works for Carisma, an anti-gang and gun charity who work in inner south Manchester.
I can only believe that the Police initially at the scene didn’t see themselves surrounded by 120 people, but by 120 BLACK people. Their mindless racist fear then led to calling for backup and the mindless racist fear spread throughout the Police via mob mentality.
Of all the people to punch, strangle to the floor, then kick, you don’t do it to Raymond Bell! He is not only well connected in the council, community and even the Police, but he is a prominent Peace activist who has done massive work bringing the Police closer to the black communities!
And you don’t attack the people whoe are peacefully making the best of themselves and you certainly don’t start attacking children!
I having been fuming over this for the last week and have become nervous about the reaction of the community towards the Police and the breakdown of those relationships. Erinma, Raymond’s Wife, said it had set back Police-community relations by ten years, and I fear she is right.
Tonight I went with a friend to see our local Labour councillor, Ray Walters. My friend was there to talk about cycle lanes but I thought I’d ask him what he and the other councillors are doing to not let the Police-community relations to deteriorate. He took a deep breath, thought for 20 seconds in silence, then simply said they were aware of the situation - what a politician! He said he can’t comment while the IPCC are investigating and it would be a mistake to organise a community meeting about the incident. I’d rather have seen some emotion and a commitment to work hard to bring together the affected people and work toward reconciliation.
I know there have been many private meetings since last tuesday to try and minimise the fallout. I hope the IPCC make some heads roll. It seems that the City Centre Police mantra is “act fast and hard, think later” in the hope that the City Centre keeps being seen as a lovely safe place to spend your money. It makes me wonder whether the effort by Police to build relationships with communities is genuine.
I’m angry, and I’m not sorry for that. I want the institutionally racist Police to repent, fire everyone involved and radically change their approach and attitude to the public.