Tim Atkinson's Blog, page 114
June 25, 2010
Showtime!
Lincolnshire Show-time, that is. Despite living in the County for fifteen years, I'd never been to the Lincolnshire Show before. So when I saw their claim this year to be entirely family-friendly, I thought I'd test their assertion and take Charlie to his first-ever country show. Here's the verdict.
I paid (myself) the £18 to get in (under fives go free - so far so good); if Sally had come she'd have cost an extra fiver but a family ticket costs under £40 so the pricing structure certainly b...
I paid (myself) the £18 to get in (under fives go free - so far so good); if Sally had come she'd have cost an extra fiver but a family ticket costs under £40 so the pricing structure certainly b...
June 22, 2010
June 21, 2010
The News Headlines
What an excellent start to the week: waking up to bright sunshine, a gin-clear blue sky and the news that Christine Bleakley has 'left' The One Show, following that gurning fool Adrian Chillies to ITV. Ah, bliss. Now, if only the rest of the week's news could follow suit. Perhaps it will, who knows? And if it did, what would my dream news headlines be? Well, not counting enormous lottery wins and world peace (not to mention an end to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill) my fantasy news headlines mig...
June 17, 2010
A new deal for dads?
A couple of headlines caught my eye yesterday. One - Boyle takes charge of Olympic ceremony - gave me a bit of a shock until I realised it was Danny, not Susan they were talking about. The other -
Clegg offers flexible leave for dads
- really warmed my heart. Ok, so the country's in the mire and there are cuts on top of cuts but at least they seem to have an eye on what really matters: kids, parenting, the future.
In a speech announcing the creation of a new Families and Childhood taskforce,...
In a speech announcing the creation of a new Families and Childhood taskforce,...
June 15, 2010
Wordless Wednesday...Could they be, in any way, related?
Cerrie Burnell
Makka Pakka
June 14, 2010
Get help renewing your tax credits
**Sponsored post**
Please don't think that - because I'm posting this video-guide to negotiating the maze that is the tax credits system - I'm some kind of expert. Far from it. Mind you, neither (in my experience) is the bloody Inland Revenue. Having claimed child tax credits for a few years after Sally was born, promotion suddenly took me above the claims threshold (those were the days...) and I duly wrote to them informing them that my claim would now cease.
Somehow, somebody up in the fr...
Please don't think that - because I'm posting this video-guide to negotiating the maze that is the tax credits system - I'm some kind of expert. Far from it. Mind you, neither (in my experience) is the bloody Inland Revenue. Having claimed child tax credits for a few years after Sally was born, promotion suddenly took me above the claims threshold (those were the days...) and I duly wrote to them informing them that my claim would now cease.
Somehow, somebody up in the fr...
June 11, 2010
Aches and pains
Right, I'll come straight to the point. Arthritis Research has asked me to help spread the word about a campaign they're working on. It's not one of those 'sponsored posts' type-things; just a 'would you like to help'? And, yes, I would. Because I've got a particularly keen and personal interest in the subject.
About fifteen years ago the kind of aches and pains everyone gets from time to time seemed to be happening to me almost all the time. And when you're in your twenties you don't expect...
About fifteen years ago the kind of aches and pains everyone gets from time to time seemed to be happening to me almost all the time. And when you're in your twenties you don't expect...
June 10, 2010
Radio Charlie
Never work with children or animals, they say. Undaunted, the BBC Lincolnshire Breakfast Show this morning entertained its youngest-ever sofa guest. Here he is arriving at the studio...
Making himself at home...
With the cans....
On Air...
And in the hot-seat afterwards...
Don't worry if you missed Charlie's radio debut. You can listen again on BBC iPlayer (zoom to 2 hours 15 mins). And thanks to Breakfast Show presenter William Wright (@MrWilliam) and his producer, Nick Smith (@...
Making himself at home...
With the cans....
On Air...
And in the hot-seat afterwards...
Don't worry if you missed Charlie's radio debut. You can listen again on BBC iPlayer (zoom to 2 hours 15 mins). And thanks to Breakfast Show presenter William Wright (@MrWilliam) and his producer, Nick Smith (@...
June 8, 2010
Carry on Eurocamping
Ok, what Charlie (plus mummy and daddy and Sally) did next. If you don't know what we did first, you'd better start here.
Day Two
Having been asked specifically to look at the site's facilities we thought we'd better give them at least a full day's trial. Thankfully the sun shone and the temperature soared so the day went: walk - pool – lunch – mini-club - 'rickshaw' ride around the campsite – pool – supper, then visit to the bar for a drink and email collection (yes, the site's got wifi)...
Day Two
Having been asked specifically to look at the site's facilities we thought we'd better give them at least a full day's trial. Thankfully the sun shone and the temperature soared so the day went: walk - pool – lunch – mini-club - 'rickshaw' ride around the campsite – pool – supper, then visit to the bar for a drink and email collection (yes, the site's got wifi)...
June 5, 2010
Eurocamp
This is a sponsored post. I've only ever spent the odd night (some decidedly odd!) under canvas. So asking me to go camping is a bit like asking normal people to do the kind of things (marathon running, baked-bean bathing) that they do when being sponsored. But when Eurocamp got in touch to ask if Charlie and I would like to review the Mini Club facilities at the
Domaine de Drancourt
campsite, near St Valery sur Somme, I was pleasantly surprised to find they don't just do tents but chalets a...
