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It's been going on now for a couple of weeks.... the scratching, not all the time, just now and then. I can be sitting at the PC and there it is... a scratching, scurrying kind of noise... the other night laying there in bed... it's 4am ish and there it iss... scurry, scratch... scurry and so on... (insomnia is a terrible thing!).

Then the other day I thought... right I'm going up to the roof space (they call it that here.. I call it a loft or an attic) so out I came with the ladder to get up there. Now I don't know about your place but my place has a hatch for the loft in a spare room... which is fractionally larger than my shoulders... I say fractionally in truth it's 2cm or for those of you with an imperial bent (you know in the new world!) that's just under an inch...) my point is, it's  tight fit. It then opens to a crawl space.... complete with rafters but no walk boards or I should say crawl boards which goes on for maybe 70 meters, ok maybe 2 meters but in the dark it seems bigger (no smart comments from the ladies!)  but then opens up to what can only be described as an enormous area around the same size as Gibraltar!... but without the monkeys... well assuming that it's not the monkeys doing the scratching. Anyway... the point is the roof space is flipping large.

So off I went, to the roof after unfolding my ladder... I've got one of those ones that you can fold up so many times you can store it in your pocket... tends to weigh you down on one side but it can be done. Of course it also takes a flaming age to unfold but  it gets there. So yes... I'm there standing in the middle of my roof space / loft/ attic and then I remember... I wired in a flaming light!.. so 5 mins later I'm back there in this spacious room in complete brightness when I spot the culprit.... it moves like a rocket!... I'm sure I saw fangs and certainly had claws the size of a polar bar.. but with brown fur, or is that a grizzly? But it was too fast and I lost the trail fairly quickly.

So now I've been to the local hardware store to stock up on supplies... I have my rat traps... they look seriously mean I have to say, apparently, according to the expert in the shop the best bait for these little guys is peanut butter! who would have thought!.. wonder if they prefer crunchy?

Yes yes OK so I took a break at Xmas and it's gone on a little longer but here, I've been busy!.. no really busy!.. let me just catch you all up on a few bits.

So, most importantly bubs... nope not here yet!.. but we're one week away from the official due date, which is really just the medical professions bast guess, so we're officially due on good Friday. As it turns out, Doctors don't work on public holidays!.. I know, who new!?.. may be if they did the waiting lists would be shorter but there you go.

So we're going in this week to talk with the doc's while they are there for them to decide if junior should arrive before or after Easter, now from my other half's point of view, and I'm sure all mum's will agree, this is a stupid conversation to have to have, OF COURSE IT'S COMING BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but we shall see, I just hope the doc explains their view point from a distance!

We're pretty much as ready now s you can be for a 1st child. We've got somewhere for jnr to sleep (got both a bassinet thingy that we can move around but will initially be in our room, got a cot for later down the road as well) we've got clothes aplenty. My mum has been knitting up a storm and shipping us over clothes parcels from Scotland. They are all very cool, it's been hard as we don't know if it's a boy or a girl so everyone is having to go whiles, lemons, creams, greens etc, Ang's mum here has done stuff as well, some fab booties and mits and hats etc... all very cool. We've also been buying a bunch of clothes as well and friends have given us some lovely stuff. Apparently with babies it's all about layers so these things will all be used, it's also about being able to get the clothes on and off with minimum fuss... so yes the ENGINEER in me kicks in with the hmm... the optimal design for clothes must be snappers at the bottom and up the legs, in fact why not just Velcro?.. I;m sure there will be lots and lots of pondering about this in the very near future (by pondering I mean rants, bu rants I of course me explosions of frustration... stay tuned!)

OK so what else, oh yes the pram, this we have, we got a Mountain Buggy which is a bit like  a transformer robot, you want a carry cot top bit, no bother snap here snap theye, fold this, done. Can't take it all in side, no worries it unclips and you can carry the cot, buggie? gain a couple of clips and off you go. We went for the Urban elitle version as it's got some extra sturdiness but it folds down into almost nothing and it does it easy. This is important when your wrestling with jnr in one arm and the pram in the other I think. From an Engineer point of view... it's fab, someone has obviously listened to a coffee group of mum's (from now on I have decided that 3 or more mums hall be called a coffee group as in a flock of birds, pride of lions, coffee group of Mums) and thought hmm..best we do what they want or we'll be beaten with our rulers and assorted engineering implements of which there are many. I'm also keen on it , it's got pneumatic tyres (a Scottish invention!) and it's all set up for me to take jnr on great walks / runs around the park when mum needs some time to herself or, I need some bubs time after a week of work.

So only 2 days of work left and then it's holiday time, Christmas to be exact (like you didn't know) It'll be good to kick back and relax after a fairly long and hectic year. However... as you may know (if your reading the blog... and if your not then it's time to catch up!) I'm going to be a Daddy in April for the 1st time. This means of course that the nesting has to be done and in NZ Xmas is summer time and that's when we have our break.. so my 3 weeks off work is going to be filled with DIY.

The list isn't so bad really, and to be fair I've put a few on there myself... mainly cos I never finished some under floor insulation I started a few years ago. You see the house is built on stilts of about a meter as Christchurch is mostly built on old swamp land it stops the dampness, it also lets air circulate but means that there's little in the way of under floor insulation. When I did the 1st batch it was all plastic lined on the ground and then you put polystyrene between the floor boards and hey presto but the house was actually moved about 15 or so years ago and so the floor joists aren't even which means lots of additional work. After 3 straight days under the house I think I sickened myself and haven't been down there since... so I'm thinking that may be job No1

That is good as that's an 'inside' job which means I don't get wet when it rains.... but once that is done I can finally fix the floor in the laundry which is where the hatch is to get under the house. But it's uneven so the washing machine shakes a lot, so that needs levelled to reduce that racket from that... which lets me build a frame to hold the tumble dryer which has lived in the kitchen / dinning room for 2 years ... again inside jobs...

As is of course painting Bub's new room... for which we'll need to decide the colour but that's a bit tricky as we don't know if Bubs is a boy or a girl so it's got to be neutral which is ok.

I also want to get the roof painted as it's looking a bit tired and I've never been keen on the red roof... we have a corrugated tin roof by the way, which is great for laying in bed listening to the rain (which we're getting a lot of just now). Then there's the deck which cold do with a bit of a sanding and staining, the guttering needs doing as well.

I hate being ill, I'm not a great patient to be honest, I'm not good at having people fuss around me, it's much better to let me just get on with stuff and hand me a tissue or some cold remedy.

Last Friday I realised that I really was coming down with a cold but generally I shake them off pretty easy, not last week... I spent the weekend coughing and sniffing, by Sunday it was full on Manflu which as we all know can be fatal. I did all the right things, fluids, extra box of extra big hankies, lemsip cold remedy... but nothing was shifting this beast, I blew my nose so much at one point I thought it would explode! To add to the fun my sinuses were very blocked and my head hurt like I'd done 5 physics lectures in a row with Einstein!

By Sunday night we'd agreed that the best thing I could do was sleep in the spare room to let my other half at least get some sleep and to reduce the risk of her coming down with it... i couldn't take the risk of my pregnant other half getting manflu... it's just to terrible to think about.

I did however try to do a bit of work from home, it was a challenge though, I mean I can log in to email but not much else from here and as I'm trying to co-ordinate some work to our China plant next week it was important to get these things done, but, even when your feeling great there are things that just get you wound up.. so add manflu and by close of Monday I was pretty much ropeable! Not to worry.

Tuesday came around and it was another visit to midwife to see how Bub's was getting on, and the answer is fantastic!.. we got to listen tot he heart beat again and it's still racing around at 140 beats per min which is apparently perfect. The midwife seemed more relaxed with us this time, I think I was a little more relaxed with her too... still not sure I pass muster with her yet though.

Well it's been a week, you know 7 days and all that stuff. It's been one of those weeks where I've don't stuff but not 100% sure I've done everything I should have, if that makes sense?

The the past few weeks we've been doing work in the garden, well I call it a garden but in truth it's edging that goes round our patch of concrete and we've got 2 1/4 barrels with tomatoes, peppers and rocket in them which is pretty cool. This week we discovered that the tomato and pepper plants have white fly which is a bit of a pain so it was off tot eh garden centre to get something to remedy that, plus some citrus feed for our young lemon tree and as it happens seem watering pipe for said tree as well so I could plumb it into our 'irrigation' system.

I do like the garden centre, it's full of all these wondrous plants of many many varieties and colours that I just know I could never grow... I'm surprised at times my weeds manage to live. So we gathered everything we needed and got home only to discover that I had in fact forgot to buy an end plug for the new pipe... so I'll pop back for that today (I thought it was only the Mum to be that got baby brain?)

We've also been doing a bit of window shopping for stuff for bubs, I have successfully identified the correct model of train set and scalextric that we will need... We did also look at cots and baby wear etc.. as bizarre as it sounds there are some very cool things around.. some that I have no idea what they do or why you've want them but they look cool. It's been great though, a couple of friends have had kids in the last year so they have said they'd loan us stuff, the respective grandparents I think are going to be knitting a plenty so it's all good but I'm starting to see why a friend of mine said 'buy toys!..  buy them now!' (toys for myself obviously) as once you've got bubs I think it'll be a different matter... for one thing we'll need to start saving for school! oi vey!

A few more people have found out this week that we are in fact knocked up. It's always funny watching their response, seem are so pleased and instantly want to touch Ange's tummy, not a good move!(why do people do that!?) and some look at me and are clearly thinking.. Oh I hope it's not another ginger!

Its just a little after 6:50am, I’ve been up now since 5am with Emily, she wasn’t much in the mood for sleeping, eating.. certainly, nappy filling and burping most definitely but certainly not sleeping.

This is of course not unusual in the two weeks we’ve had our bundle of joy at home (she really is the best little girl in the world.. not that I’m biased!) so of course we’ve been catching up on our recorded programs. A while ago we invested in a new Hard Drive recorder as my video was pretty poor and my old DVD player that I got in a supermarket in the UK 10 years ago for $100 finally gave it up. I’m now convinced this is one of the best investments we have made, we record quite a bit between TV scheduling clashes and baby feeding, me hiding in the PC room working on photo’s or websites that is always stuff to record and hence stuff to watch. This has been a bit of a godsend I have to say…. until now, when I think I have officially run out of things to watch and unfortunately I’m too tired to be able to read my book. (Certain friends and family have just fallen from their seats at the thought of me reading books!).

So I’ve turned to the TV and found that there exists only infomercials through most of the night, not sure how much I can take of a new Ab Machine that burns fat, crunches your Abs and makes a cup of tea at the same time!

So I thought what else can I do, well I could write to the TV stations and point out that the country doesn’t stop at midnight, I mean we have insomniac’s for instance that are surely always up, new parents, nightshift workers who are sneaking off… what I’m getting at are there are those of us awake in the early hours of the morning…. show reruns or something!..

I’ve taken to delving into the DVD collection, I’ve just finished watching season 6 of spooks… that was fantastic!… I’ve been from Pole to Pole with Mr Palin, always good value and giving serious thought to a rerun of Planet Earth with Mr Attenborough at the moment. I may actually have to join a video club.

I'm sure I've said this before but I really haven't ever been someone who would sit down and read a book to relax. Actually at high school instead of reading the book (Educating Rita) I got the movie out, the English lit teacher thought I had a great understanding of the underlying subtext.

Anyways that has changed, and probably started to change a few years ago and it's been getting worse. I've always liked and once in a while read Science Fiction, I'm a big fan of Iain M Banks stuff (see bit below) but I never really ventured much beyond that.

I started to read a few books related to 'work' geeky stuff really and also a few of those management books that are supposed to help, actually maybe some of them did. I did enjoy the Jack Welch books (he was the CEO at general Electric for a time, very good reads)

Then I stumbled onto Sam Bourne who is actually the British journalist, Jonathan Freedland he's written 4 books now and I've pretty much enjoyed them all,The Righteous Men (2006), The Last Testament (2007), The Final Reckoning (2008) and The Chosen One (2010) the 1st one i think was the best but certainly found myself getting through them pretty quickly. I like they way he's weaved in a bunch of religious information that you think? Ok that's interesting but it all adds to the tension in the books which is great. I do find I like anything that has a slightly mythical style tone to it.

Well I finished my 3rd Sam Bourne book last night, it again wasn't bad. It wasn't as good at the 1st one but then it wasn't bad either, it couldn't have been as I got through it in around 3 weeks.. possibly a little less.

So, now, I'm back at being bookless. I can't reread books, which is strange as I can watch the same movie over and over again. So that means it's off to Borders books tomorrow in search of the next one.

Finding the right book for me is a little challenging at times, I do like Sci Fi, I like good twisting turning thrillers, especially if they have a background in folk lore or religious belief, although not that struck on Dan Brown. So any suggestions are very welcome!

Having been on a bit of a search round the net I've just discovered that Iain Banks (or in my case Iain M Banks - the M signifying he's written a Sci Fi novel) has a new one out, and it's a Culture Novel which is great. I'm a massive Iain M Banks fan I have to say and it's not just cos he's Scottish (He's from Fife!). It's all thanks to my mate Grant who about 10 years ago while on holiday in Jamaica and waiting for the storm to pass he handed me 'Player of Games' which is a fantastic read and I was hooked. I've now, over the years read all of his M Banks books, mainly on holidays or long flights I have to confess. I have found pretty much found them all really good, with perhaps the exception of Consider Phlebas which was a bit hard going but got there in the end.

So... tomorrow, it's a trip to Borders (which I love spending hrs in I have to say) and search for 'Matter'.

I don't know, I'm sure it's not just a me thing but maybe it is. I seem to wander through my music collection from time to time and rediscover fab music (important note: Fab, like beauty is in the eye or ear in this case of the beholder and therefore my opinion is always correct!).

Today I was wondering through my iTunes and came across multiple HORSE albums. Now maybe I'm a little biased, you see HORSE started as a band but has just become Horse McDonald and is from Tay in Scotland. She's seriously got one of the best voices you'll ever here. I went to a few of her concerts in the sprawling metropolis that is Kirkcauldy (pronounced kircody) when I was living back in sunny Scotland.

The thing that struck me was the clarity and purity of her voice, at each concert there were no big cleaver stages or distractions, just her, a guitar, may be a drummer and a few strings for certain songs. Man can she sing, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up!

So how happy was I when I stumbled across the songs again today?.. frankly, it could only be better with Ice Cream!

Go do a search on You Tube or the link to the site, you wont be sorry...

I've been trying to figure out what to do next with some of my images, getting the new site up and going has been a part of that, I still have the store to get sorted out and I guess this is part of that process. I've not really been happy with any attempt or concept I've had before, it's all be a bit cobbled together. I think I'm finally now getting a chance to sit back and have a look at what i have and what I'd like to be doing more of if that makes any sense?

I've always wanted to try and have a way of presenting images so that people could use them, either as a card, a porter or a piece of art that they would hang on the wall (I do have a few of my own prints up and one mighty canvas that's 1.5m x 0.5m but not sure I count). So I've been playing around over the last week with a concept for presenting some images in a really new way, for me at least and I'd be interested in peoples feedback.

God's Window

This is a pretty old image but I've always liked it and I know a few others have liked it for a long time, my Mum actually has this on canvas at her place which is pretty cool. It's taken from within the Church of the Good Shepherd down in Tekapo and as you will no doubt know that's a really special place for me and I've never really felt I've done the image justice and I think this is a step in the right direction with the new formatting and some tuning of the image.

Maniototo Hills

This image is from a session I had down in the Maniototo with a fellow photographer (and mentor) Tony Bridge, again it's an image that's been around for a whole but again with some knew knowledge, new drive its getting a bit of a new lease of life so to speak

This image was captured about a year ago directly above Lake Alexandrina close to Lake Tekapo in the Mackenzie Country. It?s one I’ve been looking at off and on and trying to decide what it was going to be, turns out that i figured it out at around 3:40 am one morning!

I'm a big fan of Panoramic Images and increasingly when I?m looking ta images I?m finding that I see them finished as a panoramic before I hit the shutter button, appears that i do listen once in a while.

What I love about this image is the way the light comes off the hills, I know i stood and looked at this landscape for about 10 or 15 mins before I got the camera out the bag as i was just blown away, then of course the sun started to hint it was going to pop out, after that it was the 2nd shot of the morning. There were of course a further set of shots the rest of the day but this is one that i really love, I?m certain it?s going to end up on my own wall some time soon.

This is another of the images from the Tekapo Collection that I've been putting together, It's of the Gammock Ranges just behind Tekapo taken last winter.

I probably only spent about half an hour waiting on the cloud to lift and the sun to peak through on to the hills, yes it was cold, a little damp but worth the wait!

So I'm quite excited, last year I put some images into an online competition with a difference. The 2010 Project is an online competition where all of the images need to be captured in the year 2010, ok so not much strangeness about that but to enter you have to donate some more, no not an entry fee, a donation. The Donation goes to  the MacMillan Cancer Support who are a fantastic organisation focused on supporting those who really need the help either by lending an ear when you need it most, both the the suffers and  their families, with nursing support , financial support, the list goes on and on, it?s a wonderful group of people and for me anything that anyone can do to support them is a fantastic thing.

So the 2010 project is founded by Caron Wasserman who is a fantastic children's photographer living in London who, after her battle with cancer, lost her partner to Cancer early in 2010. As a memory to him she started the 2010 project to celebrate his life. The end result of the competition is a book to be called ?Life is a Bed of Roses? which will be on sale to help continue to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

I lost my Dad to Cancer back in 2007 and so for me, anything related to raising awareness or money to help support and beat this terrible disease is a good thing, and when it comes to a photography competition I think supporting the battle against cancer is just the best reason I have ever heard of to have.

So I picked 3 images and I gladly donated my sum of money and left it there, I didn?t really expect to much more. I checked in from time to time to see how the fundraising was going and to see if any comments had popped up on and just to look at the rest of the stunning images there.

Well I was stunned when I found out I had been accepted onto the short list which was to be included in the book with an image, it was this one, which is a grab shot of my father in law Ian who is just one of the best people you will ever meet and his wee grand daughter just adores him, and he her of course.

I've been playing around with this image for a while now trying to get the right feel into it and I think I'm getting close to it. For me it's obviously all about the wooden jetty and I think there is maybe a little more work to do there but I pretty happy withthe feeling that's coming through for now. It's a little bit inviting and a little bit 'dont' you dare' which I quite like.

The image was captured again down in Tekapo and has been lingering around for a while until I figured it out, which i think I'm starting to do. I think I've just about convinced myself there are enough interesting images from this session of images to make a pretty nice set for a collection.

Always keen for feeback... jump on in!

So tonight we had Parents Night at Kindie, Parents Night for a 2 year old.... I never would have thought it, until I became a Dad, then what can I say, I've been looking forward to it with excitement and trepidation.

Trepidation I guess because I still remember parents night when I was a kid and waiting on Mum & Dad coming home from the school and giving us a review of the discussions... they were never terrible but there was certainly (on my part at least) a chunk of well he could try harder in some area's... or If only he'd study and so on, non of which conducive to a relaxing night, still I did ok.

Surely kindie reports would be different, well as it turns out being the one on the other side of the table is good for a start but it's also really cool hearing someone else tell you how great your wee girl is, who doesn't love that!

So turns out she's settling into the new room with some bigger kids, really getting out there in the play area and pushing the boundaries. Now I take Emily to the park all the time and she's obsessed with the swings, after that she loves climbing up ladders to get to a slide and if it's possible to go down backwards or on her tummy well that's cool. So when they say pushing boundaries i think they may well mean she needs a safety net soon!

she's smart, understands what your say, uses words all the time you think where did that come from and how did you use it in the right way... for instance Actually... she's really fond of Actually... as well as 'You go girl!' or lately (and it's my fault) deal.. make you a deal....

Well it’s now just a little over 4 months since Emily graced us with her presence in the world and what a 4 months it’s been. Just watching her grow every day has been amazing, each time you look at her there is a new expression on her wee face.

Lately she has decided it’s much more fun to sit up than it is to lay down, the 1st time we saw her trying we assumed (wrongly) that she had wind… in fact she was doing tummy crunches in a bit to get herself sitting up!… it’s now a game with her, every time you hold her hands she pulls her self up, gives a goo or an exclamation of how clever she is and then promptly lays herself back down… and then it starts again! This is great on the floor but not so good when she’s laying in the bassinet!!!!

Her conversation skills are certainly growing, we get told about everything… then again so does her toy bear (named Glasgow!), her mobile above the bassinet certainly knows when she’s unhappy with mum or dad for putting her back to bed!

The other day her mum showed her a picture on a magazine of Gordon Ramsey and she let fly with what was clearly a telling off for something he’d done… maybe it’s the language?

OOOoooo.. just browsing through tech Scalextric site seem more and have now changed my mind... Bubs wants the James Bond Digital set!

Over taking, Aston Martins, braking manoeuvres!...

I have a James Bond set when I was a kid complete with ejector seat!.. yes I'm sure, this is the one Bubs wants!

Well Emily found her other foot shortly after my last post, which was fun to watch but the amusement didn't end there. She has also now discovered her thumb.... it's very cute to see her with it and certainly keeps her quiet.
Every day she gets more interactive as well, just the other day we had a whole conversation about something... no idea what it was but I'm sure it was very intelligent... probably either rocket science or... Oh god Dad... YOU'RE a GINGER!!!!!!!!... (hoping it's not the 2nd one!)
She's trying hard to crawl now as well so no doubt we'll be chasing her round the house in no time, which is good... just in time for the warm weather coming in!

Well we were wondering when it would happen, Emily had discovered her right foot... two days ago she suddenly realised that there was in fact something there and.. if she tried hard enough she could get it into her mouth..
The left foot.. not so much at the moment but I'm sure it'll be along in no time at all. Strange, all the the toys, play things, musical things and so on you get for them and here she is totally fascinated this month with her right foot. last couple of months it was her hands so secretly I'm hoping she doesn't discover the left foot until next month which will keep her amused no end!