"Put down that wrench!"

A good weekend last weekend - up to Staffs for Oatley minor's naming, with an overnight stay in Leamington (at the Angel Hotel) en route. Some follow-on notes from conversations:

For ngma: the best source for non-pink girl's clothes (and non-blue boy's clothes) that we've found is Vertbaudet. French, as you might expect from the name.

For ruthj and jow_n_chris, the iPhone/iPod Touch ebook app was Stanza. The iPod Touch and the Sony PRS-505 are comparable in price: £165/£214/£283 for 8Gb/16Gb/32Gb iPod Touch vs. £199 for the PRS-505 (256Mb internal, expandable via SD cards). Battery life on the PRS-505 is excellent (Sony claim 6000+ page turns, which I suspect is optimistic), whereas the iPod lasts about a day of solid reading. On the other hand, the iPod does more than read ebooks. Both support EPUB format ebooks (which is what Waterstones sell), although the implementation on the PRS-505 isn't great (for example, only a partial implementation of CSS2, significantly below that required by the OPS component of the EPUB spec). Sony's support for the PRS-505 isn't great; there has been one firmware update to date in the US which introduced EPUB support (the UK version has always had support for EPUB).

A summary:

My feeling is that the iPod Touch has the edge in terms of usability and readability (the page turn speed on the PRS-505 is still a limitation), although the PRS-505's display is very legible. Having used both for at least a couple of weeks, I'd recommend the iPod Touch/iPhone + Stanza more strongly.

For those that haven't met him, the garklet has a bit of a thing for aeroplanes. This really became apparent about a year ago; I read him Sadie the Airmail Pilot every night for at least a month, and he was fascinated by the aircraft flying into Southampton Airport (we're less than a kilometre south of the perimeter, and probably less than 200m west of the southern approach flight path).

Last summer, we met up with my uncle and aunt at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway (they had a 1940s weekend) and ias ended up buying him a selection of planes, mostly WWII fighters. She was under my vague instructions (I had thoughts of making him a mobile), but most of the aircraft have ended up going into his toy box. He has a very chipped (and badly modelled) diecast Spitfire, and a number of cheap polystyrene gliders. There were two planes that we didn't give him, on the grounds that they were too nice. One was a Spitfire kit (that I've yet to assemble), and the other was a Corgi diecast of a Mk.IIc Hurricane, from their Battle of Britain Memorial Flight range. He found the latter last week (I was tidying up a shelf, and it was in the pile off stuff that I'd taken down) and has barely let it out of his sight since.

You can see where this is going, can't you?

Thanks to our location, we get a lot of interesting things going over, from the Red Arrows to a B1-B Lancer. I've seen the BoBMF quite a few times (four? five?), so they're no longer quite as much of a gosh-wow as the first time, even though they still are rather cool. Tonight, we had a Spitfire (a photo-reconnaissance job) and a Hurricane en route to a flypast at Shrivenham.

The garklet hadn't quite connected the special planes with his toy planes, although he does recognise the replica on the airport roundabout as a Spitfire (I haven't yet explained that it's a replica of K5054, the prototype aircraft which flew from the then-named Eastleigh Aerodrome).

He's now seen 'his plane' (or to be more precise, LF363 wearing the colours of YB-W - his plane is a model of this with remarkably accurate markings). He's one happy little boy, and I'm going to have difficulties getting him to bed tonight.

Another Sunday brunch today, this time for my PhD (and EngD) students. It was great to finally get them all over, although I note that they're a far more abstemious bunch than the usual suspects - we practically had to beg them to drink the margaritas I had on ice!

Menu was as follows (mostly for my benefit):

• Fruit platter - pineapple and papaya, dressed with lime and cayenne
• Huevos revueltos with chorizo
• Guacamole
• Frijoles
• Salsa Pica de Gallo
• (sour cream, crumbled Wensleydale, spring onions)
• Tortillas and bread rolls (the latter for molletes)
• Sopapillos (or bunuelos - I can't work out which is the correct term for fried wheat tortillas dredged with cinnamon sugar)
• Cafe en Olla
• Choice of cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic: Margarita, Bloody Mary/Maria, Bucks Fizz, Tequila Sunrise, Virgin Mary, Virgin Sunrise

Next time, we might try a New York bagel brunch; sadly, there are several people who dislike fish, which rules out an Edwardian brunch with kedgeree or kippers.

A bit of a life roundup for the past week. First off, the cat. She might have stayed around for an extra day, but she buggered off the following day. I suspect that it was the move from luxury single sachet cat food to multipack Waitrose own-brand cat food that did it. The garklet seems to have taken it well, and has accepted the explanation that "she's gone back to her family" (which in all truth is the most likely outcome), and hasn't settled for "she was driven away by next door's army, and is now cowering under a bush with tiny, frozen paws, etc". He still asks after her most days ("gat? ee-ow?"), which is very sweet.

The big event in the young lad's life is that he turned two on Sunday. ias has said more about this, so suffice to say that he ate too much cake and ice cream, and really enjoyed playing with my sister.

He then promptly came down with a stinking cold (proper 40-a-day cough), and had to be taken out of nursery early on Monday. We then promptly came down with it - I took yesterday off, and ias probably should also have done so. We've both been off today, and our likely disposition tomorrow is an open question.

In the past, we've both complained about our poor timing when ill; when you want a good black and white film on daytime TV, there are none to be found. Fortunately, things have been rather better this time. So far I've watched (or napped through) the following:

• Threads: I didn't see this when it was first broadcast (although I do remember the cover of Radio Times), so I was rather grateful when ias's parents bought me the DVD for my birthday. It sounds rather daft, but I wasn't prepared for just how bleak it would be - and I'd been prepared for an awful lot. Had to pause for ten minutes in the last third and go and do something else instead. I'm very glad that I've seen it, and I'm not sure that I want to watch it again in the foreseeable future. After this, I decided that both of my choices for the next film to watch (Grave of the Fireflies, and Edge of Darkness) were probably a bit too much, so instead I watched...
• Ratatouille: My sister bought this for the garklet, so I thought that I ought to review it before subjecting him to it. Still a bit old for him, but he should enjoy it when he's a year or so older. Generally charming, with some lovely sequences, but I felt that the critic's Proustian moment should have been properly Proustian (with a petite madeleine and a cup of tea). Whoever heard of someone going dreamy-eyed over ratatouille? But I digress.
• Next on the list were the final two episodes of Band of Brothers. I've been watching these as BBC2 show them, and have rather enjoyed them. Yes, it's a military soap (as a yoof, I was hooked on Tour of Duty), but it works well, mainly because of the talking head interviews with the veterans of E Coy (most of whom appear as characters in the series). The impression I have is that it's fairly historically accurate, and the series certainly deserves all of the plaudits that have been heaped on it.
• Today's treat was not just a black and white film, but one that made my top of one of my Top Five lists: Went the Day Well. Still a cracking film, and an interesting contrast to Band of Brothers.

Also seen on Monday was Pom Poko, a Ghibli film about tanuki (Japanese raccoons). Rather fun, although the dubbing was rather coy at times; the tanuki's oversized testicles were referred to as a "raccoon pouch".

Well, she isn't tagged, nor is she pregnant. I also assume that she doesn't have anything obviously wrong with her, otherwise the vet nurse would probably have mentioned it (even though we didn't have a full MOT).

So, step two is to stick posters around the local area and wait. If that doesn't work, we might have to look at a) adopting her, b) naming her, and c) working out where we can put a cat flap (it's not looking good at the moment).

We appear to have acquired a cat:

We passed her on Brookside Way, and she followed us home. She then hung around outside for another half hour, and was looking quite lost (ias found her when she went outside to get some thyme).

The garklet seems a little unsure as to what to make of her; he's currently stroking her gently, but he was telling the cat to 'go' earlier. He at least now seems confident that she won't play with his train (although he's quite keen to demonstrate it to her).

I've been on a quick trip to the shops to get some catfood. We'll keep her in the kitchen overnight (with the window open), and put up 'found' posters tomorrow if she hasn't left. She seems in good shape; her coat is in good condition, she has no injuries, she seems free of fleas, and she seems a reasonable weight, but she's doesn't have a collar. She also smells faintly of cigarette smoke, so she's been living around people.

So, time's winged chariot duly rumbled past last Wednesday and added another year to my age, putting me indisputably past the halfway mark of my three score and ten. ias and I took the day off, having left the garklet in the nursery, and we went out! And saw a film! In a cinema! Without the garklet! Like real people!

We ended up going to the Harbour Lights to see Quantum of Solace, mainly because it meant we'd have a fighting chance of staying awake; the garklet had been pretty unsettled the night before, so we were in need of sleep. Not bad overall, even if it should really have been titled Casino Royale, part two. Still like Craig as Bond, though. This may be TMI, but I had to nip to the gents halfway through. Apparently, turning thirty-six has meant that my bladder can no longer hold the metabolic by-products of a pint of Hoegaarden for longer than half an hour. Thus begins the long, slow slide to senescence.

Picked the lad up after the film, fed him and waited for our babysitter. Not only had we gone to the cinema (!), but we were also going out to a restaurant sans-garklet. Had a few complaints from him on the grounds that I wasn't following the bedtime script to the letter, but he went down without too much wailing, and slept soundly from then on.

We'd decided to go to Zen (japanese place that theno23 had recommended in the past). Wednesday night was all-you-can-eat night, but this was cooked to order rather than steam table dross. Food generally good, though it stuck to the safe favourites. By this point, we were feeling rather shattered, and lapsed into blank-eyed silence. A good night out, nonetheless.

Part two of the birthday bits was today, with a selection of the usual sorts descending on us for Sunday brunch. Cooked Mexican, just as last year, but scaled down both the variety and the quantities, as follows:

• Huevos Revueltos con Chorizo
• Frijoles
• Salsa Verde
• Pico de Gallo
• Guacamole
• Tortillas

We still had food left over (mainly guacamole, since I'd not been able to pass up the chance to buy ripe Hass avocados at three for GBP1), but of manageable proportions. We also had a large platter of fruit (principally pineapple, papaya and lime), cocktails (pisco sours, tequila sunrises, bloody marys) and a regularly replenished supply of cafe de olla. I'll certainly make the cafe de olla again. Best of all, we managed to keep the garklet away from the egg.

We really ought to hold brunches at ours more often...

The Red Arrows flying low over your house in formation, en route to Cowes. And I do mean over, near enough (maybe displaced 30m to the east at most).

Still not quite as cool as the time a B1B Lancer flew low over the house, though; nine Hawks are nowhere near as loud as one Lancer.

Got back last Friday from a week's holiday in South Wales with the usual ex-Warwick suspects. Total head count this year was twenty-five adults, by my reckoning, with a further eight little ones. The garklet was the only small boy amongst the kids; hopefully either ruthj and hsw will produce another boy, otherwise it's going to be him versus the monstrous regiment of women. Anyway, he enjoyed charging around with the elder girls (Lottie, Thea and the twins), even if it was a little trying on the eardrums of the rest of us.

There were a (very) few (very) minor niggles with the week:

• It's a bit of a shame that there was no big communal meal (for the grownups, rather than for the kids and parents) as there has been in some previous years. The kitchens were a decent size, and we could have easily managed that.
• We missed the previous holiday at Plas Glansevin, so we also missed the accompanying pre-holiday discussion about local amenities. We really need a wiki for these things. I'll look at setting one up for next year.
• I've realised that I rather miss the communal activities that have been organised in previous years, such as Steve Shipway's treasure hunts or Pete and Kav's Great Egg Races. I hereby commit myself to organising at least one thing along these lines for the next holiday.

The garklet has managed to outdo himself this morning by taking a small swig from ias's bottle of Chanel No.19. Not the eau de toilette (which is relatively cheap at ~£60/100ml) nor the eau de parfum (which is slightly more expensive at about ~£80/100ml), but the little 7.5ml bottle of the parfum, which works out at a staggering £850/100ml. We don't think that he managed to drink much, since it's quite bitter - maybe 0.1ml, which is still enough to make his breath reek of No.19 - but he then managed to tip half the bottle over the dressing table.

My hands now smell of nothing but No.19 (which is pleasant, but I'd rather smell it on ias), and the bedroom is rather over fragranced.

On the plus side, I now know what to get ias for Christmas...