BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: After months of having two children who chose to wake anytime between 6am and 8am – often veering towards the 6am – I finally snapped.
Months of sleep depravation caught up with me, heightened by the clocks changing which meant for the best part of a week it was 6am on the dot, and I decided to do something about it – I bought a clock.
Not just any old clock, a Toy Story clock. The theory’s quite simple, Buzz Lightyear lights up at night, which means you have to be in bed. Woody the cowboy wakes up in the morning – complete with permission for said child to leave their bed.
It took a while, but they got it.
However, earlier this week I forgot to set it. Seren went to bed around 7pm, and all was calm for a while.
Suddenly, around 7.20pm I was aware of feet padding around. It’s not unusual, and normally she hops back into bed with whichever soft toy prompted the brief escape bid.
But not this time. I decided to investigate. Stood at the top of the stairs was a sleepy little girl, in a state of confusion. ‘The cowboy’s just told me to get up’ she said. Her two-and-a-half-year-old brain was perturbed.
She’d been in bed less than 20 minutes, she hadn’t even been to sleep yet, and yet it was telling her to get up. Baffling for a small child...
SIR ALEX: Another day, another time when I sit at breakfast listening to the news, only to find the news is Alex Ferguson moaning about a referee.
Surely it’s not news by now, surely it would only become news if he walked away from a game happy.
The thing is that now he moans about it so much, that people stop listening. But every little decision he has to take them to task over. And the FA seem to let him get away with it again and again. As a football fan I know that everyone moans about the referee, particularly when you’ve lost.
But I also know that no referee ever intentionally gets things wrong.
Players make mistakes, managers make mistakes, so do referees.
Personally, I’d like to see him gagged. Mind you, that might mean the charismatic Mike Phelan became the club’s official spokesman.
It’s bad enough watching him on Match of the Day – Sir Alex won’t talk to the BBC – as he’s never happy.
They could have won 15-0 and he’s still talking about the goal the linesman incorrectly ruled offside. Rooney scores eight and in the view of Mr Phelan ‘well he still missed a few’...
GIRLS COATS: I write this as a plea – if not a direct message – to all manufacturers of children’s clothes. Please remember girls wear coats too...
It sounds ridiculous, but without spending a fortune we’ve struggled to find a coat for our four-year-old.
Most shops had very few to choose from, and the few they had were either glorified summer coats, had no hood or were just hideous.
Some shops – like M&Co in Welshpool for example – had entire racks of boys’ coats, but virtually nothing in the range for girls.
I don’t know whether they think girls don’t need big winter coats, whether it’s an oversight, or whether we’re just walking round the store blind.
But whatever the reason it’s been a thankless task. I’d be interested to know if it’s just me, or if anyone else out there is equally frustrated...