ronwen's blog

It’s seldom that 1 clip from Youtube can so profoundly enrich your life, but this is one of them (okay, the new Okkervil River single, Wake and Be Fine, makes it 2 in the last month, but let’s not split hairs, alright?).

When you have a child or children, the sleep issues are made to seem the exception. “Just implement a routine”, “Just leave them to scream their heads off for a few nights”, it’s all so simple. Except it’s not and you lose a great portion of your life to getting your child to sleep, hoping he sleeps through the night, and getting up very, very, very, VERY early, FAR too frequently. From my experience, sleeping “problems” appear to be the norm rather than exceptional, so why do we spend so much time stressing about it and fighting it? Who knows? At 03h30 in the morning in the middle of winter, who gives a fuck either? Let them sleep in your bed.

Anyway, this little gem sums up the situation wonderfully.

It’s been a while. That’s because I’m still getting used to this blogging thing and we’ve been on holiday and there’s been a Royal Wedding and another holiday and studies. So, a quick catch up.

We spent a week in Wales. What an awesome country. Friendly people, beautiful scenery and great food!

We visited The National Wool Museum. What a wonderful museum, especially for kids! There were touchy-feely aspects to the displays, Leo got to have a go at using a walking wheel and in the café, there was a kids’ play area, well-stocked with toys to keep Leo happy while we had some coffee.

We bought cheese. I say “we”, but I really mean “I”, since the Philistines I live with are not fans of good cheese. We visited a cathedral, a palace , an Iron Age Hillfort , a dolmen and beaches.

I can’t wait to go back!

And, for the Royal Wedding, Leo and I headed up North to celebrate with friends. There was Pimms, Pimms and more Pimms, picnics on the lounge floor, pretend aeroplanes and boats, and walks in bluebell woods. I’ve never been in the woods during bluebell season, and now that I have, I can highly recommend it!

One of the things that bothers me about UK TV news is the incredibly adversarial interview technique of the news presenters. Even independent experts, asked to give viewers bite-sized overviews of events, are hauled over the coals. So, I particularly enjoyed Jon Snow’s very polite and meek interview with General David Petraeus.

I even hopped over to Channel 4 plus 1 to watch it again, an hour later.

However, nothing tops Joanna Lumley’s legendary pwning of Minister of State for Borders and Immigration, Phil Woolas over the Gurkha issue:

Can anyone say “Naughty schoolboy”?

It's quite sad that Dr Donny George passed away right before the reopening of the Iraq Museum.

So, it seems that Dr Zahi Hawass has resigned as Egypt's Head of Antiquities.

I don't know what to make of this. Is it some kind of publicity stunt, a government reshuffle, or a scholar genuinely distressed at the post-revolution state of Egypt's archaeological heritage?

I guess we will have to see how events unfold over the coming weeks and months.

So, I've been threatening to get a blog for years now. I never get around to it, with the excuse that I don't have the time to set it up (or, to nag Colin to set it up). The Real Excuses are most likely more related to a) Not thinking I have enough to say b) Not thinking I have enough INTERESTING things to say c) The Commitment! I'm sure there are other reasons.

But I've decided to finally bite the bullet, with some caveats:

• This blog is mainly to stay in touch with friends and family, who are scattered far and wide. It is a way of keeping them up to date with our lives.

• My life is not that interesting. I'm a stay-at-home mom, who has recently finished a degree in Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Culture.

• Given the above, my life can be busy at times, which means that I might not be able to blog as often as I would like. I'll try keep you regaled with my daily adventures in such activities as The Laundry, The Fight to Feed a Preschooler, Epic Baking and Archaeological Looting. You may, or may not, find this interesting. Expect exam time to be a particularly dry period.

• I don't have time to excessively edit my blog posts. I'll probably give them a quick glance through to check for glaring grammar and spelling errors, but, since it's not my thesis, I'm not going to be fanatical about this. I'm going for Quantity over Quality. ;-)

• I will delete unpleasant comments. That's not what this blog is for and I shan't tolerate such mischief on my watch!

So, without further ado: Be prepared to be bored senseless. :-)