This article is an interesting read it’s written by a teacher who 20 years ago lost a child on the tube, albeit briefly. The teacher had been on his first school trip along with 30 pupils and one assistant. In the excitement one of the pupils got onto the wrong train. Whilst the teacher was panicking and trying to find out where the train was headed the child had already managed to get off at the next station, cross the platform and find her way back to the rest of the group.

Contrasting the same situation with another incident 20 years later when 4 pupils got on the wrong train, the situation was the same but the outcome much different. In this case the 4 pupils stayed on the train until the end of the line and ended up in Buckinghamshire because they were too panicked to know what to do. Once the pupils has been located and brought back to school in a taxi, there was quite a fallout from the trip with parents wanting to know how the incident could have occurred in the first place and indeed why the children has been allowed to travel on the tube at all.

The point of the article is that the first child 20 years before had enough common sense and experience of navigating public transport to know what to do when she found herself on the wrong train. Those 20 years later had been so protected that in the unfamiliar situation they didn’t have a clue and panicked. The teacher obviously feels that children today are too protected in some senses and should be allowed more opportunity to gain life experience. When you look at this second group of 24 children and find that only 8 (bearing in mind they were brought up in Hackney) had ever been on the tube before, perhaps he has a point.

The government is considering plans to make it compulsory for dog owners to microchip their animals. Ministers want every puppy to be fitted with a chip in order to make it easier to track the owners of dangerous dogs but I wonder whether this will solve the problem. It is the responsible owners that will comply with the law and who probably already have their animals chipped in case they should go missing. Those who are doing something illegal are more likely not to bother just as many criminals do not tax and insure their motor vehicles. With a microchip costing about £20 most pet owners will chip their animals simply for peace of mind. It seems to me the target should be those that are breeding dangerous dogs illegally.

I knew Penny would have put on at least a lb. since her last weigh in but was surprised to find she has actually gained nearly 2lb. She now weighs 14lb at 21 weeks and is really starting to feel quite heavy.

For the past few months she has been sleeping through the night but recently we have been gradually bringing her bedtime forward as she gets more active. As she is awake most of the day Penny is more than ready for bed by 7pm and luckily for us usually sleeps until at least 7am, sometimes even until 8am. The result is we are more rested as well as getting some much needed time to wind down in the evenings.

As Penny still has anything up to 7 200ml milk feeds in a day, we took the decision to start the weaning process earlier than 6 months. Since she was 17 weeks we have been trying to give her a little taste of food. It is only really the last few days, however,  that she has been eating significant quantities of food. Last night she managed about 4 teaspoons of squash and this morning surprised me by eating a whole pureed banana. Thinking we were on a roll I tried swede for lunch which she apparently hates. It’s still early days and we still have many more flavours to introduce. I am currently pureeing a variety of fruit and vegetables and freezing them in large ice cube containers so we can offer a variety of foods every day.

Other developments this week are that Penny has started reaching for toys and can pull the handle on her bouncer which activates the music. She has also developed a back shuffle movement, where she uses her legs to move herself around the floor whilst still on her back. Using this she can turn herself right around in her cot and can reach toys that were previously out of reach. She can’t roll over yet but there have been a few times when she has got close.

This article about the electric Ford Focus makes interesting reading. It looks quite good and is unusual for an electric car in that it looks like a normal car. Personally for me electric cars are a little out of my price range at the moment but it does look better than a lot of other electric vehicles out there.

Has been a question which has baffled people for some time. A live chicken birth may confuse the issue even further. A chicken was recently born in Sri Lanka without an egg. It had been incubated inside the hen’s body for 21 days before hatching. Although the chick survived and was fully formed, the mother died from internal injuries.

My cats love watching certain programmes on the TV, and are particularly fond of nature programmes about birds. I was not surprised then to learn that a TV channel for dogs has been launched in the US. It is designed to keep your canine friend relaxed and stimulated whilst you are at work. The channel is advertising free and available around the clock. It features content specifically tailored for dogs with the sound, colours and camera angles adjusted to make them more appealing for your four legged friend. It looks great, my only question is when will the cat channel be launching?

This is an interesting idea, it’s a service which will provide the morning after pill via a courier service. Women will be able to order the pill online and have it delivered to an address in London within 2 hours at a cost of £20. The service has been prompted by the demand for the product which many find hard to obtain in time when visiting their GP or waiting for the post to arrive. Women purchasing the product will need to fill out a form online and confirm they are over the age of 18. The form is then assessed by a doctor and the pill is delivered up to two hours later in discreet packaging. The package must be signed for personally. The service has already been criticised by those who think it will encourage underage sex by making the morning after pill easier to access.

This image which has been described by monster hunters as unexplained could show the Loch Ness monster. The sonar picture was recorded by a Loch Ness boat skipper. The “creature” was recorded at a depth of 75ft directly under his tourist boat. It measures nearly 5ft wide. Some people are convinced it is the monster but others say it could be explained as algae.

I’m always a little sceptical about these sorts of claims but it seems a new diet can help you do just that as long as you don’t eat anything. The diet is aimed at people who want to lose weight very quickly such as brides to be. It involves eating nothing for 10 days and administering water and protein through a nose drip feeding tube inserted into the nose. Personally I can’t see why people would choose to do this, a method that involves cutting out food may drop the weight very quickly but surely it will rapidly go back on as soon as you start eating properly again. Known as the Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition it is not clear whether the diet has any lasting effects but it does seem a very extreme way to lose weight. What’s wrong with eating less and getting some exercise or do people just look for the quick fix solution.

This is interesting it’s a new babygro that has built in technology to alert you when your baby needs changing. Called ExmoBaby the babygro can detect whether the baby’s heart rate, temperature and breathing patterns have changed as well as letting you know when the nappy needs changing. It works by having a thread woven into the fabric which senses electrical signals on the baby’s skin. This can then be set up to send an email or text alert. It’s an interesting idea but at £93 really quite expensive. I don’t really see people buying a new £93 babygro every few months when the baby outgrows them. Personally I think the product is aimed at new parents who don’t really know what products to buy for their new baby. I think most parents would already know when their baby is wet and probably wouldn’t purchase this.

I spent some time digging over the vegetable patch in the garden ready for planting and last weekend started to seed some areas. I already have a line of asparagus growing which I had thought we might have lost in the winter. I can now see little spears of asparagus emerging from the soil so it looks like it is coming along well although being a long term crop it will be another year before we harvest anything from it.

The raspberry canes I planted last year are coming along nicely with lots of new growth so I am hoping we will see a good harvest this year and all the fruit trees are covered with blossom so I have high hopes of a good harvest. I  have planted some potatoes in the garden and some parsnips and beetroot. I’m hoping the crops will do well this year despite the obvious challenges of watering during a hosepipe ban. As things start to grow I will post a few pictures of the emerging crops. With a small baby I am hoping we have a good crop of organic veg this year as it will help with all the purees and baby food I am currently making.

Not that I need another excuse to drink wine but if this article is to be believed red wine could reduce your chance of getting fat. Research has shown that a compound found in red wine can help control obesity. The substance, called piceatannol delays the generation of fat cells and prevents them from growing into mature fat cells. Well I’m convinced, time for a glass of wine.

I spotted one of these interesting looking creature in the garden the other day and trying to find out what it was found this article. Called Bombylius Major it mimics the appearance of a bee and is harmless being unable to sting or bite. They are becoming more common in the UK due to warmer weather. They are certainly interesting little creatures.

According to this article the bluebell season this year could be early this year and much shorter than usual. This is due to the dry weather in the south east that means bluebells will flower less and their growth is likely to be stunted. The common bluebell is now a protected species in the UK because it is under threat from the Spanish variety often planted in domestic gardens. The National Trust is asking people to submit their sightings of bluebells on the following website so that they can build up a picture of where they are found. I have quite a few coming up in my garden and will be submitting my photo once they have flowered in a day or two.

I rarely bet on sporting events but do always have a small flutter on the Grand National. This year I picked three horses one of which came in third doubling my initial stake. Watching the race I found myself wincing every time the horses jumped the fences and hoping the fallen were uninjured. Afterwards finding that two horses had died during the race I found myself contemplating whether if the sport were introduced now it would be allowed to go ahead. In my opinion two dead horses is two too many. It seems obvious to me that something needs to change here in order to make the event safer. It will be interesting to follow the investigation into the deaths of the two horses and see what measures if any are put in place for next years race.

I made these goats cheese tarts the other day. The pasty includes grated cheese and a pinch of cayenne pepper for extra flavour. The onions are cooked in a little butter and balsamic vinegar for about 20 minutes so they can infuse the flavour. The tarts are then made up by putting a layer of onions on top of the pastry base followed by a slice of goats cheese. They are baked in the oven for about 20 minutes and served with rocket salad and caramelised onion chutney.

We spent yesterday afternoon taking the top out of one of our tall trees. It had to be taken down in several segments due to it’s location next to several outbuildings. You can see the finished tree in the picture on the left. We were surprised to find some damage to the trunk once we had taken it down (pictured right) which we can only assume must have been caused by lightening.

This is Darius, the world’s biggest bunny. He is 4ft 4 inches long and weighs a massive 3.5 stone. A Continental Giant rabbit Darius eats 12 carrots a day and is still growing.

Hilda the hen sat on the wrong nest and is now raising a clutch of ducklings. The hen appears unaware that the duckling are not hers and is raising them as her own. I expect she will be a little surprised when they start learning to swim.

This beetle could pose the biggest threat to the UK’s woodlands since Dutch Elm Disease. The Asian long-horn beetle  has been found to be breeding in the UK for the first time. There are now fears that as the young beetles mature into adults they will spread around the country. The beetle has been found in Paddock Wood in Kent where experts have been checking trees for the holes they make when they lay their eggs. Any infected trees will be chopped down and incinerated before the beetles can reach maturity. It is hoped these measures will help to halt the spread of the creature. The danger is from the beetle’s larvae which burrow through the wood looking for food. This causes it to become brittle and the tree dies. Poplars and willows are at most risk but other trees such as sycamore, elm, horse chestnut, apple, pear and cherry species can also be affected.

I see so many articles about things that look like Jesus, I am beginning to wonder whether my blog may need a new category to reflect this. The latest image of Jesus has been spotted on the back of a stingray. As you can see from the picture this uncanny resemblance was recently caught on camera on a South Carolina  beach. Once again I leave you to draw your own conclusions until we come across the next thing that looks like Jesus.

A hermit crab at Legoland in Windsor has made himself a new home out of a Lego shell. The shell was made by Legoland staff out of multi-coloured bricks. The crab named Harry appears quite happy in his new shell and judging by the video of him moving around, doesn’t seem to mind that he looks a bit different to the other crabs. In fact Harry rejected more conventional shell homes in favour of the more brightly coloured alternative.

From M&S this sweat proof shirt could be popular this summer. Called the Dry Extreme  it claims to be the solution to wet patches under the arms. It has special Smartweave technology that works by drawing perspiration away from the skin and into the inner fabric, then dispersing it as vapour. The shirts initially went on sale last year when they were tested in a small number of stores but will be offered nationwide this year. They cost  £29.50 for the long sleeved version and £27.50 for the short sleeved.

The consumer magazine Which? has confirmed what many of us might already have suspected. it seems pack sizes are shrinking. Over a dozen kitchen staples have been highlighted as having shrunk in size. Amongst the offenders are Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Branston Pickle. Although the pack sizes have shrunk the prices appear to have remained unchanged. Personally the thing I have noticed most is the Cadbury’s cream egg. I have no proof but they certainly seem much smaller than they used to be. Other items highlighted in the article include Ambrosia Creamed Semolina, Birds Eye Crispy Chicken and Fairy All-in-one Dishwasher Tablets.

We spent yesterday at the allotment putting the potatoes in the ground and doing some general weeding. So far we have onions and leeks growing and now two lines of potatoes. With the help of my father we are gradually digging out the next area of ground ready for some more crops. Meanwhile we have carpeted as much of the ground as possible to kill the weeds in preparation for digging. The carpet makes a great home for a variety of creatures and I spent much of the day amusing myself trying to catch the slow worms and frogs. We have also come across a mouse hole which we disturbed whilst digging. I had so much fun catching creatures that I didn’t get an awful lot of work done. The plot is starting to look a lot better and judging by all the blossom on the damson trees we should have a good crop this year for some more lovely jam.

Penny is now 18 weeks old and is fast developing into a proper little person. She now sleeps all night from 10pm through until at least 8am in the morning. Still very hungry she spends most of the day drinking milk and we are now starting to give her little tastes of various fruit and vegetable purees. It’s hard to remember the tiny little baby she was back in November, she is certainly growing fast and I guess it won’t be long before she learns to crawl.

If a Cadbury’s Cream Egg is not already sweet enough for you then you might want to try some of these recipes. All made with cream eggs they feature such classics as this Cadbury’s Cream Eggs benedict made with cream eggs, a doughnut and frosting. Personally I think they would be a little too sweet for me but they certainly look interesting.

This is interesting it’s an article about how to make your own Easter eggs. Unfortunately with a young baby I doubt I will have the time to try it this Easter but it looks like good fun especially if your children are old enough to participate in the project. I will certainly be giving this a go when Penny is older.

Not much if this article is correct. It claims that in the average Easter egg the chocolate takes up just 38% of the box, with the rest being made up of packaging. I remember reading a similar article last Easter where environmentalists were calling for Easter egg manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use. The eggs to me still look the same. It makes sense that hollow eggs require a fair amount of packaging to protect the chocolate shell but if more than half of the pack contents is packaging, it seems it might be time to campaign for more chocolate in our Easter eggs.

That’s according to the Office of National Statistics. They say that not only will one out of three babies born in the last year live to be 100 but also that the number of centenarians will rise 40-fold within the next 50 years. The rise in life expectancy is down to factors such as improved diets, advances in medicine and a move away from manual labour. It’s interesting to think that my daughter has a good chance of seeing her 100th birthday. I do wonder, however, what this means for the future of the state pension.

It’s not quite April the 1st so I’m assuming this article is genuine. It’s about a new tea which is set to go one sale. The tea is supposed to be the most expensive in the world and is unusual because the plants are fertilised with panda dung. Quite how this improves the flavour of the tea is unclear but those wanting to try a cup should expect to pay around £130. It is made by a former teacher and journalist who believes using the panda manure to fertilise the organic green tea produces the perfect cup. The panda dung is obtained from nearby panda breading centres in Sichuan province, China. With 50 grams of the tea selling for 22,000 yuan (£2,200) and a cup of tea requiring about three grams each cup of tea would cost about £130.

A study which I can only assume has been commissioned by Cadburys has found that people who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner. The findings come from a study of nearly 1000 US people. It looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index and found that those who ate chocolate a few times a week were on average slimmer than those who ate it occasionally. Scientists believe that even though chocolate contains lots of calories it also contains ingredients that may favour weight loss. I’m convinced, it seems like another good excuse to eat chocolate.