I have 3 younger brothers – Barry, Alan and Nick. Nick’s the youngest, and like so many young pups these days, he’s extremely ambitious and impulsive.

When it comes to seeing an idea through, Nick would be the first to admit that his ambition and impulsiveness can be a very bad combination. Many of his great ideas fall to the wayside when his next great endeavour calls. But when it comes to spur of the moment travel arrangements, this heady combination of ambition and impulse has taken Nick to countless wonderful places around the world – Australia, Paris, Gibraltar, Milan, Dublin, Prague, Krakow to name a few.

“We’re only travelling so we can have a few bloody pictures in our house.” Nick will say with a grin, ‘we’ being himself and his girlfriend Maraid. They don’t acutally have a house yet, which I guess is the reason why they’ve started up their first blog together over at nickandmaraid.blogspot.com.

Its purpose is to document their travels and keep in touch with friends and family when they’re overseas. Based on the places they already been to and the things they’ve gotten up to on their travels, this should be a blog worth reading, that is, if you can stomach that little jealous daemon you’ll experience as you read.

A meaty “mazel tov!” to my younger brother Alan who finally plucked up some courage and proposed marriage last week to his long-suffering girlfriend Keri. (more…)

I used to be a musician and quite a good one too. The highlight of my musical past, without doubt, was the performance I gave at London’s Royal Albert Hall in accompaniment to trombonist Don Lusher. But even memories of the simpler things are just as vivid; like an impromptu duet, the nerves of a competition, or catching my little brothers humming the bass line to a tune they would never admit to knowing. (The one I’d been practicing religiously all month.) (more…)

Well well, the big day is here, and I’m sure you’re all pretty excited about what I have to say, so I shall get down to the answers as quickly as possible. (more…)

New words erupt from Nathan’s mouth at an incredible rate now. But because he’s only two and a half years old they’re not always decipherable. He’s more than happy to settle for his own unique interpretation of a word, especially if it avoids one of those tricky letter l’s, and he’s always happy to amend any word that challenges his view of the world into something that makes more sense to him.

So here are some of my favourite examples; the ones that keep me smiling. See if you can guess what they’re supposed to be!

1. Ballcano
2. Getchoo
3. Mumdy
4. Codchat
5. Bapa
6. Ba-papa
7. Gaddon
8. Medsmin
9. Umbear
10. Amnce
11. Ibee

Answers tomorrow ;-)