the world economy might be crumbling around our ears (and a little piece of me, says yippee) - but it’s not all doom and gloom, look at the price of oil:

the price of oil

and it lost $10 yesterday - the theory is we won’t need oil when we are all living in yurts

Daisy has been four for one whole day and she’s stepped up the inquisitive:

there is a whole story of how Daddy is going to teach Grandmum to write web pages.

d: “It would be nice if Grandmum lived next door, because then we would be close and only have a few steps to Grandmum”

r: “but how would Grandmum get to work?”

d: “she could go to work with daddy”

r: “but daddy does different work from Grandmum, daddy writes web pages”

d: “daddy could teach Grandmum to write web pages at work!”

and more:

“mummy can I have your pyjamas when you die?”

“mummy, does henry like his foot?” - “yes he likes his foot!” - “if he lost his foot he would have to have a grown up one” - “no feet aren’t like teeth”

“will I be able to talk when all my teeth fall out?”

and she just told us we aren’t the only ones. today at tumble tots she asked

“why is it called equipment?” and got the response “because it’s the equipment!” They weren’t quite ready for her.

With this in mind, we perhaps shouldn’t have been discussing which CBeebies presenters might be on crack cocaine. “cracked again?! what’s cracked again”, daddy jumps in “like humpty dumpty, he’s cracked again…”

"Improved Torcade" - the friendly writing that greets you when you look down our toilet.

I’m going to talk toilets for a little bit; in our toilet bowl - which may well be original to the house - are the words “improved torcade”. for ages I assumed it red it as a strange way as saying torquage (still not a real word i know).

I would often think why would improved torque be good for a toilet? and how would you know. anyway I’ve just searched google, and nothing. it’s not real - nothing even close or bathroom related.

So does anyone know what “improved torcade” means in our toilet? guesses on a postcard please .

from the BBC - 10 ways to rediscover the joy of motoring

An experiment conducted in the UK discovered that drivers gave far more space to cyclists that did not wear helmets, than those who did.

The researchers concluded this was because motorists interpreted the helmet as a symbol of a more predictable and sensible cyclist, one less likely to veer into their path.

I’m still going to wear my helmet, I just need a way to look less sensible to traffic trying to overtake.

Daisy was sick again yesterday, so I took her the doctors for the once over today. of course she is right as rain now; and was running around the surgery making lots of friends; but it was a whole week between her being sick the first time so we thought we best get a check. general consensus is that’s its a tummy bug. the doctor wanted to test for Kidneys but we couldn’t get anything to test so we decided it was quite unlikely. 

Henry has been sick this afternoon; so it’s almost certainly a tummy bug that he now has.. I suspect I am next and then Ruth. I don’t have the most robust immune system in the world. and I am on a bit of a run down working quite hard need a holiday stint.

I popped into the doctors today: yesterday afternoon I came home early from work - had a conference call - and then sat on the couch, because I went a bit dizzy; Nothing catastrophic like Ruth’s spinnyheaditits, more like standing up to quick; except I was sitting down.

It’s happened a few times in the last couple of months, so Ruth persuaded me I should go tell the doctor. The doctors wasn’t to busy; and I got my blood pressure taken (seems fine) and my heart listened too. apparently it’s quite slow (64bpm); which is typical of athletes and the like. I don’t think it’s the three weeks of riding my bike, more likely the falling asleep in the waiting room, but you never know. So I’ve got to go for a load of blood tests and book an ECG; which I waited until I was in work to do so i could scare the boss

I don’t - and neither does my doctor - think there is anything major wrong, but i’m going to have loads of test; I’m not a doctor but: my bets on an iorn deficency. we shall see.