Kind: Notes

Not kink-shaming anyone, but I'm not sure I want to go to the 'toilets viewing area'.

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Sign above a door saying 'toilets' and 'viewing area' on separate lines, but looking slightly like they might be a single sentence.

The younger kids' taekwondo school put on a free 'new years workout' class this morning. It was pretty awesome.

My watch says my heart rate averaged 146bpm, peaking at 169bpm. It's possible I'm not as fit as I used to be. 😅

But at least I don't feel like I might die, like I did during the 'dads go free' promotion last year. Progress?

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In a gym environment with punchbags visible in the background Dan, a white man wearing a black t-shirt, throws a right jab, alongside others who are doing the same.

As part of my efforts to reclaim the living room from the children, I'm building a new gaming PC for the playroom. She's called Bee, and - thanks to the absolute insanity that is The Tower 300 case from Thermaltake - she's one of the most bonkers PC cases I've ever worked in.

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On a desk cluttered with computer parts, a partially-built PC stands in an irregular-hexagonal prism shaped case with vented yellow sides and a three-pane angled glass front.

Tintern Abbey's looking especially beautiful in the fresh snow, this morning.

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A partially-ruined stone monastery juts out of a snowy plain in a wooded valley, under bright blue skies.

Our dog has decided that the perfect place to lie down at our holiday accommodation is... on a staircase whose carpet is the same colour as her!

I'm grateful for her very-visible blep... or I'd have tripped over this camouflaged pupper several times already!

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A champagne-coloured French Bulldog lies on a step of a staircase carpeted in the same colour as herself, u her tongue in medium-blep.

Back at the Rollright Stones fire New Year's Day, per family tradition. This year the younger child counted 74, the elder 59. The curse that prevents you counting the same number twice continues!

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A man with blue hair points at some standing stones.

I think the dog's back paws were cold this evening. The giveaway was when she tucked them into a convenient nearby trouser pocket.

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A sleeping French Bulldog lies on her side with her back paws tucked into the trouser pocket of a human sitting near her.

Went to a West End theatre wearing my "Slamilton" t-shirt.

In this corridor, during the act break, a stranger spotted it and did a double-take.

"Is that...? wait... that's not Hamilton!", they said.

I seized my chance.

"It's Slamilton," I replied. "You know: 'Who slams, who jams, who tells their story.'"

And then, after a pause: "What's 'Hamilton'???"

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Dan, a white man with a goatee beard and a blue ponytail, wears a 'Slamilton' t-shirt in a theatre stairwell.

Boxing Day breakfast (of champions (of leftovers)).

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Four Yorkshire puddings on a side plate, each with one or two chipolata sausages sticking out, smothered in gravy, alongside a small quantity of sage & onion stuffing.

Unusually, we had no guests this Christmas Day. This meant that my usual level of overcatering went even further than normal.

A side effect of this is that a certain little doggo was delighted and surprised by her Boxing Day breakfast of roast goose!

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A champagne-coloured French Bulldog kicks her lips excitedly alongside a bowl full of chunks of roast meat.

I asked the younger child to "help" me calculate how much Yorkshire pudding batter to make for this Christmas dinner.

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Dan, a white man with a beard and blue hair, wearing a WordPress-themed Christmas jumper, beats a bowl of batter.

"Well," he began, "I'm going to want FIVE Yorkshire puddings, soo..."

I'm not sure which of our children was last in this bath, but the configuration in which they've left their toys makes me feel as though I'm the subject of some kind of waterfowl-related shunning.

Perhaps they finally got wind or my heretical opinions on the God of Ducks (may he throw us bread) and they've collectively decided to disassociate from me?

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Four thematic rubber ducks sit along the edge of a fitted white bathtub, seemingly deliberate in their placement which sees them facing directly away from the bather and towards various shampoo bottles and a candle in a glass.

A few pockets of the morning's freezing fog still cling to the hedgerows as the dog and I set out on a chilly West Oxfordshire morning walk.

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A French Bulldog trots along a concrete slab farm track alongside fallow fields bordered by mist, hedges, and distant flanking hills.