Tayto - the feckers

Gavin was kind enough to bring a swag of Tayto and purple Snacks from Ireland when he arrived here on Sunday. I say 'kind enough', but we all know that he would have been on the first plane back to Carlow if he hadn't.

I do like Tayto Cheese n Onion, easily the best chip in the world. No arguments will be brooked. So I immediately grabbed a packet, casually looking at the ingredient list, a habit ingrained though bitter experience.

Tayto have changed their recipe, the feckers. They have added cheese powder. CHEESE POWDER. They have tampered with perfection. Its like the Louvre colouring in the Mona Lisa's lips or adding Mickey Mouse cartoons to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, cos the kids would go for it.

Tayto was always just potaotes, sunflower oil and honest to goodness artifical flavours and preservatives. Now its got cheese powder.

I will no longer eat this alien product.

Daddy brain

Yesterday I travelled to Milson's Pointto take part in the MS 8km Fun Run. Its one of my favourite runs, low key, fun, scenic but a tough hilly runners course.
As the train cleared the Harbour Bridge I glanced on to the road where the start is held and noticed that there were surprisingly few people there.
In fact thre was noone.
Which wasn't all that surprising when I remembered that the race is next Sunday.
So back home and off to Centennial Park for a run in the beautiful late Autumn weather.

I like it LOUD

Action
Originally uploaded by Anthony's World

Cillian has really and truly found the volume control over the past week or so. He is a non stop chatterbox and its all LOUD. Its great fun. On Friday we visited the library for storytime. He played with some Duplo blocks, listened to the story, watched the bigger kids and sang along with great gusto to the songs, even when nonone else was actually singing a song.

What's over there?

What's over there?
Originally uploaded by Anthony's World

Today we tried another play group, recommended by one of the mums I met yesterday. It was from 10 - 12 in St. George's Anglican Church, a pretty red brick building snuggled in the heart of Five Ways. The group is not affiliated to the church, but just rents our the space.
There is a small outdoor area, and a large indoor playspace, the opposite of Holdsworth Street.
There weren't many babies there, like Holdsworth, its mainly toddlers and I was the only man.
Cillian had fun and after we left we visited the library, where our little hero turned on the charm for the librarian.
Not having slept much in the morning, he had a big snooze in the afternoon. In fact we had to wake him for his dinner.
Thankfully, he seems to be sleeping well tonight.

Playtime

Today we visited the Holdsworth Street Community Centre. Its a drop in centre for parents with young children, as well as senior citizens. Little ones barelled around the yard, playing on swings or with various toys. We played in the baby room and Cillian enjoyed the toys and the other bubs and tots.
We made some friends and we will be back there soon.
We also visited Lesley McKay's bookshop, a lovely bookstore in Woollahra vilage. I bough two books for Cillian, who was fast asleep in his pushchair. One was 'Goodnight Gorilla' and although mainly just pictures, is one of the funniest books I've read. The other is called 'Choo Choo' about a train journey.

Shave and a haircut...

Since we had a bit of a lie in this morning, Cillian was not amenable to his 10:30 nap. Instead we strolled down to East Sydney to see Joe the barber to have my wild mane tamed. Joe is a Glaswegian who has not returned to Scotland in 40 years, since he doesn't like to fly. He's a lovely man and charges the princely sum of $AU8. Still, I am not really testing his skills as its number 2 all over please. Cyclone Cillian slept for a bit, waking up in the barber shop but was good as gold.
After finishing with Joe and seeing that Cillian was in good form, we visited the State Library to see the World Press Photo exhibition. The standard of work on display was superb, focusing mainly on the many conflicts that are spread across the world, but also including nature and sport.

Sitting pretty

Sitting pretty
Originally uploaded by Anthony's World

Cillian has been quite resistant to the idea of sitting. He'd much prefer to be lying down on his back or preferably his tummy, where his is relatively mobile. Still, we have gently encouraged him to sit and today the idea took hold and he sat quite happily playing with his toys. Every five minutes or so he would keel over and a backwards tumble and a thump to the back of his head signalled the end of tonights sitting fun. He did enjoy himself though.