Out the back
This summer my neighbour has decided to embark on his own recycled summerhouse project. However instead of pallets he’s using bits from a dismantled conservatory, which is a bit like cheating in my book.
It’s looking pretty good so far though, and I look forward to exchanging shouted pleasantries with him from our respective palaces.
Either that or I might burn it down in a fit of drunken rage in the middle of the night. I haven’t decided yet.
While I have some sympathy with people’s claims that Father’s Day is a creation of the greetings card industry, I chose to discount them. If it’s a choice between cynicism and acnowledging the genuine display of warmth and affection showered on me by my family then I’ll choose the latter. That way I get keep myu two lovingly crafted homemade cards and my plant pot made out of ribbon and an old pop bottle.
My Father’s Day has been very nice indeed. I was given some fantastically heartfelt and considerate presents, then was taken out for breakfast at my favourite greasy spoon cafe. I had a “belly buster”, which was bloody marvellous. I even engaged in a bit of food photography, which I think mean’s i’m now officially a hipster.
The Belly Buster
My daughter was taking photos too. She was especially proud of this shot she got of the devastating aftermath of a tomato ketchup related incident.
A Tomato Ketchup Related Incident
Actually it wasn’t that devastating really as I tend to put the same amount on anyway. That way I get to cross off all of my five-a-day in one go
After an hour or two recovery from my belly being busted I took Amy and Evan down to our friendly local games store to play a few board games together.
We played Dixit, Wooly Bully, Concentration, and Duck Duck Bruce. Nothing that we don’t own ourselves, and so theoretically we could have played on our kitchen table at home. But going somewhere else to play makes it more of an event and more special somehow. Plus I got to accidentally buy another game as I left the shop (Cockroach Salad anyone?).
Amy Playing Dixit
Evan Playing Dixit
All in all I had a lovely day, and one that yet again reminds me how lucky I am to have such a fantastic family. Thanks guys, you’re bloody marvellous.
I’m pretty sure that most people reading this will be people who kindly followed me from my previous blog-that-cannot-be-named a couple of years ago.
I thought it was about time that I added the archives of that blog to those here. Or at least added the posts that were written while the site still had some integrity.
I have actually been rather surprised by how easy the process was. It did take me the best part of a day to sort the categories out, and some of the formatting is still a bit off – especially in the early posts. However there was no point where I felt like flinging my computer through the window, and so I’m classing that as a victory.
But to be fair none of that matters as no one is really going to read them anyway. Even I can’t be arsed trawling through all 1000+ old posts and I wrote the stuff.
The real reason that the archives of the-blog-that-can’t-be-named is more one of symbolic rehabilitation. I am proud of what I wrote back then, and I have growing sense of motivation to push CabbageDan.com forward to match it’s level.
It’s a new era ladies and gentlemen. A new era.
Now, anyone got any ideas how to do that sort of thing considering we’re living getting ever closer to the demise of google reader?
I’ve written previously about how valuable I find playing board and card games with my kids. Not only are they fun, entertaining, and develop both logical and creative thinking, they also are a fantastic way of us spending really high quality time together as a family.
As much as i love games however, I do find that you need to be careful to chose games that are enjoyable for everyone – both adult and kids.
Dobble (or <em>Spot It</em> in America) is one such game.
The gameplay of Dobble is incredibly easy. Each round card features eight different symbols, with any two cards having exactly one symbol in common. The players then have to spot what symbol the two cards share.
For example – what symbol do these two have in common?
And that’s all there is to it. There are a number of different mini game variants to choose from; but all boil down to that basic rule.
The fantastic thing about Dobble (and it is fantastic) is that not only is it equally fun for people of all ages, but that it plays on a very level playing field. I am regularly beaten by my son and daughter without me having to make any allowances for them at all. And the joy and delight on their faces when they grind me into the dirt makes my humiliation at being beaten by a six year old almost worth it. Almost.
Dobble comes in a neat little round tin (think of of those tins of travel sweets your granddad used to have in his car) and is perfect for slipping into a coat pocket or bag ready to be whipped out in order to combat a boring wait at the doctors or the like.
In short, it’s a damn fine game.
You can pick up Dobble for about £12. I’m not sure if places like Toy’s R Us stock it or not, but I’d personally recommend picking a copy up from a local specialist games store (you can find one near you here).
Or you could always use my own local games store – the fantastic Imagination Gaming – as they have an online mail order shop. In fact Dobble recently won gold their UK Games Expo Player’s Choice Award.
Many thanks to Esdevium Games who sent me a review copy of Dobble to take a look at. Cheers guys.
Daughter: What’s your favourite colour?
Me: Green
Son: What’s your favourite number?
Me: Twenty one
Daughter: What’s your favourite word?
Me: Bum-hole.
…..
And that, my friends, is how I retained my long standing title of King of Comedy for yet another day.