Meet Dougie the barn dancing dog...

As you will have noticed, the Leader is no longer an evening paper. This has obviously meant some serious changes to our hours – and consequently my time with Harry.

One of the main benefits for me has been the opportunity to spend some more time with Harry in a morning as I know leave for work at eight rather than half six.

This means I’m able to feed Harry his breakfast and play with him before setting off for work. It also gives Melissa the chance to get ready before I leave, something she really appreciates.

As I’ve written before, I love feeding Harry but, when his teeth are playing up, this can be a bit of nightmare – food everywhere (I’ve learned the hard way not to put my suit on when he’s eating) and plenty of shouting. Fortunately, Melissa has discovered a way to distract him – she puts his favourite CD on.

Unfortunately, this involves feeding him to the sound of ‘Dougie the barn-dancing dog’. While this is effective – Harry gets particularly excited when Dougie’s friend Billy Silly joins in – I end up humming the blasted tune all day.

Anyway, my later starts have also coincided with Harry starting to crawl properly, which has made them even more entertaining. Rather than shuffling backwards, Harry is now able to move forward with a fair degree of coordination.

Of course, he’s still learning and this means that, from time to time, he simply forgets how to crawl and falls flat on his face. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to deter him and he’s soon on his way again.

All this extra time in a morning does have a downside – apart from Dougie the barn-dancing dog of course. I now get to change one, sometimes two, dirty nappies. For some reason, Melissa’s delighted with my new working arrangements.

Three Peaks in 24 hours - we did it!

A slideshow of our Three Peaks in 24 hours challenge. Enjoy.




Feeling a little tired today but no too bad in the cricumstances - and only a few aches and pains. Still can't believe we made it.

Please help

In a break from my usual ramblings about Harry and family life, I thought I'd issue an appeal through this blog for sponsorship. For reasons which now escape me, I've signed up, along with three colleagues from the Evening Leader, to take part in the Three Peaks challenge next month.

We're raising money for Hope House Children's Hospice - a very worthy cause - so feel free to support us by giving me money. Full details of our challenge can be found here:

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/NWN-editors-to-support-Hope.5360699.jp

I've no idea what I'm getting myself into - I've never walked any of the mountains before so it will be a whole new and, no doubt, very challenging 24 hours. Anyway, if you feel inspired to help you can e-mail me with any donations at martin.wright@nwn.co.uk.

Right, begging over. Normal service will soon be resumed.

Another podcast

I'm featuring in the latest Leader podcast, which is now live at http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/podcasts/PODCAST-Evening-Leader-podcast-010808.4350525.jp

Have a listen and let me know what you'd like to hear on it in future.

Footballers

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm a Wrexham fan. And as anybody with any knowledge of football will know, things have been a little bit on the tough side for the Reds in recent years.

So, after relegation to the Blue Square Premier, it's nice to have some light relief. I am, therefore, grateful to Silvio Spann, who came up with this gem in Friday's Evening Leader:

Spann says he holds no grudge against manager Brian Little for the decision to transfer list him - one year into a three year contract.

"I do not really look at what man has to say, it’s more about what God has to say," said Spann.

"If man puts me on the transfer list that’s their problem but when God says it’s time to move then I move."'

If you would like to read the full article, click here http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/wrexhamfc/39I-want-to-be-Red.4257129.jp

My podcast debut

A few weeks ago the Evening Leader broadcast its first podcast, featuring our journalists talking about what's going on at the paper.

This week, I'm making my debut on the podcast and it's online now at http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/

We're having a few technical difficulties with the site at the moment, so please bear with us if it doesn't work immediately.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. We're planning a more light-hearted podcast next week - but any suggestions for improvements to the format would be welcome.