Back in 2022, in a bid to outwit my mother in our daily Wordle battles, I wrote some C# code to explore optimal starting guesses. You can read about that experiment here. Fast forward two years, and my Wordle addiction is alive and well. The daily challenge remains as compelling as ever, but it’s the family WhatsApp group – where scores are shared, victories boasted, and failures commiserated – that adds an extra layer of fun. ...
Ben: “Ian, Ian!” Me: “Ben, I’m ‘Daddy’ to you.” Ben (quizzically): “But you are ‘Ian’ as well.” Me: “Yes, I know that, but I’d prefer it if you called me ‘Daddy’.” Ben: “Oh. Sorry, Ian!” August 2010 Ben: “Can I have another bedtime story Dad?” Me: “Not tonight Ben, it’s too late and you’re too tired.” Ben: “I’m not, I’m not, grumbled Ben!” August 2010 Whilst sat at the dinner table this evening: ...
Another visit to Stanage Edge to admire the mighty Stanage Pole. This time with my daughter Isla in tow, rather than my mum. Strava link
Another enjoyable day out scrambling with my daughter Isla. The scramble itself is part of Route 27 in Scrambles In The Dark Peak by Tom Corker and Terry Sleaford. A wander along the north-western edge of the Kinder Scout plateau afforded some impressive views across to Manchester. We joined the Pennine Way for a short while, before heading back down the Snake Path. Strava link
I’m on a break between contracts this week, so decided to make the most of the good weather and headed into the Peak District to revisit Stanage Edge for the first time since 2000. Unlike my last visit twenty years ago, there were no ropes or belays involved this time. Instead my Mum and I had a leisurely wander in the blistering July sunshine up part of the Long Causeway, before taking some snapshots at the latest version of the historic Stanage Pole. ...
My daughter Isla pronounced our April walk up Pen-y-Ghent to have been “a bit boring”. Apparently she enjoyed the scrambling and the views but not the lengthy slog. Fair enough. So, looking for something more interesting for our next Dad and Daughter trip into the hills, I armed myself with a copy of “Scrambles In The Dark Peak” by Terry Sleaford and Tom Corker, and today we set off to tackle the first route in the book. ...
A lovely spring Sunday walk up Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales with my daughter Isla (her first hike up a proper hill). It was most liberating to get out into the hills after so many months stuck at home or staying local due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the resident geek in our family, it won’t surprise you to hear that I am occasionally approached by Jocelyn and our kids to provide tech support. Sadly, most of these queries are invariably of the “how do I print from my phone” or “the Sky box stopped working” ilk, and rarely trouble my software skills. So it came as a pleasant surprise when I recently encountered a genuine reason to use .NET, APIs and Docker in support of one of Jocelyn’s craft projects. ...
Day One – Saturday 26th May 2018 Twenty years after bagging my first Munro – the dreary Meall a’ Chrasgaidh – and somehow developing an affinity for the Great Scottish Outdoors, I found myself heading northwards once again. Not this time in the company of my university friends, but instead with a ten-year-old boy in tow, namely my eldest Son, Benjamin. It was half-term holiday, he had just finished SATs, and I was hoping to prise him away from screens for a few days and to pass on some of my latent enthusiasm for the Highlands. ...
Proudly presenting a new addition to the family – Mr Matthew Henry Nelson: He arrived at 0624 local time on the morning of Saturday 1st September, and weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces. This was 17 days sooner than expected, and his early arrival literally caught his Daddy napping – while Jocelyn was giving birth in York, I was sleeping soundly in a Reading Novotel ahead of the DDD10 conference. Needless to say, when I woke to find eight missed calls, a voicemail, text message, and even posts on my FaceBook wall trying to alert me to Matthew’s imminent arrival, I decided to give the conference a miss and head quickly back up the M1. ...
Benny George, our precocious two-year-old, is quite the fan of Mister Maker, and enjoys spending time doing arty crafty stuff with his mum. Now, the great thing about the BBC is that they tend to suggest projects which can be created using bits and bobs that you’re likely to have around the home – old cereal boxes and the like. But occasionally some specialist resources have to be procured in the name of Ben’s art, and so it was that Joce today spent £1.99 on a pack of the “googly eyes” so beloved of Maker. ...
It gives me the utmost pleasure to announce the birth of Miss Isla Grace Nelson. Following a ludicrously speedy labour, Isla entered the world in an ambulance on the eastbound A64 near Bilbrough services on Tuesday 28th April at 18:09 local time (see this time in your time zone). Her birth mass was 3.750 kilograms (8 pounds 4 ounces), and length was 50 centimetres (20 inches). ...
Today was a proud day indeed. Remember four years ago when I blogged about Jocelyn getting a fiancee visa from the British Consulate in Los Angeles, which paved the way for her to travel to Blighty with the intention of marrying me..? Well, since then we’ve turned that fiancee visa into a limited leave visa, and then into a settlement visa. We have spent over £2000 on government fees for these various rubber stamps – outrageously high amounts which resulted in letters being sent to and from the Home Office. Along the way, we got married, moved house, and of course Benjamin came along to change our lives forever (in a good way, of course, Son!). ...
It gives me unparalleled joy to announce the birth of Mr Benjamin George Nelson. Following a relatively swift labour, the new arrival entered the world suddenly at York Hospital on Wednesday at 22:24 local time (see this time in your time zone). Birth mass was 4.185 kilograms (9 pounds 3 ounces), length was 51 centimetres (20 inches). ...
On this Remembrance Sunday, permit me to share with you a photo that my cousin Helen took this week of our Granduncle’s grave in France. Private William Henry Worfolk (1896 – 1916) of the York and Lancaster Regiment was my Grandfather’s elder brother (by four years), and was only just old enough to fight (and die) in the First World War. A couple of years later and it could just as easily have been my grandfather, and then I wouldn’t be here to tell you this tale. Ninety years on from that most bloody of wars, we still have much to be thankful for. ...