It's 2013!

And I think you can tell I haven't shaved since last year. I'm not even forty, and I've got the kind of stubble that makes me scared to go into the woods in case someone culls me for having TB. I was watching Hugh Bonneville on 'World's Most Dangerous Roads' the other night...

... yes, that Hugh Bonneville, and I asked Lisa if I should grow a distinguished grey beard to cover my double chin and give me an air of authority. She said "No, it'll just make you look old". She then paused, before adding "Even older, I mean".

In the end though, I couldn't be bothered to shave this morning (I could barely be bothered to shower), so it meant another afternoon of blending in with the grandparents at the Queens Park playground. If you're wondering why Toby's strapped to my chest, it's because we couldn't fit his buggy and Amelie's bike into the boot of the car, so one of them had to go without their wheels. And I didn't fancy carrying Am on my shoulders.

It was an afternoon of fun though...

Assuming you like hauling a Hello Kitty bike up a muddy hill with one hand while your son gets on your tits in a quite literal sense and the female members of your family tackle a death slide in designer wellies. And fortunately I do, so that was ok.

Anyhoo, with 2012 done and dusted, it means I've now completed a full decade of blogging. Assuming you count 88 posts as a full year. Which most people do. And besides, I actually started in 2002, but ended up deleting those early posts for quality control reasons. I was tempted to do the same for 2003. Frankly the crapometer was on overdrive that year.

But the good news is that I've successfully produced another twelve months of quantity over quality, by writing more posts than the year before. I'm still aiming to haul things back to the dizzy heights of 2004, but I might need to divorce Lisa first. I think the only way to increase output is to restrict my access to the kids. Or rather their access to me.

In the meantime, here's a video of Amelie riding majestically into the new year sunset at Queens Park this afternoon...


She's heading straight for the lake.