Swing Batter Batter Batter Swing

A few weeks ago I took Brown Bear to the school uniform shop to buy his sports kit for next year - they were celebrating an anniversary and offering low prices so it seemed worth doing early. While we were there we noticed that sports equipment was included in the offers so I bought some swimming goggles for school and as we were going to pay we spotted a softball bat and ball set. Now Hubbie is a huge baseball fan and in the pre-children days we used to play in a softball league (not well for my part I admit) so I thought he'd love that for Father's Day. I bought a kit each for him and Brown Bear.

We came up with the idea of spending Father's Day playing softball and having a picnic. I swore Brown Bear to secrecy and he found a kiddy baseball set to practise with Daddy in the garden after school on the rare sunny days. I called Uncle Neil - a long time baseball fan and softball team captain  - and we had our players in place.

Then last week I found out about National Picnic Week and the lovely folks at Thomas J Fudges offered to send us some treats to jazz up our picnic. You may recognise the packaging if you shop at Waitrose - the illustrations are great and the flavours unusual. Charcoal hearts, melty cheddar wafers and savoury shards are amongst our favourites and I often treat Hubbie to them as a Christmas gift. With a nice cheese selection they make quite a posh and very tasty gift. I had no idea that they do sweet treats too and these Florentines are just too good to share. I've hidden them from the boys and will be troughing them when no one else is around.  The Punchy Jalapeno Wafers will probably be a bit strong for the boys (I think so anyway) so me and Hubbie will enjoy those.

Whenever we have a day out planned I have my go-to picnic kit. It's been with us to Peppa Pig World, days out at the farm, to Ben and Jerry's Big Sundae and days out at the seaside. We have a coolbag rucksack, a hardy picnic rug and some cool packs. Hubbie lugs the bag and I search for the perfect spot to sit and enjoy our outdoor victuals. I had hoped to share our picnic photos today with some action shots of the softball too, but unfortunately rain has stopped play. We will reschedule when the weather is nicer and if the Thomas J Fudges last that long I'll pack them too.

If you are celebrating Father's Day today I hope you have a wonderful time.

Disclosure: We were sent some treats by the lovely bakers at Thomas J Fudges to make our picnic even more special. 

Nathaniel would be proud: Natwest reward loyal customers

Last night after weeks of late nights and tension Hubbie's loyalty to the San Francisco Giants was rewarded when they won the World Series. The zombie who has been occupying the house with us for the last month or so - when he's not at work - may well disappear now. After a 30 year losing streak the Giants won the World Series when our son was a few weeks old. The baby used to snooze next to Hubbie who would take him downstairs so I could rest after the night feeds. You see as well as being a great husband Hubbie is also a loyal sports fan. He supports a non-league football team whose performance is so poor that I rarely even ask how they have done any more. I just make sure that there is something nice to eat when the boys get home on a Saturday evening after travelling to deepest darkest wherever to watch them play. 

You see loyalty is a big thing to us as a family. I've known most of my friends for yonks. The most recent good friend I have has at least 10 years tenure and even acquaintances have served at least 4 years (since I had my son). I don't do new friends often as it takes time to 'break them in.' When I'm good friends with someone I'm proper loyal. I'd known one of my friends for around 5 years and we were in my car sitting in Notting Hill Carnival traffic on the way to pick up a Chinese take away. I apologised for the traffic and my friend said, "Don't apologise, driving with a good friend to pick up Chinese food is my idea of a great time." (I may have paraphrased there) I felt all warm inside as up until that point I wasn't sure if we were good friends or not. That sealed it for me and we have been firm friends since.


Loyalty applies to so many things for me. I've only changed hairdresser if they've physically left the country. I travel a long to way to the same dentist I've been going to for donkey's years out of loyalty. When someone tells me they have had a bad experience somewhere I will boycott it out of loyalty to them. There are places I haven't been to just because they have been rude to someone I care about ! 
I like to reward good service so even though it's sometimes a bit more of a faff I'll continue to use a company I know and trust. I also like to share good experiences so I will tweet to thank a company that have been really great and email to say that someone has been really helpful to me too. It's far too common that people complain about poor service, so I like to balance that out with praise when they get it right.  

Well, can you imagine my frustration when as a loyal customer I see a new customer getting far more than I did when I joined and I don't get the same deal because I'm now 'old news.' Ooh that makes me cross. It happens with phone companies, retailers and banks. Apparently customers are more likely to move house than to move bank so they have to do a lot to upset us enough to move, but it does happen. 


Natwest have listened to customers saying that this isn't fair and are waving goodbye to offers that only apply to new customers in favour of fairness to all. The Hello / Goodbye campaign rewards loyalty by offering the same deals to existing as well as new customers. This little experiment was filmed to show how it feels to be sidelined as an 'old customer' for 'new shiny' ones.

So Natwest are calling time on offers only for new customers and rewarding loyalty from those of us who like to stay put. As someone who has had an account with Natwest dating back to when I collected the ceramic pigs - yes I do still have them - that's great news.

Disclosure: I’m working with BritMums and NatWest to promote the Hello/Goodbye campaign and have been compensated for this post. All opinions are my own (as always).

The Sporting Life

It's a rite of passage for a boy to watch football with his father. We know this because it's the basis of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch and Russell Brand's autobiography refers to his love of West Ham coming from the time he spent with his father Ronald going to watch matches at Upton Park. My son started going to football with Hubbie when he was a few weeks old. In fact I had to go with them the first time as I was still breastfeeding and had to be there to provide a half time snack for the boy.

I owe a great deal to sport as when my boy was first born Hubbie used to stay up late to watch the San Francisco Giants play and he would take the baby downstairs with him when he woke up at night for a feed. It meant I could do a sleep feed and go back to bed while they boys watched their team eventually go on to win the World Series. Hubbie is convinced that our boy broke the Giants' 30 year losing streak although I draw the line at keeping him awake to repeat the feat again this year.

They don't just watch sport together, they also go to a football activity for toddlers on a Saturday morning and this week I took the little man to an Easter camp where he played football, tennis and basketball. I've mentioned before that he has bundles of energy to burn off and it's lucky that Hubbie loves to do these activities with him as I have zero interest in any sport at all.

Since the early days we have fine tuned the Saturday morning routine and have narrowed it down to the trinity of essentials to keep our boy happy for the afternoon: Snack bag, snowsuit / suncream (delete as seasonally appropriate) and spare clothing. This way he has a snack at half time and is prepared for any weather conditions which considering when the football season falls is pretty important.

Aside from the bonding between father and son this regular activity has given my boy an impressive repertoire of football chants which thankfully are still repeatable in front of his grandparents. He has a friend who he plays with during the match and has been known to snaffle a biscuit from the board room during half time. In later years I expect he'll sample the delights of the snack bar and come home holding his belly and groaning. Today he took a new friend to football, a dog that he has named Woof Woof, and impressed his pal Freya who has been going to matches since she was a week old.

It was a conversation with Freya's mum that first made me realise how beneficial this whole Saturday football could be for me. I asked what she did while her husband and daughter went out and she said, "I have a bath, read the paper, go shopping. Anything I like really." The lightbulb lit up over my head and I realised that the faff of getting the boys organised was more than worth it for the sake of having an afternoon all to myself.

My usual Saturday afternoon is spent catching up with friends or having some pampering without having to rush home to feed anyone. Today I was massively productive and managed to go for a run, clean the bathroom and fridge, have a pedicure and baked some cookies. I also indulged in some kitchen porn and added a dishwasher, washing machine, cooker and fridge to my John Lewis online wish list. It's a far off dream, but when there are no distractions from the boys miaowing for biscuits, whining for milky way stars or asking me what's for dinner I am free to meander online and plan my ideal kitchen.

The season was due to finish in about a month, but the weather has been so bad that there are a few postponed games to be played. I have to make the most of my beloved and precious Saturdays until then or hope that something else takes the place of football once the season does finally end.

I have my fingers crossed for baseball and good weather :o)