The haunting of Footstool cottage, Fulbrook

A family trip was planned; a long weekend in the Cotswolds. Research was done, a cottage picked. They decided to stay in a pretty little cottage down Meadow lane in Fulbrook near Burford. As the time approached clothes and food were collected together and packed. Bedding and toys were left to the last minute. Come departure day, the car was packed and they were off.

Travelling took a little over an hour, however there was a long stop for lunch. At around 14:30 they arrived without incident. Five minutes of hunting up and down the lane revealed the cottage, the name hidden under climbing roses. A further search and the key was found; under a stone, not the plantpot as described. They let themselves in.

The cottage was lovely. A nice living space, light bedrooms, a clean range cooker. The bathroom looked like it had seen some wear, but it was clean and tidy. Unpacking started in earnest. Cases headed upstairs. The daughter would take the back bedroom, and the travel cot was setup to ensure there would be no delay later. They would take the front room, and, presently, the clothes were unpacked, the food transferred to fridge and freezer, and the toys were all over the lounge floor. Having settled in they now had to head out.

The husband's parents were staying in a caravan 30 minutes up the road, and they had phoned to say that they were having trouble putting the awning up. Grandad (as we'll call him) had hurt his back and couldn't bend, so Nanny had called the husband for help. Putting up the awning was easy enough, but the husband still couldn't see the point of caravanning.

The two families caught up. The daughter had a good time on the site swings. Plans for the coming days were made. With late afternoon approaching, it was time to head back.

The daughter had had a long day, and started to drift off to sleep in the car on the way home. On arrival they all went into the cottage and started the evening routine. PJs, teeth clean, cuddles, and bed. The daughter snuggled straight in and looked like she would fall fast asleep. There wasn't a peep out of her for the rest of the evening.

A lack of oil to cook with sent the husband scouting for fish and chips. None in Burford, but some helpful teens pointed him to the next town. Fish and chips retrieved from 20 yards outside RAF Brize Norton, the husband returned home. The fish and chips weren't very good. And lacked ketchup. A small amount of TV was watched, then the couple went to bed.

At 01:30 they were woken to the sound of laughter. The daughter was in her cot periodically laughing, giggling, and otherwise having a good time. The husband dragged himself out of bed and went to see what the fuss was. The daughter was lying on her back, holding teddy, laughing. He reminded her that it was sleepy time, tucked her in, made sure she was settled, and went back to bed.

Patchy sleep for the next hour or so was broken with more laughing. Eventually the daughter was fetched and brought into the front room. The idea of sleep was offered and rejected. The next hour was spent struggling to calm the daughter, drifting off, violent movement, restless playing, more calming.

Eventually the husband went to the back room to make more room in the bed, and the wife fetched some food. The husband drifted in and out of sleep whilst the wife fed and calmed the daughter. By 06:30 they were all asleep, and the next few hours passed uneventfully.

Friday was a tired affair. The family went to Burford before heading to the grandparents for lunch and a trip to Broadway for shopping and ice creams. The daughter was tired but active. The husband and wife were tired.  On the way home the daughter didn't succumb to sleep until the last mile, and was woken at the cottage. Some shopping was needed, so, after the routine and the daughter was settled, the husband set off to the nearby co-op.

Whilst shopping (not an easy task when the shopping list is fairly random and the shop layout is unfamiliar) the husband got a text to say that the giggling was back. It had been tired, almost unwilling giggling at first; almost like she was being kept awake against her will. However, it had soon become fully awake laughing. When he got home, all was quiet, but the wife had been up to settle the daughter and had a chat. Apparently the daughter had a friend, and they were friendly. And funny. The wife was spooked, the husband sceptical. They decided to sleep in the back room. So, after tea and TV, that's what they did. The night was uncomfortable, but uneventful for the most part. The daughter did awaken early in the morning, and after some placating, was brought into bed and the wife sent to the front room. The husband and the daughter spent the rest of the night in the bed. The daughter periodically kicking him in the back whilst she slept.

The next day was a write off. Everyone was too tired, and a trip to the Cotswold wildlife park was met with tantrums, sullenness, and even a rejection of ice cream! After a dejected trip on the little train, and a lack of enthusiasm to even wave to the camels for Daddy (who was left at the station with the pushchair and bags), they went home.

A request was made. Daddy went into the back bedroom and carefully explained that the family was suffering from lack of sleep. He went on to ask if the child could be left alone tonight so they could all catch up.

The night went well. For the child at least. Mummy and Daddy don't sleep well in strange beds, and Daddy ended the night in the back room. He was woken by his daughter standing in the cot wishing him a "Good morning Daddy"

Tired as everyone still was they had a better day. A trip to a National trust property with Nanny and Grandad was followed by some packing and another quiet night.

On Monday morning they all went home. Calling in on the grand parents on the way to celebrate Grandad's birthday. In the end they were all glad to be home.

Before bed on that Monday, Mummy made some enquiries. The "friend" in the room was a boy. Bigger than the daughter, but not old like Nanny or Mummy / Daddy. He was friendly, had come shopping with us one day (!) Hadn't come home with us. And would be missed.

"He" was never discussed again.

For my bro (and anyone else who has an android phone)

So, my bro has finally got himself and Android phone (the Samsung Galaxy no less). So I thought I'd list out the Android apps I use the most.

I know I've done something similar before, but that was to list everything on the phone, and whilst that list has changed since the post this is more a list of useful stuff. The rest he can find out by experimentation like the rest of us.

Primary app to get is ChompSMS which, when combined with SMS Popup gives a far superior experience to SMS messages (remember to disable the phone apps notifications)

Once you have that sorted, Newsrob is free, and by far the best RSS reader. Full offline support, background syncing of feeds (automatically, not manual like most of them) and it syncs with google reader, so changes there are reflected on the phone and vice-versa.

Notification wise I like Battery Status and WeatherBug. Strangely they do exactly what you think they'll do!

Social media wise, twidroid (or Twidroid pro) for twitter and Bloo for facebook

Media has to be tunewiki (enable last.fm and twitter support) and the official last.fm app is great for streaming music.

If you're in London then the iTubeStatus app is still the easiest to use, but I also have London City installed for the map and the journey planner

HulloMail is a must have for visual voicemail and to allow you to keep voicemails in your mail as mp3s.

AK Notepad is still the best app I've found for jotting down notes. Import and export from/to text files allows transfer of notes easily.

Night Clock is great when you're away, but it does make the screen a little brighter than I'd like.

Video Player is a small, must have app for simply playing vids (supports the same format is iphone videos, just without the DRM)

And that's it really. Those are the apps that get used regularly. Shazam, Pkt Auctions for eBay, etc all have their uses, but not regularly. Games you're on your own, you know what you like.

I will pass on this site: http://www.cyrket.com/ It makes browsing the market much easier.

I also follow the feed from http://www.androidtapp.com/ which has brought up a few interesting apps in the past.

Questions / comments? You know where to put them!

Ticking on by

Still here. More or less.

Running more at the mo. 5 times a week. Not huge distances, but something is better than nothing. I hit exactly 14st on the scales the other night. I'm hopeful to crack that first milestone off this week and get into the 13s. Long way to go yet, but the changes I've made don't seem to be taking any toll. I'll just keep up the exercise and keep watching what I eat, and see what happens.

Thinking about it the other night (jogging gives plenty of opportunity for that), I realised that my running playlist hasn't changed since that first half marathon in Chester. My running tunes are older than my daughter, my marriage, even my relationship! They were put together before I got my first contract job in Newcastle. I've used the same tunes in Chester, Newcastle, Wimbledon, and Wokingham. All that work I did years ago measuring bpm, checking tone and subject matter all seems to have paid off. If I get the iPod and the phone together I'll post the list.

Cleared out the garage at the weekend. For the first time since we moved in you can move around freely, and actually find what you're looking for! Next stop the shed. One day, maybe, the loft. That just leaves a couple of cupboards that need a sort.

Out at the cinema last night to see "Inglorious barsterds". It was a good, fun movie with the trademark Tarentinoisms (music, slow shots of detail, etc). However, I'm not convinced it's historically accurate!

Currently watching "True Blood" series 2, and looking forward to catching up on "Californication" series 2 before season 3 comes out next month. Also anticipating "Dexter" season 4, also out soon.

Enjoying listening to the soundtrack from "True Blood". For some reason the US and UK versions are different, but combining the two on random seems to work. This morning, however, I'm listening to Chickenfoot; the 'supergroup' with Joe Satriani on guitar. A couple of really good tracks, but mainly just some hard rock filler. I never saw the appeal of Van Halen (the band) and with Sammy Hagar doing the vocals (and lyrics) a lot of this falls into the sort of music. Mediocre Van Halen with Joe Satriani on guitar. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Right, work arrives, time to go.