ThePickards
standards, accessibility, and ranting and general stuff by the web chemist

I bought a new phone.
Owing to the fact that my new job won’t involve working in the same office as my wife and the friends I tend to go drinking with, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was likely to be spending more on telephone calls.
So I decided to go for one of […]

Read: Geeks And Gadgets »

Once again, back is the incredible
The rhyme animal
The incredible JackP, public enemy number oneAlmost Public Enemy’s “Bring The Noise”
Okay, I’ve been away for nine days or suchlike. Bizarrely, I’ve not actually been away as such, I’ve just been completely and utterly shagged out is I think the appropriate term.
The GLW has been poorly, the kids […]

Read: Pause! »

For the third year, I’ve kept track on the topics talked about in the Newcastle Beer Festival (see also 2006 and 2007). There is a reason for this. It’s because we’ve all come home at one time or another and had this conversation:

Wife
So who were you out with, then?
Husband
Oh, er… Harry and Joe
Wife
So how’s Harry’s […]

Read: What Men Talk About In Pubs 2008 »

I will be changing jobs in May. I’m going to play with the privates. Yes, after 9 and a bit years working in the public sector local authority environment for mumble mumble, I’m going off to join the jolly crew over at mumble mumble mumble.
It’s one of those things where my emotions are mixed […]

Read: Privateering »

Following on from his previous performance as The Sudocrem Kid, young SWP decides to continue in his forte of “performance art”:

However, in a break from previous tradition, the felt pens weren’t used to produce what SWP no doubt thinks of as “an art installation” but is generally considered by his parents to me more along […]

Read: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man »

As you can no doubt see for yourselves, now that I’ve come across some old photos and scanned them in, it’s difficult to improve on perfection. Me.
And indeed as I child, I was perfect in absolutely every respect. From my incredible cuteness, to my impish cheekiness, to my allowing my parents a good nights sleep […]

Read: The Perfect Child »

Over last weekend, the GLW has been poorly. On Saturday, she was working through the “feeling a little under the weather” stage which basically meant that as long as things were nice and quiet, and nothing too demanding was required, she’d be perfectly all right.
Of course, the slight problem with this plan is that it’s […]

Read: Of Illnesses and Imps »

Over at Stephen Lang’s site, I’ve noticed he’s trying to come up with a six-word memoir. I’m not entirely sure how you sum up your life, your achievements, your thoughts hopes and desires into just six words, but I’m prepared to give it a shot.
It’s an interesting concept — if maybe a little morbid — […]

Read: Six Word Memoir »

Take one two-year old. Place him in a bedroom and tell him to go to sleep.
What do you have five minutes later? A child that has climbed out of bed, climbed onto the dressing table, reached up to a high shelf and picked up a jar of Sudocrem (usually used to combat nappy rash and […]

Read: The Sudocrem Kid »

I was a little alarmed to come across this photograph the other day. It’s got my son in it. Well, more specifically, it’s got my son in a big floppy hat, a deep red coat and holding something white and rather blurred.
Except rather worryingly, from the costume to the pose to the poise and facial […]

Read: The Dandy Highwayman »