We start the second half of Gregory's 6th year in the second half of October, as it is of course approaching Halloween. Before we cover that, though, it's time to show a certificate awarded to Gregory for not only good behaviour but having the confidence to try new things. That has one of the things that has pleased and surprised me over the years; that he hasn't been intimidated (thinking back, for example, to his sitting on the front of the stage in reception and narrating We're Going On A Bear Hunt).
The kids are up in Scotland for half-term, collecting pumpkins, with Aunty Louise apparently subjecting herself to a back-breaking transport services.
Uncle Paul was no help whatsoever.
Ever the rule follower, Gregory was content to use the pumpkin-coloured door to progress through the field, discovering a delighted Jessica on the other side.
Back home, Gregory looks very happy to have constructed this wooden block tower, with the blocks from, I think, a Jenga set. I may have helped - I don't remember. This was done before school so very productive.
The next day and the mood has shifted somewhat, despite it being a Saturday. Daisy is away on a Brownie holiday and so we're taking Gregory into Manchester for "Halloween in the City".
His mood appears to have perked up somewhat when we get to Piccadilly gardens. Thankfully, he was not tempted (as no-one else given it seems to be a cold day) to splash around in the fountains.
Out of sequence, but this is what it was all about.
This was the sort of thing that we were looking out for.
And this sort of thing. Don't be scared, kids.
And let's not mention the pumpkin-headed DJ.
In the Arndale Centre, it was a bit more, well, not serene, but less scary, with a Room on the Broom reading.
There was a little set-up for Lightopia, presumably just advertising it since it seems a little underwhelming. Lynne and Gregory duly posed (no doubt under my instruction).
A slightly bizarre shop window set-up as Gregory approaches one of the event organisers either to get his sheet stamped or to show that he had completed it.
Gregory isn't quite tall enough to be a completely scary monster.
For tea, we made our way to TGI Fridays, where there was a spooky motorbike. Either that or it is drastically in need of a clean.
Gregory straight away tucks into his chips...
...as well as a hot dog that is bigger than his face. Well, his dad is conveniently located nearby in case he can't manage it all.
Satiated with our evening meal, we headed back through Piccadilly Gardens, where the fountain was lit in lilac.
And the final word from this day goes to a well-lit spooky ghost.
We're getting ever close to Halloween now so time to get some pumpkins (obviously anything collected in Scotland didn't make their way south of the border) ready for the big day (not that it is a particularly big day but it certainly seems to be dominating this page thus far).
Crazy kid with crazy hair after a bath (he probably hadn't moved to showers by this point).
Into November, and an unusual sleeping posture to report on. Whilst certainly not anywhere near as crazy as the positions Daisy used to get into, he has managed to curl round with the pillow ON TOP of him rather than under his head.
These look pretty amazing. I presume they are Gregory's efforts from painstakingly colouring in some shapes.
The next day, we take a trip to the local steak restaurant, Miller & Carter, where Gregory is having a rump steak.
The next weekend, Charles and Sally came round for tea (having originally planned, it seems, to come round the weekend before). Gregory and Lucy are engaged in some colouring, which all seems very measured.
Somewhat less measured, they engage in some Nintendo Wii action with Ollie and Daisy also present.
The next day, Gregory helps me clear up some of the leaves. Very useful to have him around.
The next day, we go out into the back garden to play some cricket, with Gregory getting very leg side to play an extravagant inside-out cover drive. Probably.
A few days later and Gregory is treated to Daisy reading him a bedtime story. Always good to get relieved of duty, although it would only be a matter of time before Gregory would just read by himself and those moments would be gone. Be careful what you wish for.
For Aunty Katie's birthday, we headed round to her house, where Gregory is writing something out and looking quite sophisticated and grown-up in doing so, were he not so titchy.
That will do for now.
And in a blink of the eye, we are back, just in time for the start of December, where it is advent calendar a-go-go. Three is plenty. Gregory fixes me with his best gormless grin.
Later that day, we trotted into Heaton Moor, where they had closed off the street to put a number of features there, including this merry-go-round which Gregory appears to be enjoying more than Daisy.
There was a building in which Santa sat giving out his usual array of selection boxes.
With Christmas spirit in full swing (permitted in December but not before), it's time to put up the tree. Gregory doesn't seem quite so excited about it as Daisy is. If that is excitement.
Gregory looks as if to say "decorate this!". If he could stand there for the entirety of the Christmas period then he would be a good decorative feature.
Later that evening, a pouting Batman dances in the bathroom for reasons uncertain.
A week on and we headed to Dunham Massey for a Percy feature. We listened to him tell us a story and then posed for photos with the children. The kids seem to have secured some sort of cuddly toy.
It's past 11 o'clock and therefore time for elevenses and, for Gregory, a gigantic chocolate cookie.
One of the Percy-related features was a treasure hunt, which the kids got into.
Posing with Percy and his furry friends.
The gigantic cookie consumed in the morning obviously inspired them to do more cooking. Gregory takes a bit of a back seat as his big sister takes control of the brown sugar pouring, with Gregory keeping an eye on the weight measurement.
Here's where he can get more involved, putting splodges of cookie mixture onto a baking sheet.
This is what they turned out like - they look pretty good!
In the middle of the week, Gregory had his school Christmas show. He is sat at the back in the middle, with a few of them sporting mouse masks.
They were then called to the front of the stage to do their bit.
That evening, we had a visit from Mamaa and Grandad (they were staying for a few days, conveniently babysitting while Lynne and I went to see Ride the next day after a work Christmas lunch). We offered up a smorgasbord of quiche, meats and salad for tea.
On the Saturday, we headed to Lightopia at Heaton Park, where Gregory hovers near his age.
Later on, he has a go on a musical light show - presumably it played a different sound or note each time you pressed on a button, or perhaps it just lit up.
Time for sustenance and, continuing a theme, Gregory goes for an enormous sausage. The big question is: will he finish it? We'll never know because I don't have a record of it. But probably.
It must be a cold evening as Gregory and Mamaa are wrapped up warm as Gregory looks upon a lit archway.
The next weekend and we head round to Waterdale Close, the home of Nana Sue. She does not feature here: instead, it is Aunty Katie playing Jenga with them, although Gregory is more interested in the salty snacks, as is his wont.
The best way to start Christmas Eve is with a boiled egg and soldiers. Absolute classic.
Other standard Christmas Eve activities including preparing the food for the big day (we were hosting). Here they are both eagerly crumbling Oreo cookies into the mixer ready for my preparation of one of my default Christmas desserts: salted chocolate tart, as designed by Nigella. It's easy to make, super rich and therefore perfect for Christmas. Who needs Christmas pudding?
What is perhaps less traditional is to get a takeaway curry on Christmas Eve, but that is what we have done. It's actually a very logical decision given the amount of cooking that is needed for the next day - avoiding cooking the night before is entirely natural.
Gregory wasn't at this point (and still isn't massively, at the age of 10) a big fan of curry itself. He instead tended to focus on the beige foods, although he does like the chicken tikka pieces so I always order a few of those. They may well be featuring in this huge naan sandwich, but they are obscured by the vast amount of bread on show.
He seems to be pretty pleased here with his chip naan concoction, and why not.
It's fast approaching midnight and all is ready for the next day (this is Gregory's door, in case you wanted explicit confirmation).
Mid-morning on Christmas Day and Gregory is wondering why his PlayStation controller isn't working too well, before realising that it is in fact made of chocolate. Which has its own benefits of course (and indeed some of the controller appears to have been nibbled at).
A fair Christmas Day and Gregory's enthusiasm for cricket meant that we ended up outside (not the worst idea given all the calories consumed). Gregory prepares himself for another offside shot while Uncle Graham is the gingerly crouching wicket keeper.
Batsman turns bowler, this time gunning for young Mark Barlow, gamely wearing a yellow paper Christmas hat. He's all-in with the festivities.
Boxing Day is reserved for spending more time with your presents. Here, Gregory is showing off a Fitbit watch. I don't know how long he wore this for, but it was fun while it lasted.
With it being, well not dry, but it's not raining, we head outdoors for yet more cricket action. With Gregory having been enthused by England's maiden ODI World Cup win in the summer (I had to wait much longer for their first win in this format), this was a regular feature (as was Gregory stepping way outside the stumps to the legside).
On Boxing Boxing Day, we head round to Suze's, where the kids hang out with the wins and other assorted children (well, one extra one).
And on Boxin... never mind, it's just the day after the last one, and we headed to Auntie Judy's and Uncle Jim's for more family stuff. Gregory is showing off his Connect 4 talents.
The next day again and we can be found in Platt Fields, scene of the South Manchester parkrun. Well, it would be if it hadn't been cancelled. I hadn't checked the Facebook page beforehand and so was unaware of this until we got there. Still, we did one anyway, with the kids finishing one and two.
The energy burnt by running 2km in the morning meant a brunchtastic serving of boiled egg and soldiers.
It's the day before New Year's Eve, and we have been visited (better than saying invaded) by the Rowllings. The kids seem to be doing "cheers" at the end of the table and basically ignoring me. There were slightly more aligned photos but I've already put the best one on this page so I decided to go with a different one to mix it up. I'm a bit crazy like that.
And that will do for now.
Back straight away into the action, and it is some gaming action, as Uncle Paul had brought down his big arcade games machine, which we hooked up to the TV. Gregory and Jessica are playing the classic beat-em-up, The Simpsons.
The next day, New Year's Eve, we headed to the Plaza for a panto, having walked down into Stockport.
After the excitement of the panto (can't remember what it was), we headed to Zizzi (basically next door). Gregory looks up from his hangman game to see what Uncle Paul is doing with Becky and Daisy.
Ah it's the old "find some presents on New Year's Day and stick them on your head" routine. Tradition runs deep in this house.
Gaming is also a tradition, with Becky and Gregory playing on the PlayStation (obviously the 3,000 games or whatever on the arcade machine weren't quite enough). You could at least use the remote controllers to sit on the sofa while playing (not that being on their knees is as much of an effort as it is for us oldies).
We leap ahead the small matter of 10 days and an evening meal at I Knead Pizza, a place in Reddish where they make lovely pizza. It's owned by Daisy's (at one point, best) friend's uncle. Gregory needs no excuse to tuck into a pizza. This one counts as relatively adventurous as it has a topping of ham over and above margherita.
Unfortunately, my photos of Gregory's assembly are a little over-exposed, but it looks like Gregory on the far left. Can't remember what they talked about, sorry.
We celebrated Avis getting to 65 by going to Miller & Carter (she wasn't there, but it's the thought that counts). Gregory tucks in eagerly to his rump steak, although I am slightly worried that is eating all the steak before tackling the chips. (In fact, that may even be his strategy, as kids tend to go food type by food type rather than experiencing the joy of blending flavours together - but they will learn.)
The next day, we headed to Uncle Matt's. I'm not entirely sure what Gregory is reacting too here. I think Uncle Matt has got them a couple of mini drones and he is attempting to get it working. I think we tried them out in the house for a bit but they could be particularly destructive.
To avoid any (further) damage of Uncle Matt's furniture (amusing now considered in the context of having two of his kids around the place), we took the drones outside. This is what I expect Gregory is looking at. In the background, the stunning views from his side lawn.
The next weekend, Gregory headed to a birthday party for which I have very few details. Whoever it was for (looking at other years, the timing suggests that it could have been Felix's party), he was ready for action, with helmet, elbow pads and knee pads offering protection.
So part of the venue was given away to a huge skate and scooter park, which had Gregory in his element.
There were also large trampolines which Gregory, er, appears to be sat on. Looks like they are Graystone Action Sports in Salford (it also features bouldering according to the website). So, like detectives, we've managed to piece together a fair bit of information there. Well done, everyone.
More cricket action in the back garden, with Gregory looking like he has smeared this one into the air, carving it over the offside for a probable six.
Just to illustrate that it doesn't all go his way, here is me bowling him, knocking off the bails, as Gregory looks back in probably anguish. Again, he has made far too much room but there's plenty of time to work on his technique (he has yet to have cricket coaching at this stage, other than my ramblings in the back garden).
Later that day, we headed to Chorlton to go out for a meal with the Wards. Here Gregory plays some kind of Connect 4 on paper game with Ollie...
...and then tucks into a chocolate dessert with Lucy.
This is some of Gregory's meticulous colouring. A lot of patience must have been shown to do this.
This just shows how unbelievably skinny he can look. We do feed him, honest. In reality, both Matt and I looked like this at similar ages. All ribs.
Here's a good example. It's the middle of February and Gregory is tucking into a buffet by himself. It looks like Lynne was out so I had laid on a spread for the kids. There are at least some fruit and vegetables to counter the beigeness.
The next weekend, Gregory has a 70s vibe going on, whilst wearing a Cars T-shirt.
As I have mentioned before, Gregory's takeaway curries essentially distil into naan bread, chicken tikka and chips. This is no exception as he urgently shoves a chip in. This is on the leap day and what better way of celebrating it than with a curry?
We're into March now and the improved weather means we can get the football goals out. It's mano a mano. Or perhaps mano a boyo (albeit that would be a misunderstanding of the original phrase, it says here).
Gregory looks on, shocked that the ball is being kept out of the net by invisible forces. Certainly not by me, as my goalkeeper technique of standing behind the net needs a rethink.
There is a look in his eyes that says "really? You're taking another photo of me?". But he looks quite trendy and his slightly-out-of-control hair works well here.
With it being March, it's time for Daisy's birthday, and specifically her party. There's more on this on Daisy's 9th birthday page, but this is a game where each player rolls a die and, if they get a six, the have to don a hat, scarf and gloves and then cut up some chocolate with a knife and fork. They then get to eat whatever they cut up. Gregory finally gets a go and is finding it tricky to cut up the chocolate.
As if they hadn't had enough chocolate, it's time to dip anything you can find into the chocolate fountain. Gregory, at least, has picked some healthy mango to dip in there.
A week later and Gregory is busying himself with some Lego action. He would go through a phase, in a couple of years, where his enthusiasm for Lego disappeared completely, but then he rediscovered it when about 9 years old.
Later that day, we head to Manchester Road park. With the cricket season approaching (surely nothing will stop it from happening), Gregory's keenness for cricket is undimmed.
Playing cricket is thirsty work of course, so we headed to the Hinds Head pub, which conveniently lies in between the park and our house. Daisy's pads suggest that she has been skateboarding. I'm always very happy to consume a pint of Moretti with some salty snacks.
Gregory finds the toy box and gets to work, with all the cars obtained for some vrooming action.
We finish this little update with yet another photo of Gregory eating chicken tikka, chips and naan bread. He does have other things, honest.
Tune in soon for more of the same!
Here is more of the same! Well, not quite. Because we had now entered the COVID lockdown period. At the weekend, we took ourselves off to Tegg's Nose in Macclesfield for some fresh air and some careful avoiding of other people. This trip was hastily decided upon when it was no longer allowed for the Wards to come round as planned, nor for Lynne to go to her cinema night.
One of my favourite Gregory photos. Lovely scenery in the background. Messy-haired, contemplative cherub in the foreground.
After our brief rest, it was time to test their hill scrambling abilities. Gregory takes an early lead.
Next day was Mother's Day, for which the kids had accumulated (no doubt with my help), chocolates, flowers and home-made cards. And a cup of tea just hidden there.
Here is a close-up of the card the kids had written on the flowers (presumably it's mostly Daisy's writing).
And what better way to spend Mother's Day than upping your batting average against some underarm back garden bowling. Information on where this ball was smashed does not exist.
On the Sunday, with home schooling (argh) starting the next day, we got things set up, including lesson planning, timetables and stationery accumulation.
And then the home schooling started. At first, they were diligent. I played a school bell on my phone and they assembled in the lounge at 9am sharp, then sitting at the table and getting down to it. Their diligence remained reasonably solid for a couple of weeks, but then the Easter holidays came and broke the concentration. With lockdown in full flow, they spent the entire Easter fortnight at home and not home school, and then suddenly the lines were blurred and they were less amenable to doing school work in quite the same volume.
One way to keep them occupied was the Joe Wicks lockdown workout, which the kids got into. I did one of them properly and the number of squats I did meant that my thighs were sore for days afterwards. Never again.
Of course, there is always cricket, especially since lockdown was greeted with a serendipitous period of warm, dry weather. Here, Gregory appears to have gotten wise to the flick round the corner. A solid scoring zone but a bit of a pain since it was hard to set a field for with not many of us playing.
Recalled a time from my childhood (more on this in a second), we got a big roll of paper laid out in the back garden for them to paint whatever they liked. This again is a sign of good weather as it's not the kind of thing that you can do on a changeable day, particularly when we're still in March. My shadow features as a photography mistake. Anyway, back to my childhood. I seem to remember Nana Sue doing something similar for Matt and me. However, we got bored with painting the paper and decided that decorating the wall with paint was more fun. It was not well received. Thankfully, my children are better behaved and more respectful.
What I heard from you was that we hadn't had a photo of Gregory eating chicken tikka with naan bread for quite a while, so I thought I would include a photo, lest you forget what it looks like. A slight change in feature was the inclusion of chicken pakora (basically chicken tikka nuggets) and no chips (which is surely a temporary oversight).
And we're back to a Joe Wicks workout again, getting them going on the Thursday morning. It's entirely fitting, given it's lockdown, that you are being subjected to a cycle of the same sort of photos. Workouts, cricket and curry photos, rinse and repeat. Deal with it. At least you can go round to people's houses now, take a trip to the cinema, go and watch a live band. We couldn't.
It's not always cricket, of course. The football nets were getting much use. It looks like Gregory has broken away with the ball and Daisy is jogging back to defence, resigned to conceding a goal. And lovely sunny weather again.
I've no idea of the specific reason for these faces. Gregory seems mildly amused as Daisy gasps in wonder. Perhaps it's a reaction to it being Friday night and there being a break from home schooling for a couple of days at least.
On a day that Daisy was going to have a band thing in Rotherham, and Lynne and I were meant to be going to see the Lightning Seeds at the Ritz (both cancelled), I instead made do with watching Gregory read. Something to do, I suppose.
Right, you moppy-haired boy, it's time for those locks to be trimmed.
Of course, it wasn't me doing that job, it was Lynne. Gregory didn't completely enjoy it, but as with all things, it will be over at some point.
A quick change of top later (no-one wants to wear a hair-infested T-shirt: so itchy), and Gregory was tea-potting to show off his new hairstyle.
Home school was well done by 4pm on the Monday, so Gregory snacked while looking at his tablet.
One local feature of the lockdown was the Heaton Bears. The residents here would set up ever more extravagant displays of bears in their front garden. Here, the kids are checking them out (with Lynne I think). I went past it numerous times while out on a run, which happened a lot during lockdown. I had a chat with them at one point - one of them would normally be setting up live gigs (if I remember correctly) and so had much less to do now, so why not throw yourself into this. The amount of stuff that they would bring out was pretty amazing over time. There are a few examples here. It was sight to behold and something that helped keep us going.
As did Joe Wicks. Well it kept them jumping around anyway.
Something which Gregory is studiously avoiding here. He seems to be stood stock still, refusing to jump while I have my phone out. Spoilsport.
Another feature of lockdown was AJ drinking lots of red wine. Sorry, what I mean is, people did quizzes, and the Allens and Barlows were no exception. This was a multi-hosted quiz, which meant that each team did a round. I can't remember who won.
One thing that we could still do was head down to the park to play football. Gregory in net was the most commanding figure but then I wasn't going to blast it either. One feature of the trips to the park was that I would try to get in my "one trip out" to incorporate my one piece of exercise per day, so I would often run round the (relatively small) park again and again, getting dizzy whilst doing so. (In fact, Boris Johnson's lockdown pronouncement of saying that we could (at most) one piece of outdoor exercise per day sent me on a very literal interpretation of that. I would proceed to put together a consecutive 500-day sequence of exercise (cycling, running or swimming for at least 30 minutes each day), ending in the summer of 2021. Would that ever be beaten... (spoiler alert: yes).
This isn't actually from April, as you can probably tell by the distressingly close proximity of everyone - it's just when I noticed it on, and grabbed it from, the Facebook page of the South Manchester Junior Parkrun. This is right at the start, just as the race has started. I am over on the left, starting my watch on a rainy day. Gregory is in red just to the right of me and Daisy is hidden behind the women in blue.
A key feature of the home schooling was knowing that we had an official logo, seemingly designed by Gregory (only on the basis that it is in Gregory's photo folders, but of course that is not a guarantee).
This might be part of Gregory's bowling run-up. Looking back now, when he is 10, he has a long run-up and fearsome pace (for his age). This may have been the start of the development of his smooth bowling action, since he was yet to have coaching. (In fact, lockdown ruined his first potential year of cricket at Heaton Mersey Cricket Club, but more on that later, I think.)
His batting technique is obviously still pretty raw, with a gaping hole between pat and legs, but hey it's early days. Daisy prepares to deliver a pacy underarm delivery while I am taking a photo whilst being wicket-keeper.
We signed up to Disney+ (I think around now but I'm not completely sure - seems plausible, though), so Gregory often busied himself with that.
As a variation from cricket and football, we occasionally played a game of boules.
Or the International Boules Competition, as it is very possibly known. It looks like Gregory and I are tied for the lead, with 5 points, with Daisy on 2 and Lynne bringing up the rear on 1. Daisy appears to have drawn in some emojis (I am guessing it's her - I think it's a pretty safe guess).
But that's enough boules, time for some proper football action.
And indeed for the end of the year. Let's see next how Gregory managed to spend his 6th birthday in lockdown, sniff.
Back to the Secret Portal.