Review: Gangsta Granny at the Bristol Hippodrome

We were absolutely thrilled to be asked to review Gangsta Granny, the stage adaptation of David Walliams' fantastic book. We love going to the theatre and, having read all the David Walliams books, L couldn't wait to see how it transferred to the stage. I wasn't worried about a children's show being less appealing for the grown ups. Walliams has proven to be a visual comic genius and there is no way he was going to let us down in the laugh department. I was not disappointed and neither was L. He was absolutely transfixed for the whole two hours and so was every other child in the nearly full theatre.

BrickBox Subscription Box Review

Lego and other compatible building sets will always be popular with children. They're just so entertaining in the way they capture the imagination with the endless building possibilities and ideas. Every parent knows how much children love getting post, it's a joy that sadly diminishes with age and the onset of many bills, but in a child, it's still a moment of pure excitement, when they realise a letter or parcel is for them. So, when we were asked to review a Brickbox box, all the way from the Netherlands, I was very keen to see how excited L would be to receive post that turned out to be Lego. Life doesn't get much better than that when you are 11!

Stop Naming Terrorists - We Don't Care

Yesterday, I wrote about the bomb blast in Manchester and how I felt that it was pointless for many reasons. One of those reasons was that the cause, or the perpetrators, would not be remembered, only the innocent and the brave who were caught up in the atrocity. Then, this morning, all over the news, were all the details of the 'loser', to quote Mr Trump (yes, I know, only sensible thing he's ever said!) and it made me really angry. Why are we giving them what they want? Why do we care what his name was or when his birthday is? The mindset of anyone who could commit an atrocity like this is to make a name for themselves, so why are we giving them that opportunity? Stop naming terrorists!

Manchester #WeStandTogether

I went to bed early last night, so it wasn't until this morning that I woke up to the horrific news from Manchester Arena. There are no words are there? There are no words that will do anything to ease the pain for those families, the ones with missing children, the ones who are coming to terms with losing a loved one. Nothing anyone can say will make it any better for any of them. Not even the ones that maybe weren't hurt, the 'lucky ones'. Those people, most of them very young, will carry the memories, the emotional scars of what happened, probably forever. And for what? What can it possibly achieve? I just don't get it. I don't understand the point of it at all.

Three Girls; A Difficult, but Worthwhile Watch

I thought about whether or not to watch this three part drama for so long, all three parts were available on iPlayer by the time I got around to it. I knew it was always going to be a difficult watch, but in the end, I felt I owed it to them, after everything they went through, to at least hear their story. Which might sound daft, but there it is. If, like me, you are struggling with whether or not to give it a go, whether it will be too much, or too graphic, I wanted to give you my take on it, now that I've seen it. I think it's very important viewing, as it happens. Here's what I learned. Oh, and I'm going to try and write this with no spoilers, I'll come back and let you know how that worked out when I've finished. Edit: Nailed it!

Win a Motor Mania Mega Garage Centre

Gino's Generalisations - 'Fussy' isn't Always a Choice

It's a common bugbear amongst experienced parents, when other people pass judgement on your parenting skills, your children's behaviour, or any other aspect of your family life. It's not actually limited to parenting, no one likes to be judged by people who have not walked in their shoes. For the purposes of keeping this short, though, I am going to focus on the particularly superior and judge-y parent-bashers, who think they know best. Some are parents, some are not and one is a famous celebrity chef who jolly well ought to know better. I don't have any pictures of Gino D'Acampo, so I will be illustrating this post with cake, although my son would not eat it if it had jam in the middle, because he doesn't like jam. So there.

My Sunday Photo: Sunset Over the Severn