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So, I found out on Friday that my daughter has qualified to represent England at the junior dance World Cup in Prague next year. My initial reaction was one of “how the fúck does someone who inherited my genetics have even a modicum of dancing talent!?”, then turned to one of pride, and then...

Travelling to Spain in a couple of weeks with the strife and two kids, and we’re going to need a car. It’s been a little while since I hired a car abroad, with the kids and for an extended period anyway, so thought I’d reach out once more to the NSC massive for a bit of sage advice. What things...

No idea where that time went. Fair to say you lot have done a little bit better than we have in the time since.

So, on Wednesday I’ll be heading to Southampton to attend Grimsby’s first appearance in the 5th round of the FA Cup since 1996, with a good 4,000 or so of my fellow fishy friends. Given the last time we played Southampton in any competition was 5 years before I was born (1978), it’s not an away...

Somewhat inconveniently, it’s the wife’s birthday in a couple of weeks and so we’ve booked a two night trip in London with the kids, 9 and 6 (funny names, yak yak yak). It’s already cost me an arm and a leg for train tickets, hotel and two shows, but I’m so deep in it now I thought we might as...

I think it was Baz Luhrmann who once said: Don't worry about the future Or worry, but know that worrying Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubble gum The real troubles in your life Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind The kind that...

Long story short, we have received a couple of letters to our address chasing a debt of nearly 5 grand owed to Southern Water. The person named on the letter has my wife’s first name and maiden name (by which she hasn’t been known by for a decade), but wrong middle name. It is, of course, not...

Calling the good people of NSC, the place I go to when Google fails to come up with sufficient answers. Cutting to the chase, it’s my lad’s 9th birthday in a couple of weeks. My good lady wife wants to get him a hoverboard, one of those self-balancing, two-wheeled things that I’ve seen kids...

In anticipation of the summer and the forthcoming UK heatwave, I recently invested in a couple of pieces of pretentious garden cooking equipment. Specifically, I went for the Charbroil Cas2Coal 440 bbq and the Ooni Koda pizza oven. Both are now fully assembled ahead of the weekend, however it’s...

Hope there's a quick answer to this. Essentially, I'm trying to complete an ESTA application for entry into the US, however I've reached a stumbling block. The form asks me for my passport issue and expiry date, the correct answers to which are 29th May 2018 and 29th July 2028 - ten years and...

Right, so I’m in the process of selling a property (our former home), and such is the weather lately, the fence has gone and blown down in the wind. We found out after our former neighbour messaged my wife simply saying “YOUR fence has blown down”. Now, having looked into who actually owns the...

So, the Christmas arguments have already begun in the Poojah residence this evening and we’re still three sleeps away from the big day. After last year’s Christmas Eve Ocado substitution shít show, we decided to run the Omicron gauntlet and go out and shop in an actual, real life supermarket -...

Massive long shot as I say, but NSC rarely fails to come up trumps with an answer to niche problems. In tonight's edition, about a year ago or so we kitted our new house out with some furniture designed by a specialist interiors firm, with the brief that we wanted something which looked modern...

Just happened across this interesting and heartwarming documentary about Wolves striker Raul Jimenez’s injury and recovery, following a serious clash of heads against Arsenal last year. Worth 30 minutes of your time. Easy to forget sometimes that footballers are just normal people with normal...

I’ve been listening to an audiobook of his new book, Hooked, whilst working this week. He charts his 30+ year battle with alcohol, drug and gambling addiction and dear oh dear oh dear, what an absolute, unmitigated car crash that man’s life has been. Stumbling, quite literally at times, from one...

Apologies if I’ve missed a thread on this, but some pretty distressing images and figures coming out of Germany (and other parts of Europe) following horrendous floods. Now over 100 people confirmed dead and still hundreds unaccounted for. I’ve witnessed some significant floods in the UK, but...

Quick precursor - I am, as my wife regularly tells me, “a fúcking useless man”. Certainly, if we’re happy to resort to the kind of classic gender stereotyping that blokes are good with drills and hammers and such like then that much is true. I am not good with drills and hammers. Or...

Let me just get this out of the way: this post is about autism spectrum disorders in children, one of which happens to be known as PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). I appreciate that sounds less entertaining than jokes about...

Well, whilst the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks looks decidedly dogy for May, I've decided to embrace social mobility and my newfound middle class-ness and invest in some premium garden cooking equipment. And where better to go for some advice than the sages of NSC? You've not...

Anyone watching this later? Though I’m slightly miffed that the starting price for PPV boxing is now £20, regardless of what’s on the line (AJ v Fury will be at least £30 should it ever happen) I’m also feeling rather bored and the fight is at least intriguing in that Whyte (who I like a lot) is...