In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

JJ Daddy-O

Ever since I first encounter JJ Daddy-O I was suspicious of him. This guy claims to live in the American South, and yet he seems to know a remarkable amount about British popular culture. Could it be that he’s stringing me a line and is really from Barnsley or Hull? Could he even be my next door neighbour secretly stalking me?

But then I saw a couple of comments he left over at Arjan’s blog where he exhibited a comprehensive knowledge of Dutch culture too. So it seem’s he isn’t actually a stalker, he just bloody knows everything.

Unfortunately JJ Daddy-O is another of those irritating bloggers who post far less often than their readers would wish (this is the direct opposite to Ian, who’s readers are getting together to create a petition to demand him to stop). But when JJ Daddy-O does post it’s always an interesting read.

But perhaps more vitally he’s a fantastic presence on both Twitter and in the comments sections of other blogs. He’s knowledgeable, cool, smart, and funny. Every blogging community should have a guru figure like JJ.

Jo Beaufoix

What can I say about Jo that hasn’t been said already? Not a great deal as she quickly becomes a beloved blogger of everyone she encounters.

Forget the pretenders, Jo is the true queen of the British mummy bloggers. She is warm, heartfelt, funny, and honest. She also obviously spent far too much time watching Vic and Bob as a youth as a surreal and silly humour permeates nearly every post she writes.

I’ve met Jo on a couple of occasions, and my wife Kerry has also struck up a friendship with her. She’s been incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about the walk, and I very much see her as one of the key participants.

Jo’s taking a break from blogging currently. However I have it on good authority that she’ll be back. And the blogosphere will be a warmer and more wonderful place when she is.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Idaho Dad

Idaho Dad started his blog A Family Runs Through It way back in 2004. That’s some seriously old school blogging. I mean the internet wasn’t even invented until 2005! (or something like that. I forget).

He’s certainly been a visitor to this blog almost since the start, and has always been both an inspiration and a source of encouragement to me. He probably won’t remember this, but he once sent me an incredibly supportive email during the middle of my mid-blog crisis about having the confidence to expand the scope of topics here on All That comes With It, and as a result lead directly to me improving both the quality and the enjoyment I get from writing this blog.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that without Idaho Dad I’d probably have quit blogging by now. Wether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on your perception.

Idaho Dad’s also been incredibly supportive of the walk and has proved an invaluable sounding board to bounce ideas off. In fact it was a comment about how he’d have liked to come along on the last walk that sparked off the idea to post an open invite here on the blog.

Wow. Thanks man.

Over on his blog Idaho Dad posts about life, the universe, and everything; but mainly focusing on his kids, homeschooling, and great children’s music. He’s a good man, and one I can’t recommend getting to know highly enough. Even if he does have a dodgy beard

ImPerceptible

ImPerceptible from ImPerceptibility is another homeschooler. But like Idaho Dad she’s not one of those scary fundamentalist christian homeschoolers. She describes herself as an Educational Anarchist, and I’m sure that moniker fits very well.

Actually I’m not entirely sure if she is homeschooling or not at the moment. But even if she isn’t, the attitude is still there.

I must admit that I’m a little intimidated by ImPerceptible. She’s artistic, intelligent, funny, literate and a free thinker; and sometimes I wonder if that in real life I’ll be able to keep up. She’s like one of those really cool kids in school – not the ones that hang around in the “in-crowd”, but those that just seem incredibly comfortable and self assured in their own skin. To quote Douglas Adams “They really know where their towel is”.

It’s quite possible that I’ve completely misread her, and that she’s as much of a bundle of social awkwardness and insecurities as the rest of us. Or maybe not.

Still, even if she does turn out to be too cool for school (ha! see what i did there?), I’m still looking forward to meeting her and her husband when they fly over for the walk in July. Because in every contact I’ve had with her she’s come across as a warm and lovely individual.

My only criticism is that she doesn’t blog enough. The blogosphere needs more imperceptibility in it.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Gary

Gary writes over at the blog Jerry Chicken. If you haven’t yet visited him over there then you really should. Not only does he write wonderfully (in a style reminiscent of a rather more masculine Alan Bennet) but he also paints some absolutely wonderful pictures. Just look at one of the ones he auctioned off in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust in 2007:

Stunning.

I first came across Gary via the blogroll of a now retired blogger (anyone remember Island Girl?) and quickly decided that the quality of his writing was well worth abandoning my usual “no following bloggers within 15 miles of me” rule (a rule that has now been well and truely smashed with Rol, Steve, Insomniac Mummy, and Richard).

Gary’s blog is unusual in that much of it’s focus is anecdotes from his past. Mind you, as an elderly fifty odd year old I suppose he has more past to for mine stories from than most. Still, his presence in my feedreader is refreshing and often cleans the palette when I tire of reading about toddlers, memes, and the latest blogging scandals.

Gary has heroically offered to lead and organise his own splinter group of Hadrian’s Walkers: Team Gnu – who will be tackling the whole thing perched on bicycles. I’m not sure if that will be easier or harder to be honest.

Ian

Ian from Single Parent Dad is also a hero. He is single handedly raising his son Max after his wife died back in 2005 when he was just a baby. And he’s doing a damn good job of it too. Although I’m sure he’d argue that there is nothing heroic about it – he’s just doing what needs to be done.

Unfortunately as well as being a hero, Ian is also a complete and utter spanner. In the last three hours alone he has called me “dickweed”, “knobcheese”, and several other vulgarities that I don’t wish to sully my blog with at this time. And all this in the course of me trying to be friendly and arrange meeting up over half term holidays. The man is truly a fartknocker of the lowest caliber.

I am proud to say that I sort of “discovered” Ian’s blog. He’d been doing it for a while when I stumbled across him, but had made no effort to gain any readers. I encouraged him to engage in the wider blogosphere and now he’s more popular than me, the swine.

Ian has come up to visit us in Huddersfield , and we traveled down to see him in Birmingham on on quite a few occasions now (face it Ian, you live in Birmingham). And just in case you can’t see though all the bluster, I really value his friendship.

Well, sort of. I like his house anyhow, and Max has pretty some cool toys.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Ed

Ed over at Little m Long a is a fellow nurse, although he gave all that stuff up a few years ago to concentrate on being a full time stay-at-home dad. To say I’m jealous would be an understatement. Saying that however I’m not sure I could cope with everything Ed does. He’s got five kids. Yes five. And the two youngest are twins.

How he has time to blog astounds me.

Ed used to write over at the blog Zoë’s Dad, but recently he’s shifted camps and set up home at Little m Long a (a reference to how you pronounce his last name). He was always a great blogger, but since moving he’s become even better. He has a lyrical and poetic flavour to his writing which is a joy to read.

Ed is one of the cornerstones of the little blogging community that I feel part of, and the fact he’s coming over all the way from America to join the walk is extremely exciting. And I know that his participation has been one of the things that’s spurred a few others to join too.

Looking forward to meeting you Ed. Even if you do have rather dubious tastes in tie-dyed t-shirts

Erin

Erin from the blog The Fierce Beagle asked me to point out that she will be the second youngest person coming on the walk after Arjan. And that’s true. She is the second youngest, even if she doesn’t look it.

I’ve already waxed lyrical about how much I like Erin’s blog, so I don’t want to swell her head any more with my praise. I will just say The Fierce Beagle is a fantastic read and you really should have her in your blogroll.

Oh, and her site is one of the most nicely designed I’ve come across. I especially like the sparkly header.

Erin’s another one who’s coming over from America to join the walk. She’s even dragging her husband Noah with her, which is rather cool as he sounds like just my sort of guy (a geek). He’s a police officer too, just like T J Hooker. Very exciting.

I am trying very hard to resist making jokes about nightsticks, so I think I should probably leave it there.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine posts I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Clair

Clair writes over at Moon in the Gutter, and before that she blogged at Sad Sweet Songs. And if you can show me two better names for blogs than that then I’d like to see them.

I’m not entirely sure how Clair and I first became aware of each other, but I suspect it was because we’re both readers of the rather excellent Becky’s T-blog (probably he finest British transvestite blog in the world. Who said blogging wasn’t diverse).

Clair is a comedy geek. A serious comedy geek. She has a passion for the Goodies and for I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue that puts my own fandom to shame. She’s also seen comedians live that I’d give my left arm to see (give my left arm to, but not travel down to London for apparently). She’s even seen Daniel Kitson who is on my all time wish list.

And of course she’s been one of the superstar DJs on my kids podcasts (and has also contributed to episode 2, which will air as soon as I get my arse in gear to put it together)

She also takes damn good photos.

Dad Who Writes

What can I say about Dad Who Writes that adequately sums up my feelings towards him? Ah yes, I know…

Dad Who Writes for President of the Internet!

Intelligent, knowledgeable, fascinating, cultured, and honest. What’s not to like about this man? Sure, some of his posts might go over my head on occasion (he blogs about Dante’s Inferno for gods sake. I blog about my top ten superheros), but he never fails in having something interesting to say.

I find him most interesting however when he talks about the anthropology of blogging, especially after the periodic storms in teacups that the community seems to go through at regular intervals. He is able to be simultaneously diplomatic, independent, insightful, and spot on the mark. Pretty impressive stuff.

He’s also a damn good photographer, although hasn’t posted anything like that up for a while (if at all now I come to think of it. I may have only seen his stuff on flickr). In fact so far every blogger I’ve featured here has an interest in photography. At this rate there is going to be a pretty impressive photo album of the walk.

But above all, Dad Who Writes comes across as an honest man writing about fatherhood. He doesn’t only report the sugary stuff, nor does he preach about the way he thinks others should do it. He just talks openly about the struggles of parenting that we all go through every day.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Arjan from Dutchnid

On my trip to Wisconsin last year I was talking to my friend Greg about the people who comment on the blog.

“That Arjan” he observed “comes across like a really nice guy”.

Never a truer word was said.

Arjan is our sole Dutch walker (unless you count Martin, who’s Irish really), and at 25 is the youngest member of Team Ocelot. He’s unfailingly warm, pleasant, enthusiastic, and supportive. And his English is a hell of a lot better than my Dutch.

Arjan blogs rather sporadically over at Dutchnid. He writes about a variety of stuff, Warhammer 40k, Dutch culture, photography, films, and his every day life. I’m always pleased when I see that he’s posted in my feedreader, and only wish he’d do so more often. His posts highlighting models he has painted always fascinate me. No mater what your opinion on the merits of wargaming, you can’t deny that painting this level of detail on a figure only a couple of inches high is anything but amazing:

Arjan’s blog is a window into another world, similar – but also very different to my own (Sinterklaas? what on earth is all that about then!?).

I’m pretty sure I first encountered Arjan over at Lee’s blog, although it was so long ago now I can’t really say for sure. Our friendship is a good example of how blogging can bring together disparate people who never would have met otherwise. I’m glad we did meet though, and I’m very much looking forward to doing so in person this July.

Cathrine from Some Vague Utopia

Cathrine wasn’t a blogger before signing up to Hadrian’s Walk – but she thought she may as well start one up seeing as though half the other walkers have one. You can now find her over at her wonderful blog Some Vague Utopia

If I remember rightly we first “met” in my comments section when she responded to one of my rant’s about misery memoirs.

There is another connection however. Both she and her fiance Richard are friends of Oli Walker, one of the original Dales Walkers. Still there is no reason to hold that against them, and I’m extremely pleased that both of them are coming on the walk. Especially as they have decided to arrange their own accommodation and food, thereby not acting as contributory factors to my impending nervous breakdown.

Considering she’s only just started, Catherine has managed to avoid all the pit traps of the novice blogger. She’s forgone all the tales of what she had for lunch at Debinhams cafe and painfuly dreary accounts of the dream she had last night, and gone straight in with interesting posts, wonderful prose, and beautiful photos.

The swine.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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It’s All That Come’s With It’s blogiversary today. Four years old, can you believe it. And still no signs of slowing down.

Well, ok, there might be some signs of slowing down. Like the fact I used to post daily and now it’s generally two or three times a week. Or that I’ve had all the ingredients for a new special kids podcast for a month now, yet I still haven’t got round to putting them all together.

But that’s not due to a lack of enthusiasm. I’m still as excited about blogging as I ever was. I just spread myself around a bit more these days, that’s all. Take the Midnight Movie Club for example – who knew that talking about popcorn movies from the 80’s and 90’s with a Aussie reprobate would be so much fun?

And then of course there’s this Hadrian’s Walk thing.

Five years ago my very good friends Neil and Rachael lost their three year old son, Joseph. He died of streptococcal pneumonia. There were no warning signs. He wasn’t ill when they put him to bed. But when they went to wake him up in the morning he was gone.

I can’t even bare to imagine how that feels.

Joseph

Determined to grasp something positive out of such a tragedy, Neil and Rachael founded the Joseph Salmon Trust in their son’s name. If he wasn’t to be able to reach his full potential to leave his mark on the world, then they would do it for him.

The Trust provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This may be to help with funeral costs, or to allow the self employed a break from work in order to come to terms with their grief. Bereaved families have enough to cope with without the added concern about where they will find the money to pay for a headstone, or pay the next electricity bill if they can’t face going to work.

The Trust deals with each family on a case by case basis, providing help to those who need it most. Families that the charity has helped include that of twelve year old Jordan, who died in a prank gone tragically wrong; and Ryan, a four year old boy brutally murdered as an act of revenge against his mother.

These are horrific, heartbreaking tales. But every single family that the trust helps has a similarly tragic story. There are no “it’s probably for the best”’s when a child dies. No “they had a good innings”. Just heartbreak, despair, and a beautiful hope lost. There is nothing we can do to make things better. But we can do something to stop them getting worse.

Back in 2008 a group of eleven friends and I hiked 76 miles along the Dales Way footpath in aid of the Trust. We raised £6,000, gained a great sense of achievement, and had a fantastic time int he process. Back in June of last year I announced my intention to do it all again. But this time I asked if anyone who visited my blog wanted to come with me.

The response was staggering.

As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on a 86 mile long walk of Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the Trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge. And all this is through the power of a blog.

Now try telling me that you can’t use the internet to make real friends.

Not everyone who is coming on the walk is a blogger themselves. In fact the majority aren’t (although most are friends or family of those who are and are being dragged along for the ride). But over the coming few days I’d like to use my blog to showcase the bloggers who are coming with me. There isn’t one among them that I don’t admire as a writer and a human being, and sometimes I just like to show off about my friends.

If you would like to make a donation to the Joseph Salmon Trust you can do so on our Justgiving Page. All the charities running costs are paid for corporate sponsorship, and so every penny of your donation will go straight to the people who need it most.

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My quest to take over the internet has his a small stumbling block. Apparently there are a finite number of hours in the day and you can’t spend all of them tinkering with the internet. It’s so unfair!

However I have come up with a cunning plan. I shall co-opt others into my quest. If I can’t conquer the net single handedly I shall recruit a mighty army of minions to do so for me.

So, introducing my first minion:

My wife Kerry has just started a blog: Cloud of Starlings. And it’s good. Bloody good. A little TOO good to be honest.

It’s a photo blog. She’s just started Project 365 again (where you have to take a photo every single day of the year), but she’s doing it with a twist – she’s only taking photos with her iphone.

1/365 Self Portrait

I’ve posted previously about her decision to accept the flaws of the notoriously crappy iPhone camera and use it to her artistic advantage. So here’s the evidence of her immense photographic talent:

9/365

12/365 And the crowd goes wild

19/365 Lunchtime fog

20/365 Your face pressed up against the glass

I am very proud of my wife.

Go visit Cloud of Starlings, comment, and subscribe.

Of course I haven’t been resting on my laurels myself. Although most of my work has been going on behind the scenes of Hadrian’s Walk, and so isn’t really available for public viewing as yet (if you are one of the walkers however, make sure you take a look at the various bits and bobs waiting for you on Google Wave).

Of course I’ve always got time for Lee, my antipodean pop culture guru.

Over on the Midnight Movie Club podcast this week Lee and I were joined by Jeff from the blog Caddickisms to discuss the 1982 movie Tron.

It’s staggering when you stop and think about it how the internet has enabled three geeks from three separate continents to come together to talk crap for their own amusement. Al Gore must be incredibly proud.

See the original post here, or hopefully you’ll be able to listen to it below:

 

 Tron [65:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (59)

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It’s a well known scientific fact (made up by me, just now) that at some point in their childhood every human being on this earth has tried mixing orange juice with milk.

As a result of this experiment in rudimentary cocktail making most people have subsequently developed a stomach flipping aversion to the idea of mixing milk and citrus fruit ever again.

So when I saw this bottle of lime flavoured milk-shake on the shelves of our local supermarket I couldn’t quite reconcile it in my brain.

But if they make it then surely they must have at least some hope that someone is going to buy it? I mean yes, it sounds revolting, but maybe it’s one of those hidden gems – like pork scratchings, bananna sandwiches, or that stuff you pick out from between your toes.

So with a bit of encouragement from Evan I bought a bottle.

When I pored it out it’s colour did little to ease my qualms. Greeny white is not a good look for any beverage, especially not one containing milk. In fact it looked so much like something that had been left on top of the radiator for a week that I hatched a delightfully devilish wheeze.

When Kerry came home from work I would be waiting with a glass full of the stuff. I’d wave it in her general direction. Say something like “This milk smells a little funny, do you think it’s ok?”. Then swig the whole thing down, no doubt to the accompaniment of her horrified screams.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

In oder to celebrate my evil genius I took a congratulatory swig. And then promptly spat it out in an explosive spray into the sink.

Ladies and Gentleman, don’t believe the hype. This stuff is the foulest concoction known to man.

Should you too wish to revolt and disgust your wife/husband/loved ones for your own amusement then trust me, you’d be better off using real fetid milk rather than this stuff. I’m pretty sure the aftertaste would be shorter and less acrid.

Amazingly a quick google search shows that there is actually a very vocal bunch of advocates for this flavour on the internet. Some entrepreneurial/delusional soul is even listing it for twice the market value over on ebay.

So if anyone fancies buying a bottle of nearly full Lime Crusha Milkshake Sryup then I’m starting the bidding off at £3.50.

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