Thursday, 8 January 2026
Wednesday, 7 January 2026
Friendly Thoughts - Just Siblings
Siblings. They've been on this planet since the beginning of our time on Earth. There were cave siblings, Roman siblings, Greek siblings and Georgian siblings. But when I think of siblings, I always think of my dog as a sibling to me - me? I'm Horrid Henry. My dog? Perfect Peter.
It all started yesterday at lunch, when we were fighting over air-fryer cooked chicken nuggets - I can talk, Mylo can't so he can't scream "MUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!" like Perfect Peter does. And this morning, we were fighting over Shreddies because it kept spilling on my pyjamas like Adult Swim-produced toxic waste. We were fighting over who gets the bowl of milk as I took it into the kitchen, and as a result my dog ripped up a pair of my pyjamas so I had to lure him away with TreatOs.
As for Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter themselves, their aggressive relationships continue throughout every single book their creator Francesca Simon spews out - so much so that we have repeated catchphrases, the yell of "Don't be horrid, Henry!", and sometimes the occasional repeat of the time when Horrid Henry read some books, or engaged in a bake off, or...I can't even remember that. However in the TV show, Horrid Henry and Peter's relationship slowly changed.
At the beginning of the series, which remained faithful to the original books, Henry and Peter were fighting a lot, but when the series was toned down to feature stuff like modern technology and Number Gnomes and Fimbles references, Henry and Peter suddenly got on very well, and almost every single episode produced at the time showed Henry becoming less and less horrid until he wasn't as horrid as he used to be anymore. Now he is 'Humble Henry'.
Speaking of which...
My characters Furaha and Orko have been siblings ever since Orko welcomed Furaha into her life when she was born. Now, the two get on extremely well, unlike Henry and Peter. They share their interests and secrets, giggle over the funniest things and share the same relationships with their family and friends, neither of them ever gets jealous. That's because Orko had developed a healthy relationship with his sister the moment she was born, and whatever they did from cuddling Furaha's favourite rabbit to tickling and cradling, Furaha wasn't just a pet to Orko, it was like he had a second daughter.
He is so lucky to have a nice, gentle little sister like Furaha.
"Friends like us will never part,
I'll always keep you close to my heart."
- Orko to baby Furaha
Tuesday, 6 January 2026
Mini Happiness List: Christmas Bedtime Stories
Fred: Camp Fred
World building
Writing letters
Hot cocoa on a cold night
A pyjama day
Clouds made out of marshmallows
My poem ‘The Dawn’
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth
Horrid Henry’s Summer Fun
Being inspired to change a Horrid Henry book into a Paddington Learning book
Making jars for live-action Prime Video content
Making a jar for Horrid Henry Kindle content
A pure white world outside
My eBay and Forbidden Planet purchases
Summer Wars (film)
Bunny Maloney compilations on Youtube
The Wind In The Willows on ITV Retro
A new Phantom Investigators episode
Commander Shore's Message About My New Stingray Comic Anthology
COMMANDER SHORE: Attention all WASP agents! I have some disturbing news about our friend's new Stingray comic anthology.
ATLANTA: Father, what's that?
COMMANDER SHORE: All of the comic strips in our book, which is available on Forbidden Planet's website, are good, even one which has a style similar to Raymond Briggs' stories.
PHONES: (in a low voice) Except When The Wind Blows.
COMMANDER SHORE: But here's the bad news.....THERE ARE NO BLEEDIN' INTERESTING BITS UNLIKE THOSE THUNDERBIRDS BOOKS!!!
(All the WASP agents gasp in horror)
COMMANDER SHORE: Why does International Rescue get to do anything they want? I mean, they got all the riches, the jewels, the cash, that stemmed from being as popular as those stupid Korean demon hunters that premiered on Netflix last year. Even Lady Penelope's in on all the fun - not forgetting Parker, or her daughter - but us? We just sit around doing nothing!
ATLANTA: Now, father, don't go ranting on about International Rescue, you know things got even worse when Tracy Beaker's mentioning of the group got televised in 2021 - after all these stressing programmes.
PHONES: Yeah! Down with CBBC!
TROY: Wait - where's Marina?
COMMANDER SHORE: Oh. Er...well, she's gone into her room to cuddle Oink.
PHONES: And fantasise about the sea?
COMMANDER SHORE: Well, Oink is Marina's son.
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