Santa's little helper wishes you a very merry Christmas.

(More photos here.)

The Scotsman has a lengthy article of the work of demining organisation the HALO Trust in Angola.

Mainly for family consumption, I've uploaded some new pictures of William here.

The Proprio made an appearance on BBC Wales Today last night.

It also marks Billy Bob's televisual debut at the tender age of five weeks. He plays the role of deceptively cute and quiet baby and gives the piece that added "aaahhhhhh" factor.

Download the Real Media file here -- the report starts 12'40" into the programme.

Apologies for the poor quality -- the version ripped off the web is the best I've got until I can get hold of a proper archive copy after Christmas.

Please god, don't let that crooning scouse freak Eddie Munster win X-Factor.

Do your duty to humanity. Vote Leona.

Today, I managed to breathe life into a state-of-the-art prosthesis worth £12,000 using nothing more than a paperclip and a roll of electrical tape.

My Proprio, as I've written many times before, is a fine piece of kit.

But like an iPod, a laptop or a mobile phone it relies on battery power and no power = useless.

In the course of regular use, one of the pins connecting the Lithium Ion battery to the foot unit snapped off -- and the foot immediately seized up.

Not a good advertisement when you've got BBC Wales coming to London next Tuesday to film a report about the leg.

So, using my best Heath Robinson ingenuity, I fashioned a new pin out an inch-long length of paperclip wire and lashed the rig back together with tape.

Amazingly, it worked.

The Proprio is functioning perfectly again -- for the moment at least.

I take great comfort in the knowledge that should I ever find myself in a war zone or up a mountain with a conked out bionic prosthesis, I might just be able to fix it.

The latest edition of 220 Triathlon magazine contains a supplement about the London Triathlon group of races -- and an article written by a certain one-legged duathlete.

Download it here.

I've uploaded a couple of new photos onto the Flickr photostream.

Farewell Roadie -- an inspiration to amputees everywhere.

Unusually, the baby woke me up at 3am crying for his middle of the night feed and, equally unusually, I've been unable to get back to sleep since.

So I've been passing the time by dipping into Jeremy Bowen's new book, War Stories.

In the flesh, Jeremy's not one of those "been there, done that" hacks who bores people rigid at the bar of the Frontline Club with tales of past derring-do. Perhaps he's been saving his yarns for the book because his experience of more than 15 years of conflict makes for compelling reading.

We worked together during the summer covering the war in Lebanon, and reading the book reminded me of the showreel of "highlights" that cameraman Shane McDonald of Crewhouse TV put together after his tour of duty.

So I've uploaded it for your viewing pleasure.

It's amazing what a crying baby does for your productivity.

The best odds available on Nicole Cooke to win the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award are 50-1.

It's a crying shame.

This year, the Welsh Wonder became the world number one women's road cyclist, secured the Women's World Cup, won the women's version of the Tour de France, the British Road Race Championship, La Flèche Wallonne, the Magali Pache Time Trial, the Castilla y Leon World Cup Race and the Thüringen-Rundfahrt stage race.

And while her most illustrious male counterparts spent the season under a cloud of drug-fuelled suspicion, Cooke rode -- and won -- clean.

She's my sporting hero of the year by a mile.

Billy Bob isn't the only new kid on the block.

Beating him in the age stakes by a full three weeks is his cousin Lauren, the newly-arrived daughter of Aileen's elder sister, Fiona (and seen here to the left.)

On the way back to London we popped in to see the Bristol-based bairn.

The two new fathers did a better job of bonding than did the babies themselves, who seemed utterly oblivious to the presence of the other.

Still, if nothing else the visit made me extremely thankful we didn't have twins.

I fear fatherhood is making me far too soft. I must ask for an assignment to another war zone ASAP.

Back from Cardiff, where I've spent the week in the belief that it's important for Billy Bob to breathe some pure Welsh air before he gets too old.

However, I'd be lying if I said that the soothing sound of the lilting Welsh language or the rhythms of Dylan Thomas's poetry helped lull the boy to sleep.

While I've been away there's been a mini PR flurry over my new bionic leg.

The Mail on Sunday took the lead with this piece, which was followed up back home by the Western Mail (note: the article refers to me for first time ever using the time-honoured phrase "father-of-one") and the South Wales Echo.

There were a number of other follow-ups which I'm currently pursuing, so expect the leg to pop up in other media outlets soon.

Apologies for the lack of posts in recent days.

I'm spending time with the Bloglet, taking delight in watching him grow and thrive.

And that, surely, must come first.