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See-also: http://www.wmc.care4free.net/diary/.
And now for june... already? I'm not ready.
Here, upfront, are the months pictures so far... I know thats all you want really...
Sometime, I'll put them linked in below...
Sun 1st
F's. All quiet so I lie in bed. Its cooler today - a little rain. No screaming - F is coping. I shall exploit her. 9 ish M gets up, I am (truthfully) pleading my cold (& feeling guilty I wasn't kinder to M's at Coombe).
Quiet day. D watches kids tv, keen for tom+jerry at 10.30 (though its the cr*ppy modern ones).
Put tapes 8, 12 onto tape. Joe S. The drowned lovers.
D keen to go out & find K again. I take him & E. We play a bit. D hangs around near K's house hopefully making little noises & is rewarded. 12-ish. I take E back; somewhat later M goes back for D who was v bad about leaving & has to be sent upstairs.
3: off in rain, torrential in parts. Just finish borrowers at home.
Plant: last 2 rainflowers & some tagetes.
Soir: bath. Phone tricia-the-gov. Read mail. M tidies clothes & complains about house.
Mon 2nd
D back to school. Normality returns.
Work / yoga / work. Get r3 of /aice note out.
DE to bed. E has learnt to climb out of cot :-( & does, repeatedly. Eventually, let down side (so
Soir: elec exp forms.
Tues 3rd
am: do long-delayed Werner+Heimann j-club. Good.
pm: Oliver & B over. Quite a trial... they kept needing intervention for trivia & winding each other up. Speak to D severely over shouting.
D bashes eye by squiggling through window-hole to get down from bed. Ladder is needed!
M back 7.
Soir: honey sieve #2, & elec map.
Wed 4th
D to school. But! They have swimming. Rush back with E for D's trunks+towel. Look at fp o'growth; speak to I re builders misc. By now D's class in newly-refurbished (but not quite finished) pool. I hear D complain 'its freezing'. But he hops & skips across with the rest.
Cycle to rec holding E's new p'chair: its lighter. Rain. Cd to Jo C. Put up note on swings.
Town, p+r (via brief rain-shelter at bas). Swim ok - but I'm getting a bit bored with it.
Cb1. E irritates: tired but won't sleep. Eventually...
Pm: meet Md at school. Then D's ladder.
Soir: me to pub as M owes some tidying.
Thurs 5th
Fuzzy head. Work: fix eh plot. Home: coffee & lunch. Hot. Then ladder! Cut remaining ledges. Route smooth edges, sand & oil side R. Start L. Xfer N's pics to cd. School: D to a'school. Cd to N. IMcG not there. Home. Fin L. Cut remaining 4 steps. Fit in: out.
6: pick up D then E: both happy. Home: D sandpit. E misc. I tidy/wash/hoover. M back 7 (!).
Fri 6th
Work. Back 2. Lunch. Tidy pre-kitchen chap. School for E. Walk back with others; D to B (with E).
Kitchen chap 4-5. Hmm. Ok, but attitude to lights reveal Soir: finish off honey, map & 'leaflet rack' for SF. Fin 12 :-(.
Sat 7th
MW phones: they are short 1 table. Happily I have stevenage foe's...
To her just past 8. Loading takes some time. Drive slowly to fair; now waiting while M sorts out car pass. Light rain.
Set up is extended: fin 10.30. So I home.
M to work, poor her. I tidy. E to 'sleep' & D quiet. Back up 2003's pics.
2.30: to school fayre: good. Misc stalls, & 'o' gauge railway which D liked. & Sam & B & D & ... there. Now hot+sun.
5: head home, meeting M on way. Phone sf: no not yet. So all to play on the green. Drive in 6 as inst but its way too early to drive round site :-(. So I get to see sf after all. Discover the jah music tent.
Sun 8th
Mon 9th
Work / yoga / work.
Home. M emails & decides to skip her yoga tonight, so I get to go to...
8.15: to skateboard ramp meeting. Its quiet: just me, Dot, GD & RD. &, now Danny Wheeler. But DW, with some arm-twisting, turns out to be the person required.
Home: put up vn0.1 of my coton site.
Tues 10th
Work. Hkr solar talk. Then what? Grey (so not bees) so award self time in town. Whereupon it turns sunny. Arcadia (M's watchstraps; 4 new glass coasters); cb1.
Elec: GK: £28.20. GD: £0! Ditto BS, JL, RD, PB.
Wed 11th
D to school. E & I inspect bw then home for a quiet day. E is happy to play by herself, mostly.
Put her down 1.30.
2.30: do bees. Finishing hive 3 when chance to look back & see E, clutching her blanket, looking sleepy. Oops. Happily she stays there while I finish up, but skip hive 4!
M back just in time for quick shower & take E to school to pick up D.
Allot to mow: hard work.
Bathe ED. Soir: M off to pub (first night in ages she hasn't done appraisals), I new web & honey (having been dumb enough to take out 2 deformed combs today).
Thurs 12th
Foolishly, I had promised M to get up in her stead once this week. & that day is today. & I'm tired. Hey ho. But D *insists* I leave E-watching to him. So I do, & go lie on the sofa.
Work / yoga / town. Check on watch: ongoing. Cb1.
Fri 13th
Work: putt-putt.
Ma at home when I'm back 2.30.
D & the shelf: D, searching for the fudge ma has brought (she no doubt stung by D's saying she didn't bring many pres) climbs on to counter & brings shelf down. Argh! Many mugs broken (spider; aber; :-() but less than the crash implied. D v fearful of my anger: am I so scary?
Putt-putt & variants at home.
'Night out' at Plough. But both tired. Have a drink each then walk back backway through gathering dark & moon & not too many nettles.
Sat 14th
Quiet day. Ma here till 4. I lie in.
11: just M & I to kitchen folk to review design. Hmm. Numerous disagreements. Stop on way back at Mark Weatherhead to buy brushcutter.
Decide to make D's stage 2 tree house. Consult with him over height (high) & loc then set to. Get up frame & 2 boards (after D to bed) & its lovely up there in the leaves looking out. I had to go up to test the strength...
Sun 15th
Up at civ hour. Lovely day. Sit outside while D eats... what? German biscuit from Nurnburg: J+K I'd guess (I malign them: it was F).
D & E slide, with tunnel wedged at top.
11: D to sunday club, which is ok, cos we've tidied & hoovered his room, which he wanted to do first. Home. Rest: Me out w/rose. Make up picnic bag, inc garden strawb (few) & 2 pea pods & artichokes. We've agreed Andy etc will pick up D & take him to lammas; we will follow. & so we do, but not till 1.30. & so the car park is full & nearly grid-locked. Drop me & to xx-octo for rope (10mm polyprop. Proper cost unclear. Would climbing cord be cheaper?). Return, park past Red Bull, & find all sprawled around picnic. Ah. Infants splash in pool, there are lots of folk, but its not too crowded.
Later: DBE into pool, & Gemma with Claire, & they have fun.
Me & I back 4 so I can talk to Trisha & E can sleep, & we get 1-of-2.
5.30: to allot. Weed front: its growing well.
6.30. Construct rope ladder & show D his new tree house. Before I know it he's up there. Oh err.
Soir: tidy. Inaugurate pc 'rack'. M emails (nb: I *always* read my mail & sci.env each night so I never mention it here. But when M does it, she seriously procs stuff).
Mon 16th
Work / yoga / work. The heat!
Soir: quiet. M yoga. Plant last, dehydrated, tagetes. 8.40: in. E sits at top of stairs with blanket & cuddly. 'go back to bed E' says I, unthinking. Sad, she goes (surprise). But! A perfect photo missed :-(.
Tues 17th
Today, tigger. Happily o'cast but still hot. Leisurely to town. New sac (lowe pax 20 £25) & 18m of 6mm cord (85p/m). Cb1 till 11.15 train.
Read dreaded Gray+Morland on train. 1.35: bracknell, torino's: take away, a touch pressé.
Q: how do you know you've been in central london? A: your nostrils go black.
Even get a seat on the train back.
Soir: Put in back shelf lower, cutting out bit for e-meter. Good.
Late: seal up new hive in prep for xfer to jj tomorrow. Stuff it up slightly (its a hot night & bees are out) so fin minuit.
Wed 18th
Early: with M move hive to car & leave open. Happily its cool.
D to school. E & I check bw, then load misc kit & off. Slight worry when 1 then 2 bees sighted but no more. JJ 11.30 ish. Their gardner helps me unload hive (E somewhat uncertainly inside with Jesse, but as long as I return occaisionally she is ok). Remove rope, tape & then wire wool. Wait for settle, then add 2nd super (only 5 frames, sadly).
Ma not in, so *dont* go there.
Old linslade cemetary: long grass, wind, daisies, grey skies. Wild west?
Home (pick up brushcutter on way ba k). Pm: town, ostensibly for drawers from RS.
Thurs 19th
Work. Bscomp cr*p, so come home 1/2 h early, intending to read paper but oddly enough don't.
pm: 2.30: walk 6/7 route with bs, my trusty (& blunt) scythe in hand. A lovely blowy walk.
5: walk #2 to check grass (ok); pick up D then E.
Soir: 7.30: first gov meeting. Ok. Volunteer to do their web site. Ha ha, do they know what they are letting themselves in for?
Fri 20th
Work. Home: on way stop at school 2:30 to take photo of buildings: meet D in playground and we talk for a bit before I leave him: its his a'noon breaktime.
pm: time for brief lunch before pick up E and see D off to visit Billy, in theory, but he decides that B's house is boring (why?) so B comes to us instead. Well OK. I get some tidying done anyway, esp after M back 4:30, so M+J will have somewhere to sleep in not too much squalor (for Ma's visit, she still had a plank in the room :-().
M+J arrive about 10, while I'm in the middle of producing the first workable version of the school site.
Sat 21st
Take full advantage of M+J to have a lie in (D patiently explained to me yesterday that he would take E in to see them).
Its our anniversary today! Our 16th. Happy relationship to us.
morning: M and I to Simon to look at his self-installed kitchen. is this plausible for me/us? Probably. Now I need to do the serious work of estimating, and finding tilers etc.
pm: sun: to Village Fete with D, via the Snail Trail organised by Sally. 38 snails to collect; D writes down (no prompting) half their colours himself before deciding I should do some. He is still on phonetic (?) spelling: blue as "bloo", etc. 38 is quite a lot and the trail somewhat winding (from BW, round via our house, St J, then the obvious) so we're glad to get there and have a drink in the Bowls club. Billy is there, as is a "traction engine" which isn't: its a 1-cylinder 2-stroke 1947 tractor which vibrates massively at 1 Hz. So we have a ride which is fun. After that D disappears off and I wander; by 2 good dahlias at 50p each.
D wants (and gets) to play splat-the-rat; bouncy castle; coconut shy (after they replenish their coconuts) but we don't win; and panning for gold.
Somewhere here I break off and plant dahlias (plus 2 more) on the allotment; and harvest some great peas.
M+J+Mfd+E arrive 5:30 for the hog roast, though D has already had a burger. We get the veggie option (bar Mfd).
7: time for us to head off, so leaving DE with MfdJ, we walk home.
We have decided to go out for a punt. Weather is closing in somewhat but it should be good. Head Grantchesterwards (hence from Scudamores) and pole up the river, mostly silent but occaisionally patches of drunken laughter. Various things on the bank; a party with paper lanterns; and as we near Grantchester (the meadows?) there are people who have walked to the bank. Get to G; first time. Took 1 or 1 1/2 hours. A pleasant trip. We have no way to secure the punt so skip the pub; just head up round a corner then return. Stream and wind are slight but return is a little quicker, and M does some. I becomes quite dark at the end, with a little rain.
Home 11:30; read for a while.
Sun 22nd
Yet another lie-in, am I becomming spolied?
11: to school to help "final" pool rebuild party. But few people around: Sonia painting sheds; Ken and Hamish carpenting. I get set making plywood support for steps at far end. This ends up taking some time, but I get form one marked and cut, which is the hard bit, as now 2 and 3 can be marked from the same shape, back-to-back. The jig saw was very useful: must get one.
1:30: home for lunch, after others have eaten.
Mfd+J off about 3:30 after unsuccessful session of loading W95 onto one of our spare PC's: hey ho, who wants windoze anyway.
Back to school and help cut frames 2 and 3; and stick the steps together.
Home. Get out the strimmer and... strim. This turns out to be fun. But since its raining, don't go down the allotment. Mix petrol/oil in new bottle, but stuff it up with excess oil. Oops. Dilute by guesswork. Try to phone HKR, JCK and Chris for advice but they are all out. Hey ho, it works. Good at clearing back to edges of paths too. And down near the river.
D back 6 ish, having had a good time.
Soir: mostly spent on the school web site, which is now in fairly good order. Load it up, inc some of my pics of the building.
My crick neck from yesterday is still there, and added is some back pain :-( making turning over in bed tricky.
Mon 23rd
D and E to school. Forget E's raincovers and have to go get them. Check fp 9 for cut; its OK. Cut back brambles extensively near the bridge - first time I've been there.
Work / yoga (despite crick) / work.
Home with time to stop at allot and pick peas. D is v tired and voluntarily to bed early; I read James and the Giant Peach to him.
Soir: M to yoga. I get rh8.0 installed on the newly aquired 2.5G disk, hurrah (at least its started installing; should be finishing about now). Ha! Spoke too early. It dies (cd?) with 7 packages to go, & won't do grub till end :-(. Playing (till 1 :-(() doesn't solve this...
Tues 24th
Work: aces-rp planning 10.30-? 1, as it turns out.
Pm: D to B. E & I play.
Bed: 12. But ma's machine now has rh8 on it (the cd had dust in it; a good blow fixed that).
Wed 25th
D to school. Warm day. E tired: stay home. Cut lawn while E watches.
While E sleeps, quickly do bees.
To school for web pics from ml. Leave E with M.
Allot: a good strim. Peas flourish.
Soir: no pub so school web & wiki/ozone.
Bed: 11.30: asymptoting to 11?
Thurs 26th
1.30: to cb1. Relax. Then: mfi/b&q. Arj. Home.
Soir: finish Ma's pc.
Fri 27th
Pick up DE 3.30. Quiet pm at home gardening.
7: to Ma's.
10.30: boot pc & show ma marvels of email till 12.
Sat 28th
Lie in.
Cut down leylandii by gate & remove roots. Faster but more dangerous with chain saw. Fail to hurt self.
Lunch. Barrys tractor: the man behind has bought next door & is putting in a post; D is entranced. Suddenly its...
4.15: to dump with leylandii. But ma is wrong: it shut at 4. So stop off at the canal to walk pensively to the swing bridge & across & down the path. & back.
D is looking under bricks for insects, woodlice, etc: bugs. & according to M, manages to say: I'm a bugger.
Ma out to party 7-9. I bed sweet E, M gets harder D. I read mail/web: new machine is ok.
Sit out, still eve.
Sun 29th
Up with DE. D watches tv, of course.
To dump with D, who is persuaded out with the swing bridge. Sun am is clearly high time for this & its full of folk with dead leylandii in their cars. To canal, park, we walk along in the hot hot sun. D loves the bridge; we open it for a boat. To lock & watch boat; run ahead of it to re-open br... but, someone has done it; D disappointed.
Home. Lunch. E sleep, others to Ashridge while I stay home with her, though I'd have liked to go out. Finish Northern Lights. Do a (little) yoga.
E wakes, wondering where folk are. Take her out front & she sits quietly on my lap.
Tea; then onto JJ to say hello them & their bees. All is well (bar J's rheum).
Mon 30th
Work / yoga / work. Heavy welcome rain.
Soir: M yoga. I do misc then up late kitchen-planning & council-paper reading.
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