Sat 1st
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See-also: http://www.wmc.care4free.net/diary/.
Sat 1st
Technically may day I suppose but for me its back-from-nice day.
D comes into bed & cuddles up. E forces M up. B'fast in bed courtesy D who wants to do it to welcome me back. Then he comes back into bed with me.
Me: what colour are my eyes? E: white!
M takes DE off to Smiths on Milton Rd to buy shoes. D v proud of his blue led's.
Town: extended rest cb1. R/S for B's present: robot lego.
pm? I forget...
Sun 2nd
Wrap B's present & D does perfunctory card. Take D to carboot 10.30. Its disappointingly thin. D eyes model cars but can't afford them. Settles for a play-money logic games kit that looks quite good. Sunday club: just him & Joel! Home: coffee & book outside. 12: D to B's party ok.
M gardens: she has become keen. This is a welcome development.
Finish roof for notice board, sand, & paint. Whew! A bit of a weight on/off me.
Dinner: M cooks well: asp.
While I bath I can hear D reading to himself. He usually does read, often till too late (10 ish).
Mon 3rd
Its the may day bank holiday.
Billy comes round, and Cory arrives by himself as he sometimes does. But the dynamic is a bit odd: DB sometimes ignore C who plays with E... well its not up to me to intervene all the time.
Treas hunt: E hides egg: other seek. E (v excited): "i've hidden it! I've h it! i've h it *here* (points)".
Take B home; Cory comes as does D, init under protest then enthusiastically joins in h+s. Quiz D: he has picked up chess rules. Now sun, but all wet. Shed (stream fast & muddy) & pick out 2 sweetcorn to plant. D plays lego chess which he has borrowed from B.
Tues 4th
D to Wandlebury with school & M takes car to service & E to M'a's house in rain. Hence a bit frantic.
Work: network cr*p. Leave early.
Rain rain rain.
Pick up E (in rain) & D comes off bus. Bring Oliver back with us & DO have been solidly playing lego chess since. E has weed in potty (but elsewhere at M'a's!). D says Wandle was a bit bad becuae of rain. Unfortunate.
Car people phone: can't find the wheel nut unlockers. Which as M later points out is cr*p as she can. And Duxford are supposed to be Citroen specialists!
Prise D and O from chess long enough to have dinner...
10: look out of window and think: thats odd: moon was full last night now its 1/2. Look closer: lunar eclipse. Fun. Go out and photo, with no trousers on, hence cold widger. But its worth it.
Wed 5th
Newspaper: Cambridge to build 3 new colleges at C west. Hmm.
D to school; back with E. Not raining yet, but cool. The ground is quite saturated but its spring and all the plants are bursting out and the trees in blossom and its all lovely. Unless its raining of course.
D to town: skip smoko. Swim / arj / cb1. E happily eats crisps while I read Ecce&OE and read my mail; then moves onto rice crackers. But now its raining and I didn't bring my hat. Argh. Also chilly. I have gloves but E doesn't :-( for her. Get to N's by 2 and it stops and everything looks fresh again. Leave E happily offering Patrick her rice crackers with N and I go home. Meet Dot (who says Rospa were late doing swings inspection) and help her with virusing her PC again. Find a wsock32.dll on my portege: must put it onto floppy. That fills up most of time to 3:30 so, somewhat at a lose end, play some bgii.
DEM back: D miffed cos he wants M alone. So he settles for world builder. M tired so I take E while M takes D to piano lesson.
Comdey over dinner: D wants to make banana split, and does with me. He wants E to want one too, but E rests her head on her chair looking down. So he forces her head up, against her resistance, then lets go, so her heads bops on the chair. So she cries. So he jumps away - into the plate with B split I'm carrying which goes on the floor... tears all round. He comes downstairs eventually and watches me play some bgii: in the graveyard crypts killing vampires - this time we've chosen to side with the shadowthieves.
M goes to bed early feeling somewhat upwell - before 10 even - and I hack through some electoral forms checking numbers. take in tomorrow?
Thurs 6th
DE play together before we get up. E: "D, be nice to me".
Ponder: to do this pm? Decide to do My Duty: get sigs for aj in Hardwick. Cycle out: tis a pleasant day. But hard work: 2 sigs in 1h :-( but W's law of sigs reasserts itself: takes only 5 mins over 1 1/2 h. Eaten by a letter box. Knock on Ricks door but he is out.
Fri 7th
I have left my writing stick at work. After school pick up DA (N on hols) & now at 4 they are still playing - we are the last to leave. E was good re potty all day says M'a but wees herself just now; but is still happily running around.
Me: Adam, come along! A: I don't exist!
Sat 8th
10: all to 'glaze to amaze' which M has organised for pres for Ma. But what to do? Much discussion & persuasion & some attempt at coherence leads us to a 'pill box' & 2 tiles. E does a handprint & then gets messy. D does geometric patterns. M helps/controls E on bottom of box & I go for ambitious pattern of us 4 holding hands around mother. Which is beyond my range but fun to try.
Fr cafe (now becoming somewhat chinese) then drive home.
SF Gautrey
pm: off to complete my labours: sigs in Bar Hill. This is as trying as ever, but W's law works: 1:35 & I'm done.
Soir: clie won't sync?
Sun 9th
All do some gardening: put in a dahlia in apple tree bed M has dug over; & another. M puts in some of E's flowers.
Cmes trains. Meet ACBGS there, & Bradburys turn up later too: DBA instantly bond. Its wet underfoot: a shallow pond in the grass. Indeed its been wet since Nice.
6: off to put up notice board. First adverse comment as I'm doing it from woman who lives opp but then Bram & 4 comes by & admires. & Cheryl is ambivalent & we discuss having it by her window. Still, its done for now.
Till late: elec forms sort out for tomorrow.
Kiss sleeping infants & once again marvel at what they drag into bed with them: D has dinosaur, crow, compass watch, books etc all jumbled up. & his glow-in-dark straw model. E is tidier: a neat stack of small books.
Mon 10th
A bit woozy for no obv reason. M lets me have car so drop DE then drive workwards but traffic on Mad so clogged I u-turn & head for cambourne. 5 mins of driving round lost & one ask gets me there: typisc steel-&-glass stuff. Checking done in reception which means multiples aren't checked immeadiately: have to hope. Then work / yoga (first for ages) / w.
Tues 11th
Pick up DE & acquire O at school. They play (tree-climbing, bug farm) for a long time & E hangs around. Then home.
E no trouble all pm: plays quietly upstairs while DO play sandpit then inside. So I get to sit by the fire & wiki/tin a little, then snooze. J collects O before 6 so we have a misc dinner & M turns up.
7: pc/rec agm till 9.30. I nominate NB for chair but no sec (N & Ross both away) so GD/GK re-elected unopposed. Sigh. A few other slightly regrettable things but o/w ok. My new noticeboard admired.
Wed 12th
10: To scambs for last few elec papers but this time I'm at the back of the q. Happily E is being good & likes playing in the revolving door. Now rolling up leaflets. Forms turn out ok.
To p+r & E insists on sitting at back. Walks happily to pool, where they have balls she assiduously collects. Back (slower than bike) just past 2 to N's so E can go to dancing class with P. She is keen to share her biscuits with him.
Lunch, then to allot to !strim! & about time too since grass & weeds are waist high. Get 1/2 done before tank runs out.
7: to Castle for Ire's leaving do, & swap at 9:30 to ASC. Early start allows a recent record of 4 1/2 pints! Cycle home under the stars: its been a long time.
Thurs 13th
D sings "mr sunny, mr s is back", for it is the 1st sunny morn for some time.
W. Then what? To town to pick up watch. "He's just unwrapping the package" & am given it. But: it looks a bit askew. Odd. And doesn't feel springy as it should. Still... so take it outside. & then winder falls off! Take it back & he says: "right, I'll send it back". Realise: probably he forgot to send it off at all & has just pretended, & expected me back. Irritating. I won't be using him again.
Cb1. Allot: weeding. Things just about under control. Home: bgii.
7: by car (with GK driving + RD & GK) to Calc training at Madingley, where we get told lots of dull things. Its all the duller for me because I did it 6 months ago. H&S, insurance, etc etc. Why do we all stand for? Easier to stay than go I guess. Lord they do go on about trivia. Probably to appear wise.
I think I should have refused to come: I'm only here to see how the others do & thats not worth an evening. I must toughen up. Ponder leaving at break.
After break (9!), its more interesting: what should minutes contain? Calc say, & Dot & Gordon are clearly happy with: decisions only. So: time for pcblog?
On to planning. Now we've run past 10. Sigh. And still they talk on...
Fri 14th
Home 1.30 - take a look down garden.
In about 2. M, incredibly, has done none of the things needed: packing or getting food. So what has she been doing? Sitting on her bum doing f*ck*ng stupid japanese dot puzzles. Oh wonderful. So bang goes leaving from school. "Sorry" says M, washing up a knife in an apparent attempt to waste even more time. Eventually she goes off while I go to look at the bees at #4 all suited up. I stuff up getting them - they are awkardly placed & irritable. Home, pack, etc. M back 3:20 - ND was shut for lunch. Even worse - we'll have to go back & be even later & get stuck in the f*ck*ng traffic. I pick up DE. We pack. We go to ND. We get onto the A14 which grinds to a halt. What a surprise! 5pm on a friday & its busy. Who'd be dumb enough to drive now when they could have left at 3:30? A truly wonderful start.
Just past 8 crest hill & can see sun glinting on lake/res. Gods Mirror says D, delighted.
Now we're here its good: end of lane just above lake. Others are here sitting out on terrace. We have 2 cottages in a group of barns.
Carsington Water.
Sat 15th
Sun (later greying somewhat). Sit out for long b'fast/coffee & this turns out to b. Kids play in woods building hut/den. I help Mike high up tree for tree house. D proves even more adept. Much swinging.
Walk round lake, setting off in a straggle. Its 8 miles round, which is hopeful. Nearly 1/2 way is vis cen with super playground: D just makes it with tired knees. Roundabout! Tube slide! Double swings! Etc etc.
D v tired for way back & has to be carried some of the way & flops often. E definitely needs carry. But we do get back happy.
V sunny. Photo contest. Lara (story Dr Vee & sabre tooth; fall). Ma sad (practically soap opera).
Curry, hot. This was M's cook. All take turns. A has brought his bread maker.
Sunset. Geese.
Soir: talk. Chris's chem is doing well. A has stories about Hull dev.
Tired. Bed. Irritating eurovision, but M reads in bed. Mumpf grump.
Sun 16th
Sun again. Slug-a-bed as unknown adults look after E. But I get up eventually. L is ok.
Mid-morn walk: Ann & dogs & a few others inc me. M stays reading papers. Most back after a while: Chris & I stroll on talking of subsidies. He gets a phone-photo-message to prove that his cat has been fed. Bluebells, woods, cyclists. Get to post: vis cen 4 miles on or 4 1/2 back: turn back.
Swim! Gill joins in & Stephen. Others paddle, in DE. But its chilly. Though after a bit I'm used to it. Motorboat official ends it :-(.
Lunch inside: its hot. Photo fun & vid it too.
Coffee in sun. E changes baby Annabelle.
Climb: black rocks Lone Tree. A bit worrying... but get up. D has a go, but only gets 1/4 way up. Time for another? Not really.
Back: E zonked on sofa.
Ben (& Al & Stephen) & the stone.
All (bar Ma & Ann who are warm inside) sit out on patio till late (ish, 11) with misc wine.
Mon 17th
First noise this am: E: 'd, read me a book'.
L: 'g'ma is one of my servants'', as DELT have b'fast around the small table waited on by Ma.
Woods: re-make Ben's trap. Swing. Then its time to go :-(.
To vis cen (p'g'd) opposite. Fin vid on r'about. I want to photo everything... but can't. Some I'll have to remember. D lying back in boat swing. DL on & climbing inside the tube slide. E has done it once but not again. D does down on his back head first once when I incite him but not again, since it wiggles it turns him round :-).
Tues 18th
Back to work after break. Feels like a long time, and the weather now has shifted from cold wet to warm dry so suddenly its summer. Or so it seems.
Wed 19th
More sun. T shirts all round. Day swap for thurs, so work till lunch then off to town! To swim! Yes its phase one of my new fitness programme. How long will it last? Please don't guess. Anyway, I go down to doing 4-breast-4-crawl and (for crawl) manage 28,28.5,27.5,29 and 27.5. So thats just barely passable. Much heavy breathing, so to cb1 for a rest. Rob is on, I haven't seen him for ages.
Get new b'door keys cut: surprise: Theresa works there. Get fancy new colours, mine is glow-in-the-dark. I wonder where I left the old key?
Home. Hot. M and D inside. Defrost freezer amidst much ice. Now we have enough space... DM to piano (D distinctly unkeen to practice this morning, perhaps more of the not-willing-to-try-hard-things that currently disfigures his learning ability). Check on bees - looks OK - water plants (D has brought back the runner bean he grew as part of his class project) - sit down with glass of cordial. Ahhh.
Soir: out to GP meet for leaflets etc, and meet new members - how pleasant. Back: 10: (check on inf: both awake in E's bed: reorder & turn out light): go collect the swarm that Dot showed me in her garden just before I left. Goes OK. Dump in empty hive-shell for now. Then do some elec stuff. Then kill things, or in this case fail to, because Balor is tough and I can hardly touch him. Then get palm to sync again, though via IR on M's portege - is my cradle broken?
D is asleep sans pyg or quilt.
Thurs 20th
Another hot day in prospect. D to sch, E in her trike *which she can now steer* when she wants to. But not pedal.
E calls me a 'tame galoot'. This from D.
Pool & cb1 as ever.
Wisteria, rose & peonies all in flower.
E at bedtime solemly sings (with actions) 'teddy bear, tb, turn around / tb, tb, touch the ground...'. I must turn on light so it can be turned off.
Fri 21st
To sch for E. Hang round till 4 as they play. Fix path marker behind pool. D to N's. E & I go look at new decking round pond.
7:10: drop honey extractor at N's & pick up D, who is on rec & climbs frame to try to escape; N tries to protect him. Drive ok, E sleeps, D listens to Grimms.
DE up late. Si&B back from upmarket curry.
News: now videos of evil from Iraq.
Sat 22nd
Up latish. Misc till drive with F (mistake) to hotel. Posh etc. Lunch ok & DE behave mostly.
D's car zooms around.
Joke time goes remarkably well (vid). Mine: 'q: what do you call a fish with no eyes? A: a fssssh!' from bgii. (J: multi storey carp ark; Mfd: fish heads; Nick: old jew & 2 fingers; Jeff: a partir de combien c'est plusiers?; Josh: your* son; Mickey: local call; Est: hills are alive wtsom; Ma: tintern abbey; M: deputes to D: what did the child say when it didn't know the a to a q). Leave with Ma 6 ish (talk on tube: indoor folk) get 7:15 from kc but bus from Royston.
Home just pre-10 after brisk walk from st in cloudless painted dusk.
Sun 23rd
Up past 8. Sit out in sun with b'fast. Phone Tom & cry off sailing: things to do.
Allot: strim & weed. Good. Plant some peas to replace dead leeks. Pub: pint cider out in sun. Visit N: she spun off 20lb rape y'day. Should I? (see bees). Talk new school groundsfolk re cutting back path: they are receptive.
M phones 3: starting back. I'd better tidy!
Mon 24th
W / Y / W. Leave a bit early - fine weather - & weed allot a bit.
M yog. Bgii with D: illithid city.
Tues 25th
W then weed. Pick up E 1h early - M'a funeral - home for lunch outside as E plays: strapping herself into pushchair. School for D who plays on field.
To bw with DE. D goes to knock on B's door - a waste of time I say as B is swimming. But he isn't. He & Albi come back with f'ball which I righteously stop them playing. Its the principle. They play vigorous off-ground it & B retires, hurt knee. 3 feet together for eeny-meeny. A&B play f'ball by J's house & I am goalie & E joins in but D hangs back though we all shout to him. Eventually he does. BA summoned to 'tea' & we tag along on off-chance & is ok. Andy cooking frantically but there is some for D&E to sh. A & I have a g+t.
Soir: M nonagrams till late.
Wed 26th
M comes back: sickie. Because up late?
Swim/cb1.
Thurs 27th
Swim (4's): 26, 28.5, 28*3). Arj/cb1 rest. Home; misc.
To M'a to pick up happy E then school. Talk Jenny re pin-up boards for PP - OK, though I'm interrupting her. Then home club for D but! He's not there! Joke? No. He didn't arrive though they went for him. Panic! Where is he? Ask Mrs S (interrupting JM again :-() ahhhhh... of course: I had arranged for him to go with O. So: home with E.
6:30: go get D, who is indeed at Olivers! & not pleased to see me. They are just starting up an age-of-empires-like game. But I pitilessly drag him away.
Fri 28th
Something of a busy day, in a sense. In that a lot of things happened. But with breaks in between.
For me this was a "priviledge day", ie extra day off. So M to work, and I took E to M'a a bit late. Then, after prising D away from the pooter and finding a change of clothes, we drove off to Waterbeach to find TLC who was due to give us a sailing lesson. And he did. We were a bit late so he had the boat in the water, and Enterprise, big enough for 2 adults and one infant, and perhaps for two. There was enough wind, but not too much, and perhaps we over-emphasised the lifejackets and poss of capsize, because D was rather fearful, whether mock or henuine is hard to know. So after a while we let him out to play on the banks while I took the tiller under Toms guidance and managed OK. So I wanted to go in a boat by myself, because no matter how well it goes, if you're directly under guiddance you never know how well you can do. So in we went and put a Topper into the water, which was one person (one sail) and really quite small and very low in the water. Oh err. And easy to capsize, sez T. Hmm. Take of jacket with keys and money in... But! It worked fine. I sailed up and down and round, helped by a slightly lesser wind. After a while T persuaded D back into the Enterprise and we sailed round together and we all had fun! Fin at 1, after getting the boats out and some faff in putting away the sails etc etc. T invites us round for lunch (I'm famished says D) and we go; Mary is there too cooking and we stroke the rabbits, or D does, eventually.
Then... drive back, and leave D at BW entrance so he can go off to B's. And I go home for a relax (where is the economist?). Until 3:30 when I pick up E; she is keen to go to B's house (to Gemmas house?, I ask. No, B's house). Well OK, so we do, to see how D is getting on (he and B are filling the pond) and chat to Claire who is potting her tomatoes. E gets naked and we have tea then home after delaying by E (just-one-more-minute she says solemly).
But we have to go home because we promised to tidy, at least a bit. She plays the rather unsatisfactory Tweenies game on the pooter, while I do the kitchen, and am just starting L room when M returns. And complains that I haven't done owt :-(.
Then (argh...) phone N to cancel sleep over for tonight because there isn't time and I'm going to do honey which D will be mad keen to help with spinning (he is; E also helps, though I don't think she really knows what is going on; with great glee tries to turn the handle though she can't reach high enough to turn it over the top, so settles for back-and-forth). So I take top super off 2 main hives (see bees) without too much pain and bring it indoors and we spin. And we get a reasonable amount (8 lbs in jars now; more still in the extractor) despite a lot being last years solid rape. But this takes up most of the evening (pausing for dinner; and to kill Firkraag with D). Whew!
Sat 29th
ME off to w/rose. D & I play bg & nail bodhi. Then more bees & some pain: need thicker socks. Rick & Ewan briefly round while I am beating off bees.
All to town p+r 3:30. D takes Mr W and E takes Baby.
Sun 30th
Isobels christening. Off 9:30 & arrive at ch about 15 mins late just in time for actual service. Which is quite short. Where have I seen vic before? Ah: prob Margrets funeral. He has pipe (outside) & eccentric manner.
Talk a lot with H who is now post-Simon & with Louis, 3 1/2. D spends his time engrossed in 'famous five' but prise him out briefly to join in frisbee-ing.
Drive back faster & less painful - closer to 2h & childs sleep.
Check f'cast: still poor for tues.
Mon 31st
I agree to do early stint but DE are happy so I lie in till near 10! (wasting hours of pure sun). Phone Deepdale: they are full still. Hey ho: lets hope.
Rush (packing; & plant toms & dahlias) etc after leisurely b'fast. Struggle to find torch that works.
Pick up B N & off 2, back now quite full. Should we stop in forest? D says no, N says yes & I want to. So stop past Brandon at 'emilys wood' 2:30. Quite ashridge-y though with a bit more traffic noise. Explore woods & then picnic up fallen tree. N brought food. She explains: last time D brought twiglets so now its her turn. Then digging in tree roots till I drag them away. Leave 4.
To holme-next-sea & campsite 5. ND remember it & tell B about freshwater tap. Quiet. Bent (physically) old chap still there. We can stay 1 night (relief) but 'big party' coming tomorrow - but next village has a site (Thornham)? 5:30 tent up & kids shrieked out a bit - ND pointing to B the bits they remember. Drive to closest beach - the bit with mud, remembers N, who is keen to resquish. Car park £2. Where will the rain come from? Says passerby. Ice creams. Dunes. I get to carry D's digger. This beach is a continuation of old H.
Then down to the sea. Sun trails on the water. Tide going out. Dam.
N: my dads not a sci, he's a fossil collect. &: why don't you have long trous? If you were in Canada you would freeze. N: In italy it was hard: I had no shoes & the path was too hot but the snow too cold. So I put snow on my feet & walked on the path.
Games in the 'surf' - about 3" high.
Back to car 7:15 & to 'white horse'. Pint for me, coke BN, & D tres soph lime & soda. There is a gt dane in bar. Sit out in garden. Ndb are a family of dogs. Sundog.
Campsite. Running around & occaisional sadness (D overenthustiacally tigs N). Inside tent to eat & spill soup. Teeth etc; phone home; then bed. I'm outside in bivvy & they are inside making ze fartung noise. 9:40.
Mobile reception weak.
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