D sings me a song & repeats it for video: about Asterix killing the wicked witch, sung by Obelix. But its only for men: he wont sing it for M. He insists he made it all up.
Pm is a virtual wed so I look after DE. Charlie & ... Allan come over & this works.
J late due to traffic. M & I cycle off 8:20 which gets us there 8:55, q for armbands 5-10 mins.
Get to BB: good. Shout out New England. Meet A & talk until 11.
Fri 2nd
M swaps me in about 7:30 & goes gratefully back to bed. Sunny, not too hot: a promising day. Sounds upstairs of D waking J.
Work after 9. Yabew misbehaving & v pointless. Hmm. Smoko: H foams at the mouth over bb's accent. Sadly for H everyone assumes he can take all the... abuse? Contradiction?
Home 1:30. Lunch in progress.
Mow lawn. E sleeps. D & J fish.
3:30 - ff (alone: M prefers sleep; walk in just after Russ+J; wave to H). EC & MG: ok. VdC: excellent. But I was up the front: its far better there: spectacle. And watching the camera work. Loos: mens fast-moving q: what must be the volume of urine/sec?
Waiting for Ezio, reputed to be one of the highlights (says S; she is somewhere further back). But after VdC, a disappointment: just not very interesting. Leave after 3 songs, to get home hot just after my due time, 6:30.
Sat 3rd
Lie-in till past 10: luxury! M sleeps on (she was up from 6-9 with E, who has been waking early recently: sadly for M she needs a feed-on-waking, which I cant do).
Drive off 12:30 with DE, leaving MJ to rest/cambridge. Get bus from c'park but it would have been quicker to walk.
Lunch: crepes. Park ourselves on carrymat outside stage 1 with view. Rain begins: retreat under umbrellas. I go off (well, we alternate) & when I return D is at his ease painting on my palm.
Nick Sheperd (vid snatch in club tent; end of song about nose).
Home. Snatch quick dins; burn naan. Leave DE for MJ to bed & cycle off in liesurely way.
Soir: arrive just in time for chumbawamba - superb (miss Blue Murder :-(. Meet Andrea (the magic of mobiles). Food. Club: Amy Wadge. R2 stage to meet A+S. Altan. VdC.
Mud. Wall of glasses. Rain. To hear JS & t Mescaleros on main stage. Superb: not just music (clash/new) but spectacle, crowd, situation: even rain in moderation. Fin 11:30 with 'daddy was a bank robber'.
Cycle home is becoming rather long!
Sun 4th
M up at 5 (!) with E who is restive but nice J soon takes over. I go down 7 when it gets noisy but get to go back to bed. Till past ten! Ahh.
Drive to ff & bus from c'park. Luxury. To r2 stage in prep kids concert. M & I discuss what makes a good show. Altan fail; Castor are an exemplar of success; JS&M too (M says: it helps if you can just stop with no warning & the crowd shouts them).
D is showing signs of shyness? Prefers to sit with me rather than explore tent. Y'days mud has been tamed in the worst places by more bark, & the sun shines (intermittently). Find Can. Meet Kate & ?Graham? Show starts: its loud! D stays at back with us. Surprise guest: EC. Quietens down & becomes more obviously kid-friendly.
To kids area. Big parachute in centre kids flap edges, cats inside & mice under. M goes off to browse. Game: kids sit in circle: one chosen; goes round outside; pats heads saying 'duck' until picks one & says 'gocse'; then outer & patted run round & first back gets place.
M returns. I hear a little Malinky & Jim (young thin intense) Moran. Buy foe T (gm-org). Back. Discover creche-tent just around corner! 4: huge rainstorm impends & its time: bus back. D fascinated by portaloos (when home he brings down his potty & declares it his portable toilet cubicle). Now intense hail.
Drive home: huge rain. Floods.
Lolly for D: £1. Foe: £6.
Back: E is pleased to see me (MD are still in car listen to end tom thumb) waving hands with enthus. She has stood for 1-2 weeks, & I have seen her take one step. She has 3.1 teeth, & signs of L-handedness.
Mfd tells us how D has been writing on the blackboard, & understanding word structure. E, however, is to be musical.
Si phones: he has been sacked (& so has de Gaulle): still he is in a brutal mkt.
MJ off with thanks. I leave too with a pass. Cycle in, swapping fleece for w'proof. R2: Holmes Bros (meet Phil): good; loud; blues. S1 for John Prine but not impressed, so leave for misc in Club. More rain! Sit for a while. See H on other side. Which is such a triv comment that I must write about the music: fair: varied: worth a listen, certainly: not up to pro stds?
Mud squelches underfoot.
Get Hot Spicy Cider, a la S. Indigo Girls. Fair. Clearly better than club tent (in some sense) but no more listenable. Kate Rusby: again: good; happy to listen; lacking magic of... say VdC. Darkness falling. To my astonishment they do 'the drowned lovers', quite different to our version: not so good? (record it) but affecting.
Mon 5th
DE bath together. E finds shower in face funny but D hates it. E to bed while D baths on. Starting tonight M doesn't feed E at night so I give her bottle: she doesn't want much. Leave her (sad) & bed D (more Ast&Ob). Then, sweetly, D wants me to sit with him while he falls asleep: he says: 'I dont mind if you read a book'. So I start A Dolls House.
Tues 6th
E wakes early but M re-settles her - time to teach her not to wake at 5. & after some crying it works. So I get up with DE 8 ish, hoping for a relaxing day. M off to work; D plays Oz; E burbles; I read paper & drink... coffee.
10ish: D wants to play Ast; I persuade him its time to go see Billy; & it is. He runs ahead & shouts 'knock knock' & has disappeared inside when I arrive. Intro E to quiet Gemma; home.
11:30: with E down garden; sit on bench. Peace.
Give E lunch & put her to sleep. Rest a bit then play with ieee1394 card. It still b*gg*rs the auto-power, but it *works*! Hurrah: record some ff. Get to watch it properly. But its *big*: 1G for 5mins avi. 40M for just-audio. Or 30M as mpeg-1.
Pm: leave late. Cb1/arj. Coop for hol cash - on time for once! Mackays for piggy-bike bolt-nut: 24p for 2 & washers!
Wed 7th
Flying ants are in the air & crawling out of the ground. The first warm dry day for a while.
Jck & LR to visit: bring D back from M'a 3; they come soon after. Start outside but: Rain! It seems to have been wet for weeks. To BW where we have fun (D & L chasing) & find D's atml sun (ha!) hat; until rain resumes.
Soir: M to pub. Me home: playing w95 on new machine: no go: ios. Bath
Thurs 8th
M leaves somewhat post-8 & I take DE to M'a, forgetting that she is dentisting early. Cpn mobile to the rescue: wait at bus shelter: D finds this satisfying.
Work: seaice. Yoga. Cb1. Arj. Home.
A break in the weather! Do bees.
Soir: finally manage to trash disk 2 (it took a long time; partition magic did it in the end).
Fri 9th
Up with DE :-(. Hoover. Work.
Home. E sleeps 2-4. Play brio with D.
To rec with De at 5, in a brief break in the rain: a little sun, even. Oops, not for long. Still, E enjoys the wirlybird, & being out. Adventure into the farmers cornfield - D remembers sitting on the gate watching it cut (when it was beans; he rem) last y. This year its getting rather wet - poss rotting.
Sat 10th
Lie-in. B'fast liesurely. D plays Maisie-house: M must make panda seek Maisie. E takes a few tottering steps.
Grey but warm. Town: get glasses straightened (thanks, E). Cb1: oh no its 12:30: time to go. Arj.
Sun 11th
To town, PP for picnic lunch. I cycle in; others drive. Then to w/s: M wants to buy a cv book; D to read in kids sect; E plays happily. I get a turn to wander, but aimlessly: find nothing to inspire.
Separate: I take D to G'chester trains. Meet C+H+A coming out; meet H+Adam+P inside. D has fun (so do I). He has conditions for a train he'll ríde alone: must have only 2 carriages.
Mon 12th
Work. Home. Soir: install OpenOffice: appears to work. Late: get julys memos in order & publish june/july.
Tues 13th
M up early as is now the pattern. I rise 8; she leaves soon after. All goes quietly. DE to M'a (for the week is turned around); me to town. A delightful sunny am, with promise of a hot day. Arj. Cb1 is shut. Co-op to pick up holiday cash. Germ cafe for a rest. Now its 11. The day stretches ahead of me, apparently endless.
Stop at allot: do 1/2 h tidy, pluck some onions. Bbeans fading.
Home. Review vdb. Sit out with coffee for lunch. Fickle weather: grey. Then back to sun. M returns 3ish, to cv-ise. Do bees: put super onto blue-top. Make up 10 frames, mostly from reclaimed old frames (& new wax, of course). Probably quicker, & satisfying too.
Then various gardening: clip budlia, hawthorn. Weed veg beds.
Late: bonfire (so as not to leave waste for wasps).
Wed 14th
DE with M'a all day. Work till 5 (come home for lunch - hot - sit out with coffee).
Thurs 15th
Tosh - seaside.
Fri 16th
M grants me lie-in in recog of y'day. Work. Home: Billy is here. He ends up staying all day, till after supper, which suits A+C who are packing & chasing washing machines. So he & D entertain each other most of the time, requiring help with the bucket & string to pick up the stuff B threw out of D's window.
7: put up old green tunnel tent: D will sleep out, with me. He is v keen on this & not put off by rainshower as we put up tent.
Soir: repair xp (system32/config/security, etc. Timing suggests D broke it, but how?). Arg. Fail to network - again - can the onboard be broken?
Sat 17th
D sleeps soundly but my bones are getting old: 'when we were young we could sleep on stones'. But its good to be out again, & great that D enjoys it - he wants to do it again, alone, tonight.
Allot to pick stuff for stall: onions, a few bbeans still good, garlics. But weeds! Oh dear! Needs a lot of work. Tonight?
V hot. Town: eyelink fur small adjust to glasses, then cb1 while Med to w/rose.
7:30: to allot to mow, since next door has been ploughed this is a chance to look tidy. Plough through vast grass. Rip up trumpet vine & discover onions. Dig a few pots. At the end, a troupe of d'flies circle for flies.
1am: restored.
Sun 18th
Awake alone to the sound of voices, & go back to sleep. Finally up around 9:30.
Day: developes into quiet sunday at home. Quite hot. Clean out passageway (to make it safe for E) & 'coal hole' & make downstairs toilet usable.
Soir: xfer. Named off. Get 1G off piccies from portege to new in about 1h (600k/sec). Bonfire. Attempt at gp leaflet. Bed - alone again: M sleeps in tent with D, at his req.
Mon 19th
M to work; De & I off to Mas somewhat after 10:30. We're going to the zoo. E sleeps most of way, then squiggles out of her seat, twice: argh.
To Ma; coffee; change E.
elephants (brown walking on-hillside) penguins wallabies (everywhere) peacocks rhinos (big) chimps(elusive)
4: awaiting the sealion feeding/show. E sleeps, her toes poking out of her worn babygro. Why are they called sealions, says D. They put on a good show.
They even have a steam railway! #4, 'superior', narrow guage tank engine. Complete with pot of brasso tucked in a corner.
Tues 20th - see tosh.
Late: fail to ir-sync: wots up?
Wed 21st
An altogether happier day.
Work (since I don't have D's seat on, put bike in visitors racks), still chasing evp: yabna/b/c/d.
Home. Lunch. E to bed 2. Fend off D while I eat, then playdo with him, till he decides to seek mythical modelling clay. But then, lying on bed, see Karen in her garden: why not play with E&G? And he does. They alternate there & here, mostly there, & seem to be happy together. About 5 I make them sandwiches to take to treehouse & they run back panicked by wasp & go to EG's.
Meanwhile I emulate the actions of the K, & mow the back lawn. Then tidy 'herb' patch, over grown with rue, & plant out a few pot bound plants (white comfrey to herb bed; asparagus to near veg bed where bbeans were) near the bike shed. A quick sweep: presto! Safe for E. & later when she awakes I reap my reward: she can ramp & I dont have to go stop her. Also tidy inside: my that looks good. Maybe I should do some more?
M home 6. I read mail & phone Andy to confirm pub - last before hols. Dinner: M has persuaded Mr W/rose to make us a quiche but D is having none of it: M does him (& E) scrambled eggs.
While M sleeps DE I go tidy garden a little, beyond pond, in a relaxed way.
Cycle off, with D waving goodbye from his window.
Thurs 22nd
Decide to cycle to station: furthest I've been with 3. Ok, bit of effort.
10:45 to kc. 12:06 (no! We've had to swap: :17) to ec. All well so far. Fed E on train but forgot D food. Tram to F's: arrive before 1 but she is worried that we are late. Welcome & food as ever, she is slowing, but slowly.
Give D a run-around at his req: run & hide-&-seek: shrieks.
Leave 5:15. Underground is hot (but kind folk give us seats); kc->c is crowded but we get seats.
M picks us up at 8, put bike on new frame: first wrinkle: no cross-bar. But fit it. Home. Bed infants, have dinner, rest. Try to work out new carrier: fail & get M's help. Decide to go for just one bike, the old black one. News, then start packing 10; I stop 11:30, M comes to bed 1: not too painful. Really, there is little to pack for this sort of hol.
Fri 23rd
Up 'early' - 7:30 - to finish packing, plant D's sensitive plant & load car. M is to do misc during the morning, eg pick our excellent plum, pear & apple crop.
Work: tidy. Jck says Kate has started knitting an ermine!
Decide to panic & leave early - as it turns out - 12:30 - but apart from one bit all is smooth, & it only takes 3:30, 164 miles to ferry port q. E sleeps all way, D sleeps after 1h, so its a quiet drive.
As we're here early I phone John, who is at work but happy to leave, & who says Marion is at home. So: meet outside dockyard & tour. We're a bit late - Victory is shutting - but gaze up at the outside & the masts x00 feet high, as the guide reels off as he passes. Warships with sun glinting off radomes in distance. D sits on cannon & says Bang! Bang! Bang! with glee. To Dry Dock cafe, beer & sandwiches (beef in D's case, which is chomped up).
Which all shuts at 6, so off to ferry port. Check in & sit in ranks. Looking around, I see I may have been too sqeamish about the bike rack. M changes E in car...
Onboard. A little confusion then find cabin, bijou. D excited by details. Shower, & E. Then go watch us leave port - dark now. Ranks of warships - more than you expect - & huge ferries.
Discover playroom: D dives into softplay bit, then colouring. M queues for a bite of food. D discovers the tunnel to the 'cinema' where he has undergone capture by Tom & Jerry.
Bed. Fiddle with lights.
For our summer holiday, see Quiberon