Sat 12th
Tues 1st
Tomorrow D's b'day, of which he is well aware. Early postman brings cards 3 & 4 (D gets to open 1), & more pressies.
M to work early. Kitchen a disgusting mess: hoover in pref to eating. Read D 'ant & bee do counting': found on march. Rush off, meeting G&E on the way.
D to school. Approached by Milan's mum re D-to-play. Home with E. Discuss poss minding with S: she is full.
Home. Washing out. Rubbish out. Tidy. B'fast & paper. 11: head off: buggy E to p+r: as before, irritatingly, she sleeps as we walk along. Perhaps I should bring summat to read at rec?
Town 12. Cb1: E fails to sleep but is happy with milk + biccies for 1h+, then gets a bit loud. Shop for D's party: food + passTparcel. E charms everyone with her happy smiley burbling. Parkers piece 2:20 to give E a run-around. Nice short dry grass but! E's favourite: fad-ends everywhere.
Wed 2nd - D's b'day
Thurs 3rd
Up, slowly. De towards school: postman calls out: a parcel for us (pres for E): D goes to get it. Its nice to be recog.
Work. Yoga. A little more work: fd vs evp (in the red corner...). Eyelink to get glasses straightened, again. Cb1.
Arj. German toy shop - letters for E, kraut tub-tints for L: we owe her a b'day pres. Rs: get clay & face-paint: ditto. Home, 5:15. Sit down by pond with drink & m&c, peace. Sunlight through Dot's cherry tree.
Fetch de from m'a: all well, except E cries as I arrive. Then calms. Home: mr box arrives, followed by M. Bath 7-8, sit outside after to cool off: dark night: see a satellite.
Fri 4th
Cycling to work: see S on the dewy rec with T & wet O. Oh! she says, reminded of the party: H will be devastated. We arrange for H to come sometime.
Work. Straighten out fd.
Home. Sit by pond till 3:15: time to get De. School: stop for teastall, then back with deb.
6:15: lovely quiet evening; but chill. Sun setting already. D & B have gone inside; E panders around. B: 'why are you always working?'.
:45: mouse noises in the undergrowth? A leaf twitches. Misc birdsong.
7: take B back: as ever, he & D hide at the end of their garden when they arrive: always reluctant to fin.
Soir: sleep in front of fire. News in bed.
Sat 5th
Lie in till 9. Md sing happy b'day E downstairs (M had thought it the 6th till I reminded her).
Town: glasses again: fixes the pads: better. Cb1. Arj. Mr Bakers stall. Traffic on Mill Rd vv heavy.
Pm: E sleeps till 4. Drive De to parkside. Swim: D gets to try his new snorkel & mask: happy to put head under. After 1/2 h officious official tells us that 'nose coverings' aren't allowed.
Soir: evp: it *was* /aice in h & wsx, but for the latter need _uv.
Sun 6th
My one early rise of the week: 7:20 with E: D has been downstairs a bit.
10:20: set off to Ma's for E's naming & DE's family b'day.
Ma & LT there. RN arrive at 1, earlier than expected. Mfd,J,F completes party. Play outside: Ma had bought 2 foam rockets: I am bad & fire them at people.
As we switch to outside for lunch sky darkens & wind; so inside. Kids are controlled, barely, & expected to sit between courses: a bit much I think.
Presents for D & E; & ours for L too; & T; & F has brought for all.
Back via J+J.
Mon 7th
Pay for first week of D's school meals.
Work. Yoga. Work: find major evp bug. Home happy with runs running.
Soir: M to yoga.
Tues 8th
D still coughing. E wakes up sad v early but M re-settles her.
Quiet day. D to school; bring E home. Tidy. Washing. Air D's bed: a now-rare accident. Read Ma's words given to E: good: phone her. Concieve desire to 'do' downstairs soil-pipe cupboard-space. Remove stuff; remove panel. E's l'time sleep: put her down. Remove frame; clean inside. Start plastering: better this time. Get bottom bit into E-safe state (once it dries).
E wakes 3:20; Md back :45, D interested. Make 1/2 'roof' out of plaster board & affix with 'no more nails' as experiment.
Med off for D's swim. I tidy junk somewhat, read a little & cook.
Soir: gp meeting.
Night: up 1am cos E sad. Why? Grump.
Wed 9th
Work: evp_p*=0 works! for a year: try to write proper mod: update dies: till 2:30. Home. Play more: fail.
D to Milan's (1st time); M'a brings happy E back.
Mod: needs comdeck, aha.
Soir: pub 9: a+s+me. Cycle there: its getting cold!
Thurs 10th
D to school, leave E with M'a, who says, Megan says, D had sos at school. Oops: I forgot to ask for veggie.
Work, yoga, another h work. Town: cb1. Whew. Penguin. Arj. Germ: j-in-box. Xxocto for 10kg plaster. Home.
Pick up D from home club: he is happily watching Tom+Jerry. Go get E.
Soir: sort photos (back to D's party). Spent 1h on quat_res. Sleep on M's lap till 11:45 while she reads paper.
Fri 11th
Day grey but mild-ish. It hasn't rained much for ages.
Work. Discover missing -ve that solves many puzzles. Home, relax. M'a brings E back 3:15: meanwhile D is off to play chez N with B. E wurbles happily with her magic gold bag.
M back 4 'to interact with E' so I do some plastering & washing up. Then M grants me leave to allot for 1/2 h before picking up D: dig border to front patch. To N's. Andy there; dinner just finishing. Predictably kids rush off & so we 3 talk: pleasant. Walk back together: A & I talk allots (he wants one) etc. Through gathering dark: atmospheric. Right.
Home. M beds E, I bed D. Bath.
Sat 12th
pm to Jenny & Alex's wedding. In fact somewhat precipitately: having 'known' for no good reason it was at 4, at 1:50 look at card: oops, its at 3. Rush into car; wrap present; dress; etc. Not in that order. Arrive only a few mins late just as J is going in; sneak in after.
Lovely old church down a lane of big trees gloomy in thin misty wettish: autumnal. 'our' side is full of kids & noisy; none on A's; some outside. Take D outside for wee; poor D aims badly & gets wet then gets shy about going back in. But soon enough is alright. Back inside: a good service: sadly photos not allowed. E falls clunk on head & cries thrice. Ma reads Corinthians, Ann does a sermon, all goes well.
Outside: weather a touch brighter: Rob co-ordinates photos & I vid - can't vid & photo at same time, sadly. This goes on... then the departure. All off to Cadogan Hotel, neumarkt. We're last, following ma.
Hotel: just squeeze into carpark. Reception line. Drinks! Talk, etc. Food. Video. Kids run around (E shuts herself out of front & in loo). Loot bags & named balloon weights. All quite enjoyable: more than most. Don't mingle much. Talk Jen (dress by Mrs A; v good) & Alex (dragon waistcoat ditto).
Leave 9: we're flagging & de are. Sun 13th
Rain. Up with DE not as late as I'd hoped. At D's req make up the pfefferkuchhaus or whatever. Involves molten icing sugar as mortar!
10: to car boot behind plough. Lots of kids toys: get lego truck & digger for D; duplo push-hedgehog for E. & Prince Caspian, from Dot.
12: M takes D to see piano teacher from Riga: goes well: 20 mins twice a week arranged.
But D is tired from y'day: when we play 'whatever next' he collapses in tears when he gets a bad card.
2:15: cycle D to Charlies party at vet school. Back: into loft to seek source of ugly wet-looking stain on nice new b'room ceiling. Its a pin-hole leak (again): pipes to shower are dodgy. While I'm up there discover Miss A Meek's 1970 driving conviction.
Drive to pick D up 5:15: its back to rain :-(. He, Sam & one other left...
Tea: gingerbread house. Dinner: D reluctant to eat his tuna. E gamely tries her sweetcorn.
DE bath - E's 2nd of day.
Soir: xfer photos to desktop. Cut cd's for phil & den.
Mon 14th
Minor panic: palm tells me tiger meet is today: but it isn't.
Work-yoga-siberia/alaska meeting-smoko-surge_talk-work.
Tues 15th
Rain. D to school, E behind her plastic is left outside. Arrange Sam for next week tues/wed.
Home. More rain. Coffee & toast while E ramps happily. No milk, again: M has phoned dairy. Quick-cut cd for ja.
11: Ann & Dani visit for day: ja are off. Tea then walk to orchard with dogs (who must stay out) for lunch (rain less). Back: dogs come in. Talk, play, paper. Wait till 4:15: MD come back in downpour from D's first piano, which he enjoyed. But soon Med off to swim, & ad off too.
Cook at 6; med late back: late there too: D had 10 min lesson only: traffic. M bathes E & D joins; I bed D.
Soir: M plays with Mozilla mail; I discover need to ftp to desktop: we download ftp server: works! Then sshd: harder: but works.
Wed 16th
Up somewhat earlier at M's req, she leaves just past 8. D to school & E to m'a: grey but no rain. D happy to go as ever. Work: pressure off now evp seems well: write email to hadley. Home somewhat past 2. Lunch. Pick up DE. Milan is clingy & B tired (he's only just phasing in to full-time) so no friends today... so... since y'day was cut short, I propose swim. I have kit. D says Y & off we go (cycle to p+r: slower, but E is in shorts & I have no rear light).
Swim: good. E happy floating & kicking; D happy with arm bands or float & doesnt mind wet face. Sh*t-for-brains pool person forbids *snorkel* this time to D's distress. O/wise, good.
After: arj, cb1. Phone M & say she can be late. E eats quinoa crackers & is ok. Walk back in dusk; bus; cycle; home.
Soir: from_beowulf.pl.
Thurs 17th
Sun for a change: hurrah! But chill. Running out of nappies for M'a. As usual, a bit rushed to school (todays special: D suggests honey for harvest festival for home club. So rush around, find jar, liquify honey: of course I have none bottled ready). D to school, E to M'a, then to s/hall for harvest festival (N occaisionally betrays herself: she said 'fest'). Stay to end; kids sing; very sweet; but y1's forget words.
Work: stick shoe with h's glue.
Pm: post-yoga talk with Julia Slingo: beowulf/evp.
Town, briefly: cb1, arj, germ: take-apart wobble-toy for Niamh. Coming back: v strong sundog, one-sided. Striking shadows of Cu at horizon on lower layer.
Work: E Hanna talk: Greenland.
5:25: pick up D, to piano teacher, 14 bennys: DB's?!? D is good for 10 mins, then has to be cajolled (sp?) for 10: at one point he wanders under the table!
Soir: more plastering.
Fri 18th
Chilly, grey.
Work: in div feedback meeting. Tra-la-la.
End up working till past 3, then to school to pick up E: but M's done it in car. See D off to Billys.
Relaxing pm: M & I & E, who is happy. Strip wallpaper near s'pipe.
Pick stuff out of school skip: 3 small chairs, a table, a beam, &! a tuba. Dented. Polish soir with chrome p, but doesn't work well: need brasso.
Night: bright moon in dark sky.
Sat 19th
Sun. Lie in it till nearly 10! Dahlia's touched by 1st frost. B'fast, wash up, hoover (I mention this 'cos its a new policy). Washing out.
Cycle in to town. Autumn colours, chill, a day for the time of year.
Eyelink: another attempt to straighten glasses. Cb1/arj/germ: leafpress for N: everyone has so many toys, perhaps something 'useful'. XxOcto for brasso: fail. But get it from r/s.
Home 2, just as E to sleep. M pronounces her intent of going to town, & falls asleep on the sofa. I bring out the brasso & have another go at tuba: much better. Then D & I decide to sand the old school table with the mouse: get the top done & tunged.
M to town, partly for press for Gen+Art.
4:20: E wakes, we to pool by car. Arrive just pre-5: it shuts at :30 so get a 1/2 h for 1/2 price. Again, E bobs, D jumps. After: E into p'chair, to cb1. Home, med eat while I polish tuba.
Soir: spl.pl / yabnw promising / read.
Sun 20th
Grey. I don't leave house all day.
Up with DE: M bought h'een cookie cutters y'day so at D's req make butter biccies, which works. M up 10.
2: E sleeps. Md to toymaster for PlayMobil pirate ship M saw (& res) y'day. I plaster somewhat: nearly fin.
Rain.
E wakes; MD return with v big box, D & I put it together, fun. It has 1 mast, a bowsprit, semi-real rigging, 4 figures (2 soldiers, 2 pirates), 2 cannon, an island, a real metal anchor (D v impressed). Etc.
Dinner: pancakes.
Soir: finish stations of the tide: a good, odd book.
Mon 21st
DE to M'a, this being 1/2 term. I to station & delayed 9:45, intent: bracknell.
Hmm... end up on bizarre odyssey to Crowthorne, hence 1h+ delay. At one point a walk to Br'nell looked quickest! Add torrential rain. Lunch in fav Itie sandwich shop in town centre: moz & olives.
To Hadley, then Johnston, meet Mark Gallani briefly, then meeting.
Meeting goes well enough: bug fix is too new. Dave Roberts amuses all by quote from 1984 meeting re multi-level ice. After, talk with AM & DC.
Take Reading train with dc & Mark W. Then back, fairly painlessly except brief u'g'd trubbles. To Castle 8:30, & get in 2 games & 3 pints.
Tues 22nd
A busy morning, as I struggle to get D ready for N's party: paper gun, sword, hat. All this rather rushed because I suddenly discover its at 11... Claire takes D with B, I am in comparative peace with E. & then I put her to sleep. Peace.
All to brief. Time to pick up DB & Sam. Out of back door into rain... ah. Err. M's got the car. Oops. Run round to Claire: out. Err. Phone taxi... off we go. We aren't too late, just in time really. Rush a bit cos taxi awaits, pick up various bits of costume & party bags & socks. N cute in ballerina costume. Back in taxi: 5 is over his licence: oops: swap Billy to kind Rachel. Taxi back: 'did you dance?'; D: no, mostly the pirates chased the ballerinas...
So... back home. D & S disappear upstairs with D's pirate ship. B is dropped & also vanishes. E is also content & so I get lunch, coffee & paper. At 2:30 feed them tangerine & their party cake & they vanish again. Sam seems quite quiet - still somewhat mischievous, true, but sometimes appeals to me for protection from DB.
3:25: Penny arrives for S & M returns. Chat: confirm tomorrow.
Soir: M gets php-wiki installed & apparently 1st degree working at lycos & is thus pleased with herself.
Wed 23rd
A busy day. I have infants (& car). Early: to Dr P for D's warts (will fade; can treat) & hearing (vis ok). 10:15: P collects D to play with S & he rushes off.
Push E to work (1/2 way there realise we could have cycled; still its a nice day). Catch tail-end of smoko, read mail, etc, then to JP's retirement pres - E behaves well. Home.
E now asleep. Sew & sellotape D's ghost costume / sheet; wrap pres. Now time to get D & I haven't even lunched :-(. Bundle E into car. D from Sam's (adjust his costume with scissors; he likes it); to Genivive & Arthurs 'slightly spooky' party: 2. I have till 4:30. Time to ch E & lunch. Then to b+q for shelf (chaos on Madingley Rd), then back to pick up D, who has had fun.
Lastly: to Kate&John, just pre-5, though J is still at work. D scares R with his costume, then settles down to play. K is about to publish some poetry. Getting late; prepare to go; K gives E Miss Ermina, who D immeadiately decides is Mr W's wife. She is a little smaller, v cute, & has a green dress. J comes in.
Home 6:30. M back. Go for bath.
Soir: M to pub. Do pensions: go for 'premium': hard to choose, but optimistically assume 15+ y after retirement!
Thurs 24th
E unsettled o/night, wakes D early.
Sun/cold.
D grumpy for piano practice & putting on clothes & winds up M. To M'a. D writes his name in cond & frost on cars. Work/yoga/1h bonus work.
Cb1/arj/home.
Fri 25th
Work: new evp / lib cat. Quite relaxed.
Home 2. M is officially 'on' today but I shall help, esp past 3:30. Get coffee-lunch-paper in, good.
We have B, Honor & N here, in order of arrival. Keeping 4 happy is harder, esp since H is less familiar & quite gentle: N shows her hard side a bit, & D needs cajoling to stay good. Upstairs; tree house till rain; computer; 'whatever next'. Ben comes for H 5:45; I take E upstairs.
7:30 drive to F.
Sat 26th
Lie in, sun.
12: into London by train, V then W'minster then over bridge to base of London Eye, where we meet Si, B & Katie, 4. Playground for a while, then lunch at Pizza Express. K displays her writing skills. D & she play happily & energetically together. Si fails to defend the bill from F.
Meet Niel & Kate (not K's parents) at Aquarium. Which is Good. Main 'thing' is big tank, 2 floors deep, with sharks & various fish. But lots of smaller side-tanks. Interesting choice of fish: the cute pop-up sand-eels were good.
Out 5:30 ish? Greying now. Bye to others, regretful on D & K's part. F buys roast chestnuts on bridge. Train back.
Sun 27th
Get up for E a few times in night, & at '7:15' in morning (clocks went back).
Try to tape to vid; fail. D watches tv instead. Rugrats, redwall, bugs b, anything...
11: To park with D (first get blown around in greens near F), taking the traditional 'lost' route to the tower. *V* windy: part of F's garden wall blown over. We are in sole command, blown at by wind & leaves & sometimes sun. I carve bits of branch for D's amusement & mine with Tom's big opinel.
Mon 28th
Fairly relaxed at work, since all appears to be running well. Play lib cat & ipab.
Home: M tired; no yoga for her. Quiet soir, with tidy.
Tues 29th
M takes day off. D to school: puts stone in book bag & accidentally breaks school door glass :-(. But its fixed by pm.
10:10: drive E to nurse for her mmr: a quick jab in the thigh, not even a cry, & we're done.
Home, change E, then out again to Smiths on Milton Rd for 1st shoes: but they say: not till she has walked 2 months: & E is only just awake & won't even try to walk. On to Parkside: Arj, then cb1: 2 5-ish k's playing. E in push chair happy while I drink a coffee & read 2000ad. Home: 1: E sleeps. Quiet grey weather: mammatus.
Lunch. Tidy. M plays with new pooter a while: hive file sh*t again: something is wrong: what? M decides to re-seat tight drive cables: perhaps that will help. M heads off to w/rose.
Set pooter to playing Drowned Lovers avi as test. Ok.
M returns, then leaves for D for piano. E wakes. We go off to look at debris of the big willow on s/dale green: climbable. About 1/2 upper branches gone. Hmm.
Md back: D was 'quite tired'. 4:30: off for D's swimming, though M tempted not to bother. But it goes ok, & they are even early. Meanwhile I cut shelf #2, but get pipe cut-out wrong cos it slopes. Glue piece back: poss as scroll saw cuts are fine. Cook: pots etc; spinach; pineapple; apple. We have a food mountain.
Wed 30th
Work. 1st meet of journal club: Murphy, Simmonds, Pettre: t50+/- paper. Need more info: *why* t up over sea ice? Set off more runs: not home till 3 :-(.
Coffee, toast, pakora: M'a brings E. Wurble. Tidy. Feed E. Rest.
D back from Billys at 6. M soonish after.
7: I go off to schools how-we-teach-reading. Lots of different things. Get carried away translating dingbats.
Home 8:30: M working on xvrta logo. Pooter seems better, presumably cos of her work on cables.
Thurs 31st
E fine - no effects of jab so far.
Work, briefly: leave ice running & play with cyclones & levels. Comment on higem: jck off to talk to them tomorrow. Off at 12 to demo in town, in company with Tom. Meet Janet. Quite small at first but grows: half-hearted chanting; speeches (inc firefighter & 2 guest engines); ring around market square; march. Steve H there; allotment Jeff too. Good. Stay till 1:30.
Cb1: restful time reading Starman Jones (though it was a toss-up with going to play with the model) & drinking too much coffee. Indian s/mkt for fireworks: small rockets & misc pack. Arj.
Home: 4:30 (passing rec: Adam calls: hello Daniels daddy! Stop to talk to Paul. Some hefty branches down). Toast. Cut squash into face. Surprise: its been picked 2 weeks but inside is fresh: & tasty raw: looks like melon but not quite that sweet. Save seeds.
Make s/wich for D & apple for me; go back for D's costume. Ella & G out dressed as witches. D from home club to piano. He is neither keen nor not; remind him that going on his (first) trick-or-treat depends on good behaviour.
6: join Nikola, NP&N at a friend of theirs (Hal?), Penny+C too: Sam is sick. & so we TorT about, D gradually working it out but tending to hang back with N (who has a square paper bag over her head to be a Golem, 'made of mud' as she says). They want to collect on their own. Extended stop at Boatfields who invite all in for tea, ghostly music, skeleton streamers, etc. And then D & I head home: 8: me carrying tired D. He decides that next year he'll go with just N. Or B? No, on reflection, N.
M reduces him to tears by making him eat scrambled egg: 'but I hate to have it every day'. Happier now.