Blog

school x3. work. swimming.  dog walking. apprentice semi-final.  sleep

 

it was my birthday today. here’s a lovely commemorative plate and cup from my wife and childrens.

i had a surprise coffee with my friend Phil this morning which was good.

i got some chocs and a card at work too which was very nice.   and at lunch we went to a pub for some lunch which gave me stomach pains which was a shame!

i worked from home this afternoon because jane’s car needed to urgently go to the garage. 

jane’s work seems to be going well.  kezia had swimming tonight.  esther had lots of homework.

and i saw this digger on the way to work this morning which made for a nice picture

after a good night’s sleep everyone was back to school today.  jane’s first day went well and she’s got her new laptop and a desk

kezia had a maths test and this evening had parents evening which was also good

esther’s had lots of homework and i went to the supermaket with a list which i almost managed to complete.

jane’s now preparing lessons and i’m going to bed.  see ya

yay.  we’re all back together!

it took two hours to drive to the airport this morning due to the fog.  thankfully i’d left plenty of time and still arrived an hour before the flight actually landed, and then it took another hour for the girls to emerge.  it was great to see them at last!

after some refreshments and the drive home (much quicker – fog lifted/not rush hour) we headed out with pearl for a walk at long bay (where there school kids in the sea)

now everyone is wandering round the house like zombies trying to get things ready for back-to-work wednesday whilst fighting the need to drop in to bed

i worked from home today to take advantage of the last day of an empty house.  and also to keep an eye on pearl

 

after a chat with jane at heathrow i went over to the dentist for a check up and to ask about my fillings, one of which i thought was lose.  it’s not apparently. so that’s good.

the rest of the day was spent working from home as my one other meeting in albany was cancelled. this evening pearl and i went for a walk round the cemetery.  then this evening it’s been tidying and keeping pearl amused.

i’ve got the day off work tomorrow for airport collecting duty

Last day today. Boo.
Did Thames Path from Marlow to Bourne End. Well actually we did it the other way.

Back to Pooch and Party’s after a picnic lunch for packing and last minute fun, including trying to make the world’s largest bubble.

Now sitting on Heathrow waiting for gate.  See you on the other side

pearl slept well last night and we were both up around 7am so we could have a walk before church

it was a lovely morning.  pearly loved the long grass which she dragged her face through

and the creek was so still it was like a lake!

church was good then afterwards i did some errands

then i spent another couple of hours attempting to iron shirts. 

then late afternoon pearl and i went for another walk

when we got home i found jane’s guinea pig had passed away.  so that’s very sad and results in international discussion and local logistics.  i’m a bit sad too actually as i’d only got to know our guinea pigs in the couple of weeks whilst i’ve been feeding them and cleaning them out

so that’s that.

Back to Arbo today. Took hire car back and then the Clarks arrived in time for lunch.

After lunch we put the tent up as the young people were going to sleep there.

Other activities were also available

Binkie was called to be an emergency bell ringer with Granny.
It started to rain later.  You can’t really see in the photo

But it was actually the partying from the rectory wedding which forced the campers inside.

Also had a jolly Skype with AB and UD

Today we went to the Roman Baths.

In the afternoon we went to a park with a stream.

In the evening we had a huge game of racing demon and  some adults drank some alcohol

hey, guess what.  Pearl’s back.  she wasn’t due back until tuesday but i decided to get her a bit earlier so she can start at doggy daycare earlier than if she came back on tuesday (they have a week’s stand down after being in the kennels for some reason)

i ended up staying up very late last night doing ironing and watching TV.  the results of my ironing weren’t great to be honest.

and i woke up in the night convinced i was in an earthquake with proper bed wobbling and everything, but there’s no indications on geonet that anything happened (although it was the same time as one of the many Seddon earthquakes).  this morning i got on with some chores including cleaning the guinea pigs cage

my computer made a really weird noise this morning which involved a couple of trips to the computer shop where they put my graphics card on a test jig to see if it really was broken.  it was nearly broken but then this evening it became actually broken. i failed to sort out some other computer things too.

pearl was pleased to be home.  she spent a while scratching her back in the garden on the short grass

then she slept like a dog in the sun

and a bit later we went for a walk round the graveyard which was very successful considering that the two of us have only been for a walk together only once before (and that was such a disaster i vowed never to do it again).  sloppy poo.  i shall say no more.

we had a good chat whilst walking round the cemetery.  so much has happened in the couple of weeks she’s been away.  i told her all my news, but she was typically silent about her activities.

it’s definitely pearl i bought back.  when she went in to the garden i could hear her digging in some stones.  she popped out a few moments later with a tasty bone!

then this evening bruce phoned up and asked if i could transport him to his car which was left in a different bit of town, so that was a nice little drive and chat.