The Claytons in England

Alexander and Becky's wedding

2011-12-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Leaving the house was the usual chaos of ,"did you pack any pyjamas?", 'why do you need to got the loo again?' but the forecast for snow had gone so it was a clear run into Cambridge.

The girls were sparkly and the boys were relatively smart. Tyler was sporting a tie! Not a real one but a fake one with velcro to fasten it. After buying it he tried it on and because it was velcro tried ripping it off with a flourish. It ripped off. It fell into small pieces. I had to sew it back together, I think partly because I was somehow being blamed - a bad example or something.

We made one small mistake in getting there in that I was in the driving seat with Frances navigating. After half an hour of driving around the narrow streets of Cambridge we swapped drivers and peace and calm was restored.

The church right in the centre of town was beautiful and we found a spot on the balcony where the kids could see. Jess sang at some point, and there was a band from some of Alex's friends and we sang Hark the herald at the end.

The reception was in St Catherines college. Mathew, Gemma, Frances and I sat with the younger 4 kids whilst Archie and Peri got to sit with grown ups. There were some lovely speeches - and there was Neil still the same age as he always has been, because the age of the people around you never changes, but here was his boy all grown up.

There was a lovely old room where we could stand around and talk, with a more modern larger side room where we ate and then the band played. One of Becky's grandmothers unfortunately had a fall and had to be taken to hospital with a suspected broken arm, which put a bit of a pause on things for a while. Alexander and Becky started off with a slow dance then took off into "I got the moves like Jagger!" with such joy, whirling around the floor. Fantastic! Frances and Peri and I all danced and danced. Occasionally I had to step outside where we timed the boys in laps of the quad. I think Toby eventually held the record at 26 secs with Tyler coming second in 29 secs. Darcy managed 39 secs but she did it whilst being a horse. Various pacing estimated the distance at around 140m. A great night - we disappeared off to our taxi and hotel at 10.

The next morning we ate ice creams in front of Kings College as it snowed.

November

2011-11-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Another weekend - Saturday morning is all about logistics - Dropping Peri off at gym, drop Archie at football practice followed by Tyler drop off somewhere else. Then pick up Tyler and go into town to meet up with Archie and get a milkshake. Back for lunch then off to pick up Peri and back to feed her. Mass family house clean, then zoom off to look at bathroom showrooms for our new ensuite! Back for dinner and Strictly Come Dancing then crawl into bed.

Sunday morning we split up for the two football matches. Archie captain's his side and they win 3-2, whilst Tyler's team loses 3-1. Tyler plays like a Trojan as usual. He was man of the match last week and tackles everything in sight. Back for soup then homework. Archie is ferried off to his rehearsal for a play next week and Peri and I cook meatloaf for the freezer. Marian and Will turn up after dropping Dom off at his new flat in London. Crisis as he can't get the Internet in the new flat which he needs for job hunting but we find a solution in the end. Then cook dinner, transfer Archie to another venue and resupply with snacks. Final pick up, dinner, showers, Strictly results, ironing, snoring.....

Archie's split personality...

2011-09-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken less than 24 hours apart.

Kalbarri

2011-09-04T07:57:00.001-07:00

We took a trip north for a few days to Kalbarri. It is a few hundred miles north of Perth on the coast in a large nature reserve.

Snakes alive!

2011-09-04T04:16:00.001-07:00

Bushwalk - not too many flowers out yet.

Ice cream in Kalamunda

2011-09-04T04:15:00.001-07:00

One day when Frances was away I took the kids to Kalamunda, a small town in the hills where I remember that the ice cream is the best!

The Long Bar at the Raffles hotel, Singapore

2011-09-04T01:27:00.000-07:00

Frances and I went to drink Singapore Sling's before we flew home at the Raffles hotel!

Story by Darcy

2011-07-31T04:36:00.000-07:00

Found in one of her books as I was clearing out (spellings corrected):

One dark morning I woke up. When I opened my eyes I saw a dinosaur land and a volcano. There was lots of flying dinosaurs and they looked a bit scary. Suddenly I realised that I was in a dinosaur land.

"Now I'm very scared", I said. "I want to go back home now", I said. Then I shrieked, "Mama! Papa!, I want to come home now!"

Then all of the dinosaurs were all around me in a circle. I thought they were going to eat me up! They were scared too.

"Are you all plant eaters?". They roared to say yes. "Is that a yes?", I said carefully. The next time they all roared I knew they said yes. But I don't know how, I just did. Just then I realised I was being chased by a .... T-Rex!

There were two has(?). I flew in one it took me back home. It was a bit funny because he didn't know where I was. Finally it was time for bed.

Mum said "Where were you Darcy?".

"I was in my bed all the time" I said.

When she had gone out of the room I said, "..not".

Alien Invaders

2011-07-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

Just found these lyrics as I tidy the house. I seem to remember a band performance a couple of weeks ago, but none of the words were understandable at the time and it was the culmination of various band artistic differences and tears. If I have the credits right, lyrics are by Peri, music by Archie and Peri. Other band members are Tyler on drums and Darcy on percussion, with Archie on guitar and Peri on vocals and violin. Their band name is The Flapjacks.

Walkin down the dark pathway
at the dead of night
I hear footsteps, I turn round
such a deadly fright

chorus:
Alien Invaders
coming right my way
Alien Invaders
gotta run away
Alien Invaders

Hiding in the shadows
trying to conceal
my very loud heartbeat
what a frightening feel

chorus

Sprinting round a corner
skiddin' in my tracks
can't really see anything
but now I can't go back

chorus

Hands are on my shoulders
I don't wanna turn around
it feels like I am in a dream
There's only one thing I can do

I gotta SCREAM!

It does sound like it should be played in a Death Metal style, but actually they were quite sweet at the time.

Dicthling at Easter

2011-06-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

Another video from when we went egg rolling on Lodge Hill at Easter

Tanglewood picnic

2011-06-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Video from our picnic pack in May

Making marmalade

2011-04-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! New iMac - edited first video.

This is from a few months ago making marmalade with Mathew

Cricket whites

2011-03-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

Archie got a place this week at the nearby grammar school and we were discussing the uniform he has to have which includes cricket whites.
Archie: Oh great I will get to play cricket! I'm actually amazing at cricket
Frances: er, have you ever played cricket?
Archie: yes lots with Tyler and Peri in the back garden - I'm really good at it.
Frances starts giggling
Archie (indignantly): Once I hit the ball all the way to the rhubarb!

Trip to Sussex

2011-02-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

We popped down to Sussex on Sunday. Dropped in to Mathew and Gemma first on the common for coffee with Mathew clearing out the shed in anticipation of work starting on repairing the roof this week. Ma and Pa seemed in good form. Played cards with the boys, climbing trees, trips to the skate park over the road, going through old RHS magazines... Picked a half dozen of daffodils in the garden that had just come out down on the bank by the stream.

In the afternoon we joined Mathew and family and his friend Kev and family on a trip to the beach at Rottingdean, although much debate with Frances about whether it was raining too hard. A spare kagool was found for Peri. The centre of Rottingdean is rather nice with a village pond and lots of flint houses. The beach has granite rocky groynes and the inevitable shingle and chalk cliffs crumbling onto the concrete walls and walkways. The rain eased a bit so eventually Frances ventured from the warmth of the car. Lotsof throing stones into the waves with amazingly no children being hit. Archie probably got the wettest - about up to his knees. Tyler thought he was very clever standing on a rock to escape the waves coming in, then he realised that he had no escape route as the rock became surrounded by water, then the water went over the top of the rock.

Back to Mama-Clare's and Papas for baked potatoes, then home.

Tyler stories

2010-12-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

In the past a mother at school has disovered that they do not need to teach their young boy the facts of life because Tyler has already explained it all. Frances was at another school mums evening last night. This time we find that another boy told her mum that men who sing very high have had their "dinkies cut off" - the source of this information being Tyler.

Several had also heard about the "Tyler punishment regime" at school from their boys. Naughty boys are pinned against the schooll railings by Tyler for five seconds if they have been "naughty" or ten seconds if it is worse. Luckily Frances is friends with the mums.

Update on talent show

2010-12-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Archie decided in the end not to proceed with the escapology act to my relief (and I am sure the teachers). Instead he entered with a magic trick (minimal rehearsal). He didn't get through but has to perform to Y5 instead. Peri and Maya did get through and do their Harry Potter dancy gymy thing on Thursday.

Scrooge

2010-12-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

Peri joined a local kids theatre group and was in their Christmas show "Humbug" based on a Christmas Carol. She played the non speaking part of "Ignorance", a proud moment for any parent. Also a "spirit" along with another 5 or so girls who wafted and spun about whenever it called for a dreamy sequence.

Two things distinguished Peri's performance: One was that whenever the spirits had to exit the stage somehow Peri always managed a final spin near the front of the stage before being almost always the last to exit. Second was that whenever the spirits appeared they blasted a bit of dry ice onto the stage for that mist like effect. Peris twirled and wafted beautifully, but unfortunately whenever she disappeared into this cloud it seemed to start off a coughing fit. Although she manfully did her best to suppress it you could see it coming every time she started to approach the mist!

Xmas approaching

2010-12-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

With most of the UK under several inches of snow, we have had only about 1 cm. Despite this I was still instructed to "not mess up the snow" when I was leaving in the morning to go to work. I also had to make sure that I only took small steps so that they could tread in my footsteps later.

They have a school talent show next week. Peri and her gym friend are doing some dance/gym routine involving some sort of dramatisation on a Harry Potter theme. As Peri injured her knee in gym the other work (involving a hospital trip) I am not sure how well this will go. Archie has decided a couple of days before the audition to do an escapology act. So far there has been no practice at all which seems a little rash for an escapology act. No good can come from this.

Homework

2010-09-19T11:56:00.001-07:00

Archie was in a huff when I camehome last night as Frances hadmade him redo his maths homework. It turned out that half way through his homework he had a wizard wheeze and persuaded Tyler to do a "Maths quiz" - Tyler being very good at maths. 5 minutes later - homework done!

Sunday walk

2010-07-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

I persuaded Archie to come out on a walk with me on Sunday. Peri decided to come to and then Darcy decided she would also come. We went to Aston Clinton and parked planning on doing a circuit. I printed out a couple of maps off the net but it was a bit difficult working out exactly where we had parked the car. However we came across a Duke of Edinburgh group so I asked them where we were. Unfortunately they were lost. However we started off down something that looked like a footpath and soon found ourselves on the nearby airfield which was quite fun with little aircraft and gliders taking off around us. It was quite a windy day and then the map blew away. So we set off in roughly the right direction although it did take a bit longer to get to our next waypoint - a lovely church in small village with an unusual swinging weighted lych gate and friendly vicars. We eventually made it on towards the Wendover canal and into Wendover but it was 1pm now and we had set off at about 10am. Darcy was flagging a bit but we had gone 4.5 miles. Archie's toy compass had which he had packed came in handy at times. Archie and Peri were both still going strong but we had to ring for Frances to pick us up. I hadn't actually measured the distance of the planned walk - it would have been 8 miles which was probably a bit too far for Darcy really.

Religion

2010-06-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Archie (who goes to a CofE funded school) recounted his RI class to me:

Teacher: In the beginning God created the world
Archie: Hasn't it been proven that actually it was created in the Big Bang?
Teacher: Ah! but who created the Big Bang?
Archie: Well it probably came from a black hole collapsing in on itself.
Teacher: Ah! But who created the black hole?
Archie: Black holes come from supernovas or white dwarfs
Teacher: Ah! but who created those
Archie: They come originally from an explosion - its all a cycle that doesn't need a beginning. And anyway who created God?
Teacher: God is outside of time and space so doesn't need to be created
Archie: But if he is outside of time and space how could he create the universe - its like trying to train a cat on the other side of a brick wall.
Teacher: God is all powerful and exists everywhere
Archie: But we don't see him and he doesn't seem to do anything to stop suffering
Teacher: that is because he has given us free will
Archie: but what about Noah and the flood, he intervened then didn't he and now there is lots of war, hunger, pain etc you would have thought now would be a good time to intervene
Others chipping in: ...and hasn't it been proven that we are descended from apes not from Adam and Eve... etc

Finally finished

2010-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

The house is full of the scent of elderflowers and honeysuckle so that it feels like summer has arrived. Finally added the climbing wall to the tower this weekend. Pottered around at the allotment remulching the paths whilst Frances planted out leeks and sweetcorn.

Tower progress

2010-06-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Another picture of the tower. The climbing wall itself needs to be fixed onto the right hand tower

Parp

2010-05-29T02:53:00.001-07:00

The Tower

2010-05-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

After a year and a half of promises, work finally started on a climbing tower this weekend! Will try and add a better photograph later. Completed the floor and handrails for the main tower which is 3m high to the top of the posts with a floor half way up. Need to add the trap door, rope for sides and the climbing wall itself next, as well as the lower platform next to it. Archie helped lots though could be a bit territorial with his brothers and sisters about giving his assistance.

Hassocks etc

2010-05-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

Popped down to Hassocks for the weekend. I have been planning a climbing tower for the kids for over a year and took my roughly drawn plans down to Pa. He started drawing it up on Skechup! I now have this installed at home and feel like Pa a year or so ago as I struggle to learn how it works. However drawing it out with Pa helped to work out few details. Timber is due to arrive on Friday, so this weekend should be the start of the build. One of the houses down the road is having a loft conversion so I have been scavenging wood from them over the last week.

Mathew gave some old skateboards to my kids when we went round to say hello. Archie was feeling pleased as he finally managed to land a 180 kick turn on the quarter pipe at the Adastra skatepark.

I told Peri that if she actually caught a rabbit she could keep it as a pet. She woke up on Sat with a big smile on her face convinced that she could catch a rabbit when we went to Mathew's (she couldn't). Papa told her that the only thing wild rabbits were good for was rabbit curry as they did not have as much flavour as domesticated rabbits.

Tyler and I found the tuba in the loft which has quite a few holes in it. We parped out a couple of sounds and lots of dust. The kids were impressed when Papa played a few tunes on his bugle.

Darcy looked for fairies. We have some in our garden apparently.

We have also been planning our European roadtrip. We might visit Saas-Fee in Switzerland for a couple of nights so looked through some brochures and then showed the kids the cine film on Sat night. I think they liked the look of the marmots.

Waddesdon manor

2010-05-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Waddesdon manor the other weekend to walk round the fab house. Lots of beds of tulips. n It also has a kids playground in the woods with extra long tunnel slides down the hill.

Spingtime!

2010-05-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

Quick picy of the tulips in our garden

Disneyland

2010-04-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Eventually I gave in and so this Easter we went to Disneyland, Paris which has always sounded like my idea of hell. Disney kitsch (they never did the best animation), rampant consumerism, forced to stand in queues for hours, kids everywhere and the forecast was heavy rain.

Frances drove us all out of the house at some ungodly hour and we spent most of Thursday driving there. If you use Google directions for your route you end up going some slightly unusual ways through tiny little villages resulting in the inevitable navigation "discussions". Eventually we find the Davy Crocket Ranch which is basically a caravan park hidden in the woods. The fixed caravans have a timber facade and are a step downmarket from our Clacton holiday (see earlier blog) with a somewhat unpleasant smell to them. Door handles fall off, the shutters fixed to the outside are repaired so that they don't actually close anymore and it is ant infested. For the kids it is a huge success as it has bunk beds and in the morning they have to walk to a shack a hundred yards away where they collect breakfast of croissants and french sticks and nutella. As they also have to sort of speak a bit of french they happily trot off in pairs at 7:30am to collect breakfast each morning.

First ride
We drive the 10 minutes to the park and go to a ride. It is Autopia or something. Little 2 seater cars with a small petrol engine that you drive on a track. It starts to rain. We queue for 40 minutes, climb in and sit on the wet seats. Tyler is with me and is taking the steering very seriously although the car is basically on a track so you can only actually steer a few inches each side before the track bumps you back into the centre. He can't reach the accelerator so I do that bit. Archie being old enough is on his own in front of us. For some reason he keeps stopping and turning around to speak to me with a slightly worried expression on his face. However I can't hear anything he is saying over the engine noise. Frances is a couple of cars behind with both of the girls. Archie tells me at the end that he was apparently too weak to turn the steering wheel and was struggling. We watch Frances and the girls arrive. Peri is steering and has a manic expression on her face as she crazily hits the accelerator on and off and steers wildly bumping into the sides as often as she can. Frances is wearing a very different expression but Peri seems completely oblivious to whatever Frances is saying to her and Darcy looks completely baffled by the whole experience having been led to expect that this would be fun. Mental note: avoid teaching Peri to drive.

Ride 6 - Runaway train
This is quite a big roller coaster - long and fast but not TOO many drops. Darcy is just tall enough to do this one so is sat next to me. Tyler and Archie behind and Frances and Peri in front. As exit the first tunnel I look behind me to check on Tyler. Having not actually been on a rollercoaster before he now appears to be in complete shock. There is no colour in his face and his little white knuckles are gripping onto the bar in front. I call out are you OK but he doesn't hear me. His expression does not change the whole ride and I am a bit worried. As the car comes to a halt at the station his faces suddenly transforms to a huge beaming smile. Meanwhile Darcy quietly tells me in her succint way that she did not like that and scowls for the next 15 minutes.

Ride 7 - Indianna Jones and the roller coaster of Peril (or something)
Archie has now ridden a biggish roller coaster with Frances and loved it so is planning to go on a bigger one with Dad. We race there in the morning and there is only a 5 minute queue! Hurrah - lets go Archie! The unexpectedness has thrown him and suddenly he is having doubts. Ultimatums are given, we start walking away, he shouts rooted to the spot, he is persuaded to do it. We queue. He is still very unsure and nervous so I do my best to distract him pointing out the interesting plants. We gradually climb a mock Aztec pyramid. At the top near the sacrifial altar he suddenly comes face to face with a loop the loop with a car full of screaming people zipping around it. All courage dissappears but the only way out is right by the platform for the ride. By the time we get there he is in tears and everyone clearly thinks I am a terrible father. He refuses to get on so I say we will leave. I start walking away but he won't follow and several more ultimatums and countdowns later we get on the ride. He barely opens his eyes for the whole ride and occassionally says things like "Is it nearly finished yet Dad?". It is not a success.

Ride 13 - Its a small world
So it always seemed a little weird that Roly still knew the song "Its a small world after all" from his Disney trip years ago. But then he only has girls so maybe they sing it all the time or something. On the "Its a small world" ride you drift in a boat amongst tableaus of 2 foot high puppets dressed in national costumes that move an arm or leg or something, all with fixed grins. All the time, ALL THE TIME, the song Its a small world after all (which only has those words) plays over and over again. I now understand the full extent of Roly's trauma as that song is destined never to leave my brain either.

Ride 15 - Flying Dumbos
Darcy insist we go on this one which is fair enough as there are not tons of rides for her. Archie confesses at being a little scared by it.

Sometime at night, days have merged together
Get off some spinny ride and the whole world erupts into screams and squeals. Peri has bumped into a friend from school in the dark.

The shops
The boys buy guns (flintlock imitations). They are banned from getting them out in the park, but I go for a walk with them back at the ranch. They endlessly ambush each other for two miles. They are banned from pretending to committ suicide with them.

The whole thing though was fun and superbly organised by Frances who despite our ropey cabin cooked up fab food every day. Not sure I would go again.

Gilly's funeral

2010-02-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

I drove over to Abergavenny with Josh KilBride yesterday for Gilly's funeral. The service was in a small stone church in a little village; the same church where Kate was married. Gerard was at the entrance greeting people and so was David but I didn't recognise him at first. Wendy was sitting inside next to Gilly's coffin which was made out of woven sea grass - his straw panama lying on top.

There wasn't enough room for everybody in the church so quite a few including Ewan stood outside sheltering in the porch. The service was not too long. As the four boys carried his coffin out through the church, Ma's voice came over the speakers singing the Weaving song. It has been bouncing around my head for two days now. As we turned to follow the coffin out, the church doors opened to reveal it thickly snowing outside. We slipped and slid in the snow and mud round to the grave as everyone's toes turned to ice. With the snow it was quiet, with just the odd bird singing high in the leafless trees around the edges of the cemetery. We threw sprigs of rosemary into his grave.

Afterwards several cars including mine had to be pushed back onto the tarmac - I am not sure who was helping to push but thank-you if it was you - and we drove off to a nearby village hall for tea, cakes and whisky.

It was good to see Daniel who had just got back from a work trip to Tennesee (?) and his wife Rhian. His current look is reminiscent of Ringo Starr circa Sgt Pepper (minus the uniform). Bernard was surveying the scene with his three now grown up boys, Joe, Dom and Laurence who all work for him in his security fencing business. Laurence's partner Emma were also there with their new baby girl of 8 weeks (nearly as beautiful as Archie). She was born on 2nd Jan in the same hospital in which Gilly was in, a few floors apart. His great-grandchild. Gerard was very sociable and interested in hearing what people were doing. I never got to find out exactly what he was doing but he gave me one of the latest CDs that he organised a group to put together. David, taller an thinner than I remember him (from 20 years ago) had two of his boys there who are about 13 and 10.

Various Brocklehursts and Peplars were introduced. Thomas was the same as ever always a little older but not really admitting it! He was off that night to take the night train back to Scotland on his own. Lots of people pleased to see each other despite the occassion.

Esta and Paul along with Amy made the trip although I didn't get to talk to them too much. Had good chats with Josh to catch up on what all his family are up to. Josh is the only one left in London now. Owen is getting married the week after Easter in Applecross, the last two attempts having had to be cancelled because of his back problems. Arun (looking after kids and doing some decorating) is now in Suffolk, Dom still in Sweden (in IT but in a less stressful environment now), Sean (playing music, building houses etc) and Isabel (cooking somewhere) also in Applecross. Ella is in Edinburgh, Esta (working at Cardiff university library) and Paul in Cardiff, Amy in Lancaster (doing various post grad agricultural projects) and Aby in Warwick (forgotten what she is doing!).

Photos from the order of service

Snow pictures

2010-01-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

A couple of pictures of the snow before Christmas

A new worldwide discovery

2010-01-01T08:12:00.001-08:00

Discovered a great new game today! Geocaching! Why have I never heard about this before?

Basically people have been hiding little canisters and boxes all over the world for some years. You have to go and find them. It is set up to use a personal GPS system, but you can do it without and just follow clues. It is like a giant treasure hunt. Anyway I checked on the site if there were any near us and there are loads! We searched and found 4 today on a walk of about 2 miles with the kids. They were hidden in hollow trees, hanging in branches and behind rocks. They all contain a logbook and some trinkets which you can take (and leave one in its place).

Go and check out the websites at www.geocaching.com

I see there is one in the Adastra park and one by Ditchling Pond! Also in Hepburn Heights where the kids and I used to walk in Perth. There are hundreds in Lethbridge.

This should give us hours of fun!

Logistics

2009-12-11T02:43:00.000-08:00

11:00 Speak to Frances on the phone and told her I was planning the midweek wash. She tells me she does a wash at least once a day. Something doesn't quite add up.
11:30 I search for Tyler's swimming trunks as he has his lesson this afternoon. I discover vast amounts of dirty clothes in his drawers and retrieve to do the washing.
11:50 Apparently we don't use washing powder or liquid anymore but some sort of magic green balls with something rattly inside. I think we may be washing using the power of crystals.
12:30 Eat lunch
1:00 Start planning how exactly I can pick up kids from school, get Tyler to his swimming class on time and Peri to gym
1:30 Try to fix hole in wall near light switch
2:15 Make dinner for Peri to eat at swimming pool
2:30 Tyler's trunks are nowhere to be found. Find Archie's trunks.
2:40 Find Peri's gym stuff. It needs a wash - too bad.
2:55 Leave to drive to school
3:10 Arrive at school and pick up Darcy and Tyler
3:20 Move to Year 3 door and pick up Peri and her friend Olivia who lives near us and whose mum has just had a baby
3:30 Peri runs through swimming day routine with me in car
3:40 Drive across town to deliver Olivia back home
3:50 Drive back across town to swimming pool. Leave Peri in cafe eating packed dinner.
3:55 Take Darcy to loo
4:00 Get Tyler in Archie's swimming trunks. Darcy not helping by saying they are going to fall off him in the pool.
4:05 Tyler starts class and go upstairs to meet Peri in cafe
4:10 Claims that mum buys them a Ribena and a snack whilst they watch Tyler swimming
4:15 Complaints that I have bought them biscuits for a snack whereas I should have bought them a chocolate covered biscuit whose brand name is "Snack"
4:20 Take Darcy to loo
4:30 Leave Peri in cafe finishing dinner and go to changing room
4:40 Peri appears in changing room in tears as she says that she thought we had left without her
4:45 Tyler asks where his "after swimming snack" is. "What after swimming snack?", I ask.
4:50 Head off to take Peri to gym. They say that they usually pop in to see Archie on the way but there is no time.
5:05 Deliver Peri late for gym
5:20 Arrive back home to discover that I forgot to turn back on the fuses for all the lights in the house after doing some repairs. Archie had found a torch and has been reading for an hour.
5:30 Start preparing dinner
5:35 Complaints that they have not had an "after school" snack for several days. I refuse to give out any snacks
5:45 Packing away is complete and there are complaints that I STILL haven't bought any crackers for "after packing away snack".
6:00 Dinner. Archie and Tyler get fined 5p each for talking with their mouth full (new Daddy rule!)
7:00 showers
7:15 teeth and stories for Tyler and Darcy
7:30 Bed for Tyler and Darcy
7:45 Harry arrives to babysit, leave to pick up Peri from gym
8:15 Arrive back with Peri, feed her pudding, Archie to bed
8:30 Peri to bed
9:00 Read details of what is happening tomorrow and start planning again

Smells

2009-12-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

When Janet was babysitting I came home and noticed a funny smell. Archie was also arriving home and said "Popcorn!". However Janet told Archie that actually there wasn't any left for him as the last lot went a bit black in microwave.

"It caugt fire!" shouted Peri.

"There was a bit of smoke" ventured a slightly embarrassed Janet.

"It caught fire!" shouted Peri.

The smell of burnt popcorn is an amazingly lingering smell, Days later the whole kitchen still smells of it.

Last night Harry, a teenager from up the road came to babysit for half an hour whilst I picked Peri up from gym. The smell of aftershave is gradually subsiding this morning and you have to avoid one of the cushions in our lounge room.

food

2009-12-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

On Saturday there was the school Xmas fair which I noted was doing burgers. Sounded like an easy way to manage lunch. However they had sold out by the time we got there so we had to leave hungry. We went on to pick Peri up from gym but as it was about 2:15pm by now we had to get some lunch quickly. Luckliy McD came to the rescue. I know Frances will be thinking that I have already stooped so low on the food front.

The following day, Sunday, we were meant to have had sausages after the town Xmas lights turning on, but there was some problem with actually turning the lights on so we were running late. Luckily there was a burger van at the fair so we all had burgers (again). What a versatile food!

However that night I discover that my burger was not cooked properly and I end up with food poisoning. I distribute buckets throughout the house in case the kids also come down with it but luckily it is only me. Spent most of Monday in bed - Archie and Peri have been a real help getting stuff done around the house. I was still throwing up last night but feel mostly better today (Tues).

Waited outside the wrong door for picking Tyler up from school yesterday. Darcy was absolutely no help in letting me know this. Tyler came out with a brown face from his dress rehearsal of Rodney the nativity Rat. He washed most of it off last night and I tried to get a bit more off this morning. However seeing him in the daylight this morning I realised that there is still quite a lot on him. He looks like he has a tan. He has another dress rehearsal on Wed. Maybe I should just leave it on.

Feeding frenzy at breakfast this morning as I find bagels in the freezer. They eat the entire packet plus half a loaf of bread. Peri is standing very close to the toaster waiting for her bagel to pop up. It does and gives her a surprise and makes her jump, in fact so much so that she drops the plate she is holding which smashes everywhere.

In the last two day Darcy has been a lion and a cat and whispers to me last night that she is not going to be an animal any more. This is after 3 months of being an animal every day including hopping, crawling, jumping or whatever around the house according to the animal of the day and greeting us in the morning with a miaow or whatever.

Day 7? 8?

2009-12-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

Glitter has now somehow made it onto the kitchen work surface. I spotted the local newspaper on the kitchen table and picked it up to read. Unfortunately it turned out to have been previously used to cover the floor during painting and glittering and a large volume of glitter poured onto the table, plates etc. Glitter is pure evil. Even when you wash a plate bits are still there.

If I ever have to have my appendix taken out they will find it full of glitter.

Sweets got taken into the school in jars on Thu as per instructions. Kids hair was gelled for wacky hair day on Friday - Peri did stirling work helping here. Had to deliver 3 plates of cakes for Xmas fair. Had no time to make cake so went to Waitrose. 12 mince pies for 2.50 seemed like a bargain and was festive so bought a box. Got home to discover instructions said please provide a cake NOT a mince pie! Archie said that they usually get tons of mince pies as they are cheap and festive but no-one buys them at the fair.

Finally finished the macaroni cheese which I am heartily sick of now.

On Friday Archie had a day off school so he and I went into London for the day. Walked round the outside of the Tower of London, over Tower Bridge, past the globe and then to the Tate Modern. We liked the giant black box which you walk into. It is about the size of a couple of houses and there is no light so the deeper you walk into the darker it gets until you can't see anything. We also liked the giant table and chairs.

The over the millennium bridge to see St Pauls then bus on to Waterloo, quick bite to eat in Borough market and along the South Bank to the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street and Trafalgar square where he climbed on a lion. We went to see if we could get into the Anesh Kapoor show at the Royal Academy but the queues were too long. So we bussed through Regent street with the Xmas lights lit up and then nipped into an exhibition at Euston in the Wellcome Institute. They had Charles Darwin's walking stick, Napoleon's toothbrush and Nelson's razor all next to each other. Also a shrunken head!

An excellent day out!

Day 5

2009-12-02T01:30:00.000-08:00

Despite having hoovered three times our kitchen floor still looks as though we actually chose the really sparkly granite tiles. Glitter is now spreading up the stairs and I am only attempting to keep it below knee height to avoid it getting into the food chain.

Was explaining yesterday at lunch to my work colleagues how looking after the kids has been organised. Janet picks the kids up from school and Frances has already left dinners in the freezer which she just needs to heat. I just get them out the night before to defrost....uhoh.

Realise I have not got dinner out to defrost. Luckily I have no meetings in the afternoon and have to rush home straightaway.

After dinner I have all the kids lined up to empty their book bags of all notes. After they have gone to bed I spend an hour and half going through them: forms for milk for 2 kids, fruit for one next term, swine flu jabs, xmas fair barbeque booking, raffle tickets x2 (third is found on the floor next morning), gym certificate, karate licence, provide ones rat's costume including sunglasses, sweet jars x 3 for Thu, plate of cakes x3 for Fri, form for Breakfast club, cross country run (for previous day)...

One note says to get Tyler to learn his words for the school nativity play which is called Ronald the rat or something. Tyler is the rat. He says he has read it through twice. I give him all his cues and he is word perfect. If he really did only read it twice that is amazing but who knows. However this means we don't need to practise anymore. Another item crosssed off.

In the morning eventually work through Skype log issues. The "t", "y", backspace and caps keys still don't work on the laptop. Frances has changed the password on Skype but it has a capital letter in it. I get her on Google instant messaging to explain that I can't enter the password as I can't type the letters. Try to ask her to send me the password via instant messaging so I can copy and paste. This is very difficult when I lack the t and y keys. She also asks what instant messaging is (via the instant messaging tool). She eventually sends the password but for some inexplicable reason sends the letter that should be in CAPs in lower case so I can't copy and paste. Start trying to explain this (minus the t and y in my messages). Eventually get there.

Darcy refuses to look at her.

10 minutes to go all on track. Get washing out of washing machine as I may have time to hang some up to dry. Large load having mined the third washing basket that I discovered yesterday that was full.

Archie asks where his football kit is. I check the chart - he has karate and swimming but told me swimming was cancelled last night. He explains that football is replacing swimming. I am getting football kit out of the washing machine. Place it on radiator and hope it will mostly dry before he leaves.

I leave...

Today Darcy is a dolphin.

Day four

2009-12-01T03:16:00.000-08:00

Get home: House appears to have exploded in glitter. Manic game of cards is going on in the playroom. Vast amount of macaroni cheese left over which I will be eating for the rest of the week.

In the morning 20 minutes before we leave Frances texts me to say she is going to Skype us. Archie brings up webcam but Skype account is locked out. Try many attempts at guessing Frances' password but it doesnt help that the T and backspace keys on the laptop don't work.

15 minutes before we are due to leave Darcy is prancing about in her tights and says she has no school clothes. Desparate search for yesterday's clothes which we eventually find hidden in a cupboard.

10 minutes to go and Frances rings instead to talk to kids of which only 2 are fully dressed.

Peri produces details of clothes she needs for a cross country run 5 minutes before we leave for school. Luckily I received a text yesterday telling me that the run was cancelled because of flooding.

2 minutes to go and I remember to chop up Archie's vegetables.

0 minutes and doors of car are iced closed and kids can't get in. Yank them open and start scraping car...

Tyler is fed up as they don't get peanut butter on toast at breakfast club.

Today Darcy is a goat.

Day three - Frances away

2009-11-30T04:58:00.000-08:00

Discovered on Monday morning that there is a third washing basket which is where Archie puts his dirty clothes. Or where he now gets his school clothes from.

On Friday two mums reminded me that Tyler was getting his headteacher's certificate at the assembly that day, so luckily was able to attend.

Learnt that the children do not like rissotto.

Today Darcy is pretending to be a baby stoat.

The tooth fairy (Martinique) finally came three days late when down in Hassocks. Apparently the stormy weather we have been having made flying difficult.

Sunday cycling

2009-11-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Some Sundays we head to the local secondary school as it has big grounds and the kids can cycle and skateboard safely on the big tarmac car parks

Peri making up some routine.. which nearly goes all horribly wrong...

Skipping

2009-11-12T13:03:00.001-08:00

Darcy skipping away in the catsle in Loges which we were exploring with Sheila

Festival of Stanno

2009-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

Had a lovely day out tasting wine and eating fab food. There seemed to be a pink thing going on at this vineyard! Frances with her sister Bec and her husband Stanno

Brittany beach

2009-11-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

A couple of pictures on the beach in Brittany near Carnac.

Pancakes

2009-11-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Tyler chooses the right option to go with his Breton pancake. In a fit of macho display Rob and I opt for the local delicacy which is basically offal in a pancake. I win by finishing mine. It was a struggle and probably wasn't worth it. Breton cider is needed to take the taste away several hours later.

Fun and games by the river

2009-08-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

The next day we went with Chris and Suzie et al to a small village nearby on another tributary of the river Fowey and wandered into the woods for "Smores"! This is an American thing apparently (some mores) where you toast marshmallows on a fire and then sandwich them with a slice of chocolate between two biscuits!

Shortly afterwards we said goodbye to Chris and family whilst Frances and the kids played in the river mud (its a tidal river). I kept telling Frances that this was a silly idea as it was only a matter of time before one of the kids fell into the mud. Sure enough I was soon proved right, except it wasn't the kids. Frances got a boot stuck and promptly went splat onto her front and was covered in mud. Luckily we had the campervan there so she could change whilst I washed her clothes off in the river.

Devon!

2009-08-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

We spent the night underneath Glastonbury Tor just near to Worthy farm where the Glastonbury festival is held. The next day we crossed Dartmoor and stopped off for lunch on the moor (Cornish pasties!) whilst the girls went to see the wild ponies and the boys dissappeared into the bracken.

Then we headed to Lostwithiel in Cornwall where my friend Chris (the potter) lives and parked our campervan on his drive for the night. He also has 4 kids although mostly older than ours and together we all walked up to the old castle about a mile outside of the town overlooking the river Fowey.

Chris' littlest Elspeth took a shine to Darcy and insisted on holding her hand everywhere.

Holoiday in Corwall

2009-08-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

We headed off in our campervan towards Cornwall on the Saturday taking a circuitous route cross country via Maidenhead and Reading as the motorways were at a standstill with holiday traffic. Stopped off outside Reading in a park car park for lunch and watched a cricket match

Windsor

2009-08-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

We went to Windsor castle, but the Queen wasn't in. St George's chapel which was built for the Order of the Knights of the Garter that Edward III formed was very beautiful and full of interesting stuff. Archie was impressed when he realised he was standing over the spot marking the remains of Henry VIII.

We watched the chaning of the guard. The kids stood next to the sentry and I had to persuade Tyler not to attempt to tickle him. The guards swap their rifles into their other arsm every so often and stamp about. One poor kid about 3 standing next to him for a photo was so surprised when the soldier suddenly stamped his foot that he fell over backwards. The soldier had a hard time not laughing. I guess they6 have to liven up their day somehow.

From July

2009-08-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

First up a picture of the kids on a day trip we did to Lewes castle down in Sussex - scene of the revolt by Simon de Montfort.

We also had a new lawn laid in our back garden after adding more soil to it - it would just go brown in the summer after a few days without rain. People don't usually reticulate in the UK but if you have enough depth of soil and get the roots growing deep you shouldn't need to.

Peri in flight!

2009-06-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of photos of Peri leaping in her last competition. The one immediately below is a leap on the bar. Very scary to watch!

Gardening

2009-05-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Marian wanted to see some photos of my garden so here are a couple. Planted out the runner beans and sowed some carrots and more rocket and spring onions. Potatoes are growing well. Picked our first rhubarb last weekend and made rhubarb fool (or as Tyler calls it rhubarb rascal).

Ma's birthday

2009-05-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

We all went down on Saturday for Ma's birthday along with all the rest of my family. Lots of food - trying things out for Pa's party in August. Peri says she stroked the fox who was wandering around the garden all weekend. Laurie's favourite phrase of the weekend - "Alistair (or whoever). This is good!"

On Sunday we went to see the morris dance ove rthe road. Ditchling morris (mostly girls not terribly good) and Bristol morris and Hammersmoith morris both of whom were good. Then we went over to see the bluebells in Gallups wood and finally over to the Oldlands windmill near Ditchling which was open for the day.

On Monday we went over to see a garden open near Streat which had a treehouse.

On Tuesday we took Ma off to the Cricketers Arms past Lewes. Nice sunshine and good food. It is a Harveys pub (Lewes brewery) with beer drawn straight from the casks not from a pump.

Camping

2009-05-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

We went camping near the Bluebell railway with Mathew, Gemma and Laurie. ONe of the best bits for the kids was sitting around the campfire. The other was being towed out of the bogged field by the tractor!

Call of Duty

2009-03-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

OK, I have clearly been playing too much "Call of Duty" on the Wii recently. Archie wrote the poem below this evening.

(for those of you who don't know, "Call of Duty" is a video game where you run around in WWII shooting people)

POW! OUCH! by Archie Clayton

Pow! Ouch!
I change my position to crouch
I hear what my man's saying
on the game that I'm playing
"I'm fine. Now lets move out!"
I've never seen their reason to shout
but a battle is tensional
and on this game, dimensional
In real life both these things I don't doubt.

The enemy roars
my team's confidence soars -
"Get up!" and as I reach for my rifle
the air seems to stifle
as the sound of helicopters hum past my ears,
I haven't seen one for years! -
"GET UP!"
as I lock onto my target
I feel just like a starlet
as well as the feeling of -
"GET UP!!! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!"
As I wake from my slumber
my mum turns to thunder -
"WE'RE LATE FOR SCHOOL!! NOW GET UP YOU FOOL!!"

Peri's gym competition

2009-03-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

Peri's first competition this year was the Hertfordshire county championships. Two days of bursting into tears very easily - Peri was very nervous. This time they do bar, beam, floor, vault and something called range and something which is basically balances and stretches.

Peri competes in the 8/9 age range although she is still 7 and she got the silver medal! In fact looking at her scores, she beat all the girls in the 10/11 age category as well. Maya who trains with Peri got the gold so it was a big success for the club. Being a medal winner means she now goes on to compete in the Eastern region championships in Ipswich in 3 weeks time.

The boys have a slightly less controlled technique - here they are leaping off things outside the gym to stave off boredom

Wisley

2009-03-15T14:07:00.001-07:00

We went round to Neil and Amanda's for coffee and then on to Wisley for the afternoon. Archie insisted we eat our picnic outside. It was freezing and blowing a gale which made it difficult to keep the picnic on the table. Before we got into Wisley the heavens opened. So we went home!

Mathew and Gemma come for dinner!

2009-03-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Mathew and Gemma (and or course Laurie) turned up as a surprise for my birthday - Frances is experimenting with pecans and almonds baked with maple syrup and cayenne pepper as we read recipes and drink beer!

Book day at school

2009-03-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

Dress as your favourite character from a book. Darcy is the Lavendar fairy, Tyler is Harry Potter, Archie is some Horrible Viking or something and Peri is Princess Mirabelle.

Visit down to Hassocks

2009-03-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Popped down to Hassocks for the wekend. The crocuses were out. Spent some time pruning the apple trees with kids crawling everywhere. Having spent all that time jacking the big Bramley tree back up a month ago I was a little nervous as I climbed up it.

Two more snow pictures from Feb

2009-03-15T13:50:00.001-07:00

The loveliness of waking up very early as the light is just growing, opening your curtains to see this. No school, can't drive down the hill, and working from home.

Archie surfing english style!

2009-02-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Outside in the snow - video!

2009-02-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! hooray! It snowed!

2009-02-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

About 2-3 inches of snow last night and today though they had more in London so most transport isn't working. We have no toboggan so Archie has been surfing down the road outside our house.

Tring

2009-01-31T02:02:00.000-08:00

A wet weekend so we headed off to Tring Museum which is part of the National History Museum and is full of stuffed animals. Tyler for some reason decided he needed to keep his hood up the whole time. Darcy drew a picture of a zebra although oddly the thing she missed was putting any stripes on it!

Xmas

2009-01-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

Archie finally asked us the truth about Santa and so we told him! He then checked about the tooth fairy. He was a bit upset.

Had a great time down in Hassoks for Christmas when we finally made it and the campervan was nice and warm. Lovely to see Neil and crew as they passed through together with Mathew's crowd who stayed the night.

Here is a photo of the fox at Xmas polishing of a pigeon.

Letters to Santa

2008-12-24T01:58:00.000-08:00

From Archie
"Dear Santa, First of all, thankyou for all the wonderful presents you gave me last year. This year I would very much like LEGO BATMAN on Nintendo wii. please do not worry if you can't get me it. I can afford it with my own money. This year I have a question for you. It is this. How many reign-deer do you have and what are their names? Love from Archie."

From Tyler:
"Please answer these qwistons What are your reindeers nams? were do you live enter name..."

Darcy has stopped crawling around pretending to be a cat and instead crawls around pretending to be the baby Jesus. Being the baby Jesus is the same as being a cat but without the miaowing.

Archie has worked out that there is now way that Santa Claus could fit down the chimney. Clearly he must be sending his elves down. This also neatly helps clear up the other problem of how he covers everyone in the world in one night. There are lots of elves who could help.

Tyler's birthday

2008-11-02T10:20:00.001-08:00

Today Tyler had a Star Wars party! He had a few friends over and we did Jedi training!

Archie's birthday

2008-09-29T01:34:00.000-07:00

We all went up to Ashridge to a "Plot to Pot" event and then wandered around the woods. Peri with her broken toe had to be squished into the pushchair.

The Woodman's come to stay

2008-09-29T00:26:00.001-07:00

Maz, Will and the boys came to stay for the weekend and all slept in the campervan on our drive.

Lego coffee machine

2008-09-29T00:11:00.001-07:00

One for Strahnie! Policeman having an espresso from his machine in Archie's new polica station lego kit

Darcy's first day at school

2008-09-11T01:13:00.001-07:00

I called Frances after she had dropped Darcy off for her first day at school to see how it had gone.
Alistair: How did it go?
Frances: Oh, fine.
Alistair: Were there any tears?
Frances: Yes, but nobody saw me.

Blue poo

2008-07-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I bought the boys ice creams in Brighton yesterday. Tyler chose a bright blue blueberry sherbet. It looked gross. He was very surprised and pleased to discover that his poo has turned bright blue today!

Wedding approaching

2008-07-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

We headed down to Hassocks to buy bridesmaids dresses for Peri and Darcy for Mathew and Gemma's wedding which is in four weeks time. Here are a few photos of Ma and Pas' garden - gives Maz an update on her plants! I fed them this weekend and planted some more verbena borariensis.

Kitchen finally finished

2008-07-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Mathew asked for a few photos of our new kitchen so here they are. We've really been enjoying the kitchen the last couple of weeks and the kids are delighted to have somewhere to ride their bikes around although they complain about my plant pots on the "terrace". I complain about them riding their bikes into my plants pots!
I have planted a new bed in front of the terrace - The tobacco plants smell lovely in the evening and I am very proud of my purple elderflower and now a red banana!
Also trying to grow Hardenbergia comptoniana (sometimes called the "native wisteria" in WA) against the fence.

Frances goes to Wimbledon!

2008-07-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Frances managed to get some tickets for Wimbledon and went to see Roger Federer!

More gym

2008-06-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

The debate this week has been over Peri's gym as they are splitting the squad group into two and they want them to do more training. At the moment Peri does two 3 hour sessions a week. The lower groups would do three sessions a week but the advanced one that Peri has been selected for does 4 sessions a week, including 5-8 on Mondays and Tuesdays. This seems a lot for a girl only just 7. The Saturday session will also be afternoons which messes up the family taking off for weekends to places.

Anyway it looks like we will let Peri try doing more training this holidays and see how she goes. I am not sure she will like it! She's meant to be doing it for fun after all not for winning medals. This doesn't seem to be the gym's point of view though.

Peri's birthday cake

2008-06-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

It is Nemo. I refused to eat the orange icing or blue jelly.

Peri's second gym competition

2008-06-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Peri had another competition today but this time it was a team one with teams of 3 or 4. The top three best scores from a team taken. They do the floor and the vault.

Peri was in the second team of three for her club, Sapphire, with about another 7 teams competing. Unusually three teams tied for silver including both the Sapphire teams! In fact Peri did very well this time with the best overall individual scores from her club and the second highest out of all the competitors! She is very chuffed with her silver medal and had to be persuaded not to wear it in bed.

June weekend

2008-06-15T12:29:00.001-07:00

Our kitchen finally starts to look like a kitchen as the floor has been tiled and the cabinets have been installed. Hurrah! It feels like it has been a long time with builders - still a few weeks left to do the plumbing, appliances and the pave the 'terrace' out back. Frances will be very pleased when it is all over.

Weekend has been pretty sun but not that hot. Had drinks over a a friends with kids on Sat afternoon and a barbie at someone else this afternoon so quite a social weekend.

Trailer park trash

2008-06-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo from our trailer park that we holidayed in near Clacton-on-sea. It was outside Clacton just over the mud flats from the scrap iron loading docks at Brightlingsea.

However the countryside a bit further inland is really beautiful. I took off to drive around the river Stour which is where Constable grew up and painted the Hay wain. Really Wind in the Willows stuff.

Gardening

2008-05-14T03:48:00.000-07:00

I have been sweating away on building raised beds for veggies last weekend. There is meant to be another one but cuttting turf on clay is hard work so that will have to wait until this coming weekend.

First outing in campervan

2008-05-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

We took it out to the woods in Ashridge for lunch on a day I was working from home and made sandwiches as the kids frolicked in woods.

Peri's first gym competition

2008-05-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Stevenage for Peri's first competition the other day. Here she is second from right! She did floor and vault and looked pretty good.

OK getting fed up with building work

2008-05-14T03:36:00.000-07:00

This is our kitchen at the moment. Frances is still managing to bake.

Blooming wasps

2008-05-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Summer pub gardens in England are usually ruined by wasps, but when we came back from Oz, there seemed to be far fewer wasps. This spring there are blooming wasps everywhere probably searching for a place to make nests. Very annoying. Comedy moment in conservatory last night as swipe at wasp does not succeed in killing it but does succeed in making it very annoyed. I crash out through the doors into our living room chased by wasp.

Sally the snail

2008-05-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Peri who desparately wants a pet, found a snail yesterday. It was named Sally and kept in a box with leaves. Great excitement when a baby was also found there. Great revulsion at snail in house from Frances. Floods of tears at bedtime when Peri decides Sally is trying to escape and she has been cruel keeping her in a box. Sally is released in twilight with Peri sobbing from her bedroom window. However today all seems to be forgotten and she has collected 7 more snails.

A frog was also found in our garden. Frances is horrified.