Catching up.

Goodness me, I've been slacking in the Blogging department, with no real excuse except I've been busy doing nothing! The weather has been so indifferent that I haven't even been tempted to walk by the sea - and that's pretty unusual. I had the lovely Grandson here over the weekend, while Daughter was gadding off to play with her old friends in Cambridge. She dropped him off around lunchtime on Saturday, and I took him to a childrens' Birthday Party at the King Alfred Leisure Centre in the afternoon. (Who names these ghastly places? This one looks a grey and red tacky concrete and rubber construction, with tubes coming out of the sides where there used to be slides into the swimming pool. It is without doubt one of the ugliest blots on the landscape ever seen.) Anyway, I digress. It was so warm when we walked into the place that my glasses instantly steamed up (no kidding), and I couldn't see a thing. Not a good look. Grandson wasn't phased, and raced into the party room ready to rock! There were probably 40 children there, aged from 0 to about 8, plus their parents and some grandparents, so it was rammed with heaving humanity. Plus a Bouncy Castle and lots of climbing things for them to chase each other over. The trestle tables literally groaned, and I have never seen so much cake! Chocolate Cake, Lemon Drizzle Cake, Thomas the Tank Cake, cakes dotted with chocolate buttons, cakes shaped like dinosaurs, plus muffins, chocolate Rice Crispy Cakes (two kinds, milk and plain), fruit cakes, chocolate chip cookies and biscuits and homemade sweets .. It was a veritable sugar-fest, and those little tykes were itching to get their hands on it. After crisps, a few sandwiches, juice and the ubiquitous cake, for which they all sat on the floor and ate off of paper plates, they raced into battle once more. In all, I think Grandson didn't stop running for two hours. He was bright red and pouring with perspiration when it was time to go. Every child was given a balloon and a Party Bag, and we walked home feeling suitably bushed. Good fun though.

Next morning he woke at 5,30 AM!! Not so much fun. I managed to stay in bed until 7, but that was it. We got up, had breakfast (he had sausages, I had a croissant) and the rest of the day was a rather tired blur. It was raining all day, so neither of us felt much like moving. We played with his marble game and his cars, watched the odd movie, built a few things with bricks, and generally chilled out. By the time Daughter arrived back from her frolics in Cambridge, I was nearly asleep. When they were leaving, Grandson kept on running back up the path to give me another kiss and hug. He must have done it half a dozen times. There's nothing like a kiss and a hug from my little darling.

Monday was pretty Mondayish. I met up with a friend for a cup of coffee and mooched around Zara afterwards. Then I came back to see Bill the Handyman who is at last coming (tomorrow) to put my chest of drawers together. He is also going to do a few other handy jobs that I have saved up for him - filling the cracks and re-painting a bathroom ceiling, putting up a new blind and re-washering the kitchen tap. Sometimes I think that a man around the house would be handy - I wouldn't have to pay him in cash, that's for sure. But I'm sure it would be costly in other ways. Perhaps I'll just keep things the way they are for now.

So today I've been clearing stuff away so that he can get a clear run at things tomorrow. I undid the Ikea pack and carried the pieces upstairs a few at a time (thanks to all you Blogging geniuses for the tip), cleared everything from the bathroom, found a dust sheet and moved all the piles of clothes from my bedroom so that the fox can see the rabbit (is that right? "fox"?). Anyway, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. He's arriving at 9 am tomorrow morning, right after breakfast with my little Hobbit. Incidentally, we were eating supper tonight when that same little Swiss/German spotted some fireworks being let off in a neighbouring garden. He looked puzzled, and then asked me "Is it allowed?", looking very concerned and very German. "Is it allowed!!" I spluttered, "of course it's allowed. We live in a free country!!" Don't get me started...