Victorian Classroom

Today we had a Victorian day at school. This is the Year 4 team in all our finest Victorian gear. We had great fun swishing around in our hooped petticoats, although going to the toilet was a bit of an adventure!

Fireworks

 A couple of weeks ago it was Bonfire Night. I've been so busy since then I've completely forgotten until today, when I found my camera, that I hadn't done my blog. On Saturday night we took the girls to Julie and Ken's house for fireworks, food and fun. Carl managed not to blow up the house despite the closeness of the fireworks to the house.

Then on Sunday night we did the same at Mum and Dads. It rained a bit so I didn't take so many photos. Willow stood at the patio doors watching the fireworks go up. At one point she managed to escape and did her level best to chase a firework. Fortunately she wasn't that fast! Mum Skyped Adrienne but I don't think she got a good view of the fireworks. She's requested that we save some for when she's home at Christmas, but I doubt if she'll be lucky. Perhaps we'll buy some more.

Last Ice-Cream of the Summer

Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to take the dog for a walk on Westward Ho! beach. Ellie said, 'Can we have a Hockings?' 'Yes,' I said, 'if the ice cream van is there.' I fully expected it not to be there on a miserable day at the end of October.

Well, by the time we got down there the rain was coming down sideways and the tide was completely covering the beach. But the ice cream van was there, in his usual place at the top of the slipway. We walked the dog along the top of the pebble ridge, round the cricket pitch and back to the car, her shortest walk yet, then sat in the car in wet trousers and ate ice cream. Caitlin also bought herself a hot chocolate.

Ellie's Birthday

 

Today we celebrated Ellie's birthday. She had a few friends round and they went bowling and then into the karaoke pod. These are the sort of birthdays I like. We drop them off, they have fun, and we pick them up a few hours later.

 

 

At home we had burgers and chips for tea, followed by chocolate cake and ice cream. They are now in the other room pigging out on more chocolate and getting sugar-highs from fizzy drink whilst watching a video. These are the bits of birthdays I don't like - not getting any sleep. Why do they call them sleepovers?



Fidget and Whiskers

Both our guinea pigs passed away on Thursday. They were muched loved and will be greatly missed. They were 5 years old, which I gather is a good age for guinea pigs. We buried them under a flower bush in the garden. Bye, bye, little piggies.

Adrienne goes to uni

Well, here she is, my Adrienne, almost unpacked in her university room at Southampton University, where she will study nursing for the next three years.

We drove her up yesterday and stayed in Basingstoke overnight, then arrived at the Halls at just after 10 o'clock this morning. The day was not without drama. It rained all day. We discovered she was on the fourth floor of her block and there was no lift. Luckily some very helpful students in yellow t-shirts were on hand to help with the carrying. Carl conned one of them into carrying the Dougal box up for us. I gather it has already prooved a talking point as she was Skyping about it earlier.

Adrienne has locked her bike in a secure storage space until she can sort out a key for the bike shed next to her block and then realised that she doesn't know where the key for the bike lock is.

We went to IKEA to get a few things she was missing, like a bin (which was supposed to be provided) and clothes hangars, and managed to get trapped in the car park by another car which broke down just in front of us. Fortunately it was not long before the car next to us moved and we could squeeze past.

But on the whole things have gone quite smoothly. Adrienne has already made friends and by now is probably out having a good time in something called The Cube as Freshers Week celebrations get under way.

We'll see her again at Christmas.

Sunday afternoon drama

We sat down to watch a bit of telly this afternoon and had got 6 minutes into our programme when there was a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass from the room I write this blog in. Seconds later the dog shot through the door and into the safety of the garden. Investigations revealed a huge hole in one of the windows and a wood pigeon perched on the radiator opposite. Carl sent the girls off to get a towel and we managed to grab it as it tried to fly back out one of the unbroken windows.

The poor thing had damaged its chest and under its right wing and was bleeding everywhere. Caitlin insisted on cuddling it while we phoned the RSPCA. After listening to multiple mulitple choice options and several lectures on what to do with injured wild animals and birds I finally spoke to a human being who assured me some one would come to collect my pigeon. We put it in a box with holes in and left it. Three hours later someone eventually came. The pigeon, miraculously, was still looking strong and trying to escape. I hope he makes it.

I spent an hour of this afternoon picking up glass, washing pigeon blood off my walls and window sills and stripping all the covers off my chairs and sofa to put them through the wash.