Well, the bankers are on holiday.

We had a quiet lie-in this morning, then went to P & A's to tidy the garden. It took a lot longer & a lot more energy than we anticipated, but we were pleased with the outcome.
Still more to be done.
We went to Nottcutts on the way home to plan the planting of the border once occupied by the cypressus. I favour a couple of trees with interesting foliage with gooseberry, red & blackcurrant bushes inbetween.
Any other suggestions?
We bought a selection of five shrubs for less than half price & have put them in the border at the top of the garden, which is now complete, with evergreen shrubs of different shades of green, all doing well.
The earth is amazingly dry, despite the rain of late. A thorough hosing was needed.
We plan another day in the garden tomorrow, weather permitting.
G is collecting P, A, J & T from the airport later, I shall go to bed!
On reflection, this doesn't seem to have been an exciting day, but we avoided the traffic jams & improved our surroundings.

Phew!

A hectic few days.
On Thursday afternoon we took T & KP home. Car journeys with them involve non-stop talking, with KP piping up periodically that T must stop talking because it's her turn.
T's best question must have been "what will the next King be called?", following discussion about Eliz 1 & Robert Dudley when visiting Kenilworth.
Both T & KP fell asleep on the way but woke up when we visited J, G & family en route.
We changed at B & E's then went to dinner at Barston Golf Club to celebrate Mary & Maurice's emerald wedding anniversary (45 years)!
On Friday I shopped (for too long!), baked, cooked & we went to the Wheelers for dinner, always interesting & a gastronomic delight, sourced from their garden.
Whilst we were out J, G & family arrived, settled & ate.
We have had a hectic weekend with lots of games & eating.
They went to DMP for a tea-party today & have now gone home. We went blackberrying for an hour or so whilst they were out.
We are sitting quietly, watching gorillas on the TV & contemplating a light supper, if one of us can be bothered.....
I hope that you are all enjoying you long weekend & that the weather improves a little tomorrow.

Well, I don't feel it.

Yesterday we went to the Think Tank.
It was raining .
It has the spectacular bits of the old Science Museum on the ground floor & Present, Future & Kids 'City on the other floors, or something like that.
T & KP loved the latter, which had play shops, a cafe, a garage& a health centre, all connected by telephones.
T was boss/receptionist & manned the phones, KP favoured weighing/measuring babies & sitting in the dentist chair.
T loved the phones.
We ate paninis in the rather limited cafe then had a second hour in Kids' City whilst G looked at the planes & steam engines on the ground floor.
They have two-way escalators!!
You stand behind the line & wait for the direction to change to be in your favour.
This may work well in a building with no more than two inhabitants!

We came home , made a malteser birthday cake & had tea.
Fortunately, it was a large bag of maltesers as the assistant chefs absorbed them, apparently.
We had a take-away (guess) when T & KP were asleep - about 20 seconds after going to bed.

Coast was the Danish coast & fascinating. Perhaps someone could record it for W & MK's visit.
T is helping me do this!
We are going for a walk soon, the monsoon having ceased, for the moment.

Happy Birthday!

I'm trying to recall where I have been since 20 August & can only assume that I've been asleep - asleep during the possible hours of blogging that is, that is, after dinner.
I did go to the hairdressers on Saturday, thanks to P, who gave me a voucher for a new beauty salon in Solihull, a raffle prize. I spent the afternoon ironing, to make up!
After church on Sunday we cut the hedge - 6 hours of hard labour & still half of the top to do, & that's only the hedge in front of the house. G does all of the really heavy, skilled work.
Yesterday I did housework, the first since going to Denmark, & I missed bits!
I went to Bicester for a sleepover & to have a few days with T & KP.
We went to Kenilworth Castle,which is half-way home, to join in a "Villains & Rogues" day.
Gentleman Ben (really),a mounted highwayman, enacted stories, with a nobleman & a law enforcement officer & the help of the children. We had lunch in the stables & did bits of the castle, shopped in the "best supermarket in the world...possibly", bought smelly wellies & came home for tea.
T, KP & G are still asleep!
I have to phone aj to commiserate!
We plan a day in B'ham at The Think Tank (science museum) & possibly a MacDonalds.
It's chilly here - the heating came on last night, with only a minor adjustment.
Many thanks for the cards & pressies, yet to be opened.
I shall enjoy the day

Rain

Did I really say that?

Photos from yesterday.

Digging out tree roots - did I say that it sounded like a tiring day?
We went out at 9.00am, stopped only briefly for a glass of squash, & came in shortly after 4.00pm, absolutely knackered.
We dug out three of the conifer roots next to the hedge on the side lawn, this involved chopping, sawing, undermining & towing with the car. It was very hard work - G worked much harder than me, I'm not as strong as I used to be.
We came in & had a shower & a nice cup of tea, before collecting the paper & something easy for a meal - don't bother with Co-op Thai green chicken curry, even if you are tired, egg on toast would beat it hands down.
Rain forecast for tomorrow so we may have to rethink the day with Jessie & Thomas - at least it won't involve any digging!

Home again again!

Aj & I have spent a week in the guest house in Ringstead, that is , staying with the Danish side of the family, W, MK, J & DK.
We had an enjoyable week with the family, including MK's family.
J was his usual "fast-forward" self DK, has grown a lot & tries to do everything that J does.
W is recovering from his slipped discs, with lots of exercises & little sitting-down , Mk supports them all & has just started a new career.
Busy all round.
We were met at Stanstead on Monday evening by G & JR.
Aj left this morning, after a relaxing day yesterday.
Thomas & Jessie came today; we had a great time playing, baking cakes & taking a nature walk across the fields, as far as Moat House Farm.
We hoped to find some calves, but they were all out in distant fields.
Tomorrow is to be spent in the garden, digging out tree roots & cutting hedges - could be another tiring day!

Monkeys, apes &.....

Today was a Thomas & Jessie day
G was busy so we made up a pic-nic, leaving G's in the fridge & set off for Twycross zoo.
We timed things perfectly, arriving in time to see the sea-lions being fed, the penguin pool being swept, underwater (not a job I'd fancy), have our pic-nic in a little sunshine & potter around for 4 1/2 hours without a drop of rain, until we were on the way home.
The little train was a big hit; we went on it twice, as were the meercats, who put on a good show along with five small babies. Surprisingly, none of them wore smoking jackets or seemed inclined to lecture on their genealogy!

The zoo has been greatly improved since I was there last.
It has a vast reception/ restaurant/ shop area called "Himalaya", with a glass wall separating it from the snow leopard enclosure.
The s & w seemed superfluous, but better luck next time.
J & T were excellent company & we had a lovely day.
Home at 4.00pm for a nice cup of tea.

All is in order as aj & I are visiting W, MK & family next week.
I have a sermon to complete on Mary Sumner, two services on Sunday morning, then off to visit JR for a sleepover before flying from Stanstead on Monday.

One of the chimps at Twycross has hereditary alopecia (no hair) & looks disturbingly human.
Otherwise they have an amazing collection of primates - apes (no tails), monkeys (tails) & lemurs (pre-monkeys, only from Madagascar).
They are fascinating, but all rather smelly. I guess they think the same about us.

Queen Mum's birthday.....

Another lazy day, a lie-in, following a disturbed night of coughing.
I did enjoy a little gentle shopping in Solihull, whilst G worked.
M&S had the oddments all marked down to £3, so that's my wardrobe sorted out for the coming season.
See what you can spot over the coming weeks - unusual colours & fit worn with a certain panache!

JS have 25% off Dorset cereals & Hellmans tomato ketchup (sounds posh) for £1.

Tuesday already.

We have had a really lazy couple of days - beautiful weather, so G has finished the garden hedges, I've managed a little light housework & four, yes four loads of washing & ironing.
That's pretty uninteresting, but relaxing.
I did almost complete the Telegraph crossword yesterday, today I can't even get started:
Capitol of Israel? Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or, even Jaffa, but not with 6 letters.
Obviously, I'm rubbish.
The PM's been in B'ham today, doing quite well apparently.
The banks have mainly published good results for the last six months, so perhaps things are on the mend. It would be good if they could find some cash to pay interest on accounts at some point so that depositors could benefit before the bosses!

Mastermind of masterminds is on. God they're clever. I bet they'd have no trouble with the crossword. (G's cooking dinner)

How about a comment on G's picture gallery following 10/10 as Grandad last week?

Dragon's Den

We survived and so did they! More photos may follow.

They slept, ate, visited a fairy castle, hunted dragons (and found some dragon's poo to prove it!), played nicely with other kids, loved the playground, enchanted more than a few other visitors.

"Mummy & Daddy are away having a good time" (0, to a couple on a bench near our pic-nic))

All were knackered but happy and no issues.
Parents got a break and only texted 3 times and called once in 27 hours!

Good for a first time and they really were 'no trouble'.

Drove home, g had long soak and early bed on the agenda.

That was 2 days JR , 2days J&T, 2 days OS&H in last week!

Time for a rest.