White Van Man

Here's Mr B, the builder, on his way back from the builder's merchant with yet more wood*. They think we're pretty strange up there. Still, I maintain that a convertible is not a bad builder's vehicle (if you're somewhere it doesn't rain much).

Very very early start this morning after a terrible night's sleep for the grown ups. Sooooo unbelievably hot that we couldn't even sleep properly in the cool downstairs spare room. Mr B ended up lying on the tiled bathroom floor in search of coolness. So it was a bad morning to have the kids going on a day trip and needing to be on the bus at the Centre at 7am. An hour of gathering stuff we were told they'd need (none of which was actually needed) lead to some stress on my part and the necessity for a mad dash down the road to the Centre, all the way reminding the kids to look out for each other, stay out of the sun and drink lots of water... I was really making it sound fun, huh?

Conor was predictably upset when he got on the bus, but Katherine did a great job in, from what I could see, firmly saying in French that she should sit with her brother and not with the big kids at the back. Good for her. For all they fight and bicker, when it comes down to it they definitely put each other first.

I headed home, and crashed on the sofa for a few hours to the gentle tones of Radio 4. By the time Mr B and I had slept enough, it was nearly lunch time, so the site was postponed until after lunch. Problem Z was sorted but, to cut a long story of drywalling misery short, problem Y reappeared and was added to by problems alpha, beta and gamma, which no-one had predicted. I think we've found a solution. Only tomorrow will tell as we had run out of time and had to dash off to get the kids: Conor was totally wiped - hungry and tired and over-emotional (I mean clingy) and Katherine was full of chat about the scary scary rides she'd been on.

Home for a quick sausage and mash dinner, bed for the kids, and a wind down episode of Spiral (Engrenages in French) for us. Great way for me to learn bad words in French.


*Mr B wants me to point out that this wood is only 4 metres (13 feet) long and he has had much longer wood in his car. Make of that what you will.