Confused

I was up early as I like to get fresh bread and rolls. But before that checked my mobile for messages and saw one had just come in from my cousin Katrin who lives near Heidelberg. The two of us had planned a "secret" family meeting and the plan was for her together with boyfriend Kimo, to drag her father and my uncle Jochen who is 77 to come and stay for the weekend. Some may have seen on some past backblips that Jochen plays a very special role in my life being a mix of uncle, father and brother.

I was thrilled that just a week or so ago, Kathrin had said she and Kimo had got the weekend free from work and that Jochen had been told and was overjoyed to be coming and my fear he wouldn't want to take the 3-hour journey were allayed. We hadn't 100% fixed the times but this mornings message from Katrin said they were all set and would be coming tomorrow midday.

Now it is a tradition that we do a day out tour in a hired bus when the children are here. We are at least 6, so too many for a normal car. This year I hadn't booked anything as we weren't sure when uncle was coming and the weather forecast had not been that good. And indeed today was horribly wet and cool. However, over breakfast, knowing uncle was coming tomorrow, we decided to take a trip to the indoor aeroplane museum north of Munich. I then started phoning around for a hire bus. I was certain the village garage would have one free and indeed one was sitting in the car park. What I didn't know was that the owner was sunning it up in Greece. It is a very small hire business and normally someone takes over the mobile phone but not this time. We even have the owners private mobile number - no answer nor from the other family members mobiles.

Things got very silly and although we finally found we could hire a bus from Memmingen for silly money or a small car and then drive with two to Munich, the air went out of the idea as I got more depressed. Eventually out of frustration, the childern set off in my car for a stroll in Ottobeuren. At that moment the sun came out and I decided to check out my bee hives and was determined to get out sufficient frames so that I could do a session of honey spinning with them when they got back.

Donned in all my protective gear, I had just started and WhatsApp'ed the children a photo of the first frame when a car pulled up and my cousin jumped out followed by Kimo and uncle Jochen! There followed several hours of chaos! We were not in the least prepared - food, drink, beds ...., you name it. The message I read this morning had been sent last night and thus her "see you tomorrow" was in fact today!

I won't go into all the details but somehow we got through the day. The children arrived home and met their great uncle for the first time since 1986 when Katrin was about 6 months old. And the grandchildren got to meet their great, great uncle for the first time. I lose track of what relationship they have to Katrin.

We drank beer, even Jochen got to fly the drone. Katrin in her original message a few weeks ago had said she and Kimo would sleep in a tent. I replied we would find a bed for them. But true to her word, she had borrowed a tent and the two of them insisted they camp out in the garden. They had never done any tenting and wanted to try it out and no amount of offers of a warm dry bed in the house could deter them. With Barry's knowledgable help, they had the massive villa of a tent erected in minutes and just before a massive thunderstorm.

In the evening in an amazing action, Kimo cooked up a massive pot of spaghetti bolognese for us all after Angie had done a late afternoon dash to the supermarket. And after that, Katrin and Kimo spent ages playing iwith the grandchildren on assorted tablets and a gaming machine they had especially brought along for them.

When the grandchildren finally went to bed they sai:d "those two who came with uncle Jochen are really nice"!

A few beers, a bottle of wine a round or two of schnapps and lots of talk later, we finally retired in the early hours. Chaos but wonderful to have even more family around. I am over the moon and so very thankful for Angie's help - we are now 10 people, so pretty much a full house (and tent).