Shy bird

Actually, this female brambling is far from shy, and has spent most of this sunny/blustery/rainy day in the bird feeder outside the kitchen window, chewing her way through a series of sunflower seeds. As we haven't seen the male bramblings for a while we wonder if they've flown north without her. Can't blame her really for fattening herself up with that long flight ahead of her.

Early (ie before 10) outing to the local builders merchant to pick up our guttering clips and ask lots of questions about flooring that challenged my french enormously and had me resorting to sign language to describe 'tongue and groove'. He kept an admirably straight face.

CarbBoy was off to a birthday party for the new boy in school this afternoon. Despite not actually knowing where the house was, I managed to get us there only 3 minutes late. We were the first. Second family there was the other British family. I guess we all have a little more assimilation ahead of us. Who knows: in years to come I might be as late as the locals! While he was there Mr B continued scary work in the broken rooms that, it seemed to me, defied not only the laws of engineering, but also the laws of physics. But no-one died, and a beam that shouldn't ought to be there is no longer there.

Meanwhile, I finished off the second blind for the kitchen with the resulting finger agony from pricking my fingers a hundred times (why can I not get the hang of thimbles?)

CarbBoy, it turned out at pick-up time, was the best behaved boy and terribly quiet and polite. Oh, just like at home then... After a quick dinner time to introduce the kids to the Pink Panther series of films. Mr B and I were howling with laughter right from the start, somehow remembering all the jokes just before they happened. The kids got the hang of it in the end: but I think they will enjoy the later films more.

Here's something for you all to enjoy. Without too much nagging (or at least not that I remember) another lovely friend has joined us here on blip. So wing your brambling way over to NessM and say hello. If you're very persuasive she might promise you some blips of me very drunk on our upcoming girls weekend away...