when i got to j's after lunch this shining beacon of loveliness was in pride of place baking the first cake of many. i was lucky to get a warm piece before we headed off into tuesday afternoon madness.

after a speedy morning of sorting stuff out and of trying to negotiate a new project, i zoomed home and snatched the warm cake and tea with snippets of conversation.

the usual tuesday pick,drop,pick,drop etc. carpetbiter1 bribed to go to athletics with chocolate. carpetbiter2 remembered that he'd made his pal cry the last two weeks by boasting about his own goal scoring and disputing his pal's scoreline - and came out praising the quality of his friend's goal before telling me about his own. nice to see a bit of emotional intelligence there.

felt very emotionally unintelligent as i realised that the party we've organised for my/cb1/cb2's birthdays (all of which fall in the space of 4 weeks) clashes with someone else's very similar party. as cb1 and cb2 get their own parties this was the nearest i was going to get and the first in many years. feel about 7 in emotional intelligence terms.