Knives

So, I had a crap start to the day, with the nurse at the surgery arguing the toss over whether I was actually due for my six month follow up, despite a letter having come from the surgery to tell me I was over due!!! Nice - having a smear test is bad enough, having it at six month intervals due to abnormal cells is worse, then having the nurse making a fuss about it all was just perfect.

Thought my day was going to be bad. I had no bloody idea.

Work was great. Loads done, kids were fantastic, and I received a wedding present from a colleague - pictured here (in part) - wonderful 20cm Japanese chef's knife. I fully intended to come home and test it on some chicken and then cook a risotto. That didn't happen.

Instead, at around 6.10pm, an almight fuss broke out next door - Corin and I stepped outside the front door to see our next door neighbour and his eldest son (you have met him before...) being set about by a gang of youths. Our neighbour's head was bleeding profusely, the gang were smashing the car windows, kicking the fence in and had already kicked the front door down and attacked the son and dad with a machete (I found this out later on).

Corin and I were straight back in, door locked and I rang the police - my neighbour had already rung as well.

The noise and fighting continued for a short while then the gang seemed to disappear. I made the mistake of poking my head out of the upstairs window to check if the police had arrived and was subjected to a barrage of vile abuse which was personal (and incorrect!) from the son.

Police have been, next door turned into a crime scene - police tape, forensic team, little stands with numbers on etc etc.

Corin had to take me and James out I was so rattled. When we got back, James needed major snuggles to settle him - more wound up about it than I had realised - my fault for talking about it in front of him.

Don't need this crap!

Maybe the Japanese kitchen knife was a portent of things to come???

Bath, booze, bed.

Hopefully sleep.