The last few days in the village went past fast. The strawberries have finished, the raspberries have started, we harvested all the Morello cherries and the rhubarb, both got put into jars: as cherry jam and as stewed rhubarb. We agreed with Ildi's brother Csaba to water the garden in our absence, let us see if he turns out to be better than Sanyi! On Sunday we caught the bus and it took 2 hours door to door. Thannkfully the camera chip was in the old laptop, as I worked it out by process of elimination in the meantime. On Monday we did the shopping for presents. The little ones got some more lovely wooden toys from the usual toyshop, Ginny a lovely ethnic shawl from the big market, Stephen and Lucy we bought presents for already: he a hipflask set, her a little embroidered dshoulder bag. Alex, Meaghan and Alex will get money, as that's no bother taking home on the aeroplane.
On Tuesday we visited Ian and Ros at their now beautifully furnished flat for drinks and nibbles, followed by dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant where I had home made spaghetti with muscles in a delicious tomato sauce. They are having their kitchen installed next Monday, after which the flat will be perfect. We both really like Ros and Ian, they are marvellous company and truly nice people.
Today we did a few bits of official stuff (bank, building society etc.), had the compulsory lunch in the Basketmakers and shopped for food. In a minute we'll go and fetch the little monsters from nursery.
July 5th
Yesterday (Saturday) morning Lucy was doing a fun run in Stanmer Park and Stephen went to fetch Alex, Meaghan and Callum, so Roy and I were baby sitting Elian and Xander. We took them to the park, which was much enjoyed by all concerned. Once back home we fixed lunch and put Xander down for a nap. Elian flatly refused, so he was around when Lucy appeared covered in mud after her run. Ann hour or so later the Canadian mob appeared with a couple of bagfuls of Tesco shopping. Callum is the big boy of the three and it was lovely to see how well he looked after the little ones. Presents were exchanged with lots of excitement until Callum came up to me and asked: Have you got a present for me? I then presented him with his envelope which made him very happy. Stephen and Lucy produced a lovely lunch of pasta, pizza, chicken nuggets, chips, broccoli, veggie fingers, coleslaw, peas and carrots which disappeared quickly. The new IKEA dining table was brilliant and put to good use. In the afternoon all the kids got into the paddling pool and the adults were either out there with them or watching the Silverstone qualifying.
In the evening Stephen went off to work while Lucy, Meaghan, Callum and Xander went to the park with Roy, Elian and me staying at home. Before going to bed Callum, Elian and Xander had a bath together which was fun.
Most of us had an early night to be well rested for Sunday.
Today (Sunday) Alex and Meaghan took forever to get up and it rained, so we have played indoors. Daddy's daddy and Grandma watched Lewis Hamilton win the British Grand Prix (yippeeeee!!) and the three boys played all sorts of fun things.And in the afternoon, after all little persons had a bit of a nap we went to the Jack and Jill pub in Clayton for dinner. I have driven past that pub a thousand times, but other than a hash run some 20-25 years ago I have never been inside. The weather cheered up and even the sun came out. The rain didn't depress the temperature sufficiently to be cold, so we sat outside with the children playing on the climbing frame and other play things while we ordered drinks and food. I had sea bass, which was glorious, if somewhat Nouvelle Cousine-ish in quantity. Alex had whitebait, Roy roast lamb, Meaghan a large ploughmans and two different ciders. It was a delightful outing with everybody having a very good time and even the bill only came to £103, which considering that it was for 6 adults and 3 children, was reasonable.
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