Harry's Birthday Weekend

I picked Adam up on Friday afternoon and he spent the night with me. We drove down to Brighton on Saturday afternoon and went shopping for Harry's present. We had to take Harry with us so he could choose his own Thomas paraphernalia. That done, we crashed with pizza in front of the telly to watch XFactor. Next morning was party day. Adam, Harry and I went to the park to give the Mummies a chance to do party prep. We stopped on the way for some sustenance - see the boys enjoying their Baby Chinos.




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Harry's cake was baked by Mummy Ali but the decorating was the skill and handiwork of Mummy Sian.
Needless to say, Harry was inundated with all things 'Thomas'. That would be The Tank Engine for those who aren't au fait with 3 yr olds.

The Wardrobe-Lion No-Witch Maybe

I finally managed to get myself to Ikea to buy a wardrobe. It was so heavy and large that it had to be delivered even though it was in pieces. There it was, at my door on Tuesday but, because of the size and weight, it would need two people to get it upstairs and then to put it together. "On whom shall I confer this privilege?" I asked myself. As luck would have it, I had a phone call from John T that very day and I promised him lunch if he would come round to take on the heavy labour. He very kindly turned up yesterday and we got to work. I say 'we' advisedly because I did help. We were about half way through when we decided to break for lunch. Of course we had the obligatory couple of glasses of wine with the soup and cheese then got back to work. Well, he got back to work. I sat down and took pictures and giggled a lot. The job is done and it looks good (shut up, Alison you know I will never get over my infatuation with Ikea) and fits the space. I'm well pleased.

John hard at work


If you look at the mirror, you will see me sitting down taking the picture


God bless him. He did the lying on the floor bits

December is here

24 days till Christmas. I'm looking forward to it this year for the first time in five years. I will be in Eastbourne with Pat and John (Sian's family). Rachel also invited me so I am feeling pretty good. It is literally freezing outside. We have snow on the ground; not enough for a snowman but at least I can drive. I'm taking Roger for a scan this morning so driving is essential. I'm still going down to his place once a week to read to him. I enjoy this so much. He always has the London Review of Books or the New York Review of Books and; as I don't subscribe to either, it is my chance for some high class reading. We read an article by Sheila Fitzpatrick on her visits to Russia during the Cold War and I wished I had had Jane with us to say the Russian words and to do a little explaining.