Just Jo!

….thank goodness Olivia’s been more regular (in a blogging sense), I’ve got something to jog my somewhat lacking memory.

Monday I was still mourning my little Kodak. No news, so it must be having a jolly old time at British Rail’s expense.
We met friends for lunch in Rougemont Gardens. Not strictly true, we got a phonecall whilst in Sainsbury’s, so Olivia went haring off to Primark to meet them and I eventually caught up with them. Then we went for a picnic.
Then we went deep into the bowels of the museum to experience the terrors of a WWII air raid. Some wonderful (and missed) photo ops of the girls dressed up as ARP’s. Curses.
They all came back here and suddenly it was 8pm.

Tuesday morning was spent hanging out of the window, all agog, as I waited oh so patiently for my new beastie to be delivered. Back into town to buy it a snug little bag to keep it safe and warm on all our adventures to come.
The rest of the day was spent taking mindnumbingly boring photos around the house. Well, the first one isn’t so boring, quite like it actually….

That’s enough of that, methinks.
I was up ’til four in the morning playing with it. Zooming in on corners in my bedroom. Zooming in well enough to highlight the general grottiness….

Wednesday was a friend’s birthday party, so cakes were made.

Which got demolished within seconds.
Back to Lisa’s after, and a late walk home meant we got some gratuitous shots of the sunset.

Thursday….
Made another birthday card for another little friend. Can’t for the life of me think what else we did. Do remember Olivia in fits of giggles because Adam exploded baked beans over himself and the kitchen. He’d microwaved them and the lid got stuck, so when he opened it….
I really don’t think one corner of the kitchen escaped a coating of baked beans.
I stayed in my room.

Friday we were up bright and early. Ish. We headed down to Cockington to have a look around the pretty little thatched village and Cockington Court. And the Drum Inn. Because it was designed by Lutyens. The fact that it also sells a very nice pint of shandy is completely irrelevant.

Still working out the settings. And shutter speeds. And aperture. I blame the weather. Such awful lighting….
We saw Romeo and Juliet on the cricket pitch in front of the house. Jolly good it was too. The girls grabbed a picnic blanket and got as close as possible to the action. No photos because it was dark and I couldn’t see the buttons and things on the beastie.
I did, however, get this one of a speeding train at the station on the way home. Slow shutter speed. Very pleased with myself. Although I felt quite uncannily (and quite scarily too) like a train spotter.

Saturday didn’t start ’til roughly lunch time.
We needed to catch up on some sleep. My excuse, and I’m sticking to it.
Olivia suddenly had the brilliant idea to make her friend’s birthday present. Out of clay. And her birthday was the day before. So the late present she was going to get, is going to be even later while we wait for the clay to dry.
Stiil, it’s looking good so far.
Olivia wanted to paint her gargoyle (from the Cathedral workshop), so she did. Then spent hours mixing paints to get the right skin colour, then mixing paints just for the heck of it. So there are reams of paper now covered in splodges of paint. Mostly browns and greys, but a few pinks and blues too.

Notice the Saturday-not-brushed-hair?

Adam went charging off early to play footie. When he got back, I noticed some red ‘marks’ on his neck. They looked suspiciously like nibbles of some sort. I queried them and he ripped off his T-shirt to show me more of the same marks on his chest.
“Um….dearie, you haven’t mentioned a new girlfriend lately….”
“It’s not that, I got burned!”
“When??”
“The baked beans the other day.”
I confess, I sniggered. Really didn’t mean to, just couldn’t help myself.
I asked him what his friends thought and had he told them what had happened.
“Did they laugh at you?”
“No, they did call me Heinz all match though….”
Snigger snigger. I defy you not to.
Then he scarpered off for a five aside game in the afternoon. He’s dedicated that boy.

So now we’re up to yesterday. Sunday. The day before today. The day before Olivia started drama. Which meant she got steadily more excited throughout the day. To the extent of making her own rolls for packed lunch about 4 o’clock. Which is good. I suppose.
I spent ages ringing round to remind people of raft building, one of the activities I organised. Then an early bath and bed. Because we had to be up early this morning and we’re not too good at that kind of thing.
It’s been chucking it down all morning. So I’ve had a few phonecalls.
“Is it (raftbuilding) still on? Even though it’s raining?”
“As far as I know. It’s supposed to be getting brighter this afternoon anyway. Try ringing the centre and see what they say.”
It’s an outdoor centre, they only cancel if there’s a chance of killing any of the clients. Bad publicity and all that.
What do I care though??
Olivia’s in drama, I’ve got the day off!!!
Time for a trashy gossip mag in a big huge bubbly bath!