It uglied up the road*

Last night, just before I went to bed, I checked on the boys (I do this every night without fail). Both had their fans on. Small woke up and said "can you turn my fan off please" and then I took his comforter off him (a comforter is a thin quilted bed cover) and laid a sheet over him instead and said "do you want this other cover too cosy bear?". He said he did and then he looked sleepily up at me and said "mummy, I know what my super hero name could be. Cosy Bear!" Umm okay then, I won't embarrass you with that tomorrow I thought sneakily. Today he had no idea and he is suitably embarrassed. My lovely big Cosy Bear?

We all spent the morning doing our own thing. Huffle and the boys watched Stoke draw against Tottenham Hotspur (I won't mention that Leicester beat West Ham and are currently sitting at the top of the table again), and played on their tablets and I sat in the loft cutting out material for Small's quilt and listening to Chill Out Radio.

At lunchtime we went to the Chippy for dinner (not been here for so long) and then on to the Harbour Festival. We went here last year and there were lots of interesting stalls and things for the kids to do but this year all the stalls were information ones with little to do. We did however sign ourselves up for the Dragon Boat Racing again. Armed with our life jackets and oars we stood in line with some Mexicans who were desperate to ditch us off their boat. Every time someone counted us (and that was quite often) the group of eight in front suggested we move to another boat. Apparently they were experienced and possibly felt we would not pull our weight despite our excessive experience in the water. Anyway, we held our position and didn't move and ended up in their boat. Lucky we did because they were useless. Out of the two boats (the other being manned by two professional dragon boat racers) ours was by far the fastest though we didn't actually get to race because the other boat came in leaving us in the water by ourselves. Not really sure why but we still had a good row and we knew we would have won.

It was a very hot day touching 30* and so we went in search of air conditioning or at least shade. We found out what was going on when and sat and got cool before sitting on the harbour and waiting for the water show to start. We had a blanket to sit on and the game Pass The Pigs so we played while we waited. The water show was pretty much the same as last year including the stooge from the audience who pretends he has never water skied before and just jumps into the water. Smallest was struggling in the heat, despite extra sun cream, hats and my pashmina for a cover up of his legs.

We decided to make a move and after a brief walk to the car, drove to the 50's diner that does lovely ice cream milkshakes. That was just what we needed, a freezing drink, sugar and a cooling sit down. On the way home we popped to the supermarket to pick up stuff for tomorrow (we are supposed to be going to the Jazz Festival but its going to be even hotter so we are hedging our bets) and then came home and jumped into the pool.

It was a cool 24* but nice. Half of the pool was in shade due to the sun going behind the barn so it was good to just lie on the lilos and relax. Well as much as you can when two kids are diving underneath you and prodding and splashing.

We got some reading time and when Smallest was bored I sent him in for a game. He came back with Mastermind (a normal pool side game that up until today has never been a problem). Mr clumsy Smallest tripped and dropped the whole contents of the box all over the deck and the little pegs fell down into the abyss of the underside of the decking where no one dares to tread (except the wasps, which are definitely gone by the way). After he picked them all up, he did it again and then he spilled his drink too.

We came in for tea and a sit on the porch.

*It is coming up to election time around here and all the councillors have their boards on the side of the roads. Small thinks if a councillor has his/her picture on their board then we shouldn't vote for them because it makes the roadside look ugly. It would be interesting for the councillors to hear the youths point of views. I wonder if they would change things? Small is really talking about the councillor from last year that had his photo on every board at many intervals and even plastered all over his car (grandads favourite).

Two more licence plates for my collection

 

 

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