T-Bird Anni Rides Again

light showers insterspersed with torrential downpours.  So I have been very bad and dried washing in the tumble dryer (oh the shame…) as it’s actually too warm even though it’s wet to have the heating on!

it may well be useful for me to have the full postal addresses for Merry and The Beans…. (cos I’ve lost them again or at least I can’t immediately lay hands on them anyway!)

I’ve been trying to get my head round a semi decent camp blog post since I got home and am really struggling.  In hind sight I suspect that having a dentist appointment on Monday, 2 days at the Cheshire show Tuesday adn Wednesday (followed by a busy RAinbows session on Wednesday afternoon), swimming on Thursday afternoon, working overnight Friday, covering the Church fair for the majority of the day on Saturday then going back to work overnight on Saturday were really not the best way to get ready for camp. 

Aprilia had a great week, she loved Sparkys (shudder) and being able to run with the pack without the "huge walk" from the hook up to the non hook up field    She particularly enjoyed "baby sitting" Shannon aparently.  Being voted loudest screamer was perhaps no surprise to anyone who knows my quiet and retiring child but delighted her   I think I should at this point bow down and worship at the feet of Helen and Nic who whisked Aprilia off to Sparkys most nights - I know, I was being a very deliquent mummy not going but I just could not face that level of noise for more than 5 minutes!  The mud didn’t seem to impinge greatly on her awareness although she took great pians to tell someone today that I had kept her in the tent for a whole hour becuase it was raining (oh I am just so mean you know!!!!)  As usual the zoo went down well, she had 3 goes on the train although she slept through most of one go, we shall miss that if we go elsewhere next year but then I’m sure there are other zoos!

As usual the Hobbit Hole kept us warm and dry although it did flap like a demented albatross one night and would have let in a little weather I suspect had we not spoken firmly to the front door!  All that was cured with the aquisition of some Magic Eyelets which we fixed at strategic points round the front to make more places to peg it down.  Swapping the  wimpy wire pegs for some serious chunky plastic ones stopped thigns working loose rather effectively too.  Fuuny is’t it, we’ve been cussing the wire pegs and saying we needed to swap some of htem out for ages but it takes a severe weather warning to make us actually find a camping shop!

It did perversely amuse us to be followed round Lidl by a security guard when we nipped in for a few bits, we obvioulsy looked like refugees from the local homeless shelter or something - didn’t think we looked *that* bad! 

It was lovely to see everyone and catch up a little although the general dampness seemed to curtail the usual sitting out in the evening for a gossip a little.  the roaring fire was a great way to spend an evening though, I think we may need to insist that Doug comes to every camp from now on in order to repeat that experience.  Next time we need a guitar or something so we can have a song or two

I didn’t take many pics for some reason but what I did take will be Flickred shortly - htere is a rather cute one of Shannon on Duke’s knee looking all adorable (Shannon that is, Duke was more towards the disreputable end of the spectrum i think!) 

I managed to make half hearted attempts at my next TMA which is causing just about everyone a few wobbles by the looks of it.  Perhaps execting tog et half an hour a day to work peacefully adn to be able to use oneof those odd thigns called pens rather than a PC was asking a bit much!!!!   I’ve got another 2 weeks to attack it and the good scores I’ve had so far mean that I can afford to foul up the remaining 3 essays right royally and still get a pass assuming i do okay in the exam which does somewhat take the pressure off.I’m sure once I settle down I’ll be able to conjour up another 1,500 words on the ways in which Davy (he of hte miners safety lamp) and Mrs Marcet present their topic (chemistry) to their audiences but I ran out of things to say after I’d covered Davy writing in pompous language for other pompous blokes to read and Marcet covering the same ground but in almost patronising language (to a modern reader) to be read by young society women who qutie like the idea of all these Royal Institute lectures but who don’t understand the first word of it.

There’s a ranty bit coming now, ther’s nothing much under it so you may as well stop here.

Duke was pretty disgruntled that the bulk of hte packing was left to him on Saturday evening.  I refrained from pointing out that I would have had more time to pack if I hadn’t had to wash a sudden mountain of his clothes that mysteriously appeared in the second half of the week shortly after a grunt that he didn’t have any clean socks was met with "well, there’s nothing in any of the laundry bags so I can’t help you there".  I didn’t even bother to point out that if he had got out all the camping stuff the weekend before when I asked then a lot more of it would have been properly sorted out/packed up ready - I refuse to go in his garage to get stuff out, it’s a health hazard.  The fact that I can’t easily reach into the top box doesn’t make it go any easier either really.  So I did as much as I could, I stacked everything up in the kitchen ready as far as I could (with the bag of socks etc right in there with it all…)  I left all the clothes for me and him on the bed with an instruction that he needed to either pack it into 2 small bags or 1 large one which ever worked best to go into hte car.  I packed Aprilia’s bag and put it in place in the car.  Which is why several useful items got left behind (water container, socks, half my clothes….) and the entire top box was "filled" with 2 sleeping bags and the groundsheet for the tent whilst all hte hard and pointy stuff was packed round Aprilia.  In theory the car should have been easier to pack without the hook up stuff - no plug box, no fridge, no twinkly lights etc but it was more cramped than ever.  It says something that it went back in to the car at the end of the week in less time than he claimed it took him at the beginning and that counted the time it took to drop the tent and pack it up.  Between moans about no hook up and being left out of the conversation I suspect he didn’t have the best week.  But seeing as he always complains that he’s left out of the conversation I feel that perhaps it may help if he went and talked to a few blokes rather than feeling left out of the girlie gossip or accepted that it’s going to happen and either live with it or stay home.  Hmm, htat didn’t sound very muffin-ish did it.  Maybe I’ll feel a bit more charitable once I’ve found the bottom of the washing pile and disinfected the kitchen (he left dishes in the sink to fester all week….)