If I run I might catch up

Or I might just forget what I’ve been doing 🙂

Yesterday Ady carried on pruning, cutting down and burning stuff – he and Johnny have cleared a massive area of land where Jill is planning to put camping pods in for next year. It’s looking good.

I spent most of the day on the sofa with the laptop, tweeting, facebooking and working through the long list of all the paid for and free internet listings of Middlewick online updating and checking all the details. Time consuming but worth doing. I also wrote a couple of press releases.

Davies and Scarlett spent some time outside, with the animals, with Ady, roaming about and some time in with me. They watched a film, did some drawing, Scarlett spent some time with Humphrey and I chatted to them a bit too. I wrote Scarlett a couple of notes ‘ I love you Scarlett’ which she read with ease, all being words she knows. I then wrote ‘Scarlett can read’ and she spelt out ‘can’ and guessed ‘read’ from the r and the d at either end. I’m not sure who was more surprised – her or I. That has allayed any fears that there is more than attitude preventing her. I can cope with attitude ;). I am sure there is more to Scarlett’s current quirks and I am very likely making them sound far more concerning and limiting by writing about them than they are or I am worrying. Mostly I am noting them because I have noted stuff like this before and it’s always good to have a mention to look back on plus it is interesting to get idea and comments from others about stuff, if it only serves to reassure me that I am happy with how we do things.

Jill came to call for me at 7ish for The Rematch – Ady and Johnny had been to the pub the night before and Jill had declared that her and I would go the following night. Always being up for such adventures I was happy to agree, particularly when she got most stroppy with me when I tried to buy the second round and said that she was buying all night and I should put my money away straight away!

We went to five pubs and had six drinks in total which really isn’t much but was sufficient when backed up with another glass of cider back at the cottage and on an empty stomach to have me feeling quite merry last night and quite subdued first thing this morning :). It was a good evening though, I do like Jill lots and it’s good to be considered a friend rather than just a WWOOFer!

Today I was in the office all day as Denise the admin was off. It’s cold in there and not as cosy as just sitting in the cottage but I probably got slightly more done. I spent most of the morning answering ebay questions and some email queries and took a couple of bookings by phone. I also priced everything up in the shop using the Suma catalogue to work out what Jill had paid and deciding on a markup. I’d rearranged the shop earlier in the week and it looks really good now all priced up. I then updated the price lists on line and on display with everything listed. That pretty much took me up to lunchtime.

Ady had been carrying on with chopping down and burning, Davies and Scarlett had spent some time with Benji the goat first thing, some time feeding the other animals and time playing inside and outside.

After lunch I went through the Middlewick website pages and put together a list of suggested changes and amendments, did some more twitter networking and rewrote the guest information packs that are in each cottage awaiting Jill’s approval. Davies came and sat with me for a while in the office and did some drawing – he wants to create one of those choose what happens next type stories so he was coming up with some characters and plotline ideas.

At 5pm we headed into Street – to the Clarkes shopping village which we’d visited a couple of times last year when we were here. It is open til 8pm on a Thursday and Davies has suddenly grown a shoe size so both his wellies and his boots were hurting. For once Sports Direct came through and he got a lovely pair of black wellies half price at a tenner and a pair of walking boots for £11 – hurrah! And I got a giant mug for 99p too which is good because I am missing my Starbucks mug I left at my parents – the mugs in the cottage are far too small and dainty for my need to drink tea by the pint! Next door in The Works I managed to pick up a calligraphy pen for Davies and a crochet book for me. We got an animal book for Tarly and a nice WI Preserves book too all for under a tenner. So everything we wanted for just £30. We had a half hearted look around some of the other shops and were briefly tempted by the Weird Fish fleeces and jumpers in their outlet shop at well under half price but did not succumb. A quick stop in Sainsburys for food supplies for dinner tonight and tomorrow (we’re entertaining ;)) and then back to the cottages for a later dinner than ideal while watching the end of the Birds Eye documentary.

At bedtime I had a Serious Chat with the kids reducing them both to tears. They’d been squabbly and have been dreadful at going to sleep at night so we had a long talk about that and about what happens next. This is an odd transition for all of us – way better than my parents and in many ways very luxurious BUT Ady and I are working very hard and very long which can be a challenge for the kids. Although they are in a lovely environment all they really want is to be with us and that is not always feasible when we’re here. It will be easier to spend time alonside each other when we are not working for someone else and they are both desperate for their own space to make their mark again, their own pets and animals, their own bedroom to play in and decorate. We have just under two more weeks here and I think we can find a way to ensure the kids have more time with us and get better at managing their own time more effectively and getting the most out of being here. I do get frustrated with the kids and with Ady when I feel they are not making the most of opportunities or being self motivated.

Anyway, all is well and tomorrow is Friday 🙂