Saturday morning – Ady met Mairi from the boat and I got down to post office nice and early to meet her walking round from there. A nice morning with various people popping in for chats and catching up with Mairi there too for plenty of tea drinking and gossip. We walked along to meet Ady from work when he was finished and then came home for lunch – nice bread, chorizo, olives and crisps from us and lots of nice cheeses brought up from Mairi, was lovely 🙂
As usual Mairi had brought gifts – birthday art stuff for Davies, a little magnet from her recent Italy trip for Scarlett, a card which reads ‘I meant to behave but there were too many other options’ and some flower bulbs for me and plenty of chocolate for Ady. Along with croissants for Sunday breakfast and a bottle of the award winning local gin her friend makes. She also brought a load of seafood to make dinner for that evening and chocolate to melt and dip strawberries in to. I love Mairi 🙂
We had a nice afternoon chatting and catching up and then went down to the shop for a few drinks. It was one of those evenings down there when there were a handful of people around and everyone was in a really good happy mood. Chain brought a guitar out and he and Jed both played a few songs we could all sing to, we spent about an hour playing I Spy – which is actually hilarious after a few drinks, and telling really silly jokes. We walked home in the dark having bought a cheap headtorch and batteries from Jinty which she sold us saying ‘these are pretty crap!’ and they were – the torch dimmed about 20 paces from the shop! A lovely meal, another bottle or two of fizz, some pop quizzes, some arm wrestling and a late night proper chat for me and Mairi after the others had all gone to bed (the chat, not the arm wrestling!).
Sunday – Ady and Mairi had lots of chats and then we all had croissants – the kids and I getting up rather later than Ady and Mairi. We fed the animals, drank lots of tea, Mairi had a wander with her ipad to take some autumnal photos and then she and I walked down to the village to call for Lesley and for Mairi to have a peep at baby Dougal. We called in to the Tattie House craft shop on the way and Mairi bought a couple of bits from Kate and we chatted to Ian. As we went past Trudi’s we called for Trudi and collected the bag of snacks and drinks Mairi had bought at the shop and left at Trudi’s the night before to take round to Fliss’. We were having a Womens Afternoon which had moved venue and day but was no worse for having done either. We had Trudi who was in need of sisterhood and solidarity, Lesley in need of a couple of hours sitting and chatting out of the house and a reason to do her hair and put mascara on, Fliss, Debs, Mairi and I. It was a really lovely afternoon with lots of nice food, a couple of bottles of fizz, juice and chat and laughter.
We walked home and Ady had made a really good curry for dinner. An earlier night as we were all pretty tired.
Monday – Mairi and I had a gentle bramble picking stroll down to the village, calling in to the shop for her to say goodbye and the craft shop to buy some more bits as presents for friends then home for lunch. Ady managed to block the sink with some rice so he did some plumbing! Then we took Mairi down to the pier to wave her off. It was a really nice visit, she is such an easy guest.
Home via the shop to collect veg. Davies had made a popmaster quiz for Ady and I with lyrics rounds, clips rounds and everything including a 3 in 10. We did it – I won, AND got 3 in 10. He had also recorded us doing it which we listened back to and it was very funny. Mad memories like these will be the story of their childhood!
I made jam and loads of bread, for us, for dinner and for taking down to Sean’s birthday celebration the following day and everyone was pretty early to bed as we were all tired from the mad weekend.
Tuesday – I made birthday brownies for Sean, Davies made an excellent rat in a party hat card. I tidied up the kitchen and the shelves above the cupboards and windows in the lounge, the kids tidied up their bedrooms, Ady sorted out the compost loo in the horsebox. I spent some time online trying to sort out the shed order, I tried to organise accommodation for a trip off in November but couldn’t because my debit card runs out at the end of October and the new one has not arrived yet but it wouldn’t let me pay with a car which will have expired before the trip.. argh! Ady rang Halifax to find out when the next card will come it it should be here by Friday. Phew.
We walked down to the shop. had a couple of beers and then all went into the hall for Sean’s birthday meal. It was a collaborative effort with various people bringing various contributions – we’d taken two sorts of bread and the brownies. There were a couple of soups, veggie and venison chillies, pasta, a big birthday cake and brownies. I also bought some ice cream and Deb bought some bramble liqueur. It was a really nice evening with great company. Davies and Scarlett left around 930pm with Ady and I promising to be home by midnight which we just about were. Another night of over indulgence though…
Today – was a much needed slower start. I slept in really late which I needed and the weather was pants this morning anyway. Ady did some cleaning while the rest of us slept. We had lunch and then he and I went down to the village to collect post, food from the freezer and some fish we’d bartered yesterday with Rhys for eggs and jam and the others had alongside their dinner tonight. Back at home Ady and I watched the Gareth Malone choir thing that Ady had downloaded and I’d wanted to watch after having heard him on the radio the day after we’d been talking about starting up a choir here on Rum. Then Ady and Scarlett played Top Trumps while Davies and I played Big Brain Academy on Davies’ DSs. He beat me two games to one.
We tried watching a new TV series from Lovefilm – Suburgatory but it was pretty pants so after two episodes we decided to give up on that and went back to rewatching How I Met Your Mother. Annoyingly I then got an email from amazon to say the next disc of the show it on it’s way. Poo! Everyone else is in bed and I am about to head off too. Only one night before Mum & Dad arrive and  I lose my bed!