Gardens and talking crockery

Today we had plans to catch up with two friends, only a mile or so apart over in Barnham (where Chris and Julie live). On the way we had to pay some money into the bank and get some petrol. Although we left with plenty of time the queue at the petrol station was huge but as we really needed some fuel we had to stop and so were late.

There was a ‘petrol crisis’ when Davies was born, I remember Ady going and filling up both cars (we had two back then) with fuel just to be sure we could definitely get to hospital if the baby came. We told the kids about it and tried to explain strike action, whether the word ‘crisis’ was actually appropriate and debated whether the army should get involved or not. Interesting stuff.

Katy is very lovely, a very close friend of Julie’s as they live so close and have three children each who they have decided should all grow up to marry each other! George is 12 (just) and is apparently ‘engaged’ to Maisie, Poppy is 9 and Jack loves her and Herbie is 7 but will be totally perfect for Lorna when they are older. This amuses me greatly, not least because when I was 8 my future husband was already 18 and I’d like to think both of my children end up with someone they come to as fully formed adults rather than someone already kicking around in their lives. We talked about marriage today with the kids too, whether it actually means anything unless you hold religious beliefs and are therefore concerned with being ‘united in the eyes of God’. Wouldn’t have missed Vegas though…

So, we had a lovely few hours at Katy’s. The kids had a ball playing in the garden, messing with water pistols, bouncing on the trampoline and enjoying the sunshine. George cooked bacon for lunch and Katy laid on a fab selection of other foodstuffs – a real feast 🙂 Then we sat outside too and plotted Katy visiting Rum and talked of parenting, education and empty nest syndrome.

Then to Helen’s – who used to live on a boat 🙂 And now lives in a house but with plenty of boat feeling to it. Since we last saw them – at our Bye Then party they have had another baby, a gorgeous 8 month old boy who sat and smiled at us while we had tea and biscuits in their garden. Lovely to see Alex and Abbie, who Davies and Scarlett bounced on the trampoline with and lovelier still to see Helen again who I credit with being a true inspiration with her adventurous lifestyle and ‘go get it’ attitude to chasing dreams when I first met her about 2 years ago.

The day had run away with us but we still had a couple of hours with Helen before we headed off and if we don’t get to catch up again before we leave for Rum then I am utterly confident we’ll be sitting chatting one day soon up there with a boat of their’s docked as they have another adventure.

We called into my parents on the way home to collect cash for the car tomorrow. We also called into Argos to return the rubbish vacuum cleaner we’d bought. It fails to pick up dirt and crumbs from the floor which given is it’s sole purpose for existance is really rather pants.

Dinner was slow cooker pork casserole put on in the morning before we left and was very lovely. I’ve now insured the Pajero so I can get it taxed and we’ll perform a car swap on Sunday 🙂 Woohoo!