One word? When seven would do…

Today was our arranged day off. The weather was more or less on our side – I can’t believe how wet August has been, definitely the worst month of weather we’ve had so far. Very grateful to have been in a holiday cottage for the first week and a host for the second and third weeks where we are not expected to work outside in the rain. The final week sees us camping with Julie so we’re hoping it gets altogether more August-y for that!

We had some debate about whether we should head out on foot or van. I voted for van on the basis we could travel further, the weather need not hamper us and I thought giving the van a run would be a Good Thing after nearly a week sitting in the rain. As an aside I am on a campaign to do some of the driving currently having not driven at all since we were at Evergreen Farm way back at Easter. I hate the fact I don’t drive at all at the moment and although I am sure 20 years of driving will mean a few months off won’t be a big issue I don’t want to totally get out of the habit. Anyway I won and we set off, complete with packed lunch, in a reluctant to start Willow.

We headed for Ingleton which is the nearest big village, just over 2 miles away. This area is very rich in brown signs and Ingleton has loads of attractions including a Waterfall Walk, a couple of caves, an open air swimming pool (voted 52nd best in the world according to the sign!) and various other things. We parked up and paid for all day parking, only to realise it would have been half the price in the next car park along – d’oh! but did notice a sign saying ‘Jumble Sale 2pm Today’ in the community centre in the middle of the car park so decided to come back and try our luck there, being newly converted to the joys of Jungle Rails from back at our Glastonbury host.

We walked round the town, stopping at the olde fashioned sweet shoppe to choose a quarter of several things from the jars there. We did a big circular walk around there and then headed to the Waterfall Walk on the basis that if we had enough time to do that and get back for the Humble Bale we would, if not then we wouldn’t. It was too close with a suggested walk time of 2 and a half to 4 hours so we decided we’d come back later if we had time to do it and get back for dinner at 6pm after the Rumble Pale. So we walked along the river a little way, reading the various local history information boards as we went and spent a while sitting in the park chatting while the kids played, we walked slowly back to the van, via the Co Op and sat in the nearby park to eat our lunch before heading to the Jungle Sail.

We were in there for nearly an hour and a half, including queuing time as there were about 50 people all ready and waiting to get in, including a bloke who walked along side us having stopped to admire Willow and tell us about his ’84 Bedford he was doing up. He was admiring some of the parts on Willow and offered us £3000 for her if we wanted to sell! 😯 I think we spent about a fiver altogether – I bought a bag, two tops and a mini Cranium travel game. Davies bought a little leather bag, a couple of small toys and a drinking pouch, Scarlett got two soft toys and a drinking pouch and Ady got a pair of trainers, a pair of really warm socks and some DVDs. That spend also included a cup of tea and coffee and a very delicious cream meringue that was so huge the four of us shared it :).

It was by then too late to do the Waterfall Walk and be back for dinner so we drove out a little way to get petrol and then found a suitable carpark to put the awning up to test it. It had arrived earlier this week and we were really keen to see if it would work. Despite it being windy, lots of very suspicious looks from people trying to decide if we were gypsies moving in and setting up and the usual marital dischord that goes hand in hand with tent poles and anything that comes in a small bag we got it up and were able to ascertain that it will be perfect :). We packed it all away again and drove back to our hosts and managed to park in a really small space by way of my superior ‘right hand down’ instructions ;).

The house has been rather fraught tonight with friction between Andy and Ruth and the two teenage boys they foster which I find particularly hard to be around even though it is just usual teenage family stuff. Any sort of atmosphere or bad feeling like that just really makes me feel edgy but it is very educational to sit and witness it and be objective without feeling a default to either the parent or the childs side of things. I am close enough to the kids side to recall the feeling that the whole world is against you and your parents are just making things worse and close enough to the parents feelings of frustration with their children. I hope to be able to recall these feelings of tolerance, being able to see both sides and some level of empathy for the teens when I am the one in the middle of it myself with Davies and Scarlett… maybe I should write a scheduled blogpost reminding myself of that for about 6 years time 😉

Once the house had all gone quiet Ady and I sat with Andy and Ruth and chatted, and the men left Ruth and I up for another half an hour of chatting after that. She is interesting to talk to and made a few observations about me and my parenting which were fairly insightful and quite respectful which make me feel less like I am being judged here. It is hard to be around people who have fostered so many kids, dealt with so many difficult situations and seen the breakdown of so many family units and are actually paid to parent as their job and not feel as though you are being watched and evaluated but unless Ruth is incredibly polished at knocking people off their guard she is actually just another person doing the best she can do and totally upfront about her mistakes and failings.

Tomorrow we have been invited to go to church with them but have declined and will carry on with getting the door finished then there is some fun day at the local stables they are all attending and have invited us along to in the afternoon so it sounds like a nice easy day :).