Wednesday for want of a better title

I was the mistress of efficiency today (which suggests that efficiency is a scoundrel of a man cheating on his wife with someone wearing a floaty negligee rather, which is not me at all) and gathered in the washing that has been hanging on the line getting progressively wetter since last week, brought it all in and draped it around the place so it is now dry. I then peeled and chopped and seasoned beef and vegetables in the slow cooker for beef stew for tonights dinner, watched some Christmas Simpsons with D & S and we left the house bang on time to get to Lucy’s. We did have a brief encounter with two messengers from Jehovah on the doorstep as we were about to go out but I was just this side of rude to them and they didn’t bother sticking around to attempt conversions on any of us. It did mean the five minute drive to Lucy’s was filled with My Thoughts On Religion Particularly Ones Which Require Followers To Canvass Support Door To Bloody Door, a monologue by Nic though. I also did a bit of rant about religion in general but then got distracted by the beauty of the sun shining over the sea so stopped ranting to point out that to the children instead. And yes, you can make something out of that if you wish ;).

Once everyone was installed we set off to Paradise Park aka The Dinosaur Place. Richard came along with Davies, Scarlett and I through the dinosaur and Planet Earth walk while Lucy and Rebecca took the shortcut avoiding dinosaurs. Richard was very cute, he didn’t say much (well anything really) but he did hold my hand for a while and did exact copies of D and S’s body language through the various bits of the walk round which was amusing. We met back up and walked through to where the entrance to the Santa’s Grotto is which had various animatronic Santa and reindeers on display. Ever keen to get the perfect photo for this year’s Christmas card I hurried Davies and Scarlett over the barrier and took some pictures, only to get caught in the act by a member of staff shepherding a group of small schoolchildren round. I was expecting a tsk or even a stern glance, instead I got a ‘good backdrop for photos isn’t it?’ and a smile and then he reappeared, asked the kids if they wanted a treat and offered to show us round the grotto! 🙂 So wide eyed and wonderfilled we got a private showing all around it which was fab :).

We had a walk round the outside for a bit before heading back in to eat lunch and play in the indoor area. I gave Davies and Scarlett 3 tokens each which they went off and used on various amusements, returning with the tickets that can be redeemed in the shop for a penny each. They all had a good play with one last go in the playground outside before we left via the gift shop. They have Christmas decorations in full swing so we looked at their displays of lights for a while including a lovely selection of moving models with lights of all festive and wintery scenes, really pretty. The children chose sweets, we redeemed tokens and home we came.

We dropped Lucy, R & R off and once home watched more Simpsons before the children had dinner and it was time to take Davies to Badgers. Ady was home to stay with Tarly so I got to sit in the car and read my book. I went in to check the time of the carol concert Davies will be in, explain that he can’t make the dress rehersal the day before as it’s Scarlett’s party and to check when Scarlett can start Badgers – she can go along to the last session before Christmas break which is mostly party games and fun and I can stay too then she can start properly after Christmas. 🙂 Davies practised his songs all the way home and then Scarlett – who was already in bed having a bedtime story – and Ady came into the lounge and he sang for all of us, lovely :).

Ady’s got a new phone which he’s spent the evening playing with while I watched Sunshine which I thought was okay. Work tomorrow.