World still turns…

Yesterday, obviously was dominated by Malice. We took her to the vets at 8.30am and all four of us went. We said goodbye to her knowing we may not see her again. Having been told the vet would ring us at 11am we were left with a couple of hours to fill so we went to a massive car boot sale to kill some time. I’m really into car boot sales now for all sorts of reasons, the biggest being the opportunity for people watching and amusing myself with their quirks and oddities. The vast range of people you get there, both buying and selling is amazing.

There are several types of sellers – the classic people who have just chucked every single thing from their loft / basement / garage and want to go home with nothing. They will punt it out at bargain prices on the basis that anything they don’t sell will be going to the tip / charity shop on the way home. Then you get the ones who have brought along their children who’s outgrown possessions they are trying to sell. This is always a bit of a weird one and often their stuff is overprices because they are placing sentimental value on their second hand sticklebricks rather than the 50p price tag they deserve. There are the ‘tradespeople’ the ones who make a living from car boot sales and probably also sell stuff on ebay. You don’t get bargains from them, they are totally clued up on the market value of everything on their stall – which is probably four times whatever they paid for it from some unsuspecting seller from the first category at a car boot sale the week before. Finally you have the people who seem to think that they are managing a fine gift shop stocked with designer toys and clothing which should reach premium prices due it’s nearly new status rather than hawking their second hand tat onto a muddy field on a Sunday morning and appealing to the unwashed masses who have a maximum spend of a quid per item. These are the people who have brushed the Barbie doll’s hairs, matched their outfits and placed them all in individual plastic bags and are convinced that actually they should probably go for more than the new ones in the shops as they must be ‘collectable’ or ‘antique’ by now. They lay out their wares with precision and categorisation and tsk loudly if anyone actually handles anything.

We got various videos from a sensibly priced 3 for a quid seller including Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmations, Lady and the Tramp and two of the dreadful Barbie ones (Swan Lake and Rapunzel) which have kept Tarly entranced ever since. Davies got yet another Gromit cuddly toy – which brings our collection to a level which if sold on ebay would pay for his university education but has probably cost less than a tenner and has led me to finally put my foot down about any more Gromit cuddlies entering our home even if they are being sold for just 30pence.

We’d left home without breakfast so we had cakes from the bakers and then we headed home to await the vet’s phonecall. That came so I was upset first with everyone comforting me, Davies drew a picture to bury with Malice, my parents came over and Ady went to collect her. We were really touched that the vet waived the £170 odd charge for the last couple of days of treatment and medication saying that there was no way he was going to take any more money from us and how sad he was that she had not made it and he had gotten attached to her over the last couple of months too. Lovely man. We all said a last goodbye and buried her in the garden.

Partially to inject a bit of normality back into the day, partially because spending money makes me feel better – even if just on essentials and partially because the weather has changed to such a degree that Tarly’s only shoes being doodles means she is getting wet feet a lot we went shoe shopping for the children. Our local Brantano shoe shack place has just started selling Clarks shoes and properly fitting kids shoes so we headed up there. Having chatted to the lady there at length about the need for Clarks shoes and width fittings once children are past a certain age and not actually wearing them for 8 hours a day anyway we got a pair of boots and a pair of trainers for Tarly from their own range. There were only very expensive (as in £38 which I wouldn’t pay even if we could afford it for shoes he could grow out of in a matter of weeks) shoes or horrid black back to school shoes in Davies’ size so he got a new pair of trainers which are ok to double as shoes for now and we’ll need to get him some more shoes as and when.

We came home again and I went upstairs for an hour or so to have some time on my own, which I don’t often get and really, really needed. The children had tea and we anticipated an early night for them. Scarlett went off to sleep, she says she’s upset about Malice and she did love her but she’s not going to cry – tough little girl that one. Davies however had been very strong all day and kept trying to comfort me but was suddenly hit by it all at about 8.30pm having already been in bed for an hour. He was inconsolable for a while which was very hard to deal with and finally calmed down but ended up staying up with us while we had our dinner. This of course dictated TV viewing so we watched Brainiac for ages which led to all sorts of conversations and explanations. He finally went to bed about 10.30pm, followed shortly by Ady while I drank a bottle of wine and then fell asleep on the sofa. 😳

Today we had planned to go to Em’s no more nappy party but given the late night for Davies and my own slightly wobbly state we’ve revised that plan to go and see my parents for a couple of hours and otherwise stay close to home. Hope the party goes well Em 🙂