Oh, my heart…..

Our beautiful granddaughter, Lily, is sixteen. She has just finished her GCSEs and, as we all know, such an event is celebrated with a Prom. A few weeks ago, I asked her if she’d got her prom dress. She nodded. “What colour have you got?” I wondered. “Red,” she replied. “Send me picture?” I asked tentatively. She nodded again, “Of course I will.”

In the end, Lily didn’t have time to share a photo of herself and it was Paul and Harriet who sent us a couple of photos this evening before she set off. Oh, my heart…… stunning. So, so beautiful. No longer a girl, but an elegant young woman – confident, relaxed and looking happy. If she permits it, I’ll share a photo of her tomorrow. In the meantime, I am hoping that she has a cracking evening out tonight.

In the other Kenilworth Sleath household, celebrations started today for Thomas’s birthday. He is two. We aimed to go over just after tea to say ‘happy birthday’ to him but, one way or another the arrangement didn’t quite work out, so I met him (and Danielle and Oliver) at The Children’s Play Village near Warwick for three quarters of an hour. Ooooh, we didn’t half have a bit of fun.

We had ‘afternoon tea’ with wooden cakes and cloth sandwiches, washed down with imaginary tea in carved cups and saucers. We then rushed to an imaginary fire in the fire engine and nee-nawed down the road. Thomas didn’t think much to my driving and gave me strong instructions on how to handle the steering wheel…….. both hands Grandma, for goodness’ sake!

Afterwards we went shopping in the supermarket and bought some ‘bread’ and a ‘banana’ and a ‘joint of meat’. We took our shopping over to the ice cream van which we commandeered before doling out ice creams and lollies to each other and Mummy. I was clearly the assistant…… oh, my heart…….

Back at the ranch, John has been beavering away and creating the birthday cake ready for the family party on Sunday. Can’t wait. It’s coming along very nicely. He’s also been creating a mess in kitchen that neither of us can be bothered to clear up. Maybe tomorrow?

In other news, we have had tradesmen here today. First thing, before I set off for my yoga class, the local carpet shop owner came round to measure up the dining room. I left John supervising proceedings and, while he was at it, to measure up our bedroom, too. We aim to choose flooring tomorrow. We’re SKI’ing now, don’t you know …. Spending the Kids Inheritance……hehehe.

Just after lunch, the doorbell rang and it was the scaffolders. Yippee! As quick as you like, the four guys bustled about and took the whole thing down and away with no fuss at all. Well, I say no fuss – there was a bit of sucking of teeth as they said that the tiles were like biscuit and would inevitably be broken. They replaced what they could with the spares they’d brought and then said they’d tell the boss in the morning before they whisked themselves off, looking forward to their weekend.

I took the scaffolders cups of tea and coffee and found myself paddling my way through a very large puddle of water that had accumulated on the lawn. We were puzzled. Did we have a lot of rain in the night? I hadn’t heard anything – and anyway, the rest of the garden wasn’t wet. Then the penny dropped…… oh……ah…… I’d left the tap on all night from watering the hydrangea. Oops.

Take care everyone. There’s a COVID wave – 1 in 35 people infected now – so get your masks out. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day (again) is ‘stiffrump’ (18th century): a highly obstinate individual who refuses to budge.

Oh, and by the way, what did everyone think about the by-election results then, eh?