The Thursday Throttle

Today came roaring in with more sunshine all day again. What a bonus! It was rather frosty but beautiful with a fabulous sunrise. I love to open the curtains just before the sun comes up and watch the glow gradually filling the sky. Makes you grateful to be alive.

Another reason to be grateful to be alive is looking after the grandchildren, and we had another dose of them today before they start at nursery/pre-school on Monday. The childcare/work juggling has been ongoing this week and we have been the beneficiaries.

It is so delightful to see their smiling faces as they come to the door and for them to be pleased to see Grandma and Grandpa. We are making the most of it because, let’s face it, this phase doesn’t last all that long and soon they won’t want to spend any time with the grandparents at all.

So we play, play, played all day long – up and down the stairs; in and out of the garden; in and out of the cupboards; on and off high stools, low stools, chairs and sofas; and in and out of the biscuit jar.

I tell you, that biscuit jar is the main attraction – although, to be fair, William is pretty constrained. He selected three biscuits to put into a little bag for a future picnic – one for himself, one for Thomas and one for Grandma. He didn’t eat a single one. And, when it was time to go home, he left the one for me and then selected two more – one for Mummy and one for Daddy. Still untouched. Thomas, however, cannot resist. He would keep on ploughing through as many as you’d let him……

We made a den in the garden this afternoon in Freddie’s ‘tree house’ area, by dragging the bench behind the tree. We sat on it for quite a while, listening to the birds, hiding behind the foliage, looking out for ‘the enemy’ and generally exulting in it being ‘just us’. William sighed blissfully and said, “It’s just us. Just us.” Some time later, William went off to explore and I made to follow, but Thomas had other ideas. He, too, was enjoying the ‘just us’ moments under the tree and insisted on staying there. He waved his arms at the span of the tree and suggested that we stay exactly where we were. So we did for a bit longer. I didn’t mind – meditating among the trees? Just my cup of tea.

The sandpit was next on the agenda and, instead of busying myself with dead-heading anything today, I was either absorbed in the children’s play or watching them while sunning myself on the bench in the full sunshine. More bliss.

After we’d said goodbye to the boys, I thought we might collapse in a heap, but to my surprise, I got my second wind and was able to get on with the ironing of the washing for the original Kenilworth Sleaths. Quite a productive day one way and another – full throttle all day.

I have to say, though, that despite John doing a marvellous job with the children, he has struggled with his energy levels for the last few days (except when he was doing the walking/lung function test at the hospital of course) and he has been getting quite out of breath. But one thing about John is that he never gives up and he was game all day to keep entertaining the children.

This evening, we took an unexpected phone call from Gail who is having trouble being in a foreign land trying to access her British bank account. All correspondence will now be directed to our address and we hope to help her unravel the unholy mess the bank seems to have made. Nice to have a chat though – even if it was primarily for business purposes.

109,133 people tested positive for the virus today; 335 people died in the community today and 112 died in hospitals in the last 48 hours; 2,184 people were admitted to hospital.

The Prime Minister is lying low after his apology in the House of Commons about breaking the rules and having party in his garden on 20 May 2020. Prince Andrew is now a ‘private citizen’ having lost his royal patronages. Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is: constult (17th century) – to collectively play the fool/behave stupidly together.

Hope the sun shone in your neck of the woods. I am reduced to giggling at silly jokes at the expense of the government now to cheer me up……………

Take care everyone. God bless.