Family time

With the Kenilworth Sleath Originals back from their holiday, we went round yesterday afternoon. We didn’t intend to stay long, but they offered us an evening meal, so naturally, we said, ‘Yes please’ and stayed on.

The Kenilworth Newbies also came along to see the Originals, so we were all there. How good is that? Oooh, we had a lovely time. We had fun playing with the children – well, Freddie played on some electronic game or other that was on the big screen and we all watched. It was hilarious. The monsters kept eating the character – to much screaming and giggling. “Your turn!” Freddie offered at frequent intervals to William or me or Grandpa or Harriet. Only Harriet took up the challenge when, once more, we were all giggling and screaming when the character lost another life on screen. Great fun.

We had a lovely evening meal, with a nice bottle of red wine, and then the chess set came out. We all had a game at one point or another and really relished it. The competition was fierce with everyone wanting to take Andrew on and beat him. He is currently the family champion, so there’s always a bit of rivalry.

I think the bottle(s) of rum that Paul brought out of the cupboard oiled the grey cells. Well, they certainly oiled something, because we had to get an Uber home (again).

This morning, there was a cheery wave and a cheery greeting from Michael, who had left the party early to put the children to bed and so was as sober as a judge. ‘How is everyone?’ he wanted to know. A few thick heads this morning. And at least two of the party stayed in bed until the afternoon. Harriet replied, ‘On a school night, never again!’ Hehehe. Famous last words. But we didn’t half have a good time.

I was left to my own devices for most of the day today while the Sleeping Beauties caught up on their sleep and worked off their hangovers. So I wafted about, forcing myself to tidy up a bit to get to the point where I could have another go at some painting. In the end, I didn’t get that far. Before I could take the lid off the paint pot, Paul and Harriet came over to collect their car and take me back to theirs, for me to collect our car. I just managed to get a bit of caulking done though…… go on, ask me….

It was Back to School for Freddie today and Start of School for William tomorrow, so school uniform was in evidence. It makes such a difference to how grown-up they look. My, how smart are these boys?

Quiz Night tonight – all lovely and hunky-dory and looking forward to it until about seven o’clock, when I suddenly remembered we were all supposed to be doing a couple of rounds each. I shot upstairs and, as luck would have it, I had something ready to work from. I had sorted out my bookshelves and came across a quiz book, published in 1945, from the radio programme ‘Ask Me Another’. So I picked questions from that. Made for an interesting quiz….. we all enjoyed ourselves again and were pleased to see each other, as we are every week.

As the quiz evening came to a close though, my thoughts turned to Graham and Gail. Graham is to go under the knife today/tomorrow to mend his wonky toes. Sending him all the best and most positive vibes I can find. In addition, he was recently at the doctors for something totally unrelated, and found himself whisked off to the hospital for investigations into whether he has temporal arteritis. A biopsy has been done and we are awaiting the results. Fingers crossed they can sort it out quickly. In my prayers.

Take care everyone. God bless. Keep your loved ones close and enjoy them as much as you can.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘finifugal’ (19th century): regretting the end of something, such as a good book, or the summer. Ah, yes….. the nights are drawing in.