Good Riddance

 The last day of 2020 and, quite frankly, good riddance to it. We have been immensely fortunate, compared with many people, we have remained healthy, we have a pleasant house and garden, and we have family nearby. Though it has been a stressful year for Urban-Cub with her relationship and her job, both she and Ellie have blended into our day to day life and now she has a new job and is about to move into her own house. Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit moved into a nice house in Chichester and seem to have settled well (though their older dog is not at all well). There are many people for whom 2020 has been a lot worse. We are blessed.

It's been a fairly quiet day. Urban-Cub was on an early shift again so G-Force were in charge throughout the day. This morning seemed to be the Gorse Fox being focussed on Paw Patrol figures and the Lookout, followed by a game of hide and seek, and that was followed by some jigsaws. This afternoon Ellie was focussed on the Silver Vixen and cycled between her various games, spending at least a nanosecond on each before discarding it and demanding another.

It may be New Years Eve, but the Gorse Fox suspects we will have a very quiet evening and go to bed at our usual time.

Lego

 With the Urban-Cub leaving for work in the early hours, G-Force were in charge again. Ellie didn't wake until 7:15 then happily lay in bed with us until 7:45. Quite acceptable.

Once everyone's ablutions were complete, the Gorse Fox found himself sitting on the lounge floor with Ellie building random structures with Lego. It was fun, though not very productive. 

After lunch the Silver Vixen and Ellie progressed to Play Dough. The Gorse Fox took this as a cue to go for a walk. He didn't go too far, but was pleased to get a few kilometres under the belt.

Not really much else to report. The Gorse Fox has decided that, even if organised outdoor sport is allowed, he will not return to football until the current highly transmissable coronavirus is back under control. He isn't willing to take the risk of carrying the virus back into the house.

Scooter

 Urban-Cub was up and on her way to work in the early hours. Fortunately, Ellie didn't wake until eight. This was a real bonus and somewhat unexpected.

During the morning, the Gorse Fox found himself playing a version of hide and seek. This involved Ellie explaining that she was going to hide and where she would be. The Gorse Fox then had to count and tell her he was searching for her, while pretending not to know where she was. The converse was when she insisted that the Gorse Fox hide. This is not so easy. He did, however find several locations that completely stumped her. Not because he was well-hidden, but rather because he had placed himself in places she wouldn't think of. 

Around lunchtime, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox sorted out this week's order for Ocado, but as soon as that was done the Gorse Fox offered to take Ellie out on her scooter. Well, she was enthusiastic at first. Then she realised she would need some leggings, a coat, a hat, and some gloves. That was enough to dissuade her until the Gorse Fox conceded and sat down to do something else. Then she changed her mind. This flip/flop occurred a couple of times but finally she got wrapped up and we headed out.

"Do you know the way to your new house?" asked the Gorse Fox. She did and we went round the corner so she could show the Gorse Fox her new house, and which window was her bedroom. That done, she decided she had had enough and wanted to go back home. That was a quick five minutes! The Gorse Fox took her home, then went out for a quick walk by himself.

The Gorse Fox has also been investigating whether there are any sensible solutions to cast TV from a controller on one wall to a TV on the opposite wall without running cables round the room. Bizarrely, Urban-Cub's new home has the media combination panel on the least sensible wall and not where you would sensibly expect to put the TV. No sensible solution has come to mind so far but the Samsung One Connect box is close. The problem is that the transmission cable to the TV, though almost invisible, is only 5m long and cannot tolerate tight bends. This needs more thought.      

Delivery

It was very cold overnight but we didn't see any of the snow that had been prevalent in other parts of the country. It was a fairly relaxed morning, though we did wade into the mountain of cardboard boxes that had accumulated over the holiday period. In the end the were all squirrelled away in the boot of our car and taken to the local tip. The Gorse Fox was expecting a long queue, but was pleased to find that he could drive straight in, dispose of the rubbish, and leave without any delays at all.

The Gorse Fox had a new toy on order from Amazon. It is a laser measuring device. Since it arrived this afternoon the Gorse Fox has measured everything that's stationary in the house. Nice little bit of kit! The Gorse Fox mentioned it came from Amazon. The Silver Vixen also had a delivery, as did Urban-Cub. The Gorse Fox isn't sure but he suspects we had an Amazon truck all to ourselves. When we opened the front door we could hardly see over the pile of boxes that had been left on the doorstep.  

Sentient

 The Gorse Fox seems to have developed a cold. It came on yesterday evening and this morning he has a voice like the late Barry White. He doesn't feel too bad, but is frustrated to have succumbed.

Storm Bella hit last night. It seems that we were lucky. Many parts of the country are flooded or clearing up from blown debris. We didn't get off scot-free but picking up an empty dustbin hardly constitutes a major clear-up. Once it had blown through, we had a sunny day. Urban-Cub took the opportunity to go out with Ellie and meet up with a friend.

The Silver Vixen spent some time planning things for her sewing room (which will probably move when Urban-Cub and E~llie move to their own house).

The Gorse Fox spent much of the day working on the budgets and refining the accounts spreadsheet for next year. Each year he starts with the previous year's s/s and refines it a bit more for the new year, then goes though the various items to estimate the new budgets. This year is no different. A further refinement has added another level of sophistication. The s/s is becoming sentient.

Boxing Day

 It's been a quiet Boxing Day - well as quiet as any day with a 3 year old can be.

Storm Bella is due to hit the South Coast today. There are weather warnings across the region. The Gorse Fox decided to go out for a brief walk before the weather set in. He really wasn't in the mood for a walk, but it really was important that he stirred himself into action.

Storm Bella was due to hit this afternoon, but at the time of writing, has been a complete non-event.We can only assume it has been delayed and will hit later.

The Gorse Fox has spent much of the day working on a 3D model of Urban-Cub's new house. We have managed to get some further measurements which have allowed further progress, but it is a long way from what the Gorse Fox would consider to be an accurate model.

Urban-Cub brought home a huge chunk of beef a week or so back. We had scheduled it for today's dinner. In practice, the first thing he had to do was to divide it into 3 separate joints - two of which went into the freezer, but one was slow roasted all afternoon. The joint was a bit gristly but, avoiding the gristle, it was delicious. As today's bit was the end of the the joint, the Gorse Fox has every expectation that the remaining cuts will be excellent.

Together

 Thank goodness there was no sign of that blasted Elf this morning. The has clearly returned to Santa and will not be seen again until next December - in Urban-Cub'c new house.

Ellie had been with Pistol Pete overnight, so we had a quiet morning giving us the chance to get the preparation done for lunch. Everything was scheduled and, with one exception, ran smoothly. The ham had been cooked yesterday, the turkey cooked slowly in the bottom oven to be joined by the pigs in blankets, and the stuffing wreath. The potatoes were meant to roast in the top oven at a much higher temperature. It was the potatoes that caused the problem. The Gorse Fox got distracted by the "Chaos of the Gifts"(*) and left the potatoes to par-boil for a bit too long. Some had turned to mush by the time he remembered. We soldiered on. The Gorse Fox had, after all, prepared sufficient potatoes to feed the truckers queueing in Kent, and the soldiers who are testing them.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit were able to join us. It was lovely to have the whole family together. That, in its own right, made the whole day special for the Gorse Fox.

After the sumptuous lunch we retired to the lounge and continued with the second part of the "Chaos of the Gifts". This culminated in sacred "Assembly of the Toys" whereby this gifts that needed some post-reveal engineering or assembly were passed across to the technical department for completion.

After Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit left to go and look after their dogs we progressed into the next stage of Christmas. This involves phoning various friends and relations. This is probably the noisiest part of the day. For some reason, there seems to be an assumption that microphones stop reacting to the spoken word and in order for the voice to be heard at the other end of the call, it is necessary to shout. This, combined with the fact that Ellie wants your undivided attention, tends to create a continual escalation in volume. The Gorse Fox decided that the most sensible solution was to walk to the back of the house and listen to the conversation from a distance. Even there, it was still too loud.

Christmas was a lovely day.

God Bless you all.

(*) The "Chaos of the Gifts" is an annual ceremony whereby a neat but huge pile of finely wrapped gifts becomes a wilderness of torn wrapping paper and temporarily discarded toys and cards.

Hamming it up

 Ellie's level of excitement is growing and she soon followed the Gorse Fox down this morning. "Where's Poppy the Elf?" was her second question... the first being "can you help bye put on my new dress?" The Gorse Fox helped with the dress; what gentleman wouldn't?  Then we went hunting. Ellie walked right past the Elf half a dozen times before the Gorse Fox gave her a clue.

Urban-Cub was due to star work at 10:30 so she helped Ellie get ready before heading off to work. The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen then took over. The Gorse Fox found himself in a rather bizarre game of hide and seek. This involved several toys which Ellie hid, then demanded we count to four and go and find them... she hasn't quite got the concept of hiding. The Gorse Fox tried to help by hiding the toys and then explaining the concept of "getting warmer" or "getting colder". This provoked her to rush round the house demanding warmer or colder instructions without actually changing her search pattern based on the instructions. Finally, the Gorse Fox suggested we retrieved her colouring pencils and did some colouring.

Pistol Pete came along to collect Ellie at lunchtime. She will be with him until lunchtime tomorrow.

The house is currently infused by the most glorious smell. The Gorse Fox has cooked the ham this afternoon. It looks wonderful, but somehow he has to resist trying it until he carves it tomorrow. Not easy!

We were delighted to hear, this afternoon, that the trade deal has been completed with the EU. Clearly an historic deal which delivers on what the Government promised. Whichever side you were in the Referendum, you have to concede that the Government has finally delivered on what the public chose. The Gorse Fox has no doubt that there will be the usual people saying it doesn't go far enough, or it goes too far, or we should never have had the Referendum. The Gorse Fox doesn't care. It was an exercise in democracy, and we have complied. It is now time to get behind the Country and make the most of our new situation.

Play Dough and rain

 Ellie woke before seven but stayed in her room watching YouTube until she had pressed a button that had changed the screen in a way that she couldn't change. This triggered the Gorse Fox to get up and intervene. Screen was reset to the way she wanted and the Gorse Fox left her to it and went down for a coffee.

When Ellie did come down she went on an Elf hunt. It didn't take her too long to realise that the Elf had exhausted spots in the lounge and had ventured into the Orangery.

The Gorse Fox isn't quite sure what the Elf was doing, but she seemed quite happy at the top of the tree.

The Silver Vixen headed off at lunchtime. It was another late shift. The Silver Vixen followed soon after for an appointment at the hairdresser. The Gorse Fox and Ellie were left in charge. We played with Play Dough, we played with her Peppa Pig theatre, and we did some colouring. Ellie has the attention span of a gnat so none of these lasted for long. The Gorse Fox decided that, as the sun was out, we would go for a walk and that Ellie could take her scooter. She was excited, though dubious that the Gorse Fox wasn't taking her buggy. We left the house and headed in an anti-clockwise direction round the estate. Within a few hundred metres the sun had disappeared and the clouds had started to spit rain on the intrepid venturers. Having not dressed for rain we interrupted the route and headed home.

The Silver Vixen is back from the hairdresser. She fairly pleased with the cut, but the colour isn't what she had requested. We will have to see how this plays out.

Early

 It was the early hours before Urban-Cub got home from work. Unfortunately, the Gorse Fox didn't hear her come in and he lay awake waiting for her until gone three!.

Poppy the Elf was obviously peckish on her return from the North Pole. Ellie found her this morning. She was propped up in the lounge with an open packet of popcorn that she has splattered over the carpet.

Urban-Cub was back at work for lunch-time with another long and late shift expected. The Gorse Fox followed her out so that he could raid Sainsbury's. It only took him an hour to get his whole list, checkout, load the car, and get home. Not bad, considering all of the dire warnings about panic buying. Maybe we are all just a bit more sensible and restrained down here.

The Gorse Fox and Ellie went out for a walk during the afternoon, but were soon interrupted by heavy rain. We diverted and took a quick route home, but she did well - not wanting to ride in the buggy, despite the driving rain.

Found it

 It turns out that the Gorse Fox had not lost his mask. He’d stuffed it into a pocket that he had forgotten about. He was wearing a new coat for the first time and obviously put the mask in the pocket as we were leaving home, but then forgot that pocket existed by the time we got to Chichester.

The Gorse Fox is beginning to worry!

Giggling

 We had the opportunity to get out for lunch. The Gorse Fox had booked it a few days ago knowing that Urban-cub was at work and Ellie was still with Pistol Pete. We drove into Chichester (dropping off a mountain of presents at Cousteau-cub's so that Ellie wouldn't find them) and wandered into the Giggling Squid. At least the Silver Vixen did. The Gorse Fox realised he couldn't find his mask.  He headed back to the car. No. The mask was nowhere to be found. He picked up a spare disposable mask and headed back.

We had a lovely meal, having been greeted by the Manager like old friends. The food is always so good there and so tasty. It was also nice to go out by ourselves for a change.

When we left we strolled along to M&S. There was a short queue, but we waited only a few minutes. Once inside, we went straight to the turkeys. We wanted the large, stuffed, boneless turkey breast. There weren't many there, but we got one. We are sorted.

Chocc'd

 With Ellie not here yesterday, Poppy the Elf disappeared for 24 hours or so. Today she is back with vengeance in preparation for Ellie's return this afternoon.

It looks as if she has found and raided our stash of Lindor chocolates.

Whoa there, take it easy

 Urban-cub was up and out for an early shift. Ellie is still at Pistol Pete's so the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had a very quiet day. 

There was nothing much to report.

The Silver Vixen spent much of the day wrapping Xmas presents (and trying to find those presents that had been squirrelled away in various hiding places). The Gorse Fox started to construct a 3D model of Urban-cub's new house (but realised he hadn't got sufficient information to get very far). 

Last week, Urban-cub brought home a big leg of lamb. It was time to retrieve it from the fridge and do it some justice. A marinade was prepared and slathered all over the joint. It was then left to rest for a couple of hours. Then it was covered in foil and slow-roasted at 160c for 5 hours. Finally, it rested for an hour before carving. It was excellent.

Measuring up

 Ellie was awake first, but stayed in her room until long after the Gorse Fox had gone down for his coffee and to open up. In fact, the Silver Vixen emerged before Ellie and Urban-Cub. Ellie had forgotten about Poppy the Elf and the Gorse Fox had to remind her to go and find the little tyke. She was quite thorough in checking places that the Elf had been before but it took her a few minutes finally notice that she was enjoying some "Hula Hoops" on top of the clock.

The main excitement for the day was that Urban-Cub could finally go and see inside her new house. Because of Covid restrictions she had to go alone, but she went fully armed with her notebook to take measurements, and phone to take copious photos. She was very excited when she got home, barely able to suppress tears of happiness. We threw the photos up on the big TV so we could all have a good look. It is certainly looking very good, and as you would expect from Berkeley, the finish is superb.

Ellie is over with Pistol Pete for the weekend and not expected back until after dinner on Monday. Urban-Cub took the opportunity to commandeer the kitchen work surface to do her Christmas wrapping this afternoon. The Gorse Fox has retired to his study.

Tumbled

 

Urban-Cub was out early again this morning. Ellie didn’t stir until six-forty-five, which was quite acceptable. She wandered down and started to search for Poppy the Elf. It took her a lot longer than usual, and she needed some hints. Poppy seems to have got herself trapped in the tumbled dryer overnight. 

It’s been fairly quiet. The Silver Vixen had a scheduled call with a friend mid-morning, and the Gorse Fox popped round to M&S. He wanted to see what they had in their Xmas range. Most of this was fresh in today. The Gorse Fox was pleased to get the “crackling” gammon he had seen in their brochure. He held off on the turkey until Urban-Cub sees what Lidl have coming in this weekend.

For the chop

 Urban-Cub was up and out early. Soon after six, Ellie woke and started to call out. The Gorse Fox went in to her to find she was wanting her nightlight switched on. With that done, the Gorse Fox wrapped her up in her blanket and she went back to sleep for another hour. Result!

When she did come down, the first order of the day was find Poppy the Elf. It seems that Poppy had been caught in the middle of a rescue mission and was busy abseiling down the side of the stairs with one of the mermaids.

Simon the Landscaper has been making good progress. This photos shows where we were at the start of the day.

By the end of the day, that whole run was complete. There's still a way to go and the Gorse Fox doubts it will be ready until after Christmas.

The Silver Vixen met up with a friend in LA today. They just went for a walk along the seafront and grabbed a coffee. She commented how lovely and sunny it was, and what a lovely walk she'd had. The Gorse Fox went along to the village and got his haircut at the Turkish barber's. Cut, trim, head massages, hot towel, hand and arm massage... he felt great when he left. After that it was a trip to Sainsbury's for the usual non-Ocado gear.

Tidal Wave

 The Gorse Fox was first up, though Ellie ws playing quietly in her bedroom. She eventually came down and became distracted by the preparation of her lunch-pack. It wasn't until lunch was packed away that she suddenly focussed on Poppy the Elf. She started on the hunt. Soon, the kitchen was dismissed having been thoroughly searched. The she charged into the lounge. Twice she walked straight past the Elf. It was only the third scan of the room that she spotted the errant beast. 

Clearly Poppy had started playing with Ellie's Lego and had managed to get herself trapped.

Urban-Cub didn't start until 10:00, so she was able to take Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings before heading off to work. 

The Gorse Fox had football today. Somehow, it didn't seem as much fun as usual. The sides were such that the Gorse Fox and the Rain Man, playing at the back, were overwhelmed by the speed and numbers of the opposition attackers. It was like standing in front of a tidal wave. What's worse is that every bad bounce seemed to fall in their favour. It was particularly frustrating that our attackers were a bit like Arsenal - they had no concept of moving the ball into open space where the Rain Man and the Gorse Fox were waiting. Oh no, they'd much rather try and dribble through a solid defensive wall when they are only allowed three touches.

It's been a fairly quiet afternoon. Simon the Landscaper had brought some site lights so that he could keep going after dark. He's made a lot of progress today, but it's highly unlikely that he'll finish this week. He may not be quick, but he is absolutely meticulous in his work.

A Lidl Adventure

The Gorse Fox had planned to pay football today, but when he logged on to book the sessions, they were both full and had waitlists. He decided he wasn't going to hang around on the off-chance 

With Ellie at Dizzy Ducklings and Urban-Cub off doing Santa runs, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox decided we should go an have a look at the new Lidl in Chichester. After all, with Urban-Cub training to become one of their store managers, it would make sense to become acquainted with their layout and range.

The Gorse Fox should interject here: he had planned to order several items from M&S for Christmas. Their online ordering widow was due to close today. The Gorse Fox logged on, first thing yesterday morning, and found they had already closed the window. The Gorse Fox was not amused.

The car park was very quiet and as we entered the store the Gorse Fox caught sight of a little tot with a miniature shopping trolley headed straight for the exit. There was no sign of a mother in tow, or giving chase. We stopped the tot before she ran out into the car park and the Silver Vixen engaged her in conversation until a somewhat flustered mum came charging along to try and find her. Somehow, it came as no surprise to find that her name was Ellie!

We finally got into the store and started to work our way back and forth along the aisles. All of the produce looked excellent, best from the bakery, the vegetable section, the fresh meat section, fish, and so forth. We picked up the odd items here and there and were pleasantly surprised by the prices. We picked up a bottle of spiced rum to try. The Silver Vixen likes Captain Morgan's Spiced Gold, but we decided to try the Lidl offering. It is £5 a bottle cheaper than Captain Morgan's, but only time will tell whether it is as good.

Back home we found that Simon the Landscaper had made more progress, but had, again, hit a snag. He will have to redraft his plan for part of the patio, as his original drawing hadn't matched his measurements. The Gorse Fox had suspected this from his work with Sketch Up, but wondered if we had just taken measurements from different points. The Gorse Fox feels quite sorry for him as he is metaphorically tearing his hair out.  What has been laid looks fabulous, but we just need to keep it going.

Found it

 Ellie played quietly in her room and stayed there, even when the Gorse Fox went downstairs for coffee. She finally came down when Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen emerged. The first order of the day was to find Poppy the Elf. It took her a while, but eventually she found her peeking out of the Gorse Fox's apron pocket

.

Under way

 It was an early start. Ellie was awake around six-ish and though he tried to drop back to sleep, the Gorse Fox couldn't manage it. By six-thirty, he gave up and went down for a coffee.

Ellie is at the childminder in LA today, but not before she went hunting for Poppy the Elf. It took her a bit longer to find her today.

Poppy was clearly exhausted from her overnight trip back to the North Pole and had settled down for a sleep.

Simon the Landscaper is back this morning and the Gorse Fox went and discussed the plan with him. He agrees with the requirement for the trimming of the tiles and is now well underway executing the plan. He's even brought floodlights so he can, if necessary, continue when it gets dark.

Plans

 With Urban-cub out early for work, and Ellie at Pistol Pete's, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had a very relaxed morning. The Gorse Fox hadn't slept well. At 3 a.m. he woke with a "Eureka!" moment regarding the tiles. Unfortunately, once awake his brain started processing the various options and configurations for the rest of the night.

After breakfast, the Gorse Fox retired to the study. The tiling plan from yesterday had to be completed and the new plan drawn up (to see if it would work). The first plan was fairly easy to finish. The new plan was a simple case of creating a standard pattern which could be repeated across the whole patio area. Unfortunately, though it worked, the Silver Vixen wasn't keen on the result. Late in the afternoon, Simon the Landscaper sent through another design. The Gorse Fox rattled it into Sketch-Up and concluded that it would work well - with two assumptions. The 600mm oblong tiles would need 5mm trimmed off their width and the 295mm square tile would need 5mm trimmed off one side. With those changes, everything should work perfectly.

Pistol Pete brought Ellie home late in the afternoon. She was as excited as usual to get home and we had a fairly mad half hour. It was during this half-hour that she had to track down where Poppy the Elf had hidden for the day. 

Urban-Cub arrived home soon after six and we all settled down for a quiet dinner and evening.

On the tiles

 It was a somewhat more leisurely start to the day. Ellie was awake soon after six, but was happy to play quietly in her bedroom. In fact, she stayed there until long after the Gorse Fox had gone down to make some coffee. When she did come down, it took her a few minutes to realise that she hadn't yet found Poppy the Elf, and immediately set out on an elf hunt.

It turns out that Poppy had found a spot in Urban-Cub's Wellington boot in the cupboard under the stairs.

Ellie will be spending the rest of the weekend with Pistol Pete, so Urban-Cub took her across to Worthing so she could help him with the decorations.

Talking of decorations, it seemed like a good opportunity to retrieve ours from the various nooks and crannies where they are stored throughout the year. The Gorse Fox sorted out a few initial sets of lights, put up the tree, but then stood back as the Silver Vixen swept in to take over all decorative operations. 

The Gorse Fox managed to get a short walk under his belt. While walking he found a credit card, so posted on the local Facebook page. By the time he got home the owner had made contact and sent her husband round to collect it.

The Gorse Fox spent the rest of the day working on the computer trying to finish the tiling plan, based on Simon the Landscaper's ideas.

Early

 This morning was a reminder why the Gorse Fox is so pleased to have reached retirement. Urban-Cub was up early so that she could leave the house just after 6 am. The trouble was that Ellie decided to get up as well. So it was that just after six, the Gorse Fox had to get up to take over from Urban-Cub as she left for work. Ellie soon realised that she hadn't yet found Poppy the Elf. The search commenced. It took her a while, but eventually she found her hiding in the the downstairs bathroom.

The morning was basically dedicated to child care, but did include a walk into the village with the Silver Vixen to collect some new hair products that had been ordered for her.

This afternoon the Gorse Fox has been working (remotely) with Simon the Landscaper to try and solve the conundrum of the tiles. Early CAD attempts proved, fairly convincingly, that the tiles were sized incorrectly. Unfortunately, the supplier wasn't interested. We have to come up with a solution that is both mathematically and aesthetically correct. It took a lot of faffing about but we are now fairly convinced that we have a plan, but it will require a number of tiles to be cut down to the correct size.

Urban-Cub has had another good day at work, but due to the roadworks and a crash on the A27 it took her nearly 90 minutes to get home - instead of the 35-45 minuets you would expect. She has a day-off tomorrow, but then it's back to the coal face on Sunday.

Stealth Mode

 Urban-Cub had an early start. She had to be on at the store for a 7 a.m. start. This meant that she had to get up and going by 5:30 (the Gorse Fox has never understood how it takes the females in his life so long to get going or get ready... and at 68 he assumes he never will). Soon after six he was awake and conscious that he hadn't heard Urban-Cub. Had she overslept? In the end he had to get up and check. No, her door was open she had obviously got going. He went back to bed. Then it dawned on him that he hadn't heard the door. Had she no left yet? He sat up and grabbed his phone to review the CCTV. Aaaah, relief. Her car had gone. She had managed to sneak out the back door and leave without making a sound. He settled down to try and get another 40 minutes in bed. That's when Ellie woke up and started calling for "Mummy". The Gorse Fox went in to see her but she was not having it. Fortunately, the Silver Vixen turned on the light and at that point Ellie charged into our room for a cuddle with Nana. And so started the day.

There wasn't really a great deal to report. We took Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings. She had insisted on taking her scooter and, to be fair, she scooted the whole way. It did mean we had to carry the scooter back - but the Gorse Fox had expected that.

After Ocado's usual delivery, we went to Sainsbury's, then had just enough time to have some lunch before collecting Ellie.

The Gorse Fox did manage to have a long chat with his sister today. Because of the Covid rules, we are going to have to skip our usual Boxing Day get together. There was also some concerning news, which was a bit of a bummer... but we'll have to see how things evolve over the next weeks.

Simon the Landscaper has spent the day back in the office at his drawing board, replotting the whole tiling scheme. He should be back tomorrow to get underway. The Gorse Fox has no problem with this - good design is the key to good results.

Urban-Cub is back from work. She's had a busy day but, again, is absolutely full of it. She seems to be taking to this like a duck to water. Better still, she has brought home a huge joint of beef and a leg of lamb which were being sold at ridiculous prices - and additionally were subject to her staff discount. (Having Urban-Cub work at a supermarket is like having your own discounted home delivery scheme - just text through an order an it arrives at the end of shift). The Gorse Fox has noticed her staff id badge says Urban-Cub, Store Manager. She is already finding customers coming up to her to ask questions and whilst she finds the answers, she does have to explain she is a trainee with only 1 full day's experience.

At the goal face

 It was another very chilly start to the day. Both Urban-Cub and Ellie were up early. Ellie was quick to find Poppy the Elf, though she was just hanging around somewhere fairly obvious.

 Urban-Cub had to get to work for her first proper day in-store. She dropped Ellie off at Dizzy Ducklings then carried straight on to work.

The Silver Vixen stayed in. She had decided not to do her Zoom Pilates today as we were expecting several deliveries and, chances are, they would interrupt her. Instead she spent the morning writing Xmas cards and wrapping parcels to be posted later.

The Gorse Fox had football. It was only 4C, but once he started running he soon warmed up. The sides seemed remarkably even, for a change. The Gorse Fox took up his position as Centre Back and the game started. He seemed to be on form, with plenty of interceptions, blocks, and sweeping passes. He was also managing to range forward and back, to fill in space and provide an outlet, if required, for the attackers. One such attack ended in a corner awarded, and the Gorse Fox was picked out in the clear and rattled the ball into the back of the net. This was the first goal he has scored for ages. In the end we ran out 5-3 winners. A good day at the goal face.

When the Gorse Fox got home he found that Simon the Landscaper was still having a nightmare with the tiles. The new pattern provided by the supplier still did not work out. Nor did the further 5 patterns they sent through. The Gorse Fox could see the problem. It is definitely not Simon it is the way in which the tiles are sized. Simon's wife came round to help think through the options, and the Gorse Fox offered to plot the whole thing out on the computer. Simon found a way forward, but the will slow him up and will require a larger tile saw than the one he has. Let's see how things progress.

We heard from Urban-Cub late in the afternoon. She has finally heard from her financial advisor that her mortgage has been approved and is going through. This was really the last piece of the jigsaw that had to fall into place. Now she just need to exchange contracts and wait for completion, which is likely to be the end of January.

New Start

 It was another bitterly cold start to the day, but it was quite bright and sunny later on. It didn't take Ellie long to find where Poppy the Elf had ended up over night. She's clearly got stuck when sneaking back in after filing her daily report with Santa Claus.

For Urban-Cub it was a new start. Today was her first day as an employee of a well known discount supermarket, where she is being trained as a store manager. There was lots of ice to scrape from her car before she could get going, but once on the way she had a pretty good run through. She has had a wonderful day and is absolutely full of it. Today was a basic introduction at their regional office and distribution centre, but tomorrow she starts the in-store induction. Over the next few months she will be trained in all of the roles performed in the store from check-out operator through to shift-leader, then she will move on to train as deputy manager of another store, and finally get her own store. From what she has told us, they sound like a very good and caring employer - much as Starfleet was when the Gorse Fox first joined.

The Gorse Fox didn't go to football today. Ellie needed to be dropped at school, the Silver Vixen needed to prepare the Ocado list, the skip was being removed, and the Gorse Fox wanted to make sure everything was under control (He did manage to get out for a short walk after lunch, before we collected Ellie).

Simon the Landscaper started the day with the plate whacker. All of the new layer of hardcore was compressed down and levelled. Then, finally, he got started on the first of the tiles. Again, his meticulous approach meant that the first tile took a long time to fit to his satisfaction. Using that as a fixed datum, he was able to fix the next few tiles. It was then that he noticed a problem. The next tile he wanted to fit was out by 5mm. Measuring showed the tiles were all the correct sizes. He checked against the laying pattern provided by the supplier. He hadn't strayed from the pattern. His conclusion was that they had sent the pattern for another tile project. He contacted head office (his wife). She contacted the supplier. Sure enough they had sent the wrong fixing pattern. A new pattern was emailed through. A few minor alterations and everything was back on track.

Frost

It was a very cold night last night (for here). This morning there was a thick frost and the oranger roof was completely frosted over. A slight fog lay across the area. Oh well, at least the Gorse Fox didn't have to go to work!

It seems that Poppy the Elf has found a new spot overnight, though Ellie won't get home until tea time to find him. Let's see how long it takes her.

 Simon the Landscaper has had a full day. There was some hardcore to finish and some holes to bore in the edging. These are to allow cabling for the lights in such a way that it remains accessible even when the tiles are down. Unfortunately, he had made an assumption as to where the lights would stop, but we decided they should go further. He now has to order another set, which won't be here until Thursday. He also had an "oops" moment when he bored right through the edging and through the pump cable for the rill. Now he has to run some new cable. Hey ho! These things happen.

Urban-cub got a text message this morning from her new boss saying how much he was looking forward to having her on board tomorrow. A nice touch. She just can't wait to throw herself into the new opportunity.

Urban-cub and the Silver Vixen have been in Chichester this afternoon, so the Gorse Fox took the opportunity to go for a walk, post the first tranche of Christmas cards, and stop at the Post Office for more stamps. He hasn't yet booked for football tomorrow. With Urban-cub starting her new job, and Ellie slightly under the weather, he will make a judgement call in the morning.

Shingle

 The day started bright and sunny, but quite cold. The Gorse Fox was tempted to have an early walk, but there was a list of things he wanted to get done first. That was all very fine, but by the time he finished, the clouds had rolled in and it was quite grey.

The advantage of having a skip on the drive is that we can loads some of our larger items that were destined for the tip into it. (Simon has virtually finished with it, and suggested we should top it up with anything we wanted before it get sent back). Amazon boxes, car seat boxes, and general detritus slowly migrated from their hiding places into the skip. A very satisfactory clear-out.

Next on the agenda was to fix a loose tap in the kitchen. This means taking everything out from under the sink, then spelunking into the cupboard on the Gorse Fox's back. No tool quite fits, so he can only tighten it by hand. It lasts for a while, but it will have to be done again in a few months.

Finally, it was time for a walk. By now the clouds were breaking up and the sun was looking very pleased with itself.

As usual, the Gorse Fox parked by West Fields and marched through Marine Gardens to the promenade. Then he continued for about 3 km to the Lobster Pot. It was busy on the prom, and the council had clearly had their work crews out clearing the shingle from the pavement back onto the beach. In places the mounds of shingle were several feet high, about ten feet wide, and stretched for hundreds of metres.

It really was a lovely walk, and on the way home he diverted to B&Q to see if they had any suitable Xmas lights for the outside of the house. Nada. It looked like a swarm of locusts had been into the store and stripped the Xmas displays back to empty. Oh well, another Amazon order!

We heard from Cousteau-Cub. She and the Coventry Hobbit are getting another puppy this coming week. A turkey seems like a more appropriate selection for Xmas, but no, they know best!

Labels

 Well it didn't take Ellie long to find Poppy the Elf. The Gorse Fox will have to be more inventive next week.

She was only with us for a few hours today as Urban-Cub had to take her across to spend the weekend with Pistol Pete.

The Silver Vixen produced the piles of boxes of Xmas Cards. It was time for the Gorse Fox to go and prepare the envelope labels. This is never quite as easy as it should be. 

Stage one: the Gorse Fox checks that the addresses in his spreadsheet match those in his Google Contacts list - just in case there were any house moves he had forgotten to transcribe. 

Stage two: create the rough list and print it so that the Silver Vixen can go through and double check that we have everyone we should. 

Stage Three: set the flags in the spreadsheet to show who will get a card. 

Stage Four: Open MS Word and start a MailMerge for labels. S

tage Five: start Googling how to successfully suppress blank lines. 

Stage Six: try it. 

Stage Seven: See Stage Five. 

Stage Eight: see Stage Six. 

Stage Nine: Create the labels. 

Stage Ten: Print the labels (remember to load the printer label-side down). 

Stage Eleven: take labels to the Silver Vixen. 

Stage Twelve: return to study and document the whole process (complete with screen shots) ready for next year.

Why this is such a pain is quite beyond the Gorse Fox. In the old days it used to "just work" but at some point the code was changed and it became an annual project to try and get it right. Certainly, what the Gorse Fox did this year is different from last year, and the year before. At least it's now documented along with screen shots.

With the labels done, we sat down and started writing our cards. Most are now done and ready to post.

Progress

When we came downstairs this morning we found that Poppy the Elf had been partying, and found  a friend.

 Despite an initial rather wet forecast we ended up with a fairly pleasant, if cold, day. This meant that Simon the Landscaper and Tyler could get on without too many delays.

They worked non-stop throughout the day. More hardcore was brought in, the final drains were laid, and all of the porcelain tiles were brought through, unpacked and prepared for next week. The Gorse Fox must say that he's very pleased with the care and attention that they are applying to the job (even if it is, by their definition a "small" job).

The Gorse Fox, the Silver Vixen and Ellie went in to Chichester after lunch. The Gorse Fox had to see a man about his feet, and the Silver Vixen took Ellie along to peruse the local toy store. Needless to say she came out clutching toys, and the Gorse Fox came out with his feet!

Not quite senile yet

 Gosh it's been wet today. Jasper was not impressed and steadfastly refused to go out this morning. Having said that, Simon the Landscaper turned up and worked throughout the morning bringing several tons of hardcore in so that he can get a head start on tomorrow. He was drenched, but carried on regardless.

We walked Ellie round to school. She was delighted to be able to use her rainbow umbrella. It, however, dripped down onto her leggings such that she needed to change them by the time she got to Dizzy Ducklings.

We had a power cut this morning. The power was out for about an hour, but it caused some disruption as we couldn't keep the steady flow of tea going for Simon. Once it was back, and the tea had started to flow once more the Gorse Fox went round and reset the few clocks that do not self-manage, and checked all of the computers and disk subsystems.

As a result of some recent discussions on the radio, the Silver Vixen asked about digital passports or certificates to show that someone has been vaccinated, and how you protect against forgery. The Gorse Fox gave it some thought and described how he would have designed such a system and what safeguards he would have put in place. The design festered in the back of his mind for a while, so he decided to write down the key principles and approach and send them to the CTO of Starfleet (an old friend) and another Executive Architect (the role the Gorse Fox used to hold). Within 10 minutes he had a reply. Not only were they already working on a solution - the Gorse Fox had apparently nailed its key points almost to the letter. Apparently, he's not quite senile yet.

Despite the rain, the Gorse Fox needed to get out for a walk. He changed into his waterproofs and headed out into the rainy afternoon. This was another myopic walk as there was no prospect of seeing anything wearing his spectacles, so they nestled in his pocket. His outer layer was absolutely soaked by the time he got back - but the waterproofs had done their job and he was warm and dry underneath.

Cool

 It was quite cold overnight, with the temperature only hovering around 4C when we got up. Ellie came downstairs at the same time as the Gorse Fox. She was most eager to open the next window on one of her Advent Calendars. It was only after that that she noticed the keys all over the floor and the fact that the "Elf on a Shelf" had made himself at home in our key cabinet having removed the keys.

We walked her round to school but as soon as we got back, the Gorse Fox had to change for football. With the end of Lockdown 2.0 we were able to reconvene our football sessions. We had a good 7-v-7, with the Gorse Fox playing for the orange bibs. The game was very tight with and eventual score of 6-6 or 7-6 depending on who you listen to, and who can count. The Gorse Fox was playing at the back, and had his work cut out trying to stem the waves of attacks from the yellows. He was, however, on form and managed to divert, intercept, and block huge numbers of attempts on our goal. He also managed to assist three of our goals.

Back home, we collected Ellie from Dizzy Ducklings and Urban-Cub made some cupcakes with her.

Simon and Tyler have been cracking on in the garden. The new drain is not installed and the drainage channels are ready for installation. Additionally, another load of hardcore has been installed to raise the level of the base. There's still more to come, but we are making progress.

Down

 It was a chilly one, overnight. The Gorse Fox was first up and it was nearly 30 minutes before Ellie and Urban-Cub came down, with the Silver Vixen soon after. We walked Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings and gave her a coin for the Lucky Dip which had been planned.

The Silver Vixen had made an beautiful advent calendar. It has the required number of pockets with little surprises in each. The Gorse Fox had to get it hung up - at a level suitable for Ellie to reach. This required a trip too the local DIY store to get some dowelling and something to approximate a finial. It was harder than expected and in the end, the Gorse Fox had to go to both Wickes and B&Q to find what he needed. There's still one finial to fit, but because of the time it takes the glue to set-up, only one can be done at a time.

Simon the Landscaper has finished all of the edging and spent most of the day working on the drainage system. It has taken longer than expected because the drains that were laid with the Orangery weren't quite what he expected. He's worked it all out now, and hopes to get a good run at it tomorrow. The skip arrived mid-afternoon. This has meant that Tyler has been able to start clearing some of rubble and soil that has been removed.

It seems that the Internet is down for many people around the estate(*). Some are with EE, some with Sky, and some with BT. This include Two Hats, next door. It seems bizarre that he's down, and yet we're still operating, and we both get our service from BT. Clearly our cabling goes through different distribution cabinets.

(*) The lesson here is that if you are depending on the Internet, then you should back it up - all of it - every night. If you don't have enough disk space, then print it all out.  :)