Breezing into into LA

 It was a bit bleak first thing this morning. Though it wasn't raining, it was certainly looking threatening. Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off at 7:30 and we gave her breakfast and got her ready and off to school.

Sam arrived at 8:15. He was on the final stretch. Second coat on the woodwork, and then touching up. He would be gone by lunchtime, then back tomorrow to clear up. It may have been a bit expensive, but it was certainly a superb job. The colour we had chosen was selected from the online palette rather than a colour card and it was the first time that Sam or Morley (his boss) had seen it. They were both very taken with the  shade.

The Gorse Fox had to leave at 10:30. He was getting a bus to Bognor Regis train station then a train to Litlehampton (LA). We had the football club lunch arranged, and the Gorse Fox didn't want to miss it. Because of the train times he arrived very early so he went for a walk along the river bank.

It was blowing a gale, but at least it wasn't too cold. The Gorse Fox was one of the only people out and about. He stopped at the fish stall and chatted to the girl behind the counter. She is the daughter of the owner, who has owned the stall for 14 years, but been trading in fresh fish for 44 years. We got talking about the fresh skate wings that she had on the counter. They are "in season" at the moment so she is getting them fresh almost daily. They are, however, popular so she gave the Gorse Fox the shop number so that he could have some put by, should he wish.

From the riverside, the Gorse Fox walked down to the beach. As you can see from the photo - it was deserted. Walking with the wind from behind was easy, but it was tough when the Gorse Fox turned to head back.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Mussel Row. About 24 of us turned up and had a lovely lunch. For efficiency, we had all pre-selected our meals and the Treasurer slapped a coloured label on each of us to help the waiting staff deliver the right meals to the right people. Very well organised. The Gorse Fox had selected their "Signature Fish and Chips" but, try as he may, he couldn't find the signature.

When the meal was over the Gorse Fox retraced his journey and as he walked in the door the Silver Vixen sent him a message that she had just finished at the hairdresser. Perfect timing.

We have just received confirmation that the landscapers will be with us on Monday morning (at 7:30). So as the decorator leaves tomorrow, we have to prepare for the landscapers. 

Central heating just switched on. Autumn is in full swing.

Power

 It was a cool but bright sunny morning. Sam turned up at 8:15 and cracked on with the decorating. It is clear they have a very particular sequence in which to operate and he has mental timings for each. The Gorse Fox asked at one point when he would be starting on the front door (as it would have to be left open) and he replied that he was just finishing several items on the landing but would be starting on the door in 1 hour and 40 minutes... and he did!

The Gorse Fox walked round to escort Urban-Cub and Ellie to school then headed home to change for football. It really was a very good game today. The teams were very close and the whole game was played in a good spirit. The Gorse Fox was playing for the yellow team. He hardly got a chance to cross the halfway line as he was marking the running policeman for most of the game. The final score was 3-2, with our winning goal coming about 5 minutes from time.

The Gorse Fox chose the A27 route home. There was less traffic forecast by Google Maps and less petrol stations snarling up the traffic. The one that he did pass (on the other side of the road) was causing a tailback for nearly a mile. The Gorse Fox would guess that most of the people stuck may not even want petrol, but were just in the traffic queue because there was no escape.

The Gorse Fox got his monthly email from Igloo Energy this morning. They were asking for his meter readings. By the time the time the Gorse Fox got round to them this afternoon, Igloo had ceased trading. We will just have to see to which company OfGen switches us.

Jasper still isn't quite himself. He was sick again at breakfast time, but has been all right during the day. We have changed his food to some chicken slices and a meat-based pouch (instead of the fish and prawns he had been on). 

New Beginnings

 We have just heard from Cousteau-Cub that the Coventry Hobbit has been accepted for a new job, starting on Monday week. He will be working with a firm that deals in carbon fibre composites and manufactures parts for Formula 1 racing teams. They are both very excited - and so are we.

Clean up

 Ellie woke just before 6:30 but was happy to stay in bed with her iPad until we got up at 7:00 and then it was all-systems-go to get her washed, dressed, fed, and ready for school (but not necessarily in that order).

Sam, the decorator turned up at 8:15 and got straight down to work. The Gorse Fox must acknowledge that he is doing a very good job and is very thorough. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen walked Ellie to school and then the Gorse Fox got changed and headed off to Worthing for the football. Despite the torrential rain en route the sky had cleared by the time we kicked off and we had an hour of pleasant sunshine. All the teams seemed very close today - there would be no easy games. So it proved. We won the first game 2-0, drew the second game 1-1, and then lost the final game 4-3. All close, all hard fought, but not all wins.

Back home, Sam had painted the ceilings and mist of the woodwork. The smell of the paint was quite heady. We are wondering if this has affected Jasper as he has been throwing up all over the place. The problem is that his current feed obviously contains something that really stains. At this point we have not been able to clean the stains adequately. We will give it a further blast tomorrow.

Ellie is back at home with Urban-Cub tonight.

Watching

 Ellie woke just before 6:30 but was happy to settle back down in her room with the iPad. She had been disturbed by the storm that was rattling through at the time. We hadn't noticed it on the front of the house.

We were up and about sharpish. The decorator was due at 8:15 and we obviously had to get Ellie ready and off to school. The Silver Vixen dealt with the latter, and the Gorse Fox looked after the decorator. 

Sam seems like a nice lad (well, as a fanatical Spurs supporter, you expect nothing less). He got straight down to work laying a plastic film over the floors and carpets, and covers over the doors. He then started to sand down the walls and the woodwork, then went round filling any holes or settlement cracks. Fortunately, there were very few that needed attention. By mid afternoon he was done for the day and will return tomorrow morning.

The Gorse Fox spent some time in the study. A program that he uses to file photos correctly was troubling him. It seemed to be a little cavalier in overwriting the original file date. He ripped it apart and examined what was going on. There was, it happens, a small bug. It didn't affect every photo, but there were instances where the time filed would be one hour out. Bug squashed, he filed a new batch of photos.

Ellie had "Cheer Club" after school. Even though she is now back, we still have no idea what it was! When asked, she says she doesn't know. Urban-Cub has an early start again tomorrow, so we have Ellie here again tonight.

Two More

 It was very grey and dark first thing this morning. It looked as if rain was likely, but it held off until mid-morning.

The Gorse Fox had football. Again, he was responsible for the team selection and it went pretty well. The idea is to pick teams that are very closely matched. His algorithm managed to get the teams to a 31-32 balance and as the game started this seemed to be about right. The Gorse Fox's team managed to be 2-0 up at half-time, but a few minutes into the second half, though still ahead, it was 3-2. It really was a hard fought game and the Gorse Fox isn't quite sure of the final score, but was very pleased that a) he won, and b) he scored a couple more goals.

 This afternoon has been fairly quiet though we have spent some time clearing the hall/stairs/landing of any items that may get in the way of the decorators tomorrow.

Out, out

 We had a lovely evening yesterday. We started with some fizz next door and then wandered down to the bus stop to head in to Chichester. Though a little early, we were able to go straight to our table in Cote Brasserie. The food was lovely, as usual. The Gorse Fox always finds it hard to select from their menu, but is never disappointed. This time he chose the Breton Fish Stew and thoroughly enjoyed it. At the end of the evening we walked down to the railway station and grabbed a cab to take us all home.

This morning was overcast and at some point during the morning we had some rain. The Gorse Fox started with his usual cousins' call. Then, after some domestic chores we settled down to wait for Betty and Barney Rubble. They arrived in time for some coffee and biscuits and a chat before we headed off to The Gribble Inn for lunch. It is probably 3 years since we were last there, but the beer was just as good and menu was both extensive and interesting. It was very hard to choose but in the end both the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox selected the skate wings. They were delicious and really meaty. We certainly won't need to eat again today. Back home we had several more cups of tea and some roulade and cream as we chatted the afternoon away. Conversation ranged from Covid to Brexit, from family to jobs, and from TV to Bitcoin! Finally, we took Betty and Barney round to see Urban-Cub's house before they headed back home.

It's been a lovely day.

Clouds

 It is another wonderful Autumn day. Slightly cool to start with but bright sunshine and clear blue skies throughout the day. We had heard from Urban-Cub overnight. Here PCR test had come back as negative. This was a great relief to us all. She still isn't well, but at least it isn't Covid-19. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox wandered round to escort her and Ellie to school. Ellie has PE today, so was dressed in her PE kit and looked very athletic. (The Gorse Fox forgot to take a photo).

Back home, in an uncharacteristic flurry of frantic activity and huge clouds of sawdust and shavings, the Gorse Fox set about turning the workshop back into a garage for his car. It took most of the morning but that was significantly less time than he had expected. A couple of mini-skip sacks are now nestling at the front of the garage full of sawdust, wood shavings, and offcuts. The only problem is that our household waste recycling centre isn't open today - and you have to book to use it. Disposal will have to wait until next week.

We are due to have dinner with the Sonning Crew in Chichester this evening. It was Two Hats' birthday last week - and that needs the appropriate celebration.

Waiting

 It was a lovely evening yesterday with Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit. We had a reservation at "Lime Squeezy" which is part of the Giggling Squid chain. This is less formal; more like Wagamama's. The dishes are also a bit bigger than those at Giggling Squid. The food was superb but because of the canteen-style, it probably wouldn't be classed as "fine dining". It is certainly a place that we would go to again, though.

This morning dawned bright and sunny again. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox strolled round to collect Ellie from home and take her to school. Urban-Cub was still holed up and awaiting the results of her test. We all took precautions of wearing masks while in the house - and kept a safe distance, just in case.

With Ellie delivered to school, we returned home for coffee and to get on with the usual Thursday fare - receiving and putting the Ocado delivery away, then topping up at Sainsbury's. While there, we picked up a few extra items that Urban-Cub needed. We then had a few quiet hours before we had to collect Ellie. The Gorse Fox used this time to upgrade Condor to the latest level of MacOS. This took a bit longer than expected because the first download failed - right at the end. He had to restart. Second time around, everything worked as designed.

We are still waiting for Urban-Cub's results as that may mean we cancel some plans for tomorrow and Saturday.

Testing

 The Gorse Fox started the day with a stroll round to Urban-Cub so that he could walk with her and Ellie to school. Ellie was in a bit of a strop when he arrived but soon calmed down. Urban-Cub was reporting a bit of a tickly cough. "Get tested" said the Gorse Fox. So it is that, at lunchtime, she pulled into the Tangmere testing centre and took a PCR test. Now we await the results.

The Gorse Fox had football this morning. It was a fairly close game during the first half, with a 4-4 scoreline as we changed ends. Unfortunately, the Gorse Fox's yellow team then seemed to let everything slip. Time and again the goalie rolled the ball out to the opposition, and time and again the other full-back allowed people to get round behind him without challenge. Goodness knows what the final score was... but yellows were soundly thrashed.

Back home, showered, and fed the Gorse Fox loaded the car with the first part of the trug that he had built for Cousteau-Cub's birthday. He whizzed it ip to Chichester and the Coventry Hobbit helped him unload it into the garden. He then returned home to get the second part - the frame and legs. Back again to Chichester we soon had it unloaded and assembled. The final screws we put in to secure it and it now sits happily at the bottom of their garden. Cousteau-Cub seemed delighted - so job done!

We are meeting Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit for dinner this evening at a new Thai restaurant in Chichester.

Excursion

 We dropped Ellie at school and then the Gorse Fox headed off for football and the Silver Vixen sat down to review the possible excursions available thus on next year's cruise. By the time the Gorse Fox got back - having drawn one game and lost two - she had a shortlist.

During the afternoon we went through our list and compared it that of J&T. There was a fair bit of overlap, as you would expect. We had a Zoom call and went through the lists. A few minor changes were made, but in essence we have an itinerary now. This should cover:

• Skudeneshavn
• Glaciers and Views
• Land of the Trolls
• Alesund Highlights
• Trondheim Heritage Trail
• Lysefjord Cruise and Pulpit Rock
• Kristiansand and its Fish Market

Now we just have to wait for 275 days before we embark.

We've just taken Ellie home in time for Urban-Cub to arrive back from work.

Selection

 It was a lovely, though somewhat cool, start to the day. Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off and then headed to Southampton for a training day. Ellie was in a very good mood and was most eager to get to school. We were dragged out the door early, but then had to wait until the school gates were opened before she could rush into the classroom. This was her first full day 8:50-15:15. It will be interesting to see how she is managing by the end of the week.

Back home, we had some breakfast and the Silver Vixen settled down for one of her regular phone calls with a friend. The Gorse Fox headed off to Chichester. We needed some more tester pots. The chap was most apologetic; they did not do a tester pot in one of the colours - but he gave me a 1 litre pot for the price of tester. Back home, another piece of lining paper was cut and painted - would this do the trick? NO! the Silver Vixen and the Gorse Fox returned to the online colour palettes. Further shades were selected and, after lunch, we headed back to Chichester. The chap in Dulux was most helpful, but asked if we would stop coming in for tester pots - his stock was getting dangerously low, the paint mixer was requiring servicing, and his apprentice had had a nervous breakdown. The Gorse Fox supposes that after 794(*) separate test pots we were pushing our luck a bit.

The Gorse Fox also took some time out to go and get his hair cut. The barber was obviously in an expansive mood as his requested "short back and sides" turned into a haircut, blowtorched ears, trimmed eyebrows, shaped beard, hair wash, facial steam massages, and shave. Who was the Gorse Fox to complain? It was quite delightful.

(*) That may be an exaggeration.

Parking

 It was very grey to start with today. Rain was forecast, but not until late morning.

As mentioned yesterday, the Gorse Fox was back playing indoor football this morning. Clearly, the opening of the centre had created a lot of interest. Five youth games kicked off at 10:00 on the outdoor pitches. This was all very fine, but it did make parking and absolute nightmare. The Gorse Fox did manage to find a spot nea a shipping container in an area that is usually blocked off.

We had a god 5-v-5 game. The sides were pretty well balanced, but in the end the yellow team triumphed 7-5(or 8-6). The Gorse Fox (on the Orange team) was pleased to score a couple of goals in our haul. He was also pleased to get a good workout. It was the first time that he broken a proper sweat for months. Why? We ditched the 3-touch rule and just got on with the game. This, quite literally, doubled the amount of exercise crammed into the hour (according to his Apple Watch).

By the time he left to head home, the rain had started and was making up for lost time. Many of the roads were partly flooded where the drains were blocked or could keep up. It only lasted for about and hour, then dried up and left us with the odd burst of sunshine.

Hue and Cry

 The weather has been gorgeous today. September always seems so much more reliable than August, down here on the south coast. We started the day with a quick trip to the surgery. We both had our annual flu jabs booked. It appears that, as of next birthday, the Gorse Fox can also have a vaccination against shingles. He'll certainly line up for that one.

Leaving the surgery we stopped at B&Q for some lining paper and picked up a couple of further tester pots. Back home, after a lovely fried breakfast and some more coffee, we started to paint sheets of lining paper so that we could move them round the house and check whether they were suitable or not. It turns out that in most cases they was not! They all seemed to come up a bit too dark.

Some further study of the paint charts allowed us to select some new alternatives. Hopefully these would be less dark. Another trip to B&Q (the infamous B&Q bounce) saw use choose some further tester pots, and once we were home we cut some more test sheets and painted them up. We now think that we have colour that should do the trick but the Gorse Fox will have to go and get the trade equivalent of the retail product to check the colour is the same.

Indoor football is back on tomorrow morning. The Gorse Fox has drawn the short straw in that he had to pre-select the teams. He has started by creating a rating for each of the players and then using the ratings, he tried to create evenly matched teams. This will have to be refined over time, but it seemed as good a start as any.

Cranium

 It's been a funny old day. We were up soon after 7:00 and the Gorse Fox popped round to Urban-Cub to walk to school with Ellie. Then home and recaffeinated, he sat down with the Silver Vixen to look at paint colours. It may be a first world problem, but the range from which we could choose was huge. Over the space of an hour or so we finally down-selected to three colours. Only some samples would help finalise the choice. The Gorse Fox hopped in the car and popped along to the Dulux Decorator Centre in Chichester. It only took a few minutes for them to mix the three tester pots and the Gorse Fox headed back home (clutching a couple of colour charts and three small tins). The new colour charts meant that we had another hour of colour searching, but decided we had probably already got the best colours. Tomorrow we'll get some lining paper and try the samples in different places in the hall, on the stairs, and on the landing to see which we prefer.

Mid afternoon the doorbell rang. The man from DPD was clutching a box. The Silver Vixen had ordered a metal sculpture for the garden. We soon had it unpacked and assembled. We can't really site it until the garden is done next month, but for the moment we have a bronze crane trying to take flight in the Orangery.

Measure for measure

 Though Ellie hadn't been with us overnight, we still had to get up early. Urban-Cub would be dropping her off at 7:15 and the chap from the company that built the Orangery was due soon after to measure the window pane that needed to be replaced.

The window measurements didn't take too long, but he said that he would cross-check against the original specification and order. Our new unit should be on order by the end of the week, but could take anything between 2 and 4 weeks to arrive.

The rest of the morning went very much to type... Ocado delivery followed by top-up at Sainsbury's.

Back home we got chatting to the neighbours and as the time ticked by, a car drew up behind us. The Gorse Fox glanced over his shoulder. It was a Peugeot.  He carried on with his conversation but suddenly a light flashed on in his addled mind. Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit have a Peugeot and Cousteau-Cub is on holiday for a few days. He looked back and, sure enough, it was them. They had arrived just in time to come and collect Ellie from school. She was very pleased to see them and we all trudged home whilst under a barrage of excitement from Ellie.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit stayed with us for an hour or so, then, saying their goodbyes, drove into the mid-afternoon sun. They are planning to go to the Goodwood Revival this weekend. That will be quite a fun experience. The rest of the afternoon was spent keeping Ellie amused, out of trouble, and fed. (Ellie may not be one for breakfast, but after school she eats incessantly).

We had a call this evening from the decorators that we have commissioned to do our hall/stairs/landing. They are ahead of schedule and can now come to us a couple of weeks earlier than planned. This is excellent news. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox just have to agree on the colour, now.

Daft as it sounds

 Ellie was awake soon after 6:00. This was not part of the plan for the day. We  (i.e. the Silver Vixen) explained to her that it was much too early and she should return to her bedroom and watch her tablet. There was no argument. She toddled off and other than occasional laugh, we heard no more until we got up. We got her up, gave her breakfast, got her washed and dressed and then took her to school. The Gorse Fox loves her enthusiasm for school and just hopes that it continues.

The Gorse Fox headed off to Worthing for Wednesday's football. The teams were pretty unbalanced - again. Our "orange" team only had four mobile players and two who were limited in what they could do. The yellows, on the other hand, had a full complement of mobile players including four recognised attackers. The Gorse Fox can admit that it was a bit like the Alamo. As their goal clicked up, the Gorse Fox found himself defending against three or four people at a time as they carved their way up the field. We lost heavily. It was about 6-1,  but daft as it sounds, the Gorse Fox enjoyed it. He felt that he had played a particularly good game in face of silly odds.

We picked Ellie up from school and brought her home to us for a couple of hours, until Urban-Cub finished her shift. Irt was nice afternoon so we sat in garden and did sone phonics (with letter flash cards the Gorse Fox had printed off), some number games about adding, telling the time, and then some jigsaws. She has a quick little brain and is grasping these concepts without too many problems.

Not to bad

 There was a lot of heavy rain overnight. Ellie woke up just before 7:00 and came in to us. There was no hurry this morning as she had no school today - though she is there for the rest of the week and full time thereafter.

Despite her long, long day yesterday (some 21 hours), Urban-Cub came over to collect Ellie as we were finishing breakfast. She was in full flow as the Gorse Fox left to go across to Worthing for football. The rain was easing, but the Gorse Fox was still expecting to get quite wet. He was wrong. By the time he was changed and ran out onto the pitch, the rain had stopped. We had the usual three games. The first was a 1-0 win - thanks to our goalkeeper, who was there to cover any mistakes the Gorse Fox had made. The second game looked as if it would be harder, but we managed to run out 3-0 winners. By this time the Gorse Fox was beginning to get into his stride. In the third game, it was was very tight. We finally had a breakthrough and took the lead. Then the Gorse Fox hit a long range drive with his left foot and watched it snuggle into the bottom corner. We were 2-0 up. Then it all went a bit wrong.  We conceded a penalty (3 running offences), then the Gorse Fox was completely skinned and watched their second go in. Just before the final whistle they got a third. Oh well, hopefully it will all go more smoothly tomorrow.

We watched Boris Johnson's Covid-19 press conference this afternoon. It seems like a sensible approach that he is suggesting. No doubt the media and the talking-heads on social media will find ways to try and undermine him.

Ellie is back with us again overnight.

Change of Plan

 There was some overnight excitement(*). This meant that Urban-Cub was up and about by 3:00. Though she wasn't due at work until midday, she had to go in as early as possible. When the Gorse Fox woke up, there was a message waiting. "Please let me know when you are awake. I need to go in to work". Thus, Ellie started the week by coming to us to have breakfast and get ready for school. Urban-Cub went straight in to work and is not expected home until late tonight.

With Ellie deposited at school, we had a quiet morning. The Gorse Fox went to Wickes to scout out some piping through which he can run some cable in the garden. He could find plenty of pipe, but not the sort of flexible connections that would permit him to adjust the direction at anything other than 90 or 135 degrees.

Once home, he cancelled the outstanding contract with the original landscaper. He was clearly too busy to fit us in, and we are fed up waiting. The new landscaper is hoping he can start some time in October (though we are not too worried if it slips slightly).

We picked Ellie up from school and have had a moderately quiet afternoon. She was clearly tired after her morning at school, and consequently not too boisterous.

(*) Details to follow, at some point.

Landscaping

 It was a quiet start to the day. The weather was bright and warm and it was forecast to be a dry day. Once we were both fed, washed, clothed and ready we headed for the garden. We hd some decisions to make before the chaps come to refresh or landscaping. 

The pacers weren't thriving in their pots. Which ones should be planted? Where should each one go? Is there anything that needed to be removed? On top of this we had the ongoing issue with the rill. Currently, if we switch it on, it blows the fuses in the house. The Gorse Fox asked Two Hats if he would have a look. We lifted the existing cable and found the joint where the cable had be accidentally cut last year when the deck was replaced. When we opened the waterproof joint, it was clear to see that it wasn't waterproof and water had leaked onto the cables and caused the short circuit. With the problem identified we made the decision to lift most of the existing cable. We will run a new cable, through some new trunking, when the landscapers start their work. Sorted.

The Silver Vixen continued to potter in the garden while the Gorse Fox went up to the study to do a little more research into the gamily tree. He was able to identify some new 2nd cousins and found some more information about the family of his grandfather's brother's family. There was, however, no startling breakthrough.

Ooof.

 Ellie decided, at 6:15 this morning, that it was time to wake up and join Nana and Grandpa in bed. This would be less of a problem if she didn't a) watch, b) and listen to her tablet, and c) emulate a Mexican jumping bean. Further attempts to sleep were futile.

The Gorse Fox had the weekly cousins' call at 9:00 and that was fun as usual. Ellie put in an appearance for the cousins, but didn't try top show-ff, which was good. It was also interesting to hear about the attempts of one cousin to find a partner. It seems that some of her dating involves local tradesmen and the Gorse Fox pointed out that it was little unclear whether she was using Tindr or Check-a-trade as her dating app.

The rest of the morning was spent with Ellie. We had a return visit to her imaginary restaurant and her imaginary supermarket. The Gorse Fox seemed to spend a great deal of time carrying one of her dolls around the house. Eventually, she settled and we were able to spend some time on her phonics, then a lot more time on her numbers. (This "Numicon" set provides plenty of opportunities to play number games, which she happily plays).

Urban-Cub collected Ellie just after lunch and we had a quiet afternoon. The Silver Vixen enjoyed some reading and listening to the radio. The Gorse Fox spent the afternoon working (fruitlessly) on the family tree.

Old Columbans

 Ellie joined us again this morning. Urban-Cub had had to wake her to bringer round at 7:30 and she will be with us until midday tomorrow. She's been very good today.

We spent part of the morning working with phonic flash cards to help her with her alphabet and basic reading. When bored with that, the Gorse Fox had to return to her imaginary restaurant along with various dolls and cuddly toys. 

The postman arrived. He was delivering a Numicon Home Set. This is a collection of shapes which help a child get to grips with numbers and patterns. This was our next diversion. To be fair, she did quite well. After the first "game", however, she got bored and wandered away. This will have to be used in small bursts until she grows to love maths!

After lunch Ellie helped the Silver Vixen make a strawberry muffin and then asked to go to the park. The Gorse Fox took her. We struck lucky. As we approached the park we could see Ellie's friend Bonnie was playing there with her sister Ivy, under the watchful eye of mum. This changed the whole complexion of the interlude. Eventually, Bonnie had to leave. Ellie lasted about 5 minutes more and then asked to go home. Once we were home she helped the Gorse Fox prepare a curry for tonight's dinner... and then sat down to some sausages, rice, and sweet corn, herself.

The Gorse Fox recently noticed an advert for the Old Columban's over-65s lunch. He hadn't seen any email or invite so chased it up. Within minutes he had an invite and has now RSVPd and booked his train tickets.

Imaginarium

Ellie decided that 6:30 was long enough for a lie-in. She muscled her way into our bed, switched on the Kindle Fire Kids tablet and serenaded us with various nursery rhymes. At seven, the Gorse Fox decided it really was time to get up and the day started properly.

First order of the day was to send a Happy Birthday message to the Coventry Hobbit. Apparently, he was out walking the dogs, but at least he had the time off for his Birthday. 

Talking of the Coventry Hobbit, Cousteau-Cub made a video call to us to see that Ellie was getting ready for school. Was she ever! She was begging to put her uniform on and was ready with her bag at least 30 minutes before we needed to leave. (There is no real need to allow for traffic - the school is a 4-5 minute walk from home, if we walk slowly).

We walked her round to school and while greeting her teacher, Ellie dived into the classroom without a wave or a goodbye to Nana and Grandpa. As we walked home we saw another child having a fit of the screaming ab-dabs and simply refusing to entertain the idea of school! Thank heavens that Ellie isn't like that.

Back home we had some breakfast and waited for the Ocado delivery before heading to Sainsbury's for out top-up shop. By the time we got back it was nearly time for the Silver Vixen to meet with Urban-Cub and collect Ellie. She was finishing at midday today. Urban-Cub had to get back to work, but used her lunch-break to collect Ellie.

Ellie spent the afternoon with us. Somehow, the Gorse Fox got sucked into he imaginarium and found himself blowing bubbles in the garden before we went to an imaginary funfair. This latter task involved a lot of imaginary tickets, an aerial roundabout (the imaginary operator was very slow loading it up), a lot of queueing, and a surprise trip to an imaginary supermarket.

Easy start

 Ellie stayed with us overnight. In theory, Urban-Cub was due at work for 5:30. In practice she had spent all night throwing up - so she had stayed home. Ellie was very good and didn't wake up until 8:00. There was no school for her today. They are easing them in to school life - two days this week, 4 days next week, then full time. 

Once breakfast and ablutions were complete we swung into action. As you will know, the Gorse Fox has been doing some woodwork. He invited Ellie to help. She was very excited by this idea. She came out onto the patio, where the Gorse Fox was working. She inspected what wood had survived and hadn't been turned into sawdust. She asked questions about what the Gorse Fox was doing and why. She helped him measure, she passed him screws and tools, and she even ended up fixing some of the screws with the electric screwdriver. She was very helpful.

After lunch Urban-Cub was well enough to have Ellie for the afternoon. The Silver Vixen walked her round. Though unplanned, we now have Ellie overnight again tonight. Urban-Cub has to go in early to try and retrieve the situation where the shop's chillers and baker have all failed and 1,000's of pounds of stock will have to be written off. Ellie has been very good since being dropped off, and she's now in bed.

And so it begins

 

The Gorse Fox started by wandering around to meet Urban-Cub and walk with them to take Ellie for her first day at school. She was so excited, and virtually dragged us to the front gates. 

We filed in with all of the other families as they delivered their precious children to the new school term. Ellie's friend Bonnie wasn't quite so excited. In fact, she dissolved into tears as the clock ticked towards 9 o'clock. Not so Ellie. She almost charged the door as it opened. She couldn't wait to get started. When she was collected at lunchtime, she declared that she had had "the best day ever, ever".

Precious package delivered, the Gorse Fox got changed and headed to Worthing for his football. He was selected for a fairly strong team. The team, however, clearly weren't "on song". We lost the first game 3-1. It was a bit embarrassing. In the second game, the Gorse Fox played in goal. This was the only game in which we kept a clean sheet, and in fact scored several goals of our own. Buoyed up bu the success we swapped goalie and started the last game. We were soundly thrashed. The score was about 8-2.

The afternoon started with some shopping, then a couple of quiet hours in the garden. Finally, after dinner, we had a landscaper come round to quote for some work. It will be interesting to see what he comes back with.

Ellie is with us overnight.

Last Carefree Day

 The Gorse Fox was up early. Urban-Cub was dropping Ellie off before 7:30 and he ,likes to be prepared! She was in a chirpy mood even though a plan for her to be picked up mid-morning to play with a friend had been thwarted by a bug in the friend's family.

The Gorse Fox had bough a new Kindle Fire Kids tablet for Ellie. This is to prevent the original one being ferried (or forgotten) back and forth between the houses. It only took a couple of minutes for her to master the new features... and she was off. During the morning, with the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD, she flitted from the tablet to hand painting, from hand painting to a sticker book, from the sticker book to a snack from the fridge, from the snack to her dolls and then to a request for a trip to the park.

We had some lunch and then headed for the park. It was 26c, and the sun was beating down. Ellie insisted on wearing heavy, sparkly tights ad, as we walked out the front door, struggled to put a cardigan on. We were the only people in the park and she played for a while on the swings. She is now getting the knack of propelling herself, though quickly gets bored and requests a push. 

She moved on to the slide, hurling her dolls down in front of her. As she sat at the top, looking pensive, the Gorse Fox assumed that reality had just hit her. This was her last day of true freedom. From tomorrow she starts 12 to 14 years of schooling. Everything changes.

We had only been at the park for about ten minutes when she declared that she wanted to go home. Halfway back she finally admitted that the cardigan was too warm and stripped it off. Back home, in the cool of the front room, she and the Silver Vixen did some jigsaws and had a quiet hour before Urban-Cub returned to collect her.

Podcast

 It was quite clearly going to be a lovely day. The sun was shining, it was warm, there was barely a breath of air, and no cloud dared sully the clear blue sky (though some high cloud drifted across no and again, later in the day).

The first order of the day was a bit of admin., scanning a utility statement and then filing it and backing it up. We have been living here for 7 years now, and in that time all bills, statements, significant receipts, and certificates have bee scanned, filed, backed up, then shredded. The Gorse Fox is a "paperless" as possible.

Admin. complete he returned to his mountains of sawdust. Like in geology where some tectonic shift or some subduction zone forces mountains to pile higher, the Gorse Fox's router and his saw rapidly increase the elevation of the sawdust. Would today's efforts actually block the entrance to the workshop? No. They did, however, make quite a mess as the Gorse Fox strolled back and forth to and from the workshop. He only worked on this for a couple of hours as he had tweaked his back yesterday and didn't want to make it any worse.

The afternoon was spent relaxing in the garden. The Silver Vixen lay on a chair in the sun, while the Gorse Fox sat in the shade. He ended up listening to several podcasts: "Simon Evans Goes to Market" which is always very informative as well as remarkable funny; Mark Steele "In Town" (in Brighton) which is always good for a satirical look at the town in question; and finally several episodes of "That Peter Crouch Podcast" which unveils some of the trials, tribulations, and mischief of the life of a professional footballer. It really was a very enjoyable afternoon, rounded off appropriately by watching England beat Andorra 4-0 at Wembley.

Sawdust

 After a gentle start to the day, the Gorse Fox had his weekly call with the cousins. It was an interesting call in as much as his left-wing socialist cousin ended up agreeing with the Gorse Fox over one subject and, in turn, the Gorse Fox ended up agreeing with this left-wing socialist cousin. It just goes to show that there can be a degree of rapprochement between opposing factions.

Once the call was finished, the Gorse Fox headed out to the workshop. There was work to be done. Huge piles of sawdust weren't going to appear on their own! He got started by moving part of the project onto the patio. Then he tried to fix the body into the frame. This needed help from the Silver Vixen as the Gorse Fox had tweaked his back already, in the ten minutes he had been out there. It didn't fit. Not only that, it was jammed and wouldn't come out. It took a huge amount of persuasion to separate the pieces again. Then they had to be disassembled so that 2mm could be removed from each end. This went surprisingly well.

Next on the agenda was to measure and places the braces for the legs. This, again, was a bit of an awkward exercise. By the end of the afternoon, the Gorse Fox had one set of legs braced, and the other set almost ready. He had, however, got fed up with getting covered in sawdust from the router for today. He packed his things away, swept up, and then went for a shower.

Meanwhile, the Silver Vixen had been into Chichester with Urban-Cub. As you would expect, this had not gone to plan, nor to time. They returned while the Gorse Fox was in the shower... and hour or so later than planned.

Up or Down

 Yesterday, Ellie threw a tantrum before bed. This involved slamming the bedroom door with all the force she could muster. The Gorse Fox intervened and slapped the back of her hand. What he didn't do was check the door (which already had a slight problem in as much east the handle was catching slightly).

This morning the Gorse Fox decided to fix the sticking for handle. Huh!

The handle was disassmbled. and the mechanism removed from the door. It was at this point the Gorse Fox realised that the door handle that used to be depressed to open the door, now had to be elevated to open it.Down became Up and Up just didn't work.  This, he thought, would be easy to solve. There would be a small lever or switch that needed adjustment. There wasn't.

After some 30 minutes the Gorse Fox decided he was missing something and needed a second opinion. He rang the bell to speak to Two Hats. We faffed and fiddled and ultimately failed. Whatever had happened, it seemed to have flipped the mechanism for good. The Gorse Fox went round to B&Q and bought a replacement,. The assistant went to great pains to show the Gorse Fox how stupid he was, and all he had to do was flip the the mortise latch.

The Gorse Fox is pleased to announce that the assistant was wrong.

He bought a replacement (Yale). it took longer to remove it from its packaging than it took to install. The door is now back to normal and ready for Ellie's next tantrum.

Bus

 We had a quiet morning with the usual Ocado delivery followed by a trip to Sainsbury's. This was punctuated by the purchase of some tickets as a birthday present and the renewal of our Railcards. These ar now stored online, rather than provided as traditional plastic card.

At lunchtime Urban-Cub brought Ellie round, She will be with us until the morning. To break up the afternoon we took her into Chichester on the bus. We were lucky. It was a double-decker. Ellie insisted on going upstairs, so the Gorse Fox went with her, leaving the Silver Vixen downstairs with the buggy.

The Gorse Fox had an appointment with the chiropodist and headed off to see him, while the Silver Vixen and Ellie went to do some school-wear shopping. We weren't out for long and were lucky with the bus. It was at the stop as we turned the corner so we were able to hop straight aboard. 

We stopped off at the playground on the way back to let Ellie let off some steam.

On Duty again

 Ellie came in to us at about 6:45. That wasn't a problem as the Gorse Fox had to get up and get going. Urban-Cub was having some work done on her garden and as she had started work at 5:00 she needed someone to open up and let the landscaper in to do their job. The Gorse Fox managed to plug down a coffee and then made his way 13 houses along the Crecent and round the corner and settled down to wait for them. They turned up just before 8:00 and once they had settled, the Gorse Fox headed home for breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent doing the odd chores and entertaining Ellie. We had a quick shopping trip, at the end of which she asked for a Burger King for lunch. The Gorse Fox obliged and went to get said item only for Ellie to get home, eat the chips, take a bite out of the burger and say she didn't want any more.

The landscapers had phoned while the Gorse Fox was in Burger King. They were just finishing off. The Gorse Fox popped round to examine their work and to lock up behind them. He must say, they have done a lovely job and is certain that Urban-Cub will love it.

The afternoon has been spent monitoring and clearing up as Ellie decided she wanted to do painting. No sooner had she got bored with that, she asked for the Play Dough. In the end she flatly refused to clear up her bits. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox gathered it all up and dumped it in a black bin bag. Currently it is sitting in the spare dustbin. Ellie didn't seem in slightest bit concerned.

Talking of bins. The Gorse Fox decided to cut up the box in which Condor was delivered as the recycling bin will be collected tomorrow. Well, that was an epic! He has never seen such well-engineered cardboard packaging. The voids were reinforced and everything was connected with some incredible glue. The Gorse Fox suspects. you could drop one of the boxes from several metres without damaging the computer inside. I should think the box alone must be worth 100USD - no wonder the computers are so expensive.

Urban-Cub picked her up at about 16:30 and she will be sleeping at home tonight.

The Gorse Fox has a meeting of the Committee for the football club tonight.