Own account

We had a lot of rain overnight. We also had thunder. The thunder sounded as if it was directly overhead and spectacularly loud. Once the Gorse Fox had registered what was going on, he turned over and went back to sleep.

Old census record use the phrase "Own account" to define people who were independently comfortable and did not work. There was football scheduled for the Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen was meeting with a friend to celebrate her birthday.  This meant that the Gorse Fox was on his own account for much of the day.

Football was the usual case of splitting into 4 teams then playing a round robin. The Gorse Fox was in "Green 1" and it looked like a well balanced team. The first game was probably our hardest, playing against a team with two of the most mobile and most industrious attackers. We held them to 1-1 draw much to our own surprise. The second game was a 2-1 win for us, but unfortunately the Gorse Fox gave away a penalty for their goal. (He kicked the ball while it was in contact with the line demarcating the goal area - this is a no no!). The final game looked as if it would be a hard game but with some stout defending and some slick passing we ended up 4-1 winners. The ref came to see us at the end of the game and congratulated us on "some lovely football".

Back home, the Gorse Fox had the afternoon "on his own account". After a bite to eat, he rested for a while then headed for the study. He spent the afternoon working on the family tree. Today the aim was to try and fill in further details for some of the DNA matches that he has. He picked two at random and traced the down through the generations. He ended up by adding nearly 20 new people to the tree.

The Silver Vixen got home with her friend at about 5:15. They had a cup of tea and chatted while the Gorse Fox prepared his supper. (The Silver Vixen ate out at lunchtime, and didn't need supper). This was the ideal opportunity to use up some pasta sauce that he had in the freezer from a previous meal.

Half-term

 It's half term so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen don't have to get up at a specific time so that we can greet Ellie. Well, that's the theory. In practice, for the last two mornings, Jasper has leapt onto the bed at 6:30 and demanding attention. Eventually, unable to ignore him, the Gorse Fox has got up and opened the door so that he go out out. The Gorse Fox has returned to bed, but but then is wide awake and unable to settle.

It was cloudy at first but by mid-afternoon the sun had broken through. There was an article in the news over the last day or so saying that Chichester is the sunniest coastal town/city in the country. The Gorse Fox can't remember the exact numbers but thinks it was around 1919 hours of sunshine per year, ahead of Brighton, Southend, Portsmouth and so forth. Here in and around Bognor Regis we actually recorded 1920.8 hours. Having said that, it looks as if we may get some rain tomorrow!

The morning was occupied with various chores (and some retro blogging). This afternoon has been quiet. The Gorse Fox has been scrambling about in the family tree. He has found various bits and pieces but hasn't made any significant finds.

Ninety-two

 Another bright day and pleasantly sunny, if not overly warm.

The Gorse Fox had football scheduled. It was looking like 6-a-side, with two new players this weekend. It ended up 5-v-6 as one regular had to drop out. The new chaps were quite good. One, a goalkeeper, the other an outfield play with shot on him like howitzer. The way the teams worked out, the Gorse Fox had to play in midfield much more as we only had one forward in our yellow team. By half time, with a one man disadvantage, we were 4-3 up, with all 4 goals from the Gorse Fox. In the second half we had the extra man... and despite this and a further goal from the Gorse Fox and one from our conventional forward we lost 8-6. It was good run out.

The Silver Vixen had been collecting a lot of Ellie's old toys and games and cleaning them up. We loaded them into the car and then went round to Urban-Cub. There we loaded her sandpit and even more toys into the car before heading across to Brighton. It was the Silver Vixen's aunt's 92nd Birthday and we had been invited to her cousin's for a BBQ to celebrate. All of the toys were for them, for their grandchildren.

We stood and chatted in the garden. The Silver Vixen did a tour of the flower beds with Sue and the Gorse Fox chatted with Trevor and Jean as the meat slowly cooked. As time went on, the clouds became a little darker, and a little more threatening. The BBQ had, of course, attracted the rain. Soon it started to spit and slowly built up. Everyone else went indoors, leaving Trevor cooking at the grill and the Gorse Fox holding a big umbrella over the two of us. Sue kept wandering out to ask "are we nearly there yet?" but Trevor was intent on making sure all of the meat was properly cooked.

Finally everything was ready, we gathered in their kitchen diner and tucked in to burger, sausages, salmon, chicken, salad, sweetcorn and various rolls. It was a lovely feast. We chatted about all and sundry. We had a chance to talk with Alan, who has been performing on the P&O cruise ship Iona. It was interesting hearing how life works out for the performers on one of these ships and how much Covid had curtailed what they could do. We also got on to the subject of DNA and family history, but there were no huge revelations.

We said goodbye early evening and zipped back across the A27, home. We will be seeing them again next weekend at their son, Jon's, BBQ.

Old haunts

 It was a bright day, but there was a cool wind. We were scheduled to go and see Betty and Barney Rubble so the Gorse Fox had to apologise to the cousins regarding his absence from the call. He explained: "opening the local fete down in the lower paddock, then off to a garden party with the Lord Lieutenant". He'll have to think of another excuse for next weekend.

We drove up through the countryside, crossing the Downs near the Hartings. It is always such a pretty drive... onwards round Petersfield, through Selborn and Alton, and on to Odiham.

We settled down with Betty and Barney over a coffee and caught up with all their news and, being the age we are, all of our various aches and pains! Time whistled by and before we knew it it was time to head off to lunch.

It was only a few minutes to The Mill House. The Gorse Fox always thinks of this as Blubeckers, but it has changed hands several times since it was our regular haunt in the 80s and 90s. It is still as picturesque as it always was and haas been well maintained across the various owners.

We settled down for our lunch. The menu provided a good selection of starters, entrees, puddings, snacks, sandwiches and drinks. The Gorse Fox enjoyed some chorizo sausages as a starter and then had their fish and chips. The Silver Vixen started with some roasted red pepper hummus then she and Betty enjoyed their fish cakes, and Barney had a steak burger. After all that, there was no room for a dessert. We paid the bill and pottered back to spend the afternoon drinking tea, chatting, and then finally having some tart with strawberries and cream. It was a lovely afternoon but we finally had to make a move home. 

Blue

 There is not a huge amount to report. The skies have been blue all day, the temperatures have been deliciously comfortable and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have just pottered around.

The Gorse Fox started with the customary walk to Urban-Cub so that he could accompany Ellie round to school. Ellie was in splendid form and charged down the stairs when he arrived. She shouted "Grandpa, grandpa!" then there herself from the fourth or fifth step up into his arms. That was a lovely start to the day!

While the Silver Vixen did some ironing, the Gorse Fox was looking into chelatest information from P&O. Basically, he had to decide on whether to let the cruise fees stand, or ask for a refund then pay again closer to the voyage. He feels that he may as well let things ride. That way he knows the cruise is already paid for and with interest rates as low as they are, he isn't really losing out. He also had to check that our travel insurance was adequate... and had at least £2,000,000 in cover for medical cover. This took a bit of tracking down, but the Gorse Fox finally found that we are covered for 1£10,000,000 so that should be adequate!

The DashCam has fallen off the windscreen again. The heat is clearly a factor here. The Gorse Fox peeled all the old adhesive off and affixed the new pad. It was fiddly, but hopefully it will do the trick.

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at the Silver Vixen's part of the family tree. He managed to find some new data, but only for ancillary relations, not direct ancestors.

Splashing Out

 It has been a mild, grey but dry day. We wandered round to Urban-Cub (who is still off-sick from work) to take Ellie to school.

The morning was a typical Thursday - Ocado delivery, plus Sainsbury's top-up. 

The Silver Vixen went round to collect Ellie from school (with Urban-Cub). Then they went off to Ellie's swimming lessons. She is now starting to swim properly, though the Silver Vixen says she dives too deep to get started and uses too much energy to just get back to the surface and start her stroke. That will come with time and shows that she isn't concerned about being under water (which is very good).

Nothing else to report.

Gusty

 It has remained dry throughout the day. It has, however, been very windy.

We wandered round to Urban-Cub to collect Ellie and take her to school. She was full of the joys of Spring, and was charging around when we got there. She has the after-school "Outdoor Play" club today so she will get a chance to run it all off.

The Silver Vixen had no Pilates today. She stayed home and spent the morning cleaning. The Gorse Fox was booked for football. He pottered lazily across to Worthing and got changed. The lads trickled in over the next 15 minutes.

Today's game was a 6-v-7-v-6 game. Our team was the team with 6 in the first half. We held the score to 0-0 for the first 15 minutes but then conceded. The Gorse Fox managed a goal, but that was scrubbed off as it was deemed that he was running too fast! He would argue that it was the gusty wind and he was trying to slow down. What with the wind and the rotation of the earth he didn't stand a chance. By half-time the score was even at 2-2. One player switched sides. This game us the man advantage in the second half. This worked well as we took the lead then started to open up a bigger gap. Including a penalty for the Gorse Fox we ended up 7-2 winners. It was a very good game and the Gorse Fox felt far more mobile that yesterday (and his sore back had settled down overnight).

We collected Ellie from school and walked her round to Urban-Cub. We stayed for a chat but then left them to it. The Gorse Fox will return in the morning to take Ellie to school.

No Comprendo

 The Gorse Fox is confused. He drives much the same way, week in and week out. His little Fiesta typically get about 47 miles to the gallon over a tankful. He filled up about 10 days ago. On this tank he is achieving 54-55 miles to the gallon. That's a significant improvement - and he sees no logical explanation for it. Long may it last.

Oooof

It has been a day of mixed weather. Beautiful sunshine, bubbly clouds, and several periods of torrential rain. Fortunately, none of the rain showers coincided with either of us being out.

We got a message from Urban-Cub first thing. She wasn't well and would not be going in to work. She dropped Ellie off, but then returned home. We sorted Ellie out and got her to school as usual.

As soon as we were back, we switched the cars round and the Gorse Fox headed off to Worthing for football. It was looking as if we would have to play 9-v-9, which is dreadful; fortunately two further players turned up and the teams were re-shuffled so that we had 4 teams of 5. We were slightly hamstrung in the first two games by one of our number consistently under-hitting the ball and presenting it to our opponents. This cost us 2 goals in the first game (which we lost 2-1), and on goal in the second game (which we drew 1-1). In the third game he seemed to wake up and scored 3 of our 4 goals - but then went and conceded a penalty. Luckily the final score was 4-2 to us.

Football injuries can be troublesome things. The Gorse Fox survived another session without incident. He drove home and went up for a shower. He then managed to tweak his back while drying his feet. He is feeling immensely stupid! Hopefully, he will shake it off overnight so that he can play tomorrow.

Alex, the Alumni Relations person at the Gorse Fox's old school, has now sent out the invitations for his proposed reunion in September. Let's hope we get a decent turn out.  

Quiet

 It has been a very quiet day. There was some rain overnight, but it has been dry and quite warm during the day.

Ellie was dropped off, as usual, and was still barely awake. It didn't take too long, however, for her to roar into life. She was full of the joys of Spring by the time we headed off to school.

Back home, the morning involved domestic chores and some maintenance of the window locking mechanisms (which had become very stiff). Once that was done, the Gorse Fox prepared the invitation for his next attempt at the Band of Brothers reunion. This has now been sent to the school to distribute. The restaurant is reserved... we now wait.

Urban-Cub finished work early and was able to collect Ellie and hour earlier than usual. Ellie had eaten by then, and was halfway through her homework. Hopefully, she will finish the rest with Urban-Cub.

Lucky?

 It has been a fabulous day. The temperature hasn't been silly, but the sun has shone throughout the day. 

The Gorse Fox even opened up the bifold doors on the Orangery before breakfast this morning. Had he been wearing something other than his PJs, he would probably have sat out in the garden to enjoy his morning coffee.

We have had the rill pump switched on and the gentle tingling of the water throughout the day has been so relaxing. The Silver Vixen spent time pottering in the garden. The Gorse Fox returned to the family tree.

The family tree, as sometimes is the case, was a bit tragic today. The Gorse Fox was looking at two parts of the family; one had moved from Cambridgeshire to Derby, the other had gone to Australia on an assisted passage. The family that went to Derby had 8 children, 4 of whom died within a year of birth. Another was involved in a traffic accident and killed when her bike was in collision with a bus. The family that went to Australia saw one of their daughters marry and move to New Zealand. There she gave birth to her first son, became pregnant again within months, then lost her husband in a mining accident, all in the same year. "Lucky" was not their middle name!

Spurs have won their final game of the season. Despite being 2-0 up at half time, the Gorse Fox never took it for granted that they couldn't still cock things up. They didn't. The final score was 5-0... and that sees them finish 4th in the League and should assure them a place in the Champions League next season. Better still, they came above the Forces of Darkness (Arsenal)... again.

Family

 Ellie was with us overnight, The Silver Vixen reckons she had switched on her tablet at 5:45, though the Gorse Fox didn't hear it when he went to the bathroom around 6-ish. Around 7 Ellie padded into our room but the Gorse Fox suggested she grabbed her tablet and went back to her room. She was happy with that and lasted a further 25 minutes before deciding it was time that Nana and Grandpa were up and about.

Urban-Cub turned up around 10:00 to collect Ellie. She will be with her for the rest of the weekend as Pistol Pete is on duty this weekend.

The Gorse Fox had his usual "cousins' call" this morning. It was clear that the cousins, having never preciously met the Silver Vixen, were very taken with her, commenting what a lovely person she was and is now considered one of the clan. (Given that we have been married nearly 49 years, the Gorse Fox would have hoped so, but to be fair on these cousins, they only met the Gorse Fox for the first time in the last year or so).

The Silver Vixen has spent much of the day in the garden, the Gorse Fox helping out where sheer muscle was required. The Gorse Fox has spent the day working on the "Law" side of the family tree... and confirming that recent additions, made by another cousin, were incorrect.

No football tomorrow morning. Littlehampton (LA) are playing at Wembley for the FA Vase. Most of the population of LA and the staff of the Arun Football Arena are going. The football arena is therefore closed. Lazy morning is planned.

The Gas Man Cometh

 There was a lot of very heavy rain over night. It hadn't stopped when it was time for the Gorse Fox to head round and escort Ellie and Urban-Cub to school. Fortunately, a good rain jacket and an umbrella were protection enough to get the job done.

It was a quiet morning. The Silver Vixen started on the twice yearly migration of clothes between the wardrobe and storage. Summer clothes emerged, winter clothes went into storage or were set aside for the charity shop. 

The Gorse Fox, meanwhile, did the week's accounts and then buried himself in the recent photos. He realised, last night, that handling the facial recognition was easier from the iPad than from the iMac. Once sufficient filing had been checked, he downloaded the photos to his Lightroom library.

After lunch we awaited the man from the gas board. He was here for the annual service of the boiler. Fortunately, it passed with flying colours and still has the highest eco-rating. (For those of you that haven't heard Flanders & Swan's rendition of The Gas Man Cometh he recommend following the link).

The sun had finally broken through and it was quite warm by the time we had to collect Ellie. We stopped off at the park on the way back and let her have a good run around. She's now fed and watered and is just settling down to sleep,

Meanwhile, Cousteau-Cub is in the air. She has a long weekend in Gran Canaria, staying with some friends. Hopefully, she'll have a good break.

Suits You Sir

 As we went to bed last night, the forecast thunderstorms that had rattled around during the evening, became much more intense. There was the pad of tiny feet and Ellie appeared at the side of the bed. "Nana, it's too loud!" she informed us. The Silver Vixen quietly explained that there was nothing we could do about that, took her to the loo, popped her back into bed, and that was the last we heard from her until we were both up this morning.

The rain cleared and the sun poked through. Ellie was dropped at school and we returned for coffee and to receive the Ocado order. We did the quick Sainsbury's run, then headed into Chichester. We both wanted to raid M&S. (In Chichester, the Food Hall and the Menswear is in one shop in East Street, the Womenswear is in North Street). We parted ways. The Gorse Fox was rather pleased with a nice light coloured linen jacket and trousers for the summer. He then wandered round to wait for the Silver Vixen.

Once she emerged, we decided to stop for lunch. We always like Crispin's. It's good food and it's good value for money. The Silver Vixen had scrambled egg, salmon, and avocado. The Gorse Fox had a crispy chicken breast in a bun with salad, coleslaw and fries. Really good quality food, good portions, and decent price. What else could you wish for.

The Gorse Fox has been fiddling around with the facial recognition on Google Photos this afternoon. He has to conclude that, compared to the early attempts when Picasa was the tool, it is dreadful. It is neither accurate, nor user friendly. He is glad that the facilities he uses on Adobe Lightroom are so much better (if not automatic).

Under Seige

 It was a warm day but not as sunny as yesterday. High cloud tried its hardest to blot out the sun, but the sun wasn't having any of it and kept bursting through.

Ellie was dropped off t the usual time and we followed the usual procedures and got her off to school without any fuss. Back home the Silver Vixen gathered her Pilates gear and the Gorse Fox changed into his football Gera and we both headed off towards Worthing.

Arun Amblers had a good turnout with 7-aside. AT first glance we were concerned that the teams were unbalanced in favour of the Oranges. The Gorse Fox is getting used to this and our Yellow team focused on stout defending and sensible passing. We were soon 1-0 down. Not a good start. We were working hard and making some key interceptions and blocks at the back. Our passing began to come together and we clawed it back to 1-1. By half-time we were ahead (though the Gorse Fox cannot remember the score). In the second half, the Oranges changed their formation. This proved to be a bad decision. We got more goals. They didn't. A good win.

Back home we had some lunch and then put our feet up for a while. The Gorse Fox then retired to the study to examine some family tree records that a cousin had submitted. Unfortunately, of the 9 records she added, 2 were the wrong people completely. The others were ok, but the Gorse Fox already had their details (in fact he had more details).

Ellie had after school club. This was outside play, supervised by her teacher. We have no idea what she got up to as she was unclear what they had done. Since getting in from school she has been eating almost non-stop, so whatever they did, it gave her an appetite.

Boots

 what a stunning day! It has been bright sunshine and but skies until late afternoon when some high cloud crept in. Now, as the Gorse Fox writes, there are some rain clouds gathering, but it is not clear whether it will come to anything.

Ellie was dropped off at the usual time. She hadn't really woken up and it was a few minutes before she sparked into life.Fed, washed, and dressed we took her to school and watched her charge into class as soon as the door opened.

The Gorse Fox had football. He took a leisurely drive across to Worthing, signed in, and changed into his boots. He was on team "Blue-2", one of two teams of 6, whereas the 2 other teams had 7 players. The first game (against 7) started well and though we had to work hard, we managed a 0-0 draw. Our attack were moving around well and passing well. As long as the Gorse Fox and Mo, at the back, did their job, we had a chance. The second game (against the other team of 6) was more open. Again it was hard but we managed a 2-2 draw. The last game was back against 7. This team looked the most potent and scored quite early on. Our attack kept probing and trying to overload the left wing. This left the right wing deserted. The Gorse Fox snuck up and waved at Jamaica-Mark. He pumped the ball across the pitch and the Gorse Fox trapped it then planted it firmly into the goal. We were level. From then on, our passing and recycling of the ball made the difference and we managed 3 further goals without reply. A very satisfactory morning.

The journey home was a bit of a pain. There are roadworks on the A29/Shripney Road. These caused a tailback right back along the Bognor Regis Relief Road - this took 25 minutes to traverse (it would normally take 2 minutes). Never mind.

We collected Ellie from school. She wanted to play for a while in the park. It was such a nice afternoon that it made sense to let her run off some steam.

We stood and chatted to another grandparent as Ellie charged about from one bit of apparatus to the next. She is very sure footed and very confident on all the different frames, rope bridges, parallel bars and so forth. 

We gave her dinner after we got home and then worked with her on identifying triangles, cones, pentagons and hexagons. The Silver Vixen also read with her (even though there is no homework this week).

Urban-Cub has just been along to collect her.

Smart

 The started with a few showers but it soon brightened up and we had a sunny and warm afternoon. Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off, as usual. She had only just woken up and still hadn't quite switched into gear. It didn't take long, however, until she war usual sparkly self.

It was a fairly quiet day. The Silver Vixen had to collect some prescriptions from the pharmacy and then got on with some ironing. The Gorse Fox had to catch up on a few chores then check the meters. This was the first time since the switch to Smart Metering. The numbers were plugged into the spreadsheet and, with the adaptations he made last week, showed the consumption in the required manner. The Gorse Fox didn't want to start from scratch with the new meters as he had nearly 8 years of data. One comparison the spreadsheet handles is the current month's consumption in comparison to the same month in the previous year. It was good to see that both the consumption of both gas and electricity was down on last year.

We collected Ellie from school and had a couple of hours with her before Urban-Cub collected her. The Silver Vixen helped her with some more reading while the Gorse Fox prepared her dinner. She is making good progress and beginning to sound out words that she has never encountered before.

Treadmill

 The beautiful weather of yesterday collapsed into rain today. Having said that, by late afternoon we were beginning to see some sun poking through the clouds.

The Gorse Fox started the day with football. He was eager to play but once on the pitch, he felt a bit stiff and lethargic. For the first time in ages, he failed to score during the Sunday game. Today was a 6-vs-5 game. The Gorse Fox and the Coventry Hobbit were both on the same team in the first half and as the 5-man team had our work cut out for us. We went in 4-3 ahead at half time. We changed the team around so that we had the man advantage in the second half. It became clear immediately that we were unbalanced as we scored a handful of goals without reply. We changed personnel again. They started to score a few goal, but we kept pace. The real difference was our passing and mobility. The Gorse Fox has no idea of the final score. We were so far ahead that we stopped counting.

Back home the Gorse Fox was expecting a message. An ex-neighbour had made an offer for our running machine (treadmill). As we rarely use it any more, it seemed like a no-brainer. Her husband turned up and the Gorse Fox game hime a quick demo before helping him shift it to the door and bury it in the back of his car. The latter task being a real challenge! We did manage it in the end and he drove off into the afternoon rain with the treadmill on board. This has freed up a chunk of space in the Orangery, which is nice. For now it seems to have become a parking garage for Ellie's scooter, pram, and buggy.

Gathering of the Clans

 It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, one or two white fluffy clouds punctuated the sky and we had a day-out planned.

We got going early and popped along to Bognor Regis station. It was a good job that the Gorse Fox had allowed extra time. The car park used yet another parking app for payment. This needed to be downloaded and the he needed to register. Every question in the registration was asked twice to verify the answer. Finally, everything was ready and we paid for the car park. In the confusion, however, the Gorse Fox did end up leaving his man-bag in the car,

We met up with some neighbours on the platform. They were off for a celebratory meal at Marco Pierre White's. We went and found a set and settled down for the journey to Victoria. The train ran to time and we dropped down to the tube. The platform was packed and so was the first train to arrive. We let it go. The next train was only 90 seconds behind and was quiet enough that we got a seat for the few stops to Kings Cross. 

Alighting from the train we followed the signs and wandered underground to St Pancras. The ST Pancras terminus has undergone a vast regeneration over the past decade as it became home to the Eurostar. The concourse is fabulous and lined with really nice shops and restaurants.

It took us a few minutes to find our meeting place. It was right in the corner of the upper concourse. The Betjeman Arms turned out to be a good pub with some excellent restaurant facilities. As we arrived we were greeted by "the cousins". This was a planned gathering of the clan Empson and Law (who are all first cousins to each other), and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were invited (even though he is a second cousin). We had cousins from Derbyshire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Kent, Switzerland, and Australia. It was a good turn out. Even though the Silver Vixen had never met any of them before she was absorbed into the bosom of the family and made to feel immensely welcome.

We enjoyed an excellent meal washed down with copious amounts of beer and wine and though we had met at noon, it was about 4 hours later that we actually parted ways. A similar event is already in plan for next year.

We went back onto the concourse and had a leisurely stroll around before dropping back into the tube for the trip home. Like last week, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen arrived on Victoria Station and stepped onto our train home just as the doors closed. We couldn't have timed it better.

It was a wonderful day.

Working again

 It has been a lovely day again. Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off, first thing and we went through the usual process before getting her to school.

The Silver Vixen had an appointment at the hairdresser this morning, leaving the Gorse Fox to his own devices. The first of these being the cousins' call. This was brought forward from Saturday as we plan to meet up in person tomorrow. The Gorse Fox was a little late joining the call but explained the cook was ill and we had to tech one of the parlourmaids how to make our toast for breakfast. The excuse was accepted with grace by the cousins.

The remainder of the morning was spent pottering about. Early in the afternoon the engineer, Tom, arrived to have another go at sorting out the dishwasher. He came up with several possible scenarios that could be  causing the problem. He also explained that a particular part might provide the solution. However, he did make several further suggestions that would be worth trying first. We agreed to hang fire. Needless to say, this evening the dishwasher has worked flawlessly.

Pistol Pete popped around to collect Ellie for the weekend. We now have a quiet evening but moderately busy weekend.

Reading

 It has been a gorgeous day, sunny and pleasantly warm, without being hot. The Gorse Fox would rate it as the perfect temperature.

Ellie charged into our bedroom at 6:45 and asked if she could watch her tablet until it was time to get up. This gave us 15 more minutes of relative peace! We went through the usual morning ritual though, today, the Gorse Fox had to play schoolteachers with her once she was washed and dressed. This involved him taking the register for a room full of imaginary friends and then conducting a maths class for them. Fortunately, Ellie was quick to help these imaginary friends with the correct answers.

Back home we were expecting the usual Ocado delivery and then planned to go to Sainsbury's. The Silver Vixen, however, was expecting a call from her dealer the pharmacist. She was scheduled for a regular review  and was very impressed with the discussion, the attention to detail, the comments, and the follow-up.

We hit Sainsbury's a bit later than usual. It was almost deserted so we whistled round in no time. Back home after a bite of lunch we went and sat in the grounds garden and spent most of the afternoon reading.

Outdoor Play

 Urban-Cub dropped Ellie round to us. She'll be here until tomorrow. She was a bit subdued this morning, but suspect that was the result of a late night. She soon perked up and was chomping at the bit to get to school. School today was much as usual, but after school Ellie was enrolled in the "Outdoor Play" Club. Nobody knew quite what to expect, but Ellie was up for it.

The Silver Vixen head off to Pilates and the Gorse Fox soon followed. He had football scheduled. The game was quite good with a couple of assists from the Gorse Fox and a 5-3 win. He didn't, however, feel that he was "in the zone". A few passes went astray and he was slow to spot openings. He supposes that not every game can be top form.

It has been a quiet afternoon, not having to collect Ellie until 16:00. Unfortunately, there was still some homework to do, so the Silver Vixen supervised that while the Gorse Fox prepared supper.

New Plan

 It was a bit grey and cool when we got up this morning. Rain threatened but it never amounted to anything. By early afternoon the normal equilibrium of the Universe had returned and we had nice warm sunshine.

The Silver Vixen had a dental appointment this morning and was out until lunchtime. The Gorse Fox should have played football but a small backlog of chores had built up and needed clearing. The most pressing task was to return the garage to a state in which the car could again be parked. After everything was moved for the installation of our Smart Meters, the car has had to remain on the driveway. It didn't take too long to sort out but afforded an opportunity for the Gorse Fox to whip round to petrol station and fill up the tank before putting the car away.

Next on the agenda was a new plan. The Gorse Fox was rearranging the Band of Brother lunch that was wiped out in February by Storm Eunice. He finally has some dates when his contingent from France and from Australia will be in country. An email was sent to "hold the date" for those scheduled for the February lunch. A further email will go out to the wider audience before long but because of GDPR he has to manage that through the school.

After that it was a case of booking a boiler service, a dishwasher engineer (it's still kaput), booking train tickets for a forthcoming trip to London, and catching up on the accounts after an expensive weekend.

For dinner the Gorse Fox cooked a Thai red curry with chicken thighs, butternut squash, red peppers, and mushrooms. It was a bit "seat of the pants" but goodness gracious it was good.

Tripping

 It was another lovely day, though we did have a little high cloud for a while early afternoon. It was scheduled to be a busy day. Ellie was set to go on her first school trip and the Silver Vixen had been volunteered to help out!

Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off just before 7:30.  Ellie was very excited. She had never been on a school trip before and as Nana was going she wasn't in the slightest bit apprehensive. In fact, as we went to the door to take her to school. She charged the door yelling "Hooray, it's a school day".

As you can see from the photograph, she was the epitome of cool. How long that would last, heavens knows. Their outing was taking them to a local Farm/Country Centre. There they have chickens, ducks, pigs, miniature horses, alpacas and plenty more. They have an outdoor play area; they have a maze; they have a soft play area, sand and water play areas; and a woodland walk. There was plenty to keep them busy all day.

The Silver Vixen commented on how well behaved they all were, but it clear that they were all very tired when the Gorse Fox went along for the pick-up at the end of the school day.

The Gorse Fox stayed at home. He had some admin to clear. Among the admin chores he had rest the face-id on his iPhone. When he got on to the accounts, all of the bank accounts needed to rectify with the new id. This was all very fine until he got to one account. This demanded a Pin that he had no record of setting up. In the end this meant resetting the Pin. In turn, this meant clearing out the data and re-registering. This was all very fine but though the Gorse Fox answered the questions correctly, he was told time and again that the data was wrong. In the end, he decided to phone. It was while he was waiting to select a menu option that he glanced down and realised the problem. He was trying to register a card from company A with and app from company B. Doh! A quick shuffle of the cards and all was fixed.

That went well

 What a thoroughly gorgeous day. We had wall-to-wall sunshine and it was deliciously warm.

The Gorse Fox was up and about first. He drove up to Chichester to collect the Coventry Hobbit. He was helping out by making up the numbers for football. The "lads" gathered and we greeted a new recruit. The teams looked fairly well balanced. The Coventry Hobbit was on the same team as the Gorse Fox and we seemed to link up well. While the Coventry Hobbit was tucking away several opportunities, the Gorse Fox only managed to hit both posts and the goalkeeper. At half-time it was 6-3 to us. The other team saw a change of goalie and thus strengthened their outfield. They were soon catching up, but we rallied and managed to stay just in front. Our new chap scored a couple, the Gorse Fox scored a couple, and the Coventry Hobbit added some more. The final score was 11-9 to our team and the Coventry Hobbit managed 7 of our goals. That went rather well.

The Silver Vixen had been out to a local nursery while the Gorse Fox was playing football. She then spent much of the afternoon pottering in the garden.

After getting the Silver Vixen's new phone up and running we realised that we hadn't got a simple headphone solution. None of the old wired headphones fit the phone. The choice was an adapter or some wire-free earbuds. We opted for the latter. The Gorse Fox headed off to John Lewis and picked up some Apple AirPods (like his own). Now fully charged, they should work out well.

Pistol Pete dropped Ellie back to us, late afternoon. Urban-Cub had an all-hands meeting between 17:00 and 18:00, but was soon back to collect her.

Upgrade

 Whew! The Gorse Fox had a lie-in. He didn't stir until 7:50. This, to him, is sheer laziness luxury. We had the usual Cousins' call.

This call was taken in the family library, as you can clearly see from the background.

Socialist Ti claimed he could see a copy of the Daily Star in the background, but the Gorse Fox explained that, as unlikely as it was, it may be possible as he was unaware what the staff used as kindling material for the fires. The call was, of course, great fun and set us up for a face to face meeting next weekend, assuming the Gorse Fox can find a suitable Pullman carriage to attach to the train up to London.

The rest of the day has been relatively relaxed. The Gorse Fox had ordered a new iPhone 13 Pro for the Silver Vixen. This arrived as we sat down to lunch. The Gorse Fox has spent most of the afternoon getting her set up on the new phone. The main driver for this was the facial recognition for log-in. The Silver Vixen's arthritis is making the idea of fingerprint recognition completely useless. Facial recognition seems to work fine. The Gorse Fox has also set up Apple Pay for her. Hopefully this will work out well. The Gorse Fox was certainly impressed with the touch and feel of the new phone, and the speed of its response. It took a couple of attempts to get the Apple Watch connected correctly, but that is now sorted.

OC>65

 Fairly usual start to the day. with Ellie coming in to snuggle up just before 7:00. The Gorse Fox was up first and then, once everything was done, we dropped Ellie at school.

The Gorse Fox had plans. The Silver Vixen dropped him at the railway station and he headed up to London. His lunch appointment was scheduled for 13:00 and he had some time to kill and decided to walk to the venue.

Swinging round past Buckingham Palace, he had planned to cut through Green Park. It was soon clear that Plan B was required. Huge areas around the Palace were blocked off as contractors worked on the preparation for the Queen's Jubilee. Green Park was inaccessible from the Place. The Gorse Fox had to divert down Constitution Hill and then enter Green Park from the far end. This must have added a kilometre or so to the walk, but there was plenty of time. 

He looped up along Piccadilly and then headed north towards Oxford Street, stopping just south, in D'Arblay Street. It had been a lovely walk.

The destination was Vasco and Piero's Pavillion Restaurant. This is a fine Italian Restaurant run by an Old Columban. The event was the Spring Old Columban Over-65's lunch. This was the first time for a few years that we were able to hold this, due to Covid.

As the Gorse Fox arrived another OC arrived and we stood outside chatting and getting to know each other. He was from the year below the Gorse Fox and had spent that last decade or two in Australia, but was now back in England. We made our way in and formed the advance party for the stragglers who were yet to come. There were about 12-15 of us all together.

The most important aspect of this particular get together was that the Gorse Fox's friends Michael N and Charlie W were both present.

Charlie was a couple of years ahead of the Gorse Fox at school, but we had studied together in the monastery and Charlie had ended up teaching at SCC and the at St Benedict's.

Michael (and his brother, Peter) was in the same class as the Gorse Fox and we had actually travelled to the USA together in '68 and studied there for year. Michael now lives in the South of France, but comes over to visit his mum every couple of months.

The lunch was excellent. The Gorse Fox enjoyed a meat platter to start with, then, after much deliberation, chose the tagliatelle as a main course. The meal was washed down with plenty of wine and the odd beer and finished off with a chocolate fudge brownie. Perfect. We carried on chatting until well after 16:00. Michael and Charlie decided to go on to the pub. The Gorse Fox ducked out at this point and headed for the tube back to Victoria.

The Silver Vixen collected the Gorse Fox from Bognor Regis railway station at about 18:30 and that was the end of a lovely day.

Podiacast

 Typical start to the day, though it was lovely and bright and sunny. Ellie usually has PE on Thursday and has to go to school suitably attired. Not today. It was the class photos today, so she had to go to school in uniform and take her PE kit with her.

Once back from school we had our coffee and waited for Ocado before heading off to Sainsbury's. The Gorse Fox noticed how few people were wearing masks while shopping. Our local Covid numbers have dropped right back from the peak a few weeks ago, but people have clearly just given up.

We had to go into Chichester. We went a bit early and grabbed some lunch before the Silver Vixen got on with some shopping and the Gorse Fox had his appointment with the chiropodist. This was a new chap. Clearly very experienced, he used to work for (spit) Arsenal and then went in to private practice. He also spent time in the US soon after the Gorse Fox was out there studying. We had plenty to talk about! He was also very gentle, and the Gorse Fox's feet felt very good afterwards.

The phone rang. It was "Sir". He won't be able to attend tomorrow's Over 65's Lunch. His wife has just tested positive for Covid. Shame. Having been disappointed by that, the Gorse Fox also got a text message from Michael N.; he has arrived over from his home in France and was confirming that he will be there tomorrow.

Puffy

 We had the usual start to the day. Ellie was soon fed, washed and ready for school. Meanwhile, the Silver Vixen had to get ready for Pilates and the Gorse Fox (already ready for football) kept things ticking over downstairs. Once Ellie was dropped at school we finished our preparations and headed off to our morning destinations.

The Gorse Fox was playing on the yellow team today.  On paper, the teams looked pretty well balanced and, at the back, the Gorse Fox and fellow defender, John, were certainly under the cosh. Bit by bit our passing carved the oranges open and by half-time we were 2-0 up. In the second half the oranges came out with renewed vigour. We stood firm in defence. Nothing got through. The Gorse Fox started to pick out some long passes and managed to provide an outlet for the attackers when they were blocked. Slowly we started to rack up some more goals. Several were crossed off - not for any reason other than sportsmanship. For example, at one point the oranges were so sure the ref would blow for a high ball, that they stopped. The ref didn't blow, it wasn't a high ball, and we scored. The oranges started to whine, so we just discounted the goal, got on with the game, and scored again anyway. Final score was about 5-0 or 6-0. It was good fun.

We got a call from the school. Ellie's eyes were all puffy and she was a bit upset. There was nothing really that we could do - we were due to collect her within 30 minutes anyway. It was clearly hay-fever and we had forgotten to give her some anti-histamines this morning. She is fine now that she is home.

Smart

 It was grey but dry. The sun tried to breakthrough but was not up to the job, today. Urban-Cub dropped Ellie round to us and headed off to work. Ellie had only just woken up was still a bit groggy when she arrived but soon snapped into action. In fact, by the time she was washed and dressed, she was eager to work on one of her number games before school.

Once Ellie was at school, the morning was fairly quiet. The Gorse Fox spent quite a while examine wiring diagrams and documents regarding the central heating system. He was trying to work out the best approach for installing the Tado Smart Thermostat. In the end he concluded that it would take some deeper investigation - on another day.

We were having smart meters installed today. It was necessary to clear some space in garage for the change of gas meters, and to switch off all the relevant household hardware in preparation for the power to be off. With the number of machines the Gorse Fox has, this took a little while and triggered the though that he should develop and automatic shutdown cascade for all the systems.

The chap turned up and both meters were changed, checked, and activated within 90 minutes. It is interesting (and occasionally sobering) to see the breakdown of gas and electricity consumption in terms of pence per minute. The Gorse Fox was chatting with the engineer. He had come across from Southampton, explaining that the local depot had sacked most of its staff for pilfering fuel... claiming 2000 miules-worth of fuel for less than 500 miles of actual travel. Stupid.

We spent the late afternoon with Ellie and her homework. She was eager to get into it as soon as she got home, so the Gorse Fox took the first shift, the the Silver Vixen took over when it was time for the cooking to start. The Gorse Fox does hope this eagerness to learn grows with her.

Every Day a Bank Holiday

 Today is the May Bank Holiday. The Gorse Fox doesn't have to go to work, but then, being retired, that is true of every day. He still finds it absolutely amazing that he can wake up in the morning and choose exactly what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. Retirement really is a blessing.

There really is very little to report today.The Silver Vixen did some ironing this morning and the Gorse Fox did some admin. That's about it. This afternoon, it was warm in the Orangery so we sat out there; the Silver Vixen was reading and the Gorse Fox was reviewing the latest outrages on social media. We've just finished dinner and that's about that for today.

Goals

It was a quiet start. It was dry but cloudy. The Gorse Fox had football on the schedule and the Silver Vixen was planning a visit to a local nursery.

We swapped the cars around and the Gorse Fox headed off to Chichester. The Coventry Hobbit was playing with us today and the east that the Gorse Fox could do was to give him a lift. A tournament was under way at Ford. It was hard to see just how many games were in play at any one time, but the Gorse Fox would have thought at least 10, with ages ranging for 6-ish up to teenagers. Thank goodness they were parked at the other side of the Arena... allowing us to park without a problem.

The game started with a bang and within 10 minutes the Gorse Fox's "yellow" team were about 4 or 5-1 up. It was clear that the sides were wrong. We swapped two players At half time the score was still in the yellow's favour, but only about 9-6 (the Gorse Fox had scored). At half-time, we again adapted the teams. This was a lot closer. Goals started to  rack up. The Coventry Hobbit scored at least 5 and at the final whistle, the orange team had pipped us by 1 goal. It was great fun... up until the point where the Coventry Hobbit tried to wipe-out his father-in-law. The pain will, eventually, die down - but he needn't expect a Birthday present in September! :)

It has been a quiet afternoon with the exception of Jasper deciding on two separate occasions to vomit, This meant using the spot-cleaner to sort out the mess on the carpets. At least it has been a while since his last mess.