Day Out

 We had been invited to Jane and Trevor's for lunch. Cousteau-Cub and Ellie would be coming with us... even though it did involve venturing into bandit country. We collected Ellie, loading the car with iPads and bags full of food before stopping off in Chichester to pick up Cousteau-Cub. The weather was absolutely foul but fortunately the roads weren't too busy.

Young Mask was at home when we got there and immediately started to entertain Ellie. They dug out an old bag of Lego and Ellie insisted they build a defence against lava. The Mask, Ellie, and Cousteau-Cub were spread across the floor with piles of Lego as Ellie gave her instructions. 

The rest of us got on with general family chat, news, medical conditions, gardening, iPhones and computers. These subjects seemed to be the basis for most of the day as they were revisited at intervals. 

Jane had laid on a feast, as usual. Everyone tucked in, and Ellie continued her food marathon for the day. Just as the needle was pointing at "Full" on the gauge, she then trotted out with cheesecakes, crumble, jelly and various custards and creams. Gauge had to be reset so that the feast could continue.

After lunch, there was an exchange of presents, lots more chat, and lots of tea. Possibly, there was too much tea as, despite a pre-journey comfort break,  the Gorse Fox was bursting by the time we dropped Cousteau-Cub off. We had set off homewards at about 18:30 and had a fairly clear run. The Gorse Fox did, however, have a momentary lapse of concentration and ended up going north on the A3 instead of south. This meant a 5 mile detour - but at least the traffic was light. We dropped Cousteau-Cub off, then went home. Ellie was staying with us overnight. She was no trouble, and had been immensely well-behaved all day.