Farewell

The morning was unremarkable. It was the usual procession of rise, breakfast, school, and the home for the Ocado delivery and then the trip to Sainsbury's.

The afternoon was different. Urban-Cub would be collecting Ellie and taking her swimming. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox joined up with Tinkerbell and Two Hats and went the Chichester Crematorium to say farewell to one of our neighbours. With several roads closed, the route to Chichester was very busy, but as we were in front of the "principals'" car we didn't worry too much. The service was very tasteful and it was sad to say goodbye to one of the world's genuinely nice men. One saying of his that was quoted was based on his personal demand for punctuality. "Leave early, if you arrive and have time to spare - waste it".

We didn't join the family and friends at the reception. There were mourners from all over the world and it was a time for family and close friends.

Back home the Gorse Fox collected some fish and chips. This was the first time for many months. It's easy to forget how good they are. As we were clearing away, Urban-Cub arrived with Ellie who would be staying overnight again tonight.

Yes Chef

Ellie was dropped off. It was clear she was still not fully awake as it took several minutes before she uttered a sound. Slowly she surfaced. Then BANG! she was back to her usual self. We dropped her off at school then went home to get our kit together.

The Gorse Fox drove us across to Worthing. The Silver Vixen was dropped off for Pilates and the Gorse Fox continued on to play football. Todays game was 5-vs-6 on a large pitch. The Gorse Fox was playing as a midfielder for once. It was a good game with one player swapping sides at halftime. In the end we lost 7-6, but at least the Gorse Fox can console himself with the memory of a nicely taken goal.

This afternoon, after a restful hour, we went and collected Ellie. She can be a little fussy with her food and the Gorse Fox decided that he would try to get her back onto pasta and bolognaise by asking her to help cook it. So it was that Ellie became chef for dinner. We cooked the mince, then prepared all the veg. The veg was cooked until soft, the mince added back in, then a bottle of sauce added. She did a very good job (closely supervised throughout). As she had cooked it all, she was happy to eat it, and tucked in to a large portion. The Gorse Fox will have to try this with some other recipes.

Ellie is staying with us tonight and is currently enjoying a batch under the watchful eyes of the Silver Vixen and Jasper.

Term time

 Ellie slept well, not stirring until 6:45. She then exploded into life, ready for the start of the new school term. We went through the standard operating procedures for a school day - with the new deadline of 8:30. The school is starting all classes 10 minutes earlier this term.

With Ellie deposited at school we strolled home, arriving just as the rain started,  and then had breakfast over the news aggregators. After breakfast we got on with some household and administrative chores until lunchtime.

It was still raining mid-afternoon, so the Gorse Fox left the Silver Vixen in warm and dry and went off to collect Ellie. As usual, she was ravenous when she got back, but once she had eaten she was intent on playing some board games with us both until the Gorse Fox had to prepare dinner.

Urban-Cub has just collected Ellie. It was her familiarisation day at her new, much bigger store. She starts there full time next week, but had to go through the hand-over today. She is very excited and it sounds as if it will be a huge improvement in terms of staff.

Recovery

 Another beautifully slow start to the day. By the time we were both up, fed and caffeinated it was time to do some quick chores before Ellie was dropped off.

Just after Ellie arrived, Lady Penelope and Old Bill knocked. It was so good to see Old Bill after his torrid time with his health over the last few weeks. It was nice to see him on the mend, though it will clearly be some time before he is fully recovered. Small steps.

Ellie was with us for most of the day. She is eager to get back to school tomorrow. So eager, in fact, that she insisted on sitting at her desk and playing "teachers" most of the morning and early afternoon. It was good that she worked her way through page after page of a workbook she was given for Christmas.

Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox seems to be coming down with a cold or has an allergy that is causing him fits of sneezing and runny nose and eyes. Frustrating!

Firing Up

 Well the New Year managed to sneak in without our intervention. In fact, switching off the Kindle at 11:30, the Gorse Fox went straight to sleep and didn't wake until 7:15 this morning (the great benefit of a clear conscience).

The Silver Vixen pottered down when she woke and had breakfast together and read the new aggregators. That done, The Gorse Fox retired to his study to shut down last year's accounts and fire up the new spreadsheet for 2023. This is always an opportunity to clean things up and to refines the spreadsheet further. This consumed a couple of very contented hours.

Having finished the first book of the year (started yesterday), the Gorse Fox got stuck in to the second book and has spent most of the afternoon flipping the Kindle pages.

The Gorse Fox has just finished dinner. The chicken, the beans, and the Brussels were fine, but the potato concoction that he made in the Air Fryer was dreadful. This particular dish needs more work!

Shutting down 2022

 Today was a day for shutting down the last vestiges of 2022. There was little that had to be achieved but several things to tie up. The first of these was to have a lie-in, and so it was that the Gorse Fox didn't reach out for coffee until 7:45.

With coffee sorted, newspapers (is there a better noun for an agglomeration of news articles consumed electronically via the web?) read, and breakfast sorted, the Gorse Fox joined the Zoom call with his cousins. The eldest (Sam) of the next generation of these cousins hit 50 today, so that was the focus of the call; well that and Covid which has struck Sarah over Christmas.

The rest of the day has seen the first entries in the new blog from contributors other than the Gorse Fox. This is exciting but now he knows that it is accessible and working, the Gorse Fox has to privatise the blog so that only members can view it. He has no doubt that this will cause problems for some, but it should allow us to talk freely without worries of GDPR etc.

The Gorse Fox has spent the afternoon reading while the Silver Vixen has been sorting out and cutting out patterns for her next project.

The best news of the day was that Old Bill has been released from hospital and is back home. The Gorse Fox  is not sure any of us expected him to recover this quickly, but the surgeon and the team at the hospital were happy for him to go home.

As things stand, we are not planning to see the New Year in.

Cards

 There was a very wet start to the day, but it seems to have dried up during the afternoon. The Gorse Fox had a lie-in this morning, not rising until nearly 7:30. He was aware that he had had some bizarre dreams during the night, but by the time he made some coffee they had melted away.

We had agreed to take Lady Penelope in to St Richard's Hospital at 10:00. She was visiting Old Bill but had a prior appointment with the nurses to learn about the care he would need. Since then we have heard that, with a following wind, he could be home tomorrow - much to everyone's amazement.

We went on to Chichester from the hospital. The Silver Vixen has received a new debit card from the bank and we cannot seem to get it to activate. We dropped in to Nat West and chatted with the chap there. A new PIN has been requested and hopefully that will sort everything out.

The rest of the day has been remarkably quiet. The Gorse Fox finished his 97th book since the summer and started on the 98th. The 98th is a new author (to the Gorse Fox) and the start of another series. The Silver Vixen carried on working through her current book.

The other distraction, today, has been a flurry of emails from the Band of Brothers regarding pictures and memories from our collective youth. Despite the original saying, nostalgia IS what it is cracked up to be.

Quiet, so quiet

 It was long after 7:00 before Ellie appeared in our bedroom. "Grandpa, my clock says it is after 7 and the light has turned green" she announced. The Gorse Fox replied "That's fine, you can sit and watch the iPad as there is no hurry today" and so she went back to her room and we had another15 minutes in bed.

Pistol Pete was coming to pick Ellie up at 10:00, so we (by that, assume the Silver Vixen) had to ensure she was washed and dressed in plenty of time. While they were going through their ablutions, the Gorse Fox took care of the Ocado delivery. When Ellie emerged she made straight for her new desk and chair and sat there colouring until Pistol Pete arrived.

The rest of the morning was occupied with a trip to Sainsbury's and some research as to how the Silver Vixen and Cousteau-Cub can best get up to London at the end of next week (given that the best paid railway worker in Europe are on strike for more money and no changes to their ridiculously cushy working conditions).

We both spent the afternoon with our books until Ellie was dropped back. She immediately returned to her desk where she switched on her tablet and proceeded to explore until she found an app that made fart noises. That was it. She was amused from then until Urban-Cub came to collect her.

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.

And breathe

 The Gorse Fox had set his alarm. He was expecting Ellie to be dropped off... nobody had told him that there were other plans. Oh well!

It has been a very quiet day. During the morning we pottered around the house tidying away the various items of cutlery, crockery, food, and heavens knows what else, left from yesterday. Eventually, everything was straight once more (well, at least until the decorations come down next week).

The Gorse Fox settled down with the shopping list for Ocado. He did the first pass and left the Silver Vixen to polish off the bits he missed. He then settled down with his books. After lunch (cold meat from yesterday) he took Lady Penelope to the hospital to visit Old Bill. It sounds as if he is well on the route to recovery and he is aiming to be home for his birthday at the end of next week. That is still seen as immensely optimistic, but it is amazing what the physios can do.

The Silver Vixen came with the Gorse Fox when we went back to collect Lady Penelope, but then we both sat down with our books for the rest of the afternoon.

Family (all)

 Boxing Day saw the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen hosting the family. Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit would be joining us today, and of course Urban-Cub, Ellie, and Darren would be here.

The Gorse Fox had the menu planned and (needless to say) a spreadsheet printed out with all of the calculated timings for the preparation of lunch. He didn't want to overdo it this year so limited food to that which would feed the six adults, Ellie, and any passing regiment of the British Army. 

Both ovens and the Air Fryer were pressed into service. Vegetables were prepared, carrots were cooked in butter and sugar, 2.5kgs of potatoes were roasted (a further pack of 2.5kgs of potatoes had been kept on standby in case the Gorse Fox's nephew - the Mask - should turn up, not that he was expected, but you can't be too careful). All of the vegetables were done, the ham, the turkey, and a side of salmon. 

We sat done and tucked in.

The Gorse Fox was blessed. He had his whole family round him. Better still, as he had cooked, they did the clearing up!

After lunch was over we dealt with the presents. Ellie, who can now read fairly well, checked the labels handed and them out. We were all immensely lucky and received some wonderful and well considered gifts. 

Once all of the paper was cleared away and there was some visible floor space, the game Twister was laid out and while the Gorse Fox or Silver Vixen spun the wheel, we watched as others tied themselves in knots on the floor.

By early evening, everyone had headed home. As far as we could tell nobody required hospitalisation as a result of Twister and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen finished tidying around and settled down for a quiet evening in front of the TV.

Family (part) and Friends

 The big day had arrived. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen had been invited to Urban-Cub and Ellie's for Christmas lunch so we had a fairly leisurely morning. Because Cousteau-Cub had been on night duty, she and the Coventry Hobbit wouldn't be joining us - but we will make up for that tomorrow.

Ellie had been with Pistol Pete overnight and was dropped back home late morning. We turned up soon after. Considering Urban-Cub's is a fairly small house, she had arranged it so that we could all sit round a couple of round tables laid in a figure of eight. 

Darren's mum and step-dad arrived and the festivities began. We had met Barb (Darren's mum) in the past - an absolutely lovely woman - but had never met David before. He was nothing like the image that the Gorse Fox had created in his mind. As he owns a civil engineering firm, the Gorse Fox had an image of a big bull of a man, whereas he looked as if he would be more at home behind the boardroom table of a consulting firm. We got on like a house on fire.

As usual, Urban-Cub laid on an absolute feast, with Darren helping as sous chef. We had all of the traditional Christmas food and all the accompanying trimmings (including some Yorkshire puddings the size of a small county).

Christmas presents were focused on Ellie, obviously. She seemed to gain several more Barbie dolls. (Heaven alone knows how many she has now). She also got a 2-wheeled scooter (as opposed to the 3-wheeled variety she has been riding).

By late afternoon it was all getting a bit much for Ellie, Barb and David said their goodbyes and headed off home. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox left soon after. Ellie was going to need a good night's sleep as tomorrow it all begins again.

Merry Christmas

 Have a happy and Holy Christmas 

Twas the Night before Christmas

If you are expecting a poem (given the title of the post) - forget it. The Gorse Fox has not been inspired. 

The day started with the usual cousins' call, though it did include some cousins that the Gorse Fox had not previously met. It was lovely that the extended family should continue to chat despite the distance between us.

Once the call was done, the Gorse Fox prepared the gammon and put it in the oven for the next three and a half hours. When it was finally done, it was wrapped in foil and allowed to cool slowly throughout the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Silver Vixen and the Gorse Fox cleared the worktops and set about wrapping all of the Christmas presents. It only took a couple of hours which was a great relief considering it often continued into the early hours in days gone by. (Though, not having any little ones with us made a huge difference as to when we could start).

With everything under control, we retired to the lounge and spent the afternoon with our books.

As an aside, the Gorse Fox has been trying to get the new blog's other contributors set up properly. It appears that what works for a test account, hasn't worked for their accounts. He suspects this is a Google problem... and awaits a comment from the experts. 

Blog blogged

 Ellie was dropped off soon after 7:00 this morning. The Gorse Fox had forgotten to set his alarm but woke during the night in order to check the plumbing. The alarm popped into his mind and before he returned to bed, he sorted it out for the correct time.

The Silver Vixen had an appointment at the hairdresser during the morning. Ellie was left in charge with strict instructions from the Silver Vixen to make sure grandpa behaved and didn't get into any mischief. 

As if he would!

Once the Silver Vixen was home, the Gorse Fox headed off to Lidl in Shripney. He was after their crackling covered stuffing rings. Clearly so had everyone else. Like Urban-Cub's Chichester store, they were out. He made do with a pizza for Christmas Eve and some Stilton for the evenings after Christmas. Despite his worst fears, the store was almost deserted. Clearly, his trip to Sainsbury's yesterday had been peak moron shopping time.

We had a quiet couple of hours with Ellie entertained by her iPad, then playing hide and seek, then some colouring, and finally some "word search" and "spot the difference" games.

While she was entertained by the iPad, the Gorse Fox managed to complete the write-up for his new blog's contributors. As all of them were unfamiliar with blogging, the Gorse Fox had to provide a complete dummy's introduction to help them get started. Once this was published and publicised, he actually wrote his first entry in the blog in question. Before you go searching - it is a private blog and unless you too spent several monastic years in the 1960's and have been invited to contribute, it is pointless. It is private.

We spent the afternoon watching some kids films with Ellie before getting her dinner and preparing her to go to Pistol Pete until Christmas Day. 

Behind You

Ellie was perfectly happy to amuse herself with her iPad until we got up at very respectable 7:30. The Gorse Fox was a man on a mission. There was the weekly shop, combined with the Christmas shop, to do. As soon as he was suitably caffeinated and sustained with some scrambled eggs, he donned his survival gear and headed to Sainsbury’s.

The store was quieter than expected, possibly because it was only 9:00. As the Gorse Fox shopped, it did start to build up. Not in the usual way, where single shoppers or pairs of shoppers wandered round in an ordinary fashion. No today they seemed to have invaded in huge family groups so that they could block the aisles while standing around debating who would eat what and who likes what. Despite this, the Gorse Fox completed his task within an hour, cashed his Nectar points and headed for the car.

The Gorse Fox is very proud of himself - despite every temptation, he did not “go postal”, he did not use the trolley as a battering ram, he did not scream at the zombies as they wandered aimlessly around the store. There were no arrests and he was not carted away in a straight-jacket.

Back home, Ellie was counting down to 3 o’clock. Every few minutes she would check how much longer it was… and there were several hours to go. We kept her occupied with “hide and seek” and “hunt the egg”. Eventually, it was time so we headed into Bognor.

We had tickets for the pantomime “Beauty and the Beast” at the Alexandra Theatre on the seafront. We arrived in plenty of time and had some excellent seats. (Having said that, all the seats have a brilliant view and the seats are quite comfy). Ellie was a bit subdued. She was worried that she would be frightened by the Beast. 

When the show started, it was very loud, and she wasn’t too happy. After about the first 20 minutes or so, she started to relax and get into the story. She started to join in and laugh, dance, and shout. The spell was broken and she really enjoyed it in the end. To be fair, we too enjoyed it. There was plenty of subtle humour for the adults as well as the more slapstick humour for the little ones.

We dropped Ellie back home after the show, and after a quick drink, went home ourselves for a quiet evening.

Shelved

 The Gorse Fox hates the floating shelves that are so frequently displayed in DIY stores. He has never had a shelf that has remained level over any length of time. So it was that the small shelf under the kitchen TV started. to droop at the front. Enough was enough. New supports were delivered yesterday and this morning, the old shelf was removed and the replacement installed. Much to the amazement of all concerned, all the plugs and connections were correctly replaced and everything worked!

A WhatsApp discussion last night commented that many of the memories that we share would be better placed in some repository that people could read through. The Gorse Fox took this as a challenge and suggested a blog. There seemed to be a consensus, so the Gorse Fox has set up a new blog which supports multiple authors and a defined readership. It will take a while to document everything in such a way that it can be understood by one and all, but that's a challenge for another day.

We've had Ellie here this afternoon and she will be staying overnight. The local Rotary or Lions are coming round with their Santa Sleigh this evening. The Gorse Fox has instructions to video the whole shebang.

Chichester

 Our tour of Sussex Cities continued today with a trip into Chichester. It had been a very leisurely start to the day but once we were on the launchpad, there was no stopping us.

We shot round to the pharmacy, queued, and eventually were told to return tomorrow as some of the meds wouldn't be available until then. No problem. The Silver Vixen was not desperate.

We then headed for Chichester. Parking was a bit of a nightmare, but once that was sorted we wandered in to town and stopped at the jewellers. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that caught the Silver Vixen's eye. We strolled on. Other shops were exposed and Boots was raided. We then headed for our favourite jeweller. Not even he could offer something that suited the Silver Vixen's requirement. We raided `Sea Salt" and clutching the relevant purchases we crossed the road for coffee and a snack.

Once home, the Gorse Fox updated the various cards that Silver Vixen had stored on her iPhone. This had just saved some money in Boots, so the Gorse Fox was intent on making sure the Silver Vixen had all the various loyalty cards on her phone in case, like today, she had come out without her wallet.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading up until dinner. Tonight was a concoction made from the leftover pork from Sunday with chorizo, chickpeas, and a tomato sauce. All of this was served with tagliatelle. It was, unexpectedly, delicious.

Brighton

Gosh we had a lot of rain today. The temperature, however, has soared to about 12C, which is a huge leap from last week.

The Gorse Fox took the opportunity to walk into the village and get his hair cut. He clearly timed it to perfection (other than getting soaked) as he was able to sit straight down in the chair and be seen immediately. There was a steady stream of punters arriving and by the time he left, all the barbers were working flat out and all the seats in the waiting area were taken.

Mid afternoon we headed across to Brighton to spend some time with the Silver Vixen's cousins and aunt. The traffic wasn't as bad as expected, but the weather was foul. We had a lovely few hours with them and enjoyed some fish and chips from their local chippie. We heard all about their recent holiday in Singapore and Langkawi. It did sound very nice, and the thought of Singapore is quite enticing... though Langkawi less so.

The Beautiful Game

 The Gorse Fox was up first. It seemed remarkable dark and dingy today, much like the Gorse Fox assumes life up North to be. Rain was forecast, but it hadn't yet arrived. The Gorse Fox had football scheduled so pottered off to Ford just after 9:00.

The lads trickled in and paid their subs. The Gorse Fox allocated them to their teams (as selected by his algorithm). It looked as if it would be close today. The game followed the expected plan. It was close. At half time the yellow team were 4-3 up (1 goal from the Gorse Fox in Orange, in the first half). By the end of a very intense and hard fought second half, the final score was 9-9. The Gorse Fox had contributed 2 further goal, and missed a penalty.

Once home and showered we had a little shopping to collect. This took longer than expected but was immensely successful. Once home, the Silver Vixen returned to the Christmas decorations while the Gorse Fox prepared everything for this evening dinner.

While dinner was cooking, we watched the World Cup Final. The Gorse Fox must put his cards on the table. Despite his attitude towards the French (he won't even drink French wine) - he really wanted France to win. He hates, with a passion, the lionisation of Argentina who are thugs in football kits and utilise all of the dar arts to con the referee and interrupt the game. Argentina won. The Gorse Fox is sorry that bad sportsmanship  is rewarded... and the referee was too much of a coward to hand out the punishments that would have been dealt in another level of the game.