Tuesday 18-01-02 I New Year's Recovery

The first day of the year consisted mostly of me slowly gathering my thoughts, a.k.a. trying to ward off the worst effects of the hangover. It truly was the day after the night before. At least now that the kids are older they don’t need entertaining nearly as much, and because they were also up until 3am with the grown-ups, they were nearly as docile as me.

We had croissants for breakfast and then I stumbled across an Adam Sandler film, Bedtime Stories, which was a bit of easy watching for the Hard of Thinking. It passed the time, but I didn’t really like the ending – in my opinion it was a bit overbaked.

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach with some friends and their dog. Dogs are a great excuse for getting some exercise but we’re not getting one, no matter how often the family plead with me to do so.

In the evening we watched Grandpa’s Great Escape, which was the by now traditional David Walliams Christmas treat. We had watched Ratburger on Sky, and I thought that Sky had done their usual trick of nabbing a terrestrial “jewel”, but it seems that the BBC got the best deal. While Ratburger was great, I think Grandpa’s Great Escape was amazing. It may have been implausible, but it really tugged at the heartstrings in a way that Ratburger just didn’t. Set in the 80s, it had a fantastical quality to start with, and it built on that. The whole cast were brilliant, I thought, and it had all of us in tears by the final act.

I managed to read a few pages of a book which the MiL’s partner has lent me, called Collusion, and also got through a couple of comics – I’ve started reading Surgeon X, which is set in a dystopian future where antibiotics don’t have the same effects as they do today. It’s quite dark, but no less enjoyable for that. My intention (New Year’s Resolution?) is to read more this year, and also document it, so this might figure more prominently in these entries this year…

TTFN.

The Views From Cissbury Ring

So today we cleared our heads with a walk up Cissbury Ring. The views were spectacular...

Sunday 15-06-21 Now We Are Seven

TW has decided to "retire", at the ripe old age of 38 (don't tell her I told you) and so in order to maintain some kind of income she has decided to take in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. Our first two arrived last night, they are Spanish boys aged 14 & 15. They seem polite enough, TW made most conversation with them, of course, and at least they didn't murder us in our beds as we slept. But as I've pointed out elsewhere, they are here for three weeks, there is plenty of time yet. So now we have five children in the house, and we are getting another one next Monday as well. At least it will bring in a penny or two.

Today of course is Father's Day (or is it Fathers' Day?), and so I was given the choice of what I wanted to do. My first choice is always to sit on my bottom and surf the internet, learning things and following stories in the news. However, I don't think that's what TW was offering. I did suggest Sleepy Hollow, but then I decided I wanted to see some views, so we went up to Highdown instead. We sat at the top of Highdown looking out across Goring and Ferring, out to sea, and it was lovely. The sun was shining, it wasn't too hot, it was very restful. Then we walked over Highdown, out towards Arundel, and we did consider striking out for The Spotted Cow, one of the GiL's favourite watering holes. Our only concern was that we did not know how far it actually was. Well, it seems that there and back is approximately 3.75 miles, which was maybe a bit further than we were intending to walk. As I write this, TW is having a nap, and my calves are beginning to complain about the amount of extra work they've had to do today. But it was a good walk, we had a soft drink and some chips when we got to the pub, and the youngest children didn't complain too much on the way back. Result. The students are up in London today, so they weren't with us, but they'll be back later.
All in all, it's been good. I should go and wake TW up in a bit, but I might let her sleep on...
TTFN.

A Trip Up Chanctonbury Ring

This morning I had to wake two of the girls up at 07:20, which is unheard of, mostly. TW was sleeping in, because she had been in A&E until 2am (but that's another story), and to be honest I was starting to panic - how was I going to feed the girls and make sure that they had lunch with them before they left for school?
The reason was that we took a long walk up Chanctonbury Ring yesterday. We had discussed it on Friday night, when we were round at a friend's house; as it turned out, there were four families trekking up the hill yesterday afternoon. I was feeling a bit jaded, and thought a walk and some fresh air might do me some good. I was expecting a 45-minute stroll, and home for a nice cup of tea, but I was wrong. Two and a half hours later, we headed home.
It took about half an hour to get parked, because the car park was full, so we had to wait for a space before we set off. A family had come back to their car, but then decided to dry off the dog, and change their boots, and clean their footwear and take off their coats before vacating their space. That took about twenty minutes, and the hordes were getting impatient. But eventually we gathered and started up the hill. Apparently on Facebook it's classified as a mountain, but I don't think so. It was a bit steep at the start, but we found the rope swings and the children (ten of them) played for a while. The rope swing was a bit of a death trap, but everyone managed to survive, so we headed on with a full complement. The youngest then got a bit grumpy (he is only two) and he went back to the car with his mum. The rest of us headed on. It is quite a nice walk; it's noticeably steep, but it is through woodland, and at this time of year it's lovely. Lots of brown leaves blowing around our feet, falling off the trees. It was quiet and still, and we passed several families all walking their dogs on a warm autumn day.
Once we got through the woodland, we hit the South Downs Way. It was open fields then, and the wind was blowing something fierce. I had a coat with me, because I'm cautious like that, and I kept putting it on to keep the wind off and then taking it off because I was too hot. Ah well, some people, eh? We strode to the top and sat for a while, while the kids frolicked around and ate sweets.
We were quite proud of the fact that our three kids made it to the top without whinging. I guess because there were so many children with us, they were distracted and didn't realise how far they walked...
On the way back, someone suggested we go the steep way, as it was shorter and quicker. What I didn't realise was that it was a hell of a lot steeper, to the extent that when I kicked a couple of stones, they built up their own momentum, and didn't stop (I think) until they got to the bottom... I couldn't walk straight down the slope myself, I had to track horizontally across the incline and hold on to the trees as I went, to stop me falling over. Several of the group resorted to going down on their bums, which would have been the easier option, but I enjoyed the challenge, I suppose I have to admit. I am aching in several places I never knew existed though; I really need to exercise more often. And once we were back at the bottom, we headed back home for a tea of gammon, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese (with yorkshire puddings, beans and carrots). A brilliant way to finish the day. And that explains why the kids were sleeping in this morning, I think...