Sunday

We went to church with swimming gear yesterday. No, we weren’t going to a Baptist church, but yes we were going to not our normal church, with a swimming party afterwards. We went back to where we used to live, to the Catholic church that some friends go to. In fact it’s between our old house and my old office.

We were a bit late, but parked nearby. I’m glad they’ve had a porch put on in the last couple of years so you go in through the back of the church rather than coming in at the front! (I’ve only been there once before, pre-porch.) F, our friend who goes there, was waiting near where we went in and took Katy and the children out during a hymn as the other children had already gone out for Sunday School. A didn’t want to be left, so Katy returned in a little with her. The children rejoined us later on for Communion itself, but unfortunately Katy had to pop out for some fresh air as the incense was not agreeing with her eyes and nose.

After the service was coffee, children running around outside, but only for a bit as we had a party to go to. I hope that M feels OK to go back there with F and family but not us at least some of the time, so that we can all go to a church where we feel most at home.

We picked up a little food to keep the wolf from the door (and not so much as to trigger cramps) on the way to the pool. The pool itself was weird – the air was very warm but the water cold (as it always seems to be there). But all the children enjoyed themselves – ours and the others. I’m glad that ours are all now water-confident enough to enjoy things like that, even if they’re not swimming the channel yet. They played with friends, random adults (friends’ parents) and so on for an hour. A didn’t quite last the distance as her lips were going a bit blue after about 50 minutes but she was still happy.

Then to the dry bit of the party. Lots of delicious food in a gym with balloons. Katy asked me to make sure our lot had something other than just crisps, which I did apart from for A. She had sat there for ages before Katy spotted the still empty plate in front of her and sorted her out 😳 . I was too busy having a techie / business conversation with one of the many dads involved in IT. Finally it was time to clear up and pack away – fortunately there was lots of food left over, some of which we took with us.

As we were pulling out of the car park, Katy suggested we phone her dad to ask about her grandfather. He was still in hospital after his fall, and up to seeing Katy plus a small number of children. So we made an impromptu change of plans and drove 70 miles to her grandfather’s house where her dad is staying to look after him. Not long after we arrived, Katy and David set off for the hospital in David’s splendid red Morris Minor Traveller (smiles from M), leaving me with all the children and instructions to pick tomatoes from the greenhouse and give them tea (the children, not the tomatoes). The seats in the Morris weren’t right for taking children easily, which is why they all stayed.

Fortunately it was just time for the start of Scrapheap Challenge. Our English lot all like it, and M liked it when he watched it on our tiny black and white set, so watching it on Poppa’s big colour TV was great! It was about water-powered cars, so I learned about Pelton wheels, which was handy later when David talked to me about how he showed his neighbours that hydro power just doesn’t work where he lives.

Anyway, I just managed to hold the show on the road with Scrapheap Challenge, creating tea and sending the big 3 out to the greenhouse with a saucepan. (I showed them how David had wanted the tomatoes picked, which were the various containers of nasty chemicals to not touch and left them to it.) Shortly afterwards Katy and David arrived, sooner than I expected, as Poppa had been very much improved but still tired. She joined in the picking and we now have loooads of tomatoes plus some cooking apples.

David then produced a learner bagpipe thing he’d bought for himself. It was a mouthpiece directly on the top of the chanter (the recorder bit), rather than having the bag in between the two bits as normal. We all had a go, looking a bit like Indian snake charmers and sounding much less tuneful! He then also produced a child sized full set of bagpipes he’d bought for the children. Unfortunately there was a leak somewhere that defeated us, so will need fixing before they make noise.

By this time it was getting late, so we all got back in the car and headed off. We got quite a bit further through Kenneth Branagh reading The Magician’s Nephew by the time we got home. Who needs in-car DVD players when you’re driving through the darkness a bit after bedtime, listening to an excellent story read very well?