Swimming in concrete

Work has begun again on the shed...

This week we have had a moat dug out, one metre deep, all the way round the shed. Work began on Thursday and when the guy with the digger came back on Friday his first thought was to check that we were still standing and that the shed had not become a lean-to over night. It was slightly disconcerting when the bucket of the digger scrapped along one of the walls a bit of wallpaper - well, wall really - fell off in the bedroom.

As the digger man and J had been digging the trench at one point they thought that they may have hit a main drain as so much water gushed out from under the house. About 5 minutes later when the water had finally subsided it became apparent that this was all the water that had been trapped under the Shed. We have effectively been floating here for the past year.

The concrete arrived on the Friday and three loads were gushed into the moat. Poor old J was up to his knees in it making it all level out and so I decided that the nicest thing I could do was offer a good workman a cup of tea. On opening the back door the dogs bolted for a run and fell straight into a metre of concrete...

Hen tried to swim in it and in a panic Dot then joined him. Thankfully the two digger men helped me pull them out and then I had to spend the next half an hour hosing and then bathing them clean. I have to point out that this was no mean feat as having to lift a five stone dog covered in concrete into a bath when he has absolutely zero desire to play ball is quite an struggle.

Mother of invention this week...as the concrete had to be poured right round the house the pipe work for the bath had to be removed. This meant that I could fill a bath and not empty it. Once I had washed 2 cement ridden dogs into the bath you can imagine what the water and bath looked like. So I wanted a bath...I got the washing up bucket and for 15 mins loaded the water out of the bath and into the only piped in basin to flush it away. I then mopped up the rest of the water with a cloth and wrung it out. I then scrapped all of the remaining concrete out of the bath. I then cleaned the bath and underwent the same washing up bucket labour to rinse it. Half and hour after beginning this...I got a stinking hot bath! It is not just J who works things out here you know!

Bed

I should not be typing this at this time of night as my new hobby is going to bed early. It is not a sign of age rather that the sheets on the bed have been put through a brand new process and ebay purchase. We are now owners of an ‘elnapress’. Now for those of you not around in the 70’s and 80’s or the owner of a small B&B go and look them up. For the grand total of 5.99 English squids the elna sits pretty on top of the washing machine almost begging to iron your newly laundered washing. You just turn it on and away you go...everything is now steam pressed within an inch of its life...but when it comes to sheets nothing can bring back that snugglomatic feeling the way it can.

It has been bloody cold here – apparently the coldest for 18 years – but more importantly it snowed! We could not, as couldn’t the whole of Southern England, get into town for 2 days. The trains could not run the boys could not go to school; the car could not get down the driveway. We were surrounded by white soft snow and it was fab. Both dogs went wild and as they are both white at night we could not see where they were in the garden. It was only when a spotty black eye appeared to move up and down on the grass that I could see that Dottie was there.

The little boys and I spent our annual Saturday in Brighton as Mummy and the lads the weekend before the snow came. We booked into the Albion Hotel in Brighton and set off for our adventure. We had the best room going. To me – sad old eyes that I have – it was a slightly unloved and run down room with 4 beds in it – to the boys – fresh and fun – it was a palace. The curtains (cutting out the view of the scaffolding) were a magnificent 20 feet long and the beds with their valances and bedspreads were the height of decadence as they did not have boring old duvets. Having checked in Alfie became Keyholder General and off we went to spend time and money on the Pier. We had a ball. Every driving and flying game was taken on and far too many doughnuts eaten. The next day we went to the Aquarium and just had fun! I have determined that a mum and sons day will happen every year – this is number 3 so I must mean it!
I finally officially turned 40! Another clever tactic I will continue. I had my birthday party 3 weeks after my real one and so for many – I am only JUST 40...

We hired the perfect little pub – the Skimmington Castle on Reigate Heath – and filled it with friends new and old. I had a great time and judging by my hangover, partied perfectly...

All happy, warm (now) and off to find those elnapressed sheets