Well that was a pretty good Bank Holiday Friday. Glorious weather and lots of fun with the family. It’s amazing how much easier lockdown is when you take work out of the equation. Please note I said “easier” and not “easy”!
This morning was all about getting some jobs done around the house and this afternoon we had the remote street VE Day afternoon tea party which was a great success.
All in all it was a relatively uneventful day in lockdown but there’s always enough going on to warrant a top 5:
1. So one of my jobs this morning was to tackle the humongous ironing pile that has built up in recent weeks. It’s been sitting there staring at me and I’ve been putting it off as who really needs ironed clothes during lockdown? But enough was enough and I took the plunge this morning. Item and item, including some of the kid’s clothes I’d forgotten they even had! I am mortified to admit that when I finally got to the very bottom I found Emma’s school uniform that had clearly been washed after her last day at school and not touched since. That’s a helluva long time! 😳
2. We had a lovely opportunity to go for a family walk at lunchtime. Lovely because of the weather but also because during a work day normally I take the kids out whilst Steph is on the computer so it was a change to go out as a foursome. We really hadn’t got very far when I heard the familiar cry from E “I need the toilet!” Now, I am used to this and take it with a bit of a pinch of salt and then if she persists I encourage her to speed up so we can get home to the toilet. Inevitably when we finally get there she’s forgotten all about needing to go anyway. But Steph was far more sympathetic and immediately told her to walk just a bit further and then she could go as there was no one around. Fair enough, I thought, there are some bushes coming up and I’ll let the girls sort themselves out. Little did I realise that what was about to happen was a full blown removal of shorts and pants from under the dress and then a rather strange splits arrangement to allow her to pee right in the middle of the path. My attempt to take a photo to use in my diary was quickly blocked by Steph, but next time I think I’ll just stick to rushing the little monkey home! 🐒
3. We had the big VE Day celebrations ready for our street today and almost everyone joined in. Flags were flying, lots of red, white and blue and 40s costumes, bunting, music and a bit of very lush afternoon tea. Steph really knows how to knock up a good spread! We even managed to get the little man to sleep at the perfect time so we could sit on the drive without him trying to single handedly breach social distancing guidelines for everyone else present. It occurred to me half way through the afternoon that we are really lucky to live where we do and we have some wonderful neighbours. Sitting out on the drive in the sun, drinking prosecco and eating cucumber sandwiches and cake and chatting to your neighbours is perhaps not an everyday event but it was particularly special today given everything that is going on. Alas, the boy woke up and started playing with the balloons, throwing the gravel around and trying to hide in other people’s gardens whilst we chased after him. Some things remain constant after all! 🥂
4. So you are already aware that M has been moved into a big boy bed during lockdown and as a result we have had to fit a baby gate onto his bedroom doorframe to stop a quick escape on an evening or early on a morning. Well, tonight I put him to bed ready for our Street Quiz (more of that below) and he suddenly appeared downstairs. Steph immediately assumed I just hadn’t shut the gate properly so I was dispatched upstairs again to put him back in his bed. 5 minutes later and he’s back in the living room, this time with his sister who we assumed had let him out of the baby gate. Re-fed and watered they were both taken back upstairs and yet again M came plodding down the stairs. By this point the truth was clear for all to see – he has already worked out how to open the gate by himself which means that bedtimes (and mornings are going to be even more challenging than usual!) Either that, or we’re off to invest is a more secure baby gate, perhaps with a combination lock! 🔒
5. The day finished with the first ever Great Nook Night In – Lockdown Legends Pub Quiz which was the snappily titled inaugural online quiz for our street. I was able to have a rest from hosting duties which was great as instead I could just take part and demonstrate how bad my general knowledge really is! Fear not however, as I had my wife and chief accomplice to assist and with both a Disney and a James Bond round I knew she would be in her element. And she was. Except when she wasn’t. Or when I wasn’t. Or worse still when we both thought we knew the right answer but they were different answers. Who has the casting vote in an equal marriage? Well, I can tell you that taking it in turns backfired big time and every time that happened we plonked for the wrong answer. Cue the retribution and post quiz analysis – we will definitely need to pull our socks up for the next one! ⁉️
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