Saturday - Allotment, Hannahs Fingers, Nat To Town, Brandon and Zak

Nat was still at Brandon’s house when we left to try and clear the allotment. So with Hannah in tow, along with her bike, Deb and I headed for Rosamund Ave site. We’ve not had a chance to go there for a number of weeks, commitments and weather, so we weren’t expecting to find anything edible there. Low and behold, (see photos) it was a jungle. If we were going to archive anything it was down to Deb and me because Hannah was as much use as a chocolate teapot. I don’t mean she was useless at helping no I mean she immediately got on her bike and buggered off to explore the site. Oh my poor bleeding (that’s not a metaphor) hands; Deb had gloves but not muggings and the only way to get a lot of the weeds up was to pull them out of the ground with your, in my case, bare hands. After three hours of doing this my fingers and forearms were on fire. As for my finger nails, three days later I was still trying to get them clean. Well we’d done what we could so it was time for home where we could sort out what, of what we’d picked, was possibly edible. Han turned up and as I was attaching her bike to the rack on the back of the car I heard a piecing scream. Hannah had, again, slammed the car door on her fingers. Unlike last time, when she broke her thumb, this time she managed to slam the door on to her four fingers. Jesus, she went hysterical; in order to calm her down I had to act really cold toward her and kept telling her to stop screaming. I felt terrible doing it but I know from past experience that if you cuddle her at times like this she just gets worse and ends up freaking herself out. Eventually she calmed down enough for us to drive home. Nat was back and preparing to head off into Town, with his mates, to play at the GamesWorkshop. Deb ran Hannah’s fingers under the tap while I got a bowl of cold water for her to put them in. Deb decide to play safe, as I said last time she broke her thumb, and take her to A&E to have her hand X-Rayed. There wasn’t any point in my going with them so they left, just after Nat was picked up by Zak’s Mum, and I was alone for a couple of hours. They came back a couple of hours later and it seemed that Han had got off lucky this time, nasty bruising but nothing broken. It means no boxing and no homework for the next week or so…she was well chuffed about the homework!


Nat got back home just after 6:00 with Brandon and Zak in tow and the three of them, accompanied, surprise surprise, by Hannah went up to his room to paint models and watch dubious DVD’s. Deb made them pizzas while she and I had the chilli, with fresh buttered bread, I’d cooked earlier.

Brandon and Zak stayed until 9:30 by which time it was peeing down and very dark; Brandon lives across the road under the subway so Hannah and I grabbed a large umbrella and walked him home. Zak who lives on our side, of the road, walked himself home. Shortly after everyone but me went to bed; I stayed down stairs to catch up on some recorded TV then (everyone after me) FELL ASLEEP ON THE SOFA!

Hannah Twin Lakes, Nat in Town, £16 Fully Auto Water Gun, Nat and Zack at Jacobs, Shantelle Here

Got up to find Deb just getting home from shopping after dropping Nat, Jacob, Zack and Josh (Jacob's brother) off in town to do... whatever - see Nat's Notes.
Han had already left at 9:30 with Shantelle, Aaron and their Dad for a day out at Twin Lakes - see Hannah's Happy Happenings.... That left Deb and I alone at home something which, although it is happening more and more frequently, still seems odd after 12 years of no privacy.
Nat returned home at 3:30 with his brand spanking new £16(!!!!) fully automatic water gun. Shortly after I'd put the batteries in, filled the magazines and primed the weapon for use Zack arrived with his own hydro-dispenser and they both left for Jacobs house. Nat did not reappear until a little after 8:00 when even Chris and Bruce could stand no more and kicked them out.
Han had got back around 4:30 and proceeded to spend the remained of the day with Shantelle, either at her house or on the trampoline at ours. Shantelle stayed with us until 10:00 and I made she and Han Melba toast which they both appeared to enjoy muchly! After Nat's return and before Shantelle's departure Nat demonstrated to the how his new Fully Auto Water Gun worked as you can see below.




Later, after everyone else had gone to bed, I watched six episodes of New Sons of Anarchy back to back and finally went to bed at 5:30.

29 August - The Highcross Pub with Donna's Dad

I was in Town today and after I'd taken Nat to, and left him, at, the GamesWorkshop I went for a wander round town before ending up and spending too much time in the Apple Store playing with iPods and iPhones and iMacs (anyone notice a pattern). Before that I's watched the "Indian" musicians playing at the Clock Tower in the city centre. After I'd had my fill of tech I retired to the The High Cross (a J D Wetherspoons, and therefore cheap, pub) for a couple or three pints before picking Nat up at 5:00. As always the pub was pretty busy so, when I eventually got served, I bought two pints, Ruddles County, if I recall correctly, found myself a seat and settled down with my pint and a book to pass a pleasant afternoon.
A little while later I spotted John, Donna's dad and as deaf as a post, sitting at one of the tables and moved to join him. He was chatting with a fellow Geordie also called John (2) and I joined them for the rest of my time there. Great fun except that John 1 can't hear a thing you say so you always end up talking at cross purposes...which, anyway, was all part of the fun!

Donna's dad is the one on the left without the glasses. Here are the other photos I took that day: