The Girl's Sleep Over, Pancakes, Nachos, Rugby Summer School, Bye Brandon.

I got home at about 08:30, just in time to bid Nat adieu as Deb was about to drop him off at Leicester Vipers for the first day of Rugby Summer School (for additional info see Nat’s Blog). I was left to deal with Hannah and Shantelle, who had stayed for a sleepover. They wanted to cook pancakes for breakfast and I was quickly dragooned into making (blueberry free) blue berry pancakes (US style pancakes, more scotch than crepes) as per the Shrek Cookbook. This did not go well; Hannah got out the scales and I began weighing and measuring. I didn’t realise that the scales were set on imperial measurements and so my 155 grams of flour was in fact 1.5oz of flour. Unfortunately the milk was correctly measured out in metric; the end result demonstrated, forcefully, why mixing these systems is always a no-no. Just like the Mars probe that was buggered when the US bits were built in imperial and the European bit were built in metric my pancakes were a total and unmitigated disaster. I might have spotted my error if I’d not been “surrounded” by two tweenies vying for the chance to sieve the flour and other ingredients. I should have seen the writing on the wall! After it became obvious that we weren’t having pancakes I prepared a plate of nachos covered these in cheese and then microwaved them. The girls seemed happy enough with this substitute. Afterward I was fully expecting them both to succumb to exhaustion and let me kip in peace but no such luck. Despite being up all night they were both chirpy and full of beans. Eventually I decided to go to bed and leave them to it. When I woke at four it was to discover that they were still going strong and had gone round to Shantelle’s house to play. By now Nat was also home and had informed us of the sad news that Brandon, tied of last season’s losing streak , had decided to leave the Vipers and, was in future, going to play for South Wigston instead. It’s a real shame that he’s leaving because he’s a great player and a lovely lad to boot.

Me and Han, Nat Gets Back, Walking Monty, Swimming In The River, Mud Mud Mud, Shrek 4, So Nacho

Deb woke, ate, washed and departed for work without disturbing Hannah or me. We were both flaked out and  fast asleep on our respective settees. My phone alarm, reminding me to take my daily tablets, woke us at 9:45. I immediately changed the channel so that we could both watch the great J.K. whilst we finished regaining consciousness. I can't remember a single thing from this programme so obviously I wasn't as awake as I thought. Nat was away over night at Jacob's and expected back any time after 11:00. He eventually turned up around 11:45 and I told them both to get ready to take Monty out for a long walk. if I hadn't Nat would have been straight upstairs to his room , on his X-box and not seen for the remainder of the day. They got changed, I filled a bottle with squash we grabbed a towel shoved everything into a bag and departed at about 12:30. We planned to walk to Kings Lock on the Grand Union  Canal and stop at the Lock Keepers cottage, which is now a lovely small cafe, for a drink and a sit before turning round and heading home. On the way there we stopped at the river where Hannah and Nat both went paddling. Monty didn't go paddling and appears to have a strong aversion to the water. This is unusual in a gun dog, he's a Labrador Retriever, but Monty is definitely hydrophobic! We finally arrived at the cafe only to discover that it doesn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays. We sat for a while, ate crisps and drank squash, well I had a larger, before returning home. While we were there three boys turned up and started swimming in the lock and jumping off the lock gates into the canal. They're not my kids.


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On our way home, after we crossed the bridge over the Soar, we diverted through the filed to where some kids appeared to be swimming in the river. Both Nat and Hannah knew one of the kids, Jasmine a former cub with Hannah and now a scout in Nat's troop, and so we arranged to come back for a swim after we'd taken Monty home and picked up some trunks. We did exactly that, I popped to ASDA while the kids were getting their stuff, then we walked back to the river.  Hannah and Nat were both in the water as soon as we arrived and they both used the rope swing to jump in. neither appears to be able to hold up their legs and as a result as soon as the swung out their legs dragged in the water and pulled them off the rope and into the drink. We stayed until 4:00 then left for home as we were suppose to go to the cinema and I got the times confused and thought we had to be there for 4:45 when in fact the film started at 5:45.  Deb came home just after we got back and the kids were getting cleaned up. We left for the Vue and there discovered my error. We decided to spend the unexpected hour travelling to Huncote tot he pavilion leisure centre to see if we could sin Hannah up for some of the courses that Shantelle was going to. They're fully booked but will give us a call as soon as they become aware of any vacancies. This was the first time I'd been into Huncote in years, I used to shoot large calibre pistols at an outdoor range nearby during the 1980's but it seemed little changed from what I remembered. We headed back to the Vue via the Sainsbury's supermarket at Grove Park Triangle, I noticed that the empty Borders store was being stripped and refitted, where we purchased some nachos and dips for after the film. Sherk 4 was made to be seen in 3D and we watched it in 2D, it was no longer being shown in 3D?. I haven't seen Shrek 3 but Deb, Nat and Hannah all say that it wasn't as funny as number 2. Shrek 4 was OK but not particularly funny, but I think the script was, to a degree, sacrificed on the altar of 3D. We were home at around 20:00 and I prepared the nachos. Nat wanted to immediately pour all of them onto a plate, cover them with cheese and microwave them. I prevailed upon him to let me see what happened when we did that to a few before we risked ruining the all. It worked a treat so we had; Nachos, regular and tangy cheese, covered in nacho cheese and grated cheddar microwaved for a minute and then eaten with salsa dip... yummy!!!

We all watched BB11 then the kids went to bed, Deb watched the reminder of the Bruce Forsythe "Who Do You Think You Are" while I sat down and wrote this. When Deb goes to bed I'm going to watch the TV, then, after midnight I'm going to call John, at work, to see if he's heard anything from Occupational Health about my supposed appointment at 11 AM tomorrow morning. I'm not travelling all that way if it's not definitely been arranged; I still haven't heard back from Lucy either by phone text or email.