On Saturday my father rang me mid-morning to say he needed to move all of jdc39's belongings out of his house urgently and as Jonny was already living with me, did I have room somewhere. I thought a bit and said, probably if we tidied the junk room a bit. So he arrived about 2 hours after that and helped me finish emergency junk room clearance, and then he and Jonny unloaded, we fed him and he went home again. We dumped some stuff for the tip in James's car, all the IVAR and everything for Freecycle in Charles's room (putting that project back by a few more weeks at least), and I filled up a few charity bags. We also filled 3 carrier bags mostly from the floor and my desk, with rubbish, paper and card respectively, which I then disposed of in the appropriate bins/boxes. Charles refused to be held by his granddad.

Also on Saturday there was an alt.fan.pratchett meet - with the house tidying and then Charles falling asleep around 4, we didn't go to the afternoon part of it, but Charles and I made it to the Carlton for the evening part. Tony had fallen asleep! I was pleased to see people, but was rather peripatetic following Charles and attempting to keep him out of trouble. He strongly resisted going in the sling at any point in the pub but OF COURSE fell asleep within minutes once we were walking home.

On Sunday there was an "open house" at Shaun & Linda's. We went by bus and met Rosie & Ian on the bus, which then passed Ben on the way. Charles clung to me for about the first hour and then decided that actually it would be lots of fun to get down and charge around. We caught the penultimate bus home and had a mellow evening.

On Monday there should have been a music class but Charles was deeply asleep on the bed and I didn't want to move him. He eventually woke just before the class would have been over and was then completely manic for the rest of the day and refused to go to sleep until gone 10pm. We went out to the library and to get some food shopping done, but neither of these encouraged him to sleep.

On Tuesday we had a release at work so I was in at 7:15 in case anything went wrong (nothing did). After picking up Charles we took James's car to get new tyres, which went really well once I'd found the garage we were actually booked into. Charles slept throughout the whole operation, and during the trip to the tip afterwards, and only woke when I put him in a supermarket trolley. We got home with just enough time to unload the shopping before collecting Lois, and there followed a very pleasant evening with Lois, Patrick, Sally & Jonny. I fed everyone, Tony turned up in time for dessert, and Charles zonked out shortly after everyone had left.

On Wednesday I went into town after collecting Charles, paid in a cheque, got some loyalty points from a receipt put on my Boots card, and failed to like any of their baby clothes enough to buy. Some time after we got back home, Bridget came around and we had tea and chat during the afternoon.

On Thursday there was a FreeBSDish meal at Teri-Aki in the evening. Jonny was kind enough to babysit so I could join Tony there. Yum.

On Friday was Charles's swimming class. After the very-late-buses faff two weeks ago, and as part of my "do more exercise" plan, we cycled. Charles was bundled up in many layers, the top one a lovely washable waterproof, and mittens held on by velcroing the waterproof sleeves tight over the mitten wrists. Even so, he was a bit chilly when we got to the pool, but perked up once we were in, with lots of splashing and jumping in and hanging on to the side. On the way home he kept trying to fall asleep on my arm, but of course once arrived he was full of beans and somewhat screechy for tea with Verity. Not long after she had left, he had a big feed and went to sleep.

We have nothing booked this weekend, which I feel is useful.

Very pleasant day yesterday with emperor and atreic and their other dinner guests. Charles has definitely got the hang of unwrapping presents now, and was delighted with his new mini-rainmaker rattle and books (and shiny wrapping paper and bottle bag from our present). He wasn't too antisocial and we had a good afternoon/evening of socialising and conversation from which we were reluctantly torn by the need to go and sleep. We also endorse the Holiday Inn Express near chez Vernon for comfortable sleep, reasonable breakfast and an affordable bill. Charles was messily angelic at breakfast, devouring half a croissant and a small block of mild cheddar while avidly people-watching.

If it might freeze overnight, park facing south, then your windscreen will be clear sooner than anything else. Unfortunately we had parked facing north. Fortunately it was late enough by the time we left that the ice came off easily. The car journey both ways was very easy; the new average-speed cameras on the A14 near Cambridge have really made it much more pleasant to drive along, as there is a much lower incidence of aggressive speed merchants on one's tail. The vast majority still don't understand about stopping distances though. 90 minutes seems to be much nearer Charles's natural limit for tolerating being strapped into a seat and ignored by his mummy, so we were spared hysterical screaming on both legs of the journey.

We went for lunch at the Carlton to help celebrate Ellie's birthday, and caught up with quite a few people we see less often than we'd like. This evening I spent some time looking at cupboards, fridge and freezer and devising a menu plan and shopping list for the week. Last year Tony often made lunch and we would have our "main meal" together between our two paid jobs. It was very pleasant. Now he's working full-time, the window between "Tony gets home" and "Rachel will not have time to digest main meal before bed" is rather small, so I think I will start making the evening meal as much as possible, as well as encouraging Tony to make lots of ping at weekends. That way we might actually get to eat together regularly. I have generally been lazy about cooking since first dating Tony, and my repertoire is heavily biased towards simple low-effort meals, but my first meal plan looks all of feasible, edible, varied and healthy. Let's see how it survives first contact with the enemy.

Last weekend:

We all developed the plague nasty colds following the return from Leeds. I lasted until Thursday evening before succumbing, but had to have Friday off work. louise_e_f arrived Thursday night. Friday was spent quietly with everyone but our guest being ill. Saturday we went to Beaconsfield for Nadia's birthday party and baby Chloe's blessing celebrations. Pub lunch spoiled by nasty incident with rude landlord (for the avoidance of doubt, I don't object in any way to being asked to take my noisy baby outside, but there are ways and ways of asking), had to be smoothed over as our hostess has to live next door to him. Party in the evening, lots of people, Charles very shy at first then loosening up after a while. Sunday, pre-booked large family lunch at the same pub. I opted to sit on picnic tables outside, joined by about half the party. Cake and admiring of Chloe, and then home. M25 usual horror.

Last week:
Very busy at work, trying to not get ill again at home. Started trying Charles out with short walks (e.g. to local shops), with mixed success. Need more patience.

Yesterday: Tony & Charles went to local NCT "Saturdads" morning group for dads and babies, and seemed to have fun. I managed to tackle some paperwork, including the travel insurance claim from August's cancelled holiday to France. Watched a Bond movie, chilled out. Updated my present list and made one for Charles, as people are already asking about Christmas.

Today: Chilling out, maybe pub lunch, maybe more paperwork.

Next week: More very busy work days and resting enough outside work to not get ill. Charles is now pretty much over the cold so I can book his 12-month vaccinations.

( Bank Holiday )
( A week of work )
Saturday dawned beautiful and free of lurgy - I think the wine killed it. Helped prepare the house for fanf's birthday party, which proved a success I think. Very nice to look around at intervals and see many groups of people chatting away happily. The last dregs of it hung on until about 5am, which was well after birthday boy had given up and gone to sleep. I'm quite glad I stayed off the booze as I merely felt shattered this morning (as opposed to extremely ill and embarrassed as after my birthday party). I managed to get most of the mess cleared up but ran out of steam at the thought of washing up; thankfully Keith obliged and also made fryup when I'd dragged up enough oomph to get to the co-op for bacon and mushrooms.

fanf slept late in his inimitable manner and finally emerged in the evening to watch The Bourne Identity with me. I enjoyed it just as much as the first time I saw it. We played with the special features, though I'm rather of the opinion that I'm really glad they didn't bother with the extra start and end sequences, or any of the deleted scenes. They tended to remove any remaining ambiguity and mystery around Jason Bourne that was part of the charm of the film for me. Anyway, we can now go see The Bourne Supremacy with my flaky memory of the film refreshed.