Alarms

It became a day of alarms and reminders.

But it started sunny with blue skies though the temperature hovered perilously close to zero.
The only commitments were a phone call to Brenda around 15.00 and then a taxi service to pick up three of the Illis after a hockey social around midnight. Then added into the mix was a taxi to take Dave to the social around 18.30. Alarms and alerts were set several times over for all of these deadlines.

And that was it, or so I thought. But then a suggestion was floated that I might be free, and therefore able, to ‘acquire’ Fleur and take her from home to the Oxshed where we would have a snack with the rest of the family who had been hockeying .

No problem, I thought, now that all the troublesome roadworks are over and done with. Easy peasy.

So my new plan was to take H to see T up on Lardon Chase and pick up F on the way down. Simples.

But not really that simples. The unjoined up thinking is busy at work again. The highly considerate authorities decided they would close the A34 heading south at Chilton all the way to junction 13 of the M4 at Newbury. For the whole weekend. Now that is really really clever planning.
The upshot of it is that the constantly beleaguered residents of Moulsford, Goring and Streatley now have long queues to sit in at Streatley lights caused by all the A34 traffic seeking alternative routes. I discovered this to my cost on my way to Lardon Chase.

But we walked the walk in warm sunlight and a chilly wind.
H and I said hello to T.

Before embarking on my expedition, I had busied myself sowing several cherry tomato seeds (Red pear and Consuelo varieties) and 4 runner bean seeds as well as some dwarf cosmos. I shall now talk to my seeds in the hope they will eventually germinate. I will sew more runner beans in a week or three .

Of course, as I may have mentioned, any produce should be measured in gold. It would have been much cheaper bought ready to eat. This is because I have bought various patio containers and compost for the purpose of growing them. But hey are reusaeable in future years.

And now, to the Oxshed, which produced excellent brunches for all of us. And then it was time to sort everyone out, most of whom seemed to be heading in different directions.

George to a haircut in Cholsey; an adult with him was also required to visit Tesco’s. Fleur and Ali needed a lift home ( via the queue) and no one had cash or a bank card on them. Or so it seemed. One adult phone between all the Illis and my phone (and secret cash stash) . I thought I had relieved my stash of its cash when I paid to have the car washed before Somerset. But it seems I did not.
Of course the trouble with phones is they need your face or digit print to work so they couldn’t be swapped.
And the hair cutter only wanted bank transfers or cash. This unholy mess was sorted out when I gave them my cash from my stash, and then delivered the two girls home.
What a palaver!

I returned home with H for a short spell of relaxation before a long chat with Brenda who is progressing nicely after her knee operation.

After that, it was time to pick up Dave to take him to the black tie hockey jolly; F and Ali had already been taken. The jolly the midnight taxi is for. Dave wasn’t quite ready because he was busy ironing a shirt for his black tie appearance. When he came to put the shirt on, he thought he had grown a bit. Only it was George’s shirt he had ironed. So he had to begin all over again.

It has been a lovely day and the beautiful evening weather was the jewel in the crown.

Well – it was a lovely day. The night was not so great. My alarms exploded at 10 minute intervals to remind me to pick the Illis up at midnight. I kept my part of the non-bargain. It was nearly 01.00 when I got to bed. They were very lucky my car had not reverted to a pumpkin and myself to a mouse, when they eventually found us.

Thought for the Day