Never trust a man with a shopping bag...

...Honestly, what does he look like...with his hand on his tummy he looks as if he is about to give birth!

 ....Sukhpal was walking a fair way behind, and pretending he wasn't with him.
        We went to Warwick on Saturday and of course we had a Thai, and our usual wander round the little shops along the Main street.   And of course we went to the canal and ate our pudding there...

     We didn't take the dog, cos it was too warm for him in the car, and of course he didn't want to come anyway.

      Then we found a baby peacock, where you always find baby peacocks, sat on top of the dustbin of course, and for a few minutes I was pleased we didn't have the dog with us.  

A happy man....for once..

...Working in his {gradually coming together} garage, an ideal spot for an afternoon cuppa for us....

  
                            ....And a good scratching session for him.....

                 
                   ....a darned good scratching session for him, right in the middle of the newly fitted garage carpet!!!

    
                       Do you remember all these old bits Paul?
        Dad's old tools, paints and polishes, even a sponge we bought him one year for fathers day, or his birthday, a price list for Blue Anchor Caravans he had kept with a list of questions he wanted to ask about his new spray gun.

             ....Just look at the price of caravans in 1974! 
      It feels really strange to see all these bits emerging into the light of day, after so many years.
     Do you know he had stashed 15 old toothbrushes in his box of painbrushes saving them, no doubt, just in case they come in handy some day.  They say a girl marries a man like her father......it makes me realise that he was nearly as bad as Darsh.
   We got the old spray gun out the other day and used it to spray underneath the caravan.  Darsh was filthy afterwards, and then I found him, some hours afterwards, curled up on my white duvet, snoring, and still wearing his dirty clothes!  I remember dad doing just the same, coming to bed late, not realising he had got oil in his hair- he ruined mum's new pillowcases.  I found 2 of the same pillowcases in a charity shop a few months ago (without the oil - obviously) so I bought them, boiled them and put them in the camper van.  I guess the originals mum had bought ended up in the rag bag, but these two look nice on the bed in our old van.

Have been in the garden...

      ....it is just starting to get dark and the air is so still and silent.  It is a lovely light for taking photographs.  Joe is jumping round all silly and excited, we have been going for evening walks just lately, and he is keenly anticipating another one tonight.
     Selina has just rung from the airport to say that they are safely back in England and making their way back to Bristol, as they are both at work tomorrow.  They left Charlotte in a hotel in Bangkok, feeling very sorry for herself with some sort of tummy bug.  Selina says there is a choice of 51 DVD's and a player in her room, and she and Pete were taking bets on how many she will have watched by the time Matt arrives at the weekend!
      Darsh and I had a ride to Great Bridge today, it was market day, so I stocked up on fruit and garden plants.  Also took a couple of bags of donations to our new favourite charity shop.  It is an independant one, and their prices are much cheaper than most.  So dad pushed the boat out,and bought 2 shirts today.  I found some good books and a pretty scarf.
       The girls in the shop have deep Black Country accents and a sense of humour that makes me giggle but totally confuses Darsh.  He is hopeless with strong accents, and needs a translator.  There was a general conversation about a Bow tie that had been donated today.  The girls were offering the "Dicky Bow" to an old boy in the shop.  "Eeee," he quipped "I've always had a Dicky, but I've never had a bow!"  Totally over Darsh's head, but the way he said it... I was in stitches.

It's getting dark, and Joe is past impatient, so we had better go and count bats down on the playing fields.

More wedding pics as requested by Charlotte...

Jen and her parents outside the church

Darsh and John

Getting ready for a mammoth photograph afternoon

Back in the church for photographs

Horsing around as usual!

Back at the hotel and on the red carpet

Jen and John's Mum-Marie.

Greeting her guests.

Back home from Dublin...

         ..catching up with the washing (me) and the telephone (him).  Oh how he has missed been parted from his little friend, he has spent the whole day so far on the phone and there is no sign of a pause for breath yet.  Charlotte's sale seems to be staggering forwards.  But Darsh is making lots of very anxious calls to everyone involved. 

      Charlotte- the whole of Newcastle has heard how you ran off to Thailand leaving your poor pensioner Dad to buy you somewhere to live!

     Joe seems to have enjoyed his holiday at home with Bailey, but he is still definately not our friend for leaving him behind.  He looked in his breakfast bowl this morning, picked it up with his teeth and tipped it all over the kitchen floor before stalking out and throwing himself in his basket.  Bailey went out early this morning whilst Joe was in bed and he is not happy about it.
     Poor Sara was poorly over the whole weekend we were there, and feeling no better when we left yesterday.  She went into work, but only lasted about 2 hours before she took a taxi and came back home to bed.  At least Sara and John have got their room back and some peace and quiet now that we have come back home.
     Have been sorting out our pictures from the weekend...

                     .....but the computer is not letting me download the ones I want for some reason...will try again later.

Enjoying the peace...

            ...and a chance to sit and read without the usual shouting and phoning that seems to surround Darsh these days.  It is a lovely cool and windy afternoon with a good few showers and I am happy to stay in the conservatory with my cup of tea, in the warm, alone, apart from the dog snoring at my feet.  I was planning to go to Sutton for a travel bag and a small summer handbag for my holiday, but it is so nice and peaceful here that I have changed my mind.  There is always tomorrow.
     Charlotte has rung, she had to reapply for her mortgage yesterday, but today she has got it and already arranging for the sale- solicitor and surveyor at the ready.  We were going out last night to celebrate her new flat so we went to a place in the Mailbox, I honestly can't remember it's name.  It was warm enough to sit outside, so we sat and sat and sat.  Over an hour later we had only got our starters, and it was no longer quite so warm.  So we left!  Darsh knew this cracking little place-in Lozzels[how an earth do you spell that?]-so we went along.  In and out in about 5 minutes flat.  I honestly didn't think that such filthy little places really still existed, but the horrifying thing was that Darsh found it quite acceptable to take Charlotte and I in there.  If he really eats in such disgusting places he really truly deserves all those long nights rolling about in bed with upset stomachs...."I've eaten too much" is his usual plaintive moan.  I now know it's more of a case of what he has eaten-quantity rather than quality- and maybe not so much the cheap rubbish Vodka either.

     The best thing about this dull afternoon is the light for photographs....

                         ...but as soon as I stepped out of the door it is raining again, so I didn't get many.  Also Joe's very accurate body clock tells him it is dinner time, he always automatically knows when the little hand is on 5, and the big hand is getting pretty darn close to the 12.  So doggy dins time it is...and I have got a nice pile of ironing for this evening.

It's been a whole year...

...since I started this blog, looking back over the year and seeing all the photos of things we have done in the past year, it feels a lot longer than just a year.  It seem ages ago since we went on that weekend away and John set this site up for me whilst dad and Sara were snoring away on the bed!  The summer is racing away and we don't seem to have been away in the van nearly as much as I hoped we would.

     Now another week is starting, and Charlotte is packing up her flat and bringing everything home again.  This mornings job is to head for the bank to try and resurrect the mortgage deal she set up in January on the Newcastle flat sale that fell through.  The offer on the flat she saw on Thursday has been accepted, so we need to get as much sorted as possible before she heads for Thailand on Thursday.

     We went to Simon's for supper, and Darsh is still talking money, even over Sunday supper.  Charlotte doesn't seem too excited about her little flat, she says it is just a little box.  It has been empty for a few months and before that it was rented to students, so she says it is dirty and smelly.  Well, I sure we can sort that out.  Do you remember the state of your London flat, Selina when you first got it?  That was very dirty and very smelly, but a weekends clean and a good few coats of paint soon sorted that lot out.  Part of the deal for Charlotte is that the owner is leaving all the furniture in, that could be a mixed blessing, it saves us from taking stuff from here for her to use for the time being, but if it is really bad it could be a right pain having to get rid of a load of junk in a strange city.

We spent part of our weekend sorting out garage boxes, painting the garden bench, gardening and going to the car boot sale ,where I found loads of good plants for said garden.  It looks lovely at the moment, full of flowers, but we are going away this week and won't be around to enjoy it.  Still we do get the compensation of seeing Sara and John in Dublin, AND going to see the wedding with them and all of his family!  I still haven't managed a new dress yet, but I'm sure that I will get a chance this morning whilst Dad and Charlotte are money- hunting.