Hoping to get her flat sale completed...

...we have been hoping all week.  Now it is 2.30pm Friday afternoon and it just doesn't look as though it is going to happen.   We had a mad rush round yesterday gathering up the deposit, and we were hoping for completion today but it has all gone very quiet. 

 Sara and John have arrived.  The camper van was all ready for them, all we had to do was get their food.  So we went to Tesco in the pouring rain and now Darsh has driven them down to Reading.  For all its age the old van scrubbed up very well with all the old blankets and pillows in it.  Sara spent a happy morning gathering her bits and pieces to make them all comfy.  John wasn't quite so sure.  I don't think he realised such old vehicles were still around, outside of a museum.

Work in progress, we bought this vehicle in 1985!

This is the reason why you never sit on the floor to blow dry your hair when Joe is around...

...He climbs straight on you in the hope a blow dry for himself.  But strangly he only likes been blow dried when he is dry, he runs of if you try and blow-dry him after his bath. 

We were in a rush to go to Simon's for our supper the other night, but with Joe and the hair-dryer and Matt and Dad having to fix the shower AGAIN, we were late with getting there.

Home again....

....complete with a bag full of washing....

....and a rather fetching choice of footwear, her slippers and my slippers, both worn at once.

...totally worn out and Jet lagged, but still enough energy to hide her face and goof around for the camera!

Arrived home with a haul of 50+ DVDs and have spent the last few days watching their way through them all.

     Joe is happier now, but he is starting to look anxiously out of the window, he senses something is amiss.
And he could be right....
 

Sara and John are coming home at the weekend and are planning to go to the Reading Festival. 

 What are they planning to sleep in?

Why... the old dormobile of course.

So we have spent today cleaning, repairing,washing and fixing. 

They are arriving from Dublin early Friday morning and Dad is driving them all the way to Reading and then taking a train back ready to go back and fetch it and them back on Monday after the Festival!

Charlotte's house sale seems to have gone totally to pot and we expect it to take another couple of weeks, at least.  So she is getting a bit worried about starting her job and not having a settled place to live. 

I am not sulking...

        .....I'm guarding the bathroom door, even if there is only me and you home, and there's no-one in the bathroom.

This dog has been miserable all week, he has spent most of his time curled up on my bed, feeling sorry for himself.  I wanted to change the bedding this morning and he hung on to the quilt until I pulled it off the bed.

        He was most indignant, now I've shut the room door to keep him of the clean bed, so he has taken up residence outside the bathroom- with loads of heavy sighs and no eye contact.

Charlotte and Matt are back tonight, so I have been sorting rooms out for them, space for them to sleep, somewhere to unpack their bags, and even room for Charlotte to start getting her stuff organised to take up to Newcastle.  Her house sale is nowhere near finished, so it looks as if she is going to have to rent somewhere for her first few weeks.

Darsh went to London on Tuesday, so I have enjoyed a very peaceful week of good weather, sunbathing, gardening and generally been able to please myself.

My beautiful velvety yellow rose has bloomed at last.  I know it is yellow, cos that's what it says on the label in it's pot!  I had my doubts about the coluor as the bud was getting bigger and bigger, it certainly didn't look like yellow to me.

   

Not what you expect to find....

     .....in the ladies loo....



            ....took the camper van to Staffordshire, and camped in a field outside Eccleshall, by the side of the canal at a little tiny and very outside fashioned pub. 
       5 babies squashed in together yesterday, they were only at shoulder height but not scared of us at all.
This morning there was only 4....

 ...... but none of them were in a rush to leave and the parents were still flying in and out to feed them, and apparently they all go back at bed-time.

Went for a long walk along the canal, took a "short cut" along a road, and enjoyed walking FAR further than we intended.  We didn't hear a peep out of the dog last night, and he is still pretty dopey today.

Today has been lovely so we did a bit of exploring, around Eccleshall and Stone.  Had a picnic on the canal bank another walk to admire the barges...

....lots of them were for sale, including this one which was just an empty metal shell.  Darsh was sure he would be able to make something good out of it!

Home now and it has started to rain.

Just another 10 minutes......

......Then I'll get up, if I have to.  Kicked him off dad's bed cos of his wet feet, so he made a bee-line for mine instead.

He had a haircut yesterday and so is feeling the cold, added to that the weather has changed and it has been a much cooler week, so have spent it inside doing some much needed cleaning up tidying, cleaning windows and shuffling the conservatory round. 

     Spent a bit of time in the gardening snipping and dead heading, but it hasn't been too great for lazing around in.  Definately feels as though Autumn is lurking round the corner now.

Oooops....sorry folks...

   FOUND MY MISSING SHIRT....
          Yippee, it was in the caravan wardrobe all along.
That must have been the only wardrobe on the planet I hadn't looked in.
But you can still keep your mitts off my new dresses SARA SINGH.

It's raining and thundering....

       .....which is unfortunate, because I have spent the last hour watering and feeding the plants.....

      .....poor old Joe has got himself into a right state, I have been sat in the garage cuddling him, while Darsh entertains himself trying to fix a broken iron he "found" in the back of his car-he talks of giving it to someone for Christmas-if he can fix it, at the moment he can't, so you can breathe a sigh of relief Matt and John.  I wonder which of you two lucky boys is going to get the Christmas short straw this year!
      Pete won't get away lightly either, we found the perfect tent for him in Bakewell yesterday.....

          Found a picture from last weekend at the "harvest" (harbour) festival as Darsh keeps calling it.....

           .....Darsh, Bev, Selina and Pete(was holding the camera)!!!!

     We have had a really hot summer week, so we made the most of it.....



      Tuesday...

      ....afternoon tea in the garden, with hot scones and double cream.  Alan is a rather proud Grandad now, as Oliver and Lisa have a baby girl- Gracie.

     Planned a trip to Penkridge market on Wednesday, got as far as Cannock and it was too hot to go any further. So headed for the pub, had a carvery lunch instead,  then nipped to New Life (indoors-so cooler)  Darsh was bored in record time, about 15 mins.  But I found plenty for me, for a change.  They have rearranged the place -so there seemed to be a lot more larger sizes.  I acquired 2!!! new dresses, a blue, cardigan I have worn ever since (Yes Charlotte-I know) and a thin yellow shirt....all for £20.
    Over in the home department they have put huge tubs, and everything, clothes and fabric, in them is £1- make way for Charlotte!  I got some lovely new towels and a piece of material to make a table cloth for me... and for Selina.....one for Charlotte,....Sara? ....and maybe even enough for a new dog bed!!! As I was dragging it out it was getting longer and longer...so was Darsh's worried face.... there is 5 metres in total ...for a pound.  So, next rainy day out comes the sewing machine.

     Thursday, we went to Ikea, meatballs dinner is only a pound for the whole of this month.  Whats the betting we will dine there again before the month is out?
     Friday,  we went to visit Harvey and Shirley, and then camped overnight in Bakewell...so busy everywhere...got lost and stuck...thanks to dead sat nav....couldn't find a campsite...rained..so we came home.

     Sunday, went to eat at the Umbrella man...yummy...but didn't realise....

         Handsworth Carnival!!......

19-20 my plates empty....

......and there's a nice ice cream stall over there Dad.

                    ......but if you eat too many ice creams, you're not going to be able to get in to, or, more importantly, OUT of that cellar are you Selina!!!!

We went to Bristol for the weekend, and it was the "Harbour Festival".  Also it was HOT

OOOh, wake me when the sun goes down, leave me on this cold floor till then...

      ......too darned hot for a certain member of the family.  We stayed on for an extra day and came home on Tuesday morning.

           It was a glorious weekend and we spent it either at the festival or in the garden.....