Blue moon...
Words from a Bird. Day 102
As I cleared the last two baskets of ironing yesterday morning, I noticed a sudden movement from the corner of the kitchen. It was the husband, slumped at the table, rapidly blinking in the sudden daylight as the baskets were moved from the windows.
'Have they actually gone?' he asked, a tremor of fear in his voice, his eyes darting around the kitchen as if he was expecting one of our many children to leap out at him.
'Yes, all gone', I said patting the back of his hand gently. 'It's just you, me and the dogs now. What would you like to do today?'
And so began a day of reconnecting with the husband. First stop was a couple of hours watching ten years olds on motorbikes, throwing themselves up and down muddy hills. What were their parents thinking of? Mind you, when we spotted the parents (white vans, grey tracksuits, baseball caps, tattoos, piercings - this was just the women) it sort of all made sense.
Even though I love motorbikes, I struggle with the whole mud/flying through the air stuff, and was quite bored (don't tell the husband I said this). The husband, who was thrilled skinny to be watching, kept grabbing me by the arm, pointing somewhere, and saying 'Did you see that?' Well no, I didn't see much as I was trying to keep Percy under control, whilst trying to eat a chicken sandwich and drink a rather suspect coffee.
It was cold as well, and we all know what the cold does to ladies of a certain age... After an hour, I could wait no longer, and in desperation headed off to the row of chemical toilets, standing in the middle of the mud looking like the sole survivors of a WWII bombing raid. On opening the door, it became apparent that these were not so much chemical toilets, more like chemical warfare.
It was the fastest 'comfort break' I have ever taken, interrupted only by a woman opening the door, just as I was about to get settled. Not too sure who was more shocked to be honest. Once the door was locked, I spent the next 7 seconds (yes, I was that quick) cursing the fact that as a woman, I can't pee without having to touch something in the loo. I did keep my gloves on all through the exercise, but oh to be a man on occasions such as these...
I had to shower and change my clothes when we got home, to rid myself of the smell of the chemical toilets. Having scrubbed myself down with Dettol and a wire brush, I was ready to go out again, so we decided to take the dogs down to Henley, and walk them along the river.
The boys were great, never straying too far, and were very friendly with any dogs and people which we met along the way. We stopped at the end of the walk for a sit down, looking out over the river, as the sun tried to cut through the sub zero wind.
I decided that as the boys had been so good, treats were up for grabs. Percy and Reg really enjoyed their biscuits, and the husband loved his rum and raisin ice cream.
It's always important to reward good behaviour...
As I cleared the last two baskets of ironing yesterday morning, I noticed a sudden movement from the corner of the kitchen. It was the husband, slumped at the table, rapidly blinking in the sudden daylight as the baskets were moved from the windows.
'Have they actually gone?' he asked, a tremor of fear in his voice, his eyes darting around the kitchen as if he was expecting one of our many children to leap out at him.
'Yes, all gone', I said patting the back of his hand gently. 'It's just you, me and the dogs now. What would you like to do today?'
And so began a day of reconnecting with the husband. First stop was a couple of hours watching ten years olds on motorbikes, throwing themselves up and down muddy hills. What were their parents thinking of? Mind you, when we spotted the parents (white vans, grey tracksuits, baseball caps, tattoos, piercings - this was just the women) it sort of all made sense.
Even though I love motorbikes, I struggle with the whole mud/flying through the air stuff, and was quite bored (don't tell the husband I said this). The husband, who was thrilled skinny to be watching, kept grabbing me by the arm, pointing somewhere, and saying 'Did you see that?' Well no, I didn't see much as I was trying to keep Percy under control, whilst trying to eat a chicken sandwich and drink a rather suspect coffee.
It was cold as well, and we all know what the cold does to ladies of a certain age... After an hour, I could wait no longer, and in desperation headed off to the row of chemical toilets, standing in the middle of the mud looking like the sole survivors of a WWII bombing raid. On opening the door, it became apparent that these were not so much chemical toilets, more like chemical warfare.
It was the fastest 'comfort break' I have ever taken, interrupted only by a woman opening the door, just as I was about to get settled. Not too sure who was more shocked to be honest. Once the door was locked, I spent the next 7 seconds (yes, I was that quick) cursing the fact that as a woman, I can't pee without having to touch something in the loo. I did keep my gloves on all through the exercise, but oh to be a man on occasions such as these...
I had to shower and change my clothes when we got home, to rid myself of the smell of the chemical toilets. Having scrubbed myself down with Dettol and a wire brush, I was ready to go out again, so we decided to take the dogs down to Henley, and walk them along the river.
The boys were great, never straying too far, and were very friendly with any dogs and people which we met along the way. We stopped at the end of the walk for a sit down, looking out over the river, as the sun tried to cut through the sub zero wind.
I decided that as the boys had been so good, treats were up for grabs. Percy and Reg really enjoyed their biscuits, and the husband loved his rum and raisin ice cream.
It's always important to reward good behaviour...
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