A busy weekend

It’s half term, so its raining to really annoy the parents out there (also a bit of a bummer for bumper crowds at the tower). Also the roads were reasonably quiet on the way into work.

The weekend was spent sorting out/ catching up. Saturday was sorting out .. a visit to the tip household waste recycling centre (HWRC) to offload the ill microwave (it was seriously lacking any power it should have) replaced last weekend, lots of glass (which can be done quicker at HWRC than the new snazzy tesco machine which takes forever for a crate of bottles/ jars) and some clothing, slight side trip to snow and rock nearby to laugh at gear prices (looks like a pre-camp visit to Toronto MEC for the supplies required for GM’06). Then it was off to the aforementioned Tesco (home to snazzy recycling centre, its meant to reduce lorry trips by crushing etc. on site, but takes users longer to off load recycling) for the weekly shop (tesco extra + Saturday morning + home footie match late afternoon = not the wisest idea as its packed). Shopping done, recycling cleared from kitchen we could relax for the afternoon.

Sunday was a nice day, well more afternoon/ evening for catching up. But first task of the day was spice shopping at Akrams (spice/ ethinic food heaven, Southsea), although it wasn’t open when we arrived at 1010hrs, so off to the second best ethnic outlet Bookers (yes really, they have a far better spice selection than Tesco/ Asda) .. none of the required spices in stock but Tom came away with a tub of milkshake sweets & a large container of mixed herbs (we like herbs lots). Back to Southsea again for second try at Akrams .. he was open! (this place always seems to be open (except for prayers Friday lunchtime) but it seems they opened late when we were organised) So Cumin seeds & curry leaves purchased (for Caz’s curry from scratch session on Wednesday) we were happy, shopping missions over. For those wishing a special offer on basmati, Akrams is offering a Ramadan special buy 2kg get 1kg free! (it was the first time I’d seen a Ramadan special and slightly amused me as I walked out the shop).

Then, slightly later than planned we headed for first stop off, Master L & parents. Master L is now 7 months old and somewhat larger than when he first emerged (a bit earlier than planned) back in March. We’ve got sitting on laps and slapping hands on tables down to a fine art (mum & dad finally got the chance to eat lunch as Master L had been playing up all morning until we arrived). Then we heading into the living room where he showed us his top skills at wriggling and rolling (we’ve sort of got the legs gist of crawling but tend to use our head along the carpet for the front half). It was also good to catch up with Mel & Will (the proud parents) as we don’t see each other quite as often these days (it takes a bit more effort to them to make it out the door now with the little fella). A ladies who lunch session is planned for Mel, Master L and I sometime soon as Master L can now sit up on restaurant highchairs and getting on fine with solids now. Master L is the first child I seen on a pretty regular basis since birth … thus proving babies aren’t as scary as first thought, and providing practice for the future (although you can hand back for screaming and dirty nappies).

Then to the other end of the scale and slightly belated 65th birthday party. More little people (of the grandchildren variety to the party host), who were all well behaved (princess dresses on parade from the girls .. and later the boys in choir cape style, as they can’t fit into 4-6 yr old dresses), although the dads did seem to have quite a few grass/ mud stains to clothing after a garden rugby session. We also had a couple of new faces to me, LOL I was introduced as Tom’s girlfriend shortly followed by his Bro’s wife (in a jovial type manner, that Tom’s bro had done the decent thing). The old family gem of Tom learning to drive came up again … and Tom’s bro came up with a good suggestion should we ever get round to getting married, as we’ve lived together for a while and got a fair bit of household stuff we could put driving lessons for Tom on the wedding list (I think there would be quite a few takers on that option from his family!). Its about the only way we think we can get him to learn!!! (other suggestions in the comment section…)