First post for a long time again, having had no internet for nearly a month.
Just before Christmas we moved back to our old house to get out of the way of some fairly heavy building work at the farm. We ordered broadband from the day we arrived, but it was delayed until after Christmas. We rang BT in the New Year and they told us that they had accidentally lost the order and it hadn’t been processed – it finally came up today.
Christmas was great fun, just mixing it with our wider families. Jane and I just bought each other small presents this year – books, music and DVD box sets. We hardly watch any tv but we do like watching the odd box set – Jane bought me Gavin and Stacey and Mad Men and I bought her House. We’ve watched Gavin and Stacey and Mad Men, and I thought both were superb.
The children loved it, and they had plenty of presents as Jane and I are both from big families. There were some good jokey ones. Eddie had a personalised alarm clock from www.singmynamecds.com – instead of a ringing tone it sings a little song in a Ned Flanders voice;
“Wake up Eddie, it time to start your day – wake up Eddie, it’s time for you to play. Wash your face, brush your hair, make your bed, dress with care… etc.”
Eddie takes these things seriously – he burst in to our bedroom at 6:30 on Boxing Day, fully dressed, teeth cleaned and hair brushed with tears streaming down his face – “Mum – I have to make my bed and I don’t know how to do it”. He’s a strange soul. A little later he came in again with a big smile on his face;
“Mum, wouldn’t it be funny if I was called Jill Collins?!”
Jane smiled and gave him a kiss, and he wandered off happily. I guess all children ask strange questions, but Eddie is consistently mind boggling.
The rest of the Christmas period passed with little incident, although there was one close shave. Ollie, who is 4, decided to get himself dressed. He’s a very energetic and athletic little boy, and he climbed up his chest of drawers to get his pants out of the top drawer – unfortunately the whole thing toppled over and came down with a mighty crash. Ollie managed to leap out of the way and avoid what would have been a pretty nasty situation.
The horses have been quiet, with one piece of bad news. Theophrastus picked up and injury and will probably miss the rest of the season. It’s a frustrating game.