Work avoiding again

Terribly posh... and exciting... today I had my first ever ride on a real narrow boat on the Grand Union Canal. Some book club friends of Alison's took us from Quorn to Mountsorrel. All the people were lovely. This one was especially lovely.

We went past the bridge I go over everyday (well, some) to get to school. Looks really different from here.

and we went IN a lock.. which was very exciting...

and we saw a very health and safety conscious dog..

and we went past the 'psychiatric gardens'! This one was the most alarming..

and this was Alison's favourite, that The Famous Five would have lots of adventures in (then go inside for lashings and lashings of Ambrosia creamed rice)

I thought this was what my garden would look like if I lived by the canal...

We found some nice bridges...

and I ate mushroom soup for dinner and made no fuss about it whatsoever

On the way back I got to steer the boat...

which I was clearly very worried about..

While Alison joined the Scouts..

and practiced her "I see no ships" routine..

I got out and helped when we went back through the lock..

While Alison stayed on the boat... clearly finding it very dull the second time around..

So she amused herself re-enacting Titanic..

We ended the trip playing 'fun with reflections'..

So thanks go to Erica (owner and skipper) and everybody for a nice day out. I really enjoyed it, and I really really hope its not my last day out with Alison.

Wall-e makes me sob every time... little guy just loves her and wants to hold her hand

Tues 17th. Went to Birmingham today with Alison. Had planned this for ages, as I wanted to go to the Sea Life Centre before my Merlin pass ran out. Was a lovely day. Had second breakfast when we got there on the narrow boat moored in Brindley Place... coffee and apple pie with custard (not my choice.. Alison currently obsessed with apple pie). Then we went into the Sea Life Centre, just in time to join the primary school class listening to the Turtle feeding demonstration. Wish I had video-ed it.. never knew Turtles eat broccoli and peas!!! Was really freaked out to start with.. thanks to my irrational fear of sharks.. had to be dragged into the tunnel when I spotted one approaching!

Black tipped reef shark.. blurry!

Hawiian Sea Turtle... duuuuuude!

Fishes that have NOT been scoffed by sharkies.

Reef thingy
Leopard shark..

Stingray.. stingray.. (yes, we sang it)

I'm not being irrational and crazy... sharks are very dangerous!!!

Finished sanding one door, so am taking a break hehe. Uploaded phone pics..

We thought it was misty.. turned out to be trees!

This is the one thing I'm a bit scared of.. that Alison is not bothered about at all...

Phone didn't really capture the nice view of Loughborough...

OK, back to my sanding :-(

Up for the car boot. Got to Burleigh and it was a ghost town. Had moved to Quorn without telling anybody (this can be confirmed by the Wildes.. I'm not just bein dim). Forgot how long it takes when its over there... and how heavy it gets! One trip back to the car required after only one 'aisle'.. but that's cos magazines and candles are heavy ;-)

Had my first 'breakfast outside on the Patio' of the year when I got back, admittedly at 11am. Was very nice, finishing my SW book in the warm sun...

..especially as I had my first home made cappuccino from my £1 coffee machine. Yummy... but very very messy.

Had a great afternoon melting stuff. Turned this (large but unburnable candle with no wicks available, and horrid plastic base candle..that turned out to be fibre optic, I found out after attacking it with a knife..)

into this...

and the 'four candles' that El wants for the MT meal on Thurs..

Also went for a nice walk round Beacon Hill... but the photos are on my phone, and I need to get started on my sanding now... already had 3 nagging texts!!!

Tues nice.. Autism course again, then coffee and chocolates in the conservatory with Alison on her actual birthday. She liked her pressies, especially the Cromer album.
Wed.. school, reports, gardening for the Lees, further Macbook - video camera failure, prayer thing at church.
Thurs.. tough day at school, then got a nasty letter from Remi's solicitors when I got home. First lawn mowing of the year. Mostly just crap and annoyed.
Fri.. most disappointing RND at school ever.. allowed to wear a nose and that was it. Really good OAA lesson with year 7 group, but otherwise poo day. Got elbowed in the ribs playing netball at lunch. Sport just hurts these days. Watched all the RND stuff on tv with Alison, mostly enjoyable. David Tennant hilarious. Got big ideas about Kilimanjaro now.
Sat.. orienteering in the Outwoods. Forgot how terrible I am at it. 54 mins for an orange course. oh dear! Mostly thanks to getting completely lost looking for control 2. Need to get used to those maps again. Did 3 hours cleaning/ironing work in the afternoon... gets me about half a theatre ticket for London in the holidays! Then did visuals for the Chris and Gisela Slater Walker talk at church. Best bit was me and Thom getting in trouble for giggling at the back. Watched Addams Family when I got back.

Mon 9th.. School, then Austim course thing with Tessa (more fun with plasticine) then home for a nap in the conservatory hehe, then footy. My goal was unimpressive... but my celebrations were brilliant hahaha. Then off to Brown's for a posh dinner.. Alison's birthday meal. Very nice.. esp the Brownie for afters (no jokes please).

Saturday afternoon's gfactor was really good. Interesting discussion after the DVD. Another kick up the a** to remember how blessed we really are. Question also is how do we bless others.

Ruth popped over with her chips Sat night. I burnt my pizza (grr) and we watched half of Burn After Reading, before deciding it was rubbish and confusing, and playing Big Brain Academy instead. She beat me. Helped, I must add, by telling me the answer on one of my questions, resulting in a score of 0 for that round!

Car boot Sunday morning. Left with hardly anything, thanks to all the sellers wanting loads more than usual for stuff, and having messages from the Nooma DVD in my head. Probably a very good thing. I don't need another hoody thats too scruffy to wear to school, and I probably have enough books to keep my reading solidly for the next ten years.. really loving my SW one from last week.

Delivered Ellie's first birthday present, then dragged myself onto the treadmill when I got back (as I'd wimped out of another footy match) expecting to have to stop because of hurty knees and feet after a couple of km. Actually ended up being only 100m short of doing 5k in 23 mins. This is very good news for the Race for Life. Rewarded myself with breakfast ..reading the SW book curled under the fleece blanky. Then did a bit more work on the landing. Shower then dinner. The plan was then to spend the afternoon making Lego videos. However plans went aglay. None of the four cameras I tried would work with the Mac. This is getting very very annoying as I have run out of ideas (and cameras). Gave up just before church, and calmed down with a Double Decker and a few pages of the Stuart Maconie book.

Was 'The Big Meal' at church. Bit of false advertising there.. not that big.. think Spoons probably still did a roaring trade in post service chips based meals! Was interesting to learn the traditions of Communion, and about the Passover meal, but it was quite long and we got a bit silly on our table waiting for the next round of watered down grape juice!

Lovely hour in bed, finishing one of my PhD Lego models (the General Grievous Starfighter) and messing about on t'internet.

It's got a sliding cockpit and movable lasers...

And a whole arsenal of lightsabres underneath hehe...