Sunday 5th October 2008

I know I just posted the first one....gimme a break here, I am new to this :)

OK...sunday

Usual mad day........collect Thomas and David (the sooner he gets a car, the better!), then Joanne and kids arrive (Dr Stu was on nightshift last night, so he's in bed), shortly followed by Simon and Claire and their three kids.

I have a hard time keeping quiet about Simon's kids. Simon and Claire are into the 'naughty step' method of bringing them up.........and the result is three wild animals. I've long since lost count of the stuff they break here, and watched while Claire, in a very measured tone, says something like 'Now say sorry to Granda' to the miscreant. Me?.... I am a firm believer in the quick smack to the ass.........ya do it, you get punished, you remember it......end of story. Its kinda hard to hold back and say nothing...but I sure wish I could make them understand that this 'naughty step' crap is going to come back and bite them in the ass when the kids are older.

It gets a bit murky here....bearing in mind what you just read, and keeping in mind that almost by default Thomas is in OUR care, and is likely to be for years to come, do *I* have to subscribe to the 'naughty step'? I don't think so........my house, my rules. After all, I didn't do such a bad job raising my own :)

Odd thought..........when Thomas is 10, I'll be 74. Thats scary :) (and 10 ain't that OLD!) Then there will be all the usual stuff......like starting school, homeworks, driving here and there...

Oh...and watching Nell, my wife, that EARTH mother, coping like a trooper, and collecting grey hairs and wrinkles like they was going out of fashion. In truth, I am not a GREAT help here...but only because I'd need 10 elbows to get a look in.

I do a BIT, though.... I cook, I iron (when I need a shirt ), I drive, I entertain, I distract, I cajole, wheedle, bully....the usual things that comes from looking after kids :) I long ago got resigned to being the villian of the piece :)

What else of note today? Not a lot...........except I bought myself a Slow Cooker. We have an electric cooker here, and that bloody thing does NOT understand the meaning of 'simmer'. So I have expectations of solving that problem :)

Tomorrow (evening) I meet up with a very old friend (schoolfriend) who long ago emigrated to Australia. I feel very awkward over aspects of this. I mean, the guy only came halfway around the world...and yet just picking him up causes logistic problems, and having him stay in a guest house is quite shaming because on the surface there is only two of us in a three bedroom house......but ya have to look deeper :) Whatever...tomorrow evening is a 'lads night'...

So thats been MY sunday......I know its just been a relate of events. There is probably ALL kinds of undercurrents inside me I should have been writing about, but bear with me, kidlings....I am new at this :)

And so to bed...