Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music,
Dig to the summer breeze.
It’s a groovy night and I can show you how to use it;
Come along with me and put your mind at ease!
A little less conversation, a little more action, please…

Saturday

Up at 8am, ready to take delivery of the shopping. This time it seems that there’s no preserved sweetcorn in Ocado’s warehouse of any description, be it tinned or frozen. We do at least have the fresh, on-the-cob, variety for this afternoon’s firing of the barbecue.

Mowed the lawn while J did her online Zumba class, while attempting to referee the usual arguments between children. We did the usual things of topping up the compost on the potatoes, watering the beans, and so on, before lunch. After lunch the kids ran around with water pistols, enjoying the warm weather while I mostly skulked indoors trying to avoid the direct afternoon sun. Turns out I wasn’t all that successful; there are definite tan lines on my feet to match my sandals. Lit the fire around 4 and cooked the usual favourites – burgers, corn on the cob and wings, followed by smoked caramelised apples and pineapples, accompanied with vanilla ice cream.

Sunday

Didn’t sleep at all well; despite having retired around 11 the previous night, didn’t get to sleep until nearly 1am. As a result the start to the morning was even lazier than usual, and breakfast wasn’t done until gone 9am.

Went out on the bike a little after 10. The adjustments to fit and brakes I made on Friday have made a world of difference. Put in a 20 mile route in an hour and fifteen minutes, and could have done so much further without needing to be back at home for lunch and the kids. Next weekend I’ll aim for that bit further. This time I got grumbled at for being out enjoying myself, which was fair enough as she wanted to go out for a run too.

After lunch, the weather turned as we’d expected, so time for a film afternoon; apparently it was my turn to pick the movie. Flicking through Netflix the other day we’d noticed The Never-ending Story, which I’d not seen since I was about Sleeper, Jr.’s age. Amazingly, it kept everyone’s attention for the full ninety minutes, including a break for homemade popcorn.

Despite my protestations that it’s a side dish, one preferably dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried, J made a macaroni cheese for dinner, with bacon and mushrooms. Pretty nice, but way too filling; there’s more than enough for a second meal left over.

Kids packed off to bed, I collapsed in front of the TV; a combination of too little sleep and the morning’s bike ride had conspired to tire me out.

Monday

Up about 7:45; the kids were already watching TV downstairs. A decently unhurried breakfast followed by settling into work. A quick catch up with D before the first of (count them) three stand-ups; he’s got the afternoon off work because he has to go pick up his new car. “New Tesla is it?” I joke, and it turns out, that, yes, it is a new Tesla model 3. I’m slightly jealous, but only slightly, because I don’t drive that much anyway and even if I could afford one, I don’t really need more than the sensible and boring car I have.

The afternoon was mostly taken up by the third session of the security assessment we covered last week; in our weekly sync meeting one of the other leads passed on some news that was both unexpected and disappointing with regard to an offer we’d made to a prospective employee. Oh well. Finished up attempting a crispy sesame beef stir fry with green vegetables and baby corn. The beef wasn’t crispy enough but everyone else seemed to enjoy it well enough.

Finished up the day covering over the nascent potatoes; there’s rumour of a frost overnight. Hopefully the other vegetables will survive. Let’s see in the morning.